Technotexts, presentation response: part deux.

This study of technotexts just reminds me of learning poetry in high school. We would all sit around and give presentations of a few certain poems, color marking them and analyzing their structure.

I wonder what my high school self would have thought about this concept.

The reason I hate studying poetry is because I truly feel like it is a personal thing, not something that I want to discuss in class with a group of people who do not understand poetry the way I do. If there is one thing I dislike, it is explaining why something means what it does to me--and explaining what I think the poet meant.

I just feel like poetry is a sort of customer service business. A poet writes poems for their own sake, and then shares them to touch, for lack of a better word, another person. Who am I to judge what a poem meant to that poet?

It is the same with technotexts.. Well, maybe not, now that I think of it. The producer of a technotext is obviously using these different methods to even further share the meaning of their words, what they're feeling, through visual and audible (correct word?) aids.

Whatever. I do not know what I think. I am not impressed by these "poems."

Technotext: Presentation, "While Chopping Red Peppers"

I commented on this technotext in my previous post because it bothered me so much, but the question, "How would this technotext be different if it were presented as a codex?" is exactly what I want to answer about this.

I feel like the visual and audio NLGs did not fit what I felt should go along with the actual words, so I think that if the text were presented as a codex, it would have a bit more significance for me.

The words seemed to be very meaningful, while the tone of the person speaking seemed very careless. The images just did not appeal to me visually, as I do not generally like these types of visual images.

Ahh.. no time left. Bye.

Technotexts.

The Dreamlife of Letters is always fun, if just because the name is interesting. I always seem to just imagine the letters taking on lives of their own because of the title. While I was reviewing this the first time I looked at it as an option for an experiential learning project, I decided that I could not come up with something as creatively random as that--so I decided on something else. I think that made me feel like that sort of project was out of my grasp was because I do not generally understand it. I do not think that my brain works to come up with random letters and made up words like the ones used in this because I always end up thinking of "real" words and how these words work with other words, making the project something that is not so random, and therefore, not so creative.

This class makes me think differently of pieces like this. Normally, I would think that the Dreamlife of Letters is just a silly expression of letters, having no meaning or creativity to them what-so-ever, but because of the context of this class, this is a piece of poetry (or creative work) and it is thought of as truly innovative.

I think this goes for the Anipoems, as well. Where I would normally write *some of* these off as poems that a fifth grader put together as part of a class poem on one of those old Mac computers, because they now have this "technotext" label attached to them, they are automatically a credible source of poetry.

The poems themselves are interesting; they do not seem to following a certain pattern, except that of giving letters true importance, whether it is because the letters are drawing out a picture to match the title of the poem, or because the letters spell out words and nearly complete thoughts.

As for the "While Chopping Red Peppers" technotext, I did not care for it at all. I do not feel that the images or the voice conveyed what I thought the text meant. The little "refrigerator" for the word magnets that stood as a time filler before the poem started amused me. I had fun putting together what I thought was a pretty big group of random words. The words ended up meaning something, but not entirely too much to me considering I was not the one who chose the words in the first place.

Andrews mentions in his last paragraph that sometimes these special effects, such as moving and crossing texts, etc., are often meant to be "impressive" rather than "readable." This can be true, and this does often lose my attention. With ideas like Anipoems and "While Chopping Red Peppers," I just can't help but to think that these ideas are being done for the sake of being creative. I do not feel that these poems should be praised as innovative, but rather silly experients. "Fields of Dream" was just like a madlib, I felt. It was not truly creative , either.

Behind on posts..

I know that I'm really behind on posts, but I have been so busy with the newspaper and planning EarthFest..

Now that that's over, I will have more time for school work, so I promise to catch up with posts ASAP!

Thanks,

Janice

Mobile text intro blog

"In their view, the mobile phone is seen by users as an extension of their self. By the same token, the loss of a mobile phone is felt not just on the material level but also on the level of one's sense of physical self," (Katz 173).

Do you agree or disagree? Think about your relationship with your cell phone.


For my birthday, my mom bought me a Blackberry, the World Edition phone. She bought me this because I have been begging for a way to check my e-mail on my phone, and because if I get into my study abroad program, I will be able to use my cell phone in England.

Well, let me tell you--they do not call it a "Crackberry" for nothing. I am constantly on my phone, checking my e-mail messages, text messages and Google chat. It is absolutely ridiculous that one tiny phone could house that many modes of communication, but it does, and I allow it to run my life.

Instead of being completely convenient for me, my phone has now opened my life up to anyone who has to get in touch with me--at any time. It has made everyone else's life more convenient, as I am now available to them whenever they need.

It feels weird, like I do not have complete control over my life.. Even when I think I have a moment to breath, I do not, because I am soon beckoned by a text message from someone who needs something from me.

This is definitely adding to the stress level of our culture. While we expect information at our fingertips, sometimes this demand can go a bit far, and I definitely think that a Blackberry is an example of that.

Edit: My Blackberry decided not to work for two days, so even though I could get phone call (only half of the time), I could not receive text messages and everyone flipped. They complained that I was too hard to get a hold of.. Uh, e-mail?

Now I just like to make a habit of leaving my phone places so that I do not have to deal with people 24/7.

This whole Blackberry thing is making me grumpy.

Uncreative writing

My personal definition of uncreative writing did not truly change. I have always thought of uncreative writing as ultimately creative, as I view the authors as those trying to present words in ways that have not been used before. When I was creating my own piece, it only reinforced how I view the process of creating uncreative writing. I sat for awhile and just thought about the most outlandish way to come up with and present text. I found myself thinking about how I could most creatively present information that would not normally be worthy of publishing. Of course I am not sure if this is how every "uncreative" author thinks before working on a piece, but this is how I view uncreative writing...

I felt like I did when I created flarf.

Uncreative writing presentation blog.

What makes a work uncreative?

Uncreative writing.

Behind on blogs, once again.. I'll get to this soon :D

Matt & Lindsey's presentation blog

How effective do you think the codex is as an art medium?
How does it compare to other media, such as canvas or paper?
OR write about your experience making your own artist's book, zine or treated text.