Research Status Entry

            After receiving six responses to the survey, primarily from writers who have more experience in writing poetry, I am finding that the majority of participants (currently four of the six) compose initial drafts with paper and pen rather than on a computer.  The participants are also reporting that they perceive a large (4) or very large (2) difference between the two composing methods.  These initial results seem to be confirming my thesis that there is a difference between the two methods.  In addition to these results, I have found that many of the comments provided to the open-answer question enlightening, and may provide guiding questions when developing the final analysis.  I have also found that the response rate is somewhat limited in this field, and I hope there will be a way to rectify the situation before the final report is due.

Investigating Technology's Influence on Composition, the Long View

Hartley, James, Michael Howe, Wilbert McKeachie.  “Writing through Time: Longitudinal Studies of the Effects of New Technology on Writing.”  British Journal of Educational Technology 32.2 (2001): 141-151.  Academic Search Complete.  Web.  15 October 2010.

            Hartley et al address the question in this paper as to whether the changes in writing and thinking through changing technology usage merely “a cosmetic one…or are the changes more fundamental than this” (141).  The authors review literature produced in the final decade of the 20^th century, and find the debate centers around the “three possibilities [Hartley (1993)] outlined” (142).  In order to discover which of the three were more probable, the authors took to a method to describe “pieces written by the same authors over lengthy periods using different technologies” (144).  The method of research involved a statement of writing methods, a selection of samples from a broad time period, and a quantitative analysis of these samples from each of the authors of the paper (144-45).  It should be noted that each of the authors is a university professor, that the authors are evaluating their own works, and finally that the selected writing samples were chosen from times after the authors attained university degrees.   

Hints Toward the Effects of Computers on Composition

Longo, Bernadette, Donna Reiss, Cynthia L. Selfe, Art Young.  “The Poetics of Computers: Composing Relationships with Technology.”  Computers and Composition 20 (2003): 97-118.  Science Direct.  Web.  20 October 2010.

            Longo et al describe a graduate course design which they taught at Clemson University in 2001.  They designed the course to expose students to “a range of nonfiction and fiction literary works that deal with complex technology issues,” as well as solicit “a variety of humanistic responses to these works” (97-8).  The ultimate goal of the course was to imbue a conscientiousness in the students with regard to the power relationship between people and digital means, and to provide a basis of theory from which to manipulate that relationship (98, 99).  The goals and approaches for the course seem to line up closely with Old Dominion University’s English 662 course.  

Digital Delivery and Rhetoric

Porter, James E.  “Recovering Delivery for Digital Rhetoric.”  Computers and Composition 26 (2009): 207-224.  ScienceDirect.  Web.  01 October 2010.

            James Porter’s article reexamining rhetorical delivery in terms of today’s internetworked possibilities begins with an overview of the history of the practices and theories of delivery up to the “English elocutionary movement of the 18^th century… where the art of delivery became degraded” (210).  In connecting the ancient Greek philosophies of rhetoric to our current deemphasized concept of delivery, Porter points to the need to create “a theoretical framework for digital delivery” because “technical knowledge is integral to the art of rhetoric and the canon of rhetorical delivery in the digital age” (208).  Porter divides his article in two, offering first the discussed overview and argument for relevance, and second, his proposed theory, which he does not propose to “provide a comprehensive theory of digital delivery,” but to “aggregate[e] and coordinat[e] a well-established body of research” (211-12).

Mechanization and Implications for Power

            The United States Department of Defense is one of the primary driving forces behind advancing applied technology, as is seen in the video above.  Boston Dynamics is a robotic research firm which develops applications for DARPA and other DoD agencies.  In this case, Boston Dynamics has developed a cyber-age pack mule.  The particular video above displays “BigDog,” a “rough-terrain robot that walks, runs, climbs, and carries heavy loads” (Boston Dynamics).  According to Boston Dynamics, BigDog is capable of carrying loads as heavy as 340 pounds, which in personal experience, is equivalent to the logistical and tactical load of a fire-team of Marines in the field.¹

A couple of different thoughts for

the upcoming metaphor post (which is part of this class):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8

This first is just video which (though filmed prior) relates and refutes the current "double rainbow" meme.

Stupid California Police Warn Parents of Pedobear, the 'Pedophile Mascot' (Updated)

This one includes, among other things, references to 4chan, /b/, a police district with a literal interpretation of agressive satire, video from a news broadcast, and a not-to-be-missed police broadsheet.

both originally sourced from this Slashdot thread.

more coming as I locate....

I've always thought this interesting, from a tech standpoint: Big Dog / Boston Dynamics and here.

Along similar lines with the Big Dog, in terms of self-assessing and autonomous movement is this.

Memory in Cyberculture...

The following addresses an article from Culture & Psychology by Jens Brockmeier:

Brockmeier, Jens.  “After the Archive: Remapping Memory.”  Culture & Psychology 16.5 (2010): 5-35.  EBSCOHost.  Web.  10 September 2010.

Nayar, Pramod.  An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures.  West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.  Print.

            Brockmeier examines four “fields of memory studies” (11) which serve to “open up to different cultural landscapes of knowledge and learning.  One of his precepts is that “memory” as an ontological concept and epistemological study is a relatively recent cultural development, and he points to earlier human cultures, such as the Cree Native Americans, who did not have a word specifically referring to memory the same way western cultures have (6-8).  The author continues in the introductory section to evaluate the cultural and scientific viewpoints of memory, introducing cultural, personal, biological, and psychological understandings.  He goes on to write that “each memory system operates according to the model of storage [the archive],” and that with regards to current research in each of the four fields, societies are witnessing a “dismantlement of the traditional notion of memory” (9).