I more or less wandered through the list of games, randomly clicking on whichever ones peaked my interest. The first game that I played was called “The ESP Game.” I’m actually not all that sure what the point of this game was. You’re basically paired up with another person online, and the both of you are given the same images. You try to describe the image while also guessing how your partner is going to describe the same photo as well. You keep entering words until at least one of your words are the same, all while avoiding “taboo words”. It’s like a mad rush to type as many descriptive words as possible, hoping that your partner thinks of the same words as you. This game is actually really addicting. I had to force myself to stop playing and remember that there was an assignment to do. Still, I can’t figure out the purpose of it, or why this is considered a “social impact game” at all.
The Anti-Bush Video Game
The Anti-Bush Video Game was actually surprisingly interesting. It held a lot of information about the Bush reign. As you go through the game, it tells you about the taxes and economic decline that occurred. You end up learning quite a bit, including the fact that Bush had declared he wouldn’t touch the social security fund, and yet a year or so later, broke into it, and then took our country into an economic decline. You have to shoot the “pig” politicians, and get past the different bosses as The Hulk, Mr. T, Christopher Reeves, and various other characters. It even has Bush and his wife talking about having more children for the sake of continuing their family line, in which you have to shoot them as they’re pretty much pumping out children.
Self-Esteem Games
These games I actually found really funny, but not quite fun. I wonder if they actually help you with your self-esteem. There are three separate games, and in the first one, Grow Your Chi, there are clouds with photos of happy, sad, or angry faced people, or names. You have to click on all the happy faces and on your name only, getting minus points if you click on any others. In the second game, EyeSpy, there is a square full of different people who all have angry, sad, or neutral faces. You have to find and click on the one happy face as fast as you can. There are rounds, and you can see if you improve between each of the three rounds. I guess I could see how these could improve your self-esteem, but I’m not sure if they had worked on me.
McDonald’s Videogame
In this McDonald’s videogame, you have to run a working McDonald’s chain from the crops and cows, to the slaughterhouse, to the marketing of the product, and workers. It’s funny because in order to fatten up the cows faster, you can add industrial waste or hormones to the cow’s food. You also have to control the office side of the company, including the public relations aspect, where you choose who to bribe: politicians, climatologist, health officer, or nutritionist costing from $200 to $300 a month. You find that doing this is important, because the cows need to eat soy, and you only have so much land, and sooner or later need to cut down the forests and/or villages to fill their needs. Either that, or you need to increase the hormones in the food to have a faster turnover rate of the beef, involving the health officer, and so forth. It’s a fun way to make fun of McDonalds. At first I didn’t realize (despite the mean looking Ronald McDonald) that this game was to show the wrongdoings of McDonalds, but got the picture quickly enough.
Queer Power, Welcome to Queerland
The point of this game is the continue to change orientations and roles in order to reach an orgasm. No one has a fixed sexual orientation, and you have to change it according to your partner’s current (and changing) role in order to get the sexual satisfaction that you want. It says that the initial choice between “dick-lover,” “pussy-lover” and “other or confused” affects your desire for/towards your partner, but I have yet to figure out how it does. The game is very derogatory, but it somewhat gets the point across, the point being that sexual orientation doesn’t matter (and yet it does because you have to change from male to female in order to have a sexual experience with your partner).
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Social Impact Games
I have always been more of a visual learner, preferring to learn through films and pictures as it helps in my personal retention of the information instead of just reading a text book or journal article. Because I prefer to utilize such modes of education, I was particularly interested in what these social impact games would have to offer and what they could possible teach me. Some of the games I thought were very interesting and had the potential to be very informative and helpful in communicating important ideas. On the other hand, there were some games that I did not understand how they could be classified as a social impact game, like for example the Self Esteem Game from McGill University that supposedly just by clicking the pop up words as fast as we could, we as a player were making positive associations and thereby creating a high personal self esteem level. To be honest I didn't feel any better about myself after that game, but just like I had wasted my time...
The other games that I chose to play were the health and wellness game called Ben's Game, The political game Third World Farmer, and the Education and Learning game Tropical America.
Ben's Game
I was attracted to this game at first because of the story behind its creation. Created because of the wish made by 9 year old Ben Duskin, who is currently in remission from leukemia, to the Make a Wish Foundation to create a game for kids like him to provide a way fight back against the cancer and to relieve the stress and pain caused from the treatment. In this game, the player acts as a hero is trying to fight against the mutated cells. To stay healthy you have health from the hospital, ammo from the pharmacy, and attitude from home all which can be diminished and kill you because of the cancer cells and electrical barriers. As you fight the cancer cells you can collect tools and shields that aid in your battle. While this game was pretty basic as you just zip around the cells, I did find it pretty entertaining like a some of the video games I have at home, and could see how this game not only teaches players about the effects of cancer, but provides an escape for younger children who are afflicted by cancer.
Tropical America
This game was created the history of South America and its struggles against the Spanish. Created by Los Angeles based teachers, artists, writers, and high school students, this bilingual and thematic history game works by having players navigate through different scenes of history and make decisions about what they want to do. Through the course of this game, the player comes in contact with characters who will ask questions about different historical aspects and the player is supposed to answer. Done in plain black and white, and the characters move slowly from location to location, I personally found this game very boring. While it was a bore, I will say it did offer some interesting facts and insight as to what took place in history during this time. For example, after I was captured, I was led to a torture room where I was forced to pick my torture, which ranged from burning, stretching, beating , and asphyxiation. I guess this is game provides a way to learn about these historic events, but it just moved to slow.
Third World Farmer
This game was by far the most education in my opinion. As an African farmer this game aims to present the reality behind the challenges that these Africans face on a daily basis. During the game, I was a farmer who was struggling to keep my family alive despite the poverty and conflict imposed by African society. Civil War, disease, and droughts were constant issues that made the struggle to survive even more difficult. I thought this game was the most interesting and important because it demonstrated the endless cycle of devastation that is occurring in Africa today and that were hear about all the time, but don't quite understand the magnitude of the problem because we are at such a far distance from the problem. Through this game, players are able to get a deeper look into devastation that is actually some one else's reality,
The other games that I chose to play were the health and wellness game called Ben's Game, The political game Third World Farmer, and the Education and Learning game Tropical America.
Ben's Game
I was attracted to this game at first because of the story behind its creation. Created because of the wish made by 9 year old Ben Duskin, who is currently in remission from leukemia, to the Make a Wish Foundation to create a game for kids like him to provide a way fight back against the cancer and to relieve the stress and pain caused from the treatment. In this game, the player acts as a hero is trying to fight against the mutated cells. To stay healthy you have health from the hospital, ammo from the pharmacy, and attitude from home all which can be diminished and kill you because of the cancer cells and electrical barriers. As you fight the cancer cells you can collect tools and shields that aid in your battle. While this game was pretty basic as you just zip around the cells, I did find it pretty entertaining like a some of the video games I have at home, and could see how this game not only teaches players about the effects of cancer, but provides an escape for younger children who are afflicted by cancer.
Tropical America
This game was created the history of South America and its struggles against the Spanish. Created by Los Angeles based teachers, artists, writers, and high school students, this bilingual and thematic history game works by having players navigate through different scenes of history and make decisions about what they want to do. Through the course of this game, the player comes in contact with characters who will ask questions about different historical aspects and the player is supposed to answer. Done in plain black and white, and the characters move slowly from location to location, I personally found this game very boring. While it was a bore, I will say it did offer some interesting facts and insight as to what took place in history during this time. For example, after I was captured, I was led to a torture room where I was forced to pick my torture, which ranged from burning, stretching, beating , and asphyxiation. I guess this is game provides a way to learn about these historic events, but it just moved to slow.
Third World Farmer
This game was by far the most education in my opinion. As an African farmer this game aims to present the reality behind the challenges that these Africans face on a daily basis. During the game, I was a farmer who was struggling to keep my family alive despite the poverty and conflict imposed by African society. Civil War, disease, and droughts were constant issues that made the struggle to survive even more difficult. I thought this game was the most interesting and important because it demonstrated the endless cycle of devastation that is occurring in Africa today and that were hear about all the time, but don't quite understand the magnitude of the problem because we are at such a far distance from the problem. Through this game, players are able to get a deeper look into devastation that is actually some one else's reality,
Play this game!!
A game that I truly enjoyed was Super Shag Land, an online game from the Netherlands illustrating the importance of using condoms and not drinking when you have sex. Despite the irregular content of the game, it was really engaging and almost addicting to play. The character is a naked man (or woman) who must run through labyrinths obtaining condoms for points. He must also avoid missionaries as well as assorted alcohol. The game goes through 6 levels before the player reaches the final tunnel of love. If his score is high enough, he gets to take his prize. However, if he encountered too much alcohol without enough protection, he is considered unable to perform. It's hilarious, but it gets the point across.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Video Game Learning
I am a firm believer in the educational value of video games. Video games have been integral to the shaping of my persona into who I am today, and video games have been the stimulus for much of the knowledge and understanding I hold today. Successfully playing video games involves a learning process, and for many games that learning process can be very difficult. As one plays more and more video games, one learns more and more useful strategies, problem-solving methods, creative processes, and leadership skills. Also, video games have a useful physical aspect as well, quickening reflexes and improving hand-eye coordination.
One of the most useful and educational experiences I have had in the video gaming world is one of those mentioned by the "Game-Informed Learning" article: communication amidst the social structure of a game. When I first discovered online gaming, I was often looked upon because not only did I act like a 13 year old (I have an excuse: I was 11 years old! <_<) but I also communicated like one too. Flaming, insults, and arbitrary bans were common occurrences to me. If I wanted to be accepted and not remain a "newbie" forever, I would have to learn to communicate, and learn fast. So not only under the conditions of the game, but also under the conditions of the community, I learned both the game and the society surrounding it, and soon became one of those elitists lording over the newer players. While the end result was not as noble as a result could be, I picked up many useful skills along the way such as interpersonal communication skills, a knowledge of online etiquette, and a dramatic improvement of my writing skills.
Of course, this kind of learning also creates conformity and a homogeneous culture. Everyone wants to be like the elite, and everyone strives towards that, because the culture of gaming is skewed towards "if you're not an elite, you're a scrub", and all gamers know the inherent horror of being labeled a scrub. Thus, everyone seeks to escape from that "scrub" role and aspire to the "elite" role, and the easiest way to do that is by emulating the current elite, resulting in a culture in which everyone can look the same.
---
I spent quite a long time on the Social Impact Games site. The three games and categories of games that I found most notable were...
The Anti-Bush Game
http://www.emogame.com/bushgame.html
This game was actually entertaining to play - and I learned a lot. At first I thought the stuff in this game couldn't possibly be true, but I did a bit of research and every single fact corroborated. This administration has truly been one of the worst ever in the nation's history in terms of economics, international prestige, civil rights, common sense, and just many other areas. The creatively named Anti-Bush game presents all these facts in an easily understandable and interesting way... although the portrayal of some of the characters is just completely over the top.
Also, Voltron would never deign to serve Bush.
Eyewitness - The Nanking Massacre
http://www.mic.polyu.edu.hk/nanjing/index.asp
While this game hasn't been released yet, I can't wait for it to be released. Now who here has actually heard of the Nanking Massacre? No one? That's around right. US history textbooks commonly leave out or downplay the importance of the Asian theater of World War II. Whenever people think of WWII, they think of the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, but never think of the Japanese, whose actions definitely were as horrible as the Nazis. The Japanese "3 All" strategy (Loot All, Burn All, Kill All) in China led to the deaths of over 2.7 million Chinese citizens. How many more were wounded, displaced, and had their lives irrevocably ruined is a countless number. The most horrible action of the Japanese was the Rape of Nanking, which was, quite literally, a 2 week long killing spree illustrating the worst of human nature. Over 300,000 civilians lost their lives as Japanese soldiers burned, looted, and raped their way through the Chinese southern capital of Nanking. Tens of thousands of women were raped and brutalized, and there were confirmed accounts of "beheading contests" in which Japanese officers would compete to see who could behead the most civilians with their swords.
And so many people don't even know about this, or the Japanese's governments efforts to hide the fact that it ever happened. In the latest edition of the standard Japanese history textbook, no mention of this or other Japanese wartime atrocities are even MADE.
It's good to see video game developers creatively fighting against the ignorance propagated by the Japanese government and trying to bring awareness of this horrifying event to the world. Never forget.
The last game I found interesting wasn't really a game, but a genre of games. The little "Christian quest to heaven" genre of games was sort of amusing. They weren't very good, and it seems like a mockery of the Christian faith at times... reminds me of a game I saw a few days ago which was a take-off of the Mortal Kombat style of fighting games - except the characters were the Biblical characters. Both types of games achieve the same purpose: cheapening the religion and relegating it to a silly little video game.
Video games can be serious business, but these are just awful.
---
Social Impact Game Proposal
My idea for a social impact game would be similar to the photography game of the Nanking Massacre I covered above. The concept would be similar, but the stage would be several other events that have escaped the public's eye. There are many tragedies that have gone unseen, and a video game would be a good way to expose those tragedies to the public.
Of course the easiest tragedy to create a game out of is the Iraq War - and there's realism there, as "embedded" journalists take fire every day just like the United States troops. It wouldn't be a stretch to have a video game based on the journalistic experience as the player would take photographs of the gradually unfolding disaster that Iraq has become.
One of the most useful and educational experiences I have had in the video gaming world is one of those mentioned by the "Game-Informed Learning" article: communication amidst the social structure of a game. When I first discovered online gaming, I was often looked upon because not only did I act like a 13 year old (I have an excuse: I was 11 years old! <_<) but I also communicated like one too. Flaming, insults, and arbitrary bans were common occurrences to me. If I wanted to be accepted and not remain a "newbie" forever, I would have to learn to communicate, and learn fast. So not only under the conditions of the game, but also under the conditions of the community, I learned both the game and the society surrounding it, and soon became one of those elitists lording over the newer players. While the end result was not as noble as a result could be, I picked up many useful skills along the way such as interpersonal communication skills, a knowledge of online etiquette, and a dramatic improvement of my writing skills.
Of course, this kind of learning also creates conformity and a homogeneous culture. Everyone wants to be like the elite, and everyone strives towards that, because the culture of gaming is skewed towards "if you're not an elite, you're a scrub", and all gamers know the inherent horror of being labeled a scrub. Thus, everyone seeks to escape from that "scrub" role and aspire to the "elite" role, and the easiest way to do that is by emulating the current elite, resulting in a culture in which everyone can look the same.
---
I spent quite a long time on the Social Impact Games site. The three games and categories of games that I found most notable were...
The Anti-Bush Game
http://www.emogame.com/bushgame.html
This game was actually entertaining to play - and I learned a lot. At first I thought the stuff in this game couldn't possibly be true, but I did a bit of research and every single fact corroborated. This administration has truly been one of the worst ever in the nation's history in terms of economics, international prestige, civil rights, common sense, and just many other areas. The creatively named Anti-Bush game presents all these facts in an easily understandable and interesting way... although the portrayal of some of the characters is just completely over the top.
Also, Voltron would never deign to serve Bush.
Eyewitness - The Nanking Massacre
http://www.mic.polyu.edu.hk/nanjing/index.asp
While this game hasn't been released yet, I can't wait for it to be released. Now who here has actually heard of the Nanking Massacre? No one? That's around right. US history textbooks commonly leave out or downplay the importance of the Asian theater of World War II. Whenever people think of WWII, they think of the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis, but never think of the Japanese, whose actions definitely were as horrible as the Nazis. The Japanese "3 All" strategy (Loot All, Burn All, Kill All) in China led to the deaths of over 2.7 million Chinese citizens. How many more were wounded, displaced, and had their lives irrevocably ruined is a countless number. The most horrible action of the Japanese was the Rape of Nanking, which was, quite literally, a 2 week long killing spree illustrating the worst of human nature. Over 300,000 civilians lost their lives as Japanese soldiers burned, looted, and raped their way through the Chinese southern capital of Nanking. Tens of thousands of women were raped and brutalized, and there were confirmed accounts of "beheading contests" in which Japanese officers would compete to see who could behead the most civilians with their swords.
And so many people don't even know about this, or the Japanese's governments efforts to hide the fact that it ever happened. In the latest edition of the standard Japanese history textbook, no mention of this or other Japanese wartime atrocities are even MADE.
It's good to see video game developers creatively fighting against the ignorance propagated by the Japanese government and trying to bring awareness of this horrifying event to the world. Never forget.
The last game I found interesting wasn't really a game, but a genre of games. The little "Christian quest to heaven" genre of games was sort of amusing. They weren't very good, and it seems like a mockery of the Christian faith at times... reminds me of a game I saw a few days ago which was a take-off of the Mortal Kombat style of fighting games - except the characters were the Biblical characters. Both types of games achieve the same purpose: cheapening the religion and relegating it to a silly little video game.
Video games can be serious business, but these are just awful.
---
Social Impact Game Proposal
My idea for a social impact game would be similar to the photography game of the Nanking Massacre I covered above. The concept would be similar, but the stage would be several other events that have escaped the public's eye. There are many tragedies that have gone unseen, and a video game would be a good way to expose those tragedies to the public.
Of course the easiest tragedy to create a game out of is the Iraq War - and there's realism there, as "embedded" journalists take fire every day just like the United States troops. It wouldn't be a stretch to have a video game based on the journalistic experience as the player would take photographs of the gradually unfolding disaster that Iraq has become.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Game Time
So, you want to be a BROOKLYN Judge?
This game is essentially a quiz making fun of the corruption of the New York Supreme Court. The player answers questions and the drawing of the character in the sidebar receives different novelties when the questions are answered correctly. As the game continues, the seemingly upstanding candidate transforms into a convict behind bars. It is a clever little game, but I think it is targeted at a very specific audience. I didn't realize this game was a mockery of Brooklyn judges until I got a few questions in and was consistently getting the answers wrong. The explanations of the answers are amusing in their sarcasm. For instance, it says party loyalty and the ability to raise funds are more important than any judicial qualifications.
Thus, the game portrays a sense of unease with the current judicial situation in New York and promotes a change for the better. I do not think that it really advocates much change, and acts as more of a joke than a serious petition for betterment of New York society.
The Oregon Trail
I was very excited to come across this game in my searching, because I played it a great deal in my elementary years. Although I was not able to relive the joy from this particular site, I am very familiar with the obstacles of the trek west. I played this game in my 5th grade class as a simulation of traveling on the Oregon Trail. The participants in the game must deal with rattlesnake bites, trading with natives, and hunting. The most suspenseful part of the journey was seeing if your covered wagon could successfully ford the rivers. I think that much of the success is based on the fact that the various members of the family can get sick and die. I don't remember the animation being particularly impressive, but in such a life or death situation, the suspense was enough to keep us intrigued.
My experience with the Oregon Trail didn't end there. This past summer, I even babysat a 6th grade boy who would play Oregon Trail for fun at home. His attraction to the game was the hunting. The mouse cursor acts as the gun to shoot the wildlife flying across the page. With every hit, birds and bison collapse to the ground. I think that this ability to kill is sadly something that has contributed to the game's appeal. It seems death is characteristic of the more advanced video games that have been successful. The fact is that this game still appeals to youth today, so the creators of Oregon trail were on the mark.
I also found the game WordMunchers, another childhood favorite.
Earthquake in Zipland
This game entails a journey that is designed to help children ages 9-12 cope with divorce. The game begins in Zipland, an island comprised of two parts held together by a zipper, which represents the marriage of the parents. An earthquake rips the island into two, leaving the king and the queen on separate islands. The character in the game sets out on a quest to build a new zipper and try to re-combine the two islands so that life can go on as before. The player ultimately learns it is not his responsibility nor is it a realistic mission.
Zipland is a game that takes insights from the fields of clinical psychology, family therapy, child therapy and divorce therapy in order to help children with a new changing lifestyle. Theoretically, this game supports a good cause with its ultimate goal being to aid in dealing with a broken home. However, I think that its effectiveness largely questionable. Whether or not it affects any change toward improving children's coping skills is difficult to determine. Parents may buy into the game solely out of guilt. I think it mainly serves as a distraction from the reality of divorce.
This game is essentially a quiz making fun of the corruption of the New York Supreme Court. The player answers questions and the drawing of the character in the sidebar receives different novelties when the questions are answered correctly. As the game continues, the seemingly upstanding candidate transforms into a convict behind bars. It is a clever little game, but I think it is targeted at a very specific audience. I didn't realize this game was a mockery of Brooklyn judges until I got a few questions in and was consistently getting the answers wrong. The explanations of the answers are amusing in their sarcasm. For instance, it says party loyalty and the ability to raise funds are more important than any judicial qualifications.
The final screen reads Congratulations! Your term in office has won you a term in jail.
But it's not the way it has to be...Thus, the game portrays a sense of unease with the current judicial situation in New York and promotes a change for the better. I do not think that it really advocates much change, and acts as more of a joke than a serious petition for betterment of New York society.
The Oregon Trail
I was very excited to come across this game in my searching, because I played it a great deal in my elementary years. Although I was not able to relive the joy from this particular site, I am very familiar with the obstacles of the trek west. I played this game in my 5th grade class as a simulation of traveling on the Oregon Trail. The participants in the game must deal with rattlesnake bites, trading with natives, and hunting. The most suspenseful part of the journey was seeing if your covered wagon could successfully ford the rivers. I think that much of the success is based on the fact that the various members of the family can get sick and die. I don't remember the animation being particularly impressive, but in such a life or death situation, the suspense was enough to keep us intrigued.
My experience with the Oregon Trail didn't end there. This past summer, I even babysat a 6th grade boy who would play Oregon Trail for fun at home. His attraction to the game was the hunting. The mouse cursor acts as the gun to shoot the wildlife flying across the page. With every hit, birds and bison collapse to the ground. I think that this ability to kill is sadly something that has contributed to the game's appeal. It seems death is characteristic of the more advanced video games that have been successful. The fact is that this game still appeals to youth today, so the creators of Oregon trail were on the mark.
I also found the game WordMunchers, another childhood favorite.
Earthquake in Zipland
This game entails a journey that is designed to help children ages 9-12 cope with divorce. The game begins in Zipland, an island comprised of two parts held together by a zipper, which represents the marriage of the parents. An earthquake rips the island into two, leaving the king and the queen on separate islands. The character in the game sets out on a quest to build a new zipper and try to re-combine the two islands so that life can go on as before. The player ultimately learns it is not his responsibility nor is it a realistic mission.
Zipland is a game that takes insights from the fields of clinical psychology, family therapy, child therapy and divorce therapy in order to help children with a new changing lifestyle. Theoretically, this game supports a good cause with its ultimate goal being to aid in dealing with a broken home. However, I think that its effectiveness largely questionable. Whether or not it affects any change toward improving children's coping skills is difficult to determine. Parents may buy into the game solely out of guilt. I think it mainly serves as a distraction from the reality of divorce.
Article Annotations
The Yes Men
I say yes! So I’ve been terribly afraid of my own identity theft for years, too many 20/20 specials I guess, but I think that this is great. The Yes Men’s mission is “Identity Correction” or to expose people, organizations, and institutions for what they really are. The hijinks portion of the site, where I read about Yes Men going in and doing their best to expose the DOW, Bush, the WTO, and others, particularly humored me. The Yes Men did their best to convince the media that the WTO decided to disband and to promote a pro-global warming campaign. Funny stuff.
Maquilla Violence in Mexico
This article dives into a story about a plan by Mexican government officials in conjunction with a maquila magnate to rape and imprison a woman who had exposed some of the haunting practices occurring in maquilladores. The article then takes a broader look into the sweatshop boom in a post-NAFTA Mexico. Its pretty haunting, and makes me once again said about the globalizing economy.
Mother’s Day Vigil for Peace
I think that Indymedia can be really beneficial for a lot of reasons. This article in particular really would only be found on an independent media site. Announcing a peace vigil would seem to threaten a lot of the neutrality that mainstream media sources hope to look like they’re maintaining.
Rise of the Internet’s Police State
Its interesting to step back from time to time and ask myself how much information can really be obtained about me. Reading this article kind of scared me, especially since it debunks Google’s privacy policy as not so private and I use google for email, as my primary search engine, a calendar, and to find the latest Paris Hilton sex tapes. I was surprised by how much information the internet really tracks on me! Ah!
I say yes! So I’ve been terribly afraid of my own identity theft for years, too many 20/20 specials I guess, but I think that this is great. The Yes Men’s mission is “Identity Correction” or to expose people, organizations, and institutions for what they really are. The hijinks portion of the site, where I read about Yes Men going in and doing their best to expose the DOW, Bush, the WTO, and others, particularly humored me. The Yes Men did their best to convince the media that the WTO decided to disband and to promote a pro-global warming campaign. Funny stuff.
Maquilla Violence in Mexico
This article dives into a story about a plan by Mexican government officials in conjunction with a maquila magnate to rape and imprison a woman who had exposed some of the haunting practices occurring in maquilladores. The article then takes a broader look into the sweatshop boom in a post-NAFTA Mexico. Its pretty haunting, and makes me once again said about the globalizing economy.
Mother’s Day Vigil for Peace
I think that Indymedia can be really beneficial for a lot of reasons. This article in particular really would only be found on an independent media site. Announcing a peace vigil would seem to threaten a lot of the neutrality that mainstream media sources hope to look like they’re maintaining.
Rise of the Internet’s Police State
Its interesting to step back from time to time and ask myself how much information can really be obtained about me. Reading this article kind of scared me, especially since it debunks Google’s privacy policy as not so private and I use google for email, as my primary search engine, a calendar, and to find the latest Paris Hilton sex tapes. I was surprised by how much information the internet really tracks on me! Ah!
The Zapatistas Movement; A revolution to make revolutions possible
I read the article on the Zapatistas movement, The Zapatistas and the International Circulation of Struggle: Lessons Suggested and Problems Raised. The article raised the poetic and romantic nature of the movement. The movement rejected the dominate revolutionary strategy of usurping the state power and promotes the anarchist ideal of autonomous community organizing. This movement is about the self-determination of the indigenous people of the world to take control over their lives. It is a model that many revolutionary youths in the first world have tried to accomplished, activating community members to solve community problems through programs such as Food not Bomb (which provides food for homeless population in the community, it is deemed illegal by the government, I wonder why) and Cop Watch, a program for citizens to monitor police authority and make sure that they are treating people justly.
While there are many romantic ideas about the revolution, there is still a lot of problems that exist within the movement. One of which is the female representation in the movement. It is crucial for revolutionary groups to fight the oppression from within. The women caucus model seems to be making progress and this model is followed by many organizations in the first world. One person I came across on the Zapatistas website was Ramona. She is a comrade of Marco and she represented the Chipas community during a meeting with the Mexican Government. She was a key figure in the movement to represent the indigenous women's voice. After 10 years of combating liver cancer, she passed away in 2006. I found this story very inspiring. It is apparent that Subcommandante Marco is an educated, fair skinned intellectual, I think the fact that the movement is not only about his words but also the voices of the indigenous people shows us that another world is possible.
Internet has also played a huge role in the uprising. It is amazing how they have utilized international support to the movement, which was largely successful. It forced the Mexican government to engage in conversation with the Zapatistas in good faith. I also think that it is kind of sad that the indigenous movement cannot really achieve full self-determination; the movement still relies heavily on international supporters from the first world. It is ultimately this power structure that hinders the self-determination of the movement; ironically, the Zapatistas won some substantial victories through international support. Does the third world liberation movement have to rely on the support from industrialized countries to succeed? I really hope not.
The use of internet also made me question who this Marco is. He is obviously knowledgeable about the media and the political climate of industrialized countries. he showed tremendous understanding of the media and how to manipulate it (His picture is even on Marie Claire, a fashion magazine). He was also successful in defining the anti neo-liberalism movement and sparked a tremendous victory in Seattle, Cancun, Geneva and Montreal to shut down the WTO IMF and world bank. The Zapatistas were successful in defining the struggle, and pushed for the 21st Century version of the class struggle from below. The movement objected the traditional Marxist approach and proposed a new idea of international solidarity that overcome class divisions and also linked the traditionally conflicting movements (the labor and the environmental) to fight a common enemy.
We all know that we are not operating in a vacuum. While the Zapatista and the global anti-capitalist movement has made some tremendous victory in the past decade, the ruling class will and can react quickly to this strategy. The Us government in response to the popular uprising has been negotiating bilateral "Free trade" treaty, which makes movements such as one against WTO harder to crystalize. It is hopeful, though, to see that organizers from around the world are fighting the same fight. The South Korean laborers and farm workers are militant as usual and have been staging tremendous protest to shut down bilateral negotiations that exclude the affected communities from the bargaining table. I think it is a good time for us to reevaluate our strategy and to keep the momentum rolling.
While there are many romantic ideas about the revolution, there is still a lot of problems that exist within the movement. One of which is the female representation in the movement. It is crucial for revolutionary groups to fight the oppression from within. The women caucus model seems to be making progress and this model is followed by many organizations in the first world. One person I came across on the Zapatistas website was Ramona. She is a comrade of Marco and she represented the Chipas community during a meeting with the Mexican Government. She was a key figure in the movement to represent the indigenous women's voice. After 10 years of combating liver cancer, she passed away in 2006. I found this story very inspiring. It is apparent that Subcommandante Marco is an educated, fair skinned intellectual, I think the fact that the movement is not only about his words but also the voices of the indigenous people shows us that another world is possible.
Internet has also played a huge role in the uprising. It is amazing how they have utilized international support to the movement, which was largely successful. It forced the Mexican government to engage in conversation with the Zapatistas in good faith. I also think that it is kind of sad that the indigenous movement cannot really achieve full self-determination; the movement still relies heavily on international supporters from the first world. It is ultimately this power structure that hinders the self-determination of the movement; ironically, the Zapatistas won some substantial victories through international support. Does the third world liberation movement have to rely on the support from industrialized countries to succeed? I really hope not.
The use of internet also made me question who this Marco is. He is obviously knowledgeable about the media and the political climate of industrialized countries. he showed tremendous understanding of the media and how to manipulate it (His picture is even on Marie Claire, a fashion magazine). He was also successful in defining the anti neo-liberalism movement and sparked a tremendous victory in Seattle, Cancun, Geneva and Montreal to shut down the WTO IMF and world bank. The Zapatistas were successful in defining the struggle, and pushed for the 21st Century version of the class struggle from below. The movement objected the traditional Marxist approach and proposed a new idea of international solidarity that overcome class divisions and also linked the traditionally conflicting movements (the labor and the environmental) to fight a common enemy.
We all know that we are not operating in a vacuum. While the Zapatista and the global anti-capitalist movement has made some tremendous victory in the past decade, the ruling class will and can react quickly to this strategy. The Us government in response to the popular uprising has been negotiating bilateral "Free trade" treaty, which makes movements such as one against WTO harder to crystalize. It is hopeful, though, to see that organizers from around the world are fighting the same fight. The South Korean laborers and farm workers are militant as usual and have been staging tremendous protest to shut down bilateral negotiations that exclude the affected communities from the bargaining table. I think it is a good time for us to reevaluate our strategy and to keep the momentum rolling.
Worthwhile ELO Site
If you have the chance to look at the website Dichotomy, check it out. The basis for the page is a place for people to write about the experience that each one of us had on 9/11 as we heard the news, as I'm sure each person can remember where they were, what they were wearing, their initial reactions and how those shifted repeatedly throughout the day. There is also a section for those personally affected by the tragedy to write memories or accounts of how they witnessed and experienced the day first-hand. One can read the two types of accounts paired together randomly (which I suggest) and get a glimpse at the common feelings of strangers across the country and world who experienced a momentous tragedy in such a similar way.
week 6
edward picot review:
it's so funny that he actually asked what wegman's is. my dad shops there all the time (it's like a high end safeway), and i've been there very often. he's right in assuming that it's a real place, and that it's really out there in the world, thereby making this murder even more realistic. but for me, when i read that quote, i actually pictured this guy standing outside of the wegman's that i knew (granted, his wegman's was no where near mine), in deep thought. it became placable to me. i started to wonder, albeit irrationally, whether i might have seen him standing deep in thought outside of wegman's. it made this true story seem even more horrific to me. it made it seem like i could have stumbled across him, too.
elo nonfiction hypertexts:
360 degrees
i checked out john mills's story. on the one hand, it was so heartbreaking to see pictures of this guy and to hear his voice and to see his mom. you want to think that the people who end up in jail are "bad, bad people," but this guy is just a guy. this project humanizes him, describes his home, highlights his mom's frustration with the judicial system and lawyers. on the other hand, it just lays everything out for the viewer/reader. if this were in an article or in a novel, the voice of john and his mom and the prison employees would be your own, you would be able to imagine what his house looks like...etc. there's no room for creativity here. i guess that's a good thing when it comes to non-fiction.
abducted
this just seemed like some kind of journal placed online. it's not nearly as engaging as inanimate
anxiety
THIS WAS WEIRD. i couldn't understand what it was trying to say! i get that it was trying to relate the machine and the human together, but still! why be that obscure/dense? the graphics/interactivity was really cool. i spent too much time playing around with the visuals. (but only becaus ei didn't get what they were trying to say).
archiving nature
it was so dense in its explanation in the beginning (like anxiety), that i completely lost interest once it had to load the visuals. and when i tried to understand what was going on with the visuals, i got compeltely lost and frustrated. in this situation, i would have preferred to just read something in a book.
[a note: lots of the pages didn’t open. i think that i’m not compatible with elo. :-( ]
readings:
the second superpower rears its beautiful head
ok. i’m all for the individual. i love the individual. but, i think that when we begin hailing the individual as the modern jesus, when individualization becomes the solution to everything, we need to take a closer look. i’m not going to pretend to debunk this article here, but, i do think it’s important to think critically about specific communication and commentary devices that
indymedia
i had actually heard about this before—my ceramics professor lives in
rt mark
hypocrisy. the beauty of counter culture and taking a stand for something you believe in is that it’s different from the business world. they’re applying the charts and diagrams of the office to the passion and fire of the anarchist’s heart. the two don’t make sense in combination.
Zapatistas: Water Fight
This article describes the unequal water rights that Mexicans are being subjected to as a result of various domestic and international issues. The North American Free Trade Agreement has allowed American comapanies such as Coca-Cola and Nestle to have free reign in Mexico water issues. They are being allowed to access the $32 billion per year water market that exists in Mexico, causing it to become the second largest bottled water consumer in the world. Recently the World Water Forum was held in Mexico City and was open to anyone who could afford the $600 entry fee (4x the monthly minumum wage in Mexico). Obviously this presents a very real problem, as the people who are being most heavily affected by these water issues are the poorest people in the country.
ELO
Night-time By Chris Klimas
This piece was dedicated to the childhood activities of a young man growing up, most notably his sneaking off during the night with friend. It is a narrative of the things that they would do during the nights as children, emphasizing the secrecy that they had to maintain from their parents. It is very similar to our own hypertext essays as within the actual text are links to different events or components of their sneaking out at night. It is something that we as a class would all be able to do, and it proves to be a very effective method of story telling.
Noon Quilt by Teri Hoskin
This idea of a digital quilt is a very unique way of combining the thoughts and works of others into one large project. You are presented with a quilt composed of what appear to be animated .gif images which once clicked on opens a new window containing some poetic verses by that individual author. Much like a traditional quilt can have each patch representing something, each patch on this quilt has its own novel meaning.
War Games: Catch the Land Mine! By Jennifer Ley
Playing off the idea of advertisements frequently used on the internet, Catch the Land Mine opens with a picture of a landmine dancing across the screen and you have to click on the landmine to “Win a free prosthetic device!” This site aimed at using modern internet advertising and media techniques to spread global awareness of problems instead of winning a free IPod if you catch the running monkey.
What Goes Around by Matt Weiman
This is probably the worst one that I’ve looked at. It is the story of a guy who gets his bike stolen and eventually gets it back. The manner in which he presents the story is really too simple, its just text on a page and when you get to the bottom you click “Continue…” and it goes to the next page of text. This story is just as boring or compelling as any of the other stories that I have read but the way in which it was presented really takes away from the allure of ELO.
Sugar Manuf by Michael Basinski
This combination of art and poetry was something that I had never seen before. It was a series of detailed pictures in which were lines of poetry that were somewhat hard to read. The whole thing much like walls of graffiti you would see in any urban setting these pictures had a story to tell, a story that I was unable to decipher.
This piece was dedicated to the childhood activities of a young man growing up, most notably his sneaking off during the night with friend. It is a narrative of the things that they would do during the nights as children, emphasizing the secrecy that they had to maintain from their parents. It is very similar to our own hypertext essays as within the actual text are links to different events or components of their sneaking out at night. It is something that we as a class would all be able to do, and it proves to be a very effective method of story telling.
Noon Quilt by Teri Hoskin
This idea of a digital quilt is a very unique way of combining the thoughts and works of others into one large project. You are presented with a quilt composed of what appear to be animated .gif images which once clicked on opens a new window containing some poetic verses by that individual author. Much like a traditional quilt can have each patch representing something, each patch on this quilt has its own novel meaning.
War Games: Catch the Land Mine! By Jennifer Ley
Playing off the idea of advertisements frequently used on the internet, Catch the Land Mine opens with a picture of a landmine dancing across the screen and you have to click on the landmine to “Win a free prosthetic device!” This site aimed at using modern internet advertising and media techniques to spread global awareness of problems instead of winning a free IPod if you catch the running monkey.
What Goes Around by Matt Weiman
This is probably the worst one that I’ve looked at. It is the story of a guy who gets his bike stolen and eventually gets it back. The manner in which he presents the story is really too simple, its just text on a page and when you get to the bottom you click “Continue…” and it goes to the next page of text. This story is just as boring or compelling as any of the other stories that I have read but the way in which it was presented really takes away from the allure of ELO.
Sugar Manuf by Michael Basinski
This combination of art and poetry was something that I had never seen before. It was a series of detailed pictures in which were lines of poetry that were somewhat hard to read. The whole thing much like walls of graffiti you would see in any urban setting these pictures had a story to tell, a story that I was unable to decipher.
a plethora of articles
I think that the story “Mother’s Day Vigil for Peace” from indymedia.us was an appropriate article to read, considering the timing. It was about how a silent vigil would be held in the park that day to remember those who died in the occupation of Iraq. It also talks about how one of the organizations, CODE PINK, was named as a response to Bush’s color coding security system. The color pink stands for peace, just as they do.
In the Zapatistas, I read the article about police brutality in May. It talked about how the police stopped flower venders from selling and attacked those who resisted and about how they attacked both national and international media photographers. I think that this was both confusing and ridiculous that they would attack flower venders of all people. The article goes on to talk about how the attacks continued to be placed on people who tried to photograph or record the incident.
I thought that the shack dwellers page was very good because it included many pictures to accompany the story. I read the link called Unfreedom day which was about a celebration that instead of including political speeches, included music and dancing and poetry and brought about a movement of all of the classes. Although this page was interesting, it was hard to follow because I really know nothing about the subject.
Pretty much I just didn’t understand the RTmark page. It just seemed like it was all about undoing social culture.
I liked the yes men page because it seemed like it was making fun of certain structures in our society while showing the errors that they have, such as the dow and WTO.
I also thought that the Christmas In China article on adbusters was really funny because it shows and is making fun of how the culture of America is so materialistic and how other cultures don’t understand it.
I don’t know if I’m really dumb or what but I had trouble navigating the smartmeme site and figuring out what it and the articles were all about.
In the Zapatistas, I read the article about police brutality in May. It talked about how the police stopped flower venders from selling and attacked those who resisted and about how they attacked both national and international media photographers. I think that this was both confusing and ridiculous that they would attack flower venders of all people. The article goes on to talk about how the attacks continued to be placed on people who tried to photograph or record the incident.
I thought that the shack dwellers page was very good because it included many pictures to accompany the story. I read the link called Unfreedom day which was about a celebration that instead of including political speeches, included music and dancing and poetry and brought about a movement of all of the classes. Although this page was interesting, it was hard to follow because I really know nothing about the subject.
Pretty much I just didn’t understand the RTmark page. It just seemed like it was all about undoing social culture.
I liked the yes men page because it seemed like it was making fun of certain structures in our society while showing the errors that they have, such as the dow and WTO.
I also thought that the Christmas In China article on adbusters was really funny because it shows and is making fun of how the culture of America is so materialistic and how other cultures don’t understand it.
I don’t know if I’m really dumb or what but I had trouble navigating the smartmeme site and figuring out what it and the articles were all about.
Political Hoaxes, Youth Activists, & An Optimistic Global Superpower Movement
http://www.off-grid.net/index.php?p=267#more-267
The article “Be your own Yes Man in 3 Simple Steps” discussed show to be a Yes Man on the local scale (intriguing, yes?) I Thought it was interesting how Yes Men prides itself on it’s politically inspired hoaxes, such as their successful impersonation of a spokesman for Dow Chemicals. According to the Yes Men, there are three easy steps one must follow if they desire to create a political hoax. The first step “Figure out how to satirize your target”, involves researching a group that is need of “satirical lambasting.” The second step: Identify your opportunity, centers on scouting out a private meeting or charity event to infiltrate while the third step “Make sure your event gets publicity” emphasized the importance of publicizing how the media fell for your scheme.
This third step was especially interesting because it mentioned how the “life-blood” of political activism is public attention. This is an obvious statement, but I never really reflected on the profound truth of it. Yes Men is dedicated to using the internet to preach about political events that they are passionate about. Thus while public attention is the “life-blood” of political activism, the internet is the “life-blood” of public attention.
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/04/259253.shtml
Despite the fact that I am from Seattle, I had not heard about the student walk that was staged last month. On April 18th over 800 students walked out of schools throughout the Seattle area to demand an immediate end to the Iraq war. I found it remarkable that as I perused the Indymedia site, I continued to discover multiple links to this article. I thus got the perception that the site intentionally wanted readers to stumble upon this article. The incentive for doing so could be because the walk-out was under publicized or because Indymedia wants to portray an example of how youth have the capability for political activism. I suspect that it has to do with both.
Regardless, I think that it is fantastic that Indymedia puts so much attention on student initiated political events (see also Palestine Awareness at UCSC) unfortunately, all too often events organized by young adults don’t get the recognition or attention that they deserve. Additionally, the author of this article is Philip Locker and Ramy Khalil, both members of Youth Against War and Racism. I suggest that you guys visit this site: http://www.yawr.org/
It is incredibly interesting as it is all about successful political events directed by teens.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html
The global social movement that James Moore speaks about is composed of individuals who “identify their interests with world society as a whole”. Subsequently Moore refers to this social movement as an “international player.” Moore uses words such as “global” “will of the people” “all one” and “planetary society” to make it seem as if the entire world is supporting this global movement. Yet ever so covertly does he mention “This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole—and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world—and not just the members of one or another nation.” Thus what Moore is aiming to say is that it is a certain group of citizens who have taken it upon themselves to fight for the needs of 6.3 billion people. Pretty optimistic huh?
Moore asserts that participation in the second superpower movement occurs through web-enabled initiatives. This is very true, and there is no underestimating how influential blogging, texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging are, but to think that they can somehow help create a “world of peace” seems rather wishful. Technology is very conducive to social networking, but if we are going to aim to create a world free from destruction, tedium, and tragedy as Moore proposes, individuals are going to have to foster the desire to use social networking to promote social justice. And Moore never addressed how you get individuals to work up this desire. After all, how can you persuade a teen to stop using technology to post pictures on my-space and instead use it to promote world peace?
The article “Be your own Yes Man in 3 Simple Steps” discussed show to be a Yes Man on the local scale (intriguing, yes?) I Thought it was interesting how Yes Men prides itself on it’s politically inspired hoaxes, such as their successful impersonation of a spokesman for Dow Chemicals. According to the Yes Men, there are three easy steps one must follow if they desire to create a political hoax. The first step “Figure out how to satirize your target”, involves researching a group that is need of “satirical lambasting.” The second step: Identify your opportunity, centers on scouting out a private meeting or charity event to infiltrate while the third step “Make sure your event gets publicity” emphasized the importance of publicizing how the media fell for your scheme.
This third step was especially interesting because it mentioned how the “life-blood” of political activism is public attention. This is an obvious statement, but I never really reflected on the profound truth of it. Yes Men is dedicated to using the internet to preach about political events that they are passionate about. Thus while public attention is the “life-blood” of political activism, the internet is the “life-blood” of public attention.
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/04/259253.shtml
Despite the fact that I am from Seattle, I had not heard about the student walk that was staged last month. On April 18th over 800 students walked out of schools throughout the Seattle area to demand an immediate end to the Iraq war. I found it remarkable that as I perused the Indymedia site, I continued to discover multiple links to this article. I thus got the perception that the site intentionally wanted readers to stumble upon this article. The incentive for doing so could be because the walk-out was under publicized or because Indymedia wants to portray an example of how youth have the capability for political activism. I suspect that it has to do with both.
Regardless, I think that it is fantastic that Indymedia puts so much attention on student initiated political events (see also Palestine Awareness at UCSC) unfortunately, all too often events organized by young adults don’t get the recognition or attention that they deserve. Additionally, the author of this article is Philip Locker and Ramy Khalil, both members of Youth Against War and Racism. I suggest that you guys visit this site: http://www.yawr.org/
It is incredibly interesting as it is all about successful political events directed by teens.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jmoore/secondsuperpower.html
The global social movement that James Moore speaks about is composed of individuals who “identify their interests with world society as a whole”. Subsequently Moore refers to this social movement as an “international player.” Moore uses words such as “global” “will of the people” “all one” and “planetary society” to make it seem as if the entire world is supporting this global movement. Yet ever so covertly does he mention “This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole—and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world—and not just the members of one or another nation.” Thus what Moore is aiming to say is that it is a certain group of citizens who have taken it upon themselves to fight for the needs of 6.3 billion people. Pretty optimistic huh?
Moore asserts that participation in the second superpower movement occurs through web-enabled initiatives. This is very true, and there is no underestimating how influential blogging, texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging are, but to think that they can somehow help create a “world of peace” seems rather wishful. Technology is very conducive to social networking, but if we are going to aim to create a world free from destruction, tedium, and tragedy as Moore proposes, individuals are going to have to foster the desire to use social networking to promote social justice. And Moore never addressed how you get individuals to work up this desire. After all, how can you persuade a teen to stop using technology to post pictures on my-space and instead use it to promote world peace?
nonfiction hypertexts
After looking through the hypertext nonfiction section of the Electronic Literature Organization, I chose five of the hypertexts that were particularly interesting to me. The first one was called Abducted (http://beehive.temporalimage.com/content_maps/14b.html). It wrote all about how many different people who have been “abducted” by aliens had the same experiences and how it seems like aliens are only using humans for reproductive purposes and that sex is not a pleasurable thing to them rather than something that must be done for their species to go on. I just thought this was interesting because I don’t believe in aliens and I found it entertaining to read about these ridiculous stories. The second hypertext I found was called Anxiety (http://21dish.com/anxiety/index.html). This hypertext was very strange because it just had pictures of dots and lines and grids and talked about what each one meant. It was written in two different languages, so it may have some cultural meaning that I am unaware of. The third hypertext was called Shades of Cogs (http://freewheelin.nu/texts/Shades/ ). This was also a really strange site that had lots of pictures of quotes and mysterious sayings that didn’t make much sense to me. The fourth hypertext as called Hypertext Gardens (http://www.eastgate.com/garden/Enter.html). This one actually made sense to me because it talked about hypertext pages in terms of gardens and how they needed to be organized to make sense to the person who is visiting the page. The last hypertext was called An Ode to Pants (http://www.gimcrackd.com/true/pants/). This hypertext was interesting because what is read on the first page is the end to the story and you click on the links within the writing to get to the other parts.
week 6
I read nonfiction hypertext websites confusing. I did not understand where I was supposed to go when. I tried reading the dinner party one and just go taken to a bunch of different peoples names. I was not quite sure where I was supposed to go from there. I also read the Night Time, but the story jumped around to much for me. The hypertext just lead to excepts of the same story. I thought it would be very cool if instead the hypertext took you to different endings of the story, so each reader would have a unique experience.
The next group of readings I thought were very interesting. The second superpower article was very inspiring. It gave hope, even though I do not think that it has made huge changes in some of problems of the world. I also really liked the Indymedia website very cool. The 1st article i saw on the website was from my home town and there fight to be a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. But my favorite was the one about the Harvard hungry strike. I love food and could not imagine not eating for 11 days, to help people I did not know. I also liked the follow up about how it did help and make the university look at its wages. I thought that all these websites helped show are the Internet is connecting people around the world to support causes they believe in.
The next group of readings I thought were very interesting. The second superpower article was very inspiring. It gave hope, even though I do not think that it has made huge changes in some of problems of the world. I also really liked the Indymedia website very cool. The 1st article i saw on the website was from my home town and there fight to be a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. But my favorite was the one about the Harvard hungry strike. I love food and could not imagine not eating for 11 days, to help people I did not know. I also liked the follow up about how it did help and make the university look at its wages. I thought that all these websites helped show are the Internet is connecting people around the world to support causes they believe in.
Defining who, what, where, and why
Most of the web pages that have been assigned to be browsed thus week and in past weeks have had a flaw that continues to nag at me--the websites fail to or inadequately describe/define who, what, when, where, and why they have been created. Reading through the websites is often a confusing task because their is so much disinformation or satirical commentary the web sites lose their appeal to the everyday surfer. I read CNN.com much of the time to keep up with the world news and in contrast reading these web pages begins a confusing whirlwind of "what the hell is going on". Yes, these websites exist in the creative commons, but they do not have a defined place or a defined reason for existence. The one website that does address a sense of who what when where and why is Adbusters . I believe that an "about" section is a necessity for creating a web site like the ones we have been browsing.
Experiences on Indymedia
The website itself initially inspires the reader with the obvious grassroots nature of it's organization, with individual topics being discussed by contributing community members. Much in the same way that a wiki has it's positive and negative attributes in the fact that any member can contribute, a replicated pattern can be observed in the Indymedia articles. I saw many that were interesting, well written, and thoughtfully constructed. As I have a great interest in Irish history and politics, going on the page for Irish news was exciting, particularly for two articles:
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82427
This article discusses recent plans and protests that have been dominating the Irish historical and environmental landscape for the past several years. There are plans by the Irish government to develop a highway through an area that is known as Tara, in County Meath just north of the city of Dublin. To the casual observer, this would hardly be an issue, but indeed it is something of absolute absurdity to any with concern for Irish history. The area of Tara, particularly the hill which they wish to practically demolish, was considered the seat for the high kings of Ireland for well over a thousand years. All of the ancient Irish epics and myths, from legendary figures such as Cuchulainn and Finn Mac Cumhaill, had their stories based on this historic landmark. If that were not reason enough, the entire area is covered with archaeological landmarks of incredible importance. There are tombs of incredible magnificence that were built there thousands of years before, some of them architectural marvels on the same level as Stonehenge in England, requiring massive stones and boulders that weigh several tons that were transported hundreds of miles for the formation.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82478
The next article from the Irish realm that fascinated me was on the issue of Abortion, which has been enormous in Ireland in the past 10 to 15 years as a new wave of younger, educated youth have come to contest the religiously stern older generations that previously controlled the Irish political realm.
Abortion is still illegal in Ireland, and the issue discussed here is a woman's right to leave the country to have the operation performed at a different location. It became an issue about 15 or 20 years ago when a young girl was raped and denied the ability to leave the country to have the child aborted, winding up with a messy court battle and leaving her psychologically damaged from all the emotional trauma of the ordeal. This situation is still largely unresolved in this country which only recently legalized divorce in the past 20 years, proving just how recent many of these social issues are in this emerging nation.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/05/358974.shtml
While I enjoyed those two articles as they had particular interest for me, I also took some time to skim through other articles in other regions. This one caught my eye, and after reading it and the discussion I couldn't help but find myself at a loss for words. While the author makes several valid points regarding the history of racism, and also regarding the notion that, believe it or not, white people who claim to be leftist can actually have racist views, his generalizations are so intertwined with the same subtle aggression that he derides that one cannot help but see him as the pot calling the kettle black. To quote a part of the article:
While one can appreciate the change he is trying to create, the manner in which he approaches the issue is juvenile at best, and will hardly affect the community in the way he wishes. If anything, I as a reader and a realist have only been further distanced from the irony of his post in which he slams the vast majority of white people for acting along racial lines. Pot. Kettle. Black.
My apologies for the long post, but feel free to comment, even only on individual parts, if you wish.
-Mitch
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82427
This article discusses recent plans and protests that have been dominating the Irish historical and environmental landscape for the past several years. There are plans by the Irish government to develop a highway through an area that is known as Tara, in County Meath just north of the city of Dublin. To the casual observer, this would hardly be an issue, but indeed it is something of absolute absurdity to any with concern for Irish history. The area of Tara, particularly the hill which they wish to practically demolish, was considered the seat for the high kings of Ireland for well over a thousand years. All of the ancient Irish epics and myths, from legendary figures such as Cuchulainn and Finn Mac Cumhaill, had their stories based on this historic landmark. If that were not reason enough, the entire area is covered with archaeological landmarks of incredible importance. There are tombs of incredible magnificence that were built there thousands of years before, some of them architectural marvels on the same level as Stonehenge in England, requiring massive stones and boulders that weigh several tons that were transported hundreds of miles for the formation.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/82478
The next article from the Irish realm that fascinated me was on the issue of Abortion, which has been enormous in Ireland in the past 10 to 15 years as a new wave of younger, educated youth have come to contest the religiously stern older generations that previously controlled the Irish political realm.
Abortion is still illegal in Ireland, and the issue discussed here is a woman's right to leave the country to have the operation performed at a different location. It became an issue about 15 or 20 years ago when a young girl was raped and denied the ability to leave the country to have the child aborted, winding up with a messy court battle and leaving her psychologically damaged from all the emotional trauma of the ordeal. This situation is still largely unresolved in this country which only recently legalized divorce in the past 20 years, proving just how recent many of these social issues are in this emerging nation.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/05/358974.shtml
While I enjoyed those two articles as they had particular interest for me, I also took some time to skim through other articles in other regions. This one caught my eye, and after reading it and the discussion I couldn't help but find myself at a loss for words. While the author makes several valid points regarding the history of racism, and also regarding the notion that, believe it or not, white people who claim to be leftist can actually have racist views, his generalizations are so intertwined with the same subtle aggression that he derides that one cannot help but see him as the pot calling the kettle black. To quote a part of the article:
"I'm calling on all white people to consider themselves racist until proven innocent. Consider that racism/white supremacy permeates EVERY institution of this country, the educational system, the media, all of it. There is no escaping it and if you are not actively engaged in a ferreting out and cleansing process - 24muthafucking7 - you are a non-racist in name only. Non-racists are made, not born and they are made not by reading a couple of bell hooks tomes. This isn't simply or merely an intellectual problem; this is a whole-person, spiritual issue. Its a lifetime process to heal. It takes honesty, guts, courage. Few have it. Do you?"
While one can appreciate the change he is trying to create, the manner in which he approaches the issue is juvenile at best, and will hardly affect the community in the way he wishes. If anything, I as a reader and a realist have only been further distanced from the irony of his post in which he slams the vast majority of white people for acting along racial lines. Pot. Kettle. Black.
My apologies for the long post, but feel free to comment, even only on individual parts, if you wish.
-Mitch
ELO
I want to start out by saying that some of these sites were completely off the wall, I couldn't tell up from down and left from right in terms of navigation or focus of the subject matter.
I went started out on the Beehive Archive.
This site had about 7 items posted within it ranging from a short novella to a scholarly essay to hypertext media akin to poetry. The scholarly article was the most interesting of the the ones I read. Landscapes and HyperBody were "poetry" hypertext. Landscapes offered text and images that were placed on a digital background that was loosely affiliated with the sub-categories they were meant to represent. If you want to be confused check out the Beehive Archive.
Empty Velocity
This was a site that combined poetry and visual elements with hypertext. The site was not set up in a linear fashion. It was cool because it was about an airport and the site had a set up like a spider. What I mean by this is that you could click on all the hypertext and it would take you down only one path which would eventually dead end in some kind of flash operated imagery. The only way to get back to the main page was to click the back button, there was no direct link. The site really did well to incorporate multiple forms of media.
3 Proposals for bottle imps
I had no idea what this title meant so, of course, I had to check it out. This site was awesome!!! It was all animated text and it consisted of stories about different historical figures and it ascribed to each an adjective like envy and creativity and the like. The site itself was well put together and very entertaining to watch. My only complaint would be that at some points the text flashed on and off too quickly for me to read it fully, and since there was no way for me to slow the thing down or stop it I had to watch the video over to catch what I missed. Other than that however it was great.
20 consonant poetry
I did not follow this one. It was a collection of art, poetry, essays and such all loosely tied to the idea of only using each consonant once in a poem until all 20 were used before any one could be repeated. I could not find any poetry on the site that actually accomplished this however. There was a lot of information about what the idea involved but no concrete product. Maybe I just misunderstood the whole thing. Did anyone else look at this site?
Being Human
Another hypertext poetry website, this one is maintained by a group of women. The interesting thing about this site is that it utilized poetry in more than just English. There was poetry in french, Spanish, and German as well. Cool site, simple but interesting.
I went started out on the Beehive Archive.
This site had about 7 items posted within it ranging from a short novella to a scholarly essay to hypertext media akin to poetry. The scholarly article was the most interesting of the the ones I read. Landscapes and HyperBody were "poetry" hypertext. Landscapes offered text and images that were placed on a digital background that was loosely affiliated with the sub-categories they were meant to represent. If you want to be confused check out the Beehive Archive.
Empty Velocity
This was a site that combined poetry and visual elements with hypertext. The site was not set up in a linear fashion. It was cool because it was about an airport and the site had a set up like a spider. What I mean by this is that you could click on all the hypertext and it would take you down only one path which would eventually dead end in some kind of flash operated imagery. The only way to get back to the main page was to click the back button, there was no direct link. The site really did well to incorporate multiple forms of media.
3 Proposals for bottle imps
I had no idea what this title meant so, of course, I had to check it out. This site was awesome!!! It was all animated text and it consisted of stories about different historical figures and it ascribed to each an adjective like envy and creativity and the like. The site itself was well put together and very entertaining to watch. My only complaint would be that at some points the text flashed on and off too quickly for me to read it fully, and since there was no way for me to slow the thing down or stop it I had to watch the video over to catch what I missed. Other than that however it was great.
20 consonant poetry
I did not follow this one. It was a collection of art, poetry, essays and such all loosely tied to the idea of only using each consonant once in a poem until all 20 were used before any one could be repeated. I could not find any poetry on the site that actually accomplished this however. There was a lot of information about what the idea involved but no concrete product. Maybe I just misunderstood the whole thing. Did anyone else look at this site?
Being Human
Another hypertext poetry website, this one is maintained by a group of women. The interesting thing about this site is that it utilized poetry in more than just English. There was poetry in french, Spanish, and German as well. Cool site, simple but interesting.
Electric Light Or
Carrier
I probably should have guessed from the name of this site that it was about a virus—hepatitis C to be exact. Hard to guess though from the first page, but it goes on to explain it is an experimental site using some Java infectious agent to guide you through the text. Overall, an interesting way to spread the word on something deadly serious.
Essays on New Media
A technical writer’s homepage. He wites Ssays on digital publishing and other things web based. Even has some of his own poetry with hyperlinks to other poems on geocities.
A Garden
This site is brilliant. Short and sweet and simple, but seemingly based around one of the most important relationships of our time—the three-way between man, machine and nature. Since machines are made to replicate nature and work within the boundaries of nature—are they part of nature? I say no. But interesting question. I don’t know, maybe they are.
Glass Houses
I think this link was for an individual photographer but it didn’t work right and went to the main page of the UC Riverside California Museum of Photography. It has some great collections, including one of this Chinese photographer from the 60s I had never heard of—LI Zhensheng.
The Victorian Web
I have used this site before. I forget for what writers, but it is extremely useful for English majors.
I probably should have guessed from the name of this site that it was about a virus—hepatitis C to be exact. Hard to guess though from the first page, but it goes on to explain it is an experimental site using some Java infectious agent to guide you through the text. Overall, an interesting way to spread the word on something deadly serious.
Essays on New Media
A technical writer’s homepage. He wites Ssays on digital publishing and other things web based. Even has some of his own poetry with hyperlinks to other poems on geocities.
A Garden
This site is brilliant. Short and sweet and simple, but seemingly based around one of the most important relationships of our time—the three-way between man, machine and nature. Since machines are made to replicate nature and work within the boundaries of nature—are they part of nature? I say no. But interesting question. I don’t know, maybe they are.
Glass Houses
I think this link was for an individual photographer but it didn’t work right and went to the main page of the UC Riverside California Museum of Photography. It has some great collections, including one of this Chinese photographer from the 60s I had never heard of—LI Zhensheng.
The Victorian Web
I have used this site before. I forget for what writers, but it is extremely useful for English majors.
A myriad of articles...
Did any of you guys see that story about the Hunger Strike at Harvard on indymedia.us? I found that story really interesting for one because I don’t often think of Harvard students as being particularly politically active…it seemed to me that it would be something that would occur Berkeley. There were 11 people striking for the cause of the wages of security guards, and during the strike one of the students was even hospitalized because of hunger related health concerns. However, their strike was successful and ended 2 days ago. This mode of passive resistance reminded me of my Modern India class because this week we were focusing on the boycott and passive resistance movements of Gandhi. It’s really impressive that these modes of protest are able to evoke change.
On the Zapatistas website I read a story about police brutality in Mexico from May 6, 2006. The article chronicled different episodes of extreme police brutality, but I was confused throughout the whole article as to what had prompted the police and citizens to come into conflict. It seemed like the focus of the article was more on shocking the reader and talking about the use of photography to capture these events instead of giving insight into the reasons for these conflicts.
The Shack Dwellers page had a lot to it. I thought that it was good that they integrated a number of pictures to accompany the text. The problem with this site is that I really felt like I was being thrown into a situation I knew nothing about, so it was hard for me to draw a lot of conclusions from the site. I felt somewhat like this about the Zapatistas site too. However, although I feel like the information on these pages is sometimes a little complex for someone outside of the situation, I was glad to read it because it made me more aware of what people around the world stand for and are fighting for. That is to say, that using another medium, I would like to learn more about these issues.
Was RTmark for real? I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what exactly it was that RTmark does, and my answers were only clouded by the advanced vocabulary of the information their site provided. The graphics that were used on the page made me think that the site wasn’t in fact serious, and that it was a farce. Additionally, the site had several broken links which I believe a more serious organization would have had a better handle on. Whereas I believe that the site was trying to say that they were a kind of testing ground for activist activities, this really didn’t make sense to me in that real world conditions are the only thing that really warrants a location for such activities to play out.
The Yes Men site was rather amusing. I thought that their FAQ page was particularly amusing in that while most websites have extremely dry FAQ pages, this one was meant to be comical. For instance, this page says that Yes Men do their best to expose “evildoers.” This word is a link to the website cheneybush.com. While this is not the actual website for those political figures, it spells out the political agenda of the Yes Men in a comical way.
The “Christmas in China” article on Adbusters was hilarious! It exposed the cultural generalizations about both America and China. The article’s section on Walmart in China trying to capitalize on Christmas and “local dog-eating festivals” being in the same week was both horrible, and telling. It showed the ignorant representations of Asians by some, and the portrayal of Americans as being only interested in commercialism in addition to this. This article was both unexpected and amusing.
The opening layout of smartmeme was really user-friendly. Did anyone see the ad on the menu of services page for the Farmer Protection Act? The byline is “Keep Corporate Lawyers from Having a Field Day” and the image that accompanies it is 3 lawyers running through a field in a comical way with a scarecrow following them. How random!
On the Zapatistas website I read a story about police brutality in Mexico from May 6, 2006. The article chronicled different episodes of extreme police brutality, but I was confused throughout the whole article as to what had prompted the police and citizens to come into conflict. It seemed like the focus of the article was more on shocking the reader and talking about the use of photography to capture these events instead of giving insight into the reasons for these conflicts.
The Shack Dwellers page had a lot to it. I thought that it was good that they integrated a number of pictures to accompany the text. The problem with this site is that I really felt like I was being thrown into a situation I knew nothing about, so it was hard for me to draw a lot of conclusions from the site. I felt somewhat like this about the Zapatistas site too. However, although I feel like the information on these pages is sometimes a little complex for someone outside of the situation, I was glad to read it because it made me more aware of what people around the world stand for and are fighting for. That is to say, that using another medium, I would like to learn more about these issues.
Was RTmark for real? I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out what exactly it was that RTmark does, and my answers were only clouded by the advanced vocabulary of the information their site provided. The graphics that were used on the page made me think that the site wasn’t in fact serious, and that it was a farce. Additionally, the site had several broken links which I believe a more serious organization would have had a better handle on. Whereas I believe that the site was trying to say that they were a kind of testing ground for activist activities, this really didn’t make sense to me in that real world conditions are the only thing that really warrants a location for such activities to play out.
The Yes Men site was rather amusing. I thought that their FAQ page was particularly amusing in that while most websites have extremely dry FAQ pages, this one was meant to be comical. For instance, this page says that Yes Men do their best to expose “evildoers.” This word is a link to the website cheneybush.com. While this is not the actual website for those political figures, it spells out the political agenda of the Yes Men in a comical way.
The “Christmas in China” article on Adbusters was hilarious! It exposed the cultural generalizations about both America and China. The article’s section on Walmart in China trying to capitalize on Christmas and “local dog-eating festivals” being in the same week was both horrible, and telling. It showed the ignorant representations of Asians by some, and the portrayal of Americans as being only interested in commercialism in addition to this. This article was both unexpected and amusing.
The opening layout of smartmeme was really user-friendly. Did anyone see the ad on the menu of services page for the Farmer Protection Act? The byline is “Keep Corporate Lawyers from Having a Field Day” and the image that accompanies it is 3 lawyers running through a field in a comical way with a scarecrow following them. How random!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Indymedia, Zapatistas, Durban Shack Dwellers' Movement
Indymedia US: Happy Mother’s Day???
This was the worst article ever, and by that, I mean that it was deceivingly happy when it was in fact sad. It talked about Rosa Franco, a mother of one of the women in Guatemala who had been killed. She will not be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with her daughter, Maria Isabel Franco. The police did very little to help solve the case of the rape and torture of her child, and instead even contaminated the evidence. It really brings a whole other perspective of the government. You trust these law enforcers to do their job, but some of them just don’t care. It made me realize that I really take for granted that our countries officials aren’t as corrupted as others may be.
Zapatistas: Who’s Not Listening
This article’s introduction really surprised me. It gives the impression that The Los Angeles Times is wrong for distorting information, making me automatically think, “The Los Angeles Times is well respected, and you wouldn’t expect them to let this article to be passed through the editor and published!” Thing is, I actually think that John Gibler is overreacting. The author of the article in the LA Times left out a number of things, yes, but also did report on many aspects as well. There is just so much that had gone on, that it’s hard to talk about every single five-hour meeting in every city. What was a problem, however, was that he spoke about Marcos in a manor that discredited him, saying things like, “it’s hard to resist a masked guy in a natty cap and black-and-brown fatigues who smokes a pipe through the hole of his balaclava and rides a black motorcycle.” In this case, Gibler has a point.
Durban Shack Dwellers’ Movement: Photography and writing from Abahlali women
This article is amazing because it starts off with a picture of these women doing their laundry, and follows with a quote from one of them women named Zama. This article is written in their native tongue, but then translated into English. It gives you a reality check about the lives of others in second or third world countries. The worst part of it is that this is normal for them. “They (children) are playing near the dumping place which is very dangerous for them, as well as unhealthy, because there are toxic things in that dumping place. But even though it is dangerous to them they are happy because they are used to this situation.” All of these pictures show an everyday event that makes you at least a bit sad, or grateful that you don’t have to live like that. Diseases are everywhere, and people die of them all the time. One person even said that everyone has TB because of some trash settled in stagnant water that’s sat there for some time. Year after year it never changes, and these people are still collecting water miles away the same way they did ten years ago. And we live in a society where parents give their teenagers cars and we’re able to bathe with clean water every day.
This was the worst article ever, and by that, I mean that it was deceivingly happy when it was in fact sad. It talked about Rosa Franco, a mother of one of the women in Guatemala who had been killed. She will not be able to celebrate Mother’s Day with her daughter, Maria Isabel Franco. The police did very little to help solve the case of the rape and torture of her child, and instead even contaminated the evidence. It really brings a whole other perspective of the government. You trust these law enforcers to do their job, but some of them just don’t care. It made me realize that I really take for granted that our countries officials aren’t as corrupted as others may be.
Zapatistas: Who’s Not Listening
This article’s introduction really surprised me. It gives the impression that The Los Angeles Times is wrong for distorting information, making me automatically think, “The Los Angeles Times is well respected, and you wouldn’t expect them to let this article to be passed through the editor and published!” Thing is, I actually think that John Gibler is overreacting. The author of the article in the LA Times left out a number of things, yes, but also did report on many aspects as well. There is just so much that had gone on, that it’s hard to talk about every single five-hour meeting in every city. What was a problem, however, was that he spoke about Marcos in a manor that discredited him, saying things like, “it’s hard to resist a masked guy in a natty cap and black-and-brown fatigues who smokes a pipe through the hole of his balaclava and rides a black motorcycle.” In this case, Gibler has a point.
Durban Shack Dwellers’ Movement: Photography and writing from Abahlali women
This article is amazing because it starts off with a picture of these women doing their laundry, and follows with a quote from one of them women named Zama. This article is written in their native tongue, but then translated into English. It gives you a reality check about the lives of others in second or third world countries. The worst part of it is that this is normal for them. “They (children) are playing near the dumping place which is very dangerous for them, as well as unhealthy, because there are toxic things in that dumping place. But even though it is dangerous to them they are happy because they are used to this situation.” All of these pictures show an everyday event that makes you at least a bit sad, or grateful that you don’t have to live like that. Diseases are everywhere, and people die of them all the time. One person even said that everyone has TB because of some trash settled in stagnant water that’s sat there for some time. Year after year it never changes, and these people are still collecting water miles away the same way they did ten years ago. And we live in a society where parents give their teenagers cars and we’re able to bathe with clean water every day.
Michael's Articles
Mexico’s ‘Modern Right’
So this thought might be a few thousand years too late, but I think it is now made possible with the technology we are learning about: Those who care about and are already involved in the readings this week have to use this technology to connect and organize with indigenous peoples all over the globe. Not just with the Zapatistas, but with the revolutionaries fighting in the Andes, the Bolivarian revolutionaries in Bolivia and Venezuela, all of Latin America in fact, Africans, and others. Only in funding and fighting for indigenous rights can we begin to reverse the damage we have done in the past and continue to do.
Rise of Internet Police State
It seems at the same time we are discussing how this technology can be used to open its full democratic potential, Google, I mean the FBI, no wait I mean Google, is using technology to track and record every estep we take. I always joke with my cousin who works at Google about search engines providing info to the Chinese government in order to squash political dissent. After reading this article—it’s not that funny anymore. And I never have read one of the many ‘agreements’ I have agreed to online. After this article—I’ll probably start taking the time.
Baltimore IMC
This article is about the 654,965 people that have died as a result of the US military being in Iraq the past 4 years. It was the report from Johns Hopkins U that was published last year in a leading British medical journal and of course, quickly labeled as ‘not credible’ by Bush 2 and not paid much attention to by his corporate media—even though the British government concluded it was true a couple months ago. It’s haunting to think this number was from last July and it’s more like a million now. That’s around the same number of Iraqis who died during the 90s under Bush 1 and Clinton’s sanctions.
So this thought might be a few thousand years too late, but I think it is now made possible with the technology we are learning about: Those who care about and are already involved in the readings this week have to use this technology to connect and organize with indigenous peoples all over the globe. Not just with the Zapatistas, but with the revolutionaries fighting in the Andes, the Bolivarian revolutionaries in Bolivia and Venezuela, all of Latin America in fact, Africans, and others. Only in funding and fighting for indigenous rights can we begin to reverse the damage we have done in the past and continue to do.
Rise of Internet Police State
It seems at the same time we are discussing how this technology can be used to open its full democratic potential, Google, I mean the FBI, no wait I mean Google, is using technology to track and record every estep we take. I always joke with my cousin who works at Google about search engines providing info to the Chinese government in order to squash political dissent. After reading this article—it’s not that funny anymore. And I never have read one of the many ‘agreements’ I have agreed to online. After this article—I’ll probably start taking the time.
Baltimore IMC
This article is about the 654,965 people that have died as a result of the US military being in Iraq the past 4 years. It was the report from Johns Hopkins U that was published last year in a leading British medical journal and of course, quickly labeled as ‘not credible’ by Bush 2 and not paid much attention to by his corporate media—even though the British government concluded it was true a couple months ago. It’s haunting to think this number was from last July and it’s more like a million now. That’s around the same number of Iraqis who died during the 90s under Bush 1 and Clinton’s sanctions.
My ELO experiences...a lot of these were kind of odd...
1.) DREIER, by Klaus-dieter Michel (self-published, 1998). Short nonfiction in English. Animated text, prominent graphics, hypertext, and reader collaboration.
This site was pretty bizarre. In a project called “Dreier” the creator combines 12 images on the lefthand side of the page with 298 test fragments of 3 letters at a time so that the sentences you are supposed to read are all chopped up. At the end of the piece you are asked to write what you thought the text was trying to convey to the reader. Due to the fast pace of the text and my concentrating on trying to put the letters together so quickly, I am left with only a headache, and a vague notion that the text had something to do with sexuality and opportunity. This page could have been improved if the text were slowed down, but the overall idea of combining the text and visual elements simultaneously was interesting.
2.) What Goes Around, by Mark Weiman (Born Magazine, 1998). Short nonfiction in English. Video/animation, prominent graphics, and hypertext.
This one was pretty fun to read. The text of the page deals with a man who has his bike stolen, and the measures he takes toward getting his beloved bike back. The story was very well written and held my attention until the very end of the piece. The only thing I was disappointed in where the graphics (or lack there of). The graphics consisted of 5 or 6 pictures in the upper lefthand corner that changed every 5 seconds or so. When I first came to the page I was unclear if they were meant to tie in with the text I was supposed to be reading at that moment in time or not. However, though a little lackluster visually, I really enjoyed this page!
3.) Imaginary Post Office, by Randy Adams (self-published, January 1999). Long nonfiction in English. Prominent graphics and hypertext.
This site was kind of amusing. It was created as a part of the Imaginary Countries Project. It includes fake stamps and postcards by people who choose to contribute to the site. The stamps were a lot more interesting than any real stamps that I’ve seen, and the postcards had random insights and experiences written by imaginary people. I was kind of unsure what the point of this project was, but the site was well put together.
4.) In My Hysterical Opinion, by Raquel Rivera and Jeannette Lambert (self-published, 1998). Collection of nonfiction in English. Audio and hypertext.
This site includes individual book and movie reviews. The introduction is written in a very clever way, and the reviews were fun to read. However, the site didn’t include the audio component that the description had spoken of. Additionally, I would have appreciated more graphics and color. I did enjoy how witty the writing was, however. (I’m such an English major!)
5.) Attributed Text, by Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead (self-published, March 1998). Short nonfiction in English. Hypertext.
This one was really short…and seemed kind of pointless. The hypertext pieces only had 3-4 sentences to each of them. Although the writing was insightful, and the graphics went well with the pieces, they left me with a lingering feeling of being unsure what I should take from the page.
This site was pretty bizarre. In a project called “Dreier” the creator combines 12 images on the lefthand side of the page with 298 test fragments of 3 letters at a time so that the sentences you are supposed to read are all chopped up. At the end of the piece you are asked to write what you thought the text was trying to convey to the reader. Due to the fast pace of the text and my concentrating on trying to put the letters together so quickly, I am left with only a headache, and a vague notion that the text had something to do with sexuality and opportunity. This page could have been improved if the text were slowed down, but the overall idea of combining the text and visual elements simultaneously was interesting.
2.) What Goes Around, by Mark Weiman (Born Magazine, 1998). Short nonfiction in English. Video/animation, prominent graphics, and hypertext.
This one was pretty fun to read. The text of the page deals with a man who has his bike stolen, and the measures he takes toward getting his beloved bike back. The story was very well written and held my attention until the very end of the piece. The only thing I was disappointed in where the graphics (or lack there of). The graphics consisted of 5 or 6 pictures in the upper lefthand corner that changed every 5 seconds or so. When I first came to the page I was unclear if they were meant to tie in with the text I was supposed to be reading at that moment in time or not. However, though a little lackluster visually, I really enjoyed this page!
3.) Imaginary Post Office, by Randy Adams (self-published, January 1999). Long nonfiction in English. Prominent graphics and hypertext.
This site was kind of amusing. It was created as a part of the Imaginary Countries Project. It includes fake stamps and postcards by people who choose to contribute to the site. The stamps were a lot more interesting than any real stamps that I’ve seen, and the postcards had random insights and experiences written by imaginary people. I was kind of unsure what the point of this project was, but the site was well put together.
4.) In My Hysterical Opinion, by Raquel Rivera and Jeannette Lambert (self-published, 1998). Collection of nonfiction in English. Audio and hypertext.
This site includes individual book and movie reviews. The introduction is written in a very clever way, and the reviews were fun to read. However, the site didn’t include the audio component that the description had spoken of. Additionally, I would have appreciated more graphics and color. I did enjoy how witty the writing was, however. (I’m such an English major!)
5.) Attributed Text, by Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead (self-published, March 1998). Short nonfiction in English. Hypertext.
This one was really short…and seemed kind of pointless. The hypertext pieces only had 3-4 sentences to each of them. Although the writing was insightful, and the graphics went well with the pieces, they left me with a lingering feeling of being unsure what I should take from the page.
Articles
Indymedia: Harvard Hunger Strike
Upon reading the title of this article, I was intrigued because I have a few friends at Harvard and wondered if they were involved in this strike against the wage negotiations going on at their school. A large portion of the student body has been protesting the prolonged discussions of wages for the school's security guards. When I read the article, I was surprised by the fact that the hunger strike consists of only 11 students whom, according to the article, are making an "extreme difference." It goes to show that a handful of people can really affect change with personal sacrifice.
Zapatistas: Refuse to Look Away
This article is a good emotional appeal about the plight that the members of this movement face. In North America, indigenous people are moved around whenever resources are found, their lands are 'developed' without consulting them, they are dispossessed and made refugees of with abandon.
Upon reading the title of this article, I was intrigued because I have a few friends at Harvard and wondered if they were involved in this strike against the wage negotiations going on at their school. A large portion of the student body has been protesting the prolonged discussions of wages for the school's security guards. When I read the article, I was surprised by the fact that the hunger strike consists of only 11 students whom, according to the article, are making an "extreme difference." It goes to show that a handful of people can really affect change with personal sacrifice.
Zapatistas: Refuse to Look Away
This article is a good emotional appeal about the plight that the members of this movement face. In North America, indigenous people are moved around whenever resources are found, their lands are 'developed' without consulting them, they are dispossessed and made refugees of with abandon.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
The protesters that were arrested at Sununu’s
This was a very interesting site. I have to agree with the person who said you couldn’t tell what the Zapatistas website was about. On this website the opening page tells you who they are and what they are doing. This is again people using their right to voice their opinion, what is amazing about this movement is the mass amount of people involved. They are committed more then their time to their cause they have given their whole life to it. I read about the UnFreedom day which is such powerful statement and a great way to bring awareness in a large scale. People believe being load and in your face is the way to bring awareness but its more the message that will touch someone. Instead of having people shout speeches they all came together to share the day, to share the emotion, and to share the beliefs that they are trying to voice. I believe that this site has a real statement but does it in a non-aggressive way which makes it easier for people to understand and what to learn more.
RTMARK
This was an interest twist to protesting. I don’t really know what to think about this site. There are selling protesting as if it something to be sold. A protester to me is someone who trying to voice their opinion against the corporations and government not using it to there advantage. I understand what this website is trying to do they are trying to make real change because like they say protesting does always bring about change. They want to make a true difference towards change by using the powers that are used to stop them. An interesting twist to the world of protesting, but I guess since we’re living in the technology age protesting doesn’t have to be the red print and cardboard signs anymore.
Ben's Articles
Action at Burger King at Santa Cruz to Support the CIW
Indymedia.us
A little local activism: from May 11-12, four UC Santa Cruz students, with the support of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, protested Burger King’s refusal to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to ensure that field workers are given fair wages and working conditions. I wonder if, had they taken advantage of a little text messaging, a bigger/stronger/louder crowd could have been summoned?
New Areas Trying to Break from Party Control are Quickly Repressed
Durban shack dwellers
The title of this article caught my eye as I glanced over the list of Durban Shack Dwellers articles; if these “new areas” were able to coordinate their efforts through the use of texting, could they succeed? They face some pretty rough odds (unlike areas such as the US, a common means of political control is blatant/unconcealed killing), but apparently they are making some progress despite this. Would text messaging be a valuable tool for activism in such a harsh environment (would it make a difference)?
Police Brutality in Mexico
Zapatistas
This article is a little dated (May 2004), but it is so powerful. People resisting police violence set up blockades and fought to keep them up. Both state and federal police were called in to confront the resistance, and in the process beat hundreds of protesters. The pictures at the end of the articles are disturbing, but I’m glad that they are out in the open for people to see. Mass communication technologies have allowed for so much stuff like this to come out, and it is so important for people, especially in America, to be exposed to these types of happenings, to be reminded of the importance of the freedoms that are often taken for granted.
Are mass communication technologies, because they create awareness of injustices across the globe, the key to world peace? Or does the presence of government and/or big business regulation ensure that the internet’s potential can never be fully reached?
Indymedia.us
A little local activism: from May 11-12, four UC Santa Cruz students, with the support of the Student/Farmworker Alliance, protested Burger King’s refusal to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to ensure that field workers are given fair wages and working conditions. I wonder if, had they taken advantage of a little text messaging, a bigger/stronger/louder crowd could have been summoned?
New Areas Trying to Break from Party Control are Quickly Repressed
Durban shack dwellers
The title of this article caught my eye as I glanced over the list of Durban Shack Dwellers articles; if these “new areas” were able to coordinate their efforts through the use of texting, could they succeed? They face some pretty rough odds (unlike areas such as the US, a common means of political control is blatant/unconcealed killing), but apparently they are making some progress despite this. Would text messaging be a valuable tool for activism in such a harsh environment (would it make a difference)?
Police Brutality in Mexico
Zapatistas
This article is a little dated (May 2004), but it is so powerful. People resisting police violence set up blockades and fought to keep them up. Both state and federal police were called in to confront the resistance, and in the process beat hundreds of protesters. The pictures at the end of the articles are disturbing, but I’m glad that they are out in the open for people to see. Mass communication technologies have allowed for so much stuff like this to come out, and it is so important for people, especially in America, to be exposed to these types of happenings, to be reminded of the importance of the freedoms that are often taken for granted.
Are mass communication technologies, because they create awareness of injustices across the globe, the key to world peace? Or does the presence of government and/or big business regulation ensure that the internet’s potential can never be fully reached?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Some respect
http://hyperex.co.uk/reviewbrokensaints.php
I think anyone who spends this much time creating something like this is dedicated. From dealing with Flash and similar programs I can attest to how frustrating it is when things go wrong.
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
I think this is a work of genius. Selling advertising space for the cost of maintaining a domain. The guy made 1 million dollars for selling pixels-intangible objects.
I think anyone who spends this much time creating something like this is dedicated. From dealing with Flash and similar programs I can attest to how frustrating it is when things go wrong.
http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/
I think this is a work of genius. Selling advertising space for the cost of maintaining a domain. The guy made 1 million dollars for selling pixels-intangible objects.
ELO Nonfiction and Assorted Interesting Articles
ELO Nonfiction Diary:
Anxiety - http://21dish.com/anxiety/index.html - The graphic on the first page is just so fitting. To me, that's exactly what anxiety feels like.
Writer's Block - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/block/writer.html# - Confusing, but interesting. Trying to find a reason to the randomness was amusing for a few minutes.
[Con] Artist - http://beehive.temporalimage.com/content_apps42/app_e.html - Even more confusing, but I really like how the art is arranged and how the links unlock different sections of the whole work. Guess not all nonfiction has to be a solid block of text. :)
Encounters and Allusions - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/mediatravel.html - Another one of Randy Adams' works - I really like his ideas. Allusions... or illusions?
Imaginary Post Office - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/post/postinfo.html - One last Randy Adams work... this one was just pretty cool to browse through and see what all the artists came up with.
IndyMedia:
Gonzales Embarrassed at Harvard Reunion - http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/199153/index.php - Owned. So why wasn't this in any of my newspapers... or in any of the major news feeds? I will definitely be following this Indy Media site in the future - because so many of these news stories I have never ever seen, and so many of these news stories I wish I had seen.
Zapatistas:
What exactly is a Zapatista? This site doesn't do a very good job of explaining that... had to go off and do research on my own to find that. Once I did so though, the site provided some very interesting perspectives to a problem I barely even knew existed.
Durban Shack Dwellers:
http://www.abahlali.org/node/28
Wow. Another problem I didn't even know existed... but this pretty much only presents one side of the story (defended ourselves from the police with stones and bricks?). It would be nice to be able to find an unbiased opinion of these events.
RTmark:
http://www.rtmark.com/
The activist newspeak babble is really getting on my nerves here. I don't want to hear about all these new names for old things - I just want to know what this program does and why it's so important to the activist community. Cultural Capital (tm)? What does that mean? Why is it important? And why all the intellectual property and (tm) reminders?
YesMen:
The talks that they gave as "WTO representatives" are simply frightening. Is the world that convinced that free market ideology is so appropriate? Or are people just not paying attention, or trying to be polite? Even when the most ridiculous stunts are pulled, people don't notice anything out of the ordinary. Selective blocking because the WTO supposedly knows what it's doing and should be agreed with?
I'm sort of proud that the only people able to recognize what ridiculousness the WTO "reps" were propounding were college students.
While these experiments are highly effective at illustrating the flaws with society, I did notice one minor area where they could have done their research better: they seem to equate Social Darwinism with the ideas of Charles Darwin - Darwin had nothing to do with Social Darwinism (in fact, he was quite against it) - it was the businessmen in the US (who the YesMen would probably be against) that took Darwin's works and ran the wrong way with it.
Anxiety - http://21dish.com/anxiety/index.html - The graphic on the first page is just so fitting. To me, that's exactly what anxiety feels like.
Writer's Block - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/block/writer.html# - Confusing, but interesting. Trying to find a reason to the randomness was amusing for a few minutes.
[Con] Artist - http://beehive.temporalimage.com/content_apps42/app_e.html - Even more confusing, but I really like how the art is arranged and how the links unlock different sections of the whole work. Guess not all nonfiction has to be a solid block of text. :)
Encounters and Allusions - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/mediatravel.html - Another one of Randy Adams' works - I really like his ideas. Allusions... or illusions?
Imaginary Post Office - http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk/studio/radams/post/postinfo.html - One last Randy Adams work... this one was just pretty cool to browse through and see what all the artists came up with.
IndyMedia:
Gonzales Embarrassed at Harvard Reunion - http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/199153/index.php - Owned. So why wasn't this in any of my newspapers... or in any of the major news feeds? I will definitely be following this Indy Media site in the future - because so many of these news stories I have never ever seen, and so many of these news stories I wish I had seen.
Zapatistas:
What exactly is a Zapatista? This site doesn't do a very good job of explaining that... had to go off and do research on my own to find that. Once I did so though, the site provided some very interesting perspectives to a problem I barely even knew existed.
Durban Shack Dwellers:
http://www.abahlali.org/node/28
Wow. Another problem I didn't even know existed... but this pretty much only presents one side of the story (defended ourselves from the police with stones and bricks?). It would be nice to be able to find an unbiased opinion of these events.
RTmark:
http://www.rtmark.com/
The activist newspeak babble is really getting on my nerves here. I don't want to hear about all these new names for old things - I just want to know what this program does and why it's so important to the activist community. Cultural Capital (tm)? What does that mean? Why is it important? And why all the intellectual property and (tm) reminders?
YesMen:
The talks that they gave as "WTO representatives" are simply frightening. Is the world that convinced that free market ideology is so appropriate? Or are people just not paying attention, or trying to be polite? Even when the most ridiculous stunts are pulled, people don't notice anything out of the ordinary. Selective blocking because the WTO supposedly knows what it's doing and should be agreed with?
I'm sort of proud that the only people able to recognize what ridiculousness the WTO "reps" were propounding were college students.
While these experiments are highly effective at illustrating the flaws with society, I did notice one minor area where they could have done their research better: they seem to equate Social Darwinism with the ideas of Charles Darwin - Darwin had nothing to do with Social Darwinism (in fact, he was quite against it) - it was the businessmen in the US (who the YesMen would probably be against) that took Darwin's works and ran the wrong way with it.
ELO
Life Outtacontext -- something we can relate to
In reading this blog, I enjoyed the language he used and the general attitude he conveyed in his entries. He wrote on several incidences about his commute to work, and they tend to deal with social situations that are common to many people.
For instance, in his entry Mother’s Day: My Gift is a Loaded Question, he talks about how he wants to ask a woman where she got her bag so that he might purchase one for his wife, but she is just out of his cone of silence so that in order to engage with her, he must speak at a level that would be heard by others. He shows his inner contemplations in a potentially awkward situation, something that I can relate to. He eventually resolves that this purse is worth the risk at an uncomfortable encounter.
I spent a solid amount of time reading through the different entries this man “Jeff Gates” made about his life.
In reading this blog, I enjoyed the language he used and the general attitude he conveyed in his entries. He wrote on several incidences about his commute to work, and they tend to deal with social situations that are common to many people.
For instance, in his entry Mother’s Day: My Gift is a Loaded Question, he talks about how he wants to ask a woman where she got her bag so that he might purchase one for his wife, but she is just out of his cone of silence so that in order to engage with her, he must speak at a level that would be heard by others. He shows his inner contemplations in a potentially awkward situation, something that I can relate to. He eventually resolves that this purse is worth the risk at an uncomfortable encounter.
I spent a solid amount of time reading through the different entries this man “Jeff Gates” made about his life.
My favorite part of the entire site was under the Picks of the Crop entries. Conceptual Hobbies: My Primer was very witty. Jeff describes certain aspects of his life that he makes into a sort of game for his own enjoyment. He tries to be the first to clap at the end of a lecture, discussion, or performance. He claims he’s been doing this for 5 years and has been the first to clap at over 120 events. Another example he had was that he likes to incorporate television advertising slogans into daily conversations. He says that it can be stealthy and finds it fun and exciting to deliver a line without others noticing. I feel that anyone who is capable of entertaining himself to such a degree will probably be very happy in life.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Articles I Found Intriguing
Indymedia US
Seattle Students Walkout against the Iraq War
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/04/259253.shtml
I found the article, Seattle Students Walkout against the Iraq War, inspiring. I know that the Iraq War is very controversial and even I have mixed feelings about it. However, reading about students in high school and college who really believe in ending the war caused me to want to take action for my beliefs as well. This walkout story captured my action because people my age organized the event and were the major participants. I find it really admirable that these students were not only voicing their opinions, but also doing something about them. This article also raised a pressing question for me: Do we have military recruiters at Santa Clara University? I do not know, but to be honest, I don’t think I’d want them on our campus either because I am a strong believer in anti-war.
The Zapatistas
The Zapatista Women by Paula Gross
http://www.zmag.org/content/Chiapas/grosso_zapatista-women.cfm
I have to admit that before visiting this site I had no idea what the Zapatista movement was or that it even existed. Now, I have a better understanding. I was drawn to Paula Gross’ article, The Zapatista Women, because as an English major at Santa Clara University I’ve focused on women and gender studies. Also, as I read the article I realized that it was a personal account of Gross’ observations of a specific Zapatista community and I was immediately intrigued. However, by the end of the article I was somewhat let down because the majority of the text was solely about the Zapatista movement in general and only a slight portion devoted to women’s role in this movement. I found it very interesting, however, that the part that was dedicated to women’s issues discussed “the struggle to preserve traditional roles with modern liberal feminism.” This line stuck me because in every community there seems to be confliction between traditional feminine roles and feminism. Even here in America, this issue is still prevalent. It was just nice to know that feminism has made a mark on the Zapatista community was well, even if it is a troublesome identity.
Durban Shack Dwellers' Movement
Unfreedom Day by Abahlali
http://www.abahlali.org/node/26
Abahlali’s posting, Unfreedom Day, was very moving. I took African Literature last quarter and so I have a fairly good understanding of the situation in South Africa. This event, which Abahlali examines, is a testament to the courage of the African people and of their hope for a better future despite political unrest. To come together and stage an event of poetry, music and theater, amidst a time of utter turmoil is remarkable. These people are so strong. I was very impressed by Unfreedom Day because it demonstrates how humans can bond together to overcome adversity, if even for a day.
Seattle Students Walkout against the Iraq War
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2007/04/259253.shtml
I found the article, Seattle Students Walkout against the Iraq War, inspiring. I know that the Iraq War is very controversial and even I have mixed feelings about it. However, reading about students in high school and college who really believe in ending the war caused me to want to take action for my beliefs as well. This walkout story captured my action because people my age organized the event and were the major participants. I find it really admirable that these students were not only voicing their opinions, but also doing something about them. This article also raised a pressing question for me: Do we have military recruiters at Santa Clara University? I do not know, but to be honest, I don’t think I’d want them on our campus either because I am a strong believer in anti-war.
The Zapatistas
The Zapatista Women by Paula Gross
http://www.zmag.org/content/Chiapas/grosso_zapatista-women.cfm
I have to admit that before visiting this site I had no idea what the Zapatista movement was or that it even existed. Now, I have a better understanding. I was drawn to Paula Gross’ article, The Zapatista Women, because as an English major at Santa Clara University I’ve focused on women and gender studies. Also, as I read the article I realized that it was a personal account of Gross’ observations of a specific Zapatista community and I was immediately intrigued. However, by the end of the article I was somewhat let down because the majority of the text was solely about the Zapatista movement in general and only a slight portion devoted to women’s role in this movement. I found it very interesting, however, that the part that was dedicated to women’s issues discussed “the struggle to preserve traditional roles with modern liberal feminism.” This line stuck me because in every community there seems to be confliction between traditional feminine roles and feminism. Even here in America, this issue is still prevalent. It was just nice to know that feminism has made a mark on the Zapatista community was well, even if it is a troublesome identity.
Durban Shack Dwellers' Movement
Unfreedom Day by Abahlali
http://www.abahlali.org/node/26
Abahlali’s posting, Unfreedom Day, was very moving. I took African Literature last quarter and so I have a fairly good understanding of the situation in South Africa. This event, which Abahlali examines, is a testament to the courage of the African people and of their hope for a better future despite political unrest. To come together and stage an event of poetry, music and theater, amidst a time of utter turmoil is remarkable. These people are so strong. I was very impressed by Unfreedom Day because it demonstrates how humans can bond together to overcome adversity, if even for a day.
ELO: Non Fiction Hypertexts
360 Degrees: This site talks about and ask quesitons to see what is working and what is not working in our current criminal justice system. The site is compiled of interactive links that take you to different parts of the site. There is a section about the people they are focusing on; eight different stories about various people that are, or were, in the prison system. I really enjoyed this site because it captured your attention, had simple text, and was very informative. There wasn't too much to read, just enough so you knew what was going on.
Abducted: was the next ELO I looked at. It was a little too strange for me seeing how it was discussing the process of being abducted by aliens. I didn't really find this one interesting or entertaining.
A Childs Game Confused: This site had hypertext links that were placed throughout the text. You could then choose which words you wanted to click on, since they would send you to a different plae in the story. Even though you could the site can be navigated different ways, I was surprised to see that coherence through the site was maintained.
Memoirs from Hijiyama: was a very capturing. It had amazing graphics and design. You could navigate through it by click on little boxes that would lead to more photos and text. It was very interesting and a great site.
Are ELO useful? What makes them so different? I feel that ELO can be very helpful in discussing certain topics and areas of interest, however they can also be confusing. If you have too many links that take you off into this maze of a website you can get lost and feel that the information you received was incomplete. I still like them because they add a little spice to regular textual websites. Most of the sites I visited mainted coherence, which is a main concern oh mine.
Abducted: was the next ELO I looked at. It was a little too strange for me seeing how it was discussing the process of being abducted by aliens. I didn't really find this one interesting or entertaining.
A Childs Game Confused: This site had hypertext links that were placed throughout the text. You could then choose which words you wanted to click on, since they would send you to a different plae in the story. Even though you could the site can be navigated different ways, I was surprised to see that coherence through the site was maintained.
Memoirs from Hijiyama: was a very capturing. It had amazing graphics and design. You could navigate through it by click on little boxes that would lead to more photos and text. It was very interesting and a great site.
Are ELO useful? What makes them so different? I feel that ELO can be very helpful in discussing certain topics and areas of interest, however they can also be confusing. If you have too many links that take you off into this maze of a website you can get lost and feel that the information you received was incomplete. I still like them because they add a little spice to regular textual websites. Most of the sites I visited mainted coherence, which is a main concern oh mine.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Flaming Blogs
In an article published online today (
Obviously a huge part of this aggression comes from the fact that the threats can come with complete anonymity. I personally feel that this is simply the nature of the beast, in that the freedoms the web has granted us come with a price. Jeff Jarvis of the City University of New York states the issue quite clearly, “No one edits the Internet,” Jarvis said. Traditional "media are things you sanitize, control and put a bow on." The Web is not. Does this issue bring forth a need for some sort of control? Because the “flamers” in these groups represent such a small minority of the blogging community, it may be possible that a general and informal “be nice” code may be able to apply enough pressure on the “flamer” minority that the threats can be neutralized. Kirk Hanson (Executive Director of the
Flame on: Hateful discourse in blogs scare some users away
The One Stop Blog Shop
OgMog.
I have no idea what is stands for, but OgMog has quickly become a site that I frequent. It was started by some friends of mine who have recently graduated from USC as either film majors or theatre majors. Here's a description about their blog taken straight from their website:
"So you're in your twenties (a 20something), and you've got piss and fire and smarts galore. You're hungry and ambitious. You live in the world, and you know it's just a matter of time before you ARE somebody. But there's a way to go.
OgMog is a blog for you. With it, we aim to bring you information that's helpful, interesting, or amusing; but entirely catered to YOU. The hungry 20something."
This description doesn't really seem to fit the site all too well. It makes it look much more ambitious than it really is because the blog itself is relatively simple. These young writers usually post topics about film, comedy, tv, art, music, design, politics, and the media. Since the writers are mostly based in Los Angeles, they offer a lot of insight into LA life. As a student who was born and raised in LA, with plans on moving back after graduation, I find that section of the blog to be really interesting. They've covered such topics as "Best Mexican Food in L.A.," "Free Concerts in LA!" and "LA 2.0: Cheap WiFi for all of Los Angeles by 2009." Nothing really too crazy, but I find their writings to be pretty keen. They talk about all sorts of stuff, making it easy to access a bunch of tidbit information all in one site, rather than perusing a bunch of different blogs to find the same information; hence the title of this post!
I have no idea what is stands for, but OgMog has quickly become a site that I frequent. It was started by some friends of mine who have recently graduated from USC as either film majors or theatre majors. Here's a description about their blog taken straight from their website:
"So you're in your twenties (a 20something), and you've got piss and fire and smarts galore. You're hungry and ambitious. You live in the world, and you know it's just a matter of time before you ARE somebody. But there's a way to go.
OgMog is a blog for you. With it, we aim to bring you information that's helpful, interesting, or amusing; but entirely catered to YOU. The hungry 20something."
This description doesn't really seem to fit the site all too well. It makes it look much more ambitious than it really is because the blog itself is relatively simple. These young writers usually post topics about film, comedy, tv, art, music, design, politics, and the media. Since the writers are mostly based in Los Angeles, they offer a lot of insight into LA life. As a student who was born and raised in LA, with plans on moving back after graduation, I find that section of the blog to be really interesting. They've covered such topics as "Best Mexican Food in L.A.," "Free Concerts in LA!" and "LA 2.0: Cheap WiFi for all of Los Angeles by 2009." Nothing really too crazy, but I find their writings to be pretty keen. They talk about all sorts of stuff, making it easy to access a bunch of tidbit information all in one site, rather than perusing a bunch of different blogs to find the same information; hence the title of this post!
A Rare Breed?
As one that has always had some level of skepticism in joining the blogging community, either as an author or an active reader, I must say that some of the blogs I've read this week have been not only impressive, but downright hilarious. I've been of the opinion for awhile that many of the active writers in the blogging community, many close friends included, and perhaps even specifically, tend to be socially pretentious and more interested in sounding intellectual and demonstrating what they believe to be their superior viewpoints than actually effecting the changes which they profess to aspire towards. It was for this reason that I've held such a skeptical view, never really having much interest in participating in a blog or reading others' with any serious loyalty.
Some of the examples that I've browsed through this week have been not only interesting, but also rather innovative, while I've also found some that seem to meet the expectations I previously held. The blog that I found the most entertaining was one that seemed to break away from the traditional model, simply offering humor that actually made me interested in reading this site for a good 45 minutes before I realized that I had to keep skimming others. The site http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ was transformed into a book, and it is merely a collection of the remarkably asinine things that the author and contributors overheard everyday people say in the public sphere. I can be a rather cynical person when it comes to failed attempts at humor, but to be honest, some of these were just hilarious. The humor behind them is only amplified by each reader's ability to recognize moments in life where he or she has heard equally rediculous comments and had trouble believing what their ears had picked up. Perhaps some examples would better illustrate what I mean...
From the section "Isn't That Nice?" in the Classic Quotes section ( http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/pages/favorites.html ):
Chick #1: Omigod, like, if I like your earrings, why should I tell someone else I like your earrings? I should just tell you.
Chick #2: Omigod, I'm just like that too. But really it's because I love getting compliments.
Chick #1: Omigod! Me, too! It's the only reason why I say nice things to other people.
--33rd & 6th
Overheard by: Mary Beth Hanlon
-------------
From the section "Parve Wednesday One Liners" also from the Classic Quotes section:
Guy on cell: You deserve a gold Jewish Star of David!...Did you swallow?...Yeah, that's true, one step at a time.
--Astoria
Overheard by: SEM
-------------
From the section "She Sounds Very Pretty Herself" in Classic Quotes:
The page is filled with examples, many of them setting the bar higher than the one before. If you have some spare time, read this web page; it's actually a funny site that will bring you entertainment that doesn't feel like work, which if you ask me, is something of a rarity to find in classes.
Some of the examples that I've browsed through this week have been not only interesting, but also rather innovative, while I've also found some that seem to meet the expectations I previously held. The blog that I found the most entertaining was one that seemed to break away from the traditional model, simply offering humor that actually made me interested in reading this site for a good 45 minutes before I realized that I had to keep skimming others. The site http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/ was transformed into a book, and it is merely a collection of the remarkably asinine things that the author and contributors overheard everyday people say in the public sphere. I can be a rather cynical person when it comes to failed attempts at humor, but to be honest, some of these were just hilarious. The humor behind them is only amplified by each reader's ability to recognize moments in life where he or she has heard equally rediculous comments and had trouble believing what their ears had picked up. Perhaps some examples would better illustrate what I mean...
From the section "Isn't That Nice?" in the Classic Quotes section ( http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/pages/favorites.html ):
Chick #1: Omigod, like, if I like your earrings, why should I tell someone else I like your earrings? I should just tell you.
Chick #2: Omigod, I'm just like that too. But really it's because I love getting compliments.
Chick #1: Omigod! Me, too! It's the only reason why I say nice things to other people.
--33rd & 6th
Overheard by: Mary Beth Hanlon
-------------
From the section "Parve Wednesday One Liners" also from the Classic Quotes section:
Guy on cell: You deserve a gold Jewish Star of David!...Did you swallow?...Yeah, that's true, one step at a time.
--Astoria
Overheard by: SEM
-------------
From the section "She Sounds Very Pretty Herself" in Classic Quotes:
Girl #1: I'm funny.
Girl #2: No you're not.
Girl #1: Yes I am. Everyone says I'm hilarious.
Girl #2: Of course they do. That's because you aren't pretty.
--Virgin, Union Square
Overheard by: djlindee
The page is filled with examples, many of them setting the bar higher than the one before. If you have some spare time, read this web page; it's actually a funny site that will bring you entertainment that doesn't feel like work, which if you ask me, is something of a rarity to find in classes.
PostSecret
Another blog that I just couldn’t stop reading and that I think other people should read is PostSecret. At the beginning of the blog, an explanation of the site is listed, “PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.” This blog is really great because it not only allows people to express their deepest secrets in an anonymous environment, but it also allows these secrets to take the form of art. The blog is very colorful and amusing because each secret is accompanied by images. Post Secret is a very creative blog that keeps the reader engaged by use of pictures. While most traditional blogs are solely comprised of text entries, PostSecret requires the use of imagery.
If I had a pressing secret that I just couldn’t keep to myself, I would definitely post it on PostSecret. Why not? No one would know it was me. Even though revealing a secret on a blog would allow the secret to be viewed publicly by millions of strangers, it would still remain anonymous. This blog allows anyone to submit their secrets and explains the process in the “How do I mail in my secrets?” section. It is an extremely user friendly blog and even its contents relies on its readership. I found nothing dull about Post Secret and I highly recommend that everyone check it out.
If I had a pressing secret that I just couldn’t keep to myself, I would definitely post it on PostSecret. Why not? No one would know it was me. Even though revealing a secret on a blog would allow the secret to be viewed publicly by millions of strangers, it would still remain anonymous. This blog allows anyone to submit their secrets and explains the process in the “How do I mail in my secrets?” section. It is an extremely user friendly blog and even its contents relies on its readership. I found nothing dull about Post Secret and I highly recommend that everyone check it out.
Blog 3
I decided to take after every one else and start googling to find interesting blogs. Most of the ones that I found were dumb and didn't really grab my attention. However, there were a few that I found entertaining.
The first blog I checked out was Ilovenachocheese.com . Don't ask me where it came from because it just popped up on my google search. This blog is full of random stuff that includes videos that all involve nacho cheese in some way or another. If you visit the site, click on the link called Happy Cinco De Mayo! It features a rediculous song about limes and nacho cheese.
Another blog that I think every girl should read is http://sillybahrainigirl.blogspot.com/. This is written by a girl for girls who have humor and brains. It pretty much just makes fun of life and talks about men, prostitutes, and mood swings. It is an entertaining read however I don't think that the men in the class would find it very enjoyable.
A blog that I found that I think everyone should read because it is highly entertaining is http://www.biox.ca/. Click on the links "Embarassments" and the older archives too. But just a warning, this blog is called, "inappropriate is my middle name" so if people are easily offended by swearing and stuff the I wouldn't really recomend that they look at it.
The first blog I checked out was Ilovenachocheese.com . Don't ask me where it came from because it just popped up on my google search. This blog is full of random stuff that includes videos that all involve nacho cheese in some way or another. If you visit the site, click on the link called Happy Cinco De Mayo! It features a rediculous song about limes and nacho cheese.
Another blog that I think every girl should read is http://sillybahrainigirl.blogspot.com/. This is written by a girl for girls who have humor and brains. It pretty much just makes fun of life and talks about men, prostitutes, and mood swings. It is an entertaining read however I don't think that the men in the class would find it very enjoyable.
A blog that I found that I think everyone should read because it is highly entertaining is http://www.biox.ca/. Click on the links "Embarassments" and the older archives too. But just a warning, this blog is called, "inappropriate is my middle name" so if people are easily offended by swearing and stuff the I wouldn't really recomend that they look at it.
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