Introduction to Language and Technology

ENG1710-Reflective-FromThenTilNow

What inspired you to delve into the study of heuristics, and how do you see its practical applications in everyday life?

I chose this question because I am curious about his thoughts on the importance of understanding heuristics in decision-making and problem-solving, and how individuals can apply this knowledge to improve their decision-making skills.

For Ulmer:

Cabaret Academy

How has the Academy of Electracy evolved and adapted to the increasing role of virtual reality, and how has this impacted the way that students are taught and engaged with new materials?

I asked this question because as virtual reality technology has advanced in recent years, it has opened up new possibilities for creating immersive learning experiences. Since the Academy of Electracy emphasizes the development of electracy through digital media and immersive experiences, it would be interesting to explore how this school of thought has adapted and evolved in response to this emerging technology.

Theming Mystory

What are the implications of theming and hyperreality in contemporary society, and how can they affect our understanding of electrate pedagogy?

I came up with this question because as society continues to evolve, it is interesting to consider how theming and hyperreality change the perception of society in regard to everyday life and what effects these concepts may have on educational theories and practices as a whole.

For Ulmer:

In your article, you briefly mentioned the importance of practicing self-compassion. Can you share some tips or strategies for people who struggle with self-criticism and find it difficult to be kind to themselves?

I came up with this question because the author touched upon the concept of self-compassion in the article but didn’t provide many details on how to practice it. I think that many people struggle with self-criticism and could benefit from learning practical strategies for developing self-compassion. Asking for tips or strategies from the author can provide helpful insights for readers who are looking to improve their self-compassion.

Madrigal’s “Culture Jamming”:

Summary: In “Culture Jamming: Hacking, Slashing, and Sniping in the Empire of Signs,” author Johnathan Madrigal defines culture jamming as a form of social activism that uses parody, irony, and satire to undermine the dominant culture. Madrigal argues that culture jammers aim to “hijack” and “repurpose” mainstream media and advertising to expose the contradictions and absurdities of consumerism and corporate power. He cites examples of successful culture jamming campaigns, such as the Billboard Liberation Front, which altered corporate advertisements, and the Adbusters magazine, which launched the “Buy Nothing Day” campaign. While Madrigal acknowledges that culture jamming can be seen as a form of vandalism, he argues that it is a legitimate form of political resistance that empowers individuals and challenges the status quo.

Response: Madrigal’s “Culture Jamming” article presents a compelling argument for the subversive power of culture jamming. I agree that culture jammers are engaged in a form of social activism that seeks to challenge the dominant culture and expose its contradictions. By repurposing mainstream media and advertising, culture jammers can hijack the public’s attention and draw attention to important social issues. However, I also recognize that culture jamming can be seen as a form of vandalism, and there is a fine line between subversion and destruction. Nevertheless, I believe that culture jamming is a legitimate form of political resistance that has the potential to empower individuals and challenge the status quo. As Madrigal notes, culture jamming is a form of “guerrilla communication” that allows individuals to reclaim the public sphere from the forces of corporate power. Ultimately, I believe that culture jamming can be a powerful tool for social change, as long as it is done responsibly and with a clear political purpose.

For Ulmer:

What inspired you to delve into the study of heuristics, and how do you see its practical applications in everyday life?

I chose this question because I am curious about his thoughts on the importance of understanding heuristics in decision-making and problem-solving, and how individuals can apply this knowledge to improve their decision-making skills.

MacDonald’s “It’s Official”:

“The report says that the 30-year period from 1986 to 2015 was “likely” the warmest in 1,500 years, and that the global average temperature has increased by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degree Celsius) since the late 1800s.”

This quote jumped out at me because it highlights the alarming rate at which global temperatures are rising. The fact that the past 30 years were likely the warmest in 1,500 years is a clear indication that human activity is having a significant impact on the climate.

Wallace-Wells’ “Uninhabitable Earth”:

“We are on track for four degrees of warming, more than twice as much as most scientists believe is possible to endure without inflicting climate suffering on hundreds of millions or threatening at least parts of what we call, grandly, “civilization.”

This quote is particularly striking because it highlights the catastrophic consequences of not taking action to mitigate climate change. The idea that we are on track for four degrees of warming is incredibly concerning, and the fact that it could lead to the collapse of civilization is a sobering thought.

Luu’s “Language and Climate Change”:

“The need to act has never been more urgent, but with the issue often appearing complex, intangible or distant, it is essential that effective, accessible and inspiring communication is prioritised to engage individuals and communities across society.”

This quote resonated with me because it emphasizes the importance of effective communication when it comes to addressing climate change. Climate change can be a complex and daunting issue, and effective communication is crucial in engaging individuals and communities to take action. It is not enough to simply present the facts; communication must be inspiring and accessible to all.

For Ulmer:

In the third paragraph of your essay, you argue that technology has improved communication by “allowing us to easily connect with people from all around the world.” Could you provide some specific examples of how technology has fostered these connections, and how it has impacted our ability to communicate across cultural and geographic boundaries?

I chose this question because it asks for more specific information about Ulmer’s position while giving us insight about what technologies considered when writing this piece. This can help deepen our understanding of his perspective. Additionally, it provides an opportunity to explore the broader implications of technology on communication and global connectivity.

Silko’s “Border Patrol”

Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Border Patrol” is a powerful and thought-provoking short story that touches on themes of identity, cultural assimilation, and the impact of borders on people’s lives. One particular aspect of the story that stands out is the depiction of the border patrol agents and their treatment of the Native American people.

Throughout the story, the border patrol agents are shown to be aggressive and confrontational, treating the Native American people with suspicion and hostility. They are portrayed as representatives of a larger system of oppression that seeks to erase the cultural identity of Native American people and force them to assimilate into mainstream American culture. The agents are depicted as enforcing the arbitrary borders that divide up the land, disregarding the fact that the Native American people have lived in the region for generations and have a deep connection to the land.

What is particularly striking about Silko’s portrayal of the border patrol agents is the way in which she humanizes them, even as she condemns their actions. Rather than depicting them as one-dimensional villains, Silko acknowledges that the agents are themselves trapped within a larger system that perpetuates violence and oppression. For example, the main border patrol agent in the story is described as having a “worried and tired” expression, suggesting that he is not necessarily evil but rather exhausted by the demands of his job.

Overall, “Border Patrol” is a moving story that highlights the devastating impact of borders and border patrol on marginalized communities. Silko’s depiction of the border patrol agents is particularly noteworthy for its nuance and complexity, offering a reminder that even those who perpetuate oppression are often themselves trapped within oppressive systems.

deLeon’s “Technological Warfare”

Another quote from Jason deLeon’s “Technological Warfare” can be found on page 159, where he writes: “The proliferation of tactical infrastructure also creates a range of environmental side effects: increased soil erosion, flooding, and the destabilization of plant and animal communities.”

In this quote, deLeon highlights the environmental consequences of building infrastructure along the border. He argues that the physical barriers and technology used to enforce the border have a significant impact on the natural environment, leading to erosion, flooding, and disruption of ecosystems. By drawing attention to these environmental consequences, deLeon challenges the idea that border enforcement can be completely separate from its impact on the surrounding environment.

Moreover, deLeon’s quote suggests that the harm inflicted on the environment through border enforcement disproportionately affects vulnerable communities living in the border region. The destabilization of plant and animal communities can have significant consequences for the indigenous communities who rely on these resources for their livelihoods. Similarly, flooding caused by infrastructure along the border disproportionately affects low-income communities living downstream, who may lack the resources to protect their homes and property.

Overall, deLeon’s quote shines light on the complex and often overlooked consequences of border enforcement. It shows how environmental concerns are deeply entwined with questions of justice and equity, and how border enforcement strategies that ignore these consequences are likely to create more problems than they solve.

Elmer’s “Surveillance After Foucault”:

• Elmer’s work explores the concept of surveillance in contemporary society, and how it has evolved beyond the models of power and discipline described by Foucault. In this way, his work can be related to my image, a surveillance camera posted above a traffic light at Jay St, as it illustrates how surveillance has become increasingly integrated into our daily lives and routines. The camera is a visible reminder of the presence of surveillance in public spaces, and how we are constantly being monitored and recorded. Elmer’s work suggests that this type of surveillance is not simply a tool for enforcing discipline or controlling behavior, but rather a means of shaping and constructing our identity and social norms.

Zuboff’s “Surveillance Capitalism”:

• Zuboff’s work discusses how the use of surveillance technologies has transformed the nature of capitalism, creating new forms of economic and political power. My image can be related to Zuboff’s work in that it illustrates how surveillance is used not only to monitor and control individuals, but also to extract valuable data that can be used for economic gain. The camera in the image is not simply a tool for maintaining public safety or enforcing traffic laws, but also a means of collecting data on the movements and behaviors of individuals. This data can be used to inform targeted advertising or to gain insights into consumer behavior, contributing to the emergence of new forms of economic power that rely on surveillance technologies.

Nolan et al’s “Sousveillance”:

• Nolan et al’s work examines the concept of “sousveillance,” or the use of technology to monitor and record those in positions of power. My image can be related to this work, as it illustrates that although those in power use this technology, it is also readily available to the public. We have the ability to purchase the equipment needed to document their movements, if a situation were to call for it. The camera in the image is a reminder that we are all subject to surveillance, and that the power dynamics of surveillance are not always straightforward. While the camera is positioned to monitor the movements of drivers and pedestrians, the public also knows where that camera is, which in turn affects decision making within society. This suggests that the relationships between surveillance and power are complex and multifaceted, and that the use of surveillance technologies can be both a tool for control and a means of resistance.

Turkle’s “Computers Change”:

• Literally: In “Computers Change,” Turkle describes how the use of technology has transformed our relationship with information and how we communicate. She notes that technology has enabled us to access and process information in new ways but has also created a culture of constant distraction and shortened attention spans.
• Intellectually: Turkle’s article raises important questions about the impact of technology on our cognitive processes and social interactions. The rise of digital media has brought new opportunities for information sharing and collaboration, but it has also altered the way we think and communicate. Our brains are now more accustomed to rapid-fire multitasking and short bursts of information, and this can affect our ability to focus, empathize, and form meaningful relationships.
• Emotionally: Reading “Computers Change” can evoke feelings of nostalgia, as we remember a time before digital media when communication was slower and more intentional. It can also spark a sense of anxiety or even helplessness, as we confront the fast-paced, constantly connected world that we now live in.

Ulmer’s “Apparatus of Literacy”:

• Literally: In “Apparatus of Literacy,” Ulmer discusses the historical development of writing and how it has shaped our understanding of language and culture. He argues that writing is an “apparatus” that structures our thoughts and beliefs, and that it has a powerful effect on how we perceive and interact with the world.
• Intellectually: Ulmer’s work invites us to consider the ways in which language and communication are shaped by the technologies that we use. By examining the history of writing, he demonstrates how the tools we use to express ourselves can have a profound impact on our cultural identity and collective consciousness.
• Emotionally: Reading “Apparatus of Literacy” can inspire feelings of curiosity and wonder as we learn about the evolution of writing and its role in shaping human culture. At the same time, it can also evoke a sense of unease or uncertainty, as we consider the ways in which the technologies, we use to communicate may be shaping our thoughts and beliefs in ways that we are not fully aware of.

Connection to McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message”:

• McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message” explores how the form of a medium can shape the content and meaning of a message. In this way, he suggests that our communication technologies are not neutral tools, but rather have an active role in shaping the way we think and interact with the world. This idea resonates with both Turkle and Ulmer’s work, as they also examine the impact of communication technologies on our cognitive and cultural practices. Together, these three works suggest that our use of technology is not simply a matter of choice, but rather an integral part of our collective identity and consciousness.

1. Thompson: “Sound, Modernity, History”
   • Quote: “The possibility of the recording of sound was to prove one of the decisive technologies of modernity.”
   • Relation: Thompson’s quote highlights the significance of sound recording technology as a transformative technology in modern society. Prior to the invention of sound recording, sounds were ephemeral and difficult to preserve, leading to a significant gap in our ability to capture the past. With the ability to record sound, music, speech, and other forms of audio can be preserved and disseminated, enabling new forms of media and creative expression. Moreover, the development of sound technology has revolutionized a wide range of fields, from music and entertainment to science and technology. In terms of language, sound recording technology has enabled the preservation of endangered languages and the spread of language learning resources.
2. Lethem: “The Ecstasy of Influence”
   • Quote: “We are a culture of people who’ve bought into the idea that if we stick our earbuds in and tune out the world, it will get better. But what really makes the world better is to engage in it, to meet people, and to listen.”
   • Relation: Lethem’s quote emphasizes the danger of technology, particularly personal music devices, isolating individuals from their surroundings and creating a barrier between people and their environment. This isolation can have a detrimental effect on language and communication, as we rely on social interaction and listening in order to learn and develop language skills. Furthermore, our ability to engage with others is essential to the development of empathy and cultural awareness, which are critical components of effective communication. In this way, Lethem’s quote reminds us that while technology can be a powerful tool for language learning and cultural exchange, it is important to balance our use of technology with meaningful interaction and engagement with the world around us.
3. Williams: “Future of Language”
   • Quote: “Language is not only a means of communication, it is also a means of expressing ourselves, our culture, our values, and our identities.”
   • Relation: Williams’ quote emphasizes the multifaceted nature of language and its role in expressing not only objective information but also subjective experiences and cultural values. Through language, we are able to communicate not only what we think, but also who we are, what we value, and where we come from. Technology has had a significant impact on the preservation and dissemination of language and culture, with the development of tools such as online dictionaries, language learning software, and automatic translation services. However, the use of technology to disseminate language can also lead to a loss of linguistic and cultural diversity, as dominant languages and cultures tend to be prioritized over minority ones. Additionally, language technologies such as machine translation may not always capture the nuance and context of a particular language, leading to misunderstandings or inaccuracies. In this way, while technology can facilitate language learning and cross-cultural communication, it is important to approach its use with sensitivity to the diverse ways in which language expresses our humanity.

For my exploratory project, I thought about what different technologies are a part of, and influence, my everyday life. So, I decided on the television, GPS, and AI. These technologies have played, and will play, major roles in my life. During the completion of this project, I learned new things about technologies that have been entrenched in my life for decades. I also learned about the grasp AI could potentially have on society as a whole, not just myself. It was an enjoyable experience to be able to shine new light on things that are old to me, and to gain knowledge on something that will influence my future.

ENG1710-Persaud-Exploratory

Dear Professor Leston,

Attached to this blog post is my final reflection of the semester. Thank you for this insight and interesting semester. I hope to encounter you once again before my anticipated graduation. Thank you for your teachings and learnings as they have been helpful throughout this semester. Happy Holidays to you and your family. ENG1710 Final Reflection

Thank you for a great semester! Happy Holidays!

Final Reflection

Final Reflection

Happy Holidays everyone!

FINAL REFLECTION

Thank you for all the knowledge you gave me throughout this semester. This class was difficult, but it wasn’t impossible to get through. It was clear as to what you wanted for any assignments. You were open and honest when it came to grading papers and assignments, which was very helpful. I am forever thankful for this class because it helped me better myself as a reader, a writer, a student, and a citizen. I wish nothing but the best for everyone in this class. Have a happy holiday!

Final Reflection. Diana Rivera

Final letter for English

My Question was ‘Although you think that electracy is the future, do you think it is the demise of our motivation?’

He began by expressing that we are already an electorate. That we have been exposed in many ways to these four channels of electracy. And the future of the world depends on us becoming electorate. That we need to separate powers from our entertainment to be able to take serious of this entertainment. That we need to be able to be prepared for the major shift from a nation-state right into a gemotic entertainment dimension. He also mentions that schools end up neglecting the fact that many of our educational systems need to depend on subjects like arts to enhance our knowledge of electracy.

I felt like I got my answer just by him beginning his response. And being someone new to this topic and having knowledge of electracy, I was able to finally see that electracy is something that has been a part of my educational system and my way of thinking since I began to learn. This meeting we had with Professor Ulmer helped me understand because as mentioned by everyone else, his writings can sometimes be confusing because of so much he mentions. But hearing him express the answers to my and my peers’ questions, really enhanced my knowledge of electracy.

My question to Professor Ulmer was, “How can we use electracy and its elements, attraction and repulsion, as a tool to address the Anthropocene?”

He answered the question starting with describing the Anthropocene being a combination of all disasters rolled into one and mentions Tim Morton’s Hyper object, that it is the power and reach we have in resources but how the disaster exceeds them. The Hyper object existing within the apparatus’ such as in science and engineering, and in religion and morality, in addition to the values of the individual and their families. He then told the story of Plato when he found the academy, introducing pedagogy and the dialogue of Socrates to guide oral people into literacy. He talks about consult or just listening/following a conversation as how we mostly learn in schools and that the genre of electracy is consulting. He explains that in order to address the Anthropocene we would have to consult with the Anthropocene itself.

He provides examples such as climate change and the migration happening at the U.S-Mexico border and that we have experienced failure by consulting among ourselves and resources instead of really listening to the world. He explains how electracy is innovative, it has a chance because through electracy we can find solutions, and that the disaster is going to tell us how the world works. He talks more about how the issue is the human appetite and by realizing this we can use this to our advantage. He explains how attraction and repulsion in electracy guides us, however, only individually and if we can find away to utilize attraction and repulsion in a societal form, we can make change. That electracy is a part of the human power of creativity and if we were to teach electracy in schools then we would be able to come up with new ideas in addressing the Anthropocene.

This answer, at first, confused me but as he continued to explain I understood the concept a lot better. I understood the answer to be that with electracy we can use this apparatus to focus our attraction and repulsion to better understand the Anthropocene. Instead of using all our resources that doesn’t work to continuously try to make change, we can instead highlight and teach electracy in schools to use our human creativity to better understand the world, therefore, we can make a difference. I enjoyed this zoom call with Professor Ulmer, I felt he explained electracy thoroughly and as he answered the other questions, I felt I understood the overall concept of electracy a lot more. The takeaway from this would be that we must consider adding electracy to the curriculum in grade schools so that we can truly explore the capabilities of human ingenuity.

My question to Professor Ulmer was: Does electracy emerge from adding emotional value (sentiment and nostalgia) to the metaphysical world?

I was happy to hear Professor Ulmer’s response to this question as it cleared up some of the ideas I had shifting through my mind. I found myself stuck on his thoughts around Kant, and he went more in-depth into his reasoning behind mentioning Kant in his writing. It helped me better understand the emotional value in the world of electracy. I also found that Professor Ulmer says aesthetics and the sensory dimension, where aesthetics can mediate between science and religion. He mentioned that “people recognized beauty intuitively in which we develop an apparatus.” With these statements,  I started viewing electracy in a whole different way after hearing his response. Electracy is not designed for reason, religion, math, or science but for desire.

Overall, I was enlightened after the meeting with Professor Ulmer and wanted to ask follow-up questions. I would have liked to hear more about when he mentions somatic memories. I did a bit of a google search on this, and I wondered how our physical senses related to electracy and how somatic memories shape the electorate world.

Reading and deconstructing Ulmer’s work was eye-opening, but having the opportunity to speak to him directly was an incredible experience. I remember in one of our readings (I believe it was Postman, but not sure), there was the idea that writing can not defend itself, but we had the opportunity to read something and get clarification!

My question to Greg Ulmer was “Is the Era of electracy affecting our mental health negatively? If yes, what steps can we take to prevent future damage?

Professor Ulmer answered the question comprehensively. For example, he began answering the question by giving examples of a few useful books that speak of Electracy and its effect on society and mental. He also used the term innervation while answering the question. He stated that “at some point, you know the tipping point you pass from an oral to literate civilization or from a literate to Electracy. There’s a shock and you have to be innervated in order to survive and thrive in that”. In addition to that, he mentioned mutation and sensorium function while answering the question and how our brain changes from “too much screen time”. Professor Ulmer’s response somehow answered my question and I believe I can have an outstanding answer by reading the books he has mentioned while answering the question. I assume those books speak further concerning Electracy and its effect on mental health. 

The video was very enlightening. I was extremely grateful to see professor Ulmer OnLive and actually have the chance to ask him a question. I definitely have a better understanding of Electracy. However, I wouldn’t consider myself a proficient student of Electracy. Therefore, I hope to continue reading his piece and unpacking the Electracy.

The question I asked Professor Ulmer was: how can we resist the negative portions of electracy that impacts our everyday life in society? The answer I received was a bit confusing until I heard that we can’t avoid the negative side to electracy. For example, with attraction/repulsion we cannot resist just the bad side and have to work with both. I did not have any outstanding questions because I had a clear answer to my question. We should struggle side by side with the negatives of electracy because we cannot directly avoid them. Following up to Professor Ulmer’s response I would say our appetite has taken us down a rabbit hole of new obstacles that we have to face every day because of electracy. But what happens if we massively limit our electracy and only have the educational parts of it. Would we not see less negatives and produce more gains in the process of improving our individual identity.

My overall impression of the meeting was enlightening. Although I was trying to understand the majority of what was said in each sentence by piecing together words, I still learned a lot. My thoughts on electracy were that it is in society and not going anywhere but we need to figure out a way to use it and not be consumed like the majority has in various ways. One for example was when Professor Ulmer mentioned in Japan people who were so consumed by manga and anime that they lived it day in and day out, wasting all their money. This is important to know not just for our future but for ourselves, to be mindful of the outcome electracy can have on our will.

My question to Ulmer was Will digital education continue to corrupt the minds of students  and deter them away from traditional learning establishments?

When asking this question to Ulmer, his response was that there would be a change of curriculum inside of education especially with electracy so popularized with the evolution of technology. Because there is a shift in the way students are learning, electracy must be taught in forms of entertainment that way it keeps students engaged. I thought that this would become an overall good idea because not a lot of students know or understand what electracy is until being told or taught in college. Electracy should be taught to students when they are entering the school where they are introduced into computers and other forms of technology. As time moves on, who knows where electracy will take us because technology is constantly being evolved and humanity are the ones producing and controlling it.

My impressions of this meeting was informative. We had been reading Ulmer’s piece for several weeks and to hear his explanations and processes was enlightening. It made what we read much clearer and understandable because reading his piece just created more questions than answers. So just hearing his answers and explanations put his piece into perspective while providing insight and knowledge about electracy.

Do you think there will be another tier (ex:religion) that changes electracy? And will one of the tiers fade out?

•  I asked this question because I think things are changing everyday and I wonder what will pop up in the future if something may

Question | Although you think that electracy is the future, do you think it is the demise of our motivation?

When it comes to how Ulmer wrote about electracy, he wrote it in a way that would be the way of the future. But I also asked because of the way that we have asked and discussed in class already about electracy being the way of the future for early childhood education. And because of the way that we have begun to rely on electracy for so many things, do you think that because of that reliance we would start to disregard the good that literacy gave us? Meaning the ability to search and ask questions face to face

Question: How can we resist the manifestation of negative portions of electracy that impacts our everyday life in society?

What is acceptable is society over the last few decades has caused individuals to overuse technology and other habits. We do not know what is healthy or unhealthy for our minds because of the propaganda that surrounds us. What I hope to find is a new outlook on electracy that can help society achieve an intellectual healthy lifestyle. The wants and needs in our society has blurred to an all-time high. Individuals in our society cannot differentiate between what is truly healthy for the mind or body.

Will electracy in digital education continue to corrupt the minds of students and deter them away from traditional learning establishments?

I ask this question because I know that technology came to the rescue during the pandemic lockdowns. Some students continued their education, others started their education, and some graduated using Zoom, Skype, and other video conferencing platforms. Students couldn’t have the school/campus experience within those two years making it hard for them to believe that school is home and vice versa. They won’t believe or accept that being in a school and classroom is essential. Being in school creates positive outlooks, relationships, and opportunities that being at home doesn’t provide.

Is electracy affecting our mental health negatively?

I tend to ask myself this question a lot since we are exposed to many visions and things on the internet. So, often I wonder if being exposed to this much information is damaging my future and life. What can we learn about the era of electracy to take proper steps to prevent future damage?

Q: Does electracy emerge from adding emotional value (sentiment and nostalgia) to the metaphysical world?

 I find myself thinking whether electracy is bound to happen or whether we steer the wheel and add emotional value to the metaphysical world, thus making it electorate. Ulmer says, “Electracy emerges within the gathering of modernist arts, cinema, and psychoanalysis around the involuntary operations of perception.” For example, Surrealism was a response to Dadaism; Rock had been influenced by Jazz. These movements are paradigm shifts that manifest “aesthetic qualities: intensity, vividness, participation, at the level of the primary being, the feeling of being alive.” 

This question would be interesting to ask to understand humanity’s effect on electracy. The emotional aspect shown through different mediums that have revolutionized our history and created paradigms is an interesting thought. I wonder if electracy is directly linked to human’s natural tendency to find ways to express sentimental values of their way of understanding the world.

How will electracy shape society?

I ask this question because the foundation of electracy seems to be based on human desire and the advancement of technology to fulfill these desires. If society becomes shaped less on what’s needed for our advancement as a whole and more on individual desire how will this shape society. I even thought about how today there are people that do things solely to satisfy their own desires, however, on a larger scale what would that look like for everyone. If each individual in a society were to focus only on seeing themselves as a brand or reacting only based on their desires, and less for the greater good of the environment and communities around us how can this impact us in the future.

BP 12 is very simple.

Title it BP 12, Ulmer Question.

Write your one single final question that you would like to ask Greg Ulmer when he joins us via zoom on Tuesday. The question can be related to the electracy reading (I’m sure it will in some way), but feel free to step outside the reading to write the question. Of course, you may use one of the questions that you posted already. As before, make sure to include your explanation as to why this is the question you want to ask.

See you Tuesday in room A517, in the new Academic Building.

Cabaret Academy

“Sensation metaphysics, augmented in digital technology, builds out the human demand for self-stimulation, the appetites of sensory organs (the lamella) engaged through consumption of every kind, from drugs, coffee, spice, to body to body replication of behavior accomplished by watching sports, movies, pornography (accounted for by the discovery of mirror neurons). 

• Does our brain function change by things we consume from electracy for example the good and bad? If yes what scientific study proves this? 

Theming Mystory

“If the human capability is the cause of Anthropocene, human creativity is the remedy. Students are introduced to electracy by composing a mystory, to discover and design their own theming of capabilities, the target of marketing but also a source of creativity, perhaps to play their wide image against disaster in Al game architecture”. 

• Is the electracy era assisting students in reaching their full potential?
• Are we becoming more creative due to electracy?

Creative project 

My thinking behind this creative project is to spread awareness regarding mental health services for youth. I am a human services student who hopes to someday work as a school psychologist. Over the past few semesters, I have taken various classes related to youth, mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice, etc. My passion for mental health has evolved deeper as time passes. Additionally, “According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in five children and adolescents experience a mental health problem during their school years. Examples include stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, learning disability, and alcohol and substance abuse. Serious mental health problems, such as self-injurious behaviors and suicide, are on the rise, particularly among youth”. And many types of research have demonstrated that students who receive social-emotional and mental and behavioral health support achieve better academically. So, my goal is to send out the message to youth that it is okay to seek mental health services during school years and aim for a promising future. I hope to do that by advocating for mental health classes in public schools and promoting mental awareness on social media. I used the app Canva for this image. I have also worked on a stronger image and message based on the suggestion I received from my peers and professor.

Culture Jam

I have created this image to articulate the struggles adults and teenagers face while working in the fast food industry. I specifically chose Burger King because I worked there for a year when I was 16 years old. I wasn’t treated there fairly. I believe others have also encountered similar concussions while working in the fast food industry. The environment of the fast food industry is horrific. My goal is to bring that to everyone’s attention so capitalists can work toward improving the environment for the youth and adults as well. I used the app Canva for this project. I have also chosen a new image for this culture jam. I changed the word “Whopper” to youth abuse. Because I have experienced disrespect, overwork, and poor management throughout my labor duration. I have met many individuals my age who have encountered similar situations throughout their fast food experience. Additionally, I would like to include that capitalism is damaging youth and we all should advocate for better conditions and management for fast food employees. 

Ulmer: 

1. What purpose does the cabaret serve in electric and how does it further the explanation of electric? (Cabaret Academy)
2. Does the concept/genre of mystory still exist in electracy of education and other interpersonal experiences within a student’s life? (Theming Mystory)

These last two sections of Elmer’s paper were a little jumbled but my take on what he was saying if he is still discussing electracy and education these two questions I proposed are more along the lines of the psychological perspective of how a student and anyone is still affected through the continued use of electric in education and other aspects of their lives.

Final Culture Jams

I created this culture jam to replace the one involving Instagram. I think this one was more appealing to me as TikTok is a new social media that went viral during the pandemic. But like all social medias there are pros and cons. TikTok has become a fast growing medium where people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds have come together to present their different morals, values, and expressed ideas. But once you’ve become what is known as “TikTok famous,” your popularity can become a problem as now you’ve become a content creator who is now reliant of other’s perspectives and opinions. TikTok similar to Instagram has made people change the way they want to look and act because of other’s opinions. But when you sell yourself to a brand or idea, that becomes you and it can be difficult to change it unless the image you’ve created become tarnished in any way.

My project

I created this and took the suggestions from the comments and adjusted the the pictures and words along with the colors and created this image. I wanted to bring more attention to the wording to get my message. Like from my pervious post, I wanted to get my message across about child immigration and how imprisoning these children are harmful to them and others as well. If children are the future, why are we caging them and keeping them from the better opportunities America is suppose to offer them?

Questions for Ulmer:

Cabaret Academy

If electracy stands as the apparatus for “accidents of the flesh,” can it be said that literacy was the first apparatus creating it?

I ask this question because I believe as humans when we do something we can be driven by many things. One of the main drivers would be desire; a desire to be intelligent, beautiful, wealthy, etc. Literacy seems to exist out of the desire to explore one’s individuality along with education and investigating. So, in a way can it be said that the emergence of literacy is the precedent to “accidents of the flesh, therefore, electracy is simply a result of that.

Theming Mystory

How can Mystory and creativity through electracy be a remedy to the current era of Anthropocene?

I ask this question because in the book Ulmer says, “If human capability is the cause of Anthropocene, human creativity is the remedy,” meaning that human activity, spearheaded by our constant exploration of what we are capable of, is the cause of the Earths current condition. That to fix this issue individual creativity is the way to come up with design thinking solutions for these problems. However, how can electracy be an effective tool in doing so when Mystory can also be used in away that removes us from community and the issues that hurts all of us. To clarify, electracy has brought about a generation of people who seem to care only about themselves and how they can profit off branding themselves. How can we use that to make people change their behavior to remedy societal and geological issues that effects everyone.

Final Culture Jams:

In this Culture Jam, I decided to continue to use Instagram, but I changed the message from “Instant Addiction” to “Instadepression.” I used Adobe Express where I found a melting brain and the Instagram likes logo in the pictures tab. I chose the melting brain to show how Instagram and social media overall has a physical effect on our brains, which would be the chemical reactions of dopamine when we receive validation from others. I then added the Instagram likes logo around the brain followed by using different icons, the icons I placed in the likes to convey the message that Instagram likes can cloud our minds through its validation system causing people to become depressed and have self-esteem issues. The icons I chose where depression, body dysmorphia, plastic surgery, under pressure, and alcohol and drugs. I then added the Instagram logo at the bottom left corner followed by a play on Instagram and depression creating “Instadepression.”

I chose this topic because as an Instagrammer I feel that sometimes I can become overwhelmed or sad about my own circumstances because of what I see on Instagram. As people are recording the best moments in their lives it can make you think that their lives are always filled with joy and happiness, that something is wrong if you’re not experiencing the same things. From that constant exposure to other people’s success, it then makes you compare yourself to others in fear that you may not measuring up to that. The Instagram likes then exacerbate this by creating a validation system to always want to be your best to receive likes. This time around I wanted to use more color and be a lot more creative in this message, I would also hope that my audience will be able to put together how in the long run social media such as Instagram has an impact on our brains and how we see ourselves along with the world around us.

In this Culture Jam, I revised the H&M advertisement that I used prior this time using the comments and critique from my peers and professor I made changes. I used Canva, as this time I was able to navigate it better, I added the sweatshop image to expand on the message of H&M using sweatshops to create their fast fashion clothing. I then added moving red lines to cross out “Bold” and “Beautiful” instead of covering it with glitter, so that it is a clear message for the audience when I replaced it with “Underpaid” and “In a Sweatshop.” I then used red to create an “X” on the model wearing the H&M clothes to basically show a stance against fast fashion and the abuse that is happening in these sweatshops to make these clothes. Finally, I used a pink Glow typeface to play on letters H&M with “Human Mistreatment,” followed by placing a tag on the upper right corner showing how H&M clothes are made outside of the U.S, one of those places being Bangladesh where they have the sweatshops.

I chose this topic because I still wear some of H&M clothing and didn’t know that they had sweatshops to make their clothes, doing this project it informed me that a lot of fast fashion is coming out of sweatshops and the more we wear these types of clothing the more sweatshops would be used to meet demand. I wanted to make my audience aware of how these clothes are being made and hopefully inspire my audience to look into the companies that they are purchasing from.

Cabaret Academy Question | Do you think that electorate metaphysics can be affected when it comes to the idea of flesh and emotions as you kind of suggested when it comes to electracy?

“The key for electorate metaphysics is that this line, originating as the line of depiction in the caves all mimesis to articulate an imagined fictional dimension in which. shape may be distorted and reassembled according to its own formal potential guided by imagination.”

Ulmer speaks on how electracy can be taken under all values, specifically family-friendly values when it comes to casinos in Las Vegas and Disneyland with Mickey Mouse. And he speaks about how the creation of Mickey Mouse is a symbol of life and that is shown by the curvature of his features. So if our imagination can be associated with electorate metaphysics and how we are able to associate symbols, can that also happen when it comes to flesh and emotions when we look at things like Mickey Mouse?

Theming Mystory Question | Can we grow and emote sort of in a similar matter by incorporating those memories that we remember from childhood into the future of electracy?

“The paradox is that a caricature of a famous person is more recognizable than a photograph, having to do with the nature of perception and memory.”

Ulmer speaks on how memories of our children were impacted by exposing children to certain items. In the paragraph I took the quote from, he speaks on how Disney did this with the prototype of hyperreality and how Elvis impersonators do the same thing by being able to portray the three important factors that many remember Elvis for. So that kind of reminded me of the Mandela effect. That is when someone thinks that something happened but it never did. Can the ability to connect memory to electracy allow us to be able to unite and change the way of life?

Image 1 | As mentioned prior, I automatically knew what I wanted to do. And I really enjoyed the idea of putting a background to share the message more straightforwardly. So what I did was keep the image of Elon Musk riding the Twitter bird, but made the “Free Speech” gag bigger to read it more. But I also added tweets from Elon Musk himself contradicting the idea he had for “comedy being legal’ on his version of Twitter. I also included his take on free speech from tweets he tweeted earlier this year prior to him buying Twitter. I was interested in it because I have always been a fan of comedy but some comedy has become extremely sensitive because of how cancel culture has become nowadays. And I do agree that comedy should be more openly accepted, but it is so easy to fall victim of cancel culture because of people like Elon Musk taking advantage of their platforms.

Image 2 | For the second image I choose to keep the idea of Maybelline not being a cruelty-free company. I changed the image, a little,  and decided to include a more edited badly impacted bunny who has a missing eye from the eyeshadow testing and a chunky of their side missing because of the effect of the beauty powders they test on them. I really wanted to show this image because I have found myself looking more into brands on whether or not they are cruelty-free, even if the brand isn’t makeup related. I have just found myself wanting to make a change in how things are and what brands I support financially moving forward.

Cabaret Academy

Q: Does an idea become electorate once the perception of the preceding paradigm is altered, reimagined, or transformed in the eyes of another?

Q: Does electracy emerge from the addition of emotional value (sentiment and nostalgia) to the metaphysical world?

 I find myself thinking whether electracy is bound to happen or whether we steer the wheel and add emotional value to the metaphysical world, thus making it electorate. Ulmer says, “Electracy emerges within the gathering of modernist arts, cinema, and psychoanalysis around the involuntary operations of perception.” For example, Surrealism was a response to Dadaism; Rock had been influenced by Jazz. These movements are paradigm shifts that manifest “aesthetic qualities: intensity, vividness, participation, at the level of the primary being, the feeling of being alive.” 

Theming Mystory

Q: Is electracy an apparatus that bridges humanity to self-actualization?

When Ulmer talks about Gauguin’s Tiki Room, he mentions a psychologist’s description, “It was like a moment from dimly remembered, complicated dreams (Skylar, 1967, p.111). The psychologist reported feeling himself and observing in those around him a reverence that he identified as satori.” The sudden enlightenment emerged from Gaugin’s artwork, where he created a new dimension that allowed his fantasy to be conveyed to another. We make sense of the world and our purpose through the collective experiences gained through our childhood. Therefore, does electracy enables us to share our interpretations and compose a mystory that is a path to self-actualization—the rise of enlightenment?

*I was unable to make the image bigger on my post. Please click on the image to see the full size.

Although Nike has been targeted many times before, I was inspired to do work with this idea because of the exploitation of the Uyghur Chinese population, the largest minority ethnic group in China, which is being detained against their will and forced into “re-education camps” where they are also subjected to forced labor. With that being said, Nike has been linked to said forced labor, using the Uyghurs as their suppliers. The top right and bottom left images present this minority group working for Nike. I thought about attacking Nike because it was appalling to think that history is repeating itself and another genocide is going unseen, and large companies like Nike are enabling these kinds of inhumane acts.

I revised this project by putting the color back into the images, as most thought the black-and-white image was not working. I changed both the color and the font to make it more visible and less harsh on the eyes, as both my peers and Prof. Leston suggested. I also decided to animate the image.

I created this detournement to display the corruption of the American healthcare system. The image depicts a cycle where we are trapped in a healthcare system made for profit and fails to educate the public on the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Instead, they market medications that have side effects that sometimes require even more medication to fix. I found it ironic how the man spraying the pesticides on the apples is wearing a hazmat suit. It goes to show how harmful pesticides truly are, yet our produce is being drenched by said substance.

The cycle begins with a farmer spraying pesticides on our produce, in this case, apples. Most of our produce is treated with pesticides that cause long-lasting health issues such as endocrine disruption, gut imbalances, and even cancer. Not only is the product being sprayed with these toxins, but livestock is being injected with antibiotics, impacting our health and creating antibiotic resistance. The image then shows a cancer patient facing an absurd hospital bill that also succumbed to the big pharma industry represented by the prescription pills in the detournement. Instead of western medicine encouraging a healthy lifestyle with an improved diet and exercise to prevent illness, their first response is to prescribe medications, thus funding the cycle.  Thus, “A system that fails us.”

Prof. Leston said I should make it more clear in the image of the message I’m trying to send. I edited this image by trying to make the idea clear by adding the arrow cycle. I also animated the farmer to show the produce being sprayed with pesticide. Previously, I had used magazine letters to write “A system that fails us,” but I decided to go with a more basic font to make this image less busy since my peers found it to be confusing. Fixing the font allowed me to space out the ideas and make them more organized. I also made the hospital bill more visible.

I created a GIF to bring attention to the recent protests for the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained for “improperly” wearing her hijab, as per the corrupted Iranian government laws. I chose to speak about this ongoing issue because it is appalling that women worldwide are still fighting for fundamental rights. The hijab is a religious head covering for women, which is meant to be a choice in Islam. However, the Iranian government placed these oppressive restrictions on women after the revolution.

In my detournement,  Mahsa Amini joins the protests, where I also gave her a sign stating, “Did you know that letting your hair blow in the wind is a crime in Iran?” The shackles represent oppression, and the blood represents the bloodshed for the many peaceful protesters who are risking their lives for this cause worldwide. Another protestor holds a sign that states, “IRAN: THE INTERNET IS DOWN AND THEY ARE KILLING THE PEOPLE.” This sign shows the government has shut down the internet in an attempt to silence the people and prevent the spread of information on this issue.

I wanted to work on this detournement because I think it is important that we stay informed about these topics even if it does not directly affect us. Mahsa Amini’s death exposes us to an ongoing fight for women’s rights. The simple act of staying informed contributes to a better future for women worldwide.

I had a bit of a hard time trying to edit this image because there was a 10 MB upload restriction for each image. I saw that Prof. Leston thought it would be a good idea to let the blood run down to the end of the image, but when I edited it, I wasn’t able to upload it to my blog post due to the larger file size. Instead, I moved the blood a bit so that you could see the sign Mahsa Amini was holding a little more clearly, and I tried to make the blood more prominent.

Cabaret Academy: How does our exploration into flesh relate with electracy?

Why: “by exploiting the little sensation” and “the feeling of being alive”, flesh is connected to electracy. When Ulmer talks about this, he mentions a story of a memory of someone eating a biscuit from their beloved grandmother. When we trigger these memories, it must have a significant connection and we place values on these sensations that come. With all these stories we were told growing up, does it hold more or less value than personal ones if we vividly remember one over the other. If so, then is certain parts of electracy placing burdens on our recollection? This is another question that I thought of during the thought process of why I chose the original question.

Theming Mystory: How is memory and recollection closely related to electracy and our life mood?

Why: The theme of the last section talks mostly about our memory and recollection of our childhood. The images and how we perceive it, is closely related to our exposure to objects in our childhood. For our society to receive help from electracy we will have to explore this together, to rid ourselves from social intrusion. Our creativity is the backbone of our life mood, but I do not understand much about how it links to electracy.

Image 1: The thinking behind my project is that most people do not need to buy the things they do, but we do anyway because of accessibility. Amazon shopping promotes frivolous shopping to make people into zombies. I hope to let people know the importance of refraining from desires and having control of your thoughts in purchasing. I used gimp at first but realized Canva is much easier to use, and I can get a lot more done. With the feedback I received from my peers and professor, I wanted a more simple but deeper approach to the logo as well as zombies shopping. I got rid of “into” to keep the message clearer. With zombies holding bags I feel like it does. With all the feedback obtained, I am pleased of the creation I made.

Image 2: My project is about battery waste and how it is not very well known or if it is, most people do not care about it. This has been taken for granted with the many new batteries and companies coming out for cheaper and/or reliable batteries which makes it worse for the environment. I used Canva again for this project because I felt like I could do a lot more with it. My experience in troubleshooting with it earlier saved me a bit of time. With feedback given I fixed my bunny cutout and made other changes. Though I did try to implement a bunny walking around in the background, I could not do so. I did show batteries rotting and the city destroyed to correlate what batteries could do to the earth. As such I improved the image with better manipulation from the feedback I received.

P.S. this is a screenshot from a video using snipping tool on my desktop. Most things moving in the image but not the bunny.

Hope you had a great thanksgiving. No readings this week except for finishing up the Ulmer piece. Finish up reading the last two sections and write two questions. As before, make sure to give an explanation as to why you wrote these two questions.

Your revised Culture Jams and Creative Project are due. You can go ahead and put them in the same post. Title it “BP 11 and Final Culture Jams.” Post your revisions, and for each one, include the writing component.

For each image, you’ll need to include a rationale, the story behind your thinking of the project. Why you got interested in it, what your hopes were, how you executed and revised the project. What feedback you took from me and your peers.

My comments are in the comments sections to your images. In general, they look really good. Great first drafts. Just a general note for everyone: when you insert your images to the post, grab the lower right-hand side of the image and expand it to a nice big size. Do your best to make sure everything in the image is clear and the words are readable. Double check your final work before posting.

I chose this Adderall ad because I feel like medication is given so easily to people without question and in the end it can really affect and ruin so many lives. I do believe in the use of drugs but I have seen its negative affect on people and the way it can really ruin peoples lives without the right care and attention to its use.

I think body positivity has been a very popular issue in society for a while and I wanted to take a Victoria’s Secret ad that had been quite controversial. I think there are many ads for men and women that can be very hard to live up to and that are also very difficult standards to live up to. These ads can cause eating disorders and do not promote a healthy self esteem.

BP#8 by Naila: “Would you think of electracy as a paradigm shift?”

This question helps in my understanding of electracy because I’ve thought of electracy as being a reset tool. I feel that electracy, unlike orality and literacy, is meant to create a new way of seeing the world entirely from a “identity scope.” As speech was the important aspect of orality and writing for literacy, I believe that with human desire and the advancement of technology the method of teaching and learning would be completely tailored, based on individual needs in a way that may become isolating. Community would slowly diminish, as we will have the ability to have learning and teaching become a personalized event therefore, we learn what we want, how we want, when we want and control how we retain it. Which can be possible with behavioral data and a larger algorithm. This reset where we no longer rely on our communities or what is true or false but only ourselves and our desires, which was tested during the Covid-19 pandemic.

BP#9 by Tiana: “Has the concept of reflective judgement changed through the ideas of orality, literacy, Paleolithic, and electracy relating to culture, virtues, and morals?”

This question helps in my understanding of electracy because through orality, literacy, and paleo the ways in learning has changed, so has perspective.  Paleo allowed us the ability to understand the world and nature with use of our bodies. With orality we learned in a community environment through speech, we listened to what was being taught, and with the introduction of literacy we were able to question what was being taught, with being able to read and write. Literacy facilitating the start of individuality and separate identity. Each challenging the laws of nature and is a part of human evolution, by helping us understand ourselves, each other and our place in the world. Reflective judgment, to me, would be understanding that the elements of each method of learning is in the creation of electracy but then realizing that it is very different because it focuses solely on human desire with use of technology. As human desire will always be a precedent to change because we are always looking to advance and so will perspective.

BP# 10 by Khaled: Visceral question- “How can we shift away from a negative dimension of electracy and into a better society?”

This question helps in my understanding of electracy because it shows that in todays society, electracy is being used and as a result has already changed how we interact with each other and view the world. It has brought about institutional corporation and a chase for the next commodity, which is made easier with the advancement of technology. Therefore, we have corporations using ads to influence people. This question makes me think that as electracy continues to develop within society we will see more consequences of what comes out of human desire and technology as the tools provided. I wonder too if we will see more of the benefits of electracy.

Would you think of electracy as a paradigm shift? By Naila

Naila’s explanation 

Ulmer states, “Socrates is a syncretic figure, partly oral, partly literate, the first person to experience Self.” I am a firm believer in Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shifts. Do you think that electracy is just another shift in our history? Instead of Socrates’ self-realization with the use of orality and literacy, now, with the aftermath of COVID-19 and the change of world order in the same sense that Socrates changed the course of thought with the Socratic method. Does the COVID-19 pandemic mark the turning point in history for electracy? “The quarantine serves as a collective existential epiphany.” Is the pandemic another awakening in history where we evolve through electracy?

I think this is a significant question to understand electracy further. Sometimes I wonder the same “is electracy a significant change”?. Because let’s think about it. We are basically doing everything nowadays digitally from seeing doctors to dating. We are also building connections with each other based on our Instagram aesthetic and Instagram “self”.  Some days I wonder if we are losing touch with reality. I also wonder if electracy is affecting us positively or negatively. 

Another question that was drawn to me is  By Sandy “Is electracy an apparatus meant to challenge self-actualization and return society to a collective community form, similar to when orality was the main form of communication? 

This was a very helpful question to think about electracy and its future. For example, nowadays we are all on our own paths and building our life electronically and also in person. We are educating ourselves, building careers through online recourses, and getting information from sites with no human interactions. So my primary concern here is that “is electracy creating barriers between us humans? “ Are we all working toward self-actualization and not building genuine connections? When we become self-actualized, will we return to a collective community? 

Do you think that electracy is the way to future education? By Diana Rivera 

I think electracy is the future of our education system. During the literacy era, we obtained information from books, magazines, personal diaries and etc. Nowadays we are self-educating ourselves through particular academic sites. So I think electracy is the future of our education. We are also taking classes remotely and pursuing many degrees online. I have a question related to that “is it bettering us”? Or is it actually taking a lot of us and getting us to hook to rely on electronic support to function?

“Is corporate capitalism in the emerging era of electracy steering us towards a “paradigmatic abjection,” preventing us from shifting to a change of world order through the entire shift of electracy?” Naila

Electracy seems to have a lot of negativity involved inside its apparatus. With capitalism being what it is and using that to feed themselves our society is steered the wrong way. The shift that we see in electracy should help in understanding it so we can change some aspects of it. This question will help with understanding the shift we are in by making electracy clearer.

“What comes after electracy?” Elija

I am not sure if this can be answered or not by Ulmer but if we know more about the future, we can have a clearer understanding of the present. With the apparatus of orality being so distant in the past but literacy closer to us in years we might have glimpses of the next apparatus soon if not already. We are directly in the presence of electracy, and each apparatus moves and connects to the other. Knowing what comes after will help establish electracy.

“Do you think that electracy is the way for future education?” Diana

Electracy has many facets that we interact with. Many of these aspects effect individuals mind negatively. Early childhood education seems to have a curriculum that has not drastically changed over the years. Some even have regressed in teachings to children is some form. With electracy being so widely influencing, it should have some reason to be institutionalized in a program or course. This will be helpful for us to get a better understanding of electracy as early as possible.

1. Is electracy an apparatus meant to challenge self-actualization and return society to a collective/community form, similar to when orality was the main form of communication? (Sandy Fougeres)

I think this question is significant because Ulmer’s idea is about pushing forward to this new paradigm of electracy. However, what happens after we shift into this new paradigm? I think this is an excellent question because, in this article, Ulmer mentions a lot about electracy and how this shift is needed. However, the idea of where literacy and orality stand after electracy is still unclear.

This question brings forward a critical question of returning to society as a collective in the same way that orality did. It is unclear if electracy will bring us together or separate us, even if it means we evolve with wisdom. Are we growing separately through electracy or collectively, as Sandy states

This question is important to help understand electracy because electracy has emerged from orality and literacy. We need to understand the relationship and how it will affect our society rhetorically.

2. How can we shift away from a negative dimension of electracy and into a better society (Khaled Akam)

I like the idea of a “negative dimension.” I think Ulmer shows us the dark side of electracy through his examples of corporate capitalism, which makes this question helpful to understanding how electracy works. Postman states that with every advantage a new technology brings, a disadvantage follows. For electracy, it’s corporate capitalism, so it would be interesting to understand further how we can shift away from this form of electracy.

This question will help clarify the idea of electracy because we need to understand the consequences of electracy and how we can shift towards electracy’s true intended form that expands the consciousness and the way knowledge is taught in our society.

3. Do you think that if we begin to learn in a way that is heavily influenced by the creative figures in our current day and age? And through this, how do you think it would be? (Diana Rivera)

This question can be helpful to ask Ulmer to bring clarity to his ideas of ‘creative figures’ and how they influence society as a whole. We live in a world where the mass follows the waves of media, and I think this question can bring clarity to electracy and help us understand how creative figures impact the function of electracy.

I liked Diana’s question and saw that it related to one of my questions: “Who do you think are the ‘creative figures’ of our present time, and are they contributing to the paradigm shifts in the same manner as preceding creative figures?”

In history, there are periods of transition where knowledge and idea blooms. The Renaissance, the age of discovery, cultivated the rebirth of arts and sciences and the most influential figures that still shape our thought. In another example, the Industrial revolution was a massive shift to mass production of consumer goods influenced by Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Carnegie, and Ford. (Recycling this thought from my previous BP)

I find that these questions will be helpful to understand further how society and people directly affect electracy in the way that previous creative figures shaped our thought and how we begin to learn with the heavy influence of our creative figures and who exactly is our ‘creative figures.’

“Literacy put true/false into a machine and gifted it to electracy, to be applied in emergent ways, just as orality put speech into writing and gifted it to literacy. The object of electracy is das Dings, to use Freud’s term, naming object relations (it is a relation, not a substance)”. 

• In this era of electracy, is it possible to create real genuine connections? 
• Are we liking each other based on aesthetics? 
• The information we are obtaining from electracy, how accurate is it? 
• Is electracy the new of living life? Is it damaging us in the long term or does innovation bring greatness to our lives? 
• What comes after electracy? 
• How long electracy era going to last?
• Is the era of electracy destroying our self-esteem?  

Lately, I have been self-reflecting and trying to uncover the consequences of electracy on us. Everything has become digital nowadays from education to dating. Sometimes, I wonder if we are creating authentic connections with each other nowadays or if everything is just an illusion of the knowledge we get from the internet. I also think those questions come to me because I have just entered my early 20s and know little about the world and its functioning. I am slowly learning and gaining knowledge. 

Throughout the article, the author Alexis C. Madrigal explains culture jamming and the primary purpose of culture jammers. So culture jamming aims to disrupt consumers’ culture by altering corporate advertising with provocative messages. For example, culture jammers take certain ads and transform them into something new and creative such as sweatshops for Nike’s logo. Culture jammers also use the power of brands against themselves. Additionally, “culture jammers capitalized on the widespread feeling of many Americans and left that companies had too much power and that one very powerful expression of that power was advertising”. Cooperation uses the method of advertising to target people regularly. Besides that, the advertiser makes tons of dollars of advisement. They are not only charged by how many people see the ad, but by how many people click on the ads. Which is an enormous amount of money. 

I approve of the message Madrigal is trying to send out. I believe we are regularly being targeted by advertisements and pursuing things that may not make any difference in our lives but lead to the deterioration of our capital. Also, advertisements and images take a huge toll on our self-esteem. Our brain functions to see certain types of bodies as ideal body types and if we don’t go after that type of body, we are not considered “good-looking” in society. Which can be very dangerous for teenagers who are unaware of Photoshop or other circumstances that come with a certain look. Often, advertising related to the body and looks can lead to body shaming, insecurities, and eating disorders. Therefore, I stand with the culture jammers and the work they are doing to bring changes to society. 

The title “It’s okay to not be okay” was drawn to me because I watched a show called it’s okay not be okay a while ago which was associated with mental health awareness. I am also a human services student who continuously advocates for mental health. I come from a background where the topic of mental health seems to be taboo or people who struggle with mental health are seen as “crazy” or less than others. So as a human service professional, I hope to bring changes to my community and spread awareness of mental health services. 

This image is very personal. I also think others may relate to the topic that I will discuss throughout the paragraph. So, I am trying to articulate the trauma that comes with fast food experience. When I was 16 years old, I worked at Burger King for a year. I experienced many traumatic events there which I believe have shaped my personality for the better. Now I am being able to reflect on the experience and differentiate how capitalism had taken advantage of my 16-year-old self. I am also aware of other teenagers who are also being taken advantage of by capitalism. So, my primary goal is to advocate for teenagers who are victims of toxic work environments. 

Since we’re not meeting in person, the following is what is going on today. This work should be completed by 5:30 p.m.

1. Discuss your technical process for your culture jams. In the comments section to your own post, I’d like for you to explain the processes and procedures that you went through for building your culture jams as well as a revision plan to finalize your projects for next week.
   • • Explain what tools you experimented with.
     • Explain what tool/s you finally decided to work with.
     • Give us some detail of your process. What worked out while working with the tool? What technical challenges did you face.
     • Do you think that using a different image manipulation tool would help? Are there particular limitations in using the tool you’re using that are frustrating?
     • Where do you see weaknesses in your images? What are you going to do to bring them to the next level?
2. Leave comments for your peers. For each one of your colleagues who posted their Culture Jams, leave feedback to help them make their jams better. Do this in the comments section.
   • • For image #1 (the culture jam image)
     • Tell them what you liked.
     • Tell them what you feel didn’t work.
     • Give them at least TWO ideas for how to improve the image.
     • Repeat this same process for the creative image.
     • Make sure to complete each question. Every project can be made better.
     • I will also leave comments, but will wait for yours first.
3. Read the Ulmer questions.
   1. • Go through the post of your colleagues all the way back to BP 8. Make note of the questions your colleagues asked. Read through everyone’s questions.
      • Write a new blog post. Title it “Ulmer Short List #1.”
      • Copy and past three questions that you read from your colleagues. If you want to use one of your own questions, that’s fine, but limit it to only 1. If you want to put more than three, that’s fine, but limit it to 5. Make sure to GIVE CREDIT to the person who wrote the question.
      • For each question, write an original explanation as to why YOU think that each one of these questions are helpful for your understanding of electracy. You should read the explanations that your peers gave, but you should not use their explanations. You should compose your own explanations as to why these are helpful questions.
      • You should have three quotes and three short paragraphs under each question.
4. That’s it. Have a happy Thanksgiving. I’ll give you an update concerning next class, 11/29.

Ulmer’s Question:

Do you think that our intake of social media is the reason why electracy is the way that it is? Like does he think that electracy would be at a much greater level of power if social media wasn’t marketed the way that it is and made an impact against our youth?

In the section The Visceral Turn, he speaks on the way that consumerism has increased thanks to the help of social media. As well as the way that many thrive to reach a certain level of influence to get that consumerism. And Ulmer speaks on this with the tone of showing that this behavior when it comes to electracy isn’t the best way of going around for moving forward with electracy.

Madrigal 

I found this reading extremely informative. Madrigal speaks on the popularity of culture jamming but also speaks on how there are many people who are not using it to their best use. How yes, it maybe cause people to stop and think about where and what they are buying, but it’s not pushing them to actually make these companies step back and rethink their consumerism. There is also the part where Madrigal mentions that how to use culture jamming to affect the purpose of these companies. Their money. Which I found interesting. I have heard of culture jamming prior to this class and had thought because it made an impact on me, it might have made an impact on these companies. But all because they lose one person’s money, does not mean it got the rest of the world to stop buying from these brands. This is why learning how to get these companies to actually see what they are doing wrong, was extremely interesting.

Continue reading →

Ulmer: 

Q: What characteristics define the human visceral appetite? 

Ulmer explains that the human visceral appetite is define by the human concept of attraction and repulsion. But I am really unclear and unsure what the message he’s trying to convey in saying this. I just needed more clarity on what he’s trying to say while also trying to understand the psychology of what can be defined at the human visceral appetite.

Madrigal: 

Culture jamming has become a not so popularized concept as it’s being used for different forms of activism. But through the use of culture jamming, there comes advertisements that surprisingly getting more clicks and likes based on the ads that individuals gravitate towards. Not just to advertise your ad, you have to pay and this becomes a business through commercialism. To try and get your point or perspective across through the use of culture jamming, advertisers are charging the creators of the advertisements. By purchasing and distributing these ads, anyone who disagree, agree, or are neutral view the ads and the views and likes either increase of decrease. These ads hold no power over large corporations as they profit from the culture jamming bring about consumerism.

I chose this culture jamming image as an insult to social media specifically instagram. Instagram has become one of the most popular social medias apps around the world. It’s used to post photos and videos of what seems like the behind the scenes of a person’s life. When someone takes a picture or record a video to post on their story or feed, they are not actually posting in real time. Instagram has become a popular and pretentious app as the increased desire and need to be liked has caused for most posters to do, say, and act in ways that is not ideal to their personality. Posters and creators are only posting what they want their followers and viewers to see.

It’s a little blurry but I created this image as a mockery for the No Child Left Behind Act that was created when Obama was president involving primary and secondary school education. Because immigrants are being denied entering this country, it becomes especially had for their children to built lives for themselves. They say that children are the future, but if children are being mistreated and are seen as nothing but weaklings and even laborers, what are the chances that these immigrants children can become the future if the world sees them as less than what they are. Immigrants children are being locked away in detention centers and are used as laborers in sweatshops for even some of the biggest clothing companies. There is no future without these children and without them the world can’t continue to evolve onto bigger and better things.

Ulmer Question:

Considering corporation and commodity is the institution and the make up of electracy, would you say that electracy has been fully integrated within society? If not, what would that look like?

I ask this because in society now we have come to a point where everywhere there is something to be advertised. There is always something new to be desired and corporations take advantage of this by putting up ads, whether outside or inside your home (watching T.V or browsing the internet). These ads organize us in a way, where we go out and buy things to satisfy ourselves and fulfill instant gratification. I believe that we have already entered the era of electracy as identity has become a way of branding however, if we have not, what would this be like since it seems we already practice electracy.

Madrigal Response:

In the article Madrigal talks about what culture jamming is and how it is done. He talks about how activist positioned themselves against corporations and was able to do so by either getting people to ignore the ads or deface them so that they lost money. He describes the challenges activist face now that a lot of advertising happens online, considering the advancement of technology, and that most ad viewership happens privately. How now, Google and Facebook ads are cost-per-click, which means that a consumer would have to click on the ad to view it and that doesn’t cost the corporation much. That when someone doesn’t click on the ad corporations aren’t losing out on anything. He talks about activist needing to shift their way of protesting, by having as many people as possible click on those ads where these corporations would lose a considerable amount of money. He talks of using data as a way of protesting both the algorithm in place and overall, the corporations.

Reading this article, I realized that a lot of protesting does happen physically, and that activist haven’t tried using data against corporations. With behavioral data and advertising, protesting can be effective if activist focused on using it as a tool, disrupting the information that is gathered and used to curate “personalized” content made for us. I found it interesting that corporations have ads that are cost-per-click, meaning that they thought of the fact that often the people who click on the ads will most likely make a purchase and those who don’t aren’t changing anything. I find culture jamming to be useful in connecting with different audiences as it can be relatable or even the “quiet part said out loud.” I agree with Madrigal that to combat these ads there needs to be adjustments in how it’s to be done.

Culture Jam:

In this culture jam I used the Instagram logo and changed the name from Instagram to Instant Addiction. Around the logo, I put the things that people can become addicted to while using the app which is money, plastic surgery (Brazilian Butt Lifts and lip fillers), fast foods, drugs, our phones, and the likes we get off Instagram. I also included the like system and the dopamine chemical structure. I chose Instagram because it is one of the social networking platforms that most people use, including myself, where people show the “best versions” of themselves. We are constantly exposed to the lives of others and through their like system, seeking validation can become addictive. People will then post themselves overindulging in unhealthy foods, post anything for financial gain, get plastic surgery to keep up with others, and do any and everything to get a like. It is addictive like getting a high from drugs and can be a removal from reality, which in the long run is dangerous.

In this second culture jam, I used an H&M ad that says “Be bold. Be beautiful,” I then covered the bold and beautiful and replaced it with “underpaid” and “in a sweatshop.” I chose H&M because they use cheap labor to create their fast fashion clothing. Though they have tried to make progress, they still get their products made in sweatshops and exploit the workers in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. They are severely underpaid, working under poor conditions, and risking their safety. I wanted to highlight this exploitation by using one of their ads and to create my culture jam.

Reference

Hitchings-Hales, J. (2018, June 5). Hundreds of H&M and Gap Factory Workers Abused Daily: Report. Global Citizen Organization, https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/hm-gap-factory-abuse-fast-fashion-workers/

The Visceral Turn

Q: Is corporate capitalism in the emerging era of electracy steering us towards a “paradigmatic abjection,” preventing us from shifting to a change of world order through the entire shift of electracy?

Q: Also, is mass entertainment preventing electracy from emerging to its highest form as we become complacent and content with the surplus of entertainment we indulge in our daily lives?

“The new behavior emergent in electracy is consumerism: brand supplementing soul and self, modeled in celebrity stardom the experience of oneself as an image” (Ulmer, 2022).

Social media is monetized, and influencers receive paid sponsors to send a message or advertise a product, often leading to information misuse. As a result, people are branding themselves on media and spreading information in the form of entertainment that brings them fame or money from sponsors. Will this type of consumerism with an “exchange value” prevent us from shifting into the paradigm of electracy? Do we get lost in the material world where consumerism wipes out wisdom and knowledge?

Madrigal

Alexis C. Madrigal presents “culture jamming” in his article “The New Culture Jamming: How Activists Will Respond to Online Advertising.” Madrigal expresses that culture jammers wanted to use their activism against the commercial world on the internet, but the system embedded in advertisements makes it counterintuitive for them to do so.

Madrigal says, “Advertisements seemed to have mythic influence that could get people to do all kinds of things from buying Hummers and McMansions to starving themselves to attain fashion-model thinness.”Mythic” influence, where media becomes emulsified as a part of the natural order as if the technology itself was “god-given.” (Postman, 1998). The material world is regressing humanity to its lowest form as people get lost in the world of consumerism and the idea of merely displaying themselves as “wealthy” through the material items which are promoted by the marketing strategies of the commercial web. Culture jamming brings light to this corruption, but it is hard to send this message to the public eye when the web itself is formatted to support capitalistic efforts.

After writing my question for Ulmer, I read this article and found that it connected to my question and, in a way, gave me more clarity in my thought process.

Culture Jam Project

Nike has been linked to the use of sweatshops in foreign countries to produce apparel and shoes. I restructured the Nike “Just Do It” slogan by replacing it with “Just Don’t Wear It.” The images behind the logo display multiple examples of immoral and cheap labor in third-world countries. For example, the first image is two Syrian refugee children working in a Nike sweatshop to produce sneakers. In another example, the top right and bottom left images show Chinese Uyghurs, a religious minority in China, who are coerced into China’s “reeducation camps.”; they are also subject to forced labor that is linked to Nike. This culture jam reveals that we should not support Nike as the suppliers endure harsh working conditions to produce their products.

I created this detournement to display the corruption of the American healthcare system. The image depicts a farmer spraying pesticides on our produce, in this case, an apple. Most of our produce is treated with pesticides that cause long-lasting health issues such as endocrine disruption, gut imbalances, and even cancer. Not only is the produce being sprayed with these toxins, but livestock is being injected with antibiotics, impacting our health and creating antibiotic resistance. The image shows a cancer patient facing an absurd hospital bill that also succumbed to the big pharma industry represented by the prescription pills in the detournement. Instead of western medicine encouraging a healthy lifestyle with an improved diet and exercise to prevent illness, their first response is to prescribe medications, thus funding the big pharma industry. The image illustrates that the healthcare industry in America is a moneymaking scheme and cycle, “A system that fails us.”

I created a GIF to bring attention to the recent protests for the death of Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained for “improperly” wearing her hijab, as per the corrupted Iranian government laws. I chose to speak about this ongoing issue because it is appalling that women worldwide are still fighting for fundamental rights. The hijab is a religious head covering for women, which is meant to be a choice in Islam. However, the Iranian government placed these oppressive restrictions on women after the revolution.

The police have denied she suffered any harm by their doing and stated she suffered a heart attack. However, the reports say otherwise. The medical report states she died due to multiple organ failures caused by cerebral hypoxia, indicating that she may have been beaten or strangled to her death.

In my detournement,  Mahsa Amini joins the protests, where I also gave her a sign stating, “Did you know that letting your hair blow in the wind is a crime in Iran?” The shackles represent oppression, and the blood represents the bloodshed for the many peaceful protesters who are risking their lives for this cause worldwide.

We must be informed about these topics even if it does not directly affect us. Let’s unify and support women’s rights to fight against injustice and inequality globally. Mahsa Amini’s death exposes us to an ongoing fight for women’s rights. The simple act of staying informed contributes to a better future for women worldwide.

References:

• Kingsley, P. (2016, May 6). From war in Syria to a Turkish sweatshop for child refugees. The Guardian. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/06/war-to-sweatshop-for-child-refugees
• Nix, N. (2020, December 3). Forced labor in China’s Uyghur Camps Taints Nike, Coca-Cola, and Big U.S. Brands. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2020-12-03/forced-labor-in-china-s-uyghur-camps-taints-nike-coca-cola-and-big-u-s-brands
• YouTube. (2012). Escape Fire: The Fight To Rescue American Healthcare. YouTube. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sjd67-G890.
• Guardian News and Media. (n.d.). Mapping Iran’s unrest: How Mahsa Amini’s death led to nationwide protests. The Guardian. Retrieved November 21, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2022/oct/31/mapping-irans-unrest-how-mahsa-aminis-death-led-to-nationwide-protests

Elija’s Culture Jam and BP 10

“Language usage is a reflection of consciousness. Thus the future of language is connected to the ever-evolving state of human awareness.” – The Future of Language

“Thinking clearly sometimes requires unbraiding our language.” -The Ecstasy of Language

“Little of beauty has America given the world save the rude grandeur God himself stamped on her bosom; the human spirit in this new world has expressed used in vigor and ingenuity rather than in beauty.” – Sorrow Songs

The relationship between sound, technology, and language all come from the evolution of human awareness. Before language could be invented, sound were made and used to communicate before words became a popular thing. In ancient tribes, the usage of sounds were used to communicate especially through hunting and when there was an enemy nearby. Language came into play later on when those created sounds are used to sound out or spell out words that paired well with those sounds. Though language is still developing there’s no telling what sounds and words could come out of it thus adding on to what is the human dictionary.

As language continues to develop, the revolutionized concept of technology comes into play making language and sound easier to understand and communicate. Technology plays a role with sounds as new technologies are invented like GarageBand, musical instruments, and white noise machines. Technology plays a role with language with the invention of translating different languages (Google Translate), learning new languages (Rosetta Stone), and other mediums that are able to allow individuals to learn, develop, and refresh their language skills.

The three quotes that I’ve attached above all relate to the relationship between sound, technology, and language because each all have a relationship with the development of human awareness, consciousness, and desire.

ULMER:

Visceral question- How can we shift away from a negative dimension of electracy and into a better society?

Why- because Ulmer writes about identity dimension of electracy and later talks about the manipulation of media. All of these derives from electracy in human interactions. I wonder if we can move away from this.

Madrigal Article:

Culture jamming is using the brands against themselves by altering it. The concept is to make brands fight against themselves by changing the influences that individuals see. The advancement of advertisers has become more efficient at targeting people. Advertisers are now charged by an individual clicking an ad for them to earn money. Clicks have become the best way to disrupt and protest companies by taking away their money. While the idea of ignoring corporate greed is an agreement, we all try to live with, we are forced to fight the nature of our minds. With society aimed at closely monitoring us with the sole purpose of making us consumers, a form of creativity is born to fight back called culture jamming. The solution to combat these advertisements is to muddy the water by distorting the effects these corporations try to bring.

CULTURE JAM PROJECT DRAFT

Amazon logo:

In this culture jam I chose the amazon logo and focused on altering the image to make people feel like they have become zombies. I was interested in this because of how big the company was. With so many people buying things for a higher price just because of popularity or because people do not change often. I wanted to show society that we can choose to make decisions that go away from the norm. I used Gimp to alter the amazon logo. I was learning for a while just on how to use it and made many mistakes. I finally was comfortable to at least produce a decent outlook of what I wanted to express and that is what you see.

Energizer Bunny:

The image I altered is the energizer bunny, wreaking havoc on the earth and causing black ooze to come out. People should be made aware that batteries are damaging the earth. As batteries corrode through time after they are manufactured, they contaminate the earth. I got interested in this topic because in the military I was the hazmat coordinator and one of my jobs was taking all the batteries and keeping them in a safe place for disposal. Even with new batteries after a while they corrode and are useless. I hope we can move away from these types of batteries so the earth can recharge itself from the pollution of chemicals. I made this image by using Canva after trial and errors.

Yep. It’s a Banksy.

For BP 10, title it Culture Jamming–BP 10. I want to be able easily find these projects and to find BP 10, so please put both titles in the title area.

Ulmer

First, for next week, our Ulmer reading schedule is to read the next section, The Visceral Turn, by Tuesday. As before, you should post a question to ask Ulmer for this section, and you should post a paragraph that says why you are asking the question.

Madrigal

The Madrigal article is only 4 pages long. Read and write a summary-response. Summarize it in a paragraph and then in a second paragraph give us your thoughts on the piece.

Culture Jam Project. 

According to the detournement 11.15.22 assignment, you should post two projects by class on Tuesday, 11/22. I should have mentioned that you are not limited to using images. Other media are also in play. You can spoof a video, or you can make a sound project, like a podcast. It doesn’t have to strictly be in the image medium.

These are the tools I suggested you try out. Of course, there will be a need to spend some time experimenting. I’ve been searching for others. We may have a guest to come in on the 22nd to offer some technical tips. For now, work with these tools or the Adobe sweet that all PTW students have access to. Again, if you have a problem with your Adobe license, let me know, and I’ll speak to Professor Ellis.

—–

The YesMen, who have been doing Culture Jamming for decades, have put together a list of brainstorming and planning suggestions that are super helpful. I’ve copy and pasted below. This comes from their website. https://theyesmen.org/learn/bookoftricks#faqit68

I’d highly suggest reading through this list and taking notes that are helpful for you. You don’t need to use everything, but there will be tips that you can use.

Its official 

“Our tenure on earth is short,but we are definitely a successful species,so successful that we are nwo regrettably driving everything else extinct.if radiation follow an extinction event is tied to the event itself,then species that are resistant to human action should be the big winners this time around .we should look forward to thailand of new species of cockroaches and pigeons,but we might not be there to see them”

Though it’s true that the world is suffering from global warming ,most people are not really concerned because they believe that we won’t suffer or be affected ,and that only animals feel it.But that’s not true at all humans will also be affected by this.those animals anm insect that are meant to survive and that can adapt so while some animals might be there years from noe we will not live to see it 

“It is, I promise,worse  than you think . if your anxiety about global warming is dominated ny fears of sea level rise you are barkley scratching the surface of what terrors are possible even with in the lifetime of a teenager today 

In the world we live in,with all the technology that is around,most of those do not show how bad global warming really is. Most people don’t take is serious because they just don’t know how bad it can actually get  not just a few ice melting and the rising of the ocean level or the rising temperature on earth.like most i thought that was the worst ,but the worst is yet to come 

What most researchers have found is that in most languages,including English,there is a high correlation between folk and scientific classification .indigenous communities actually cltheir language in an organized fashion just like scientists do and what’s more they’ve been doing it for years.

Language is a big part of your live.it means so much,culture,how you act,how to dress and so on. Its suppose to keep us connected to nature and  our true self.But it seems that with every generation the farther away it go from our true authentic language,which of coarse drives us away from nature.We all need to embrace our language more inorder for people to be truly impacted by global warming and change may happen.

Questions for Ulmer

Heuretics:

When will the ISA fully adopt electracy?

I ask this because society has been operating between orality and literacy, with the merging of technology over the years. However, the ISA being family, church, school and media, hasn’t changed much to reflect the electracy pedagogy.  I would like to know if one day it will be the primary way of interacting or communicating, as the others become secondary.

Theopraxesis:

How will electracy’s defining axis (attraction and repulsion) be a method of learning?

I ask this question because with orality we learned what was right/wrong and with literacy what is true/false. However, with electracy being attraction/repulsion how can that be implemented as a teaching method when those things (attraction and repulsion) seem to be personal.

Wallace-Wells Response:

“There are now, trapped in Arctic ice, diseases that have not circulated in the air for millions of years—in some cases, since before humans were around to encounter them. Which means our immune systems would have no idea how to fight back when those prehistoric plagues emerge from the ice” (p. 5).

This quote was interesting in that it highlighted that there are viruses and disease hidden in the ice, and that if global warming is not addressed the ice would melt exposing us to disease we have never encountered before. I thought about Covid-19 and how the pandemic impacted us because it was a mutated virus that we were not prepared for. Even though we have found a way to vaccinate people to decrease the chances of death, there is still the fact that our immunity weakens overtime after catching it leaving us susceptible to other illnesses. This article, to me, was like sounding an alarm to what is happening in our environment currently and how imminent the disasters are. This quote was a reminder of how the last few years have been in a pandemic and that we need to make changes quickly.

Luu Response:

“Linguist Michael Halliday argues that inherent in the very anthropocentric grammar of our languages is the ideology that humans are special beings quite apart from the rest of the natural world, and that unlimited growth and human exploitation of natural resources are normal and remarkable.”

This quote made me think about the Hawaiian culture, where the Hawaiians had respect for the land, building a relationship through that respect as not to destroy it. I also understand this quote to mean that we as humans see ourselves as separate from nature, nature being something we can explore when we desire for entertainment but not as us living on Earth, among nature and respecting it. I think it brings awareness to the fact that humans can be self-absorbed sometimes, unless there is a natural disaster some of us aren’t thinking about what’s happening to our environment/ planet. That we should consider taking care of our environment instead of relying on our environment to always produce for us. I found this quote to be very reflective of the problems occurring in our environment/ planet and the reasons behind it.

1. electracy notes 11-15-2022 10.24
2. Issue Presentation
3. Message from Future with AOC.
4. Break
5. Culture Jam Analysis (Jenkins) and Assignment for detournement
6. Tools:  10 image creation tools for students
7. Begin Project. You’ll have most of next week in class to work on project.

culture jam and post #9

Ulmer Paper Questions:

Will there ever be achieved human essence through the constant changing of choice, productivity, and virtues through the eyes of the laws of nature? 

I’m asking this because Ulmer says that “Human essence is happiness, but may be achieved only collectively in a polis (Republic), through human choice and productivity.” But if the aparatus changes because it’s not the laws of nature but human capabilities, I only asked where does the law of nature exist? Because human evolution’s is inevitable, nature plays a small role whereas electric plays a. major role because of the combination of human desire and technology. Is there no laws of nature in that?

Has the concept of reflective judgement changed through the ideas of orality, literacy, Paleolithic, and electracy relating to culture, virtues, and morals?

Change and judgement is about perception. But because perception and perspective have changed through the centuries, I was curious to want to understand how reflective judgment has changed through the different areas of importance in human society.

Readings: 

The Uninhabitable Earth: 

“Over the past decades, our culture has gone apocalyptic with zombie movies and Mad Max dystopias, perhaps the collective result of displaced climate anxiety, and yet when it comes to contemplating real-world warming dangers, we suffer from an incredible failure of imagination.” 

Because of the media that portrays climate or different outcomes of what the world will look like in the future, there aren’t guaranteed confirmations until the time comes, Because we are so reliant to believe what the media says is true, there is no room for real facts and it will become difficult for the truth to accept fact for what is and what will be.

How Language and Climate Connect: 

“We prize the sober language of science, but too often it’s incomprehensible jargon. In the media, so-called “neutral” language that hedges its bets and avoids alarming with any comfortable emotions abounds.” 

The language and the facts that are used to describe the climate changing can only be understood by scientists and other professionals in those professions. Outsiders will not understand what this means unless explained in simple terms, But even if it’s explained in implies terms, we can’t truly and fully understand what it means because it’s not provoking or causing a reaction in use to want to put a plan in motion.

Creative Detournement: An artistic practice conceived by the Situationists for transforming artworks by creatively disfiguring them. (https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095713704)

 This is an example of creative detournement as this images represents the the unhealthy effects people are experiencing by eating McDonalds.

Culture Jamming: A form of political and social activism which by means of fake adverts, hoax news stories, pastiches company logos, and product labels, computer hacking etc. draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism, etc. (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/culture-jamming)

 This image provides an example of culture jamming because Apple products have been the top selling technology in the world through their phones, laptops, tablets, computers, and other accessories. There are many different versions of every product Apple produces and releases; but the price of these products are extremely high. But because Apple knows that individuals will buy their products because of through their use of advertisements and updates features on their products, people are not only paying for the product, but for the logo too.

Difference: Creative détournement and culture jamming are different because culture jamming is used to promote other issues like consumerism while creative detournement is used to make fun of something that can relate to a public or private issue.

Creating My Own: If I were to come up with a creative detournement or culture jamming, I would have to find issues that people are most passionate about, what’s trending in the news in any field, and find what would cause for the most entertainment in terms of visuals; what will be most appealing and eye-catching for audiences. I would have to make sure that these things will become statements and provoke emotion to audiences.

Streaming Services

Ulmer’s Questions

Heuretics Question: Do you think that if we begin to learn in a way that is heavily influenced by the creative figures in our current day and age? And through this how do you think it would be? 

I ask this because of the influence he mentions through different times i.e. being the goddesses and then being Gauguin. 

Theopraxesis Question: Do you believe that if we were to find a way to have everything be synchronically harmonized that we can learn to thrive through the experiences we learn through life orality, electracy, and literacy wise? 

MacDonald’s Response: “…but it has been unclear how many species go extinct under normal circumstances, without human influence.” 

This quote stood out because of the way that we as humans like to think that maybe because species were going extinct before the high number of the human population we can’t be the cause for it now. This made me laugh to be very honest, the way that we are so inconsiderate of the fact that we have created these types of scenarios where we are the reason why the atmosphere is in the state that it is. 

Wallace-Wells’ Response: “Most people talk as if Miami and Bangladesh still have a chance of surviving; most of the scientists I spoke with assume we’ll lose them within the century.” 

This stood out because of the way that we are so naive to the idea of actually losing cities like this because we don’t take global warming as seriously as it should be taken. There are a lot of people who don’t see a century as something that isn’t that far from now. And we don’t see it as it would affect us directly so why worry about it? But the sad truth is, is that we aren’t as concerned and worried about this topic as we should. All because we are aware that it is happening, all because we don’t take the bus for a day and walk everywhere, doesn’t mean that if we don’t get the world to catch up and realize the importance of stopping this as much as we can. We can lose a lot more and lose them fast. 

Luu’s Response: “This is a valuable way of looking at the world that is often encapsulated in the very names of the plants, offering information that can’t be quickly discovered by scientists in the field.” 

This stood out because it showed that even though a lot of people speak up against global warming, they don’t know much about nature itself. It’s funny really. It’s hard to see if anyone cares really about the earth because of the lack of information they have on this earth and its natural upbringing. That being the things that a grown throughout the world. And, interestingly, we continue to live in big cities rather than taking a moment and becoming one with nature to realize what we are putting in danger. 

“Creative Detourment” is the practice that artists use to rearrange and sample a message from an art piece that already has a predetermined message. “Culture Jamming” is the creation of images using well-known images to society to challenge and disrupt the status quo creatively. There’s not much of a difference between the two in that ‘culture jamming’ forces the viewer to question the status quo, while ‘creative detourment’ allows the viewer to view any type of message depending on their view of the piece. Simply put, both changes the views of an image to change your thoughts on certain thoughts referring to the image at hand.

  This is an example of culture jamming

  This is an example of creative detournement

Idea #1: The best part of waking up, is getting your rights taken away – A creative interpretation of the Folgers coffee commercial.

Idea #2: Get in the zone, the violent zone – Auto zone, but would be a Call of Duty commercial to represent the views people have on violent games being the reason behind violent behaviors.

Idea #3: I would make the Twitter logo of a decaying bird to represent the death of the Twitter we have known because of the new ownership under Elon Musk.

Heuretics:

Ulmer states, “When anomalies accumulate to the point of putting the paradigm in question, revolutionary science emerges in original hypotheses formulated by certain creative individuals. Gerald Holton (1973), historian of science, studies such creative figures to understand the ability to think beyond a paradigm.”

In history, there are periods of transition where knowledge and idea blooms. The Renaissance, the age of discovery, cultivated the rebirth of arts and sciences and the most influential figures that still shape our thought. In another example, the Industrial revolution was a massive shift to mass production of consumer goods influenced by Rockefeller, JP Morgan, Carnegie, and Ford.

Q: Who do you think are the ‘creative figures’ of our present time, and are they contributing to the paradigm shifts in the same manner as preceding our creative figures?

Theopraxesis:

Ulmer says, “Kant proposed for integrating dissociated faculties, such as in the extreme breakdown of the sublime, when circumstances overwhelm both the archive of concepts and the productive imagination, as become the norm in formless conditions of alienation.”

Q: Is the use of existing concepts impairing our capabilities and judgment, resulting in stagnation?

These questions are linked to a section in Heuretics where he mentions that “a society that supports individuals’ capacity to choose their own life possibility will prosper economically.”

Q: Will breaking social norms allow for a society that thrives synchronously with productivity and economic prosperity with the outcome of happiness?

How Language and Climate Connect By Chi Luu

Luu refers to the Linguist Michael Halliday’s argument that:

“Inherent in the very anthropocentric grammar of our language is the ideology that humans are special beings quite apart from the rest of the natural world, and that unlimited growth and human exploitation of natural resources are normal and unremarkable.”

Nature has slowly diminished from our languages. We have separated life from life itself in the sense that if nature, “it,” does not attain the sheer amount of intelligence as he/she/they, then it is unremarkable. In the world of consumption, language is altered, and the relationship with the natural world is lost in context as we forget that we were once one with nature. I believe that connecting back to the roots of nature is an essential stepping stone that will shift our future to save the natural world and humanity itself. We go through many filters and shifts through history and have lost some of the natural world that the primitive homo sapiens once utilized, such as living with the land and not off the land. The primitive homo sapiens that have preceded modern homo sapiens lived-in harmony with the natural world, whereas modern homo sapiens slowly deplete natural resources as they dilute the language of nature.

It’s Official: A Global Mass Extinction is Under Way By James MacDonald

“It’s counter-intuitive, but some of the largest increases in biodiversity occurred in the immediate aftermath of these mass extinctions. With so many losses, the opportunities increased for new species to branch out and adapt to different habitats and ecological roles.”

Is global mass extinction inevitable? As species adapt to their environments and such environments are no longer suitable, nature responds to self-destruct and reset. This is quite overwhelming to think about, a result that we’ve structured language and technology that omits nature and climate change to avoid the reality of it all. We have become complacent to the point that altering the planet and reducing biodiversity are overlooked. Is modern homo sapiens perceptive enough to stop the cycle of mass extinction? It’s fascinating to think about the potential of surpassing the filter of mass extinctions where civilization can emerge and transform into a multi-planet species.

I thought about the theory of The Great Filter when going through this week’s readings and thought I’d post this diagram and short video:

The Power Behind The Car

Creative Detournement:

“Détournement means a ‘detour’ or ‘diversion’ in English. However, in French, the word also means ‘hijacking’, ‘embezzlement’, ‘corruption’ and ‘misappropriation.’ In a broad sense, détournement can be defined as ‘a method of interpretation and reinterpretation: reordering pre-existing materials in order to expose their banality or their function within a system of spectacular control and creatively reconstructing them in the service of authenticity” (Kiziltunali, 2020).

Culture Jamming:

“Culture jamming is the practice of disrupting the mundane nature of everyday life and the status quo with surprising, often comical or satirical acts or artworks. The practice was popularized by the anti-consumerist organization Adbusters, which often uses it to force those who encounter their work to question the presence and influence of advertising and consumerism in our lives” (Cole Ph.D., 2021).

The difference between creative detournement and culture jamming, is that detournement is artwork that consist of old and new artifacts that is appropriated or altered to present an undermining message about those artifacts. As for culture jamming, it is artwork that brings awareness and reflection about consumerism among its viewers.

Idea 1:

Turning the Tik Tok logo into a “cherry bomb” explosive, with the round black bottom and wick that is sparkling. This represents Tik Tok being extremely popular in a short period of time, with the amount of content and advertising on the app, it can be somewhat like an “explosion” of all the types of information being shared, including misinformation which can be harmful to the public.

Idea 2:

Taking the Five Guys slogan “Always fresh, never frozen,” and swapping it to “Always frozen, never fresh.” This will represent the processed foods that fast food restaurants provide and how unhealthy fast food consumption can be.

Idea 3:

Having a McDonald’s fries’ container but instead of fries it would be vape pens. This would represent the unhealthiness of fast food eating and vaping, as well as the similarity in harm that it can cause in our bodies.

References:

Cole Ph.D., N.L. (2021, Oct 16). Understanding Culture Jamming and How it Can Create Social Change. ThoughtCo, https://www.thoughtco.com/culture-jamming-3026194

Kiziltunali, G. (2020). Détournement in Social Media Visuals for a Shared Activist Identity and Imagery. Visual Communication, 19(1), 99–120. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470357218779118

 Detournement is a method of propaganda, a method which reveals the wearing out and loss of importance of those spheres.” It has been defined elsewhere as “turning expressions of the capitalist system and its media culture against itself”–as when slogans and logos are turned against their advertisers or the political status quo., in which radical ideas are twisted, commodified, and absorbed in a more socially acceptable context, in other words the appropriation of image or ideas and the changing of their intended meaning in a way that challenges the dominant culture where as-

Culture jamming is the practice of disrupting the mundane nature of everyday life and the status quo with surprising the practice of criticizing and subverting advertising and consumerism the mass media by methods such as producing advertisement parodying those of global brand.

I believe the detournement is not so much different from culture jam but somewhat apart of it, and that detournement is what make up culture jam.

My culture jam ideas

I’ll have one on the well Kown electronics brand LG “lives good” and instead put life gone, and instead of the happy wink face put the grosses on the eyes to symbolize death. The meaning behind it would be that all these electronics are killing se slowly without us knowing. UPS=us people service , Facebook=facemask

Citation

Sullivan,Christiana.”Culture Jamming: Recuperation and Détournement.2017

Cole, Nicki Lisa, Ph.D. “Understanding Culture Jamming and How it Can Create Social Change.” ThoughtCo, Oct. 18, 2021, thoughtco.com/culture-jamming-3026194.

Hueretics Question: What are the three faculties or virtues within electracy, and can we adapt from these current virtues?

Why: Because Ulmer talks about Plato’s three virtues and faculties of literacy.

Theopraxesis Question: If we move away from attraction when studying electracy can it be beneficial or are we stuck with only this experience?

Why: When Ulmer talks about attraction and repulsion when defining electracy I feel like it could be a distraction that could impede our development.

MacDonald “It’s Official”

“It’s counter-intuitive, but some of the largest increases in biodiversity occurred in the immediate aftermath of these mass extinctions.”

We are the cause of these mass extinctions and wildlife is adapting to us by creating this as an opportunity to get stronger. Wildlife might be thinking about the future without even knowing what is to come. With new species in different environments, wildlife could be surviving the impending doom by dying early to acquire characteristics to survive. We can see this in humans as well when our ancestors live in very warm climates. Like mine for example come from the middle east and I grew up retaining water more than others around me. Wildlife is dying off and being reborn with a resistance to human intervention or “Anthropocene”.

Wallace-Wells: “Uninhabitable Earth”

“What concerns epidemiologists more than ancient diseases are existing scourges relocated, rewired, or even re-evolved by warming.”

Many diseases are still around without us knowing. For instance, diseases in the arctic frozen are waiting to be spread once more. With ice melting rapidly and shelves breaking apart its only a matter of time before we are thrust into a world of new diseases and infections that will ravage through the world. With the world still fighting with our own generation of diseases and mutations, if more are thrown into the mix it would be devastating. The concern for these ancient diseases is at our front door. As we wait for climate warming to do its thing, the coming disaster is only a matter of time. Human intervention is what’s causing these diseases to come to light. We should pay attention to our pollution because it will soon give us old and new sicknesses adapting to survive just as we soon will be.

Luu: “Language and Climate Change”

“Researchers think that the ongoing cultural traditions of indigenous groups, their economy, and the management of their local environments in more remote regions allowed biodiversity to thrive.”

Individuals have been managing their natural environments and have become accustomed to helping their surroundings prosper. We need to be more aware of nature, especially since most people are now living away from such environments. It is still important to our species to take care of nature even if we can’t see it. Most people do not even think about forests being ravaged and cut down which is very valuable to our survival in the near future. Other groups in the world focus on nature and are knowledgeable about the plants around them which we take for granted. The attention that our communities once had for nature is fading away and it shows. We need to explore this field to promote healthy wildlife around us so we can thrive with each other.

Creative Detournement:

“Involves appropriating familiar images from the mass media or ubiquitous political slogans, and using them in ways that subvert their original message and expose their embedded ideology.” (Bilyeu et al, 2022)

(Page, 2016)

Culture jamming:

“A grass-roots campaigning movement that attacks consumerist culture through the subversive use of its own mass-marketing tools and techniques, or through creative acts of civil disobedience.” (Chandler and Munday, 2020)

(Pirie, 2019)

Difference: The difference between Detournement and culture jamming is Detournement tries to expose the truth to people while culture jamming is trying to get people open to unethical actions of consumer traditions through media.

Idea 1: better schools, better people, better education (books being delivered instead of pizza).

From Papa Johns – better ingredients better pizza papa johns

Idea 2: Mr. incredible is starting to vape and his face becomes more and more like a skeleton.

From Mr. incredible skull meme

Idea 3: Duracell battery bunny holding the earth instead of a drum and hitting it because of the toxic environmental problems they cause, saying keep dying and dying.

From Duracell bunny saying keep going and going

References

Bilyeu, E., Ferreira, K., Peterson, L., & Weber, C. (2022). Understanding New Media Art. Portland Community College.

Daniel, Chandler, and Rod Munday. “Culture jamming.” A Dictionary of Media and Communication: Oxford University Press. Oxford Reference. Date Accessed 9 Nov. 2022 <https://www-oxfordreference-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780198841838.001.0001/acref-9780198841838-e-604>.

Page, J. (2016, April 12). Honest logos that reflect unfortunate truths about major companies. Laughing Squid. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://laughingsquid.com/honest-logos-that-reflect-unfortunate-truths-about-major-companies/

Pirie, M. (2019, January 15). Coca-Cola: A symbol of capitalism. Adam Smith Institute. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/coca-cola-a-symbol-of-capitalism

1. “Paleolithic was animistic, regarding everything as alive, using magic to promote survival (life/death). Orality identified divine cause, creating religion and the institution of the church to address right/wrong behavior mandated by God. Literacy identified nature as a cause (Phusis), creating true/false logics of science to manage material laws. Electracy opens a new chora, with humanity as cause, including a metaphysics of attraction/repulsion. This history should be taken into account when organizing education to native to the digital apparatus”. 

Is electracy the future of our educational system?

Is the digital world the future of our next generation? Do you think the changes will negatively affect our mental health or bring positive changes in our lives? 

This quote stood out the most to me while I was reading Ulmer’s piece. The reason I believe it stood out the most to be is because of the explanation. Recently, I have been self-reflecting and thinking about my future and where I am going with life so reading this gave me some sort of idea of the past and our current world. In addition to that, this piece was extremely informative, and I have obtained a lot of knowledge from it regarding electracy and digital humanities. 

2.“To my relief, the strange violence the Border Patrol agents had focused on us now seemed shifted to the dog. I no longer felt so strongly that we would be murdered. We exchanged looks–the dog and I. She was afraid of what they might do, just as I was. The dog’s handler jerked the leash sharply as she sniffed us, as if to make her perform better, but the dog refused to accuse us: She had an innate dignity that did not permit her to serve the murderous impulses of those men”.

Oftentimes surveillance can lead to emotional turmoil in human beings. It was disheartening to complete reading this article because of the traumatic events that were described. We are living in 21 century yet we are still experiencing discrimination against each other because of race, color, and social status. Everyone is trying to build a life for their family so it is extremely brutal to prevent people from achieving higher goods. In fact, I think it is dehumanizing to take the right to dream away from someone. 

3. “They have a tactic in which they let the migrant walk. They let him walk for two or three days so they would suffer hunger and heat. They have them very well localized, they know where the crossers are. Well, this is going to be there, he is going to walk for two or three days. I am going to go home and sleep: tomorrow when I come back, I’ll get him to underneath a tree while he is tired or waiting”. 

This is a quote from Jason’s article. This was a conversation between a patrol officer and an agent. This shows how cruel the process of crossing the border can be. They are basically setting the migrants up for death. It was daunting to read this article. However, I am thankful for the knowledge I have gained from this article. The system can be extremely biased and indecent, therefore we human beings must take the right steps to bring changes within society. Also, we must work toward preventing hate crime, racism, and discrimination and continue advocating for better education for all human beings. 

As we discussed in class, you have two separate blog posts to write for Tuesday, the 15th.

Title your first post “Culture Jam Initial Research.”

Take a look at these videos to get you started.

Pepper Spray Cop  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDjatVtKLc&ab_channel=PresidentObama3

Pepper Spay Cop  Memes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQUq0y8mF7w&ab_channel=curiositytube

Then, look up “Creative detournement” and “culture jamming.”

• Write a definition for each. Make sure to cite your sources.
• Is there a difference between the two?
• Provide an example for each. Find an image for each and post it in the blog post.
• If you were to make your own culture jam or creative detournement, what are some ideas that you would have? Try to come up with three.

Start a new Blog Post and title it BP 9

Our schedule for the Ulmer essay is to read the next two sections, up to the first part of page 12. The sections are Hueretics and Theopraxesis.

Like last time, after reading the two sections, write a question that relates to each section that you would ask Ulmer. You should write TWO questions, one for each section. For each question, make sure to explain why this is the question you want to ask.

Readings

23-MacDonald “It’s Official”
24-Wallace-Wells: “Uninhabitable Earth”
25-Luu: “Language and Climate Change”

Your choice. Of the three readings, respond to at least two. Pick a section that jumped out at you, quote it, and give us your response. Extra credit if you respond to all three. Make sure to check your posts for correctness and clarity. Remember, do things the right way the first time, and do things the right way all the time.

Untitled presentation

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Ulmer Reading Schedule

• 11/8 Designing the Disaster
• 11/15 Hueretics and Theopraxesis
• 11/22  The Visceral Turn
• 11/29  Caberet Academy
• 12/06  Theming Mystory (The Big Day!)

Today

1. Lecture/Discussion about Ulmer
   1. Share questions in group, can you answer the question yourselves?
   2. Which are the most promising questions? Why?
2. Presentations
3. Silko and deLeon–we’ll review and discuss together.

Break

4. Pepper Spray Cop  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDjatVtKLc&ab_channel=PresidentObama3

Pepper Spay Cop  Memes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQUq0y8mF7w&ab_channel=curiositytube

On computers, look up “Creative detournement” and “culture jamming.”  Title your post “Culture Jam Initial Research.”

• Write a definition for each. Make sure to cite your source.
• Is there a difference between the two?
• Provide an example for each. Find and image for each and post it in the blog post.
• If you were to make your own culture jam or creative detournement, what are some ideas that you would have? Try to come up with three.

Silko

“Deep down the issue is simple the so called Indian wars from the days of sitting bull and read cloud have never really ended in the Americas .the Indian people of southern Mexico,of Guatemala and those left in the El Salvador,too,are still fighting for there lives and for their lamd against the cavalry patrols sent out by the governments of those lands.the Americas are Indian county and the Indian problem is not bout to go away.”

In my opinion it seem that the people that here now has to deal with the consequences from those who were in the Indian war and the that is not fear at all,the alway in fear while travel on the road. Silko believes that the problem is not yet solve and is no time going away,which I completely understand and agree with.

“Playing on the fears that many conservative Americans hold regarding brown skinned individuals ruining their economy, destroying their neighborhoods and killing civilians is a tried and true political strategy.unfortunately for these extremist ,no amount of fear or hate can convince the government that walling of the entire border would be affective or feasible.”

the government has put to much into the wall to separate the people and add more border patrols, but not realizing that it’s hate for the brown skinned people that leads led them to do such thing. the American need to recognize that it’s their own people that ruined their Economy and that they need all that money into Fixing  their economy first before spreading hate and putting a wall that probably won’t fix the problem.

question :do you think that electacy will change the way we learn over all and how long do you thing that will take to be in effect

Question for Ulmer: 

Do you think that electracy is the way for future education? 

“The caveat is that whatever the digital apparatus is becoming, it is not more literacy.” 

Ulmer mentions a lot of the way that it was sort of an eureka moment when we started to see that there was a way to find ‘digital literacy’ but also mentions that there were a lot of ways that it “…masked the incommensurability of oral and literate productions.” 

Response to Silko: 

“When the military and police ran out of political suspects to torture and kill, they resorted to the random abduction of citizens off the streets. I thought how easy it would be for the Border Patrol to shoot us and leave our bodies and car beside the highway, like so many bodies found in these parts and ascribed to “drug runners”.” 

While reading this essay, it was extremely upsetting. Reading this part in particular because Silko wrote this article in 1994, which wasn’t that long ago. And that’s the part that’s upsetting. That Border Patrol got to do whatever they want, as far as murdering people who were just traveling alongside the border to get home. It reminds me of the photo that was released last year of border control whipping these immigrants while on horseback just like we are back to slavery days. This just breaks my heart because it just shows that since the 80’s nothing has changed regarding Border Patrol. It should be a lot more surveillance on how Border Control is regarding illegal immigrants or even just American citizens going along or near the border. 

Response to DeLeón: 

“Specialized vendors in Mexican towns such as Altara and Sasabe have cornered the market on camouflage backpacks, black clothes, water bottles, high salt-content food, and first-aid equipment. For inflated prices, border entrepreneurs will sell you things like black bottles of water that they ‘guarantee’ will decrease visibility and sneakers with carpeted soles that they swear will prevent you from leaving footprints.” (160) 

When people get ready to cross the Mexican-American border, they become rather desperate for any tools and clothing and equipment that will help them get away with crossing the border. Sadly during this time of desperation there will be people who will sell things with false promises in hopes of profiting off of your desperation. DeLeón mentioned in the beginning of the chapter that Lucho and Memo left to cross the border with only $26 worth of groceries and a few things to help avoid being bitten by snakes and being caught by border patrol during the night. It’s also mentioned that they carried black clothings with them to avoid being seen. So alongside the mindset of wearing black clothing, these ‘border entrepreneurs’ will go and use that same mindset to take advantage. The sad thing is that it is also mentioned that they would have to have a day’s worth of pay to get a slice of pizza, imagine how much they are trying to charge and how much they would have to work for a bottle of water painted in black.

Silko:

“The great human migration within the Americas cannot be stopped; human beings are natural forces of the Earth, just as rivers and winds are natural forces…The Indian people of southern Mexico, of Guatemala and those left in El Salvador, too, are still fighting for their lies and for their land against the ‘calvary’ patrols sent by the governments of those lands.”

I can agree that people are a natural force as we share and impact the Earth good and bad. Immigration is spoken about in the essay as a natural occurrence, considering the history of America, I believe Silko expressed an inevitability in her essay that the people indigenous to the land prior to European arrival are driven by a spiritual energy to “come home.” That it isn’t only about economic hardship but more so the land “calling” for its people. Human migration can be driven by many things as people will always look for ways to better their lives along with their families, I believe they should be free to do so as we all share the Earth, and it doesn’t belong to one race or one governing body. I understand that the U.S government has implemented policies to decrease the number of undocumented immigrants entering the country however, I feel that whether documented or undocumented they still have human rights and shouldn’t be dehumanized at the border stops, where some people have experienced racism and violence. I believe there should be an overhaul on how the U.S government approaches this issue because most of what has been implemented does not necessarily work. Instead, immigration has become a hot topic among politicians and has been exploited for business on both sides of the border. I think that there needs to be a serious review and improvement on the U.S immigration application process, where people can feel confident in the process instead of breaching the borders, this isn’t an issue that will simply go away but will instead continue for years to come, there needs to be another way to address this.

De Leon:

“Despite the evidence that the border wall is no match for catapults, car jacks, and other forms of human ingenuity, the United States can’t seem to shake the fixation that building more of it will somehow solve many of our country’s economic and social problems. Politicians are well aware of this fixation and routinely use it to their advantage” (156).

The significance of this quote is that American politicians are utilizing this “hot topic” to manipulate the masses for their personal gain. This is an issue that impacts many people whether a U.S citizen or an undocumented immigrant, the idea that they know that the policies they have implemented or that the border wall is insufficient but continue to advertise these solutions is a true display of capitalism. As this issue have become another form of big business, it is disheartening to know that the emotions and safety of people are being used as a tool to line the pockets of those involved and as a tactic for reelections. This to me was a powerful quote because it showed me that this is an issue that may never have a real solution. This is an issue that will continue because it is beneficial to those involved besides the immigrants who risk their lives looking for a better life. By using the immigration issue, the people in this country will remain in a perpetual victimhood because there will not be an effective solution considering it brings in money and keeps people in their political positions. That to me needs to change because people are dying, families are being separated and unaccounted for, and morally it is corrupt.

Question for Ulmer:

Is electracy an apparatus meant to challenge self-actualization and return society to a collective/community form, similar to when orality was the main form of communication?

I ask this because while reading the book, I noticed that there is a concern that technology changes our perception, is based in algorithms, and changes our general critical analysis of the world we live in. Because technology is a part of electracy and can be used to manipulate using algorithms, is electracy a reset meant to rid us of self-actualization and instead bring us inward as a community guided or managed by being told what is and isn’t rather than thinking and doing for ourselves.

Question for Ulmer:

Do you believe digital technology will not only affect electracy in education among students, but also deter them away from standardized learning traditions? 

Ulmer says that “Digital technology is a filter that is going to modify perception by means of generalized morphing, and this in real time.” I took this and compared it to the pandemic that happened and because there were no schools open and students had to attend via Zoom and other forms of video conferencing, they have grown accustomed to it. Growing accustomed to such a way can be hard to desensitize and because of this, this medium change how students today and of the future view education. 

Silko: 

Silko overall talks of the border patrol and how unfair they are treating citizens of that country whether they are born there or not. Even worst is that the governments are involving more border patrols and I.N.S agents to dehumanize and detain immigrants and citizens of foreign countries.

“Immigration, like “street crime” and “welfare fraud” is a political euphemism that refers to people of color. Politicians and media people talk about “illegal aliens” to dehumanize and demonize undocumented immigrants, who are for the most part people of color.” 

It is true that crossing into America can be a dangerous trip and it’s the job of border patrols and agents of I.N.S to stop them, but they are becoming prejudiced and racist toward these individuals. All of the detaining, dehumanizing, demonizing are all people of color and if you’re “passing” then you can get away scotch free. It should be based on an individual’s character and not the color of their skin. Because of this, immigrants are finding new ways to pass through the border without having to subjected to such terror amongst the border patrols.

DeLeon:

“Despite the evidence that the border patrol is no match for catapults, car jacks, and other forms of human ingenuity, the United States can’t seem to shake the fixation that building more it will somehow solve many of our country’s economic and social problems.” 

The government is pouring funding into building walls and fences and the increasing of border patrols to stop immigrants from entering the country. Government officials believe that this will stop immigrants and will put an end to immigration. But they fail to realize that this isn’t the only problem inside of the United States or the government. There are other problems within our walls (corruption, bribery, homelessness, and high levels of violence). But because politicians and other government officials are so afraid of the United States being so overwhelmed with immigrants, it’s become an obsession to want to get them out. But when in fact it was immigrants who build our country. These are some of the facts that politicians and government officials fail to realize as they to try to continue to persist on telling immigrants they can’t come into our country. That the land of opportunity doesn’t apply to them as it once did a long time ago.

Question for Ulmer:

Would you think of electracy as a paradigm shift?

Ulmer states, “Socrates is a syncretic figure, partly oral, partly literate, the first person to experience Self.” I am a firm believer in Kuhn’s concept of paradigm shifts. Do you think that electracy is just another shift in our history? Instead of Socrates’ self-realization with the use of orality and literacy, now, with the aftermath of COVID-19 and the change of world order in the same sense that Socrates changed the course of thought with the Socratic method. Does the COVID-19 pandemic mark the turning point in history for electracy? “The quarantine serves as a collective existential epiphany.” Is the pandemic another awakening in history where we evolve through electracy?

Response for Silko:

Surveillance has evolved to a point where it enables discrimination. Slavery may have been abolished, but the stigma and image portrayed of the colored by the media and politicians is subjugation itself and a tactic that maintains the ongoing systematic and structural racism.

“Immigration,” like “street crime” and “welfare fraud,” is a political euphemism that refers to people of color. Politicians and media people talk about “illegal aliens” to dehumanize and demonize undocumented immigrants, who are, for the most part, people of color.”

Politicians and media created a stigma that we must spend billions on border control to keep these “bad people” out of America. At the same time, the government benefits economically w/ the implementation of surveillance and monetization of the border with the use of tolls. In a sense, it’s a system implemented to justify racism and discrimination.

Response for Jason De Leon:

“We’ll have a real fence. Twenty feet high with barbed wire. Electrfied with a sign on the other side that says, ‘It can kill you’… Then I get critizicized: ‘Mr. Cain, that’s insensitive.’  What do you mean insensitive? What’s insensitive is when [people] come to the United States across our border and kill our citizens and kill our Border Patrol people.”

Conservative agenda disseminates this image to the media of the “brown-skinned invaders.” This political strategy convinces the mass that by investing billions into border control, America’s economy and safety will be protected. I found the statement ironic when Mr. Cain said, “… kill our Border Patrol people.” Would there be border patrol to kill had there not been a border? Assuming that incidents like this were really happening, or was it a white lie to spread the conservative agenda? The above quote is significant because it shows how this stigma of “illegal aliens” demonizes “illegal aliens.” This political strategy is being applied to justify the billions of dollars invested into border patrol against the people who can only afford $26 in groceries. This shows us how much inequality and corruption lie in our government.

Ulmer Question: Do you see electracy being significantly instituted into early childhood education?

Why: Because technology is too integrated into our lives especially with kids growing up with it soon as they are born. With no drastic changes in elementary education, will we see electracy more involved.

Silko: “The great human migration within the Americas cannot be stopped; human beings are natural forces of the Earth, just as rivers and winds are natural forces.”

Everyone yearns for a better life and in doing so we move toward that goal. Be it education or place of living, we are all humans suffering together to achieve it. You as a human being wanting to have a higher education or a high paying job is natural, just as other human beings want to have better living conditions. So as a human who are we to stop others in the migration to America. With everyone’s moral on the line we should acknowledge this fundamental cross of all humans have the right to a safe and better living.       My parents immigrated from Yemen for the reason of a better living condition for their children. Who are we to stop others from doing the same when down the line of our ancestors we all have done this. This natural change to want better lives cannot be stopped and so we see this ‘great human migration’ is a natural existence.

Jason De León: “I think about their twenty-six dollars’ worth of groceries versus the billions of dollars spent annually on the boundary enforcement. We keep pouring American tax dollars into the boarder security industrial complex and migrants keep buying garlic and dark cloths. Both sides are confident in the efficacy of their tools and strategies.”

Using what you have in your disposal to achieve success in migrating with some groceries to forestall the effects of crossing the border with the notion of death banging with every step taken is confidence. Even though billions of dollars are against them in their goals, the intimidation will not be enough to cause doubt in their strategy of crossing. An impasse of escaping for a different living environment is an individual’s choice. Forgoing approaching death is an ability that not many have for a reason that is firmly believe is within their rights as human beings just as me and you. We all have an assortment of choices that we make in life but that doesn’t get rid of someone’s belief. Unknown to us, people do this while facing death with every step they take. It’s important to protect this belief of a better life which we all strive for.

1. Remember to read the first section of Ulmer’s piece that he shared with us on Electracy. If you were not in class, it can be found here.  Make sure you print it out and bring it to class. Make sure to make your annotations.
2. We also pushed the Nolan, et. al. article on “Sousveillance” to next week, so take some time to review that for class.

BP 8

1. From the first section of Ulmer’s piece, write a question to ask Greg Ulmer when he meets with us in December. Tell us what your question is and why you are asking it. Be prepared to share.
2. Write a response to Silko’s essay. Pick something to focus on and let us know your thoughts. A paragraph will suffice.
3. Jason deLeon writes “At the end of the day, the billions of dollars spent annually on security technology camouflage, the dirty little secret is that compared to fences, motion sensors, drones, and infrared cameras, the best and most lethal weapon the Border Patrol has is nature” (158). Find another quote from deLeon in this chapter. Quote it and then unpack it for us. Make sure to explain its power and significance. The quote and a paragraph should be enough.

This picture connects to the article because i think of the whole world as an panopticon, where there the world is divided into two groups the watchers and the watched. As to in my picture you can see clearly that I am the watcher and the person in the picture is the watched “surveillance in this sense is subject to an economy that consistently seeks to rationalize relationships among people and things to better manner the future “and agree with this quote because people do seem to do thing better when them being watched

Reading Zuroff piece i got the idea that nothing is as it seems to be, and that we only have half the picture and not the whole picture. “The headline story is that it’s not so much about the nature of digital technology as bout a new mutant form of capitalism that had found a way to use tech for its purpose the name Zuroff has given the news variety is surveillance that billions of people cheerfully use ennobling the providers of those servicers to monitor the behavior of those users, in ast0nshing detail without their explicit consent”,

Ulmer.Electracy_final

Khaled Presentation

Panopticon

Images

https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/theory/newhistoricism/modules/foucaultcarceral.html

Images/Sousveillance

Begin The Great Hack

This photo shows two discreet cameras on a building on the corner of Myrtle avenue in Brooklyn. As I was waiting for the bus, I barely noticed the cameras were there because it blended in with the building, both the cameras and the paint color black, looking closely I noticed there were many of them around the perimeter. This can be connected to “Sousveillance: Wearable and Digital Tools in Surveilled Environments,” by Jason Nolan et al,  in the book it talked about the watched becoming the watcher, or in other words how in society we are under constant surveillance and in resistance we utilize our phones or recording devices to then become the ones to surveil our environment. According to the book it states, “The collection of data in public places, with the camera as the dominant form of data input device, is coupled with the integration of surveillance with statistical monitoring and security applications. The passive gathering of intelligence represents a challenge to privacy in public places that has been largely accepted.” This explains that intentionally the camera is set up for security and protection but at the same time we sacrifice our privacy and information. The careful placement of the cameras are important when trying to catch someone in a criminal act however, those who are not committing crimes and are living their everyday lives are subjects to observation from someone who they may never know or ever be in contact with. This idea of being watched has become the norm without most people questioning how they are affected by this type of surveillance.

This photo can also be connected to the article “‘The goal is to automate  us’: welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism,” by John Naughton/Shoshana Zuboff. In the article, it talked about how Google and Facebook use algorithms as a form of surveillance to collect personal information and data to analyze for service improvements and behavioral study. This information can then be used and traded off as a way to manipulate society. This connects to my photo because this idea that someone/people are behind the camera always watching means that too can be used to study our behaviors, and that by simply stepping outside your front doors your privacy is being challenged. According to the article, it says “The combination of state surveillance and its capitalist counterpart means that digital technology is separating the citizens in all societies into two groups: the watchers (invisible, unknown and unaccountable) and the watched. This has profound consequences for democracy because asymmetry of knowledge translate into asymmetries of power.” It explains that with the acceptance of ubiquitous surveillance we relinquish our own power because we do not know who is watching, but that who is watching knows us. Therefore, through that knowledge they will remain powerful above those being watched.

Aftermath of Video

After my exploratory project, I decided to focus on video because it was something that I personally use everyday. I hope everyone gains some insight to video as I did.

DB #7

“Top Picks for Naila”

Have you ever logged onto someone else’s Netflix profile and found options you would have never seen on your average Netflix profile? You’ve become so used to the automated possibilities that it becomes odd to see someone else’s “personal” algorithm displayed to you. This is a form of entertainment surveillance that has directed our society to automation.

I chose to take a picture of my smart TV with Netflix displayed to present the idea of entertainment and capitalistic surveillance. Surveillance capitalism provides services to billions of people where the providers of those services can monitor the behavior of the users. Behavioral data is monitored on many platforms, most commonly on Facebook and Google, but even our streaming sources, such as Netflix, contain algorithms to categorize and divide individuals into a box. Netflix’s interface has a built-in algorithm that personalizes shows and movie recommendations by predicting how much a user would like the show or movie. Surveillance became the business model of the internet and mass entertainment. In John Naughton’s article about Zuboff’s new book on the surveillance business model, he states, “Paradoxically, this coup is celebrated as “personalization,” although it defiles, ignores, overrides, and displaces everything about you and me that is personal.” Essentially, Netflix replaces the personal aspect of “you” with automation and digitalization. You are becoming a part of automation as Netflix puts you into the category they think you belong to.

Greg Elmer talks about panoptic surveillance, which makes exercising power and control more efficient through a subtle form of coercion. Foucault uses Bentham’s surveillance theory to present the concept of “a subtle form of coercion, a routinized political and economic subservience that produces docile subjects.” Netflix users are a part of the economic subservience as they subconsciously exercise the willingness to follow automation unquestionably. When Netflix uses the personal data of the media you are watching, they thrive economically with the help of us, the “watched.” Rather than having coercion through fear-mongering, such as George Orwell’s 1984 concept of “Big Brother is watching you,” who was a character that represented surveillance and control in a totalitarian government, Netflix achieves a more effective form of social control through modulation. It accomplishes the docility of individuals and all other elements that make up the system of a subtle, disciplinary political society.

Using your data and information found on their platform, Netflix has personalized a profile of selections for you to watch and excludes other options if it doesn’t fit their own narrative for you. The data you provide benefits them economically, and society becomes segregated into two groups: “the watcher and the watched.”

The picture is a speeding camera that takes users information and sends it into an information system. The picture is connected to the article because as Greg Elmer explains we live in a prison society that surveils using its power of tech to form information on the individual or groups. Society already has a hub of everyone’s information. This system of control that Elmer talks about is rapidly expanding using surveillance.

We see how fast this design is implemented by looking at our everyday lives. When we drive our cars not only are we followed by the lens but if any mistakes are made, we become aware through a flash of light. In this care the speeding camera analysis the picture of your car and sends a ticket to your home immediately. With this information management of our lives, it’s easy for us to see the power that encompasses us. We are forced to fight through this understanding of being watched and makes us change. For better or worse, our lives shouldn’t be changing because of surveillance.

This picture shows a camera facing the cashier and customers in an attempt to pivot thoughts of theft from both. The picture is connected to Naughton’s article on Zuboff’s 10 key questions because surveillance capitalism is now being used as a norm and it’s a commodity to work for an employer with no supervision or some type of surveillance. The inevitability that surveillance will increase in our lifetime and by one point be an integral part of everything we do is clear.

Behaviors is a big part in this article because its helping surveillance in a new territory to prevent or see the buildup for crime. Like a store camera making sure cashiers do the right thing every day, we see more cameras being placed in our neighborhoods. A controlled store can be viewed as our society in a larger scale, we are the cashiers now. Just by walking home we are being watched by a concealed system. How do we fight this system that we now know about?

New York Police Departments have implemented body cameras to the uniform to surveil not only the assailants but themselves. This article is not only connected to the picture but is a great importance to the well-being of society. Policing themselves before others is the foundation we should strive for. When people are put into a higher position, especially if lives are at risk, we must have forms of surveillance to protect the people against potential evildoers in authority. We have seen the many fall outs in New York and now the present surveillance of the authorities to take away the power of concealment.

We have three readings about surveillance this coming week.

Elmer, Zuboff, and Nolan, et. al. (et. al. is Latin for “and others.”)

Pick two of the three pieces and do the following: (extra credit if you do all three pieces)

Go out and about in your world and take a picture of something. The picture you take should in someway fit with the article that you are posting about. This needs to be an original photo that you yourself take. Insert your picture into the blog (similar to uploading a paper) and then explain how and why this photo is connected to the article you read. Make sure to discuss important parts from both the article and the photo to make the connection clear to your readers. One or two paragraphs for each should be sufficient. Make sure, as always, to check your writing for clarity and correctness.

Title your Blog Post, BP 7.

The Vital 

“Another experiment, conducted by Pascual-Leone when he was a researcher at the National Institutes of Health, provides even more remarkable evidence of the way our patterns of thought affect the anatomy of our brains. Pascual-Leone recruited people who had no experience playing a piano, and he taught them how to play a simple melody consisting of a short series of notes. He then split the participants into two groups. He had the members of one group practice the melody on a keyboard for two hours a day over the next five days. He had the members of the other group sit in front of a keyboard for the same amount of time but only imagine playing the song— without ever touching the keys. Using a technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, Pascual-Leone mapped the brain activity of all the participants before, during, and after the test. He found that the people who had only imagined playing the notes exhibited precisely the same changes in their brains as those who had actually pressed the keys.31 Their brains had changed in response to actions that took place purely in their imagination—in response, that is, to their thoughts. Descartes may have been wrong about dualism, but he appears to have been correct in believing that our thoughts can exert a physical influence on, or at least cause a physical reaction in, our brains. We become, neurologically, what we think”.( The vital, Carr, p.34)

Literally: The author has given us an example of a study experiment that took place at the National Institutes of Health. The finding of the study is that we become neurologically what we think. So, the researcher at the National Institutes of Health recruited two groups of people who had no experience playing the piano. He trained one group to rehearse piano for five days, and the second group only imagined playing the piano. After the experiment, he mapped the activity of all the participants before, during, and after the test. He found all participants showed the same changes in their brains, even the participants who only visualized playing the piano. 

Intellectually: Intellectually saying that we can train our brains by the way we think. The assumption of the brain being unmalleable is inaccurate. Our brain is constantly changing. It can be changed by our thoughts, experiences, imagination, and observations. 

Emotionally: It is important to think positively to instruct our brains to show the best version of ourselves. Our brain doesn’t stop growing after adolescence. It grows through our thinking, knowledge, and imagination. Additionally, this article influenced me personally because I have recently begun reading a book called the secret which expresses the message of manifesting through our imagination. I suppose this article has proven the messages the author of the secret is attempting to send out. 

Connect:

“We are the manifestation of our thinking patterns, and we think in terms of terms. Words dinner or later we must realize that we are liable for what and how we think and say and thus must alter (altar) our use of language. Sentence structures predate pyramids and are as complex.realize, even in asking me to describe the future of language, I am simply playing my part in determining it by helping those who read this to become more aware of the importance of what they say and that (this) is how the future comes about.” (Williams,p.25). 

William speaks of languages and their importance throughout the article, then at the end of the article he highlighted, we are the manifestation of our thinking pattern. I believe Williams’ concept is similar to the analysis of the experiment Carr discussed in his article. Both quotes have similar messages. The key concept of those two quotes is that we manifest our previous thoughts into our present reality. Therefore, we must be aware of our thought patterns. I think this is a noble concept. It will allow people to think more positively and aim for adequate expansions for their future. 

Ulmers

Literally, Ulmer discusses the invention of alphabetic writing and its engagement in the civilizational shift from one apparatus to another. For instance, from orality to literacy. He also mentioned the Greeks and its invention. The Greeks not only invented the alphabetic but also a new institution within the practices of writing. Along with the shift of literacy, Ulmers also argues the shift of ideology. 

Intellectually Ulmers addresses that we are currently experiencing a second civilizational shift; from literacy to electracy. Electracy basically took what best worked from orality and literacy and synthesized them to electracy. 

Emotionally, Ulmer’s article was extremely difficult to comprehend. However, I was able to acquire a few key messages from this article, so basically, literacy is an “apparatus or social machine” 

Connect: “On the other hand and in the long run, television may bring a gradual end to the careers of schoolteachers, since the school was an invention of the printing press and must stand or fall on the issue of how much importance the printed word has”. (Postman p.7) 

This connects to what Ulmer has conveyed throughout the article. Electracy basically is the digital media what literacy is print. It encompasses the broader cultural, institutional, pedagogical, and ideological significance in one. The quote from the Postman basically tries to send out the same message saying the invention of technology is bringing a gradual end to the careers of school teachers. This is heartbreaking and I believe it is occurring due to the invention of electracy. People around the world are using electracy to obtain educational knowledge.

Carr

Literally, Carr discusses the evolution of the understanding of the brain. He touches upon research through the ages and how the sentiment of what the brain is and how it is constructed has changed. In the early years of brain research, scientists believed that the brain was a fixed “machine” that matured during childhood and stayed that way through the course of our lives. Later, after much more detailed research and experimentation, scientists realized that the brain was, in fact, a dynamic, malleable network of synapses that was always adapting to its surroundings by way of neural plasticity.

Intellectually, this chapter dissects the understanding of what we know as the brain. It makes us think about the thing that thinks for us. Even as I write this using my fingers to type on my keyboard, the neural processes that are occurring are happening over networks of brain cells that have forged pathways over my lifetime. Carr does an excellent job referencing various works to navigate the changing perception of the brain and how it works, allowing us to think about the brain in a physical sense, as well as a spiritual one. The adaptation abilities of the human brain are remarkable, and as much as we may know about the brain now, there is so much more to discover.

Emotionally, this chapter made me feel reflective. It made me think of my own brain and how it is a representation of all my life experiences. Things that have happened to me during my life have made a physical impression of the construction of my brain, and these same experiences have molded my personality and the way I express myself today. A sense of wonderment and awe come over me as I think of how miraculous the human brain truly is. Hundreds of billions of cells interconnected in ways I could never fully comprehend working at the speed of light to make up this person that I call “me.”

To connect, I refer to Hairston’s interpretation of Shaughnessy’s thinking. “Shaughnessy’s insight is utterly simple and vitally important: we cannot teach students to write by looking only at what they have written. We must also understand how that product came into being, and why it assumed the form that it did. We have to try to understand what goes on during the internal act of writing and we have to intervene during the act of writing if we want to affect its outcome.” From a neurological standpoint, the how and the why are just as important as the physical act of writing. There are many thought processes that can be considered when thinking of how we write something, and why we choose to write something. It takes literal brain power to process these thoughts. Then, to actually pick up a pen and put it to paper is a completely different neural process that produces actionable results, i.e., physically writing a paragraph.

Ulmer

Literally, Ulmer discusses the idea of “teletheory,” which he describes as how academic discourse and the use of speaking, writing, and performing are connected using technology. He also touches upon how electronic technologies affect cognition amongst its users. He refers to Goody’s statements about the difference between oral communications and the emergence of written literacy. He ties the sentiments together by saying that “video can do the work of literacy, but no better than literacy can do the work of speech.”   He states that the uses of technology are as important to academic discourse as the institutional practices that use the technology themselves.

Intellectually, this makes me think of the progression of how we as human beings have expressed ourselves. From oral tradition passed down from generation to generation, to literacy becoming a staple of western education, to electracy in the forms of TV and film, the evolution is clear. The use of cinema in education has contributed to a new form of comprehension and cognitive learning. It is important, for the sake of academic discourse, that it continues to evolve as technology does.

Emotionally, it was a bit frustrating to read this introduction because it was a bit dense and difficult to follow along with at certain points. But, this feeling helped demonstrate the importance of “teletheory” and how using new technologies as a medium can enhance the effectiveness of understanding. Even the concept of what a classroom is or how class can be held. For example, when we met for class via Zoom a few weeks ago, we used technology as a medium to be connected and receive instruction. It makes me feel hopeful to think that if academic practices can continue to adapt with growing and changing technology, academic discourse will continue to strive forward.

To connect, I can’t help but refer to the reading by Carr for this week. Ulmer mentions how the use of technology affects mental cognition. To quote Carr, “… I began to worry that my use of the Internet might be changing the way my brain was processing information. I resisted the idea at first. It seemed ludicrous to think that fiddling with a computer, a mere tool, could alter in any deep or lasting way what was going on inside my head. But I was wrong. As neuroscientists have discovered, the brain—and the mind to which it gives rise—is forever a work in progress. That’s true not just for each of us as individuals. It’s true for all of us as a species.”  Our minds are forever changing, constantly adapting to the input data it receives. Ulmer discusses how the use of technology changes cognition, while Carr breaks down the processes by which this change happens. The use of the Internet, which is an animal of a medium in itself, has changed the we people think, literally and figuratively.

Nicholas Carr –  “…the brain might in fact be in a constant state of flux, adapting to whatever task it’s called on to perform. “There is evidence that the cells of our brains literally develop and grow bigger with use, and atrophy or waste away with disuse.’…’It may be therefore that every action leaves some permanent print upon the nervous tissue.”

Logically | Our brains can physically change based on our experiences and what we do on a daily routine. There were many at the beginning who thought that our brains grow to a certain point during our childhood and stop. But later found that we have an ever-growing brain that continues to change and grow in physical size and brain maps through our experiences. Physically and mentally speaking of course.

Intellectually |  Our brain can be influenced both good and bad. If we do an activity that makes us expand our brain in a way to absorb information, our brain becomes good in that aspect, but becomes weak when we are not using our brain for good or use a certain part of our brain rarely. Influencing us to at least try to use our brains in every aspect we can on a daily to positively influence our brains.

Emotionally |  Although our brain is every changing, we should always try to thrive for a positive and different routine. We need to also distract our brains from the bad to create good growth and good, strong brain maps. We should learn a good healthy dose of good and bad habits to flex our brains in different aspects. We need to be able to challenge and also help our brain’s plasticity and allow different parts of our brains to be used every other day. Maybe even on a daily basis.

Connection |  “…but also to account for the possibility that cognitive itself might be changing in a civilization switching to electronics.” In Ulmer’s “Teletheory”, he speaks on the way that our way of thinking changes because of the influence of technology. The way that connected to Carr, in my opinion, shows that technology is in fact something that can either be a good influence or a bad one. Changing the way we think, now that we know thanks to Carr, can change the size and brain maps that are in our brain. And shows how easily influenced our way of thinking, in other ways the way our brain works, can change because of the use of technology.

George L. Ulmer – “If I say that what I desire is a tape rather than a book, will that change my experience of making a text? No, because the desire, the love of knowledge that drives academic discourse, is not medium specific.”

Logically | Our way of learning is changing because of the introduction of new technology.  ‘Teletheory’, the term used a lot during the reading to express the new way of academic discourse of speaking, writing, and performing. But we also need to know that video is a key component of understanding and learning the way that literacy cannot. Both video and literacy need to be taught to everyone. it should be taught because of the way that video has single handedly changed our cognitive way of thinking and learning.

Intellectually | Using video as a way to teach is something that is fairly new still and needs to be looked into from different angles to understand it. Through this new knowledge we look into, we then see the importance of having both literacy and video on an academic level. The older generations, us and beyond, need to be able to understand video and teach it to the younger generations, let’s say elementary grade level, to develop our understanding of this unfamiliar way of teaching in a faster pace.

Emotionally | Video, television, and other mediums of the same level is a great way of academic learning. We need to learn more ways we can use these new technologies to help learn and positively influence our cognitive usage. Using video and literacy allows us to expand our knowledge on any and everything. This new ‘teletheory’ is the new way of academic learning and it’s a good way. But we need to pounce on the good before the bad becomes dominate.

Connection | Rath mentioned in “Hearing American History”,  “knowledge is distributed rather than centralized in the new media. But the distribution of knowledge across a human network was precisely the flaw that print and literacy corrected through the centralizing of knowledge in authoritative editions” While reading Ulmer’s piece I was drawn into the importance of sound to learn history. That reminded me of video because even if video does not include sound, the visuals can teach through a hands on demonstration. And even if we are confused of a video without sound, it encourages our cognitive to ask questions and seek answers to those questions.

“The ‘tele’ is there to indicate that my concern is with how our discourse might be affected by electronic technology, not only in the sense that it might be important to learn how to use video for educational purposes, but also to account for the possibility that cognition itself might be changing in a civilization switching to electronics.” – Ulmer 

Literally: This means that with the use of advanced technology in a society, it may impact people in different ways. It can impact what we talk about, how we talk about it, and what is important to us etc. This can also change our way of thinking as we continue to rely on technology to understand the world. The integration of technology is concerning in that with the continued use, we neglect other ways of acquiring information. The effects of this can be seen as technology can be found in every institution and the homes of many people, furthering its influence.. 

Intellectually: The integration of technology within our society leaves us in a place of reliance and disregard for previously learned skills. This can be concerning as technology influences how we interact with one another, how we think, and problem solve. It then becomes more of an extension of us then separate tools used to achieve things, learn, and navigate the world. For example, though computers and videos are used within classrooms to educate effectively, young children who are still developing cognitively, can depend on their abilities alongside the use of technology instead of self confidence on learned skills and memory.

Emotionally: Technology does influence how we live our lives; it influences us through constant exposure, which can be either good or bad. The good thing would be that we can utilize it to complete tasks, learn new things and work efficiently. The bad would be that we forget to retain information in traditional ways, considering that information can be retrieved quickly, and it can be used as tools to further agendas etc. I find myself being completely reliant on my Smartphone to remind me of things and to have an active day. Technology has become so ingrained in my  day to day that I can experience not being able to “operate” without my technological devices. This can be said for many people, as it has become extremely important in maintaining a functional society. 

Connect: This can relate to a quote in the book “How Computers Change the Way We Think,” by Sherry Turkle. She says “In the 20 years since, computational objects have become more explicitly designed to have emotional and cognitive effects. And those ‘effects by design’ will become even stronger in the decade to come. Machines are being designed to serve explicitly as companions, pets, and tutors. And they are introduced in school settings for the youngest children.” This connects to Ulmer, as both quotes have a sense of concern for the direction that society has taken with the use of technology.  It is affecting us from childhood to adulthood as we find navigating the world to be difficult without it. It guides us, deepening the dependence we have with technology.

“Our brains are constantly changing in response to our experiences and our behavior, reworking their circuitry with ‘each sensory input, motor act, association, reward signal, action plan, or [shift of] awareness.’”- Nicholas Carr

Literally: This means that with every new experience our brain undergoes a rewiring that reflects the effects of that event. The type of experience, whether big or small, can still evoke a change in our brain’s circuitry, creating a “pathway” for when we encounter another event that is similar or exact. These pathways help in retaining the information we learned from that experience and that happens through stimulation.  Our brains then change based on our senses; what we see, feel, hear and our overall awareness, while going through the event, allowing us to gain certain knowledge and skills. The change happens within a short time as were converting the event into something we can use and understand. 

Intellectually: The alteration our brains go through, is to support us in acquiring life skills. When placed under certain circumstances our brain adapts by changing to understand what is happening and allowing our bodies to conform to this new experience. The simplest experience can trigger a response in our brains, where we learn new things with every event that occurs in our lives. With practice or continued exposure, our brain’s level of plasticity allows for information to be processed and saved in the pathways created, whether the event was traumatic or not. This supports the fact that our brains are malleable even when we are adults, considering that our brain exhibits a need for input changes on a cellular level.

Emotionally: I believe the changes our brain makes is just a way to accommodate the highs and lows of life. If our brains did not create new pathways for these experiences, then our experiences would be meaningless. We would end up unprepared and it would be considered a brand new experience we cannot learn from it. Even in adulthood we are always learning whether in academia or just living day to day, so it explains the major changes our brains make in response to the simplest experiences. It is important in ensuring our survival and a way of guidance considering our brains “make space” for  information to be registered. 

Connect: This can relate to a quote in the book “Teletheory,” by Gregory L. Ulmer, “Similarly television is the institutionalization of video in our civilization, which does not mean that the technology is limited to the purposes of entertainment or information. School has experienced previously some profound changes in adapting  to changes in technology ….” This connects to Carr because it describes the adaptation of technology/video within a society and how the medium/ television can be seen as an institution for that specific content. The idea that television can be seen as an institution says that we are constantly learning from the content we consume, which alters how we think. For example it can be a tool used to further nefarious agenda,  and as our brains create new pathways for new information, we are susceptible to many internal changes from watching television.

Nicholas Carr

Literally

With the discovery of neural plasticity, we can now understand how the brain evolves and repurposes neural pathways and gray matter in the brain’s most utilized areas. Like Kuhn’s concept of the Paradigm Shift, neurologists believed that the brain reached its final form in adulthood and was set in stone from then on. However, some neurologists opposed this idea which led to the discovery of neural plasticity, the brain’s ability to change throughout life through the influences of experience. This shift in scientific history allowed scientists to understand how the brain is malleable. For example, when researchers studied the London cab drivers, they found redistribution of gray matter to the hippocampus, an area of the brain dealing with spatial representations. The brain is flexible and reprograms itself based on routine behaviors.

Intellectually

New experiences can rewire our neural pathways in the same way that technology has the power to impact our writing form. The brain itself is a working mechanism that can be considered technology. The brain is not a fixed mechanism but plastic— constantly changing. The brain’s ability to repurpose and reprogram itself by altering its function is a phenomenon, but what happens when neuroplasticity keeps us locked up into routine behaviors that “we long to keep activated?” Long-lasting alterations are imposed onto the brain when particular neurotransmitters are stimulated, forming addictive behaviors like dopamine addictions to even the constant need to scroll through social media for hours a day. “The vital paths turn deadly.” When I thought about the way that the brain can have the power to rewire and strengthen neural pathways, it also can digress. With the rise of technology, we are becoming one with the digital. Our brain becomes accustomed to the use of technology. The brain, an information-processing machine, meets the computer, another information-processing device, and we become habituated to the use of technology. Digital technology may evolve our brains and how we process information changes as the use of technology becomes muscle memory.

Emotionally

I think one could tell how much I enjoyed this piece of writing from all of my annotations and highlighting. I was already familiar with neural plasticity, but this reading helped me get a more defined framework of neural plasticity and presented how closely it relates to digital technology. One thing I found stimulating and kept running in circles in my mind is how similar technology and the brain works. Do they complement each other, or are they equivalent to each other? For example, in the research where monkeys were taught how to use simple tools, researchers found that the brain had recognized the tools as a part of their physical bodies. The thought of technology becoming human nature is a concept that’s always been played with in science fiction. Though, Now, it’s becoming a new reality. The paradox of neural plasticity works against human nature as we become more settled into routine behaviors.

Connect

Descartes believed, “Our thoughts can exert a physical influence on, or at least cause a physical reaction in, our brains. So we become, neurologically, what we think.” Saul William’s immediately popped into my head when I read this quote. He speaks about the power of vibration and “how language usage is a reflection of the consciousness.” The vibration of language has the ability to manifestation in the same way that we can physically alter the way our brain works with what we think. The same thought expressed through learned language can frame neural pathways in our brains. We are what we think.

George Ulmer

Literally:

George Ulmer searches for a genre in which academic discourse could function with the use of different mediums such as voice, print, and video. He uses the term “teletheory” to explain his idea of speaking, writing, and performing as a form of academic discourse. While we might not entirely know how technology will affect academic discourse, we should understand that it is essential to consider how cognition may change with technology. For example, “People will not stop using print any more than they stopped talking when they became literate. But they will use it differently— within the frame of electronics.” Technology is simply an addition of another medium in academic discourse that we can benefit from.

Intellectually:

The future of academic discourse should adapt as technology evolves. For example, we have orality, literacy, and now electracy, which can all be used interchangeably to enhance academic discourse. Ulmer believes that using electronic mediums can serve as an intended consequence to better the pedagogy of educational institutions. Adding visual mediums to academic discourse can help as an apparatus to change cognition and allow us to understand complex language.

Emotionally:

It is common to see that the academic world expects us to write word document essays for our assignments. However, Ulmer believes that the conventional academic writing discourse will be altered by teletheory. I agree with Ulmer’s ideas because I have experienced the same patterns of academic writing discourse as a student. I didn’t quite understand that there were different mediums in which academics could be utilized until taking this class. For example, in The Exploratory Project, When we were given the opportunity to use other forms of media instead of the typical word document to display our work, it gave me a whole new element to work with. I would say that it positively affected my work as I used technology to enhance my understanding of the technology’s rhetorical function and display it in an organized fashion that was easy for the audience to read while implementing visuals to compliment my writing.

Connect:

Though Ulmer already mentions McLuhan in the reading, I would like to connect this reading to McLuhan’s “The Medium is the Message”. Ulmer expresses how technology will alter how academic discourse will function. There are some similarities between the two authors because they both mention technology’s unintended and intended consequences in some form or another. Ulmer believes that tape recordings and videos should be incorporated into academic discourse as they can express a complex language in a way writing can not. The use of recordings and videos is a form of medium that changes the way we use language. McLuhan says, “The Medium is the Message.” Therefore, we can use these mediums to change how the academic world functions. Through different mediums, we can use orality, literacy, and electracy together in a way that has never been used before—a new age of language and technology.

Nicholas Carr: “Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live-and, as Nietzsche sensed, through the tools we use.” 

Literally 

The way we think, and act is in relation to our brain. According to Carr, experiments in brains with animals and humans tell us that we are subject to adapting. The world thought we were only able to develop the cells in our brain during childhood but that was disproved. Experiences can influence our foundation of cells and cause a change in our mental state. As we pick up technology those tools have a lasting effect on our brain.  

Intellectually 

The control of our bodies is influenced by our brain. As technology advances, we see a shift in our brains influence. Being around technology is like being around a microwave. Waiting for the rot to take hold in our minds and cause us to go back to the basics and learn again. Since we understand that the brain can adapt to recent changes, we should surround ourselves in a good environment to nurture it. 

Emotionally 

Time is limited in this world, and we have experienced a growth in our development throughout the years. If we continue to move forward without adequate knowledge to surround ourselves with the appropriate and necessary environment, we place ourselves in an endless loop to recuperate that knowledge we once had and move forward over and over. This all starts in the brain, and we must struggle with ourselves to build a needed structure. In short, we should protect ourselves from the wrong tools so we can be untroubled. 

Connect 

Marshall McLuhan explains the notion of technology being an extension to control us. McLuhan reveals our change, “The restructuring of human work and association was shaped by the technique of fragmentation that is the essence of machine technology.” Our brain is affected by the tools we use. Being cocooned around technology reveals a state of decay to our brain. Only with the constant influence of literature can we hope to fight back against these machines. 

Sherry Turkle: “But it is true that our tools carry the message that they are beyond our understanding. It is possible that in daily life, epistemic opacity can lead to passivity.” 

Literally 

The advancement of computers has evolved into a technology that we do not understand the meaning behind them. Without fully grasping the power that these technologies hold will lead to a mindless existence. We use a computer, but we do not know how it works. The harsh reality is thinking that we know everything is a flaw in our everyday lives.  

Intellectually 

We need to ask questions to better understand how integral computers are in our lives and keep questioning these subtle changes that people ask for but do not know the consequences. Without the barriers in our minds the knowledge we hold will start to seep out like honey. The first step to protecting ourselves from this oppressive life is to notice the effect these tools are used.  

Emotionally 

I feel a bit of clarity in knowing the hidden power of things around us that we do not give a second thought about. The disconnect in our minds is becoming clearer as we dig deeper into understanding the message beyond these tools. Technology is a crutch for our minds that attaches to us through our emotions. It does get scary when you think about these tools feeding on your emotions to keep you in place. Fear is just another motivator being used against you in your head. With more technologies being used you have a greater fight to protect yourself.  

Connect 

In Winner’s piece explains, “The issue has to do with ways in which choices about technology have important consequences for the form and quality of human associations.” Acknowledging that tools control us is the first step to guide us so that we can harness technology instead of being consumed by it. Our daily life is leading us to be complacent when using technology, it is affecting us in a negative way. The standards we once had require less, which leads to adults with less frame to the reality of technology. Building a new culture so the use of technology is safer, and it does not morph our minds. We should be astute to the information technology brings with every advancement, so we do not fall into a knowledge pit of consequences. 

Gregory Ulmer: “The point is not to harness video to writing, the way writing was harnessed to voice at the beginnings of the era of logocentrism, but to intervene in the apparatus of literacy on behalf of video.” 

Literally 

Video should not be taken control using words, just as words were used to express culture without artifacts. The method video is made using form and style, is the framework that tells us something more. Science and knowledge that comes from video needs to be explored in our society. We need to be taught video-based literacy that uses pictures and images.  

Intellectually 

We should not take video for granted and intervene with the wrong methods to impose on it. The presence of the video is somewhat new when we think about how old the human language is. As a reader we must take a different approach to video because this is an unfamiliar territory. If we start informing the masses through early education of the theory behind video, we can see a faster development for it.  

Emotionally 

Video takes shape and forms a transparent interaction that is an engaging force to help us. We would be blind not to see video literacy in an educational form that should be taught. The sensation of not feeling full comes to mind when thinking about this. With a transparent picture of the surroundings, we would be aware of this discourse. The influence video has today can be developed into something more if we take the time to intervene. 

Connect 

Video can alter our minds by creating a false impression of reality. According to Postman, “We need to know in what ways it is altering our conception of learning, and how, in conjunction with television, it undermines the old idea of school.” To get ahead of this problem we can focus on what Ulmer insists should happen. Teaching literacy on video to the masses. The changes we see in ourselves from constantly looking at moving pictures of false reality are detrimental to our health. A new practice of literacy should be born from the new age of video. 

We have three articles to read for Tuesday. Here’s your prompt:

Read all three pieces. Respond to the Ulmer piece. And then pick either Carr or Turkle to respond to. (Extra credit for responding to all three.)

Respond

Literally

Intellectually

Emotionally

Connect (Connect it to another reading from the class. The choice is up to you.)

Please make sure to space out the responses and bold each section so that it’s easier to read.

Sound, language, and technology share a common connection. Each has its unique way of conveying and emitting certain messages. Throughout the post, I will define the ways they are connected.  

According to the article, “The souls of Black folk”, sound and music were used during the period of slavery to send out messages of injustice and racism. In the article, the author stated, “They are the music of an unhappy people, of the children of disappointment; they tell of death and suffering and unvoiced longing towards a truer world, of misty wanderings and hidden ways”. (p.256). This reveals that sorrowful songs sent out messages of injustice the black folks were experiencing, which is associated with language. The black folks used language and technology to send out the message of their suffering. 

The usage of technology allows us to send out messages, and share our talents with the world. Similarly, we use technology to stimulate particular music and its importance in the musical industry. For example, Thomas expressed in his article “Histories of modernism have long recognized the importance of technology as inspiration to the artists who are credited with creating the new culture. But these histories have too seldom engaged with technology as intensely as did those artists”. So, Thomas conveys the message that technology has its importance in music. Many artists have engaged with technology to create their tunes greatly. Therefore, sound, language, and technology are all connected. It is impossible to create new music and emit a message without the usage of technology and language. A song wouldn’t be a song with lyrics. There would be no message or meaning behind it without language usage. We can also publicize the message with the assistance of technology. 

 Language is another significant factor connected to sounds, music, and technology. Throughout the article The Future of Language, Williams conveys we embody our previous sayings and words into our reality. And it can happen with the subsidy of sound and lyrics which are words. “Language usage reflects consciousness, thus, the future of language is co-related to the ever-evolving state of human awareness. As we become more aware of our existing reality it becomes clear that we live with the power to dictate our given situations and thus the power to determine our future. Our present reality is dictated by what we asked for previously”. “If Biggie’s album had not been entitled Ready to Die would he still be alive today? Did his vocalized profession dictate his destination?”. Williams fundamentally says throughout the article that we manifest our reality with the languages we use regularly, for example, we can manifest our future reality with music and lyrics we constantly intake. Therefore, It is crucial to be mindful of the language we use daily and the music we are embracing. I also acknowledge that music and language are connected to technology. For example, various styles of the genre are being produced with the assistance of technology and also being published through technological media.

1. Pick up where we left of with Winner and share out what was posted.
2. Groups: Two jobs
   1. discuss what you found with the relationship with sound, language, and technology. Sharing your findings, report out what you discovered through writing and sharing.
   2. Come up with a question for the class.
3. Break
4. Rumble

Sound, technology, and language; the three very important factors that allow education and cultures to be shared and taught throughout multiple societies. Sound allows us to hear music and speech and understand what they mean through their tunes, what the original author/maker intended for their piece to be taken in by. Where language is the understanding of speech and music as well, but mainly through tone and as well as speech. Changing the intention through emotion.  Technology is something that is used to share and enhance others on the information that we know and that others may not know.

Sound is a type of thing to help us understand how we can physically communicate when language and technology is not at our disposal. It allows us to understand how others expressed emotions and information through sound. An example being in W.E.D. Du Bois’ reading ‘Sorrow Songs’ and the ‘…rhythmic cry of the slave…’ The importance that the sounds of American slaves had telling the story of the filthy America they learned to know and live. “Little of beauty has America given the world save the rude grandeur God himself stamped on her bosom; the human spirit in this new world has expressed itself in vigor and ingenuity rather than in beauty.” Our history books may speak of the uglies of slavery but through these ‘sorrow songs’, we were able to hear the terrors that really were held in through the American slavery time period.

Technology is the part of our ability to store both language and sound to teach each other history and the possibilities our futures hold. As said in Emily Thompson’s passage ‘Sound, Modernity, and History’, “…the experience we described as ‘modernity’-an experience of profound temporal and spatial displacements, of often accelerated and diversified shocks, of new modes of society and of experience-has been shaped decisively by the technological media.” Thompson expresses the importance of having these sounds and languages being able to be heard in different ways for all people to understand history and learn from the past. Being able to store these things allow us to have an easy access to knowledge that other wise would have been hard to get a hold of.

Language, is the thing that connects us all no matter the society. The power of language is essentially the power of voice, the ability to express ourselves in a way that makes it easier for one to understand the meaning. It’s the thing that allows us to evolve our ability to be aware of what is right and what is wrong in our history and what is good and wrong for our future. As said in Saul Williams’ passage ‘The Future of Language’, he states “language usage is reflection of consciousness. thus, the future of language is connected to the ever-evolving state of human awareness. as we become more aware of out existing reality it becomes clearer that we live with the power to dictate our given situations and thus the power to determine our future.” This statement shows the importance that language holds. The future and the way that we share history is within the tool that is language. We learn what’s right and what’s wrong through our ability to voice our own language to one another.

The relationship between sound, language and technology is that they are the foundations of effective communication. They are the powerful tools that enhance the way we interact with each other and how we understand the world around us. Language is used in verbal communication and writing however,  in the past slaves used drums as a way to communicate among each other. Their masters, who detested the use of drums, believing it could be used to incite a rebellion, banned drums in most places. Though their belief could be true, the slaves used the sound/ rhythm of this instrument as a language to express themselves and in connection with their African culture. According to the book “Drums and Power: Ways of Creolizing Music in Coastal South Carolina and Georgia, 1730-1790, by Richard Cullen Rath, he states, “They feared drums as loud signals that could lead men on a battlefield so they banned loud instruments…but they failed to comprehend how African Americans were able to represent themselves and their agendas in their music rather than just signal with it…it functioned as an immanent and immediate means of representing and communicating ideas in a repeatable form, somewhat like a spoken language.” Sound was important in conveying messages or ideas, a way of speaking through music. 

The connection between sound and language gives meaning to things in the natural world and the ability to communicate how it affects us. According to the book “The Souls of Black Folk,” by W.E.B Du Bois, he states, “And so by fateful chance the Negro folk-song—the rhythmic cry of the slave—stands to-day not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience…” He describes how African Americans, post-slavery, used songs of the past to “speak to” America. The sound and language of the songs were important, as they expressed the pain, restlessness, and the hope that slaves experienced. The language used in these songs correlated with the sound, which strengthened the message and was found to move listeners. This adds perspective to how powerful these songs were based on the tone and language of the singers. 

Technology would be the tangible tool that improves sound and language for better communication, as it can be designed to do so . According to the book “Sound, Modernity and History,” by Emily Thompson, she states, “By starting here, with the solidity of technological objects and the material practices of those who designed, built and used them, we can begin to recover the sounds that have long since melted into air. Along with those sounds, we can recover more fully our past.” This explains how with the use of sound specific technology we can explore the past and the thinking of the people who designed these tools to measure it. Technology allows us to communicate information on sound or language so that it is never lost in our histories. Effective communication is the glue that makes technology, sound and language whole.