FINAL PROJECT!

For our final project, we had to read from Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone.” Putnam argues that the degree of social capital in America has declined since the 1950’s. By this he means, “Americans have been dropping out in droves, not merely from political life, but from organized community life more generally” (Putnam 64). Without engaging in activities such as bowling leagues, PTA meetings, and other community events, he thinks that the level of creating and maintaining bonds amongst people has been on a dramatic downfall. However, our group wanted to disagree with Putnam’s theory. In our project, we wanted to portray that not only are youth still engaging in social relations and social capital, but they are engaging in different forms of interaction that are still capable of leading to new opportunities and promoting new relationships. Putnam states that “Trends in numbers of voluntary associations nationwide are not a reliable guide to trends in social capital” (Putnam 53). However, ask any of the youth on this campus who are involved in various volunteer organizations and events and I’m sure that they will disagree that the volunteer work they are doing is not making a difference in social gain. To depict our new theory, we first went to the dorms where we found a group of kids playing the interactive video game, Age of Empires. When we interviewed them, they told us how they gained just as much interacting on the internet as they would doing any other face to face activity. They told us how they were able to talk to kids in other countries, and the level of communication that they experienced was no different than going to the bars on a Friday night. Our next stop was the bowling alley. We went to Western Bowl in Champaign and interviewed some of the workers and bowlers. When we talked to one of the bar tenders that worked at the bar in the bowling alley, he completely agreed with our theory. He stated that he had been working there for many years now and he had not noticed a decline in participation. He supported our idea that even though many people are engaging in interaction via the internet, they are still partaking in activities offline. The only person that we had that disagreed with us was a man who told us his son’s girlfriend just broke up with him over facebook. He refused to accept that talking over the internet was a form of interaction, and told us that the social capital exchanged between youth was definitely declining. The next person we interviewed was my informatics 202 professor, Lori Kendall. From being in her class, I knew that she was very involved with interaction taking place on the internet and was a big fan of it. I thought that I could get more out of her that directly supported what we were trying to get across. However, I’m sure that with all of her scholarly background and knowledge concerning the subject, she could not completely agree one way or the other. We still got a lot of useful information from her interview though. For our final piece of footage, we went to the Union and filmed the bowling alley during a time when no one was there. We wanted to show that people are still going to the bowling alley such as when it was packed at Western Bowl, but that they are also doing other things when they are not at “bowling leagues, PTA meetings, or involved in community work” as Putnam referenced. It worked out well because even though no one was bowling at the time, there were a lot of kids playing Dance Dance revolution which perfectly supported our thoughts that people are engaging in more technology based activities. Overall, it was not very hard to get the footage for our film. We decided to make a brochure to go along with the video documentary so that people would have something tangible to look at while watching the movie. I think that an idea always leaves a greater impression when people are able to think back on it later and reexamine what they learned. Sara and I did all of the filming and created the brochure, so Bill was willing to do all of the editing of the film. Overall, the final project was a very enjoyable one. We did not have as much freedom as we did with the other projects since we had to base it on a selected theory but it was still fun to go around and collect information from different locations.

Interactive website

The interactive website that I chose was WebMD. It offers information about various medical issues and suggestions about living a healthy life. The website offers message boards in which people can interact and give feedback about what they think a group of symptoms might be, as well as support for people suffering from similar disorders.

http://boards.webmd.com/webx/topics/hd/ADHD/ADD-ADHD-Children-with-ADD-ADHD/

Bill's Question

1. The opening paragraph immediately made me think of holograms. Yes holograms like the ones seen in star wars where you can see the images as if they are 3d objects before your eyes, and the fact of the matter is that there are pushes towards this form of a medium. How do you think this new form will impact the world, and would this initially be a stand alone form? Would the ability to turn movies or pictures into 3d works make them any more or less meaningful? Would people accept this technology, especially given that it would likely take up more room then a painting or a TV.

Personally, I think that if we were able to turn movies or pictures into 3d works, it would be awesome. I think that if we were able to feel like we were actually in the movie, viewers would feel more connected to the characters and be able to get more insight into what the characters are feeling. I know that the Jonas Brothers just came out with a new movie in 3d which turned out to be a big hit. I, unfortunately, have not seen the movie yet, but I can imagine that it lets the audience feel like they are actually at one of their concerts, or at least more so than if it were not in 3d. I also have been in the 3d simulators at parks like Universal Studios and Disney World. The 3d attractions that they have there make you feel like you are actually in the movie and give you an experience unlike any that you would get in a regular movie theater. However, I think that this would not work with every movie or every person. I think that with some movies it would actually be scary to feel like you are actually there such as war movies or horror films. I also think that some people might feel nauseous if they felt like they were actually in the movie so they should have the option of seeing it in its original form. That is why I do not think that 3-dimensional media would be able to stand alone because it would not please everyone in the audience (not that everyone is ever pleased though). I think that most of the public would accept this technology because I feel like most people want to test the limits and see what else different types of media have to offer. I, for one, would accept 3d works of art, movies, and television with open arms because I think that it would be really cool to feel like I am escaping from reality and entering a different world, if only for a couple of hours. However, the option should still be out there for people who are comfortable with the original mediums.

Questions for 4/14/09

1. The authors state "A medium in our culture can never operate in isolation, because
it must enter into relationships of respect and rivalry with other media." Do you agree or disagree with this statement and why? What types of "rivalry" do you think they are talking about?

2. Imagine that you lived before the time of lap top and desktop computers. All you had were typewriters. In reference to your jobs and your school work, how do you think your life would be different? Would some things be the same, and what things would be more difficult without programs such as Microsoft Word right at your fingertips?

3. Bolter states that "each new medium has to find its
economic place by replacing or supplementing what is already available,
and popular acceptance, and therefore, economic success, can come
only by convincing consumers that the new medium improves on the
experience of older ones." Can you think of any remediation that you have encountered that has NOT improved the experience of the original medium?

Video Project

College Life: County Market


For this project, Sara and I were stumped on what to do. We kept going back and forth on what we wanted to film that would be interesting to the whole class. First we were going to do the dollar store, then we were going to compare the dollar store to Wal-Mart, then we were going to ride a random bus and see where it took us. If this were a paper that we had to write, there sure would have been a lot of prewriting and planning because we had no idea. Finally, we decided to do it on County Market, the newest addition to our campus. Sara and I often spend every Saturday and Sunday there, mainly because they give out a lot of free samples! However, we wanted to see why the grocery store chose this location, why other students shopped there, and why people worked there. When we got to the location, we wanted to capture all of the features that the store had to offer including the deli, the produce, the study area, the Caribou Coffee, etc. We went around filming and along the way stopped some customers to ask why they liked shopping at County Market. The main response that we got was because it was conveniently located right on campus and was open 24/7 so it was a great place to study. We did have some people who did not want to be filmed so that was kind of frustrating. The whole process of filming this documentary on County Market was very similar to writing a paper. We had to come up with a general script for what we wanted to say in the introduction to draw people in and establish what the purpose of our project was. After that, we had to think of questions that we could use to interview the customers and the workers which would act as the main points in a paper. They were the “body” of the paper. While using the video camera, we were able to continuously rewind and examine what we had just filmed which was similar to the editing of a paper. If we didn’t like something, we redid it. If we missed a specific shot, we were able to go back and capture it. If we wanted to cut a piece out, we were able to. The whole process of creating this documentary was essentially just like writing a paper on the topic, only in visual form. The film documentary was a remediation of the standard research paper. I think that by being able to actually see the inside of the store and the customers that shop in it, the film documentary is “that which would evoke and immediate, and therefore authentic, emotional response,” as stated by Bolter. If all of the information that we gathered and the pictures that we gathered were just put in to words, I do not think that it would have the same effect on the viewer. By being able to actually see the in’s and out’s of the store, the viewer is able to make a better decision on whether this is some place they would like to visit or learn more about. Gathering all of the information was the easy part. It got a little difficult (and frustrating) when using iMovie because neither of us had ever used it before. We had to mess around with it a lot but eventually we were able to get all of the clips exactly where we wanted them to be. While these projects always seem time consuming and troublesome when in the process of creating them, I think that being able to see the end result is really cool and well worth it.

Teri's Question!

1. What does the author mean when he says," All current media function as remediators and that remediation offers us a means of interpreting the work of earlier media as well?"

I think that he means that everything has to start as something. Nothing can just magically create itself. Everything that has been created is a remediation of the original idea that it is based off of. All of the current media that we think of such as television and computers have been remediated off of other media such as radio and newspapers. Without the radio and newspapers, we could have never just jumped straight to such high-tech devices as flat screen TVs and lap tops. These new remediations offer us a chance to look back at the previous media that we were using and analyze them based on their individual advantages and disadvantages. For example, reading a newspaper online saves paper and space, but it also take away from the personal design and style that a paper newspaper might have offered. We would have never known the difference if the internet hadn't offered newspapers, but since they do we tend to look back and think about how this has either added convenience to our lives or added stress. By being able to interpret the work of earlier media, we can make further changes and remediations. I think that the remediation process is never ending and that there will never be a perfect project that can not be updated or remodeled.

Questions for Tuesday, April 7th

1. Out of all of your experiences using the media, which experience did you feel was the most "real" and why? What types of hypermedia or transparent media did the creators use and why do you think it was effective?

2. Bolton states in reference to digital hypermedia, "With their constant references to other media and their contents, hypermedia ultimately claim our attention as pure experience. In this claim, and perhaps only in this claim, hypermedia remind us of high modern art." What do you think he means by this statement and do you agree or disagree with it?

3. Out of the 3 ways that Bolton restates the double logic of remediation (Remediation as the mediation of mediation, Remediation as the inseparability of mediation and reality, and Remediation as reform) which do you agree with more and why?

SARA KAY BROWN'S QUESTION

How often do you collaborate with others when working? Are you more comfortable working by yourself on assignments or with others?

For the most part, a lot of my classes do not involve group work. The grades in the class mainly consist of papers, quizzes, and tests which are all to be done independently. However, in this class and also in high school I had a lot of group assignments. Having worked on both types of assignments, I personally prefer to work by myself. I think that sometimes in group work, there is one person who takes control and others who rely on that person in order to get a good grade. I think that it is too easy for people to slack when there are others in the group who know that the project has to get done, even if that means that they have to do it themselves. I also think that sometimes people conform to the other people in their group's ideas. However, if they were forced to do individual work they would also be forced to come up with their own opinions and ways to go about an assignment. While I personally prefer to work on something by myself, there are definitely benefits to having a partner/partners. For example, I worked with Sara on the last audio project and I had so much fun doing so. I think that the collaboration of our ideas and being able to work with a friend made the project much more enjoyable and a better finished product. I think that group work is beneficial to a student's learning, but it must be applied to appropriate projects where no one person will be taken advantage of, but ideas from different backgrounds and interests are needed.

I found the intertext about Nancy Mitford very intriguing. I don't think that her husband should have been left out of the title if he co-authored the book. Regardless of sales, he was a major contributor to the book and should be recognized for it. I personally have never not bought a book because it had more than one author.

Questions: Tuesday, March 31st

1. Have you ever worked in a group and felt that your identity and ideas were overshadowed by the other group members? How did you overcome this and show your individualism within the group?

2. J. David Bolter said, "The electronic medium now threatens to reverse the attitudes fostered by the press by breaking down the barrier between author and reader." Do you agree or disagree and why?

3. What are some situations that you think individual work is best and what are some situations that you think collective group work is best?

4. Ernest L. Boyer wrote "But our most consequential human problems will be resolved not through competition, but collaboration. And what we need in education is a learning climate in which students work together." Do you think that collaboration is the best way for students to succeed based on your personal learning experiences?

20 things...

So I'm pretty sure that the assignment was to come up with 20 things that we would not normally recognize or pay attention to but I was way too excited about spring break to be completely focused....but anyways, here are the 20 things that I observed:

the car sticker on my friends car

the huge amount of trash that is littered everywhere in Champaign

all of the noise and different conversations that take place at the undergrad library

the holes in my friend's jeans

the sticky tack that was left on my wall

how white my friend's teeth are

a stencil of a cat in the parking lot of my apt. building

the texture of the sand in PCB!!!

my teacher's eccentric jewelry

the shapes of the clouds

the various tastes of my food

compared the differences in my friends' skin tones

the hair on the kid's neck in front of me in class

the writing in the bathroom stalls

the water stain on the ceiling

the different rhythms and sound patterns of the rain

the different colors used on websites and the moods they intend to create

the crunching of chips

graffiti located on the side of Bevier Hall

the crumbs all over my carpet

the different tones in peoples voices and how although they may be saying the same thing as they have said before, their tone indicates a whole different meaning

Sam's Question: HAPPY ST. PATTYS DAY!

2. Hampe says that making documentaries is filming human behavior. I don't know if I agree because I think that's too simple. Are there examples of documentaries not about human behavior? Or does Hampe just have an extremely broad definition of human behavior?

I think that documentaries are in fact filming human behavior. All of the documentaries that I have watched have been about an individual's life or specific event that happened in history. For example, a documentary about World War II looks at the different human behavior that was prevalent at that time: fighting, leaving families, dying, etc. The documentary looks at all of the different aspects of this behavior and gives the audience information concerning it. I do not think that there is anything else that documentaries film because I think that everything goes back to the idea that humans created something or that humans did something to spark a specific situation. Just off the top of my mind, I cannot think of any documentaries that I have seen in the past that did not focus on human behavior. I think that the "human behavior" that Hampe references is a very broad definition, but a very applicable and correct definition. There are endless possibilities that humans can be filmed doing, from work to hobbies, to traveling and families, the list is endless.

March 17th questions

1. What different tools such as cameras or video recorders have you used in the past in order to create something? Did you ever stop to think about the fact that without these tools, it would be impossible to capture the image in picture form?

2. If you could capture a three dimensional image of absolutely anything (a lecture, a mountain, any life event) what would it be and why? What would you be communicating to the audience?

3. Have you ever viewed something that contradicts what is said?

PODCAST PROJECT

link to the podcast!

When first assigned this project, I had no clue what I wanted to do it on. Then Sara and I decided to team up and make a podcast that focused on college kid's most embarrassing moments. We thought that people were more likely to be candid and honest when they were drunk so we took our tape recorder out with us on Unofficial. This only lasted so long because we wanted to participate in the festivities as well so we decided that we would get the rest of our interviews from people at a later time. We found out that people were just as willing to give up their most embarrassing moments when they hadn’t been drinking, and well, sometimes in even more detail. Some of the stories we heard were utterly disgusting while others were just plain humiliating. Some of the stories were repeated (a lot of girls had “female problems” while sleeping over at a boys) and heard others that if they happened to me, I would move to Australia and never want to be seen again. We had all of the stories on our tape recorder and then played them back and retold them, minus the background noise and made the dialogue more fluent. While assembling all of our stories, Sara and I split up the speaking parts and tried to make it like we were having a smooth, normal conversation with each other like most radio-show hosts do. One thing that I found extremely difficult when retelling these stories was finding the ability to not laugh. When recording it into garage band, we had to go back and delete and edit many clips due to the hilarious nature of some of these stories. When we first opened up garage band, I was extremely frustrated. We had to play around with it a lot in order to find some of the applications and learn how to add in clips, songs, record over our voices, etc. However, about half-way through the recording process, I thought to myself that this project was actually awesome and told Sara I think we should make multiple podcasts later on. I would love to have more time to mess around with some of the features and create another project in my spare time. After we finished all of our editing and played it back, I thought it sounded awesome and was really amazed with how cool this assignment actually was. Little did I know that there was much more frustration ahead. When we tried to save it into our NetFiles and create a link to post it into our blog, it was only saving the different parts of the projects and would not upload the whole thing. We played around with it for at least an hour and were getting nowhere. Skipka talks about multimodal assignments and giving students freedom and I think that this project allowed for just enough instruction, but just enough freedom to be able to do it on anything we wanted. By giving us the necessary tools and directions to create this podcast, Sara and I were able to represent our ideas in the soundest, most fitting way possible. Overall, I think that making a podcast was a very interesting learning experience. It was a bit difficult at times and definitely the most technology demanding project so far, but I think it was worth it to hear everybody's most embarrassing moments and be able to share them with the public.

Script:

College Life: Unscripted and Uncensored (and Sometimes Intoxicated)

Erin: Hey kids, Erin and Sara here and welcome to “College Life: Unscripted and Uncensored”

Sara: And sometimes intoxicated! We hope everyone had an eventful Unofficial.

Erin: But maybe not too eventful Sar…

Sara: As some of you might know, we thought Unofficial would be the ideal opportunity to capture some of people’s most embarrassing moments

Erin: So that is just what we did. We went around with our handy little blue tape recorder and asked some of the drunkest people we could find “What’s your most embarrassing moment?”

Sara: The problem with college kids, especially those who have been drinking since 7 in the morning, tend to not be embarrassed too easily.

Erin: Luckily they were just telling us their stories and not their grandparents. So here they are folks, in all their glory…college kids at their finest.

~~~~Music Interval~~~~
Sara: Our first story comes from Tara. Tara tells us….

“We were hooking up blacked out, like always. We were apparently REALLY frisky and ended up having sex and doing other things all over our friend’s condo. Well.... we woke up ALL the roommates who heard us making, umm, "noises", and saw us having sex in the bathroom, hallway, stairway, then franks bedroom. One roommate even jerked off to my moaning. I found this all out the next week when they made fun of me for it. Now everyone knows. In detail.”

Erin: Ha wow, nice job Tara. Wouldn’t want to show my face around those friends for a while…..Our next drunken embarrassment comes from Stephanie. And sorry if I start laughing mid-story because this one is pretty good guys:

“SOOO on my 21st birthday I obviously was drinking a lot. I finished off way too much before we even left for the bars, got to Firehaus and waiting for me was my sister with a 3-wise-men shot and a rumplement. Well she had me chase the 3-wise-men with the rumplement and 30 seconds later I was puking all over their bathroom, only to get kicked out 15 minutes later. Don't remember any of this... Well my sister was taking care of me at home. I was sitting on my bathroom floor, for some reason half naked, and all of a sudden I remember my friend telling me to get up and get on the toilet because I was shitting on the floor. Literally pooped on my bathroom floor and then sat in it while I puked. And there’s more. Well all of my roommates hadn't come home yet and when they heard what I did started screaming, alerting all of my neighbors to come see what was wrong while one of my roommates was yelling "You're kidding me, she shit on the floor?!" So then they all knew. My sister had already told my parents because they called to see how I was. My other roommate Erin told her mom the next day. My mom told my Aunt. So now my entire immediate family and all my roommates, their families, and neighbors know.”

Sara: Not only is that embarrassing in the first place, but wow…to have your whole family and roommate’s families know is pretty noteworthy. Nice job Stephanie.

Erin: That one is great, I’m just glad it wasn’t me.

Sara: Yes, seriously. Well moving on, our next story comes from Tim. While interviewing Tim, who by the way was hands down wasted at this time, he told us this: “Well...one Wednesday last semester, me and my friend decided to get hammered. It was around 1 o'clock, and we started playing pong .I drank most of a 5th of rum along with 4 or 5 beers and was the drunkest I've ever been in my entire life. I passed out on the basement floor by 3pm and this is where I have no memory (except for the video someone took). My "friends" took my clothes off and wrote, "this salad won't toss itself" on my ass, and apparently I farted in my friends face while he was writing this. Then, there's this video of me running around the house naked and being dragged on a wooden floor, screaming because my dick was scraping against the floor. My friend put me to bed around 4:30 and I woke up at 9pm, puking all over myself. There is video evidence of this story, but I warn you, its me being dragged around on the ground naked and screaming, I doubt you want to see it.”

Erin: Haha Tim, you are probably right…I don’t think anyone would want to see that. So guys, as you can see we all have our embarrassing moments, some more embarrassing than others. Let us take a quick break and we’ll be right back with more, “College Life: Unscripted and Uncensored (and Sometimes Intoxicated).”

~~~Music Interval~~~
Sara: Ok, we’re back. I hope that you have appreciated all of these stories so far. I know I have

Erin: Yeah, it really makes me feel good being able to laugh at other people. But let’s keep it going with some more good ones.

Sara: Ok here’s a gem. A girl named Claire, who was visiting on Unofficial told us this one:
Freshmen year, it was one of my friends 21st birthdays and I kinda had a "thing" with him a couple of weeks earlier which ended badly. I proceeded to get extremely drunk and at midnight while everyone was singing happy birthday I went a little crazy and got out of control screaming "fuck you" repeatedly, while everyone else sang... Unfortunately, I ended up puking for hours on his front porch and popping a blood vessel in my eye, which made it bright red for a week.
That really sucks. Most people only turn red right after they get embarrassed, but you were red for a week.

Erin: Haha Yeah, I would hate having to explain that eye. Here’s one I loved while I was walking around:
Freshman year during Spring Break I went to a party with some of my high school friends and drank a lot of hard liquor. After crying into my friend's arms for half an hour, I was driven home where I puked into my pillowcase and passed out on it. I woke up to my mom staring at me, like she didn’t know whose child I was and probably thinking “what the fuck?!?” Out of concern for my soul, she offered to make me pancakes and told me she was going to go pray for me.

Sara: Ouch. Parents and alcohol don’t really mix too well.

Erin: Obvi.

Sara: But speaking of praying, listen to this one from Pat:
Going back to sophomore year, we started this underground club of competive flippy cup league. My team was absolutely awful, so of course when we challenged the quiet girls in the corner, we lost. We had to run down the street naked. I figured no one was, but I guess I was wrong. At mass the director of spiritual life brought it up in the homily. I haven’t been to mass there since.

And I’m sure they really miss you Pat…..

Erin: And finally, we saved this one for last, but definitely not least.

I work for the University and after a football game, my whole office held a tailgate to celebrate one of the women retiring, so of course, all of my bosses and their families, as well as some University bigwigs were there. I thought it would be great to get totally hammered, because I was depressed about a guy who also worked with us. I spent the rest of the tailgate calling him a fuckbag in front of everyone we both work with. Somehow, I passed out on the steps of Biefeldt, so naturally my boss and his girlfriend tried to help me home but I didn’t know where I lived. I woke up around 7 that night at his apartment, not knowing where I was, with a note from them saying that they had gone out for the night, but that I was safely in their apartment.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, in the office still talks about the night that I passed out and my boss took care of me.

Sara: Just goes to show that having a job does not equal living responsibly.

Erin: Yeah for real.

Sara: Whelp, its about that time to wrap up our show. I’m glad that there are so many other people who lead just as ridiculous lives as us.

Erin: Seriously. I’d rather hear their stories then have to tell my own. They are way too embarrassing

Sara: Yeah I know, I’ve experienced them first hand, usually with you

Erin: But join us next time for some really great ones that involve peeing on your boy friend

Sara: Perioding in a hook-ups bed.

Erin: And of course peeing on a Station doorman while he carried you out of the bar on a chair to be “delivered” home by the Geovantis delivery girl.

Sara: Ouch. Isn’t is great to be in college

Erin: I’ll say.

Questions: March 10th

1. Do you think that there are any documentaries or reality shows that in fact portray the absolute "real thing," and not just an analog or a model of it?

2. What are the reasons you take pictures or videotape things? What are you trying to communicate to your viewers (or even to yourself) when using your camera or recorder?

3. Think back to a documentary that you watched either in school or on TV. What made it effective or not effective in keeping your interest?

4. What is your favorite genre of documentary and why?

Rahul's question

2. Skipka talks about how, "the kind of work that activity-based multimodal courses take as usual is not defined by the production of a particular kind of text that I, as instructor, have determined students need to accomplish."

This sounds like a teacher that tells students to go make a project but doesn't lead them in a certain path, would you prefer projects that have a certain path where the teacher outlines out or a project where you're free to go where you want to with it and why would you choose that one?

Whenever teachers assign projects, I like to have a good combination of both specific instructions, but also freedom. I don't think that confining an assignment to extremely distinct and binding guidelines is a good way for students to learn because it restricts the topics that they are able to explore. I think that the best projects are when a teacher gives students a detailed outline of what they expect from the project but leave how they achieve those expectations up to the student. I think students should be able to choose what they want to do the project on because everyone has individual interests, concerns, and opinions that cannot be expressed when they are confined to only certain viewpoints or areas. I also think that the way the project is gone about should be totally up to the student. Some people are more creative, some are better with technology than others, and others like to combine many different fields. By giving the student a rubric of how they will grade the project and what they expect, but also allowing the student to have freedom, the project would be the best that it could be.

Questions for March 3rd

1. In what ways do you as a student represent your work in the soundest, most fitting way possible?

2. Shipka talks about accomplishing goals through multimodal soundness. Have you accomplished the goals you have set out to achieve since starting college and how?

3. If you could have a background music track to your life, what would it be and why? How do you think our daily experiences with people would change if there was one song that we always heard when we were around them? Would you judge them and make inferences about them based on their one track?

Picture Essays

Will: things that you do or see in the morning throughout the day and into bedtime, specifically probably a younger child
Terri: a day at work and all of the things that she encounters on a typical shift, including her serving duties and the clean-up afterwards
Sam: the places that she visits on a regular basis and the events and people that make up her life and that she enjoys
Ryan: ok so I guess I cheated on this one because I overheard Ryan talking about this project and he said that it was all of his profile pictures from facebook for the last 4 years….but if I hadn't of heard him say that I think I would have thought they were just pictures of the things that he like to do and the activities and people that have made up his life
Roberto: the different places that he visits on a typical day: class, back to his apartment, his kitchen, his room, etc.
Raul: following his friend through his average day of class and into the evening
Mark: the images are of a journey across a snowy landscape and then to a bar afterwards
Octavio: the many faces (and food choices) of Octavio
Liz: the different parts of our body and some of our various emotions
Grace: her morning routine at the gym
David: I really could not find a central theme to this project but after he explained it I thought it was a really cool idea to do
Bill: I think these are images of a girl in her surroundings and visiting the places that have shaped her life and her journey
Dan K: I think that these are images that he drew and his interpretation of what people think of when they see them
Dan B: It appears to be the different parts of a specific instrument and the surrounding tools that one uses when playing that instrument. It includes the audience, the chair to sit on, the music sheets, instruction, a stage, etc.
Cynthia: her life experiences and the people in it as she has grown up, from a baby to where she is at now; These pictures seem to be of people close to her
Adam: He is using a monkey to portray the different things that he does throughout a typical day/week
Sean: a typical night out at the bars and its aftermath
Sara: Well I had an advantage because I’m Sara’s roommate so I already knew what her project was going to be about, but I think it was really creative to show how different magazines target different racial and social groups in their advertisements
Masha: different positions, faces, angles of one of her friends which might represent how people’s emotions and faces change throughout the day

Octavio's Question

The reading mentions that there is no existence of silence, that even when we are alone we hear other sounds- such as our breath. Do you ever think it is possible to achieve silence? Why?

No, I do not think it is ever possible to achieve total silence. I think that even in our quietest moments there is always noise around us that no matter how hard we may try to tune out, it will always be there. In church, even when we are asked to have a moment of silence, there is always background noise: children crying, people coughing, doors closing, etc. When we are locked in our rooms taking time to ourselves, we can not escape the noise that is going on around us: cars, horns, shouting. Also, I think that silence is not just a physical property such as sound, but I think that it also concerns the silence and peace that one feels within their mind. No matter how hard we try to think about "nothing" and take away all thoughts and just sit there, we are then trying to think about nothing, which in the end is still thinking about something. Thoughts are still running through our head. I think that even if we tell ourselves to try to hear "nothing" or think "nothing," there will always be something there that will keep us from reaching absolute zero.

Questions: Tues., Feb 24th

How do you think sound can either enhance or hinder a performance or presentation? Does sound sometimes distract you from the real message that is trying to be conveyed or do music and special effect noises always act as helpful aids to create a better end result?

What are some annoying sounds that you hear on the web or through other technology and why do you think they are there in the first place? Are you easily able to tune these and other sounds out and how do you do so?

Imagine your life without sound. What do you think would be different and what do you think would not really change?

Picture Essay

Ignorance is defined in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary as "lacking knowledge, education, or awareness." So often, people defend their actions by proclaiming that they "didn't know" or were never told how to do something. I think that ignorance is a huge issue that everybody in today's society is accountable for, myself included. It is easier for people to place the blame for their actions somewhere else than just admitting that they were in the wrong and should have been more aware of their surroundings and the circumstances that they were in. That is why I made my picture story of all images of things that depict ignorance in many different situations. Personally, I think that the most powerful and damning form of it is best portrayed in the image that says "Prejudice is the Child of Ignorance." I think that often people are prejudice towards others around them because they lack reliable information about the other person's lifestyle and circumstances that they may face. People restrict their thoughts and outlooks on others based on what they already know and what they may have been taught by their parents or friends instead of opening up to different and more variant ways of living. This strikes a personal chord with me because I have a sister who is often stigmatized by the way she looks due to a disability. People often treat her a certain way because they are not familiar with her condition and so they do not know how to act in a way that is inoffensive and acceptable. I get so angered by people who would rather base their views on people with disabilities off of movies, preconceived notions, and other sources rather than personal interaction with the individual. I think that people should take the time to educate themselves rather than jump to opinions about people that are completely unintelligible and naïve.

Besides being ignorant towards other's lifestyles and feelings, ignorance also takes on many other forms. In my picture story, there are also images of a car accident, a car getting towed, and "No Littering" signs. We often ignore things that are right in front of our eyes, whether we do it deliberately or not. We know that we should not talk on the cell phone while operating vehicles because it may lead to an accident and that we should not park our cars in tow-away zones because we may get towed. Smokers seem baffled and distraught when they are diagnosed with lung cancer even though it says right on the pack of cigarettes "Warning: CIGARETTES CAUSE LUNG CANCER." However, we do it anyways and then blame it on being misinformed or our carelessness after the consequences are already there. We do things that we recognize are unacceptable and then justify it by claiming our ignorance. It is about time that we realize that if we keep "lacking knowledge, education, and awareness," we are not going to get very far. We need to take responsibility for our actions and become accountable for our own lives instead of never admitting our wrong doing and closed-mindedness. As long as we are willing to learn and embrace our own flaws and behaviors, the downfall that everyone shares, ignorance, might become more bearable and minimized. To those who say "ignorance is bliss," it is time to open your eyes.

As I was collecting images for my project, I realized that there are many more forms of ignorance than I originally had thought of. The prototype for ignorance that always came to my mind was of people making wrongful assumptions with no evidence to back them up. However, when I actually had to come up with more examples, I realized the different constructions ignorance can take: parents being unaware of their teenagers action’s, the government being ignorant to society’s needs, tanning bed customers being ignorant to the risk of skin cancer, people ignoring everyday rules such as “no food or drinks,” and many more. I learned that there are many different degrees of ignorance although they all embody the same concept. One thing that was difficult for the essay was that I was not able to use my own pictures for the entire project because some of what I think are the key examples of ignorance, such as genocide and racism, I could not capture. Overall, the beginning vision for my project did not change, but it was expanded on. I came up with many more examples of the theme than I thought I was going to be able to. After reading select chapters from the book “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger, I realized there is never one way to look at a single image or a group of images. Just like the image by Van Gogh which Berger first introduced as being a cornfield with birds, and then as the last painting he created before he killed himself, the interpretation of an image is completely dependent on the individual’s thought processes and the context which surrounds the image. If no explanation or clues are given, an image (or picture essay in this case) is completely dependent on the viewer’s understanding and analysis. Berger touched on the fact that these days we are bombarded with so many images that we are rarely capable of experiencing their entire intended meaning. However, I think that although we might not remember every single image that we come across, there are certain ones that are able to leave a significant impression on us. So whether we are being ignorant to the small issues in our life, such as using cell phones in the library, or ignoring the big issues, such as the decline of our economy or the people who live below poverty level, we need to become more aware of the things that shape all of our lives.