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Technical Writing · Exposition & Argumentation · Non-fiction Creative Essays · Grammar and Usage of Standard English · The Structure of English · Analysis of Shakespeare
Analysis of Literary Language · Advanced Professional Papers · The History of the English Language · First Internship: Tutoring in a Writing Workshop · Second Internship: Advanced Instruction: Tutoring Writing
Visual Literacy Seminar (A First Course in Methodology) · Language in Society (A Third Course in Methodology) · The Writer's Guild
UMBC'S Conservative Newspaper: "The Retriever's Right Eye" · UMBC'S University Newspaper: "The Retriever Weekly" · Introduction to Journalism · Feature Writing · Science Writing Papers
Communicative Objective #1 (CO1): The Re-patent · Presentation/Gaming Activity: "Shopping Happens" · The History of "this" Space: UMBC Food
Blackboard Weekly Posts (A Bulletin Board Community)
Explanation of How to Read "This" Objective · Parameters for Recontextualizing Authorless Text · Photos of the Authorless Text Artifacts
The Authorless Text Narrative · The Authorless Text Rolling Credits · The Authorless Text Lost and Found
The Authorless Text Workshops One and Two: Brainstorming Ideas Within a Social Context · The Authorless Text that was Researched, Tested, and Abandoned
Authorless Text Blackboard Community Post
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The Goals and Choices Narrative · The Process Narrative-Sketch
What is the re-context of the 14 business cards?
The end product may be found at the following URL:
This is an extremely brief synopsis of my life using 15 business cards. The text is read in the traditional Western approach of left to right, top to bottom. The word "work" is being used as it is typically used in the study of writing analysis. Each word used in a sentence performs some kind of work or drives an objective. Each word must serve a purpose. If the word serves no purpose, it does no work and hence it should be removed because the sentence continues to convey the same meaning without the word.
I decided to pursue this design after creating a series of collections that made sense but did little work. I was simply shoving cards around categorizing them. Tuesday evening, May 2, 2006 it occurred to me if I used only specific business cards out of my collection there was a story about how I persevered through life’s obstacles. The business cards tell a story of how I continually re-invented myself as a new obstacle was placed in my path.
Shpika informed us that this is the "Rocky" narrative, rising above all obstacles and achieving a goal against all odds even though I don’t know what I have risen above as I still find myself struggling. The re-contextualization weaves a tale in 15 business cards of how I went from one goal to the next and moved from place to place to obtain that goal. The tale is for anyone who cares to listen. The best way to sum up the narrative is “
What does this narrative say as I have no experience reading a narrative made from business cards?
Card 1
I entered
Card 2
I taught myself how to weld with an oxygen-acetylene torch and got a better job with Lenco making marine oil coolers. After three years I got fed up and wondered what the Hell I was doing with my life. My high school teachers had bigger pans for me as I obtained a Regents diploma and had studied 3 years of math and science. Welding and soldering oil coolers? I could be designing oil coolers.
Card 3 same as Card 1
I went back to SUNY Farmingdale and graduated Suma Cum Lauda in the Spring of 1982 with a degree in
Card 4
In 1985, landed my technical writing job with Beck/Arnley on Rt. 110 (Broadhollow Rd.) in East Farmingdale, NY. The location was interesting in my mind because as a teen we used to ride motocross
Card 5 & 6
June 21, 1986 I married. I can use this particular card because my wife gave it to me. I am not the one who declared her a bitch. She declared herself a bitch. In the mean time, I continued earning my degree in Engineering Science degree at Farmingdale and was laid off by Beck/Arnley. I landed a new job with Interco Parts Corp. where I had a career position and worked there for years while going to school at night.
Card 7 & 8
In 1989, I got a divorce, sunk into a second depression, and went back for therapy. At the same time I managed to graduate from Farmingdale. I continued working at Interco and tried to straighten out my life. I was laid off from Interco.
Card 9
I had graduated from Farmingdale, was still working at Interco, and was going to therapy. I couldn't study anymore at this point and wanted a mental break. At the same time I became lonely and bored. I filled my life the way I always had done, with music. The NY Post Progressive Punk Pop Party (5P) was running full tilt and there were alternative dance clubs everywhere. I spent my weekend nights in the night clubs dancing to alternative post punk music. I was old, but not so old that I didn't fit in. I was the upper part of the range yet accepted by my peers.
Card 10
With no job, no wife, and no children I packed up my things and moved in with family in
Cards 11, 12 & 13
When the year was up, I applied to
First, the narrative map differs from the image map because I had forgotten the sequence of events. I landed the job at Micro Center, got accepted into Drexel, and then moved to Chestnut Hill. Somehow my mind blotted out the God awful 1 1/2 hour, one-way commute from Lancaster to St. Davids, PA (Philadelphia suburb, know by the locals as "The Mainline") I performed for two months before moving in. Even this may not be right. I have have gained entrance into the university, then landed the job, paid my tuition, and then moved. It's a blur now.
Second, the reason I used an associate's business card instead of my own was because surprisingly, my business card is not in my collection of business cards. Must be psychological negation again. Or maybe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). I wonder if I'm eligible for "combat pay," "VA benefits," or "Service-disabled Veteran status?"
Cards 14 & 15
By July 1999 I was lonely. I was involved in a long distance relationship that failed and just left me dissatisfied. In walks a Ph.D. who I will name the “Herb Lady” because we were both into Eastern Philosophy/Religion and Alternative Healing. This was also a long distance relationship but I could get in my car in Philadelphia and be in
The original image map shows the ninth business card as "Farmingdale College" but the narrative shows "Slipped Disk" as the ninth business card. Why did you change business card number 9?
I realized in writing the narrative I had painted myself into a corner. I had gotten the divorce, graduated Farmingdale shortly thereafter, I was still working at Interco and I was still going to therapy. By leaving the Farmingdale card in play for the third time I found I really had nothing to write about. I had to bring a new card into play. Using the Farmingdale business card as the ninth card left me with little to say other than a sentence or two.
Story telling was something that was discussed in ENGL 407 Communication in Society. The oral tradition was also discussed. There is an art to "story telling." The story teller doesn't tell everything. He/She selectively leaves out portions of the narrative that to not serve the particular purpose of the story. In the oral tradition, the story teller will also embellish other parts of the story: one out of boredom of hearing the same story over and over, and two to keep the audience engaged as they too get bored hearing the same story over and over. Also the story is manipulated to do different work from the previous time the story is told.
My point is that by leaving the Farmingdale business card for the third time, the narrative would fall flat and in order to keep the momentum of the story going, I had to swap out the card for a new one that would do more work in the narrative.
Why are the cards shown in a full size scan and not reduced so the user does not have to scroll down?
I reduced the size of the jpg’s and by the fourth group I noticed that the image quality had degraded to where the cards could not be read. This was Tuesday afternoon, May 2, 2006 and I had to re-scan the four clusters of cards so they were legible again which takes time away from writing goals and choices.
Why was the web page done with in-text hyperlinks versus opening to a new window?
The reason for opening a new window is when one intends to re-direct the reader to someone else’s web site. This leaves my web site on the desk top and the outside web site in a different window this way the user never leaves my web site and can find their way back easily.
Why was the web page done with in-text hyperlinks versus referring the user to another page within my web site?
This was not deemed necessary as the opening of the first page downloads images fast enough that I deeded it unnecessary to create six or eight more file names only to gain an almost imperceptible gain in speed for loading the next web page. Having one page for the six or eight jog’s leads quickly enough and simplifies my administrative tasks by not showing only one more file name for a web page versus seven to nine more file names that will do the same work as one. When there are over 400 files in the current web site and this is a small site, who wants more files to maintain unless they are really necessary.
Why are there so few groupings?
There was not enough time to do a quality job on the end product for this communicative objective.
Why was the image of business cards not broken into an image map?
I discussed this with Matt Bowman, Naphtali Barsky, and Elizabeth Piccirillo who agreed that Shipka would understand what is an image map on a webpage. I have decided against their better judgement to take nothing for granted and will first describe what is an image map.
An image map is for the purpose of navigation on a webpage. An image map is when an image is broken up into active segments that are for the purpose of navigation similar to a hypertext link except it is an image.
As an example, if one was to pass the mouse or cursor over the SUNY Farmingdale business card one would find that the cursor would become active and that the user could click on the card opening another window where there would be a narrative shown in the new window. The user would be able to click on each business card and read the narrative about why that particular business card was significant in my life. The instruction on the web page would be “To view the narrative, click on the business card of your choice.
Each business card would open a new narrative window; therefore, the user could decide on the point of entry to the narrative. Each business card would have a different narrative according to its position in the image map. Page one would begin in the upper left-hand corner. The narrative could be read from the upper left hand corner, left to right, top to bottom in Western culture tradition and the narrative would end in the lower right hand corner. The narrative would be a brief autobiography describing the significance of each card.
This was not completed because I ran out of time to create an end product. In addition I needed Microsoft Front Page because this software program has a nice function for creating image maps (one of the few things Front Page does well) but I do not have this program at home. There was so little time left I was afraid that the code may screw up the page and I would have to spend hours trying to straighten it out therefore this will be done after the project has been graded during the summer of 2006.
Why was the idea of using an image map for the narrative eventually scrapped?
I scrapped the idea of the image map and used a table to control placement of the the business cards because I don't have Microsoft Front Page. Anglefire claims their servers will play nicely with Front Page, but Front Page sucks and practically no one uses it at this point. I'm not going to buy a special software program just to create this image map.
I have an old copy of Dreamweaver but I am not sure if it will do image maps. More than likely it will. The other unknown is I do not know if the Anglefire web server will play nicely with Dreamweaver and I am not going to use Anglefire's web authoring system for dummies because I have no idea what it will do to all the coding I have already written. Therefore, I intend to play it safe and create the image map in the best way I know how as it will still achieve my objective although not as fun. I think that using the map and mouse-overs added a little mystery of the authorless text narrative.
Why this title for the Authorless Text 2nd CO?
I had to come up with a title for the project and I always find this difficult. I have to throw titles down as they come to mind and keep tweaking them in different ways, making them do different work until something leaps off the page and says, “Pick me!”
I had to consider the various processes of my life and how goals constantly changed due to different states of mind. Not only did my states of mind change but also changed the states in which I lived in order to pursue different goals and seek new opportunities.
When I graduated high school and entered college, my world was primarily analog. With the invention of the Apple PC and Microsoft DOS operating system the landscape began to change around me. The birth of the Digital Age had begun and as a technologist and scientist in tracking I realized I had to constantly retrain or risk becoming a dinosaur. An old Dilbert joke was a dinosaur typing a letter at a typewriter. He makes a mistake and says, "I hope I can fix this before my cousins evolve into birds."
What other titles were experimented with and dumped?
What and why the argument behind the narrative “You Can’t Get There From Here” and why was this idea abandoned?
I would like to write my narrative in the form of visual displays of road maps, flow diagrams, charts, and in the shape of such objects as cars, buses, trains, and planes, even bicycles to play with the theme of travel and the roadblocks one finds in their journey through life in attempting to attain their goals.
My argument that I did not recognize before is people tell you that, “America is a great place to live. You have the freedom to be anything you want.” My argument is that “No, we do not have the freedom to do whatever we want as it is a world of reality and with that reality we are encounter physical constraints, economic constraints, sociological constraints, political constraints, psychological constraints, historical constraints, constraints of personal capabilities and abilities, constraints of sex, religion, race, and ethnicity. Even so I am sure someone else reading this can find still more constraints which create a situation of “You can’t get there from here.”
I am not saying that American is not the greatest place to live and has the most individual freedoms that are protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Amendments to the Constitution. I am saying that even within this greatness there are constraints that prevent us from being whoever and whatever we want regardless of our personal freedoms and some of these constraints cannot be changed.
I wrote a narrative last summer about myself and the twists and turns I went though in my education from one field to the next but all had some kind of connection to each other. I thought I was writing something interesting. Maggie DeLauney in ENGL 407 heard me talk about this in Shipka’s office and thought my story would have been an interesting tale for a history, obviously a small glimpse of my own personal history and that this tale had something to offer to more youthful peers. I wasn’t thrilled with this because I am not really comfortable with talking about myself as a topic or focus. I prefer artifacts or things versus people especially personal stuff. I was trying to get published and many of the journals are calling for memoirs which was why I wrote the essay. Shipka in ENGL 407 Tuesday informed us that when students were asked to write about their college experience, out of hundreds read only three types actually existed. Shipka called them the “Rocky” essay (against all odds), “Before Eve” (I can’t think of what this is now, so I have to ask Shipka to clarify), and “Amazing Grace" (Shipka didn’t clarify this one either but I am thinking “Lost” but “Found”). When I think of the essay I now, I think my essay falls into the category of “Amazing Grace” though it could be “Rocky.” I thought of it more like the ending music of the
I can’t afford a car and pay tuition so I now travel by bus everywhere. I thought I would collect bus schedules. Then it occurred to me Monty Python did a skit spoofing Masterpiece Theater,
This concept was abandoned because the project was going to take way too much time to do properly and will be developed during the summer of 2006 as a new media text.
What was the “Footnotes and Notes for the Foot” concept and why was it abandoned?
Sorry Shipka this is not meant to creep you out and this will probably be the first of the ideas to get dumped. Something to the effect of “Footnotes and Notes for the Foot.” This came about from the card in my wallet for foot massage. In the UMBC there are two handouts for MLA and APA style guides. We all know there are many various style guides out there:
As far as Notes for the Foot a brief look showed me I could find all kinds of authorless text about feet, foot health, foot problems, and other useful knowledge. I am really not clear as how these types of text weave and categorize together other than a play on words and that the bottom of the page in publishing is a footer.
This was abandoned because I was afraid it would creep Shipka out and not accepted as a play on words. The last thing I want to do is offend someone. This may be pursued at a later date but not a likely candidate for summer 2006.
What was the tale of The Three Kilroy’s: UMBC’s official take-out connoisseurs and why was this abandoned?
Okay put on your tin foil hat again. When I wrote for the Retriever somehow all the articles on food that semester were being fielded to me. I became the “Food Man” on campus. If it dealt with food it seemed to have my name on the article. The Authorless text seems to be heading in that direction once again. Being the “Food Man” or writing about food was NEVER something I EVER considered. I consider myself a picky eater but maybe I’m not as picky as I think.
At some point in time when I lived in N.Y., we developed this oddity of running to a restaurant at the drop of a hat. But not just any restaurant, it all depended upon what someone said they were hungry for. If someone said they wanted a cheeseburger we would run down to Virginia to a special place. If someone said Chinese in an hour we were crossing the Manhattan Bridge to enter Chinatown and would eat only at Wo Hops and specifically in the basement. If someone said souvlaki back in the cars off to Bayville on the North Shore of Long Island. If someone said Mexican food we were on a plane to Bloomington, Ill. chicken in a black bean sauce we’d scurry over to Hicksville, N.Y. We were mapping out the entire Continental U.S. with our stomachs. Then we did it because we could. Now the fascination may exist because I don’t have enough money to buy food and I’m hungry all the time. I started to think of all the take-out restaurants around me here in my travels in Arbutus and Catonsville and there are a lot. I went out and collected take-out menus.
I have no idea why but again Monty Python came into my head and it was the skit of the three Australian Bruce’s. At the same time I thought of the image of Kilroy who was from the WWII era and painted everywhere. He always looks like he is peering over the edge of a fence. I did a search on him and found variations of his image. I thought maybe I could use him to hold the menus. Why not weave a text of the Three Kilroy’s who attended UMBC and became the experts in Catonsville/Arbutus Take-out. I might be able to weave scenes of them in one restaurant bugging the restaurant owner for extra cat or dog in their Chinese take-out or how two of the Kilroy’s admonish the third and banish him form the dining table because what he chose looks awful and stinks literally but he loves to eat it there because he says that it’s made the best.
This concept was abandoned due to the time it would take to develop and analyze. This will be pursued during the summer of 2006 as a new media text.
Why was the business card cataloging project abandoned?
This topic in my mind is the most boring but maybe does the most work as far as categorization. The authorless text would be business cards. First, this text is probably one of the most overdone types of text in this class. If I consider the work business cards do in goals and choices I am a little nervous because this authorless text may not provide a great deal to write about. I have a small binder I have maintained over the years not for collecting purposes as one of my brother-in-law’s has done over the years but this was a “working portfolio” with several categories within the collection. In addition, this was NOT the objective if one reads it carefully. The objective is to de- and re-contextualize authorless text. Meaning, "take the authorless text out of its original intended context and re-purposing the text into a new context."
Some categories might fall short of six so those may have to be negated but this would also end up in goals and choices as what was trimmed out and why. Various categories would be Automotive Suppliers, Dealers, Software Sales, Computer Sales, Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors, Therapists, Record Stores, Antique Glass Dealers, Universities, Veterinarians, Pet Stores, and there are probably still more all of which are from different states. I think some of the cards would have their own stories and some would mark out phases of interest of things also. Business cards could also be broken into two huge categories: Pre-Internet and Post-Internet because some of these cards may go far back. That depends upon how many I held onto because I know every couple of years I do a discard of cards that no longer serve a purpose. Another category could be business cards with graphics and without graphics. One last huge category would be businesses selling services and businesses selling products. Many of the cards would be the same but there are many ways I could look at them in categorizing them according to the “work” they are doing.
At best, this was a back-up if all else did not go well. It was a fall back plan and actually I ended up seeing something different in the business cards at the last minute. It is the last minute thing I saw that I ended up pursuing so this was partially abandoned.
Why was the combining of various pages of auto parts catalogs written in English as authorless text abandoned?
I wrote auto parts catalogs for ten years. Automotive catalogs are authorless text. I am not going to pursue this route of classifying because I no longer have copies of the catalogs I wrote. Classifying was what we did all day long, by Asian or European car, by Country of origin (Japan, Korea, Germany, Sweden, etc.), Manufacturer, (BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc.), then by function with the automobile (Ignition, Brakes, Drivetrain, Engine, Emissions, etc.), still further down in say Ignition, is the object a cap, rotor, ignition wire, spark plugs, and so on.) Basically, this was the same work Western Science does, breaking down a car to it’s smallest components, placing the information into a catalog so the counter-person could take care of his/her customer. Reflecting on this thought, the entire operation was categorized with authorless text. This was also impossible because I do not have access to the information.
Why was the concept of analyzing foreign manufacturers auto parts catalogs written in foreign as authorless text abandoned?
Our research library of where to obtain these auto parts was cataloged in authorless text. One consulted a book that indicated the date of the catalogs and was broken down similarly to the parts catalogs. Country of origin, parts the manufacturer supplied, and other categories. This was also impossible because I do not have access to the information.
What was the concept of the sign as an authorless text and why was it abandoned?
The Sign! As I walk to UMBC Friday evening to collect the remaining food take out menus for that possible authorless the idea of signs snacks me in the face. Signs are practically invisible. One pays no attention to them unless one needs to. Driving in vehicles one is even less aware of them. Walking and being mindful of “Authorless Text,” I notice there are millions of them out there that can be placed into distinct categories. All the signs I see could be photographed, scanned to digitize, and manipulated on a web page for cataloging/categorizing purposes by the type of work they do.
This has been immediately dismissed due to two of the three main constraints of any project: cost and time. Scope I don’t see as a problem as there will be tremendous variation doing a walking tour from my rented room to my destination the UMBC library. Cost is the prevalent factor in avoiding such a project. I would have to shoot vast amounts of film and processing costs that I cannot afford. If I was fortunate enough to own a digital camera or knew someone who would trust me with one I could do such a project. As things are I do not have access to a digital camera and would have to work with 35mm and is not within my budget. Time could become another problem factor because I have to use mass transit to get anywhere. This could slow down productivity an turn around time when having fill processed. The goal is not the end product but the content of Goals and Choices. The topic has been abandoned.
Why was this method of presentation pursued?
As far as how to display the project this project regardless of which I choose I believe will work nicely for a web site within my own web site or several pages broken up into various categories. I think this assignment may lend itself quite well to scanning and digitizing. I could create an end product quickly and concentrate my efforts writing goals and choices.
Why was this end product abandoned?
The entire product could be burned onto a CD as a web site and viewed from the CD. This end product also lends itself well to a PowerPoint presentation or multimedia PowerPoint presentation advertising products and services placed on a CD and sent through the mail. I ran out of time due to the heavy analysis of a failed presentation.
Why was this method of delivery abandoned?
This could be delivered as an advertising CD demonstrating the goods and services The Integral Worm can provide. The CD could be placed into a clear jewel case and some advertising blub/cover design could be used as the sleeve the CD comes with. Inside the jacket could be the company name and an explanation of how to use the CD in order to view the project. I ran out of time due to the heavy analysis of failed presentation.
What is your design process?
Figure 1
The second objective is handed out and I begin to scan the assignment sheet looking for clues of the expectations of the Authorless Text De- and Re-Contextualization assignment. I am examining the second side of the sheet, which is doing all the work in reporting what is expected in this assignment. Naphtali Barsky is excited at this moment because he already has a plan for a theme and cannot contain himself. I can understand his enthusiasm but I do not share it with him. I am trying my best to determine what the assignment expects and what work the assignment sheet is doing. “What cha gonna do? What cha gonna do?” Naphtali explicates. I respond as politely as possible because his enthusiasm is making it difficult for me to concentrate. I want to formulate questions on the sheet now, if I have any, while we here as a group so my peers may also benefit, in addition to preventing having to go to see Shipka during her office hours because there are many others now who have specific meetings they must attend for various projects. I am not the only one who needs Shipka’s time and I must to be fair to others
We need to go out and collect a minimum of six to eight authorless text to earn a “C.” This means I must collect a great deal more, so just this process will be highly time consuming. Workshops will be held on April 11 and 13 and we must bring two typewritten plans of action for creating at least two different contexts (or ways of historically-positioning, integrating, arranging and re-representing or dis-playing) the found texts. I have to create a specific context in which the various text might be brought together. I must de- and re-contextualize collections of lost-and-found texts by May 2nd. My first milestone is April 11 for this new objective and knowing how difficult it can be to find patterns and themes I begin once the ENGL 407 class ends.
Figure 2
The first place I hit on campus is the
As an aside, but this could be weaved into business card "Life's a Bitch, Then You Marry One" as I do not travel well nor do I like travel. My ex-wife on the other hand, loves travel and now works for the Federal Government within the TSA.
The working title may remain but the non-fiction essay itself may not work properly. I may just re-use the title and weave a new text around the schedules in an attempt to explain all the changes, detours, road blocks, and security checks I have gone through in attempting to attain my goal of the American Dream. Christ, all I want is a career and a place where my input is valued, respected, and encouraged, a car, a home of my own, food, clothes, a wife, two to three weeks vacation every year, a few dollars to travel while on vacation, and the ability to retire without having to eat dog food. Is that too much to ask? A means to make a living?
Figures 3 and 4
Next I run over to the
Figure 5
There is a wealth of text in the room but there are a few reasons that prevent me from proceeding further. One there is a secretary sitting at a desk acting as a receptionist. If I go in there and start pulling sheet after sheet without looking at them she will probably get miffed and ask me what I am doing. I may even hear the old line, “Those information sheets cost us money you know...” or some other remark telling me to go piss off. The other problem is I am a man, but not just any man. I am a middle-aged European White male, the scourge of society and equality and not a woman or a minority. My appearance will probably make her doubly upset. I decide the best thing to do is forget about this place and enter it in my goals and choices as to something I did not do but considered
Figure 6
I walk out of the Commons and walk into the Registrar’s Building as there should be plenty of forms in here I may find useful for re-contextualizing. I pull what ever I think may be useful and go back to the the
Figure 7
Of course I cannot forget the English department and go up there when everyone has left to collect more authorless texts
Saturday afternoon I go to Pep Boys and I know we also have authorless text there too. I pick up everything I readily see when no one is looking because this is a bizarre exercise. I also know no matter how I try to explain to anyone why I need authorless texts, I will become exasperated and end up throwing up my hands saying, “You wouldn’t understand, it’s a Shipka thing” and walk away leaving the person completely bewildered as to what that just meant. As I am standing behind the counter I become bored and my feet hurt so I begin pacing to reduce the pain of standing in one place. Out of the corner of my eye I see a flyer from one of the take-out places in the neighborhood. That is another perfect set of text easily available to me as I run around in my daily routine. Food, food, and more food.
Figure 8
I became the guy on the UMBC food beat while working for the
Now my mind is really grinding on the topic. I can stop at Applebee’s when I get out of work on my way to the bus stop. I could stop at the Chinese take out on the way and also Ham Heaven. Further down is Sorrento’s, another Chinese take out plus an Italian take-out. I also have two take outs just outside my room that I walk past everyday. On my way to UMBC there is yet another two Chinese take outs and another Italian take-out. Then it hits me, I need to stop in the center of Catonsville to search in the used CD shop for a Mark Smith and The Fall CD for
Figure 9
My only reservation is doing yet another project in the same class revolving around the topic of food. I feel like I am becoming obsessed with food or maybe that’s just my stomach growling because I haven’t eaten yet since I got home at 9:30 p.m. and it’s now 2 a.m.
Figure 10
Another possibility could be a theme playing with the style guide sheets I picked up in the library for MLA and APA. I know there are many more style guides such as Chicago, IEEE, Math-Stat, Bio, Chem, maybe SAE, and many more I could find on the Internet as authorless text and play with the theme of foot notes and the card in my pocket dealing with foot massage. I could probably find more authorless texts on this topic on the Internet also. The problem is Shipka has a pet peeve/gross out problem with the mere mention of the word f - - - (feet) and my intent is not to make her crazy but this could become a silly theme that might play out well
Figure 11
I will probably explore this anyway and see if it takes off but I'll also concentrate on the other themes also. Somehow food and a wacky travel log of my quest for a real life seem to be big themes already so I will have to research those too
Figure 12
Sunday coming out of Pep Boys, I have an hour and a half to kill before the UMBC Red Line bus shows. I decide to collect take-out menus along the way and suddenly realize how many places I have forgotten. I start with Applebee’s, next Chinese take-out, Heavenly Ham, Vietnamese take-out, Sorrento’s, more Chinese take-out, and Italian take-out. I now realize this will build quickly. When I arrive at the UMBC library, I have a thought of maybe creating a webpage for the end-product of this comminication. Kilroy holding the menus comes to mind and again more research. I find Killroy all over the web and all kinds of designs. What about a silly story of the Three Kilroy’s attending UMBC who go out on a quest to determine who makes what particular take out food best. The takeout theme seems to play well with Monty Python's
Figure 13
The next day, Monday, April 4, on my way to tutoring for the day I check out how many places I need to stop at on Friday to collect menus. I collect menus from three places close to home and as I get to the UMBC Leeds Ave. bus stop I forgot that there was another Italian take-out called Pizza Villa in front of the bus stop: one more for the pile
Figure 14
I jump on the UMBC Red Line and get off with the plan of walking Frederick Ave. though the main drag of Catonsville. The bus drops me off in Paradise and for me this is a “Paradise of Take-out.” I start on one side of the street collecting menus, cross over and collect more. I continue walking down to Catonsville and stop in every take out and work my way back to the bus stop to take the next bus back. The bus won’t be back for two hours but I didn’t realize how many take-outs there were plus some are lunch only so I’ll have to come back Friday to complete the research. I have to get there because I have to visit
I go out and take a walk Friday night to UMBC to take advantage of the bandwidth speeds in the university computer labs, a breath of fresh air, and to collect the last of the food take-out menus for authorless text. A walk by myself always stimulates my creative processes because there is nothing else for my mind to do other than think. It hits me immediately. The lowly sign as an authorless text!
Signs are practically invisible. One pays no attention to them unless one needs to. When I say signs, I mean all kinds of signs: signs that tell us who owns this building, traffic signs, street name signs, and advertising signs trying to get me to buy something, professional services signs: all kinds of signs. When one is driving in a car, one is less aware of them. Walking and being mindful of “Authorless Text,” I notice there are millions of them out there that they can be placed into distinct categories. All the signs I see could be photographed, scanned for digitizing, and manipulated on a webpage according to the type of work they do. This is been immediately dismissed due to two of the three main constraints of any project: cost and time. Scope? I don’t see as a problem as there will be tremendous variation doing a walking tour from my rented room to my destination, the UMBC library. Cost is the prevalent factor in avoiding such a project. I would have to shoot vast amounts of film and processing costs that I cannot afford. If I was fortunate enough to own a digital camera or knew someone who would trust me with borrowing one I could do such a project. As things currently stand, I do not have access to a digital camera and would have to work with 35 mm and this is not within my budget. Time could become another factor because I have to use mass transit to get anywhere. This could slow down productivity and turn around time when having film processed. The goal is not the end product but the content of Goals and Choices. The topic has been dismissed but will be entered into Goals and Choices.
Figure 15
Business cards also spring into my head and this authorless text could also be broken into two huge categories: Pre-Internet and Post-Internet because some of these cards may go far back. That depends upon how many I held onto because I know every couple of years I do a discard of cards that no longer serve a purpose. Another category could be business cards with graphics and without graphics. One last huge category would be businesses selling services and businesses selling products. Many of the cards would be the same but there are many ways I could look at them in categorizing them according to the “work” they are doing
Figure 16
Thursday, April 13 is the last workshop day. I wait to go last because I am feeling so run down from getting three and four hours of sleep since we came back from spring break. I toss out my three best ideas, which are business cards, the UMBC Take-out food testers (my favorite), and
Figure 17
Friday, April 14 I am working on all four of Shipka’s projects at the same time and because of this split in my attention, I am reminded of the non-linearity of hypertext documents on the web. I have already decided that I would like to create the end product as a webpage and connecting to various documents within the narrative would demonstrate the use and affordances of a hypertext document. This places the reader in control of reading the narrative in linear fashion or allows the reader to jump around the document creating his or her own reading path. The reader will have control of the document and can choose what to read and what to ignore
Saturday night while on the MTA bus returning home while reading Wysocki, Johnson-Eilola, Selfe, and Sirc’s book, Writing New Media, I find my thought stimulated in their argument as to why we format text linearly. Their argument as to why word processors are only capable of creating linear text is not only a
It is difficult to string text in formats other than linear text because of the ‘space’ (8 1/2 by 11 and others). Computer programmers have decided is the way that word processors should function. Unfortunately, I do not have access to some of the programs that Wysocki, Johnson-Eilola, Selfe, and Sirc suggest for writing non-linear texts, in other words, writing text in artistic shapes which can be done with software programs such as Macromedia’s “Director” and “Dreamweaver,” Adobe’s “PhotoShop” and “Premier,” or Corel’s “Poser” and “Bryce,” nor do I have the time to learn these specialized software programs.
Figure 18
Now that my imagination has been stimulated, I would like to write my text or narrative in the forms/visual displays of road maps, flow diagrams, charts, and in the shape of such objects as cars, buses, trains, and planes, even bicycles to play with the theme of travel and the roadblocks one finds in their journey through life in attempting to attain their goals. I would love to do this because I want to work with a webpage and a webpage would allow me to do some nonlinear formatting. The best I will able to do is write linear text but break it up through the means of creating hypertext links to documents on the web creating a non-linear reading path if the reader chooses to use this format. This places the reader in control as an active consumer of the text and permits the user to pick and choose which texts to interact with, which to ignore, and in what order to read the various links or hypertext communications
When I arrive at home I check the ENGL 324 and ENGL 407 Blackboard sites to see if my peers have posted anything new. Crystal Gatton becomes my hapless victim in her ENGL 324 post of
Figure 19
Below is a copy of that post (fig. 19) or you may select the
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Of course this post will most likely be ignored by Crystal Gatton but it does demonstrate to me the limitations of the word processor in attempting to write non-linear text.
Naphtali Barsky in his Blackboard post answering the question of
"A machine (computer) only mechanically searches a database using high powered search algorithms for an answer." Here I was about to add, "except Intelligent Decision Systems (Artificial Intelligence)", but I post too quickly and I am in error for even an Intelligent Decision System searches for known information programmed into it and cannot, as of yet, create knowledge (new information) from known information, i.e. synthesis of information, something that only humans can do, so far. "How the internal workings of a computer are revealed in 'Data Structures' and also in the study of 'Algorithms,' computers really are dumb, over-glorified, finite adding machines. In addition, in as much as computer scientists would like to ‘think’ they are ‘thinking outside the box’ their ‘thinking’ is limited by the affordances and the constraints of the ‘box’ (CPU) itself. Until such time that the computer engineers step outside of their box in their ‘thinking’ of how to design the hardware, the Computer Scientists are constrained in their ‘thinking’ of how to design ‘software’ that ‘thinks’ outside the box. But as we have already learned through studying the methodologies of design that 'thinking outside the box' only places one into a 'new' box with different constricting parameters."
"Case in point is that it is difficult to string text in formats other than linear text because of the ‘space’ (8 1/2 by 11 and others) computer programmers have decided is the way that word processors should function. Refer to my attachment to C. Gatton for a visual example. C. Gatton’s post was a deliberately engineered document to demonstrate the point of some of the problems we have in attempting to create a nonlinear formatted document. The document demonstrates many of the restrictions of word processors when one attempts to create a nonlinear document."
Figure 20
These group of posts also point to another problem I have with my 2nd C.O. (Communicative Objective). I would like to write my text or narrative in the forms/visual displays of road maps, flow diagrams, charts, and in the shape of such objects as cars, buses, trains, and planes, even bicycles to play with the theme of travel and the roadblocks one finds in their journey through life in attempting to attain their goals. My argument that I did not recognize before is people tell you that, ‘America is a great place to live. You have the freedom to be anything you want.’ My argument is that ‘No, we do not have the freedom to do whatever we want as it is a world of reality and with that reality we encounter physical constraints, economic constraints, sociological constraints, political constraints, psychological constraints, historical constraints, constraints of personal capabilities and abilities, constraints of sex, religion, race, and ethnicity. Even so I am sure someone else reading this can find still more constraints which create a situation of ‘You can’t get there from here.’” I am not saying that America is not the greatest place to live and has the most individual freedoms that are protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I am saying that even within this greatness there are constraints that prevent us from being whomever and whatever we want regardless of our personal freedoms and some of these constraints cannot be changed. I have stumbled over an argument and a purpose to my narrative with the aid of a book on New Media and the help of two classmates who are not even aware of how they contributed to my process, N. Barsky and C. Gatton
Figure 21
The process does not resume until Tuesday, May 2 when the entire Goals and Choices of the ENGL 324 Presentation/Activity
Figure 22
When I get my dinner break at work I look at the cards again and I see something different now. If I use particular cards and negate the rest, I can weave a narrative through business cards of how I re-invented myself in order to overcome life’s obstacles. I am hung up now and must wait until Wednesday morning when I can use the scanner in the UMBC library. In the meantime, I write everything on the project I possibly can until I can get on the scanner. I now see a theme being played out in the business cards: a transition from an analog world to a digital world and my jumping from geographical state to geographical state in pursuit of a career. At some point I meet with Shipka and discuss my playing with the theme of "Altered States," analog to digital and state to state in the continental U.S. Shipka points to a third, "how about altered states of the mind? Click here is you are drunk, click here if you are happy...." This is perfect! I get a triangulation of play on the meaning of "state," hence "Altered States"
Figure 23
Wednesday morning, May 3 does not go well. I slept right through a tutoring session for Philosophy (I was a Writing tutor and a Philosophy tutor) and even with the sleep-in, I got only five hours of sleep. When I finally sit down at the scanner, I realize that I left my USB flash drive with all my data at home. Fortunately I have a second one in my pocket, but today for some reason the computer gives me an error message telling me I cannot install anything on it, yet the computer has always accepted my USB flash drive before. I am now also supposed to be in the Writing Center tutoring so I am late. I jump up, run over to the bookstore and buy a floppy to store the file. I also email the file to myself so I can retrieve it when I get home and work through the night. I count on the fact that at least one of the files will not be corrupted so I can move forward. I finish my save and run to the Writing Center. I spot Elizabeth Piccarillo and Steven Norfolk hard at work on who knows what and just leave them alone. Everyone is trying to make accomplishments and does not need interruptions. Why? Because the semester ends in a few days.
The Writing Center is busy, but after I finish my tutoring session the space dies. “Hail hail, the gang’s all here.” Naphtali is fast asleep on the couch. I sit at the reception desk and let him rest because I look how Naphtali feels. Matt Bowen walks in, then Elizabeth Piccarillo. Naphtali shows me his ENGL 324 2nd C.O. and it looks great. He's knocked this one out of the ballpark. His goals and choices section is somewhere around 25 pages. He's clearly got this project pegged. I tell him I hit my largest paper yet in my academic writing history of 65 pages breaking my previous record of 60 pages for IFSM 427 Artificial Intelligence,
Crystal Gatton who was an administrator in the chat commented in our ENGL 407 meeting that she expected me to talk more in online chat because I post heavily in Blackboard. She also takes the liberty to tell me she does not appreciate me opening her posts and responding to every one of them. I inform her that I am fine with one-on-one synchronous communications such as AOL’s Instant Messenger and ICQ and I am also fine with asynchronous communications like Blackboard and bulletin boards but large chat rooms with several people talking at the same time I hate. They move way too fast and by the time I find something I want to respond to, what was said has already been forgotten so what I say becomes meaningless words hanging in space. In other words, I feel like I am talking to myself.
Figure 24
Her other comment I negate. I read everyone’s posts because I am looking for little treasures of wisdom and respond to these when I have something to say. I can say more in Blackboard than in the classroom because there are three to five people who tend to monopolize class discussions making it hard to get in a word edgewise. I do not have this problem in other classes only Shipka’s classes. I always feel as though I am competing to get in a word in edgewise so when I finally do get to speak I speak very fast, stutter, loose thoughts, and feel I am rushed to blurt my thoughts out. I am not at all relaxed in my oral discourse in ENGL 324 or ENGL 407
I also negated Gatton's comment of "not appreciating my reading every one of her posts because in the
This process narrative now ends as I must print for “pass it forward.”
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