Visual Impact

On February 23^rd, the day before the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s Nationwide race ended with a multicar wreck.  I read about this in an article on the Huffington Post (link).  I was drawn to this article when I saw this picture of Kyle Larson’s number 32 car partially in the stands of the race.  This image is placed near the headline to attract readers to click the story, and at the very beginning of the article is a video of the crash.  These build up towards the story which is very sympathetic to the fans that were injured in the race.  This picture is placed to draw out an emotional response from readers and it really delivers.

"The 20-year-old Larson Stood in shock a few feet from his car"

My jaw dropped when I saw this photo.  The caption “Massive Wreck at Daytona” couldn’t be more fitting.  Seeing the car with the engine taken clean off is a terrifying sight.  An estimated 33 people were injured in the crash, and the slideshow on this post (Huffington) really demonstrates that.  Larson’s car went through the guard, debris shot into the crowd, and a tire was launched into the stands.  Kyle Larson’s number 32 car was left a shell of its former self, but he’s just happy to be ok and “hopes everyone’s alright.”

Jenna Fryer took a news approach for this story.  This story was the day of the crash so this story was more focused on just presenting the facts to the readers.  She also used quotes from fans, officials, and racers to further present the story.  She highlights how Tony Stewart’s feelings after slipping past the wreck to win the race.  His statement “We assume the risk, but it’s hard when the fans get caught up in it,” helps draw the reader into the tragedy of the wreck.  These guys are professionals and the last thing they want is to see their fans hurt during a race.

                

Jenna uses the slideshow and her sources to make the reader feel emotionally attached to the victims.  She uses quotes for the viewers like “It was freaky” and “I immediately started to cry” to effectively make the reader feel similar to these fans, but the pictures of the flaming engine and the hole in the guard wall say more about the crash than the written word.  The slideshow and the video are the real eye openers of this article.   The video shows the entire crash unfolding and the slide show has crazy pictures of the whole thing.  Jenna let the visuals speak for the crash while she tried to speak for the people.

                

The pictures are the main appeal of this article.  I am in no way a NASCAR fan, but after seeing Larson smashed up against the catch fence I just couldn’t help but click on this article.  I found myself watching the video and looking through the photos before reading the article.  For me they were the important sources of information, and not necessarily the article itself.  Jenna presented the facts well, and she did a good job of adding some context to the pictures, but her words were overshadowed by the more visual aspects of this article.

Sources

·         Jenna Fryer, “Fans Injured In Daytona Crash On Final Lap”, Huffington Post, February 23^rd, 2013

Importance of Context

A picture is worth a thousand words, but are these words true or false?  Errol Morris, brings up a very interesting point about this by asking can a picture be true or false?  Ultimately the answer is no.  A picture without word can be neither, but the words and thoughts we use to describe a picture can be.  We may see a picture of boat, a mountain, or a person, but without any other knowledge, how is one to know what mountain they're looking at, or where is this boat sailing.  The point is without context we can only formulate our own ideas about a picture.  A picture doesn't say a thousand words.  We do.  Once we are given the context of a picture it suddenly changes how we think of it.  I'll give an example.

What could I be?

I just show this picture and one is free to judge what it may be for oneself.  One may see the round shape and think maybe this is some type of fancy new throwing disc.  Others will notice the word "nexus" and relate that to the Google Nexus line of phones and tablets.  Is it used with these devices?  Could it be a new portable speaker?  No, in fact it is a LG's wireless charger for the Nexus 4 phone.(link)  Simply set your phone on the slanted surface and it will charge.  It's difficult to guess such a thing from simply staring at a picture.

Before context is added one is left to simply wonder what they are looking at.  They use their past experiences to help them along the way, but their interpretation of the image may be true or false.  Without words to describe a picture it is difficult to guess what something may or may not be.  That is the importance of context in pictures.

Taking an Approach

"In taking an approach, you rewrite not passages or ideas from a text but another writer's mode or style of working."(pg.95)  As stated by Harris, this is the main difference between taking an approach, and forwarding and countering.  In taking an approach one must ask questions that pose problems for the author's theory.  Harris uses three terms to describe taking an approach.  They are acknowledging influences (Noting writers who have impacted your writing), turning an approach on itself ("Asking the same questions of a writer that he or she asks of others"), and reflexivity (analyzing the key choices you've made in writing your text).  In acknowledging influences you talk about what aspects of a writer's style and way of thinking have influenced your own work.  In turning an approach on itself you take questions that the author posed for the readers, and turn them back on the original work.  Lastly, in reflexivity the writer reflects on the choices he or she made in his or her writing, whether it be approach, goal, or even a certain term that has  been highlighted.  These three terms come together to explain Harris's idea of taking an approach.

I have found it difficult to find an example of this in the New York Times, or the blog I've been reading (engadget.com).  So I will instead try to take an approach with Rewriting.  I would say Harris has had a profound impact on my writing since I began reading this book.  In his book he has been combating difficulties with using other writings in your own work.  He has done this by coming up with terms that he relates to writing (countering, forwarding... etc), and using other writing as examples to help explain his terms.  I've found myself trying to incorporate the works of others more often since starting Rewriting, and the methods he gives for forwarding and countering have been very helpful.  I now ask myself and Harris's Rewriting "What is the project?" and "What are its uses and limits?"  The project is obviously to instruct people on ways of including the writings of others effectively into one's own work.  The uses range from how to build upon the ideas of others, how to effectively counter another person's idea, how to using non text sources (like a Dodge commercial), and how to effectively analyze the writing style of another.  He draws strength from the writings of others, and those are the spots where his book truly shines.  I've found the biggest limit is the one Harris acknowledges himself.  He finds some of his own definitions lacking, like in forwarding he even asks the reader to come up with other methods of forwarding.  I find that he is trying to use his own limit as a tool to help illustrate his point to his readers, in the hopes that they will build upon his ideas, like he has done with so many others in Rewriting.

Short Essay 1 Rewriting a News Story

**I will be rewriting the story “Decision on Afghan Troop Levels Calculates Political and Military Interests”.  I will be doing so with the goal of writing this story for a blog for families of military personal like The Heroes at Home, with goal of seeing the troops come home from Afghanistan.  To do this I will highlight Mr. Obama’s current plan as a good step forward, but will suggest that it isn’t a fast enough transition.  I will also make the story more focused on the people and less on politics, by talking about families, and the emotional toll of losing a loved one in war.**  

President Obama’s administration officials released his decision to remove half of the 66,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan by 2014.  This marks a crucial step towards withdrawing from Afghanistan, but to many families of soldiers in the Middle East it isn’t fast enough.  Many believe we are in a war being fought over oil and other natural resources (article comments).  Mr. Obama is expected to highlight this withdrawal in his State of the Union Address, and hopes to receive bipartisan support.

Vice President Biden has voiced a desire to pull out troops more quickly, but Mr. Obama has been known to favor a slower and more careful approach.  Mr. Obama once called this war a “war of necessity”.  Our goal was to stop Al Qaeda, and we succeeded.  Now it’s time to bring the troops home.

This war has dealt a tremendous toll to the families of the soldiers.  These men and women are out there fighting and dying, when they should be here; protecting our country, providing relief during natural disasters, and working to benefit themselves and their nation.  Instead they volunteer to go overseas to protect a country that doesn’t even want them there.  Too many wives have been left without husbands, kids without a father, and Mothers who have lost their children.  More will follow if the proper actions are not taken.

Mr. Obama’s plan calls for gradual withdrawal over the next year.  According to the White House’s withdrawal schedule, 5,500 troops will have left by May, by the end of November that number will be up to 14,000, and by the end of February 2014 the number of troops in Afghanistan should be around 32,000.

The decision for a slower withdrawal in the warmer months is appreciated by military officials.  ”The intensity of combat in the warmer months is twice what it is in the colder months”, said military expert Michael E. O’Hanlon.  Frederick Kagan, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says that reducing the number of troops by half could reduce chances of the campaign’s success, but he says the flexibility of the schedule will lessen that risk.

Mr. Obama has also acknowledged some post 2014 concerns.  He has stated that there are two main goals for the future in Afghanistan.  “Training and equipping Afghan forces, so that the country does not again slip into chaos, and counterterrorism efforts that allow us to pursue the remnants of Al Qaeda and their affiliates”

Mr. Obama has been reluctant to discuss withdrawal after 2014, but he probably hasn’t thought a lot about it.  The plan for the next year is a sufficient one and the president has more pressing matters to deal with.  He is still working to try to find a solution to the looming debt crisis and the lockdown in Congress.  There is still much that needs to be done if we are to pull out, but this plan is a necessary step along that pathway.  One can only hope that a full withdrawal is in the future.

Sources-

-Michael R Gordon and Mark Lander, “Decision on Afghan Troop Levels Calculates Political and Military 

Interests”  New 

York City, New York Times, 12 February 2013.

- Military Family Blogs, The Heroes at Home

Piercing the Press-Sphere

Jeff Jarvis’ explanation of the “press-sphere” leads me to believe that we are all part of it.  Through the internet everyone from business marketers to bloggers can post what they see as news.  He uses four diagrams (I say four, because I can’t see the first one) to illustrate the press-sphere, how we perceive, and how a news story develops. 

The new press-sphere was born out of the internet.  He stresses how the press itself isn’t as involved in the press-sphere as one might think.  The press mya post the story, but they link to companies and to the government for information.  Often times these news stories are circulated by regular people to their peers.  He then goes on to draw a press-sphere from the "me" perspective.  The diagram shows individuals getting most of their news from peers, companies, and personal searches.  The press itself plays a role distant to those around it.
I found his diagram of the news process to be rather confusing.  At first glance I was somewhat intimidated by all of the jagged lines pointing out everywhere, and the way the ideas were linked together was a little confusing.  After staring at it for a few minutes I managed to glean the general idea.  Many ideas and sources come together to make a story,  then it is commented on and forwarded to others.  I preferred the diagram for the life of a story after it is posted.  The bubbles made it easy see bow many different sources come together to further the life of a news story.

www.buzzmachine.com/2008/04/14/the-press-becomes-the-press-sphere)

My Time with the Times

                 So far reading the times has been quite an eye opening experience.  I’m not particularly used to reading the newspaper, but I really like the NYtimes.com format.  I can just glance at all of the big articles and see which one appeals to me.  Lately I've been following the battle in DC over the budget.  Congress can’t agree on how to handle the budget, so we may be facing automatic cuts across the board on March 1^st.  Obama is trying to reach a deal, but who really knows with Congress.  They’ll probably just drag it out until a week or so before the fact and then pass a deal that not only delays the problem, but also aggravates it.  I also check out headlines that jump out at me.  Sadly this usually brings me to murder cases and kidnappings.  I was happy to learn that the hostage situation in Alabama has been resolved peacefully.  I was also somewhat surprised to hear that the Post Office is likely to stop delivering letters on Saturdays.  They say it will save about $2 billion a year, but the article also highlighted that the Post Office is losing around $15 billion annually.  It just makes one wonder if we’ll even have a post office in thirty years.  I think I’ve missed a lot of the happier stories.  The tragedies just jump out at me so fast, that I don’t even notice “World’s Biggest Cookie.”  I would say reading the times hasn’t really affected my habits, except for the obvious new habit of reading the New York Times.

New Era Speed Reading

Why are so many literary mediums fading into obscurity in this day and age?  The answer lays in recent technological advances, like personal computers, smart phones, and the internet that makes information easier to access than ever.  People can stay in touch instantly by using their phones, email, or the many social networking websites, like Facebook and Twitter.  Today’s readers don’t spend hours in libraries, looking through countless books for research.  Now they search the web and information is just a click away.  This trend has had some painful effects on many print industries.  Many newspapers, like Newsweek, have switched to online publications, because most people don’t go out and buy newspapers anymore.  The book store Borders went out of business, because of the increased popularity of eBooks.  Many complain about these changes, but this is just a natural shift.  With increased technology there is a trend that is moving away from printed writing, while moving toward electronic writing.    This all begs the question, are the changes good or bad?

            Some would argue this shift in reading and writing habits is detrimental.  The internet itself has had a powerful impact on the way we read nowadays.  The types of readers that the internet is spitting out are impatient.  Nicholas Carr notes that “what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation.”  People don’t stop to read long articles on the internet.  They “power browse” through the web, and are always moving forward, while rarely going backwards.  People also now enjoy the ease of eBooks and online news, and as a result eBooks have taken $3.2 billion of their market (oedb) from print competitors, and most newspapers today are published solely online.  Chris Hedges would argue that this digital age is cultivating a “semi-literate” population who only understand “images and slogans.”  He talks about how these people lack “the ability to think for one’s self,” and that politicians will take advantage of that to gain control.  These arguments paint a dark picture, but the world has been in a state of change for as long as history has been recorded.  We are all just along for the ride.  Besides, these changes are good.  The transition to electronic writing cuts back on logging for paper.  Anything that saves trees can’t be that bad.  With newspapers going online, they have become more accessible.  My grandmother loves reading the newspaper on her iPad, because she has trouble getting out and about.  The internet brings her news straight to her.  Hedges would say that today’s America is a barely literate population, but this is simply not the case.  According to Lunsford’s study the kids of today are reading more than ever before, and I hope this is a continuing trend.

The shift to digital reading and writing has had some wonderful effects.  The internet has made information more accessible than ever before.  Students today don’t have to spend hours in libraries to gather their research.  They’re one web search away from a massive pool of good and bad information, but it’s up to the reader to judge the value of what they’re reading.  Today’s readers may not read lengthy articles or even books anymore, but they read more than one would think.  They “power browse” through web pages, never stopping, but instead, they look for the main idea and judge the value of what they see.  Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are a wonderful new source of reading and writing.  In them people can share their thoughts and experiences with their friends in a live feed.  Many people today will spend hours just reading about what their friends have been doing or thinking.  I wouldn’t necessarily call Facebook or its ilk a formal literary medium, but it can’t be argued that thousands of people read and write on social networking sites on a regular basis.  However, the best example of the way reading and writing have changed is the internet’s very own literary medium.  Yes, I’m talking about the blog.

            Blogging exemplifies how we as readers and writers have changed.  Andrew Sullivan describes blogging as “instant and global self-publishing.”  “Instant and global.”  These two words are the foundations of blogging and also the direction our literary shift is heading in.  The majority of blog posts are between 100 and 500 words (modern1).  This short length appeals to our short attention spans.  Like I said before, today’s readers and writers are impatient.  The readers like blogs, because they are relatively short.  One’s attention drifts after a couple pages so a short blog post is ideal.  The writers like blogging, because they can self-publish their work to a global audience for free.  This idea of “global self-publishing” really wasn’t possible until the internet.  This is bringing about a golden age for writers.  Any average Joe can go to a site like Blogger and start his own blog with relatively little difficulty.  This ease is unheard of.  Before the internet, one would have to be a recognized writer, or have access to a large sum of money to get published, but that is no longer the case.  I personally have found blogging to be an incredibly fun way to express myself.  I hadn’t blogged before this class, but I will continue to do so after this class is over.  Nobody knew what a blog was twenty years ago, and now it’s one of the fastest growing literary mediums.

            This new shift in literacy is also having a profound effect on writing.  Writing style changes based on the medium, and the internet’s new writers exemplify the current trend.  They write what they think as they think it.  Blogging is the end result of this.  As Sullivan puts it, “We blog now-as news reaches us, as facts emerge.”  I believe blogs will continue to evolve and grow until blogging is one of the main mediums that writers use to publish their work.  I also believe this writing class is an example of how writing has changed.  I think this blog writing class model is fun, accessible, and something similar could be used in High School classes.   The school could make its own blog like database for students to post there writings.  It would make submitting homework much simpler, and it would also make it easier to get input from peers.    Society and technology keep moving forward side by side.

            All of these changes in reading and writing lead one to wonder… What’s next?  Clearly our populations reading and writing habits are changing.  This new trend of impatience that is evident in today’s readers is leading to increasingly short and to the point writings.  Many new writing activities have emerged, because of the web.  Activities like blogging, posting, commenting, and even trolling have become the norm.  Hedges made a good note in that the trend seems to be to a more image based society.  People today fill their writings with all sorts of visuals, like pictures, videos, and even little text faces.  The internet bombards its users with visual ads on basically every webpage, but these ads fund the websites and keep them accessible to everyone.  These ads are aimed at the new readers, by being getting their message across in the fastest and flashiest way they can.  New readers won’t delve deeply into a site, unless they have a significant personal interest in the content. In the future, I imagine publications will continue to grow shorter and more image based, so as to grab the fleeting attention span for as long as possible.

            These new literary trends are shoving old habits aside.  People will continue to gravitate towards the ease of the digital age.  It’s a natural progression.  People are continuing to use eBooks as opposed to hard copies, and it’s easy to see why.  People can house an entire library of books on their computer of tablet.  EBooks are cheaper and help save the environment, by cutting back on tree consumption.  Web research has made research projects exceptionally easier too.  I’ve never spent an extended period of time doing research in a library, unless I was on the computer.  Using mainly encyclopedias and books for research is almost unheard of nowadays.  Everybody uses the internet.  One has to make the distinction between good and bad web sources, but that is an easy trade off to make in exchange for the vast amount information available on the web. 

            These technological advancements will continue to reshape the world as we know it.  The internet has made it easier than ever before to publish personal writing.  All of the major writers are going to have their work available on the internet.  Whether they are blog posts or eBooks, they’ll be on the web.  The new writers will be intertwined by the internet.  Their work will be accessible by a worldwide audience, and this global pool of information will continue to grow.  The “new readers” will swiftly swim through the pool of information.  They’ll be a click away from everything.  It’ll be a golden age for writers.  However change is a double bladed sword.  The last Borders closed on September 18^th of 2011, and this leads me to ponder what’s next?  Will it be libraries, blogs, cell phones, or even the beloved Facebook that lands on the chopping block of change?

Sources

- America the Illiterate By Chris Hedges

- Is Google Making Us Stupid? July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly  By Nicholas Carr

-Why I Blog November 2008 Atlantic By Andrew Sullivan

-Our Semi-literate Youth? Not So Fast By Andrea A. Lunsford

- modernl.com – Ideal blog post-

-Bookstores in America- (oedb) - http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/12-stats-on-the-state-of-bookstores-in-america-today

Our News

                Compared to others, it seems like I have a little in common with classmates in terms of news intake.  I watch more TV news than most people.  Everybody seems to be getting most of their news by word of mouth from friends.  They also use Facebook a lot.  I don’t really understand the Facebook trend very well.  I get that a lot of people use it and I see how they can get news, but I guess I just don’t get the appeal anymore.  I don’t go on Facebook very much, simply because it bores me.  I really just don’t care anymore.   I do think that there is a trend that is moving towards internet news, and I can completely understand why.  It is just easier.  One can look up news on any category they want with a few taps of the keyboard.  This goes back to what Carr was saying about convenience.  People just want life to be faster and easier nowadays, and the internet caters to that.  Talking about convenience though, nothing is more convenient than being thrown news by your friends and that is how most people in my generation seem to be getting their news.  “Why do I care enough to watch the news?  Because I’m an adult and this is something adults do.”  This is the usual obligation that we seem to feel about the news in general.  We all have been reading the New York Times (I hope) and I think that has been good for everybody.  I don’t think most people in my generation read newspapers and I think it gives a good new perspective on the news.  Clearly the way we get our news is changing.  People didn’t even know what Facebook was 15 years ago, and now it’s a “legitimate news source.”

Where's My News?

                Thinking about where I get my news is a little strange.  I normally look at national news as opposed to local news.  I’ll normally be watching like Fox News or CNN when I’m interested, but my interest comes and goes with the political season.  I do often find myself tuning in for the Daily Show and the Colbert Report.  They’re lighter hearted than most news shows.  I just don’t really like how almost every news story nowadays is bad.  They’ll show happy things, like a new charity program, and glance at them for about five minutes, but they’ll talk about a murder case for weeks, months, or even years.  It’s just depressing.  I fell into a weird habit a couple years ago.  I used to watch Fox News while I played World of Warcraft.  I know it’s a weird combo, but I enjoyed it.  I felt more informed on current issues in the real world, but I was still enjoying myself in a fantasy world.  I've also been reading the New York Times since this class started.  I like being able to just glance over the top stories, to see if any of them jump out at me.  I also go to IGN.com for my video game news.  I like to stay up to date on big announcements in the video game and technology industries.  The technology news sights are probably my favorite news, just because I enjoy the material, and it’s always looking forward at exciting new developments.