Someday, I want to Work for the Phillies

I just added the official Phillies website link to my blog.  I have been a faithful Phillies fan for 40 years.  I’ve been a fan through the good years and the lean years.  It doesn’t matter.  Though it sure is more fun when they are winning.   I unfortunately don’t have season tickets, and the new park is absolutely wonderful.  I’ve been there a half dozen times in the past few years, though never with really really good seats.  I actually prefer to watch on TV – the view is great, and you can see the players up close.  Many folks think baseball is too slow.  I say ‘every pitch counts’.  The game can turn on a dime with one pitch. 

I know what job I want when I retire.  Have you ever noticed the guy who sits behind home plate at Phillies home games?  He has a radar gun, a two-way radio, and a pencil and paper.  He has a great seat, gets to see every game, he calls each pitch in over the radio so the type of pitch (fast ball, slider, curve, etc) and its speed can appear on the scoreboard.  Then he jots it down in his notebook so the statisticians can do what they do.  Ever seen a game with more statistics?  Gotta Love it!

 

 

on Hypertext, copyright protection

I spent time reading the Jews Daughter, by Judd Morrissey.  I find the concept of hypertext exciting and full of possibilities, but this work leaves me cold.  It is not well written, nor is the story engaging.  The hypertext features do not flow, and leave me wondering where to read next.  When I pass over the link, the page changes, whether I wanted it to or not – very disappointing.  Once the text changed, I wondered, should I go back to the beginning, or continue from there?  I wanted to lay my head down on the railroad tracks and end the misery!  (OK, not that bad, I just clicked out of the story and ended the misery.)

When I think of hypertext, I envision a text with hyperlinks that takes you to other documents or sites, perhaps by another author.  The links add dimension to the text, perhaps explaining a meaning of a word or concept, or link to another text related to the one you are reading. 

There are obvious concerns about hypertext and copywrite protection, ownership of the work.    As Devoss and Porter say, there is widespread confusion as to what constitutes appropriate use of copright-protected materials… Not surprisingly, there is also deep confusion as to what is “right” when using the words and works of another.   Since these issues have yet to be worked out, I am going to err on the side of caution, and seek permission before linking someone’s work within my own.  And, talk about timing – is it a coincidence that Rowan just sent out warnings to students about file sharing (DMCA e-mail) and we have been asked to read  Devoss and Porter for WEC – timing is everything! 

That said, I would have loved to have read some of the works used in Writing for Electronic Communities in the hypertext genre.  Especially if the linked information defined the terms and theories described within the text.  If that is the future, I’m up for that!  If the future is the Jews Daughter, I’ll pass.

 

Musings on Color Monitors

We read and discussed Color Monitors, The Black face of technology in america by Martin Kevorkian a week or so ago.  It has taken me some time to think about, and be able to blog about my impressions.  I can tell you that I was at first, and still am very unsettled.  Kevorkian advances theories that white society is using technology as the new slavery.  He theorizes that technology, in lieu of slavery is containing the black man; it is dirty work that no one else wants to do.  White society has given that job to the black man.  Kevorkian points out examples in ads; the business executive is pictured as a mature white male with hands free to leisurely drink his coffee while the black male is chained (figuratively) to the computer, working out the dirty details.  Similarly, in movies such as Mission Impossible, Die Hard, Terminator II, Kevorkian depicts the black male as the technology expert, saving the day for the white super hero who can’t or won’t deal with hacking or stopping the computerized countdown to nuclear obliteration.

I am unsettled because I don’t want to be racist.  I don’t want to think that anyone is using technology as a way to “keep a black man (or woman) or any other minority in a certain place”.  That is a repugnant thought to me.  I want to get beyond this. 

I don’t agree with the notion that technology is dirty work.  I am in awe of anyone who has these skills.  But, am I naive?  Is there a conspiracy or a subconscious effort in Hollywood or on Madison Avenue to contain blackness?  Is the portrayal of the technology expert as a black man or woman their manifestation of that effort?  I hope not.  I can tell you that I am going to be very observant of advertising and movies from now on to see.  In that respect, I’m glad to have read Kevorkian’s book – it’s important to recognize that this might be happening, and it’s important to have this discourse.

Dad saw tremendous change in his life…

My father-in-law was born in 1905.  If he were alive today, he’d be 103.  He actually lived to be 92.  He was a simple man, having lived in the same house his entire life, in a farming community in rural South Jersey.  Our farm is pictured above in my header.  His family did not get electricity until he was 22 years old, and running water came 5 years after that.  They did not get a local newspaper, because they did not read English.  Once a week, they traveled by horse or train about 7 miles to the local Italian Market for the Italian newspaper and other supplies.

The best story he ever told was about the first time he saw an airplane (bi-plane).  He was about 14 (1919), and working in the field with the family.  They heard a strange noice and looked up to see a strange creature in the sky coming toward them.  Some ran, some screamed, some cowered in fear.  In the end, as it passed overhead without harming them, they came to the conclusion that it was a motorcycle that could fly.

He lived to see (and hear) radio, television, telephone.  He lived through the influenza pandemic of 1919, and lived to see (and receive) vaccines for illness that killed previously.  He lived through the depression, both World Wars, the nuclear bomb, the cold war, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm.  He embraced the microwave oven.  He saw man land on the moon and he saw the Concorde pass over the same field 75 years after that first airplane sighting.  He retired his horses and bought a tractor and a farm truck.

He took it all in, and marveled at how fast everything changed.  Yet, he remained a simple man with few needs and desires.  He did not let the bombardment of emerging technology and information disrupt his daily routine.  He used what he needed, and ignored the rest.  That’s why he lived to 92.  He was content, he was wise.

I wonder, can we do the same?

 

Group Chat about Datacloud

Our Writing for Electronic Communities (WEC) class discusses a different author and text each week.  Typically, we have sat in a circle and talked about the book, author, theories, implications, ramifications of the text.  This week, we were surprised to learn we were to discuss the text by Johnson-Eilola in a different way.  We chatted in chat rooms created by the professor – anonymously and silently (at least we tried).  At first, I admit I was intimidated, having never really chatted this way.  I didn’t think I could keep up, and initially I did have difficulty jumping in as fast as my chat-mates.  Chat discusions are different, in that it’s possible for responses to lag far behind the question.  I guess the veteran chatters are used to keeping up with the discussion that jumps forward and back and forward again.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and wish we had more opportunities like this.  However, I’m not really sure how much of the book we actually did discuss – the experience of chat rooms (at least for our group) is informal, and we drifted off topic a lot.  I worked up a sweat, and my lap-top was getting warm too!  I had fun!

Questions on Tufte and Kress & Van Leeuwen

Tufte:

1.  Are you in agreement that Power Point is inadequate for most of the presentations given today, that is, not designed for presentation of cogent thought?  Is there a better presentation tool?

2.  Has the Power Point tool helped or hurt the development of effective presentation skills?  How do you teach effective presentation skills, or how do you develop a meaningful presentation?

Kress & Van Leeuwen:

3.  What is semiotics? (really!!)

4.  As writers, do you see yourselves bringing other semiotic resources into your work to broaden meaning?  When is it more (or less) appropriate to use other genres to supplement meaning?

5.  As a writer, do you resist multimodal discourse?  Does using other semiotic resources cheat the written word by lessening the dependence on eloquent phrasing, vocabulary or descriptive prose?

6.  Do you agree or disagree with Kress and Van Leeuwen in Chapter 6 (111).  First and foremost we have tried to show that meaning is made in many different ways, always, in the many different modes and media which are co-present in a communicational ensemble.  This entails that a past (and still existent) common sense to the effect that meaning resides in language alone – or, in other versions of this, that language is the central means of representing and communicating even though there are ‘extra-linguistic’, ‘para-linguistic’ things going on as well – is simply no longer tenable, that it never really was, and certainly is not now.

Note: my observations on Tufte and Kress & Van Leeuwen are below this entry.

 

Observations of Kress & Van Leeuwen and Tufte Readings

This week’s readings for our Writing for Electronic Communities class at Rowan are Multimodal Discourse by Gunther Kress & Theo Van Leeuwen, and The Cognitive Style of Power Point: Pitching Out Corrupts Within by Edward R. Tufte.

Power Point by Tufte

I’ll start with the more readable text first, Tufte’s Power Point (PP) discussion.  Perhaps everyone already knows what Tufte asserts in this book, however I have never read negative reviews of Power Point.  At a basic level, I knew of the weaknesses of PP from many years of experience in the business world. 

As Tufte says, PP has made it easy for someone to organize his or her thoughts (4) into a presentation.  However, its design has severe limitations.  Presentations delivered in PP usually leave the audience wanting more simply because there isn’t enough space on a PP slide to put a complete, coherent thought.  Bullet points are the norm, and rarely do they capture the entire story.

It has been my frustrating experience on more than one occasion to attend a trade conference, only to have to choose between two or more presentations occuring at the same time.  Afterward, when a colleague helpfully gives me the slides from the presentation, I find there are completely lacking.  PP should never be used to report serious problems – Serious problems require a serious tool: written reports (14).  I have never come to rely on PP to deliver an important analysis or proposal.  I prefer the white paper approach (written report), with an executive summary as Tufte recommends (handouts showing words, numbers, data, graphics, images) on page 15.  Using Tufte’s example, it is sad (and tragic) that the NASA engineers used the PP to report their findings and analysis on the potential damage to the Columbia during launch. 

To summarize Tufte, PP has a few good points, but also is severely lacking as a report tool.  The design of PP requires the user to pick a few bullet points – not necessarily the important points, and very prettily lay them out on a slide – complete with bells and whistles (phluff) to dazzle the audience.   But, even during a presentation where the slides are merely supplemental to the talk itself, audiences can be bored as Tufte explains on page 15.  ‘Thin content leads to boring presentations.  To make them unboring, PP Phluff is added, damaging the content, making the presentation more boring, requiring more Phluff’ …a vicious cycle.

Multimodal Discourse by Kress & Van Leeuwen

I struggled with this text.  There, I admit it.  Instead of digging deep into the many theories presented, I’ll approach this at a high level.  What was the goal of this book? What lessons or messages were Kress and Van Leeuwen trying to convey?  I’ll give my spin, but I may be totally off base.  If so, be gentle with me.

Contemporary communication has come to rely on more than written or spoken language.  Technological advances have allowed and encouraged the comingling and codependence of many different types of media to convey a thought or idea conceived by the artist (broadly used).  Previously, monomodality was the preferred method of communicating, for example, the genres of writing, painting, music were specialized, and not intermingled to express feelings and messages.  (A picture is worth a thousand words). 

More recently, this trend is reversing and artists, writers, musicians are using other genres to bring greater meaning to their work.  Kress and Van Leeuwen mention community practice and interactivity as key.  Artists (broadly used) may rely on specialists in other genres to complete their product, such as the writer bringing his or her story to the big screen or a video game.  There are specialists to develop the screenplay, the set design, the costume design, the director and producer, the animation artist, the software code design and programming.  

This is multimodal discourse.  The blending of many genres to create a conversation or exchange of ideas.  Kress and Van Leeuwen present these ideas, and then further discuss theory backward, forward and sideways.  That’s where they lost me, however I do see the benefit in using the multimodal concept in every area where communication is necessary: business, education, government, medicine, arts, etc.  Adding meaning to an idea through any available genre can help convey the message better.  Maybe the challenge we face as the artist is to ensure it is done well, and doesn’t distract or detract from our meaning. 

As an aside, what effect will the addition of taste, smell and touch have when technology enables these semiotic modes to be used? 

Syverson, Miller and Descartes

Questions for this evening’s WEC class center around the rest of Syverson’s book, The Wealth of Reality and readings by Richard Miller.   Questions 4 & 5 by Joe present an interesting contrast and focus on Miller’s readings.  In question 4, we are asked, given all of the information available to us in this digital age, how to recognize wheat versus chaff, or as I interpret it, quality information and truth versus garbage or fluff.  Question 5 then goes on to discuss all of the information we learn during a lifetime – the more knowledge we acquire, the more we can intellectually sort through it, put the pieces together and find clarity in all knowledge. 

But, if we question how to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, how are we to be sure the clarity we think we gain from all this knowledge is quality?  We need to be careful that the knowledge we think we have gained isn’t really chaff.  This is especially critical for children and teens.  It takes a lot of experience and maturity to be able to sort good information from bad.  Children and teens need adult guidance, feedback and input to decipher the information overload.

How do we do this?  I think the best way is discourse with others, especially experts.  If we express our interpretations and invite feedback, either in the classroom or on message boards - e.g., Syverson and perturbation, we may find that we were all wrong, or partly wrong, or absolutely in concert with others.  Or, as in the xlchc message board, not right or wrong, but pro or con on an issue.  Webster’s definition of perturbation is the action of causing or throwing into confusion.  Perturbations can cause ripples or waves with positive or negative results, but nonetheless, should be welcomed because nothing is gained without change.

My health deteriorated fast and furious…

My last blog post to my classmates in Rowan’s WEC class described my impending hysterectomy.  But what happened in the days following was scary.  I saw the doctor on Wednesday, February 27th.  I had pre-admission testing that afternoon, thinking I would be scheduled for the surgery the following Monday.  I didn’t hear from the doctor by late Friday, the 29th.  My symptoms were worsening by the day.  I was told I’d hear from the doctor by Monday, March 3rd.  Nada.  Little did I know that my doctor scheduled the procedure for Thursday, March 7th.  I guess they forgot the little details, like letting the patient know.  Early Tuesday morning on the 4th, my body gave out.  I passed out cold onto the bathroom floor, in the process giving myself a black eye and a broken front tooth.  Thankfully, my husband was there to rush me to the emergency room, where I was admitted and the blood transfusion began.  In all, I needed 3 pints of blood before I was stable for the surgery. 

The surgery was successful, the post-surgery morphine drip delightful, and the hospital stay of 5 days was actually pleasant.  Could that be the morphine talking?  I don’t remember much of the few days prior, or the 24 hours after the surgery – I was really out of it until Saturday when they sent me home. 

Did you know that sneezing or coughing can be excruciatingly painful after abdominal surgery?  We take such things for granted.  Even getting out of bed, walking, and sitting in a chair are a challenge in those first few days and weeks.  I did nothing but lay flat on my back for many days, getting up only to eat and use the bathroom.  

I’m glad that part of the recuperation is behind me.  I still can’t drive a car, and am out of work for another 4 weeks.  I also have the repair of my tooth to look forward to, and I like most people dread dental work.  If you’ve never been on medical leave, the perception is that it is a nice long vacation from work, school, and other community obligations.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m Back!

Well, let me qualify that and say I’m back, but operating on about 4 cylinders.  It was an experience I never want to have again.  Surely won’t have this particular surgery again (hysterectomy), there’s nothing left to take out!!  But, seriously, I knew it would be a painful recovery, I just didn’t think it would take this long. 

 Now the challenge begins – trying to pick up where I left off with the WEC class.  I’ve read my classmates’ blogs, looking for insight on the assigned readings and video clips I’ve missed.  Not a lot of help there, so I’ll wait for class tonight.

see you then!  I’ve missed everyone…