It used to be that only notable and distinguished authors who could write very well were able to have their books published. The average person was not able to have their thoughts, ideas and stories published unless they were incredibly well written and this left many people who could possibily be the next Twain out of the spotlight because they have no way of publishing their work. But with the more and more prevelant use of electronic space and hypertext, people are able to make their works and ideas known and are able to post these ideas to blogs, websites or other similar places on the internet. This greatly increases the exposure authors and writers will receive because now their work is available for all to see on the internet.

Writing Papers

Bolter traces the history of writing materials all the way back to the ancient civilizations of Mesopetamia. He then states "when in the history of writing a new technology appears, it may supplement an established technology or replace it" (Bolter 22). Several thoushand years ago the Egyptians used papyrus to write, evetually the papyrus was replaced with paper which made writing a little more easier. Today, even after the invention of the printing press allowed books to be massed produced relatively cheaply, we are still finding new ways to read the same things. A recent tecnological innovation is the kindle. This portable compact "E-Book" allows you to read on a cystal clear sceen and the convience of storing several books on one device so a person could be able to read one of their possibily multiple favorite books all from this one little device. Not even the ability to make writing materials cheap and effective can stop the innovation of new writing apparatus' and there will surely be something even more advanced than these E-Readers.

Taylor Mali

I found that watching him actually speak the words and the body language that accompanied it helped me to not only appreciate what he’s saying, but to also understand it. During the textual version of it, the patterns and designs of the words often got in the way of me trying to listen to what he was trying to say because I was distracted by the moving text. Watching him allowed me to focus on the meaning of his words and the way he acted it out further reinforced what he was trying to get across while the text felt quick and hurried.

Picture Problems

There are several problems that I have with sample q. An image can have a very large range of meanings to different people and it can only be descriptive and telling if it is used in the right context, otherwise it is just a picture. To give a picture its dues, proper context is required so you know that the people you are showing it to are looking at it the way you want them to when showing the picture. During my 4 letter word presentation I used several screenshots of mel Gibson 2 movies (The Patriot and Braveheart). Some people were offended that he was used and said it went against my word (free). However, I did not have the opportunity to provide context about the pictures so they may not have known that the people Gibson is depicting were actually real and they fought for their freedom and that it had nothing to do with the man Mel Gibson. Since I wasn’t able to say this people may have gotten the wrong idea about the use of Gibson in my presentation which supports my idea that pictures can only be truly effective if provided and used the right context.

Stitch Bitch

I found the introduction and “Body not Wole” part of this reading to be quite unusual, as I’ve never seen an author do this. It would appear that she starts to refer to herself in the third person and implies that there is more than just the Mary Shelley who wrote this. In the first section she makes observant points about functions our bodies carry out and how we do not seem to notice them which supports her statement that our bodies are never being fully experienced. I think she chooses to break the body down like that in order to show the even something as complex as the human body is made up of simple parts.

Jackson uses “Gaps, leaps” to compare hypertext to novels. She says the a novel is a very predictable yet satisfying experience but can get rather dull. She uses the  section to explain that novels leave gaps that hypertext does not which gives a reader a reason why the reader should consider hypertext if they do not already.

1)      According to Blair, an argument consists of several parts. First it must have an explicable claim. This essentially means that something must be explained so that it can be up for debate and so there is no ambiguity as to what is being debated which sets up the argument.  He also says there has to be an explicable reason for the claim. This is so that there is evidence to back up a claim to give it credibility, if something does not have credibility it cannot be taken seriously. An argument also has to have an attempt to communicate these reasons and claims so that each side can make their thoughts heard and so that each claim has a debatable opinion.

2)      These twin brothers are completely different

I choose to use the sentence like this because there can be some grayness as to just how “different” the brothers are. You shouldn’t expect  2 people to be exactly the same even if they are twins, so to say that they are different is to vague, they could have a lot of similarities but are not entirely the same.  But when you say they are completely different, you may not expect twins to be completely different so it gives you room to build an argument on why they have nothing in common at all, rather than saying they have a little bit of each.

To help demonstrate the significance of their difference, I would show differences in personalities, like one of them playing a sport while the other’s an artist. I would also show physical characteristics such as their hair color or height and weight to explain that they are also physically very different from each other.  

3B)      I personally feel that if I am trying to be swayed in a particular direction, the most effective would be through visual argument. Verbal arguing can turn into rambling which defeats the purpose of having an argument because now the other person may not be listening. With a visual argument it’s like you come up with your own words based upon a picture or symbol,  and this can even expand an argument because more than one idea can be brought up from a specific picture.  Blair decides that neither is more persuasive than the other, but they are just different mediums of conveying ideas from one another.

Answers for Bill Collins questions

Why do you look at love like it’s a joke?

For all we know, Billy Collins may have had a rough love life that has included difficult breakups with women he’s loved. This may cause Collins to have a more cynical point of view on the subject of love. He may treat it like a joke because it helps him cope with the fact that he has been in and out of love. He may also find it a joke because he does not fully understand it. He might make this jokes to show that this is what he thinks of the concept of love.

  Why isn’t she the pine scented air?

When you think of pine scented air, you think of a fresh cooling smell that seems to liven you up. When Collins mentions that his lover is not the pine scented air he can be refering to the fact that their relationship has gotten old  stale and he no longer finds it rejuvenating.

Do you think you were successful in getting your point across?

I feel that Collins made his very loud and clearl. Judging from this poem, it does not look like Collins has much respect for love , he uses all of these analogies to show that he finds it laughable at how some people describe the person they love. Billy Collins would rather make fun of love than partake in it and with some of the metaphores is uses (like saying his love doesn’t smell like pine air) he makes  me feel that he does not take love very seriously.

Texting

With the evolution of the cell phone, people ironically do a lot less talking than they do texting which I find kind of funny.  The problem with texting is that it can make conversations somewhat impersonal and much of the emotion that can be found with speaking can be lost in a text. That’s why when I need to tell someone something important I try to call them instead of leaving a text. Some people might find texting easier, quicker and better you’ll know when exactly the person you texted responds and if he/she can’t, they at least will have your message. Sometimes however, I find it easier to just call someone and if they don’t answer then I’ll leave a message because not only does it promote social interaction but I do not find it necessary to keep texting someone.