Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Treasure Hunting- Yu-Xi

Dear Yu-Xi,

Your writing is very unique but interesting I must say. The idea's and thoughts that you write in your Posts, are very very detailed and you write it in a way were the person reading it will understand completely what's going on and at the same time understand what message or opinion you are trying to get across. Like in the Feed blog responses you gave very authentic and good information about the certain topics of Feed. Like in Feed A blog response, you say that the Feed book is an allegory and then after that you give opinions on why and you bring up very strong, hardcore evidence to back up each of your statements. That's why when I read your post I can never be confused about what you are saying because every piece of evidence is in there. What I also Liked about your post, especially the Experiment blog post, You were very organized. I feel like if your work is organized then it is easier to understand, rather than if it was messy, the reader would be confused since information is all over the place. But I liked that its organized be cause it showed neatness and it give your reader a better understanding.

In feed B I liked when you said "All art to some extent is a hammer, even children's books because children often seek to follow the ideals displayed in the story sometimes even to adulthood". I Kind of agree with that point. I like the fact that you brought that up because you are looking at the question from a different perspective from others. When you said that statement it could make the reader think differently, like making him think that the book is a mirror and a hammer rather than one or the other. I also liked how you brought up a children's book because it shows that it isn't just teens or adults learning from books and getting insight from them. it could even be little kids.

The tone that you wrote in was a little hard to catch. But it looks like to me that you speak in a tone that is strong because of the fact that you want to get your point across and you want the reader to really get what you are talking about. And I also think that you give really sharp evidence. Like some people they would just throw a quote in and talk about it. But you, you say your strong argument, and then give a strong quote or other piece of evidence to back it up and that is key when you are trying to make your opinion count as something. The best parts of your Feed responses is the First two paragraphs because they have a lot of opinions with evidence to back it up. And for the experiment, your best info is where you explain your change of digitization and how you you limited your use.

I enjoyed reading your post a lot Yu-Xi and I hope that you write more blog post that I can comment on! Great work !!

Tresure hunting-Kate

Dear Kate,

I really enjoy your writing. I liked it ever since we were in the triangle. Everytime I read a blog of your you always have something to say about a certain topic and at the same time tell people how you feel about that and I like it. Another thing that you do is you liked to go with a neutral point of view like with the Feed B homework, you said that Feed was a mirror because "Feed only showed us our own lives and did not really come up with any solutions to how we live our lives." but then after you said "But i feel that through that mirror readers will have the option of creating a hammer and using it to help redefine their lives and people around them." That shows that you are looking at both sides of the argument instead of one. You aren't just looking at one side and going with it, you write so you can leave the reader re thinking what they had thought about the whole mirror or hammer argument.

Another aspect of your writing that seems to stand out with me is that you are very opinated and you always find a way to make people agree with you instead of thinking otherwise. Like when you said that you hate when people text while driving. you gave good points on why you didn't like it and on top of that gave a good MSN article to prove everything you were saying in your opinion.

Most of the stuff you say makes me think about my own blog post and that is what good writers do. Throughout all of ya blogs, your tone is more of a voice that is telling the reader " im sick of stuff that people do and hear is why", you sound very confident in what you are writing and thats one of the reasons why at times your words can be meaningful and powerful. Like in The Feed post you give excellent points on what the author is trying to portray in this bbook and you give good evidence to back it up. Like I said before, you are very good with backing up what you think and thats what makes you the good writer that you are.

Kate, I really like your post and I will be reading more of them since I am in your "Triad". Continue to write and keep them as good as these!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Second text

This was a very long excerpt that I have read and didn't know was 100 pages. But to be honest with you, the points that Steven Johnson was bringing up was very good. He was like a Devil's advocate towards the common thoughts and opinions that people usually have towards video games, the Internet, and Television. He talks about different ways these digital devices help us rather than how they screw our lives up like most people try to do.

Speaking of this, one of the main ideas that were brought up were how these pieces of digital devices not only puts a negative effect on our lives, but they have strong positive development and personal values that some people just might not see. Then through out the whole excerpt, he tries to back up this argument and talks about television, Internet, and video games. He Talks about how each of these Helps us in our lives and how they help us with not only fulfilling our needs but also help us develop mental skills and other skills that you can't really get from reading books or anything. He talk's about how books aren't really as good as watching tv or going on the internet, or even playing video games. Talks about how the difference between books and video games is that books are something that "understimulates the senses", whereas the video game engages "the full range of the sensory and motor cortices."

Based on what the excerpt said about video games, it teaches you how to work out your problems to the best of your ability and it teaches you how to strategize and find alternative ways to get to your goal. It also teaches you how to use your mental skills and cope that with your senses and hands. It teaches you how to use your thinking logically, so you can find the quickest way to learn the game or to achieve what you need to achieve to get to the next level.

And for Television and the Internet, that has also helped us with stuff that books or other non virtue literacy is able to give an individual. He talks about how television can not only give you want you want to see, but it can help you social skills and helps you think about complex relationships there are. He also brings up reality TV, something that I watch often. He talks about how it helps you understand social interactions and how it make you understand these things and also, to some extent, make it enjoyable with all the extra stuff it has to come with it. And for the internet, if used for the right reasons, is an excellent way for gathering information and finding what you need to find. Its the biggest information source in the world. Even though the internet can be used for the wrong reasons at times, it some times can be more helpful then books. I feel that Television and the internet can be more helpful than how people think it is. For the most part, I feel that people would rather learn about stuff of the discovery channel or animal planet rather than reading about it or looking at just words on a page to get an idea about each of the topics.

This excerpt definitly contradicts Feed because Feed is a book that shows the next level of the problem we have with deigitalization now. But with this excerpt Steven Johnson writes is saying how these digital devices have more to it then jjust building ignorance into teens and only doing stuff thats fun instead of teaching and being helpful to kids. It's contradicting feed because in the excerpt, it showing what kids do now a days with the video games and internet and Television, but it's not showing how it's getting worser and worser. Intstead it's showing how the things you do with the video games and the internet and TV helps you. Like reality TVshow is stupid for people to watch but for Johnson he tries to bring out the good in Reality TV shows by saying that it helps you understand social interaction. Stuff likr that shows how he is contradicting Feed. The whole time the two authors were talking about different aspects of digitalization. Steven talks about how it helps you and Feed is talking about how the way the characters act in Feed is a mirror of the teens today and how they use technology so much. Basically saying, Feed wants the reader to understand the bad part of technology, while Steven Johnson wants you to understand the good.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

feed B

Feed is a scary book. It's shows that we aren't as bright as we think we are. We think that we are something but in reality we are so stuck in the mix of digitization that it makes us so stupid and ignorant. It proves Andy's point about how kid's today don't really know history but they would know everything about a video game that is really good or something that happens in the celebrity world. If that book Feed was imitating how we are acting today or how my child would act in the future I am going to make major changes before this gets any further. I think Andy has this course for a reason. I think he has this course to put a "video recorder" where we can't see and show us how ridiculous we are and hooked we are on all this digital non sense.

When Bert Brecht said that "Art is not a Mirror with which to reflect the World. It is a Hammer with which to shape it", it made me think allot. I feel that our lives aren't shaped upon this book. I feel that it is more as a mirror because its more of reflecting what we do. Its like feed is exactly on the other side of the mirror. So I wouldn't really consider this book as a hammer its more of a mirror.

In my opinion I think that Feed is a mirror because it is a perfect reflection of all the digitalizing devices we constantly use that we can't get off of. It's just a future device that can possibly help people enjoy the nature of life and being able to explore the outside world, and at the same time be able to surf the Internet and all those stupid things with these devices at the same time.

I would want my art to be be a mirror for many reasons. One of the reasons is because when you look at art most people have good opinions about it and their is many points of view about it And with that you can take that advice and try to make your art better than it already is. Also another reason is because no matter what art it is, we are always going to have some one who is going to criticize it in a way to try and make it as perfect as possible. And having some one criticize your life in way so you can change in a positive way is always good. Lastly, I would want my art to be a mirror so people can reflect on it and try to change their lives if it is the same as mine. I wouldn't want it to be a hammer because you really aren't getting anything out of it by just destroying something. I want to try and get POV's so I can learn how to make the situation better. You can't just destroy something if you don't know what needs to be fixed.

The kids in the book were really not understanding the feed just like teens today don't understand the computer. The Kids in the book and Teens today only worry about their needs that the computer or feed gives to them and not what it can really offer like how it can give good facts about educational stuff. But none of the teens seem to realize that. They just do what they want with the digital devices and that is what the problem today is and it's sickening.

I think this book is for teens that are So obsessed in the digital world. I say this because it wants to put the teen in a 3 person view so it can see how teens who use digitization for the wrong reasons act. I also think that it's for them because it wants to teach a lesson. It's wants to teach a lesson to not use digitization for the wrong reason's. It shows the outcome of our life and it's shows how ignorant you really are when you can't see it. Like I said in the beginning IF my life is like the teens in FEED then it definitely time to grow up and change.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Feed A

      The kids in feed live like us. Plain and simple they act like us because they are so ignorant (like andy would say) jut like us, but the difference is that they dont realize that they are ignorant but we do. The Feed is all the stuff that kids now a days can't stop doing which is surfing facebook, Myspace, Gossip websites, etc. 
       
      I feel that if feed was to be a book about teenage life today, i think it would definitely be on target. I say this for many reasons. one reason is because people in feed are hooked on the same type of things teens no and days are hooked on. the only difference is that they have all of this inputed into their heads, but with us, it like we go running to the stuff that keeps us hooked. like we go to video game store to get games. We go out of our way to go on the computer just to go o the websites that excites us just for no reason. But with the feed everything is plugged into their brains. I just feel that the feed is just another step in our world of technology. Instead of going to the computer and going to the phones, you will get a device in put in your brain which is called a FEED. This book is just one step ahead thats it. 
      
          Some of the tragedies that happens in the book was that their was viruses in the Feed, lesions, the earth wasn't natural, the air factories was clouds, etc. These tragedies collide with each other because it shows how the earth is dying and everything isn't natural any more. mostly everything you want to do is inside the feed, it just proves that something so little can change a persons life completely and can have a big affect on life.
        
           Them having artificial babies is a bad thing to me. I think that is wrong that you wouldn't want to have a baby just to have it and love it for who it is. Why would you want to have a baby and create how it look's. I mean it would be nice to have want you want but then the world would be that diverse. Everybody would have the choice of having their baby look a certain way. When thats not what this world is about. People who are born are always going to have a purpose in life no matter what. Some people were born to play basketball, some people were born to be doctors, etc. Im not saying that people were literally born for those particular reasons but they were born, and those were some of the things they came out to be. I just think no a days stuff is starting to be taken for granted and people don't care if about having something just come at them. People always have to have what they want, and that is what's killing the world now. 
 
      When Violet died because of the virus that was hacked into her feed was really sad. It made me think other wise about thinking that feeds was a good idea. You can't have a internal life with a feed because people are able to to hack into you r body which is a very bad thing i think. It made me feel like if feeds were ever invented and actually stored into peoples brains there would be a lot of death's in the world, especially with all the hackers there be in the world today. 
       
          I think that evn though you have smart genes you can still be dumb. I know people who have smart siblings but them their selves isn't so bright in the class room. I feel that everybody is different some people might be smarter than others, thats just the way life is and that is the way it is going to be. Everybody is different and everybody is always going to know something that the next person in their family won't know  
       

      The kids that are in FEED and the kids today aren't different at all. They all like being into the whole web surfing, texting world and they don't realize how much they use it. The only thing that separates them from us is that we don't have feeds. we have to stay stuck in the house playing video games, or being on the computer. But for them, they can do what they want and explore the world outside their houses and at the same time be on the "feeds". The book is a good way to show how kids are today and what they would be like in the future if they was to have feeds in their brains. 
         

Thursday, October 8, 2009

My self assignment

Before we had this unit about digitalization, I use to be on AIM, watching TV, Playing multiple Video games, being on multiple websites all the time. I would be one all of these til about 2 to 3 in the morning. It was something about these gadgets that made me want to stay on them til I wanted to just fall asleep no matter what. But now Since I found out that when I don't get enough sleep, my body gets weak and so does my immune system, I limt my self to my digital world to stop at 1 am. so I am taking a hour off of the digital devices. At the end, that one hour could go towards my homework or SAT help or sleep or relaxing, or any thing non digital and poductive.

Monday, October 5, 2009

links and paragraphs

http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

Facebook is something that I go on daily. It doesn't matter where I am at, whether it be in the car, at my games, or at home, I have to check my facebook for the latest update. Its so interesting because there is so much you can look at, like video's, pictures, people's comments, the whole 9 yards. It is something that interests me and it makes me feel like I know whats going on in other peoples lives and experiences right through my computer screen.


http://mediatakeout.com/index.html

Mediatakeout is also something that I am addicted too and interested in. I like to know what celebrities are doing and what they are going through. They don't always do celebrities, they also just give politics sometimes, and they give you insight on stuff that is all over the united states. It's also funny to read other peoples reactions on the celebrities and politics that mediatakeout talks about. It's a website that keeps me on top of the things that I am interested in, and thats why I like it.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/concerns/index.cfm

This website talks about how video games put a big imact on children.It also talks about how the growth sales of video games exceeded 18 billion dollars because video games are being brought so much and it is so much into the youth culture now and days. They say that even though video games can give a positive impact on children, parent should be concerned about the influences that video games can give them.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA631243.html and http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2005/Teens-and-Technology.aspx

These 2 websites talks about how Teens that are using the internet are increasing rapidly. They say that 21 million kids between the ages of 12 and 17 are surfing the web and half of them are saying that they use it everyday. They also said that "81 percent of wired teens play games online, which is 52 percent higher than four years ago".They just talk about the different pieces of technllgy and how the percentage of the usage is getting bigger and bigger. I feel that this is crazy and if parents don't sop their kids now from using the internet everyday, then i feel that this situation is really going to get out of hand. Even though I use the internet, I now try to limit myself to using it for only 1hr.

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1984/5/84.05.03.x.html

This website talks about how Television has teens glued to the screen all the time. It says that TV's are "an unpretentious-looking box that has the power to hold individuals in a hypnotic state with their eyes glued to a screen of rapidly moving images" I agree. Kids are watching TV so much that ater they graduate they have more hours watching TV then hours working in the class room. This shows that TV has a big impact on teens and adults these days.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Comment on Yu-xi's video

Assume video Yu-xi !

You and Kate are some focused people I tell you. Did you even know you was getting recorded at that time? It seemed so real because you were making face expressions to the screen that I don't think you know about. When your face was close to the screen, I can tell that you was very attached to what was going on in it and that it had you hooked because you had a small little smile on and then you had a seriousface on like you were concentrating alot. When you were eating you food without looking at it, I thought to myself "Does that computer screen so interesting that she can't stop for a minute to take a bite of her food and then continue on again? I can see that you like digitalization more than you say you did =].

I like the fact that it was real and it was what you actually do. You didn't do anything you wouldn't normally do because you said that you was playing with your computer which you was doing. In your reflection of the video you said "At the end of it I say 2:40 because I realized I went over time (I wasn't looking at the camera)." I felt like you can't be more concentrated then that. It was excellent for you to bring that up because that is a good way of saying, the attention you have on digitalization is beyond others at times.

Overall, I liked your video alot. great work!

Comment on Kate's video

Nice video Kate!

I like the total realness of the video. What I mean by that is you wasn't putting on an act just because you was shooting a video on how you use and act towards digitalization. You were focused on the TV from the jump and you didn't even look at the camera. I dont even think you knew you was getting recorded half of the time. I thought you ttold who ever was recording it to do it when you didn't know so it could be easier. I don't know I'm just guessing. But I also like the idea how you did it straight on and you wasn'tcutting into parts. It was was one run through and that was it.

Looking at this video alone I can tell straight off the back that you like watching TV. When your cat's came into the video and they were rubbing all over you, you didn't move or try to brush them away. You was so stuff onto the screen and what you were watching that you didn't even know they were there or you just ignored them. That shows how TV brings an affect on you and it makes you zone out other things around. It's sort of like you have a tunnel vision of you and the TV. Nothing else.

I liked ya video alot and I loved how you kept it real and didn't do no "non-reality" things to it. NICE VIDEO!