Step in to my shoes.

2003-12-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

A Review of my Progress Over the Entire Course

This course gave me a chance to experience a new way of studying english. I found a new freedom in expressing my self in the written format. Going over the past web blogs and papers of mine, I found an improving trend in my analytical and argumentative skills. I am able to now evaluate discussions by basing them on various criterions instead of on a single supporting reason. In my second blog which was about Joanne Jacob I based my argument on her style of writing instead of her reasoning abilities. This was before I was able to analyze her blog from the audiences’ point of view instead of my own. This line from my blog entry on Joanne Jacob should justifies my above concern of my lack of perspective “I find it very informative and to the point but it lacks a more stylistic approach. The language is basic and hardly ever intense. In my mind she scores points for being able to arrange arguments and examples in a logically uninterrupted way”. From the audiences point of view, her blog must have been a good source of information and must have delivered the argument strongly enough to convince them. In my second paper one can observe an improvement in my writing ability. Here I was able to really bring up a good discussion off the impact of the text on the general audience and why. The second paper was based on a visual text which put me in the seat along with the rest of the audience. This provided me with the opportunity to get a better idea of what the audience was feeling while observing the visual text. This can be seen from the following paragraph which is an excerpt from my second paper. “It is understandable that some people might not like the movie because it might remind them of times of suffering. It also might be disturbing for them to watch the movie. There are specific parts in the movie that are explicitly violent and mentally shocking. Scenes where they show people getting shot in the head are not easy to watch; neither is the scene in which they show the mass incineration of bodies. This is another aspect which makes the movie so compelling to watch. Seeing what really happens with all the gruesome details makes us understand the true sufferings and dehumanizing treatment that the Jewish people under went. There are also several scenes with open nudity which might offend some but what needs to be understood is that it was not added for any sexual intent but to depict the real humiliation that the victims of the Holocaust had to live with. The part in the movie when the women and children are sent to Auschwitz and their hair is cut short and they are made to strip off their clothes, they are then sent into the gas chamber, is incredibly tense and at this moment we can really relate with the characters”. Here I made a really good evaluation of the movies affect on the audience.

I felt the part of the course where we studied about the uses of visual texts as a form of argument intriguing. I feel that my blog entries during the course of this discussion are better written than the other entries. My blog on whether photos where a technology of memory is an example of my best moments at expressing my self through my writing. I developed a solid but brief argument on how pictures were a moment in time captured on celluloid to be a source of memory for a past experience.

The readings of the course followed an evolutionary direction, starting from story telling going through photography and finally telecommunication, of the flow of information. The first essay was by Walter Benjamin, here he discussed the death of conventional story telling as a way of spreading information to the printing press which was invented after the first world war. People became more concerned with receiving accurate and reliable information. We then go on to talk about photography in Roland Barthes’ essay. I feel here I was very critical of him as a credible source of argument as he didn’t consider him self a photographer and a person who lacked the patience to partake in photography. Sure one can be a person who admires photos but until they have tried taking any of their own they really can’t understand the difficulty of taking a good picture. The next reading assignment was by Tara McPherson, she debates about how the internet wasn’t able to fulfill its promise of being a livelier format compared to the television. After evaluating her ethos I found her rhetoric to be quite full proof. The final reading was surrounding the development of telecommunications and if one day people would be able to telecommunicate instead of traveling physically. However noble this idea is it wasn’t really practical as not all jobs at the moment can be done from home and require human interaction. I was able to make a fare evaluation of each of the above reading assignments. I based my evaluation here on ethos, pathos and logos. I am sure my views aren’t entirely accurate which is true as I still have more room for improvement in my evaluative and expressive skills while writing.

One might say the most difficulty I had would have to be when we had to write blogs on the blog entries of other authors like Salam Pax. This was mainly due to the vast amount of information present on his blog, it was hard for me to find his underlying main argument as he had an ambivalent outlook over the war in Iraq. Therefore I found my self struggling over my first paper; trying to develop on his major arguments only to later find him contradicting it him self. Also my blog entry on turning table was one of my poorly written ones due to the same reason.

The use of a group project was an interesting experience for me. While writing my individual entries I found the other entries adding support to my arguments. In my entry about the sky car I found Ankit’s arguments on safety backing up mine of about how the realization of the sky car depends upon safety. The project had an interesting dynamic where there was an intermingling between our blog entries. This further helped us to back each others arguments. Thus developing a unified forum for the expression of our thoughts to support our underlying argument of how cars are dependent on modern technology for their safety and efficiency.

After reflecting on my course in English 1101, I find my self at a higher plane of writing ability than when I first got into this class. I find my self now able to better examine an author’s work and right away find their ethos, pathos and logos. There is still a lot of improvement needed. I still need to better articulate my thoughts and at the same time express it eloquently. My written work is still in the process of evolution and it will take a while for it to meet the recommended standards. This course has helped me to take the first step towards my much needed improvements.

2003-12-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

titleHow video games affect us.

One of the groups had a presentation about video gaming in general. They talked about the way in which they affect people. The examples provided of some extreme cases of addiction were disturbing but true. Who would have thought something as harmless as a game could be hazardous to ones life?
This general trend of people to accept video games over outdoor activities is becoming more popular. Video games are a form of escapist entertainment; enabling us to get away from reality and for a while be someone else. Maybe today one could be a football player and win the championship or a racecar driver behind the wheel of some of the most expensive cars in the world. Its this escapist environment provided by games that get people addicted to it. People become more secluded and sometimes give up their social lives completely. This is one of the points that they forgot to mention in the presentation.
Then there is talk about how violent games influence young adults like the infamous Grand Theft Auto series. Many say that the games can't be blamed. But once a child is desensitized to such a large amount of violence they consider it to be normal behavior. To prevent this from happening retailers should enforce greater restriction on the sales of certain games depending on the age of the consumer.
The prsentation did not provide the measures that are neede to be taken. In the end games are showing an increase in violence. Also the development of improved graphics makes games more gruesome and realistic. This cant be stopped but if parents and corporations take the right measures violent games can be kept away from minors.
Overall it was an informative presentation with some intresting facts. They also did manage to show some incredible fottage of the graphics that the latest games are using these days and the various complex systems and programs required for it all to work smoothly.

2003-11-19T23:08:00.000-08:00

Telecommunication with refrence to human lives

William J Mitchell here tries to clarify the reaction of society to the advancement of telecommunication. How the space between work and home can be brought closer in space by telecommunications.
The discussion of people being able to work at home independent from an actual office is hard to believe. Take for example the job of a barber or any other profession requires their presence. Most people would rather have a face to face with a human being than communicating online. His idea of using telecommunications to let people work at home so they can be closer to their families is a good argument. He brings up the argument of how the separation between living and working spaces can be reduced using modern forms of communication. This point is not entirely acceptable because there is always going to be a gap; how can an employer make sure an employee is working at home. Then there are the distractions one has to contend with at home resulting in a sub par performance from a worker. The general human behavior and tendencies prevent me from actually seeing his idea materialize.
He uses a college as a paradigm of an enclosed society; which is self-sufficient in most aspects of providing dwelling near to the laboratories and classrooms. What if the entire world had such communities? I for one view the separation between workspace and living facilities as an inconvenience created by general human nature. The stubbornness of human beliefs and needs prevents us from actually seeing Williams dream of a telecommuting world take place in the future.

2003-11-10T01:04:00.000-08:00

titleThe pros and cons of the web

Tara McPherson discuses the inability of the internet to stick to its promise; of being more lively than television. She uses MSNBC, Pseudo and Den as examples of failed attempts.
The internets promise of being user interactive and based completely on the users choice failed. Most of the websites are unidirectional and divert their clients in one specific direction. She sites the MSNBC website as an example. The word fordism is used to describe the mechanical assembly line of similar functions one has to follow while on the web. Also the web gives us a feeling of mobility although it is mostly text and still images; this is brought on by the movement of the cursor, the ability to travel from one web page to another, the use of flash to move objects around and various other techniques.
The illusionary element of the web can be experienced through the use of search engines. They mislead us into believing that we are able explore the web completely and freely while actually only 30-40 percent is represented by search engines. She brings up the point of the webs ability as an interactive medium of shopping compared to catalogues. With the users ability to browse easily and find their specific needs without actually leaving their own homes.
Her arguments about the internets inability are quite sound considering the present state of the net. It is at an infantile state at the moment and is therefore still growing and developing. It still has a chance of living up to its promises and maybe even someday be able to replace the television.

2003-11-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Blog on Roland Barthes

Roland Barthes tries to classify and discuss photography. He finds it extremely hard to classify them. He tries to classify them on the basis of aesthetics, the perspective of the photographer and the spectators’ feelings about the picture.
He does setup these criteria, but remains vague and actually fails to classify theme. He clearly mentions that he is not a photographer and doesn’t actually have the patience for it; he then goes on to write a book about photography. I find this very confusing that he would write a book on something he doesn’t have a passion for. Then there is the needles way in which he brings him self up for different topics; of how he finds it difficult to posse for a picture and that he always ends up looking awkward in pictures. His philosophy on photos as the death of the subject because of their transition to objects although sound is completely unnecessary in his discussion on photography.
The last couple of chapters he writes about the death of his mother; about his emotions and memories as he goes through her old pictures. Here we see him using pictures as a tool of memory. His memory of his mother is fragmented with him remembering only certain parts of pictures and noticing a change in his mother’s personality as he goes through the pictures from different points in her life.
He really doesn’t make an interesting argument and centers the entire book on his point of view. He also likes photography from the perspective of the audience rather than the photographer. Therefore he really can’t clarify what type photos are taken by them and why.

2003-10-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

titleThe Aspects of Early Cinematography

Most of the movies that were made during the early creation of the motion camera are now beyond repair and therefore now lost. The ones that were preserved are very significant. They give us insight into the early days of motion picture and what people would expect from movies.
Some of the common aspects of movies were their lack of sound or even close-ups on characters. Movies those days provided the common people views of exotic places which they could not imagine of visiting. Edison had many movies where he took panoramic views of famous places like the Eiffel tower in Paris. Most of the movies are short; mostly single scenes of activities like trains passing by or going through tunnels and the launching of ships.
A lot of the acting was exaggerated to make up for the lack of sound or close-ups. This helps us understand the emotions of the actors without hearing their tone of voice. It was also the time when people began experimenting with different forms of camera tricks. Like the movie which we saw in class showing the painting appear from a black canvas was shot with the performers acting backwards. When the audience began to tire of these kinds of movies the filmmakers decide to use sex as way to gather more crowds. They started to depict scenes in which men would try to seduce women and people would wait in suspense wondering if they would succeed or not. This is where movies shifted from an informational resource to an entertainment provider.
These movies provide us a view of where the modern pictures came from. It gives us an idea of the technological advances and evolution of cinematography over the years.

2003-10-17T17:19:00.000-07:00

TitleDescription of the High Museum of Art

My visit to the High Museum of Art was an intresting experience. There were two exhibits on display; Ansel Adams and his legacy of time & a matter of time: Edward Hopper.
The design of the atrium allows maximum entry of light in to it giving us a spacious feeling. The art exhibitions are placed on separate floors accessible by a ramp that winds its way up to the different floors. The different floors are designed in an ‘L’ shape around the two sides of one corner of the atrium; the ramp up to the exhibits is on the opposite corner.
The exhibit on Ansel Adam was very well arranged in a narrative showing his older works and how he progresses into his present form of photography.
The other exhibit was much more eclectic ranging from photos to painting to sculptures.
It lacked any narrative also there was no chronological arrangement of any of the works.
The arrangement wasn’t exactly confusing but it was hard to know which order to see a certain assortment of works in.
The Ansel Exhibit did present its works properly. It illustrates the impact a single picture can make that a thousand words could never express. The high museum does have certain deficiencies for example the lack of chronological arrangement of pieces in the Edward Hopper exhibit. There are also certain works of art that just surprise me that they can be considered as art. The high museum is an excellent place in which art can be presented and viewed.

2003-10-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

Tilte: The Best Movie Ever.

Movies are excellent sources of visual text these days; but there the few which stand out from the rest and grab the recognition that it deserves. A movie like Schindler's List takes the art form of film production to a higher level. No other movie yet has surpassed the quality of such a movie.
The movies creation was not for mere entertainment but to get a greater message through to the audience. To remind them of the plight of the Jewish people under the Nazi rule in Germany; to serve as a testament to the Jewish people who survived World War 2 and those who weren't able to make it. I would like to evaluate the movies as a visual text based on the experience it provides to the audience. The audiences' reactions, emotions and thoughts after they have seen the movie.
Also I would like to discuss the reasons ass to why the movie was filmed in black and white and how it actually adds to a better experience. I decided to write about it because of the impact it made on me and how it changed my stance on certain issues. When one learns about the war in a history book the plight of the Jews is never mentioned in detail; one doesn't actually understand what they have been through or learn about the presence of Germans who cared for Jews.
I know my visual text doesn't actually need me to argue its merits as most people know what a great movie it is. Metaphorically even if the home team is ahead fans still don't stop cheering; so I guess it wouldn't hurt to be fan cheering on the success of Schindler's List.

2003-10-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

tiltePhotography as a technology of Memory

The term” photographic memory” is used often to describe the ability of some people to retain information in the form of pictures, thus giving them an advantage at memorizing information. A single picture can often explain a lot more than if something was to be explained in words. When someone takes a picture; they do so to help them remember that moment better, like at a wedding, someone’s birthday or any big event.
I been to a lot of major events and also have traveled a bit, but I never spend much of that time taking picture. I like to take pictures that are visually stunning and provide a source for aesthetic fulfillment instead of memory. Take for example the photographs that can be seen in National Geographic magazines. They are breathtaking yet informational.
Memories come rushing back when I go through my childhood photos. These memories are much more detailed opposed to ones that are just remembered without any visual aid. A picture is like a point in time captured specifically to remind someone of that moment. Why would any one take pictures if they aren’t going to go through them again?
Compared to computers, internet and other new devices photos are behind as a technology of memory; depending on the capacity of storage of information. But almost most of the information on these devices is represented in the form of pictures; therefore they are also dependent on pictures.
Humanity has always stored information in pictures. Prehistoric man drew cave paintings. Ancient Egyptians painted hieroglyphics and modern man uses photos.
No matter how any body looks at it visual media will always be a technology of memory.

2003-09-25T20:38:00.000-07:00

titleCausal Argument on Stem Cell Research

Stem Cell research has become one of the most controversial issues of our time. Especially with George W Bush allowing federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in the US. Also in 2002 Research work on human embryos were granted licenses by the House of Commons in Britain.
The editorial in the BBC website makes believable arguments on the importance and advantages of stem cell research. They mention how it can help to cure diseases like Parkinson; how it can be used to grow genetically identical organs for transplants. This study might be useful in the future to cure cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. If it has so many advantages what is all the controversies about? Many activists believe that embryos are living organisms and their use in research is tantamount to murder. Which isn’t exactly true; stem cells can also be obtained from adult cells. Also embryos left over; after IVF treatment will have to be destroyed in any case.
Many people see the research as unethical and illegal and they do not look at the long term advantages of the study. The editorial develops around the issue and touches upon many points, for example the need for such a technology and how it can be used. The writer is kind of one sided as the activists side of the debate is not mentioned and why exactly they oppose stem cell research so strongly. Overall BBC is a credible source for balanced news. The editorial does lack pathos and the emotion of the writer cannot be extracted as most of the information is provided very factually. In that way it does delivery strongly on the logos.
I believe that stem cell research is the key to the future and will provide medical breakthroughs that will benefit humanity in the long run.

2003-09-18T22:00:00.000-07:00

Turning tables bestows on us a different outlook on the war compared to Salam and other authors like Riverbend. Here we get an US soldiers view of the war in Iraq. He doesn’t scrutinize issues very deeply and basically describes to us his daily life in the army.
His blog also does touch upon issues of how soldiers are treated out there in Iraq and how they are looked as enemies by the local people.
He dosen’t make much of an argument in the blog, it’s just like a personal journal where he writes about things that happened to him. Once in a while he does argue the unthankful attitude of the Iraq people. We can make out a sympathetic and worried tone from his tone of writing. We can see this from the blog entry where he describes the camaraderie he develops with the soldiers under his command and how he worries about what is going to happen to them when he leaves to return back home. He mentions a incident where a soldier flips out and starts screaming in the middle of the night and scares every body because they don’t know whether he is carrying his weapon or not. This gives an air of the tension and paranoia that every body in the war has to under go from soldiers to Iraqis.
Turning tables blog mainly facilitates to provide information about the soldiers perspective of the war and doesn’t serve to argue any particular point of the war. It is a compelling read and one does want to know what it is like for the soldiers in Iraq.

2003-09-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

Walter Benjamin's essay on Nikolai Leskov strongly defines the art of story telling and exemplifies Nikolai for his talent at being a good story teller. He puts on a good argument about the decline in the art of story telling. He provides us with good examples to carry his argument like the one about the Egyptian king Herodotus, about how story telling lives only at that moment.
Le Figaro rightly characterized "an attic fire in the Latin Quarter is more important than a revolution in Madrid "metaphorically to how people react to information at that time. They were more concerned with intelligence of close places then far of ones.
According to Benjamin the qualities of good story telling are that it should be from one mouth to another. The story should change and get different layers added to it as it is passed from one person to another.
The comparison of novels to story telling is a little harsh and kind of is against the advance of technology. The invention of the printing press is one of the best things that ever happened to humanity. Under the context of a post WW1 world which was the first mechanical war people would be a bit skeptical about new technologies. The part about books being isolating to the readers is true thou. Books also dwell on the thoughts of the writer. To Benjamin the best book is one that can recreate a story, told mouth to mouth, to the closest detail.
Benjamin puts up a good argument and I have to agree with most of his thoughts but at the same time if I were to look at from a context other than the one provided I might have to disagree with his beliefs on novels.

2003-09-02T23:40:00.000-07:00

With the revolution of the internet and electronic media people can now easily voice their thoughts on certain topics of public interest. Blogs have the added bonus of being easily accessible and there are no underlying economic reasons as to why the writer posts his blog. Other forms of media such as newspapers and magazines have a duty to provide their readers with accurate information or they could end up losing a lot of readers and their credibility. Here pops the question do bloggers also have the same responsibility to their audience. The answer is that they have to be to a certain extent. Rebecca Blood’s blog provides 6 really good points of maintaining your integrity and ethics. I have to agree that misinformation should not be provided to the best of the writer’s ability. If one is not totally sure about the validity of a statement they should ignore putting it on their blog or at least provide a reference so as to maintain their integrity by basing it on some one else’s facts. If a mistake happens to occur then it is not advisable to change or replace the blog, but instead inform people about the changes in the next blog entry. If you are going to obtain information from a source it should be mentioned or a link should be provided. If the site is a biased or questionable one a link might not be advisable, but at least source should be provided. Also the reason as to why the link was not provided should be given. Even though a blog is an open forum one has to follow certain ethics and guidelines so as not to alienate his audience unless that is their intent.

2003-08-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Joanne Jacob’s first blog mainly describes the underlying reasons as to why generally there are so many failures in the first year of college. She does a good job of conveying her beliefs and guiding principles in a way that can be easily understood by her audience.
I find it very informative and to the point but it lacks a more stylistic approach. The language is basic and hardly ever intense. In my mind she scores points for being able to arrange arguments and examples in a logically uninterrupted way. Incorporating professors Lang’s statement, about how he got into trouble for flunking too many students, as an example was a really good concept. The part about how legions of unprepared freshmen enter colleges all over the nation is an element which evokes pity on the general condition of most freshmen. Her audience which should generally be students and parents can really appreciate the arguments that were put up by her. What she did miss out in adding were techniques of making amends for the problems she discussed in her blog. Her main argument lies in the fact that what she says is very true of most high schools these days and cannot be denied. To wrap up it is an insightful blog that is to the point and makes a lot of sense but she could have shared a few positive points too.

2003-08-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

First of all welcome to my blogg. I hope it's to your liking. Basicly I was born in Saudi Arabia but actually I am from India. I lived my whole life in Saudi Arabia,I went to high school there. I had a very close ended life out there. The society out there is not very open to expatriates. There are also a lot of barriers, like the lack of freedom for women and mainly the language barrier.Out there living a normal life or what you guys atleast expect from one was really hard. There are no places where people from opposite sexes can be present at the same time. You could not express your thoughts and disagreements out loud. I was pretty much restricted from doing a lot of things by living there. That was one of my primary reasons for wanting to study in the USA.Like they say USA is the land of the free and I personally wanted to experience that. But just because saudi arabia was a horrible country to live in dosen't necessarily mean that I had a horrible childhood, it had it's moments from time to time. My 'major' right now is undecided engineering but I am thinking of taking biomedical engineering. I hope to make a lot of friends here mabey even some really close ones. That is about all I have to say about my self so until the next blogg.