Writing with New Media: Reading/Listening Discussion

Response to Assignments (we'll be discussing in class next week):

1. Daley, "Expanding the Concept of Literacy"

2. Takayoshi and Selfe "Thinking About Multimodality"

3. Solomon "Pulling Back the Curtain"

( 1. Daley )

( 2. Takoyshi and Selfe )

( 3. Solomon )

Sharing Sound Links/Sometimes I am old!

I was thinking about the possibility of recording birdsong, if it were possible, for one of my projects, and asked Angela, the classmate who I figure is the Major Recording Authority (that I know of now) in the class if it were likely to be possible.

She recommended the following links:

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/soundfx/Ambience.shtml

http://www.ilovewavs.com/Effects/Birds/Birds.htm

And I went, D'oh! I never even thought of that. I can automatically go to databases or the internet to find TEXT, that's totally ingrained, and I am pretty good at surfing around looking for images to use (icons icons icons), but AUDIO files? I did not realize there were audio archives. (Heck, I only realized in the last year that I could go to YouTube and watch video clips of all my favorite rock bands from the 1970s (and other times!), like Queen, the Eagles, etc. It's all in what we assume, from habit, to be available or not.

Gamers of the Class!

I remember several of you mentioned Final Fantasy, and gaming in general, so this entry on Fandom Wank caught my eye. The entry is about the mass banning of over 1000 or so dedicated FF gamers, and the discussion in the comments (and some of the linked posts), while covering many issues, is an example of internet communities debating morals, values, community behaviors, etc.

Note for non-fandom readers: Fandom Wank is a community dedicated to pointing to and mocking the "wank" in fandom which they define as:

Self-aggrandizing posturing. Fannish absurdities. Circular ego-stroking. Endless flamewars. Pseudointellectual definitions.

(Side note: 'wank' is also a slang term for masturbation in the UK--so be aware it's considered a vulgarity in some discourses!)

The site is controversial, but I follow it to learn about what goes on in fandoms of which I'm not a member, to see what is causing some of the latest conflicts and issues (plus, there is a lot of high quality sarcasm, great icon art, and on occasion good recipes--if the members of the community believe the post is a low quality one, or posted out of revenge, etc., they post recipes to make the thread "worthwhile").