Monday, November 5, 2012

Web Pages for Bullying

So being sick all last week has put me seriously behind so this might be kinda skimpy.

Home

My home page will give a brief introduction to bullying and an overview of the Manovich concepts used throughout the site.  Again, I don't have my book with me so please refer to my last post for an idea of what this will look like.  I will be more specific than I was in the last post however.

Memes and Videos

This page will include several memes, video memes, and anti-bullying videos.  I will also embed the movie cyberbu//y.  I will discuss how each of these either effect cyber-bullying, bullying in general and those involved.  I will also discuss the Manovich concepts discussed in the posts on memes and videos: compositing, montage, transcoding, and etc.  This page may get to be two pages rather than one page.

Links

This page will include a brief summary of some really good anti-bullying sites along with the links to those cites.  I will discuss Manovich's hyperlinking, interfacing, and other related topics.

Anti-Bullying Legislation

This page will include a discussion of current cyber-bullying laws as well as links to Utah State Code on bullying and school policies and other sites that I researched for other classes.  I will include Manovich as I discuss how cyber-bullying has become an issue mostly because of the internet and our uses of it.

I'm still working out any other pages I may want to include on my site.  I'll see what happens the closer I get to finishing it.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Grammar Pages

So I didn't post last week. I have absolutely no excuse. I was just lazy. You know how sometimes you just don't feel like doing anything? Yeah, that was last week for me.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, grammar! I know you guys missed it. Here are the pages I am planning on including for my final site.

HOME

Obviously. Since I didn't type out an intro last week, I will have to work on one to put in this section. I don't want my home page to be too heavy, so the intro will be brief and simple—probably no more than 2 or 3 paragraphs. I'll probably toss in a grammar joke or something too. I thought about making a separate page for grammar jokes, but changed my mind. Besides, the humor will come from the (spoiler alert!) memes page. But to keep people interested, I think it would be good to put at least a little humor or something on the home page. As for images, I would like to find or create an image that shows grammar rules in action. I don't really know what that means, but I'll figure it out before the final website is due.

I'll probably bust out some MODULARITY principles on this page. If I remember right, modularity is all about how large-scale objects are made up of smaller things. The smaller things still contain their own identity, but they make up the larger-scale thing which also has it's own identity. That was a totally lame explanation of modularity. I need to brush up on the technical definition. But think about it. This is what our websites are all about. One big site, but it is made up of many pages. Then each of those pages are made up of small pieces. BOOM! Mind blown!

HISTORY

I want this page to include a brief history of the English language. You can't have grammar without a language, right? (Probably). Then I will include a more modern history of grammar and how things have been changing so much in the past century, and especially in the past few decades. It seems like almost every year I learn that a grammar rule has changed, or that a rules isn't as enforced anymore. I find that interesting and want to explore it in detail. That's what this page will be all about.

VARIABILITY, BABY! I like this quote from Manovich: "Changes in media technologies are correlated with social change. If the logic of old media corresponded to the logic of industrial mass society, the logic of new media fits the logic of postindustrial society, which values individuality over conformity" (41). I want to apply this to how grammar rules have changed based on social change. I hope that isn't too much of a stretch.

I might also be able to throw down some TRANSCODING principles here.

GRAMMAR RULES

I can't get around this one. I can't create a website about grammar without including grammar rules. I don't want this page to be too crazy though. I will most likely include some basics (like parts of speech), and a list of common grammar errors. I want this page to be somewhere between funny and serious. That should be difficult, because I'm never serious.


OK, I might be having second thoughts now that I have to apply this crap to Manovich. I'm thinking that I might be able to pull something from this quote and relate it: “When you use the internet, everything you access- texts, music, video, navigable spaces- passes through the interface of the browser and then, in turn, the interface of the OS. In communication, a code is rarely simply a neutral transport mechanism; usually it affects the messages transmitted.”

So.... I can relate this to grammar, right? Grammar isn't just a "transport mechanism" in that there is flexibility when it comes to grammar. The grammar style in which one prefers to use "affects the messages transmitted." Does that make any sense at all? Seriously, be honest.


MEMES

I'm sure everyone is including a "memes" page on their site. Since we've already done plenty of meme work on this blog, I don't have to explain in much detail why I am including this page. It will most likely put the Hitler video on this page (because it was awesome!). But I'm not sure which image memes I will put up. I'm sure I will have a discussion about the "grammar nazi" thing, so I'll put some of those up. I still want to find some other ones though. We'll see how that goes.

OK, back to the easy stuff. AUTOMATION will be the topic here. There are all sorts of meme generators out there, or templates if you will. And with the Hitler video, I'm sure whoever made that used video editing software that included templates.

POPULAR GRAMMAR WEBSITES

Most of the sites that would go on this page have already been introduced on the blog, especially during the "Story of Grammar" post when I googled "grammar." I will write a brief paragraph about each site describing what you can find on that site, and probably a little review or something.

I will discuss HYPERLINKING on this page. That is all I have to say about it.

----------------------------------------------

It's good to be back!


iPhone 5 Pages

Like stated in the blog prompt, my main page will introduce my topic, the iPhone 5 as well as manovich.  The remaining four pages will include many interactive material that compliment my topic and create a user friendly environment to explore and learn more about the topic.

The second page will include many different videos about my topic.  All of these will be from YouTube.  The videos on this page will include fan-made videos, concept videos, "tear-down" videos, and drop test videos.  This will help show Manovich's concepts of Operation.

On the third page I will have a series of about ten iPhone 5 memes that I found in my research when doing the meme blog post.  These are going to be both for and against the iPhone 5 created by lovers and haters.  This section will be primarily used to show Manovich's theories of Illusion.

The fourth page will include a variety of concept photos created by fans and the media.  Given the rumors and hype that Apple creates with the secrecy behind the creation of their products, creative fans go wild with creating concept predictions of upcoming devices.  This will accentuate Manovich's Chapter 4 concerning the user's form of expression.

The final page on my site will consist of a brief history of the iPhone to the iPhone 5.  I will use Manovich's topic of hyper-linking to get to other web pages that can further explain and delve into he history and evolution of the iPhone.  This will also touch on Manovich's Chapter 5 discussing databases.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Dr. Crane interview


What do you wish students knew about the certificate before starting?
Certificate is in limbo. Would rather have them go into the writing studies emphasis/minor. Tech comm. is a growing field but also is also changing-employers use tech writers on contract basis, so you either have to be a hustler or need to use tech comm. as addendum/expansion of another skillset. People are hired for tech comm. but job description is expanded beyond that.

Can you define the tech comm certification? What is it in a nutshell?
The next best thing to the minor.

What skills do completers receive?
Increased knowledge of genre, better editors, better document designers, acquired thinking skills necessary to acquire new/further skills within tech comm

What kinds of jobs can students get with the certificate? Would this lead to any kinds of opportunities for grad school?
Jobs: Lately people have been hiring/querying technical communicators for SEO. Editing and writing in small local businesses. If you acquired the certification in addition to domain specific major then you have more value- two people up for one job- if one person can write and has the portfolio to back it up then they have more value to an employer.

Grad school: If going to grad school there’s an academic bias against anything vocational. An English major with certificate would be good but someone with the minor is in a better position

Are there any on-campus opportunities related to the certificate?
No, and there is no local chapter of Society for Technical Communication

What is the normal amount of time it takes students to complete the certification?
Not sure

Difference between writing studies minor and certification?
Minor is more involved- more courses, more hours, gain more experience
Really need to focus on building portfolio. Classes and coursework are more meaningful if you see them as pieces of your portfolio.

Anything else?
In my opinion, shifting more toward writing studies. Not a replacement but a good place to acquire those skills and other related important skills. In a perfect world we’d have a tech comm. major but that would require a shift in focus and resources within the department and not sure if dept would like to make that reallocation.

Arrested Development intro and Manovich intro


Arrested Development is a TV series which originally aired 53 episodes on FOX between 2 November 2003 and 10 February 2006. More episodes are currently in production and will air on Netflix.

During Arrested Development's original run, ratings were never good but the show enjoyed lots of critical acclaim. In 2004, Arrested Development was nominated for seven Emmy Awards and won five. Also in 2004, the show received a TV Land award for "Future Classic," and in 2007, Time Magazine included Arrested Development on its list of 100 Best TV shows of all time.

The show centers around three generations of the Bluth family- George Sr. and Lucille, their children GOB (George Oscar Bluth), Michael, Lindsay (and her husband Tobias), and Buster, and their grandchildren, Michael's son George Michael and Lindsay's daughter Maeby. 

The Bluth Company, the family business, mainly markets and builds McMansions, but the only profitable division of the company is the frozen banana stand.

George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is the family patriarch and (original) CEO of the Bluth Company. The series begins with him passing on control of the company to his wife, Lucille, and promptly being arrested by the SEC for "using the company as his personal piggy-bank." While his children were growing up, they saw him as distant and difficult to please and are more concerned about how his imprisonment will affect their lifestyle than how it will affect them.

Lucille (Jessica Walter) is a highly-functioning alcoholic. She is manipulative, demanding, controlling, pampered, and emotionally abusive to her children and others under her control. As CEO, she first passes on control of the company to the child most under her thumb- Buster. Only after all the responsibility sends Buster to the hospital with a panic attack, does she asks the child most suited for the job, Michael.

GOB (Will Arnett) is George Sr. and Lucille's oldest child. He works as a magician and is the founder of The Magician's Alliance, a group which later kicked him out for revealing trade secrets. His parents openly admit to disliking and not respecting him, and his bitter rivalry with his younger brother Michael is often fueled by George Sr. and Lucille for their personal gain. His personality is bombastic, but his confidence is easily shattered and can quickly dissolve into self-loathing. He occasionally has problems with speaking English properly.

Michael (Jason Bateman) is the second oldest son and "twin" brother of Lindsay. He serves as the "straight man," introduced in the title sequence of every episode as "the one son who had no choice but to keep [the family] all together," but as the series continues, he increasingly seems as crazy as the rest of the family. His wife died two years prior to the pilot and his relationship with his son, George Michael, is almost uncomfortably close. 

Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) is the self-described liberal member of the family. Lindsay sees herself as a dedicated activist for many causes, but she is really a shallow, superficial princess who supports these causes for status. The only money she ever "raises" comes from the Bluth Company. She married Tobias Funke as an act of youthful defiance and bitterly resents him. Lindsay has incredibly low self esteem, due to constant emotional abuse from her mother and Tobias' lack of interest in her. After she and Tobias decide to open their marriage, she has very little success with other men. She is often shown to be neglectful of her daughter, Maeby.

Buster (Tony Hale) is the youngest Bluth son. He never moved out of his parents' home. He has an unhealthy attachment to his mother, and Lucille has sheltered and controlled him so much that he is childlike, socially stunted and prone to panic attacks. He has spent much of his adult life completing graduate programs like cartography and 18th century agrarian business. Lucille enlists Buster in the Army because a Michael Moore-esque character antagonizes her, but his training is unsuccessful. He later loses his left hand to a "loose seal" and wears a hook, then a prosthetic hand, on his left arm.

Tobias Funke (David Cross) is Lindsay's husband, a sucessful analrapist (analyst and therapist) turned unsuccessful actor. He suffers from "never-nude" syndrome, a condition which is, as the series' narrator states, "exactly what it sounds like." He constantly wears a pair of denim cut-offs. One running joke of the series is the question of his sexuality, as well as his understudy position in the Blue Man Group (which he initially thought was a support group for depressed men). Like his wife, he is incredibly neglectful of his daughter, Maeby.

George Michael (Michael Cera) is Michael's only child. His mother died from ovarian cancer and he is very close to his father. In addition to attending high school, he runs the banana stand, the only profitable division of the Bluth Company. For much of the series, he has an intense crush on his cousin Maeby, even while he has a girlfriend.

Maeby (Alia Shawkat) is the daughter of Lindsay and Tobias. She is rebellious, fiercely independent, secretive, and great at coming up with schemes to improve her life (like pretending to have a mysterious illness called BS to get donations or working as a Hollywood studio executive). She doesn't quite realize the extent of George Michael's crush on her, and at one point accidentally marries him.

Manovich

Three commonly used terms explained

  • language: Language is used instead of other terminology options to differentiate between this study and studies of new media and cyberculture which focus on sociology, economics and politics. This text focuses on emergent conventions, recurrent design patters, and key forms, studied in relation to other arts and media, computer technology, contemporary visual culture, and contemporary information culture.
  • new media object: The term holds up for all digital media types (including but not limited to digital stills and video, 3D environments, a website or the Web as a whole). Object is a standard term in the computer industry. Russian constructivists and productivists in the 1920s referred to their works as objects. Manovich wants to invoke all those connotations because in new media, the line between art and design is fuzzy, and he would like to reactivate the concept from the '20s of laboratory experimentation.
  • representation: New media objects are cultural objects and therefore represent and sometimes construct an outside referent (existing object, historical information, system of categories used by a culture or social group). Software interfaces of operating systems and software applications are also representations. Data organized in a particular way represents a worldview. Two key organizational system are
    1. hierarchical: assumes the world is a logical place and every object has a distinct and well-defined place (EX: GUI from 1984 Macintosh onward)
    2. "flat" network of hyperlinks: every object has the same importance and is or can be connected to everything else (EX: the World Wide Web from the 1990s onward)

Other concepts that may be important in my project:

  • modularity
  • automation
  • variability (flashbacks)
  • selection
  • templates

Monday, October 29, 2012

common headings


Bullying Intro

Bullying has been a problem for as long as we could communicate.  All it takes is being rude to another person.  How easy is that?  The problem with bullying is the damage it does to the person being bullied.  Bullying causes low self-esteem and low self-worth in both the victims and the bullies.  The results are often so sever that the victim attempts suicide, often more than once.  It is saddest when those attempts are successful.  The three most basic types of bullying are physical aggression, verbal aggression, and relational aggression.  While physical and verbal aggression are self explanatory, relational aggression is not.  Relational aggression involves gossip, spreading rumors, social isolation, purposely being left out of activities, and cyber-bullying.  For the most part, physical and verbal bullying as well as most relational bullying stay at school or on the playground, however cyber-bullying usually takes place at home and allows other bullying to go everywhere with the victim rather than having a place of refuge as with physical bullying.

Now here is the thing with bullying laws and policies, they only do so much.  While 49 states have anti-bullying laws that define bullying and policies for schools (Montana is the state with no laws), only 20 of those states define cyber-bullying and include it in the policies.  Of those 20 states, only two include cyber-bullying originating of campus so that the schools can get involved directly.  Most of the other states have left the policies open so the schools can decide if they want to include off campus bullying in their individual policies.  I have been reviewing Utah State Code on the definitions and policies and the definition is clear about physical, verbal and cyber-bullying, but not the other forms of relational bullying.  As the code includes cyber-bullying in the policies, it does not include cyber-bullying originating off campus or after school hours.  There is not currently any federal code on cyber-bullying.  The Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act is still in review three years after being introduced to congress because of the controversy with freedom of speech.  Constitutionality of any anti-bullying law is an issue because of the first amendment.  Do these laws cross that boundary or not?  The jury is still out.

Here is another item of interest.  Most of the Public Service Announcements, advertisements, and films that are anti-bullying are produced in Canada including the new movie cyberbu//y.  I also found more videos on YouTube that were made outside within the US.  We are behind the times as a nation on this very serious issue of bullying, particularly cyber-bullying.

Manovich Points of Interest:
(I don't have my book with me at this point, so I am guessing.)

  • Integration
  • Compositing
  • Human-Technology Interface
 

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