Thursday, December 4, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Reflection of final project

For this project, because we had more time, we were able to spread the workload out more compared to the video project. Before Thanksgiving break, we got together to figure out what type of new media we were going to use for the project. Originally, we were going to do a podcast, as well as a pamphlet to go along with the podcast. However, the idea for the pamphlet got scratched because we found that we were not really critiquing Bahktin and Austin’s ideas. Therefore we decided to do more of a conversation podcast that brings up questions about how both Bahktin and Austin’s theories relate to new media like the internet. This was important because Bahktin and Austin’s theories are about language genres and performative utterances, and how these are captured and varied in everyday language dependent on the people and situations that arise. So over Thanksgiving break Lauren wrote a good chunk of the podcast because she felt like she had a better understanding of the theory because she had taken a class that addressed Bahktin; and when we got into class on Tuesday we finished writing the Austin part and the actual critique of the theories. When we recorded Tuesday night, we had a major problem of time. The podcast had run into eight minutes, which was a full minute over the time frame of six to seven minutes. Cutting was probably the most difficult aspect of this because the theory is so complex, explanations and examples are crucial for understanding the theory. We ended up shortening sentences, taking out any unnecessary jargon, and even cut out a whole paragraph that was an example of speech genre. To me, this was not that big of a deal because later in the next paragraph we go through another example. After doing the initial podcast, the editing aspect of this project was not very difficult. We added sound effects to emphasize points and also to make it not sound as if we were just talking the entire time. I think having the timeline was effective in that it gave us a good idea as to how much time we had before the project was due, and so we were not rushing at the last minute to get things done. We ended up recording on Lauren’s computer, which made it easier to record and make edits in a quiet area where there would not be a lot of disturbance. Overall, I think this was a good project in regards to having us really analyze theory as well as apply it to modern technologies. I wish the time limit had been a bit more liberal, because it was difficult to get in everything we had to say; but having to edit and look at the larger picture of what you wanted to convey to your audience was part of why the time limit for this project was enacted. This time limit did hinder our ability to discuss the theory thoroughly as well as critique it to the extent that we had originally intended to.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

What are the two paradoxes as discussed in Mediation and Remediation?

One of the paradoxes that Bolter mentions in his piece is that hypermedia could ever be thought of as achieving the unmediated. Images and sounds always bombared the viewer or listener, and taking away these goes against how over time these images and sounds have been increasing and increasing. Bolter also mentions is how people avert their gaze while viewing something. the example that he uses is MTV, and how the viewer does not have a fixed gaze, it is going back and forth and is not fixated. Another paradox that Bolter mentions is how hypermedia strives for immediacy, transparent digital technologies always end up being remediations, even as, indeed precisely because they appear to deny mediation. By erasing certain things, it takes away from the original meaning or intent of the original piece.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Questions from Bolter Reading

1. What exactly is digital hypermedia, and how does it relate to MTV?
2. Do you agree that all mediation is remediation?
3. Do you think that visual media can be compared to linguistic media?
1. On Monday after it rained, I was walking down fourth street, and there was part of the gravel that had been pulled up from the parking lot; it created this bumpy surface that had been covered with rain, but the rain was low enough that parts of the gravel were sticking up.
2. I turned the lights off in my room one night before closing my blinds, and all of the street lights littered the black surroundings.
3. The USPS is right outside of my apartment, and the design on the glowing sign in the front has the weirdest design, and i still can't figure out what it's supposed to be, but it looks cool.
4. I was crossing the street and there was a tread pattern from a person squealing their tires on the street
5. I made bruschetta wednesday night and I never really looked at it when I finished it, but it actually looks really pretty as seeing as it's homemade.
6. I noticed a spiders web while walking up to my car in my apartment complex, and the design of it was really intrecat and cool.
7. When I was at Allerton, there was a snake that was right in front of me that started unraveling itself and wiggling its tail, despite freaking out a little bit, it looked really cool.
8. Also while at Allerton, there were a lot of hills there that were eroding, and the paths that the water made through the dirt looked really cool.
9. i went by one of the ponds on campus while going to McKinley, and someone threw a rock in and the ripples of water were really pretty.
10. Since its getting cold out, birds are flying south, and i noticed a bunch of them flying together in a v formation

Project Reflection

For this project, Lauren and I decided to do a documentary on Allerton Park and Retreat Center. We decided that since Lauren’s dad was coming up for Dad’s Weekend, I would do the interview Saturday morning and she would do the editing of the footage and interview that I conducted. It is about thirty miles away in Monticello Illinois. After getting the camera, I figured out how to use the tripod, how to go back on the tape, etc. The next morning, I got there at around 9am, and took shots of the actual Allerton mansion where I took video of the artwork around the house. I had an interview with Linda Bailey at the Visitors Center. She went through the history of Allerton, the gardens, her favorite artwork, the organizations and weddings that go on there, etc. I spent a good hour speaking with her and she got out a map and went through where everything was. After the interview, I went through all of the gardens, and then set out to find the major sculptures that Allerton had purchased for the estate that Linda had specifically mentioned in her interview.
Overall, taking the video of this project was really interesting. We had typed out questions to ask Linda, but when I met with her, I gave her the questions, but told her to talk about what she thought would be beneficial for us to know. I ended up just starting the camera, and let her just talk, and I told her how we could edit out what we did not want, but I wanted the interview to be as seamless as possible. Lauren and I had discussed before I went that we would cut out me asking questions. Therefore, when I gave her the questions, I told her to just incorporate the questions into her talk about Allerton. It ended up going very smoothly that way, I only had to interrupt a couple of times for her to repeat something, or to go into depth as to what she personally liked about Allerton, her coming to Allerton etc. Also there were some noise interruptions where she began again with her sentences. Overall it was extremely informative, and it was fun to go around and take footage of what I thought would be appropriate to go with what she spoke about in her interview regarding the sculptures and garden. I tried getting footage of the inside of the house, but because there was a conference going on, the front desk let me stand in the entrance way and just take footage from there, so I had to make a lot of use out of the zoom function on the camera. One thing I had a lot of trouble with was keeping the camera steady when I zoomed in on high sculptures, or in the house where I was trying to get as much footage from the limited area I could stand in.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The authors touched on many different points through individually writing separate paragraphs. Did that help you in gaining a better understanding of what they were trying to accomplish and what they were talking about?

I think so, it was interesting on how putting in different ways on how editors try to omit different authors, or the conflict between authors on whose name goes first was completely ridiculous and interesting. I don't understand how they came up with the conclusions that eliminating authors so there is only one, or putting certain authors first made a difference in which people read the books.