| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

BookWorm

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 11 months ago

4/11

 

I don't think I've seen a movie like Scanner Darkly.  While I definitly like it, I really had to be involved in the movie/plot and pay attention - I figured out quick that missing even the tiniest detail could really throw off your perception of the movie.  The twist at the end, or I suppose the couple of twists at the end, really surprised me - not because that's what a twist does, but rather because the movie just seem to lend itself easily to surprise endings.  I was thinking throughout most of the movie that it was going to end in some banal way with no lesson to be learned (I suppose really the antithesis of most movies today) and I was almost dissapointed when the movie did have ordinary plot elements like something resembling a lesson and the plot climax.  One thing though, I'd be interested in further analzying what those identity - or I suppose non-identity suits were really about - at least the symbolism behing them.  It's almost like I can sense that there's this tresure trove of symbolism behind them waiting to be unlocked (a little cliche, but there it is).

 


 

 

Enter Peep's grading of BookWorm. The cut and paste method succeeds in creating a creepy sort of remix that would serve as a great ransom note. Imagine walking into your home and all your stuff is gone, and in the middle of your room is the BookWorm Ubik remix. "I made your wife for you in a very short time. Try to make yourself this?" A method of remix allowing for a ubiquitous form and a lot of freedom,let's cut out every single word and sprinkle them onto a sheet, then we'll do the same with every single letter. A fun idea. I am the word and my name is...A. As in grade...A. CallMePeep

 

3/25

 

Okay, after a long a laborious weekend here 's the final product. The first link is the actual remix and the second is my following exaplanation. In the first document, there are two pages seperated by a blank page - just so you don't miss the second part. English 474 Ubik Remix.doc and 474 Remix Paper.doc

Enjoy -



 

This is really cool. You explanation also covered how the cut and paste method is purposeful to creating the chaotic "AHHHH" moment of not realizing what is the real reality. It would be so interesting to read the entirity of Ubik in this copy paste layout and see how the remixing of all the same words complete adds to semi-formed meaning behind the work. Great work and great explanation...

Grade=A-

 

Call Me Ishmael

 

 

3/19

 

Spring break has refreshed me enough to post on the wiki.

 

I started the beginning (the preface) of Lessig today. Very Interesting. This of course tells you nothing. Anyway, I liked his statement at the end, "It is agaisnt extremism that this book is written," and that extremism is what Lessig fear about our culture today. I just had this dicussion with a friend - only the concept of extremism was broadened to globally instead of nationally. I think almost anything can be determinital in a pure state - even ideas. This brings to mind the concept of fundamentalism - wait, I think I'm going on too much of a tangent, I'll pause here for the day and pick it up tomorrow.

 


 

 

3/3

 

Thanks for all the advice, I think I have a better idea of I can do for the paper. I think.

 

As, I was reading "Cosmic Trigger" I have a problem with the number "23". I'm only about 150 pages into the book (I plan on finishing it this weekend) but I get the feeling that Wilson is only looking for the number 23 - that he's not looking at other numbers and anything that doesn't synchroncity that doesn't have the number 23 in means less (not sure if I said that how i meant it). Anyway, I'm sure that Wilson had to have run into other events in his life that didn't involved this number - but they're never mentioned. So, I feel like he deliberately looks for this number and tries to get to 23 anyway possible -even though some of the way seem kind of absurd (like the order number at the top of the cable bill). I know that he addresses this issue earlier in the book, but not enough so that I'm convinced. I feel like if I were enamored with the number say, 7, that I could find that number in all the odd places as well if I tried. Not convinced. While I think the book has a point, and it may be true, the string of coincidences doesn't seem to add up to something more as the author tries to suggest it does. Maybe I'm just too shortsighted, but I just see how (only half-way through the book) the "synchroncities" are anything more than coincidences.

 

Also all this psuedo-telepathic stuff has got me thinking - I remember in High school one of my teachers complaining about "bio-something" it was the idea that in a class or group of people when one does good they all do good and when one does bad they all do bad. For instance, this used to be band director's idea - that there were just "off" days when everyone played badly - like we were somehow all connected telepathically or something. Sorry, random paragraph, Wilson just reminded of that idea. I have no idea if it has any validity at all or not.

 

 


 

 

2/28

 

Okay, so my boyfriend is an enigneer and he me introduced to this site it's about the 2nd law of thermodynamics - which we mentioned in class the one day - and how this one professor thinks he can proves that god exsists because of it. I read through it, and there are philosophical holes all over the place (as is natural in religous arguementation) but it is still quite interesting. He doesn't use that much math, so even I could understand the concepts that he was talking about.

 

Secondly, I'm confused (as is my normal state in this class I think, which could be good, but more often than not it's just plain annoying) about the paper. I got the first half of the instruction about the 1st option - writing about Dick's novel, choosing page, but I'm confused about the remix part. Maybe it's sad that I'm living in the 21st century and don't really know what "remix" means in the paper context. Can someone, or something, help me and explain how you would "remix" a page of "Ubik"?

 

I feel some of the same frustration, Bookworm, and I think it's because there is just so much damned freedom in this assignment. It is much easier to do an assignment when you're given rigid parameters, no? Anyways, I think the key here is that you can pretty much do whatever you want to a page in Ubik as long as you explain why you did it. For example, I am planning on rewriting a page of Ubik in poetic verse. My reason is that poetry provides a degree of ambiguity or pluralistic meanings, which I think is similar to what Dick is doing in his novel (i.e., making things kind of hazy). But that's just my idea, and I'm pretty sure you can do anything you want as long as you explain why. Good luck with the assignment. Oh, and if you really freak out about it, I think Mobius is pretty flexible with the deadline. ~ Echan

Just a thought...what I plan on doing is selecting a page (in some as-yet-undetermined manner) and "remixing" it by doing a close critical reading. I want to find everything on that page that elicits a response, from a mildly Deconstructionist sort of position (if you could ever pin down a Deconstructionist or his position...). i.e. invidious distinctions (when you define something in contrast to something else, you tend to hold one in higher regard than the other...light/dark, real/unreal, natural/artificial, etc. does that make sense?). So anyway, I'd like to pick out all of the little words that illicit a response in our subconscious (for instance, a woman in a long flowing white skirt is conceptualized as somehow pure, whereas a long flowing black skirt gives a very different sense) and change them to their 'opposites.' And then, of course, write a paper describing how any of that could possibly change the meaning of the text. ~ Ceridwen

 

Also, I really need to start writing things down in class that I want to say on the Wiki. Since I don't talk all that much, I think of things in class I want to say and then promise myself I'll write them on the wiki, but then I forget what it was in the first place that I wanted to comment on.

 


 

2/26

 

Thought it was time, I updated my (the?) wiki. I saw an interesting story in the CDT on Sunday - it was about British towns putting RFID tags in the bottom of their citizens trash cans. You can read the full article here, but it's about how the british country side doesn't like the RFID tags and are ripping them out of the bottom of the trash cans. The article I read, (I couldn't find it on the CDT site) said that the towns eventually (far far into the future) plan to use the RFID tags to weigh citizens trash, and charge them per pound for it. It was sort of humorous to read the article about old men ripping them out. Even after...1.5 months of this class I have to say that I'd like to do the same. But I think it's really hypocritical of me, that I wouldn't want to do it if they were currently being used as the measurement system - because then I couldn't get rid of my trash. The british government really ought I think to consider alternatives for those who agaisnt the idea (Now, I realiz that this goes agaisnt the general idea of the government, but it would still be considerate - which also goes agaisnt the idea of a government) Side fact: the british people are one of most monitered people in the world. I'll stay in North America thanks.

 


 

 

2/20

 

I'm surprising myself by actually wiki-"ing" before class. Actually there might a semi-decent reason for doing so. I just realized that my boyfriend and I have this really wierd ritual which, I think, fits into the spectrum of subjects that this class talks about. He and I didn't get to see each other very much when I used to go to a different college (IUP). So to get around this, he told me that PSU had cameras in classrooms and around campus and the sites that you can go to see the people in these classrooms, walkways etc. My campus had the same system. So if we couldn't talk to each other (he's behind the times and doesn't have a cell phone) we'd watch each in class or walking to class on these "hidden" cameras. Of course, we knew where the cameras where so we'd waved to each other and people would look at us wierdly on the way to class. I know that it sounds kind of stalkerish, but when you have nothing better to do five minutes before class (ahem) and want to see/talk to someone you use the technology that you have. I have to say though, I equally freaked at the thought of somone watching me on these cameras and I don't know about it. That's all for now, just a thought, and a time that I'm glad is over with.

 


 

2/16

 

In response to Provisional Idiot and web 3.0 he was concerned about it being the death of of English majors/literary theory. He admitted that he thought it was unlikely the death of these things and I have to agree - if only because of a few tiny points. I think that as long as there are words there will always be some type of literary analysis. People (whoever the people are) probably thought that the invention of tape recorders were the end of literary civilization - not to mention the internet. At first I was thinking that as long as there there is the written word there will always be the need for criticism of it, but I'm not sure if there's a line or if it blurs between written literature and oral literature. Previous classes have discussed this and the outcome usually end up being that literature is only the written word, but I usually tend to disagree. If/when the communication environment changes people either have to adapt or get out and most people I think would rather adapt than lose something altogether. I don't whether or not to expect (in my lifetime) the written word to go completely out of style - that is, for communication to be completely oral and auditory.

 

Also, something interesting from NoResponseAngel this argument (whether literature can actually influence people's beliefs and/or actions) I think is very relative today, like you said. It reminds me The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Wilde. I think he claimed that books had no morals - consequently people couldn't be influenced by such things. Extending this theory out even further this could also mean that any written word doesn't really affect the person who's reading it - at least not to the point of inducing any action. While I think that Wilde may have a point -I'm not sure that it's right. I know that I've been moved enough by books and such to things (i.e. making up after reading a romance novel). Why then do author's write if not to influence/educate people? Feels like I'm searching the meaning of life...

 

Any way, onto Ubik. I've discovered in the last 15 minutes staring at my pc, coming up with prompts is clearly not my talent. But I'll give it a shot anyway. (just as long as I don't have to use this prompt for a paper). I got thinking about Ubik itself - the can of spray and what it could represent. A spray and it'll fix anything wrong imaginable - that's pretty much how the story portrays it. Now, does is Ubik like a fix all that we all wish we had, even though we're supposedly alive? What does it mean that Ella could "invent" such a thing - how is the invention of such a thing possible? Why did she do it, beyond the obvious choice of living? I mean why not even something simpler that can cure on medical ailments or something? What does Ubik represent to the story and life outside the book in general? I have lots of questions...what would our society do with a can of Ubik, assuming it works outside of the half-life, or pretending it does anyway?


 

2/13

 

As I starting reading Ubik I was completely confused and I thought that, like most other things I've read for this class that I'd just remain in the dark. But the book is kind of like language code that you have to crack to understand what exactly the characters are talking about. Once I figured out that the book was set in "the future" and it was, as we discussed in class, similar to 1984, I could start figuring out what some of the words meant - like precog (which I assume is some form of the word precognition). From that it's relatively easy to crack the other terms. The one thing though that is confusing is Ubik - what, who, or when is it? [I'm only on page 60 right now, but I think the question is: What, who, or when isn't it? It's ubiquitous. -loadstool] In the beginning of the chapters, the author always compares it to something "profane" - like coffee or I think salad dressing...does it mean the same thing in the story as it does in this chapter prologs? Or is Ubik a word that describes the times that the characters are living in? Confused here.

 

I was argued against because I was again the RFID tags because I thought that the people in "power" could the control people who were on the opposite end of this relationship. I still think the same thing about the book (even though I'm only about 80 pages into it. Hopefully, I'll be able to use the terms from the book correctly here, but don't the precogs have abilities (natural or not - if this even matters) to have some kind of domination over the normal people? And that society that controls the anti-precogs or at least makes up rules that nobody really seems to follow - doesn't really seem to serve a purpose as far the control/controlled factor goes (hopefully I"m getting this right).

 

Not to be academic here, but Clastres' (spelled wrong probably, but it's the idea that's more important) idea that technology doesn't necessarily make our lives easier is easily seen in this book - people have to PAY to use the DOOR. How many minutes could you waste in a day looking for spare change to "feed" your refrigerator to get food? I don't want to go too much further in the book, just in case someone reads this and hasn't read it yet.

 


 

2/9

 

So I was reading the news this morning and this is what I found. It's a new clip a about how GPS is being put into the soles of shoes - and they're actually on sale for like a couple of hundred dollars. Thought that it might be relevant to the class - almost like another type of RFID tag - just something that isn't quite so permanent. The guy in the article talks about putting them on his kid, because one days his kid was reported missing from school, or something similar.

 

Also, as a side note I think that Loadstool's blog is interesting - about how our society, with all of it's technology should have easier lives, but instead people just expect us to get more done in a shorter period of time. I think that I can kind of speak for this myself. Before high school/college I used to be a semi-normal kid (if there is such a thing), then once college hit I learned how to multi-task like no tomorrow. I can be writing a paper, checking my email, talking to 4 friends, doing dishes AND laundry all at the same time. I've got it so down pat that I dream about what I'm going to write papers about - that way I don't have to think about it during the day (too bad I guess I don't have more dreams as I'm usually at loss for ideas). And, it seems like the generation before me, (i.e. my parents and grandparent) don't understand why I'm so busy and all that does is make me want to laugh like I belong in a place with 4 white walls.

 


 

2/7

 

Okay, so I read Society Agaisnt the State, and I think that I actually understood most of it. However, I do have one thing about the article that bothered me. The article talked only (or roughly 99%) about men. The male author talked about the males in each society and planting and clearing and so forth, but very little was said about the females. For instance, I believe that it was the Tupi-Guarani who really only had to work like 2 months out of every 4 years, and the author makes a small side note to say that the females did all the planting, havesting, etc. To this reader, it seems like that part of the agricultural process is the most time and labour intensive - meaning that the females would have been the main workers in the society. Now, I know the author mentions that it's all according to "sexual division of Labor", but his point is still not totally correct. If the females do most of the work in the society and the author isn't taking into account their work, then how can he fully judge or make a decision about that society? Also, in most of the other cases of indians or native tribes, I didn't read anything about women - it seems to me that he's leaving out an important aspect of his argument. By the way, I'm not a feminist! - not that being a feminist is a bad thing.

 

However, I must stay that except for the few holes I could poke in the argument it was well structured. The author thought of many oppositional point and refutet most of them to my satisfaction. I'd like to read more stuff by the this guy (if I had more time in my busy life).

 

Also, as another side note from LifeAsWeThinkWeKnow The CVIM (Centre Volunteers in Medicine) is a great cause. I'm a writing an article on them right now for a publication and I agree that they are an amazing group. Lance Shaner - one of the big donors to the group - has a really amazing story on why he donates.


 

2/3- Ishamel's Presntation

 

As what's soon becoming a standard in the class, I'm confused a little over Ishamel's presentation. I think that at the heart of my not understanding is the www.searchthestacks.com thing. I went through the Power point presentation, but I don't really understand what it is, other than some form to connect students to teacher and and teachers to other teachers, etc. With basic amount of knowledge, I think that Ishamel might be on to something.

 

Something else important: I sympathize with Echan and ideas about the downward spirl of putting RFID tags on sex offenders and then through some hoops we end up tagging everyone who could be possibly suspicious in the future. But I also think that this type of thinking is dangerous in and of itself. The slippery slope mindset IS (I think) why McCarthyism and all that happened. Again,(the same scenerio as with the sex offender, its a catch 22 here). Putting the tags on known offenders might help to control the devious part of the population, but if society think that there's that possiblility of the tags spiraling out of control they just might. Confusing isn't it?

 


 

 

1/30 - Ideas for RFID

 

Okay, I've been brainstorming and I think I've got some interesting idea for the use of RFID tags. The ideas may not be exactly plausible or completely original but I'll give it my best shot. For one, these tags could replace those collar thingys they put around animals to track their migration. Animals like geese, butterflies, bats, etc. Instead of putting heavy collars or other cumbersome devices on animals a quick pea shoot is all they'd need and since they can't be taken out that easily biologists wouldn't need to worry about catching the animal again to remove the tracking device (if they even do that). I think it would even cost less - once the RFID technology has been popularized a little bit.

 

Second, speaking as female I think it would be a good option (note: only option) to have these tags in Jewelry like wedding rings etc. That way if a woman accidentally dropping her wedding down the drain (cliché, I Know) actually happens, the ring can be traced and the happily married woman gets her gold, silver, etc. back. Same thing goes for Jewelry being stolen.

 

I really like that idea. Something like an engagement ring, or some piece of jewelry with high sentimental value (ie been in the family for years) could become really un-loseable. And if someones paying x ammount for a nice ring, why not throw in some extra and have it tagged? The questions that arise to me are: (Logistically) How would a RFID work in a ring, do they require batteries or am I thinking of the technology wrong? If theives have the right equipment, can they track expensive or rare jewelry then plan the heist. I'm starting to see the two sides (trying to avoid premise lock) of every RFID issue. But really, I think jewelry stores may invest in an idea like this, or at least the hopless romantic groom? ~Peep

 

Freedom of Information Act

 

I chose Ella Fitzgerald (I'm a jazz nut). There wasn't much on her, only about 11 pages, but I believe the intro to her file said that she was suspected (slightly) to have communist connections. She visited a lot of the European countries to perform and I think this is one of the reasons she was suspected of such suspicious activities. While I understand that the government Thinks that it's trying to protect its citizens, I think that the McCarthyism went a little too far in the 50s(?). Every time I think of this scenario it always reminds me of the Crucible. Some philosophy out of control by a select few with no (or very little) check or balances to reign them in.

 


 

1/26 - National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace

 

Maybe it's just me, but most of the information from the links seems vague - I can't really get a good sense of exactly what the government is trying to do - other than secure cyberspace. Also, I thought that there was a lot of repetition in what the government is trying to say. I'm still a little confused by term "secure" I read through the links, but never really found how exactly one is supposed to secure "their" cyberspace. Again, I'm not a computer guru, so concepts like this I probably get easily lost in. I thought that most things that would be of interest to someone wanting to hack in, or destroy a part of cyberspace, etc., would already be somewhat secure? I mean, I know that nothing is completely safe, that would almost an impossible task, but I would think that something or some kind of preventive measures have been going on.

 

I'm probably way off base right now.

 

I like left field anyway. I'd also like to know what the document means by having a goal to form a "response system". Terms are just too vague. Does this mean an alternate system, other than cyberspace? I didn't read that much about the actual detection of someone destroying cyberspace. I mean, couldn't that type of thing goes on for years without anyone noticing that cyberspace is being hacked into? It could be happening right now and I wouldn't know. Are there people (i.e. government officials or some such sort) watching cyberspace? If so, that's got to a pretty hard job. Anyway, if there isn't that much information about the actual detection of a cyberspace disturbance, then what makes a response system critically necessary? What the "response system" be responding to exactly? -The attackers, or trying to repair cyberspace (or any other ideas that I'm sure I haven't thought of)?

 

As I know we discussed in class, bureaucracy moves pretty slowly (I think we said this in class, if not I'm saying it now). The world of cyberspace characteristically moves at a lightening fast pace. This plan hasn't convinced me that we'll ever fully be able to be prepared for an attack on cyberspace.

 

 


 

1/23 RFID Technology

 

This RFID stuff, while I can definitely see the benefits, scares me a little. I mean, in a few years these tags could be on living people (who knows maybe they already are), I don't want anyone, (i.e. the government) knowing every move I make. Trying to avoid slippery slope, that kind of stuff could lead to totalitarian societies and complete control - or lack of a certain type of freedom as discussed in class. I don't want to imagine that everything I buy has one of these tags on it and be traced. I'll cut my losses if I buy an expensive leather jacket with a RFID tag on it and it gets stolen. I'd much rather those life experiences happen than have someone be able to track me. I know that this kind of thing is probably already happening with cell phones and the like, but it could also happen to things I unknowingly carry or have. RFID tags should have visible tags themselves to warn the purchaser if possible that there is a tag on the thing. After reading this I want to move to a third world country - or at least one less developed technology wise.

 

 

I understand entirely, BookWorm. The idea of a subcuntaneous RFID chip in, for example, my son or daughter, fills me revulsion and leads me to browse for sabbatical housing in Guatemala. But remember: The history and technologies we have been discussing so far suggest that while these information technologies lend themselves to dreams of totality ( Total Information Awareness, FBI domestic surveillence, cameras, etc), the effect of these technologies is most often to expand the space of anonymity. Consider the fact that every new piece of information created needs to therefore be observed by some human. And that human must be a context aware browser with diverse and sundry rhetorical skills, including fluency in a language the information is encoded in. By creating such an avalanche of information, the control society sometimes increases the difficulty of reading or noticing any particular piece of information.Key to your worries though, seems to be the involvement of a Nation/State. Is the nation/state the most likely governing body of such a rifid commons, an internet of things? Alone in a Digital Crowd, FLobius

 

 

 


 

1/22

 

On the Digital Composition Curriculum - I agree that our generation is very good a making claims. We are able to make creative and disturbing (which is good in a way) claims, but I think that it's just a lack of ambition that creates a lack for giving support to these claims. Along with the information overload, college students are used to getting as many things possible done as quickly as possible. As a suburb multi-tasker, I'm used to this philosophy. Thus, when something (ex: a figure of authority) demands time, preciseness, and support for our critical thinking my generation balks at the idea.

 

I also agree with the Curriculum in so far as that the Wiki will help students when confronting the different rhetorical situations. I think the fact that the Wiki can have looser standards, allows students not feel as though they must write whatever they think the professor wishes to hear. When students are freed from this expectation they naturally feel they can be more creative - that not everything has to be perfect. In the case of the Wiki, I think that the fact that students can be more creative or open, is equally as important as learning to deal in different rhetorical situations.

 

While I think that the Wiki is a good solution to the current generation's understanding of rhetoric, there is one thing that I would adjust - plagiarism. Any time, or any where a person is writing, whether it be for a paper or on the web it is always possible to plagiarize (not that I know this from first hand experience), but common sense would seem to dictate that it would be even easier on the web. For example, why not just have another student write a blog for you? The work would be an original, but its still clearly plagiarism and the professor has even less guard against this than on hard paper.

 

Finally, while I agree that a wireless campus would be a dream come true, I believe that, for now, it would only further the debate over rising tuition costs. Even with Laptops in the 500-600 dollar range, and the following reduction in textbook prices because of ebooks, I think that the public outcry of Penn State becoming a college for the already financial elite would grow much louder. Even in this day some of my friends are with computers of any sort - not even a desktop. I'd hate to envision a world in which they couldn't attend this school because they don't own a computer.

 

Call Me Ishamel : I actually heard that departments at Penn State (ex. College of Education) may require students at a certain level to have laptops. I'm not sure whether PSU will offer any discounts or assitance for this.

 

 


1/21

 

This user name is the most original ever.

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.