chandler

I have been reading magazines and articles trying to define and identify affects of determinism on our ideas of culture and I came upon an interview in Discover – September 2007- with Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist. He is described as a linguistic explorer, hunting around the sentences and syntax of human language for clues to the inner world of the human brain (48). He is interested to what extent language is biologically programmed and he suggests that language is instinctual, partly hardwired in to our brains and partly learned. The interesting point in this interview is how words and language are used – for example – the difference in nuance and meaning between the statements invading Iraq as opposed to liberating Iraq. What Pinker suggests is that the meaning of the statement depends on how the population felt about the former regime in Iraq and whether or not they welcome a new regime. Neither of these linguistics frames is more true or better than the other . Pinker says – it is important to understand the great power of language but one should not overestimate it….we do not live in a fantasy world of our own linguistic creations (52).

Pinker also addresses the idea of education as being a kind of indoctrination of our societys conventional ideas. He says – we must figure out how things work, to know the truth, and to not allow ourselves to be fooled or misled (71). He says that the whole point of politics, ethics, science is to get to the truth to discover and reveal how the world really is. Science and history and journalism are presented as truth-seeking institutions , and these are sometimes in direct opposition to the parts of our minds that want to be walled off from reality. Pinker shows the powerful affect of language on the way we think about truth and lies. This is a scientific determinism stance.

This article and the present state of interest in language and how we perceive the world is very important to our understanding of how media and institutions of the mainstream society define truth. Science and education speak to us through words and concepts – but we must be discriminating with what we do with the information. Excellent article.

chandler readings

Just finished posting to the forum and I wanted to say that I felt these readings were excellent. I struggle with technology and its influence in my life and I wonder sometimes if I can just get by without it. I can surely get by without MSN and Facebook, but I am rather attached to my cellphone and email. And I absolutely love the revolutionary idea of open source technologies, it appeals to my counterculture sensibilities. I find myself somewhat isolated by my choices ( for example, of my linux OS, of my KDE and Gnome desktops) although my room mate says that I am not a user but only a follower. I feel that he is just proving that he believes that technology defines a persons status by judging me in that way. I do not feel like that. I feel that we should be able to live without technology. It is dangerous to depend on things we cannot ultimately control, that we cannot fix, and we cannot make. The sheer weight of knowledge needed to support and continue our technological world is mind boggling. Who can possibly understand and utilize all of this capacity for change

facebook

Today I read a very interesting article about Facebook. The article addresses the benefits of this social network. What interested me was the way in which the users of this site created a social community. They used Facebook as a social register, as a way to stay in contact with friends from high school,and they used it to create a loose network of new friends. The article also suggests that Facebook use adds to the psychological well-being of the users.

OK, now I have to say that Facebook does not give me a sense of well-being. In fact whenever I go there I begin to feel guilty that I am not rersponding in the same way as some of my contacts. When they send me gifts and nudges and write on my wall I just feel weird and I feel worse if I have to use the ignore button. I feel as if this social utility is telling me how to relate to my friends. And even more, that I would not be even in this type of relationship willingly. I have friends on that site who have revealed the most astoundingly intimate stuff; and I have somebody who invited me to become a vampire the other day. I know its meant to be in fun, and maybe I am being too straight here, but please.

I am reasonably happy with my relationships and friendships – I admit that my life is not perfect but I seem to get sufficient stimulus and support from my real time, real life community. That makes me feel weird too. Because according to this article most college students depend heavily on Facebook to keep and make friends. The joining of virtual groups is good, but what if you do not want to join groups, does that make you an interloper on the site. Obviously, I am a reluctant user. I have friends who are non-users for reasons having to do with privacy and time. Apparently most of the users studied in this report used Facebook for at least 20 minutes every day!! If I was using Facebook that often, as well as using my hotmail, and messenger, and doing my on-line homework and research – when would I have time to say read a book, go for a walk, talk to my room mate, you know – life. Anyway, good article and very eye-opening – look for it.

Ellison, Nicole B., Steinfield, Charles, Lampe, Cliff. The Benefits of Facebook Friends: Social Capital and College Students Use of Online Social Network Sites. Department of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media. Michigan State University. In Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12 (2007). 1143-1168. International Communication Association.

interactive museum

I was writing a poem about President J.F.Kennedys assassination in November 22, 1963 and I found this book in our Curriculuum lab. The book titled PRESIDENT KENNEDY HAS BEEN SHOT was created by NEWSEUM the worlds first interactive museum of news. The book has an audio CD that lets you hear events as they happened! This audio CD is made up of analogue recordings that have been transferred to digital media and then included in this interactive book project. The book refers to the CD as a running commentary of the events of that awful day unfold. The book is full of rarely seen photos and the commentaries and memories of the people who were there.

Newseum takes visitors behind the scenes to see how and why news is made.The Newseum is funded by the Freedom Forum, a non-profit, non-partisan foundation. See their site -  www.newseum.org. This book was co-authored by Cathy Trost and Susan Bennett, both award winning journalists. The audio was narrated by Dan Rather, an anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News since 1981. In 1963 he was one of the first journalists to confirm the death of the president.

What intrigued me about this book/CD combination wa the use of digital technology to produce the artifact – the book and the CD; the idea that news can be interactive in this sense – that we can stop and start the information at our own speed. We can make the news comfortable in a sense. Digital technology can do wonders to transfer information. And it can do wonders to educate and inform those who have no access to news in real time. As a person who was touched deeply by the events of that day in November I found myself remembering how I felt. It was a very powerful news story at the time it happened and this digital reproduction allows the reader/listener to experience this pivotal event in the manner in which it unfolded at the time. On radio and through the media of TV and newspaper journalism.

Astoundingly, the idea of a virtual museum seems to be very slow in catching on. I believe that digital reproduction of news, artifacts, and information  is a perfect way to preservce rare items and to present information and education to people who may never have the chance to travel to see museums and other cultural collections. The idea of a museum to make the news more personal is a very post-modern concept. Information available to all – sounds positively democratic!! Anyhow, this book is not the first of its kind (I have a book with an CD and a DVD about H.G. Wells story, WAR OF THE WORLDS, along with an accompanying broadcast of Orson Welles news-making radio broadcast of the same story. Digital reproduction of analogue recordings is an excellent way of preserving and presenting historical events.

wireless tech

had a great visit with my little sister in Burnaby. She has a disability and spends a lot of time lying on her back due to an auto accident. At her house they are locked in totally to TiVo. They share a common interest in poker, weird accidents and popular culture real life dramas. Anyhow what intrigued me was the wireless keyboard and mouse that she used to control her TV environment. She could do all of the things I am doing with my fancy blue-glowing keyboard but there  were no wires. I just loved the convenience of it. She was able to maneuver very well with it and she used it exclusively to do allof the mundane channel changing things I would do with a TV remote. They have it in the living room in front of the plasma TV and the place looks like a mini-theatre. I spent a night there and we never watched real time TV once. We watched a seemingly unending series of poker championships interspersed with odd videos of bizarre accidents. Whew it was an overwhelming experience. I got the feeling that TiVo had replaced their channel changer. It was like they used it to pick their shows, but it only shows that they want to watch. It was unreal.

But as far as the wireless technology of the keyboard, I like it. Bring on the wireless technolgy – my cellphone was the first incursion into my luddite life but the wirelessness of it is what makes it usefull to me. I see the wireless keyboard and mouse in the same way. It frees up personal space in a way and makes communicating with the computer easier in a way. The lack of wires was the feature I liked the most. Cool tech.

tired but still awake

I have been buried in books all day. Does not sound like a media studies project but for me it is still the optimum way to learn. I enjoy cruising the web but i prefer the comfort of books and hard copy. After I read Jean Healys book I felt almost justified in my attachment to real paper. Anyhow, I am taking a break from study and trying to decide how to make an avatar for Ravengirl. I need to have a consistent personality as a host for my web page and she will be it. So the visual is very important.

some comments on technolgy

I have rerad some excellent books that address the idea that technology is responsible for the dominance of Western liberal democratic politics and the liquid state of our cultures in the 21st century. In Anthropology I read a book Guns, germs, and steel: The Fates of human society written by Jared Diamond. Diamond is renowned professor of physiology at UCLA and he has done extensive studies in evolutionary  biology, and biogeography. He is much published in Discover, Natural History and Geo magazines. His premise is that it was the advantages of shared knowledge about the world – history, geography, medicine, languages, and cultural exchanges between many differing societies – gave the invaders of the American continent a huge adavantage over the peoples that encountered this  force of discovery. The final outcome of the invasion was helped along by the indigenous peoples inability to combat the germs introduced from the Old World. But the essence of the book is that technology gave the Western discoverers the advantage over the civilizations that were encountered.

Another excellent look at technology and its affects on history is 1491:New revelations of the Americas before Columbus written by Charkles  C. Mann. Mann has written on particle physics and biodiversity. he writesd for Science, The Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times Magazine, Technology Review, The Washington Post, and Wired. Mann puts to rest the fallacy that the Americas were vast and underpopulated – full of primitive people with no technology to combat the invasion by a dominant culture. In contrast to our normal view of American indigenous people Mann shows us that these peoples were highly sophisticated in their politics, their science, their medicine, and their economic practices. These civilizations had huge cities, and extremely organized modes of trade and transport. Language, religion, and culture flourished in many areas producing some very important contributions to our modern day culture  like the introduction of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, cotton; and rubber to name just a few. They had sophisticated writing systems, systems of trade and commerce.

Another bookithat also gives an alternative look at North American culture and technology  – Colonialism on trial: Indigenous land right and the Gitksan and Wetsuweten sovereignty case written by Don Monet and Skanu u (Ardyth Wilson. The interesting part of this book is that these people used traditional origin stories to prove their right to the land they had lived on for millenia. They use many experts to help them to prove their rights and the Crown and the prosecutors in the case used some of the same experts in their attempt to deny these people  their indigenous rights to their traditional territories.   This landmark case offended many not just the Gtksan and the Wetsuweten. Many anthropologists knocked the final trial outcome for its arrogant assumption of Western superiority.  Regardless of the politics of this trial, in the end the federal government had to acknowledge that these particular societies had proof both scientific, and cultural of a very long occupation of their territory. Oral stories were backed up by geographical evidence and the trial itself changed the face of First Nations and colonial governments forever (in Canada). Another excellent book on the idea of Western superiority and the arrogance of modern civilization towards so-called primitives – leading lives that were nasty, brutish and short ( and by implication – less efficiently technological, even though they had been living successfully on their land for hundreds if not thousands of years.)!!

Anyhow, now that you all know my bias, I think I will go and read a book!

another bauman refererence

I found another excellent article on Zymunt Bauman. It is an interview conducted on-line between Bauman and Daniel Leighton writing for the journal RENEWAL – a journal of Labour  politics. I got the article from their archives Vol. 10 No. 1 Winter 2002.  http://www.renewal.org.uk/issues/2002%20Volume%2010/No%201%20-%20Winter/Bauman. In the interview he outlines in vivid detail his ideas about ethics, culture, and politics and of course a much expanded explanation of his ideas about liquidity and society.The author gives a very concise and succinct analysis of Baumans ideas and the interview itself is amazingly stimulating and provocative. I highly recommend this article . Good reading!!

decisions, decisions!!

I am just finishing up a book about web page design and desktop publishing using FrontPage 2000. I am itching to try to write an HTML web page but I am vacillating between doing it here at home and using a linux text editor and web browser, etc. Or should I go to school and use the popular culturally dominant microsoft applications. I know that if I do use microsoft it will probably be easier and that will be much easier access to materials and programs and help, etc. And yet my rebel nature insists that i use the outsider system. Linux no doubt has the same and maybe even better programms and chances of them being free and easy access once acquired are very good. Linux is a very supportive and friendly system!! What I need to decide i guess is exactly how easy I want the creative process to be. I am beginning to see in my mind what I want my site to look like. Right now I am also debating whether I should make my comics dominant or place them in their own section. Like, section off the page visually and textually. Into separate blocks of text and graphics. I want to have graphic a image of Ravengirl, maybe as an animated host, and I want to have other websites as an integral part of the page. How many pages initially and what colour is still in the air (so to speak). Virtually I see a page that looks like a magazine index page with larger than usual graphics for the site introductions and then sites to take the viewer to more elaborate or complete images/graphics on the topic/subject. As soon as I get my scanner attached I will try to scan some images, rough draft drawings of the page. In reading the web pages for dummies book I have managed to acquire the idea that I might actually be able to create a web page. Now I have to go out and physically make it happen.

OS installed and working

I spent a couple of hours making my desktop more personal by adding certain features. I accessed a site that gives me daily weather (I just have to put my cursor on the icon and I get an immediate satellite photo of the weather overhead). I also added a site called KStars a KDE desktop feature that acts just like a telescope – by manipulating the mouse I can see constellations  and the program also allows me to search the solar system and outer systems. As a final addition I installed an instant index answering service like an online dictionary. I also changed the background and tool bar colours to black and blue instead of the rather poisonous openSUSE green start-up screens. So altogether I have a new desktop that is coloured and configured just the way I want it – right now anyway. I am still buried deep in web design land.