Remore's ePortfolio

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to my ePortfolio:  Remore's ePortfolio

-Remore

Rhetorical Analysis of Presentation and Remediation

Rhetorical Analysis of Presentation and Remediation

Going from Prezi to Popcorn Maker seemed like a great idea to give more emphasis to the video.  Giving impetus to the video in anyway detracts from the meaning that needs to be conveyed.  In fact the objective is to use multimodal communication to compliment the other.

The Prezi presentation on “The Reading Writing Project” gives it’s audience a chance to interact with the software on a personal level. Be it parents or educators, they are able to watch the video play automatically or they can click forward through the slide to the section that they are most interested in leaning about the project. As users interact with the Prezi they may notice that a presenter is unnecessary.  Unlike PowerPoints, Prezi’s don’t require the presenter to guide its audience or viewers thought the end of the presentation. Therefore, there is greater freedom of choice for the user to interact with the presentation on a personal level.

Prezi may seem intimidating. After interacting with the software for a while the fear of working with the software diminishes. The learning curve, in other words, understanding how to use Prezi’s features is quick.  The simplicity of using Prezi is not to be overlooked.  Finding the slide that suits your presentation is crucial because it makes your Prezi more or less appealing.  Finding a sample model and editing it with your information makes communication more purposeful. Hock states that the visual design has motivated and engaged readers in the complex web of text. Prezi actually engages its readers in the complex web of text. 

Using Popcorn Maker to remediate ‘The Reading and Writing Project” done through Prezi presentations highlight the affordances and the hindrances between both these sites. Popcorn Maker makes allowances for videos to be uploaded to the web and be “remixed”.  An incentive of using Popcorn Maker is that you can take a video and add texts, audio and pictures to the original creating a remix. What is remix or mashups? A remix is taking an original music or song(s) and manipulating it in a way so that it sounds completely different from the original.  A mash up is similar to that of a remix. It however also refers to taking music, videos, texts and manipulating them to look and sound differently from the original. Mashups can even include web applications where these applications can be manipulated to work in a completely different application thus create a hybrid web application. 

A major concern of using “The Reading and Writing Project” video recording that was available on YouTube is the copyright laws.  Lawrence Lessig asserts that the copyright laws are stunting the creativity of youths in the 21^st century. While Lessig does believe in the copyright laws it’s difficult for him to ignore the fact that copyright laws have criminalized the youths of 21^st century who want to be creative. Copyright laws also reduce the affordances that remix and mash up brings to the global culture.  Lessig stresses that there has to be some sort of balance with the current copyright laws.

The learning curve with Mozilla Popcorn Maker is steep. There are some hindrances. For example the site crashed a lot resulting in lost of work.  Popcorn Maker worked on some web browsers like Google chrome and not others likes Safari.  Thus creating anxiety and frustration for users.  On the other hand, users of Popcorn makers are developing skills in composing with videos online. 

Prezi and Popcorn Maker both give emphasis to the use video in multimodal composition.  Prezi is quite user friendly however Popcorn Maker requires greater patience and expertise with video editing. Both utilize text in a way that is meaningful to the manner and the purpose in which the program is being used. The experience of using Prezi and Popcorn Maker conveys the importance of multimodal compositions in this dynamic and global world where there are cultural shifts in the meaning of writing and composing texts. 

IT IS DONE

https://sites.google.com/site/eng642digiport/

Assistance

Someone who has successfully imbedded Prezi into google sites, I can't seem to do that even though I am copying the code exactly. Can someone help?

Opening New Media to Writing

After a chaotic Thanksgiving and an even more chaotic few days back in NYC, here it is at last. My final blog post. On one hand: Gonna miss these. On the other hand: Good riddance.

In her introduction (and justification) of “Writing New Media,” Wysocki lays out a simple truth: 

New Media is here to stay, as scary and extraterrestrial as it is for the old guard of composition instructors, and to remain relevant in the digital age, learning how best to teach New Media is key.

She offers five different strategies for adopting the study of New Media into composition and rhetoric 

(which I will paraphrase):

1. Make sure the New Media is aware of the teacher teaching it.

When Wysocki asks the writer of New Media to be aware of the teacher, she’s also asking the writer to be aware of him/herself. One of Wysocki’s main claims in several of her articles is that writing doesn’t exist in an objective void where the author can totally separate themselves from the material they are writing. So the same way the writing can’t be separate from the writer, the teacher of writing can’t be separate from their own pedagogy and approach to new media. There exists writing that analyzes individual text and writing that about the wide context of media structures but there’s nothing that bridges the gap between the two (Wysocki 6). There isn’t literature even on how to begin bridging the individual writing experience to the larger social experience of writing for a digital audience. “There is little or nothing, for example, that encourages someone composing a Web page to think about how and why, in her place and time, her choices of color and typeface and words and photograph and spatial arrangement shape the relationship she is constructing with her audience and hence shape how the audience is asked to act” (Wysocki 6). 

2. New Media’s number one priority: Materiality.

The digital platform offers us an infinite number of choices to convey ourselves and our sentiments: images, color, arrangement, mode, platform, etc. So why do most hardware devices only come programmed with certain settings like paper size and black ink? “Digitality ought to encourage us to consider not only the potentialities of material choices for digital texts but for any text we make, and that we ought to use the range of choices digital technologies seem to give us to consider the range of choices that printing-press technologies haven’t” (Wysocki 10).  The computer is programmed for certain settings because those are the settings we are told to use and we facilitate our own limitations in the technology. We influence the technology that influences us. Wysocki acknowledges that shifting this paradigm would be a global challenge. “Few writing teachers are in position to change the design of computers or pen and paper to better facilitate the kinds of thinking we might favor…but we are in positions to encourage thoughtful decisions both about using computers or paper and pen in various stages of composing processes and about the material designs of texts using those different technologies” (Wysocki 11). The materiality matters, but the first step towards it is getting writers to be conscious about the material decisions they are making in conveying themselves.

3. How material are these New Media texts anyway?

Wysocki defines New Media texts as, “those that have been made by composers who are aware of the range of materialities of texts and who then highlight the materiality” (Wysocki 15). Such creators are aware that their works don’t function independently and are careful of how they are shown in context. By this definition, New Media texts don’t need to be digital (Wysocki 15) but they do appear different depending on how you define their materiality. If you view the texts through the lens of the visual/cultural, you begin to wonder why it is that academic texts are strictly monitored and not very visual while it is commonly accepted for comics and children’s books to rely heavily on visual elements (Wysocki 16). It becomes apparent that the academic setting made a conscious choice to formally present material this way, as visual elements are indeed effective in conveying messages (just look at this blog post!). If you consider the New Media texts in terms of their material interactivity and the level of interaction between the writer and the reader, we are encouraged “to consider the various complex relations we can construct with readers through the ways readers are asked to move through texts we build” (Wysocki 17). By defining the materiality in the texts, we see all the avenues available to us to manipulate in order to best use our infinite platforms and possibilities.

4. CREATE THE DAMN NEW MEDIA TEXTS WITHIN WRITING CLASSROOMS GODAMMIT

Everything is Henry Ford’s fault. Motherfucking Henry Ford.

As a result of Post-Fordism, we live in a culture that promotes and maybe even idolatrizes uniformity. Experimentation is frowned upon on a cultural level even though it is necessary for a culture to survive. Wysocki encourages such tampering such as the creation of New Media texts in the classroom, using the example that “once those who use an object understand how the object connects into the systems that work counter to their ends, they can then start to work to experiment with and construct other and differing connections” (Wysocki 21). Teaching composition as a material craft helps break it down to its elements which the writer (in this case, the students) can then plug use to plug into different systems (political, social, digital, etc.). Promoting experimentation in a classroom setting, where I feel too little spontaneity and initiative is encouraged, would not only help the spread of New Media as a respectable pedagogy, but also encourage students to keep inventing and redesigning media outside of the classroom setting. 

5. Learn to speak the New Media lingo, bro

New Media is a language, a new language, and the majority of the rhetoric teaching profession are not native speakers. The old textbooks and teaching manuals promote the uniformity I spoke of earlier and to ask for anything else is to go against prescribed academic norms. New Media is rewriting the handbook in a language we must not only learn to speak but also to translate to and from quickly. “Texts that alert us to their materiality go against much that we have been taught: all the writing handbooks on my shelf instruct students to print their texts on 8 ½ by 11” paper with one inch margins and a serifed 12 point typeface; none of the handbooks give students reasons for these material presentations but rather just present instructions as though these material decisions are not and have never been decisions but are natural” (Wysocki 22). The same way English speakers might not know the rules of writing but will instinctively know what sounds right, we are familiar with our old language of media text and translating to this new language requires learning all the rules well enough to translate them for ourselves and those who we teach. There’s no need to be fluent in the language of New Media to teach it, as some composition and rhetoric professors aren’t (*coughTomcough*), but a willingness to learn the language along with the students is a testament to the message and materiality of New Media texts: we must practice to learn the language to best speak it in a way that the largest amount of people will understand.

Blog 12: Myspace versus Facebook: Is there really evidence of social classism?

Dana Boyd in “White Flight in Networked Publics? How Race and Class shaped American Teen Engagement with Myface and Facebook” explores the notion that class and race are deciding factors in which teenagers utilizes Facebook and MySpace. "This article explores a division that emerged between MySpace and Facebook among American teens during the 2006-2007 school year" (3).   The division that Boyd speaks about, between Myspace and Facebook users, is synonymous with Caucasians moving to the suburbs, the "white flight" (4). Hence, White teenagers move from MySpace to Facebook, thus showing a preference between social media sites, which correlate with race and class.  

It seems that Boyd also feels that it's not just only about race or class that distinguishes why a particular race move from one social media to another, but that aesthetics and taste also play a role in understanding the social divisions. However, taste and aesthetics may reflect a particular race or class. This interpretation of taste and aesthetics seems to always reflect class and race.

Myspace and Facebook may not be the first social media.  However, they both appealed to the young adults who adopt these social media sites a way of right of passage.  Myspace is viewed my teenagers as the site to connect with “cool adults” with reference to older siblings or relatives who are into the nightlife and partying. Users of Myspace are also able to connect with their favorite bands. Parents who are aware of Myspace are indifferent to this site and they try to warn their children about the dangers of Myspace.  The origins of Facebook begin with elite college students at Harvard.  As a result, Facebook caters to a college level audience only.    Slowly teens adopt this social media site as a rite of passage to identity with other collegiate (7-8).

Boyd’s perspective on race and class with regards to the use of Myspace and Facebook by teenagers is not based on statistics. However, there are some statistics from Hargittai (2007) and Hare  (2009) to corroborate Boyd’s point that the race and class of individuals’ manifest their preference of Facebook to that of Myspace or vice versa.   

White and Asian students and those parents of higher education took to Facebook. On the other hand, Hispanic students and those parents who did not have a high school degree took to Myspace. African-Americans students did not more like to choose one or the other.  Affluent individual tend to use Facebook rather than Myspace. Boyd also points out that if an individual decides to choose either of these two sites then it’s evident that there is some relevance to the patterns.  However, without knowing the demography and the biases of these surveys, the validity of this argument is less convincing.

Boyd asserts that teenagers have a tendency of sticking to peer groups of their race or socio-economical background. This insinuates that teens typically use social media sites where they can connect with people who are like them, similar to what is evident in schools. In other words, teens create their social categories and group labels that is their shared identities.  On the other hand, there are times when teen self-segregate thus recreating the class and race structure evident in the wider community (12-14).  Boyd quotes several sociologists, to give some bearing on nature of forming identity and social groups. In fact, this did   give some understanding of how social groups and identities are form. According to Boyd,  “Teens joined social network sites to be with their friends.  Given social divisions in both friendship patterns and social spaces, it is surprising that online communities reflect what everyday social divisions”(16).  Nevertheless, her point is not completely a racial one; people will in fact create groups that may be racially, economically o and educationally justified.

Boyd points out that there are those teens that chose a particular social media site based on the features and designs these social media sites can afford to their users. Myspace and Facebook make affordances in some areas and hindrances in others that eventually appeal to or deter particular users.  In one of Boyd’s interview with a teenager, she (the teenager) feels that Facebook appears safer than Myspace. However, she could determine why she feels that Facebook safer than Myspace.  The determining factor for choosing a social media site is friend participation in a particular point.

The key features that draw individuals to a particular social media site are aesthetics and profile personalization (22). With regards to Myspace users can “pimp” or “bling” out their sites to suit their profile or taste.  In the same token, pro Myspace users may prefer t abhor the thought of using such features.  On the other hand pro Facebook users like the simplicity of their sites while Myspace users might find it dull (22).  Hence, tastes in design of these social sites play an integral role in the groups of teens who use a particular site. According to Boyd “Taste and aesthetics are not universal, but deeply linked to identity and values”  (24).  Thus the implication is that hip-hop which is mostly linked with urban societies, youths and the African-American groups is common on Myspace. Boyd also states “ The choice of certain cultural signals or aesthetics appeals to some while repelling others” (23-24).  Based on Boyd’s report about the users of Myspace and Facebook, taste and aesthesis also reflect race and class (24-25).

It appears that most of the teens that Boyd interviews aren’t saying that there is a direct racial distinction among those who use Myspace or Facebooks.  They seem very cautious in the manner in which they convey their observations.  Most of the times her participants seem to clarify the fact that they are only making an observation, or rather stating the obvious. However, Boyd guides students to pinpoint what they are seeing as patterns of race and class that is evident on social media sites.

             It’s evident that there is a shift in users from Myspace to Facebook. Does it have to be a socio-economical or racial issue? A politically correct take on the shifts from one social media site to another should be about the designs, affordances or hindrances that these social sites present users.

Some of Boyd’s ideas hint to the fact that teens are searching for their identity. However, their inexperience may lead them to choose subculture groups that are inferior to others.   Boyd presents a valid claim that social cohesion is a major factor in explaining why teens leave a social media site than the other. Also, another major factor is that teen especially like trying out new things. Her other arguments hold some truth in them for example there is a shift in users from Myspace to Facebook due to parents fear for inappropriate use.

            In the article Trial by Twitter  by Ariel Levy, Levy showed how social media can be use to shed light on some heinous crimes, like rape.  Levy looks at how the Steubenville football players faced with rape charges against an intoxicated fifteen year old. When social media plays a role in a trail then there is the aggregate of evidence and public opinion that could influence the outcome of a trail.  Many people, youths especially think that they can say anything on social media sites but they can come back to plague these users who are participating on social media sites.

Fifteen years ago, Richmond and Mays would have escaped suspicion: before smartphones and Twitter, rumors floated around high schools and then dissipated, often before adults knew what was real and what was adolescent imagination. As it was, the evidence was limited to tweets, the photograph of Richmond and Mays carrying the girl, and a cell-phone video recorded late on the night of the parties and then uploaded to YouTube. It showcased a ruddy recent graduate of Big Red named Michael Nodianos sitting in a bedroom at the second party and drunkenly holding forth about the evening. “You don’t need any foreplay with a dead girl,” he says. He is laughing uncontrollably, as are several other boys in the room. “She’s deader than O.J.’s wife. She’s deader than Caylee Anthony,” he continues. “They raped her harder than that cop raped Marcellus Wallace in ‘Pulp Fiction.’ . . . She is so raped right now.” Nodianos keeps on riffing, and his audience keeps on laughing, for more than twelve minutes (Levy 2013).

     There is not doubt that social media can taint a case and throw off what the proper authorities think is the case or investigation because of online participants input. As in a lot of rape the evidence weakens with time. However, there is still enough online dialogue, video and pictures that seem enough to convict the two teenagers accused of rape.

Technology Improves Analytical Skills ...and A Facebook Inspired Poem

A Facebook Inspired Poem

i like acupuncture needles in my feet
i like architecture everywhere
i like ancestors coming to visit in dreams
i like acting and actors, i'm one
i like animals wild at heart
i like anything from africai like african american literature
i like autumn, winter and springi like astrology readings
i like art and book festivals
i like america - grandma said the best
i like aspen mountains
i like automobiles for empowermenti like antiquing on atlantic ave
i like being black today
i like beaches on long island, in carribean sea
i like beautiful young people, (former days)
i like brooklyn, got dropped here by God
i like bill withers to lean on
i like bridges for building and crossing
i like bar-b-que smoke in backyards
i like babies who snuggle me

i like barack obama; he does the right thing

i like broadway and off broadway

i like butterflies landing on hands

i like boyfriends and husbands who commit

i like chaka khan’s ain’t nobody

i like cycling around this town

i like contact sheets in black and white

i like computers that are fast

i like coffee with touch of half and half

i like chicago's skyline

i like clocks whose ticking fades in background

i like connections and coincidences

i like choosing happiness along with joy

i like christmastime with lots of white and red

i like canada because it’s so close

i like condoms for protection of course

i like coca-cola cause of the carbonation

i like candles when they flicker

i like dancing and feeling free

i like darkrooms for concentration

i like dogs with spunk

i like driving across town

i like detroit riverfront views and brooklyn waterfronts

i like doctors who have beside manner

i like drama on television

i like dr. seuss

i like drawing with pencil

i like downtown areas

i like documentaries for learning

i like eggs anytime

i like eat, pray, love, enough said

i like facebook because it’s a phenomenon

i like freedom given freely

i like fela kuti’s afro beat

i like fine arts, period

i like foreign films at bam

i like france - paris, bordeaux and the south

i like my family

i like family by j. california cooper

i like gardening for fresh vegetables and flowers

i like gospel music to lift me up

i like guys who still carry bags open doors say u r beautiful

i like history of the world

i like hgtv for tips

i like the holy bible & want to know it better

i like interior design

i like internet access

i like keyboard lounges

i like kittens, ol' doggies

i like kind people

i like love be love to love

i like literature and poetry of course

i like london because it’s bold

i like little black books for notes

i like luther vandross ballads

i like michael franks’s jazzy self

i like the moon for worship

i like museums that are huge

i like movies the most

i like medical centers to help us all

i like marriage proposals, hard to come by

i like male dance moves

i like martha’s vineyard magic

i like metaphysics because of the mystery

i like margaritas – lime the best, red wine
i used to like maryjane

i like marianne Williamson's new age talk
i like mexican food and acapulco
i like martin luther kings non violence

i like my own room

I like manicures and pedicures weekly

i like nature walks and talks

i like npr when i’m dressing

i like old mama cats

i like oxygen from trees

I like old cameras to collect

i like all prince music

i like psychic ability, which everyone has
i like pastors who give poetic sermons

i like professors who are sympathetic and brilliant

i like photography cause I can disappear behind the camera

i like painting with oils, and i was matisse

I like pumpkins their seeds and sweet potato pies by ma mere

i like prayers for those standing on the edge of greatness

i like reading newspapers and magazines with meals

i like regina belle

i like reality television that produces overnight celebrities

i like restoration & renovation, preservation

i like r and b that’s in my bones

i like reggae music in jamaica

i like relationship books that help with clarity
i like snow skiing – grew up doing it

i like seniors whose shoulders we stand on

I like sleep because it’s makes me better

i like saving stuff for memory purposes

i like slimming teas to produce a bm

i like swimming in the ocean at midday

i like singing along with others

i like sade adu for her deep voice

i like sisters and brothers, especially mine

i like soul, everybody has it and one

i like solar on the white house - finally greening

i like spirituality – it keeps me sane

i like sexiness coming from inside out

i like sunshine on my shoulders by john denver

i like spike lee cause he propelled film in the hood

i like thunderstorms that sound comforting

I like 3:33 am - a good time to be alone

i like theater to transform my mind

i like travel to gain perspective

i like teaching what i know

I like tarot cards to predict

i like this moment

i like taverns for meeting and greeting

i like the university of michigan tradition plus liu's mfa

i like visual arts – every medium, yes i can

i like voting everytime i can

i like walking downhill and uphill

i like writing poetry, short stories, essays

i like water – it feels good when drinking

i like yellow notepads like my dad did
i like ywca saunas and weight machines
i like you too

-        Amyre Loomis