To find a interesting opening, I introduce a notion from current television show called ‘Halt and Catch Fire’. Although I just started, I learned one important thought from the first episode: a computer is not the thing we are looking forward to; computer is the thing that helps us get to see the ‘thing’. Continue reading “Re-Submission Essay I. Digital stage for life-long presentation”
Tag: essay
Essay. II. Online publisher: sharing bits of myself to the World
It has been a run for me to build website within less than four months. Confusion has been in my mind for the first two weeks of my Publishing course; I had to decide whom I am speaking to, what I would be able to share and how. Four-month of building online infrastructure is short; it is like taking shots that contain the essence of knowledge, which I would have to absorb quick enough to apply to my site. The very article, The strange & curious tale of the lost true hermit, by Michael Finkel strikes me with “…With no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant…” (2014). I realized that how important one has to find his/ hers identity through content sharing and technical skills.
To start with online audience, I built up my About page where I pictured my initial thought on what my blog posts would generate. Working in the cyberspace, I experienced self-talking; ‘Should I put this sketch first, or never?’ comes up frequently. The online disinhibition effect by John Suler explains how we act differently online, compared to face-to-face conversation. For instance, we are invisible and we could delay responses. As a result, some could be more open, true, or aggressive online. I have been always a shy and honest person, and it is still challenging to address something personal into interesting and valuable content to which the audience could relate. So, instead of sharing personal life, I choose to share bits of myself to the world through sketching. I always imagine holding sort of small artist talks to all urban sketchers, painters and all. I chose the easy way out to avoid over-sharing. Although emotions and thoughts are meant to share with others, vision tells the stories mostly, I think.
I gathered relevant information while sketching as much as I could to improve my content along with sketches. For instance, organization like Urban Sketchers is growing steadily with all artists they gather locally and internationally. Others like Brain pickings are all fantastic models that affect my future development of site. Artists have to organize a way that is concise to summarize their projects that appeal other inspiration. Through visualizing their data of daily life by construction of symbols, two designers open the door of self-exploration to the world (Popova, 2015). Facebook page setup, YouTube channel and Twitter are all my primary outreach tools and strings to the world. I am proud of myself that I have discovered these templates to present myself properly.
Then, it comes to self-monitoring. The Google Analytics allows me to see what I have earned from hard work. All those terms such as page views, sessions, bounce rate were thrown to us one day. We get to explore, and come up with questions to the tutorials and lectures. Numbers is all I could say in the beginning, but now I know about those definitions and how I could reflect on graphs. For instance, one person comes to my site, and leaves immediately without interacting with other pages. This would give 100% bounce rate (not a good example, but it will do). I saw my improvements; bounce rate got lower; sessions increased; duration increased. Tutorial assignments, especially, trigger my passion about video recoding. Hardly do I take videos. Abruptly, I am loving it. Uncertainty is inevitable. Dark Social: We have the whole history of the web wrong by Alexix C. Madrigal shows how secured sources would contribute to the site with dramatic force that we could ever predict (2012). I would never know this without taking this course, although I did not care much until now. I look forward to read graphs properly, and put uncertainty aside for alternative explanation.
Cyberspace is the opportunity to learn, share and care. This the last lesson I want to mention here. We live in a constant stream of future where people fill it with present bits of ourselves (Bridle, 2010). It is true and untrue. It may seem no sense picturing the future that is ‘present’ (now, right here). It is beyond imagination; that is why Bridle hands out this term. Piles of piles of invisible papers are compressed into the ‘future’ that is becoming convincing. It becomes a muddy pond where many of us do not even realize we are already in it. All we could do just make sorts of waves on the surface. I care sharing my sketches of Vancouver around the world, and I care posting my pictures and images to tell the day of mine. Therefore, I encourage myself to connect with others online, creating potential tribes where artists could lead and educate future generation. Unlike old times, one (company, organization, group etc) will not be effective by pushing out messages alone; we need to build the connections among tribes that care about sharing (Godin, 2009). The power is unimaginable.
Once again, my current publishing has made a splash onto my face; it surprised me that I could build a website that I have always wanted. My classmates and I have been sprinting to the end, beyond through the finish line. I will continue to explore our present future. We would never know how big the painting would be (or is now), but I am sure it would be go beyond the presumed frame.
References
Bridle, J. (2010, October 25). Network realism: William Gibson and new forms of fiction. Retrieved from http://booktwo.org/notebook/network-realism/
Finkel, M. (2014, September). The strange & curious tale of the last true hermit. GQ magazine, News & Politics. Retrieved from http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit?currentPage=1
Godin, S. (2009). The tribes we lead. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead#t-481098
Madrigal C, A. (2012, October 12). Dark social: we have the whole history of the web wrong. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/dark-social-we-have-the-whole-history-of-the-web-wrong/263523/
Popova, M. (2015, March 19). Dear Data: Two Designers Visualize the Mundane Details of Daily Life in Magical Illustrated Postcards Mailed Across the Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/19/dear-data-giorgia-lupi-stefanie-posavec/
Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. The psychology of cyberspace, 7 (321-326). Retrieved from http://users.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html
Assignment: Peer Review. Essay I.
“The Shift from print to digital literacy” by Maaza Ali.
When it comes to peer reviews, I often find it challenging. First, English is my second language, and secondly, giving constructive criticism is difficult. Nevertheless, I will do my utmost.
The shift from print to digital literacy is a broad topic, and moreover, it is challenging to pick one specific topic; like networks, the digital is wired like a giant mess, sometimes. Ali’s essay is easy to follow through to the end with references where they are appropriately cited. “The aspect of people from two different generations” is introduced along with the changing features of technology that delivers information/ data (cited in Ali, 2015, p.1). Definitions of two generations, digital immigrants and natives, are well addressed together with examples of how people would adapt to such technology changes (cited in Ali, 2015, p.1). The use of physical lexicon is rarely the choice for people who search for meaning of a word; online searching becomes the primary tool for most people (Ali, 2015). Ali’s interesting divisions of different generations prepare the direction of essay for audience. A great shaping technique in the introduction. This makes me wonder about the generation that is far beyond the profession (technology use).
The economical benefits, such as the comparison of investment on print & digital media, and the advertisement market change are both features that Ali has selected in the essay (2015, p.1-2). Regarding the effects of this shift that makes user range of technology wider, I think it is crucial to mention the results. Unlike Ali’s opinion, I think this is a feature of the shift from print to digital literacy as well; it is much deeper feature that is hidden among human behaviors/ adapting feature (I might be wrong about this). The potential adverse effects of brain cognition (memorization) has been discussed in Carr’s article (2008). This is also mentioned through Ali’s example: the researching and studying for exams may not be necessarily better (2015, p.2). Ali’s selected examples are convincing, which reflects her excellent summarizing skills of selected articles as references.
Through her opinions on the accessible, fast tools to the World Wide Web, I think her target audience would be students and educators (probably just former one). The critical thinking about resources through sites should be the primary weapon for online users in order to get trustworthy, qualified information (cited in Ali, 2015, p.2). “Adding onto the importance of understanding social media sties” is introduced with following references and examples (Ali, 2015, p.2). The only recommendation from myself is to make a statement like ‘online users/ students, again, should learn this online critical judgement and decision making when they face such abundance of applications’ after the feature of storytelling.
The conclusion is stated in a concise form of restating opinions for online users. The overall assigned topic is broad, but Ali managed to select examples and guide readers throughout the essay. It has been a eye-opening experience of reading someone’s work.
Note. The reference order could be reordered alphabetically.
Essay. I. Digital stage for life-long self presentation
Sometimes it is extremely hard to define a transformation of any kind; before we acknowledge the change, we have been experiencing/ experimenting it already. The development of technology that introduces the so called ‘cyberspace’, a term that stands for any ‘space’ created by computer networks, is the trigger of the emergence of digital stage (Abercrombie & Longhurst, 2007). On this stage, we have questioned, and are continue to look for debates about the shifts from print to digital literacy. Perhaps, we have been wondering how this digital stage would shape our online behaviors and identities. Moreover, certain adverse effects could raise public awareness of such technology-based society. In order to address my own perception of digital era, it is crucial to introduce broad shifts and features during this transition from print to digital media. Although negative views would be discussed such as online disinhibition related to identity, the life-long self presentation would be the educational focus to be addressed for future students and educators.
The Web 2.0 storytelling introduces the use of technology, tools and strategies to circulate the information (Alexander & Levine, 2008). Both microcontent and social media are discussed as two main features of Web 2.0 due to the fact that the worldwide accepted definition cannot be concluded. The outcomes turn out to be positive. For example, it makes it easier and accessible for participation and publishing through new practices for telling stories (Alexander & Levine, 2008). The ‘snowball’ effect could perfectly describe the exposure of microcontent. For instance, one post is connected through comments, links, and the content would be placed around those potential readers (Alexander & Levine, 2008).
When the cyberspace is forming at fast pace, there are two terms, ‘disinhibition‘ and ‘benign disinhibition‘, which are generated. Online users would feel free and open, or establish unusual kindness & generosity (Suler, 2004). The barriers of communication exist due to the creation of cyberspace where invisibility, asynchronicity get involved (Suler, 2004). Online users could have the mask to tell stories whether it is genuine or aggressive; meanwhile, when it comes to responding, users have the option to escape for a while, delaying the responses (Suler, 2004). Moreover, the phenomenon of the explosion of suppressed emotions becomes daily norms.
Such recognition of online negative, or perhaps positive influence on some users, leads to the idea of building personal cyberinfrastructure. Campbell points out a paucity of information among students, educators and staff due to the fact that few students are guided to the digital stage (2009). For instance, the enormous communication tools such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, Blogs provide the opportunity for users to present and imagine what could be expressed (Campbell, 2009). But, they won’t necessarily have the passion to discover their ways of presentation, scoring the expectation of what professors prefer. If students, educators and staff do not take advantage of such opportunity to train themselves to learn and imagine continuously, the invaluable of self-presentation could be buried completely. And, what Campbell suggests is to encourage educational facilities to introduce a building process of personal cyberinfrastructure (2009). All students, educators and staff would absorb knowledge, not being onlookers that follow the existed frames of academic work(Campbell, 2009). There is always space for improvements for any system that functions already.
As Campbell suggests, the process of building personal cyberinfrastructure would stimulate students, educators and staff to actually think like hosts (2009). To discuss some specific ways of self-presentation, Grafton and Maurer discover and report their findings about the online public engagements, based on two specific sites: Canada Reads and homeless blog: The Homeless Guy (2008). When bloggers write about Canada Reads, they not only target the blog’s exigence of self cultivation and validation, but also annual literary events (Grafton & Maurer, 2008). Through posting related information, bloggers like John Mutford, a winner prediction in blog post, would engage with Canada Reads, circulate texts and opinions in public (Grafton & Maurer, 2008). Likewise, bloggers like Barbieux would choose to “expand the exigence of self cultivation and validation by arranging for new subject positions not only for themselves but for other homeless people” (Grafton & Maurer, 2008, p. 56). For instance, Barbieux tends to link to other homeless blogs to promote the homeless blog as a “public and civic genre” instead of individual, personal voice (Grafton & Maurer, 2008, p. 58). Importantly, as students, educators and staff who are new to this digital stage, they all have to conquer obstacles, finding their all ways of presenting themselves as well as engaging the public. That is when people could obtain knowledge, exchange traits and skills around the world.
The life-long self presentation on digital stage is a learning process, a educational pathway for each individual. Future students, educators and staff would have to embrace such technology based digital world to improve themselves by recognizing potential effects, building personal cyberinfrastructure and engaging the public. In order to minimize future generation being lost in their cyberspace, all educators, students and all would have to be involved passionately and responsibly. Our ability of self presentation are not inherent, it requires the energy input of knowledge absorption.
References
Abercrombie, N., & Longhurst, B. (2007). Dictionary of media studies. Penguin Books.
Alexander, B. & Levine, A (2008). Emergence of a New Gerne. Web 2.0 Storytelling,1. EduCause Review. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://files.umwblogs.org/blogs.dir/3162/files/2010/01/web2.0_storytelling.pdf
Campbell, G. (2009). A Personal Cyberinfrastructure. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/personal-cyberinfrastructure
Grafton, K., & Maurer, E. (2007). Engaging with and arranging for publics in blog gernes. Linguistics & The Human Sciences. 3(1). Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/ehost/detail/detail?sid=9dec45a1-81e8-4558-9b64-7f2553787cc1%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ufh&AN=36133600
Suler, J. (2004). The Online Disinhibition Effect. CyberPsychology and Behavior. 7(321-326). Retrieved from http://users.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/disinhibit.html
