Cops, Robbers, and Lawyers?

DJ Spooky Response

smoodie1 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:11:53 +0000

Soundbite Fetish : “the new listeners resemble the mechanics who are simultaneously specialized and capable of applying their special skills to unexpected places outside their skilled trades.

Scholars, particularly professors who attend an academic institution choose to study a specific area of expertise. Once the necessary amount of skills are acquired to earn a certain degree, the scholar will seek other institutions (work or internships) to apply their skills. This is why a lot of teachers have expertise in only one area, but can find jobs in a number of related fields. Most people who perform scholarly research do not venture off into several fields of study at once, instead they earn special skills in a non-linear manner, a series of degrees at different levels, which are earned at different times. However, the places where an educated person is allowed to practice these skills differs from the number of areas of expertise has. Effects the way we search for sources to put into our scholarly work, sometimes resulting in settling for less.

Loop Perception= it’s a kind of search engine function that’s undergoing a crisis of meaning.

As research shifts from books to online catalogs and search engines, there is much more information available but it is difficult to obtain. Since the Internet has a lot of information readily available, people do not want to sit down in a library and cite information of dozens of different books. Galileo can research millions of articles via one search engine.

Software Swing: “material transformations through these linguistic means”

The world has unified itself since the Internet has come into wide use. Instead of using language as primary communication we use materials that are electronic. Scholars pass information down through electronics or books, but currently electronic means are preferred. We have “remixed” knowledge from traditional books to Internet.

Response to Englebart’s “Augmenting Human Intellect”

smoodie1 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:53:29 +0000

As I have been working on my project, Englebart’s essay has been helpful because it discusses aritecture and design, and how those elements will factor into something’s creativity. In order for the Internet to become some sort of extension of ourself we must change what is already available online, calling upon a person to become more creative. When Englebart references to how we must conceptualize a framework to adjust to our needs, I thought that idea had a lot to do with what we are working on in our rhetorical analysis projects. Conceptualizing a change is what we Internet agents do on a daily basis, and the Internet is constantly being “augmented” to suit growing needs.

The big deal about Englebart and the rhetorical relationship between Internet users and the agency of the Internet is that changes such as creating social networks, digitalizing school work, or blogging are fluid changes and they do not occur on their own. Changes occur based on the relationship of outside pressure. For example, you don’t design a building just to build it, you build it because people need a place to be or a venue in which to do things. Along with the change of our uses for the Internet comes the alteration of Internet design, which Englebarts preaches so much about using the example about an architect designing a building for a certain purpose. The relationship between ” a human problem solver and a computer “clerk” is the rhetorical relationship examined in this reading because this relationship enables people to observe that extending yourself through the Internet does effect the way a person thinks and conceptualizes information in some way. The effect is greater or less on some individuals, but the change is present because technological design has changed the manner which we do things. The list of the ways technology has changed life would be an endless one, but Englebart reduces all the different ways with information regarding a personal relationship with the Internet.

For example, Epinions.com the site I am doing my project on has changed the way a person would think about and conceptualize a shopping experience because of its design. The site’s design has afforded a person to use technology to shop. As simple as that may sound, its pretty cool because the site affords personal extension; it allows you to write yourself in terms of goods and services. Writing on the web is a form of augmenting a person’s intellect because we can re-write how we think about ideas because of the information available to someone online. The Internet has an instructional design, which allows anyone with a computer to participate in being instructed.

Altering the Creativity of Shopping Experiences

smoodie1 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:20:23 +0000

Most people would think of shopping as an experience which you go to Wal-Mart, silence yourself, and pick up merchandise. Epinions.com is a shopping site with a purpose to make shopping a fun and creative means to shop by inviting the agents (users) to enter the site and give their feedback for millions of products and services similar to corresponding blog posts. Also, Epinions organizes its content in a manner which the images of merchandise are proportionate to the comments about them, which is creative and invites our creativity back. The fundamental detail of the website, such as the social interaction provides an open exchange for comment and criticism that you could not find in store or on another website like Craigslist or Amazon.

Epinions collapsed search bar takes up minimal space, allowing room for many other creative affordances such as invitations to give your personal opinion regardless of whether your opinion has to do with merchandise, top ten items on Epinions, and photo of “every day” people that sends the message that this site is open to everyone. The social interaction among people within the site is an extension of itself and goes hand in hand with being creative and artistic because a part of the agency is being returned to the agent through use of the website.

Since people are restricting their use to the Internet, they may become lazy, but at the stake of having a site like Epinions return legitimate merchandise and services through a sense of community. The “web of trust” is a phrase Epinions uses and coins its purpose to make shopping a creative and interactive activity which the agent holds some responsibility for contributing to the site’s creativity. Also, the website generates an emotional response because the user is supposed to be able to trust this website as a legitimate source of creativity. The use of bright colors, different buttons, and a thumbs up or thumbs down message board are a few of the creative attributes examined in my project.

The fact Epinions.com makes mundane activities interactive and fun is the amazing part about it. Also, “the web of trust” provides a sense of security about what purchases a consumer will make. The internet is a popular way to scam people and Epinions tries to prevent scammers from entering the “web of trust.” Overall my project will focus on the sites creativity and affordances and how they relate to social networking and sharing.

The “Cut-up Method” and its Presence on the Internet

smoodie1 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:42:12 +0000

“The cut-up method brings to writers a collage,” which is Burroughs’s idea that using the cut-up method has no limitations as to where the method can be applied. Internet technology is much like the collage which Burroughs discusses in his article “The Cut Up Method of Byron Gysin” because web pages, videos, search engines, and some news web pages all mirror the form of a cut up collage. As crazy as it sounds, the internet is snippets, tags, and parts of other web resources, which stem from other online resources. The internet does not have a hierarchical order because an internet user has the freedom to explore web sources and pages in the order they wish, much like a collage can be compiled in any order.

With the implementation of blogs to our course content, I have explored the internet in collage form because I have linked to outside sources and incorporated them into my personal collage, which is my blog. As I worked on my blog, I seemed to have gotten off topic and failed to take advantage of the full purpose of a blog because I had difficulty understanding the underlying concepts underneath it. However, when I read Burroughs’s article I have a tighter grasp on blogging because cutting something up resembles what we should do on our blog, even though this idea is not directly alluded to in the article. What makes the Internet so innovative and revolutionary is we can afford ourselves the opportunities to explore information in any order, format, or location that we wish. We can have a cut-up internet experience, or an organized one because the power is literally in our hands.

Even when we GOOGLE something, the cut-up method is present online because, GOOGLE cuts certain information and brings it to the viewer is sometime of order, which may vary based on what you are searching. The fact different types of information are available to us via search engines affords us the opportunity to choose how and what kind of information that we want, similar to constructing a collage. If I attempted to list all the different ways the internet incorporates the cut up method as a theme, it would be endless because the internet is consistently being altered then rearranged by other people to their personal liking.

Books are Technology Too!!

smoodie1 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:05:04 +0000

Lorcan’s blog entry about books and the digital shift towards an internet based society is a critical and popular issue because people constantly debate which medium is better. For example, when I am studying I prefer to read a book or print out a PDF file, rather than just reading from the internet because hard copy print is the “technology” which I prefer. Moreover, the power of traditional paper and pen is preferable to me because writing mirrors the technology that books possess. When I contemplate where the internet and electronic multimedia come from I think of books and writing, because the internet has writing and pictures just like a book does, however, the internet makes these images and linguistic characters readily available by a click or a press or a key. The relationship between the audience and what is afforded to the audience by a book involves the turn of a page or opening a book, just as you can open a page on the internet and scroll to the next page. Books are the original technology and the internet is the modified technology.

It is amazing how the modified technology has made the original, (books) almost invisible to the general audience, which is society. However, we always must revisit books because they play an essential role for understanding the internet, YouTube, facebook, and other modern technologies at hand. How many times have we heard read the book before you see the movie? Lorcan wants the reader to step back and reflect on how books are more technologically advanced than a person would commonly contemplate them to be. Books were the original foundation for education before the digital shift that society experiences at this moment. As a child, I remember reading books to help me visualize and conceptualize, then, from standard textbooks stem novels, magazines, and even create your own adventure. Technology has depreciated society’s informational value toward books.

Response to Gregory Ulmer Ch. 1 “Internet Invention”

smoodie1 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:34:18 +0000

Chapter One of Ulmer’s Internet Invention discusses numerous connections between technology, particularly the Internet, and modern influential individual’s means of dealing with certain situations. As a blogger, I use technology to deal with my standpoint on the law and how it has affected me. Primarily, this reading attenuates that each person within a technological space is a part of that space and should be referred to as an “egent,” opposed to an agent. Every person in the modern world who is eighteen or older possesses the potential to utilize the web for the purpose of moving forward intellectually. Since so many people use blogs as a way to publish personal interests online, anyone with the internet has the ability to become an “egent.” According Ulmer’s article, “EmerAgency proposes Internet as a knowledge bank from which to draw information.”

A solid example of how technology, whether it is simple or complex, has on an individual is illustrated through Einstein’s fascination with a compass his father showed him. The issue represented by this scenario suggests that the Internet, much like the compass, causes a state of awe due to constant change. Since the Internet and computer technologies are always changing, people are often found in bewilderment trying to decipher numerous properties relating to the Internet. Technology and wonder parallel each other because of the direct effect both aspects have on everyone, even Einstein.

Furthermore, culture is addressed as a problematic issue that should be critiqued and reevaluated from a technological standpoint. A person who has a career should not be as concerned with what position they hold, however, how that position can be applied to gain knowledge that would further their proficiency in a constantly changing Internet based society. Comprehension of the world on the web is a requirement to thrive in our culture, from the Ulmer’s perspective.

** On a final note, the creation of this blog is a form of “electracy” term coined by Ulmer. Basically, practicing and applying internet techology to make myself more electronically literate**

Police Blogging..(Not Blotting) Innovative in its New Creation

smoodie1 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:17:13 +0000

Yesterday when I was in class, Maima and I compiled a presentation for the class about something we thought was really interesting about what people or particular groups are doing with blogs these days. You might be surprised, out of all the magazines, corporations, school deapartments, etc. that twitter and blog many police departments do not have blogs. So I went on the web searching and searching for all the major city police departments that have blogs, and only one came up (that was actually REALLY good), the Los Angeles Police Department. Chicago, Atlanta, and even New York’s police departments do not have blogs, and that was shocking because these are cities just as big, if not bigger than Los Angeles.

The LAPD blog is so organized, it is almost scary. I recommend that if you have time to check it out to do so. The police department updates their website at least two to three times per day with the latest on the crime occuring in specific areas. Also, the organization is largely organized around widgets on the right hand side of the page. The organization parallels what we have been discussing in class because Dr. Reed wants us to have widgets and use those widgets to make a clear organization of our blog. When we were showing the class the LAPD blog, lots of questions and feedback were implemented into our presentation because of how applicable this blog was to how we can make our blogs ten times better. What makes this blog a good blog? In terms of Merlin, the writer(s) of the blog maintain a distinct voice, the page is clutter free, and maintaing control of the blog… just to name a few. Two weaknesses of this blog were the lack of linking to other sources outside of the blog page and heavy censorship of comments. For example, each of the hundreds of links on the page only linked to other places within the blog that were affiliated with the LAPD and the blog has a disclaimer close to the top of the right side explaing that the blog reserves the right to edit comments and delete them based on their content.

So, in tems of Memes, this blog would not be good for a memex format because the blog is so busy trying to grab the attention of people who want to fight crime in LA. The blog has a clear goal, to plead with the public for information and encourage the citizens to use all the media available to them in order to contact the police department. You can text “crimes” to the number posted on the blog to give tips to fight crime. Bush’s “As we may Think,” supplements several functions I mentioned about this blog because Bush lets his reader know that the information presented to people on the web is actually knowledge, and being able to use everything available to us (similar to the LAPD reaches out to its citizens), is knowledge in itself.

On a final note, I wanted to share the San Francisco Public Safety blog, headed by the mayor’s office, so that you could get an idea at what stage most police blogging is generally in. This blog is far less advanced than the LAPD’s, but it is attempting to fulfill its purpose.

Response to McLuhan

smoodie1 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:47:12 +0000

Since I am using technology, particularly this blog… I would like to get off the cops and robbers subject for a moment and display a reading applicable to being electronically literate.

McLuhan’s acute focus on the extension of man through technology is interesting because the concept provides a unique framework to analyze how important technology, particualrly the internet, has become to society. However, it is odd how McLuhan expalains that the internet is literally a physical extension of self because most people, assuming average savviness of computers, only observe what is on the surface of sending and recieving messages via computer. The complicated codes that are beneath the messages and images we send are the actual extension, not just the surface material, and that is what is difficult to grasp.

Moreover, McLuhan is advising that society assimilate quickly into the transition that “media is the message,” and that media is becoming indeed, THE message. Not only are manual means of communication phasing out (i.e., the telegraph), they natuarally cannot suffice to all of society’s communcation demands presently. For example, with the multitude of advertising, news coverage, and international affairs that take place on a daily basis, if society still had to depend on telegrams, telegraphs, or standard mail to communicate, it would make sense that the world would sink into chaos. Basically, the internet and other computer based technologies as the innovative medium not only assists us, but saves society from organizational chaos.

Lastly, McLuhan anticiaptes that in the near future society will be completely digital. The transition is now in progress and schools, workplaces, and other institutions minimize manual means of completing tasks. Technology might be a confusing aspect, but it is necessary that we try to understand it since it is so embedded in our lives.

I found this blog that relates to what McLuhan is talking about in his article “The Medium is the Message” http://blogs.babycenter.com/momformation/2009/01/30/go-geek-girls/

The “Law” and Me

smoodie1 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:58:48 +0000

Justice for you

So, I spoke with my wonderful attorney, and if you remember the analogy I left you with last post officer:vampire::attorney: ____, I came up with the answer that my attorney is a grim reeper. Basically, my attorney let me know that my malfunctioning speedometer situation will not reduce or drop the ticket in any form or fashion… only in Athens-Clarke County. Talk about the bearer of bad news. Also, my [grim reeper] explained that he had cases in 160 court houses in Georgia, and Athens is the ONLY city where they do not drop fines or reduce speeds. The reason for this policy? Everyone must be treated equally, in the sense no situation [even if you do not have measured speed available to you], will be not be taken into consideration.

So to make matters slightly more difficult, the judge in Athens is very particular about speeding in a 25 mph zone. This sounds like a technicality to me, and the judge will probably feel the same way about my broken speedometer. The fact that I am not 21 yet will also be another negative factor in my case… I mean in Georgia it is more trouble to have a license before you are 21 rather than just waiting to get in when you are officially 21. Sounds crazy, but Georgia works against giving the opportunity to drive to adults under 21. For example, almost every speeding ticket is 2,3, or 4 points and when you are under 21 you are only allowed four points, then your license is revoked. Moreover, you will be paying a $500 reinstatement fee to get in back. A suggestion: The courts should place less concern on giving a convicted DUI individual a limited driving licenses, and more concern into making it a little CONVENIENT for a person under the age of 21 to drive. I think the police prey on students because there is the stigma that mom and dad will be there to foot the bill… WRONG!

So, court will be tomorrow and hopefully the judge will show some form of mercy. I will not hold my breath though. It seems that the court system believes that all citizens can afford to pay fines that are hundreds of dollars, for minute citations that are not severe crimes. However, the legal system operates in a manner that is supposed to deliver equality to everyone, but the general population should be more discriminating against that idea. I am slowly but surely waiting until I turn 21 so I can actually drive with some type of ease, rather than stressing about when my license will be taken away.

Word to the wise: make sure everything on your car works, whether it is a speedometer, a signal, headlight, even your windshield not being cracked. Any of these items left broken will cause you to be a shark in the water out there on the road for the police, resulting in hefty fines that you will likely not be able to get out of. Whether you have a lawyer or not, it seems you have to be some type of powerful political figure or celebrity to be “above the law”…

LOL

smoodie1 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:39:34 +0000

http://www.killsometime.com/Video/video.asp?ID=363—> visit that link, a video I found particularly funny about how we think our friends, the police. Very outgoing!

Funny pic/meme of what we should be thinking in our heads when we get pulled over, might make the fine somewhat worth your while