Shipka's Forum Prompt:
Literacy Events
Before responding to this week's prompt, lease make a list of all the literate events/practices that you routinely engage in. (REMEMBER--YOU WILL NOT BE POSTING THE LIST HERE BUT YOU WILL BE REFERRING TO THE LIST FOR THIS POST AND FOR OTHER THINGS YOU DO DURING THE SEMESTER.) A literate event/practice is any activity that involves the production and/or results in the consumption of a "text." That text may be spoken, print-based, visual, etc. In other words, "text" is defined as something that communicates something to a specific audience. In this case, my list might include: composing minutes for a meeting, writing articles for scholarly journals in comp/rhet, writing notes, writing directions, emailing, blogging, creating blackboard prompts, taking photographs, cooking meals, and so on. Remember, you need not define literacy simply as reading and writing books or papers. What other things to you draw on while making meaning with other people?
After you have a number of things listed, I will ask that you take one or two of the literacy events from the list that you have compiled and create a posting that responds to the following questions:
- What kind/kinds of work does (or might) this practice do? Why is it necessary, or why does it even exist in the first place? How might day-to-day life be impacted if this event/practice was done away with? How might you envision the event and/or the rules for the practicing the event changing in the near (or far) future.
- What makes someone a proficient participant in this event? For instance, what skills, qualities, or interests must one have to need and/or to excel at this practice? Who says? In other words, how are the rules for the event/practice determined? Is there much room for variation when one participates in this event or are the rules pretty hard-and-fast?
- Where, when, why and/or how did you first encounter this event? In other words, was it something you wanted to do? Required to do? etc. How did you learn to do well at this event? Who was involved? Teachers, family members, work peers, or was this something that was largely self-taught--whether through books, TV, radio, watching others?
Remember: Everyone must have posted by 5:00 pm on Wednesday, Feb. 8th so that others can read (and respond to, if folks are so inclined) to these posts. This said, please, please do not wait till the last minute--it will take some time to experience what others have posted here. Be considerate of others and post early and take time to respond to (or ask questions of) what others have posted! Remember also that passing (C-level) posts must be at least two good-sized paragraphs in length (approximately 250 words).
C. Gatton's Response · S. Natvoitz's Response · P.C. Paul's Response · W. Chewning's Response · Y. Martin's Response · P. Hartman's Response
P. Hartman's Response · S. Kibler's Response · M. deLauney's Response · D. Panchwagh's Response · E. Piccirillo's Response · G. Masters' Response
D. Wentworth's Response · B. Bauhaus' Response · A. Sheikh's Response · E. Sanchez's Response
- Photographs--last photographs taken: pictures of puppy Portia. These pictures place images as words, describing her playful action as a puppy and her description in a moment of time--sleepy, affectionate, spunky, or mischievous as I catch her chewing a sock that I've told her over and over again not to. All these images explain her action with images, although they are still literate because these images can produce words or stimulate certain observations through words. They are almost visual words in color but the action, expression can be explained/observed through words.
- Picture Frames--Most of my picture frames depict the meaning of the photo. The photo and words reflect the meaning/feeling associated with the people/objects in the frame. For example, a picture frame at my place of work reads: "Best Friends Forever." Within the photo are five girls linked together on a couch smiling. The words reflect the image in the frame and vice versa. These are my best girlfriends. The image itself can be described with words: five girls are linked, close together and smiling. This may symbolize their emotional link/closeness to one another by their ease of physical placement together on the small couch or space they choose to be placed in during the picture. The words engraved in the frame don't necessarily have to be there for someone to grasp the relationship of the five girls; the words just instill the reader that his/her observation is correct. Another picture frame I own is one that's painted black with images from magazines glued onto it. These images were placed on it by a close friend and in her words (without literally writing descriptions in non-symbolic words) describe the person she sees me as through her eyes. Pictures of trees symbolizing growth and beauty decorate the frame; a wing is next to the words inspired and unforgettable. Even words give connotations depending on the individual. The phrase Sex and the City sprawled across the picture frame brings connotations of the actual TV show and memorable times of watching the episodes with good friends, drinks, and highly fattening foods.
- Collages--I have a collage on my bedroom wall that means the world to me because it holds the memories to part of my past--high school. A good friend (the same friend who gave me the black painted picture frame with the pasted images) made a collage for my 16th birthday. I cherish it more than any material gift I've received in the past from her. She had spent her time collecting texts and images to produce her final product. Each and every object related to me in some way, whether it was a business card from the gym I worked at for two years of my high school life with the mascot on the card which was the first thing I saw when viewing the card, the image that connected me to the gym I worked at; the notes we had passed in class; a napkin from one restaurant we had eaten together; objects from parties we had been to; photos from past events that we could come up with thousands of words to describe the event; a image of a telephone to represent all of our past conversations over this type of medium; and other images that bring forth both warm thoughts and words.
What are some other things that I do routinely that associate meaning for other people?
--Typing envelope labels
--Taking telephone messages for recipients
--Using Excel to produce worksheets to convey details of transactions and any other miscellaneous notes
--Writing emails
--Conducting financial reports
--Text messaging with words and images
--Filing
--Giving treats to my puppy after doing what she's told to try and tell her/show her the formula: good behavior = reward(s). (Classical conditioning)
--Pointing fingers-gesture/body movements with my hands to indicate emotions/words without necessarily saying how I feel in words
--The television shows that I watch reflect my interests to other people. Ex: My boyfriend is watching soccer as I write this which gives me the literate observation that: "Gagan likes to watch soccer, thus he must have a genuine interest in the sport or he wouldn't be watching it and ignoring my verbal communications with him." Also, he goes as far as watching soccer on the Spanish channel even when he doesn't know any Spanish. That's how much he loves the sport.
--Voice messages I leave on phones
--Having conversations through instant messenger
All of the above things that I participate in daily/monthly all associate meaning for other people. Work related activities associate meaning for my line of command, clients, and myself. The way in which I chose to present these items to associates and others is always as clear/understandable as possible with the recipient in mind. With each transaction listed in an Excel Worksheet (for example), I leave a note beside the transaction to explain in words where this transaction took place, why it took place, and any other details pertaining to the transaction. Each note is to account for my actions/calculations as well as give the recipient an understanding as to how I got to where I did. The envelope labels that I type are important and gain meaning for the Post Office Employees who are sending the mail to the desired place of contact; the office receptionist who is categorizing the mail and breaking it apart to be passed on to its recipient or another who delivers the mail into the mail boxes or even, directly to the recipient's office. Filing by using blank and color coding labels helps to identify what's being filed and also helps people access these files if needed. Taking messages over the telephone is extremely meaningful because it helps break down the caller's message, getting to the purpose/core of the phone call. Delivering the message to its planned recipient is also important in order to keep business going with potential or current clients.
In my personal life, text messaging has become quite a literal way of expressing myself with friends and family. It's a way to let someone know that I'm thinking of them at that particular moment and gives meaning to family and friends. Emailing is another way to keep in touch with loved ones as well as keep up to date with events and other important functions. Lately, my friends have been extremely busy to touch base and make plans on the phone, so we have turned to email for event planning and socializing--esp. during our free time or lunch breaks at work.
Watching a person watch television helps provide me with information about a person. If someone were to watch me, for instance, watching the Animal Planet, they may make the observation that I like pets, and this would be a correct observation. Listening to someone listen to music also brings meaning to me because it helps me decide what types of music the person enjoys. Also, if I see the person dancing or mouthing the words to a song, I can decide whether the individual is comfortable with his body or even, everyone else knowing that he/she openly enjoys this genre of music, or, that he/she simply doesn't care what other people think of him/her. The way the inside of a car is organized/unorganized also brings meaning to others. I find observing the inside of ones' car most likely describes their cleaning/organization habits at home or in their other personal spaces.
My non-verbal gestures give meaning to others as well as vice versa. If a person yawns over this posting, then I can make meaning that they are utterly bored out of their mind! Pointing my finger to Portia (my puppy) as she chews the couch is a gesture to her to stop and that it's bad, whether she makes meaning of that or not, I'm not quite sure!
This comes to the question: "What makes someone a proficient participant in this literate event?" Is a dog a participant in understanding nonverbal gestures? In my opinion, yes a dog can be a proficient participant. I believe with conditioning to becoming aware of this action is how we all become proficient participants. I think as people and even dogs (or domesticated dogs or animals), the deeper tones matched with verbal words and the verbal movement and repetition of this process gives us an understanding that whatever we're doing is not desired/wanted/accepted. For example, I believe if a high pitched tone was replaced by a lower/darker one and then matched with the words good girl and a pointed finger to a child would most likely mean a good thing to the child if the response followed the first time a child took a crayon and destroyed the wall with it, and was then repeated each time the same action was done by the child. We make meaning/connection with not only the words used but with the tone/pitch of voice used as well as the use of nonverbal gestures to emphasize our word/meaning, and repetition and routine make a great link to meaning.
How, for instance, did hand gestures come into the world? I really have no clue whether hand gestures were natural movements that evolved; but I do know that nonverbal gestures aren't universal in meaning. The way two people handshake contain very different meaning from one country to another.
At work, taking messages and using Excel to produce worksheets were both introduced to me by my peers and it was something that I was responsible for, or in other words, had to do on a routine basis. With Excel, there's a little bit more freedom with choices in creating a document; however, taking messages contain strict rules. The messages are to be recorded in a phone message book. Each sheet requires that you contain the following information: Who is the call for, who is the name of the person calling and the company they are from, what is the contact number of the person calling, what is the message, and finally, there are a list of options for you to choose among: whether the caller was returning a phone call, will call again, wants to see the person they are trying to contact, and to please call at the request of the caller. At the end of the message there is a line required for the person writing the message to confirm by signing their initials. This particular process of phone messaging is quite strict and leaves little room for asking other questions that may be pertinent to the phone caller's message.
In my personal life, things like text and instant messaging skills were developed by emulating others. The iconographic symbols of the smiley face (?) and LOL (Laugh Out Loud) didn't naturally occur; they happened through seeing others. Again, I'm not even sure who invented these symbols but I liked the idea because it shortened the need to write full words when I told a story or I was just too lazy to type the complete word on my computer. It proved useful to me; thus, I accepted these icons when I saw them used by friends and family. They seemed to be a solution to describe how I felt towards a certain subject, person, object, or thing without literally having to writing it out and I put trust into the figure to provide a shared meaning/understanding for the person reading the icon.
So… I picked something that really does do work, that I couldn’t live without, that there are rules for concerning when to use it and to what extent, and that I actually remember first encountering... The “apartment dance side kick”...
The use of the side kick is reserved for moments of elation… if something goes your way, if you are in a good mood, or if words alone couldn’t express how happy you are, or, as my roommate says, “When life is just good, like when you get cheese at the grocery store.” The side kick is the perfect way to visually express just how happy you are, plus, its kind of fun. The side kick is an essential part of life in my apartment… and its catching on too, coworkers, significant others and friends alike are side kicking all over the state. We didn’t always have the side kick... buying cheese elicited nothing more than a smile... it was created because my roommates and I needed an bigger better way to smile when things were really good, and so the apartment dance side kick was born. After three years I can’t even begin to imagine life without it... every joyous event has been marked with it, friends who do it now are always told, “oh! You’ve been hanging out with Sarah too much,” my co-workers have even lined up like cancan girls and side kicked their hearts out. It makes everyone smile, it keeps us giggling and it says, “Hey, this is a REALLY good thing,” in a way that nothing else can. Everyone does it a little bit differently, and each kick matched their personality and the occasion.
Another great thing about the side kick is that anyone can do it; the only thing that stands in a newbies way is the misguided notion that they will look silly and be embarrassed. But, once you kick it feels like you have been doing it your entire life, all you need is something to smile about and a left leg. Plus, once you have the basic kick down the sky’s the limit. You can jump with it, dance with it, kick twice, anything you want as long as the arms go out in unison with the leg and you are kicking for a good reason (which could be that you simply want to do the apartment dance).
I am extremely honored to say that I was actually present when the side kick was created. as glorious as it is it has humble beginnings... I believe that my roommates mother had sent a cake of some sort for us to eat, which, seeing as we were broke and living off ramen noodles, warranted a celebration. And so she kicked her left leg out and swung her arms in an exaggerated circle. We aren’t sure why exactly she chose that motion, it was like a split second interpretive dance... and it stuck.
Nowadays it’s like a trademark. Anyone that kicks is instantly labeled a friend or boyfriend of ours (imagine a 6 ft 5 in guy doing it, long legs a flying, and you can begin to understand why it continues to bring us joy), every happy moment is acknowledged with a swift kick and everyone here after is guaranteed to get one too. It may not seem like a literate event at first but it certainly expresses exactly what we are feeling to anyone with eyes and as it is tweaked each time we use it it produces a new meaning and a new message. Out of all the literate practices on my list there are very few that I couldn’t live without... but life without the kick is like a life with no cheese, and we all know what that would be like...
A response to S. Natvoitz's ""Kickin'" it into high gear..." by W. Chewning
Well, thank you. Thank you very much for what will certainly become an obsession. I can see it now...I'll be happy after, say, scoring some primo cheese at the Italian Deli down the street, and I will try to resist "the need to kick" to no avail. Unable to control my limbs, I'll scurry away to a spot behind the canned tomatoes where I think no one will see me, and WEEeeee...the kick will be released. But much to my surprise, Don Guido and his henchmen will see me on the security camera, and my fate will be sealed.
Then again, maybe I just have those sidekick-newbie jitters. Hmmm....forget the Don - Next time I'm jubilant, I'm kickin' it, baby! :-)
By the way, Sarah, you know that you are now obligated to demonstrate the kick on Tuesday, right?
A response to S. Natvoitz's ""Kickin'" it into high gear..." by S. Kibler
I can completely relate to the side kick (and agree with Bill that I would like to see it in action sometime). I am the middle of three girls in my family and, as anyone with sisters or siblings can probably testify to, we can come up with some pretty wacky things that just seem to stick. Does anyone remember the Red Hot Chili Pepper's
The First Literacy Event: Visual Literacy
At some point while on campus Friday, February 3, 2006, I used a public restroom. More than likely the restroom door had a symbol/sign on it with the silhouette of a person either with a skirt or without a skirt. In other words, a person with a triangular torso represents a woman/women’s restroom and a person with a rectangular torso representing a man/men’s restroom. I don’t have to negotiate with these signs to determine their meaning, unless of course I am bleary-eyed from researching, then I have to stop for a moment and make sure my eyes see the correct symbol. I am well acquainted with international symbols like these and understand them without thinking consciously as to what the symbol means.
A no smoking sign with a red circle and a lit cigarette placed in the middle with a red line running along the diameter at 45 degrees tells me there is no smoking in this area. These are international symbols and whether I speak Chinese, Greek, or Russian, I understand what the sign is telling me because of the pictographic symbolism.
On the other hand, if I was passing through the doors of Flat Tuesdays (the bar within the Commons) and there was a sign that read “Beware of Falling Grades” and it had an image of a highway, a car, a slope to the right, with letters like, “A’s” and “B’s” tumbling down the slope onto the highway, I would do a double-take and have to negotiate it’s sarcastic humor. I wouldn’t understand the symbolism at a first look. If I was accustomed to reading in a language other than English, then I really wouldn’t understand the symbolism and would be puzzled by the sign. International signs are made specifically to be literal so all people regardless of culture or language can understand and interact with its text.
Roland Barthes an authority in semiotics often cites an image of a Black soldier saluting the French flag where the symbolism is meant to mean the was are all French regardless of color or race. This sign/symbolism may prove a little more difficult for me to determine its meaning because I may not readily recognize the flag as representing France. Therefore, because I am not French and have no understanding of French culture, I would be excluded as to the sign/symbolism meaning.
Visions of the future will be more signs that have literal international meaning to all. Currently in Asia these signs do have a difference. Most Asian Cultures read from right to left and not left to right. Therefore a sign for Western cultures that represents an exit sign will show a person walking from left to right through a door to indicate that this door is an exit door. The same sign in Asian culture will have a person walking from right to left through the door indicating an exit door. Changes are beginning to appear especially in Asian cultures where new signs are made to be read from left to right.
The work this practice of international symbols or signs eliminates the need for alphabetic language and creates a pictographic system of communication so the people of all languages may understand the message being delivered. The reason why international signs or symbols have become prevalent is probably because of the cost of flying by plane becoming more affordable for the common person. Once air travel became more affordable for all more people began to take to the skies. Therefore more people were traveling to places where they were not familiar with the language placing them at a disadvantage to be able to read signs so the technology of international symbols and signs was further developed to aid people speaking non-native languages. In the near and far future these signs will probably become more prevalent. There is another possibility though which I must mention. Currently America is the dominant world power in the world today and because of this power structure, English is becoming a dominant international language spoken. Now this conceivably could change. As an example if China or one of the Arabic nations rises up and becomes the dominant world power as power structures in mankind change all the time, English may no longer be the dominant international language and Chinese or Arabic may become the dominant language. In other words, the power structure that dominates world politics will also dominate the language used. So there will probably be an increase in international symbols as a dominant language in signs, but if the dominance of power changes this to shall probably change.
As far as reading international signs they are deliberately made to be intuitive and literal so there is no special proficiency to develop. There is little room for variation so the rules are hard-and-fast.
I’m not clear as to when the change to international symbols occurred. I know it occurred during my lifetime but when exactly I’m not sure. I know growing up that they have become more prevalent. Being able to read these symbols was not something I wanted to do, it was something that I had to do or learn in order to function in society. Reading these symbols is largely self-taught.
The Second Literacy Event: Computer Literacy
At the time I was scanning books that I had taken out of the library. I had to capture the image of a page in Epson’s Twain software driver and save as a .tiff file. The first time I did this a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize that the .tiff file was saving as pages.
The first mistake I made was saving each individual page as a .tiff file, then going into Adobe Acrobat software and saving the .tiffs as multiple files. Once I checked my new .pdf file, I found that I had created 100’s of duplicate pages.
I deleted the file, then scanned each page of the book from the first chapter page to the last chapter page and told the computer to save as a .tiff file. As an example if the first chapter of the book was 16 pages, I scanned the 16 pages into one .tiff file and saved with the name chapter 001. I then opened the .tiff file using Adobe Acrobat and then saved as a .pdf file creating documents similar to the files Shipka has posted to Blackboard to save us some money in buying books. I could have made photocopies of the books but then I’d have trouble finding the photocopies. I created pdf’s so if I need the information for research, I can search through the pdf files on the computer screen, locate what I need and then just print the pages I need for research support saving on printing costs and buying books.
Computers are used for desktop publishing, manipulating images, capturing video, capturing audio, creating DVD and CD-ROM multimedia. They are used for drawing, education, security, conducting business, crunching numbers, entertainment, communication, socializing and searching for information just to name a few things computers are used for. The first computers created were the Abacus and the difference engine, UNIVAC, EDVAC, ENIAC. [Maybe going back to the Difference Engine and the Abacus is a little too far, considering the Difference Engine was a steam powered computing machine designed for computing differential equations and the Abacus which is made of wood with a rack of beads utilizing human power. The answer is yes; the Abacus is still being used in some regions of the world today.]
I think, but don’t hold me to this that ENIAC was the first computer ever developed. It was in a university for the purpose of crunching numbers for the military. It basically functioned as a very complex adding machine for computing artillery trajectories that were typically done by teams of mathematicians using slide rules. ENIAC’s purpose was to compute the trajectories more quickly. Without computers at this point life would come to a halt or to a very slow crawl. We are all aware of this even though it did not occur (Y2K). Y2K may have been a ruse or a scare in order to increase sales in survival equipment or it may have been a genuine problem. The treat was taken seriously so a disaster was averted. The future is quite fascinating. In the near future we will have computers we will wear in our clothing for various purposes such as identification (identifying the person you are speaking with), global satellite positioning, alerting a nearby hospital that the wearer is experiencing a heart attack, communications, entertainment, etc. For the far future, Science fiction has shown us a potpourri of purposes computers will be used for.
An inquisitive mind makes one proficient in using computers. Much of how we learn to use a computer is through trial and error and just exploring without being afraid to use them. The best way to describe it is like being Dexter’s sister, DeeDee in the cartoon Dexter’s Laboratory, i.e., “Ooooooooooh what does THIS button doooooooo?” For me using a computer was something I wanted to do. I wanted to know how to program a computer. When I was in engineering school specifically mechanical engineering in the early eighties I realized that using a calculator was absolutely brutal for doing a lot of the work I had to do. I wanted to learn how to program the computer to write programs to automate a lot of the mundane mathematical calculations I had to do such as analyzing the forces of compression and tension on beams in a bridge (actually this is civil engineering, but it’s the only example I can think of at the moment). At the time most programs were being written by computer scientists and mathematicians, so engineers and physicists especially had to write their own programs to automate number crunching they wanted to do. It was too difficult at the time to explain to a computer scientist what kind of a program we needed in order to do our calculations. It was easier to program the computer ourselves and in some cases it was required. There wasn’t much communication across disciplines but things are changing and this is where Information Systems people step in. In many cases they are the mediator between disciplines and talk with the engineers and the computer scientists to develop programs for high-end computer users. So for myself it was an interest and a need. Once I got into programming I decided that this was REAL science and wanted to be more involved with the computer and mathematics. I switched majors and studied computer programming by night and worked in a computer supermarket type store by day to totally immerse myself in the language of computers. The way you excel in using computers is to use them. Who says? Everyone who uses one. It is not a passive activity, it’s like mathematics or philosophy, you don’t watch it or read it, you actively do it. It’s practically a sentient sport. Practice makes perfect. “Rules? Rules? I ain’t got no rules. We ain’t got no rules. We don’t have to show you any STINKING RULES!” Haha. There is tremendous room for variation and rules are few. I like to think of computers of being in the stage of automobiles in 1915. We have moved slightly beyond the point of Dr. Diesel creating an internal combustion engine in his barn, but as cheap, fast and small as computers have gotten the entire industry is still in its infancy and their dependability is quite comparable to the scale of automobiles in 1915. “What, your computer doesn’t work, get a horse!”
Where, when, why and how did I first experience this event is William Tresper Clarke High school, Westbury, Long Island back in the early seventies. We were the only high school in the East Meadow school district to have an IBM 370 mainframe computer that could be programmed in Assembler language or FORTRAN using IBM punch cards. The only ones who were allowed to use it in the student body were the kids who were gifted in mathematics and were hand picked by the math faculty and invited to join the math club. I was NOT one of them. The math teachers considered me good enough to be a technician or an engineer but never higher and that was because I only had two math teachers in four years of high school who taught mathematics by intimidation. It turned out I did have what it took later in college when I had math teachers who were human and cared to teach those who didn’t get it the first time. I call them the cooks. You can’t teach someone to cook by just throwing a cookbook at them. You have to take them into the kitchen to SHOW a person HOW to cook. Once you’re shown how to cook then you can READ the recipe (the math book.) In the field of teaching mathematics there are only two kinds of teachers: teachers who teach by intimidation (van Brink, Cotch, and “Mad Dog” LaDante) and those who teach as cooks, “follow the recipe…” (Dr. Murray, Locito, “Frog Man” Fritz (“it’s so ooooooobvious, can’t you see it?”, among others.)
My next encounter was in college in 1981. I don’t even remember what kind of computers they were but it was automotive engineering and the program was programmed in BASIC by the professor and it was a vehicle performance program. I had to type in a whole bunch of parameters such as cubic inches, transmission gear ratios, differential gear ratios, cam type, carburetor flow and other parameters and hit enter. The program would return a whole lot of data such s maximum torque at what rpm, maximum speed at what rpm, maximum time in the quarter mile etc. I became somewhat interested in the programming and the professor proved me with a copy of his program. Computers were still way too expensive for me as a student and I really had no need for one because they still couldn’t do very much. It wasn’t until 1985 that I got the computer bug when I was studying mechanical engineering and remembered the program my automotive engineering professor’s program and realized that I really needed to learn how to write programs to make the computer do long tedious analysis projects versus programming equations into a Hewlett Packard CV41 calculator with a magnetic card reader. It was a matter of laziness. “Why do I have to do calculations by pencil, paper, and calculator over and over again if I can program a computer to do it?”
Who taught me to do computing? Teachers and taking computer programming classes. I learned from books, by doing, finding out what works, what doesn’t work, by spending long hours behind the machine cursing at it, “Why won’t you bleeding compile my program…,” by sending books for lessons in flight, the Halliday physics book was the first one to go for one of these flights. It is also THE ONE AND ONLY book still used in learning University physics to this day. (Just walk into the UMBC bookstore and you’ll see what I mean.) And of course, I can’t forget the “warm body.” Asking questions of the person working next to you writing the same program. These are the ways we learned in school, and on the job. We did it, we tried things, we read books, we went to training classes, we went to college courses, we talked to each other. Computing is not only an intellectual sport but a social sport. A sick social sport but still a sport, like chess. Or as one of my engineering professors once said, “You learn this by putting your head through brick walls.”
Methodologies in Preparing "This" Document
Additional Literacies:
Malibu Night Club,
Malibu Night Club in Newsday,
and
Long Island Night Club Scene/WLIR.FM, WDRE.FM Music Literacy
A response to P.C. Paul 's "Two Literacies" by W. Chewning
See... us old guys were there before computers were cool. Heck, they aren't even "cool" anymore; they're just sorta... there.
I learned a lot more about computers from doing than I did from books. When I was a kid, my main reason for using computers was to access BBS's (these were "websites" before websites or the Internet existed and were accessed by dialing into that single computer through a 300bps modem). The BBS's were where I found interaction with other people, and I learned a lot more about computers from reading the various posts and whitepapers than I did by reading books. This was back in the early-mid 80's when Arpanet was king and FIDOnet was prince.
|
I met a lot of people on local BBS's, and I still email, speak, and hang out with many of them quite regularly. In fact, in fact, I met at least 7 of my oldest REAL LIFE friends, with whom I still keep in touch, on BBS's over 20 years ago.
Thinking back about how the stuff we saw on BBS's back then "made meaning" in the context of this course...sheesh...
A response to W. Chewning 's post by P.C. Paul
I think computer geeks still had a sense of humor then. You know what 1/2 a byte is right?
A response to P.C. Paul 's post by W. Chewning
Of course...it's a nibble! :-)
A response to P.C. Paul and W. Chewning's posts by E. Piccirillo
oh my dear lord ...
A response to E. Piccirillo's post by P.C. Paul
All these posts and you have to ask yourself “what are they talking about in there” then you see something like you just saw and wonder, “how stupid is this?” It does emphasize the point of social contextualization as did your post about “Hip Hop.” The terminology or language is designed so that someone not within that room or within that click cannot possibly understand or partake within the discussion. This makes conversation within that space mutually exclusive unless someone explains the language or a better term the code or “the law.”
I don’t understand the language of “Hip Hop” but there was a similar thing going on with music of the eighties that only a few understood. There was actually a discourse being conducted between three different camps. As an example “Tears for Fears, The English Beat,” and some other groups were camp one. Camp two were groups like “Eco and the Bunnymen, The Replacements, Violent Femmes, The Cure, etc. were camp two, and camp three were groups like “Depeche Mode, New Order, Bauhaus, Nirvanna, etc., was camp three. The argument was about heroin. Camp one was addressing camps two and three and said “Your love is like a button, you just keep pushing it (referring to Pavlov’s dogs).” In the doper community heroin was referred to as a lover because the high they felt was that of a full body orgasm. The second camp was crying out for help (the addicted person calling out to the clean person), therefore these musical groups and heroine addicts who favored this music were considered “hopeful.” The third camp, basically was “flipping the bird” and turning their backs on the discourse of the other two camps saying, “I hold my life in my hand and I don’t care.” Most of these discourses were real subtle because you had to understand the code words and what they meant. Others were blatantly obvious. Don’t get me wrong, not all the music was part of this discourse but only some that was of the “New Wave” genre.
How I got the code? A man who was an addict tried to draw a clean woman into the sub-culture and broke the code down for her. She didn’t believe her ears and he explained what the songs were “talking about” back and forth. She looked up the information in psychology books during the time about heroine addicts and in a few there were interviews with addicts using the same code words to describe what they (the heroine addicts felt). Now from her story I said the same thing, yea, yea, sure, sure. I then did the research on the topic without her suggesting what to read and drew the same conclusion that there were three camps and three outlooks. I also drew the same conclusion that it was an argument. A weird argument, but an argument just the same. The reason I mention Nirvanna is because Kirk Cobane in the lyrics of one song gives the clean people a kick in the teeth when he says, “He likes to sing along and he likes to “shoot his gun” (shoot and gun being code words for shooting up with a needle), but don’t know what it means.” Kirk has just said being straight you think this music is cool and advant-guard when actually you’re so dumb you don’t eve know what I (Kirk) is talking about.
A response to E. Piccirillo's post by W. Chewning
DJ Lizzie...don't be hatin'!
(BTW, the actual technical term for 1/2 a byte really is "nibble." So, put that in your rhetorical pipe, and smoke it like a blunt!)
I did not record every interaction I had with “texts” as they happened throughout the day, but I did reflect on them numerous times as and after they occurred. My list contains about 35 events, almost all of which include sub-events which are also interactions with texts of some type. Of all the entries, one keeps standing out to me as the most exceptional. Therefore, for the purpose of this posting, I have chosen a literacy event about which I am very passionate, and about which I believe I can continue to expand the formation of ideas and delivery methodologies as the semester (and my life) progresses. I am talking about poker. Most people have at least some clue as to what poker is, but not many of them would get what I mean when I say that poker is an activity in which my studies in Com-Tech are quite applicable. Yet it is, and I hope that this linear, no-frills posting begins to explain why.
I am a poker player, and I have been for about 20 years or so. I first started playing with friends for small change when I was in High School. When I came of legal age, I began playing in casinos and local charity tournaments. More recently, poker has come to the Internet and has also become a very popular spectator sport. I play all types of poker--Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, Draw, Badugi, etc., and I play live games and online, ring games, and tournaments. I find that poker is entertaining, relaxing, mentally-satisfying, challenging, and invigorating all at the same time. Without poker, I would have little to keep me sane in between work, school, and family. But, it is hard work - I have read books and really kept on myself to maintain the discipline it takes to be a good poker player.
Many people think of poker as gambling, but nothing could be further from the truth... well, that is, assuming one knows how to play. In a very true sense of the word, real poker players have developed the “literacy” necessary to be successful. Without getting into all of the details which go into a poker game, I will attempt to give some idea of what literacy skills are involved in taking part in the story that unfolds on the felt.
One of the most valuable tools in a poker player’s arsenal is the ability to “read” other players. Through the recognition of “tells,” a player can judge the strength or weakness, or more to the point, the likelihood they can win the hand, from the actions of others. These actions may be involuntary, such as sweating, shaking, pupil movement, visual pulse or heartbeat tells, etc, or they can be (for the most part) voluntary, such as table talk, betting speed and size, displays of emotion, physical posture, and aesthetic posturing. Of course, nearly all of these actions can be faked, so the “table image” that an experienced poker player creates is often what makes him a winner at the tables. By manipulating the signs that one gives to other players, a good poker player creates a show - a sensory-creation for others to “read” in a way that benefits him the most. Although there are far more ways to paint this picture in a live game where players are seen and heard (but hopefully not smelled, felt, or... God forbid ...tasted), similar signs can be delivered over the Internet in online games.
In addition to “table image,” one must also be extremely literate in the statistical considerations of a poker game. For example, let’s say that in a given situation, the odds of a player making a hand are 1 in 5. In other words, if that same situation occurred five times, the chances are that the player would fail to make his hand four times and only succeed in drawing to the hand once. In deciding whether to stay in the hand, a player must calculate the pot odds and potential odds for that hand. Pot odds are determined by comparing the amount of chips (or money or points) contained in the pot to the amount that he must contribute to stay in the hand. Potential odds, in simplest terms, are a figure that represents the amount that a player can suck out of others in the hand if/when he actually makes the hand he is drawing into. Finally, these odds must be compared to the odds of others at the table possibly drawing into a huge hand while you are drawing for yours. What it boils down to is that there is also a lot of math literacy involved in poker. However, there is one other type of literacy involved in poker play that I am not quite sure what to call. It is a type of understanding that comes from experience. There are times that I will stay in a hand, and other times that I will throw away the same exact hand without a moment’s hesitation. These types of decisions are made based on the ability to read players, and understanding of the math involved in a hand, and... something else - some other type of literacy. I suppose it is simply “The Literacy of Poker.”
 |
"Semiotics of Poker?" a response to W. Chewning's "Raising the Stakes of Literacy" by P.C. Paul
W. Chewning said, “I suppose it is simply “The Literacy of Poker,” and has brought to light some fascinating points about the game of poker which could be expanded into further research. Considering your long term interest and experience in the game have you considered performing a semiotic analysis of the game in one or a few of the signs used in the game. Or for that matter the misuse of signs in the game. There are going to be those that give off visual, gestural, or oral signs that confuse the message they deliver in order to throw off the competitors. Therefore in poker any and all signs will have double meanings, plus there will be signs that a player gives off unintentionally that the more expert reader of signs will pick up and use to their advantage. I admit to knowing nothing about the game, but for instance a player verbally raises the stakes, but at the same time their pupil constricts slightly while saying they want to raise the stakes. After several repetitions over the course of many games an observer of the game comes to the breakthrough that when this player says he wants to raise the stakes but at the same time his pupil constricts, it is determined that he actually does not have a good hand and is calling the other players bluff. The player raising the stakes gives off an almost imperceptible sign that his body language and his oral language is not the same. For the sake of argument, let’s also say that the test was run with amateur players who really risk nothing in having their secrets revealed and that the data was collected through the use of several video cameras, or even without them such a study might be interesting.
"Poker Player" a response to W. Chewning's "Raising the Stakes of Literacy" by Y. Martin
I really enjoyed your comments about poker personally have watched several games being played when I went to various locations have no interest in playing though but your comments told me that your are definitely enjoying playing would have never thought that anyone would feel that as being there literary event yet after you explained how much you enjoyed as well as posting attachment you are serious I read the articles assigned though I would have never thought in the conditioning manner the authors had a wide range of literary events.
A response by W. Chewning to Y. Martin and P.C. Paul's posts
Thank you both for your kind replies and for your interest in my post!
Christopher - The massive influx of newbie poker players into the card rooms (both online and in casinos) is basically a naturally-occurring version of the type of test you propose. These relatively clueless novices are really throwing some curveballs at the more experienced players, as their play is unconventional only because they don’t know any “better.” In other words, since they don’t understand that they are doing foolish things much of the time, they don’t give off the signs that experienced players do when they are taking a chance that they shouldn’t. It is as if the new players don’t speak the language of poker. Of course, over the long term, such players will meet with the statistical reality that taking chances which don’t match (or are not exceeded by) the benefits will, in simplest terms, cause them to go broke. But, in the meantime, lucky draws that never should have been sought are taking big stacks of chips from guys who are very aware of the odds.
Yolanda - You’re not alone in watching but not being interested in playing poker. When people watch live games at casino card rooms, they can often be heard speculating about which player has what and how one is bluffing or another is on a draw, etc. It’s kind of like watching a mystery and trying to figure out who the bad guy is and how the hero is going to outsmart him. Of course, when you watch the WPT or other poker tournaments (or high stakes games now being televised), you can see the cards that everyone is playing. There is no mystery, but there is that feeling that you know something that they don’t. So, it can be really fun to watch people get beat out of their chips when you know it’s coming…kind of like how we yell at the stupid people in horror movies for walking around outside in the dark when we know that Jason’s out there!
Thanks again for your replies!
Budgeting on my computer is necessary to me because this regimen keeps me regulated to a budget. If I didn't have this financial discipline I would be looking fabulous but living on the streets because I would have no place to live. In the future I really want to be debt free and I hope these little steps will be a huge one eventually. The computer has been wonderful because I use to do my calculating on pieces of paper but it was too much work and I always lost the document in the end. Every month I continue to get better and better and the computer has infamous variations as to how to budget and manage as well as effective charts.
My cousin guided me through the whole process when I realized that she was doing so well with her finances. I really wanted to get a clear handle on my finances and I have learned quite a bit so far about taking control of me and my choices.
Towards the end of Saturday Night I chose to wind down by having a glass of wine around 11:00 pm and doing my favorite hobbies which is freelance artwork. This is and has always been my favorite Literary event. My artwork always tends to express my thoughts and ideas more vividly to me than writing it on paper. The charcoal I use gives me the necessary ability to connect with people on another level. I would be miserable and my life would be hectic and stressful without this stress reliever. In the future I hope to be able to devote my attention to my craft freely and with more maturity and emphasis than I do now.
I always possessed the gift to draw but never really used my talent until I was in middle school going to high school. I had drawn something for my aunt and it was the beginning like a flower beginning to bloom. Not everyone, in my opinion, can draw or has captured a true artistic talent but in today's society the field has opened up to so many variations. Today I have a very exclusive clientele and prefer to draw during the time I am not in school. Artwork helps me relax, feel free, and take control of me as well as put cash in my pockets for my bills on that chart.
Response to Y. Martin's "Taking Control of Me" by E. Piccirillo
Yolanda - The financial chart is a really good example of a literacy event because it says so much and most of it doesn't even have to do with letters. I would say with confidence that most equate literacy with letters and words, but figures, like numbers and dollar amounts have equally important things to say and a chart is also an excellent example of a new media text because it conveys meaning.
So I suppose death and destruction is a natural side effect of cartoons. That’s the kind of work it did in this case. The Jyllands-Posten newspaper of Denmark decided to print cartoons deemed offensive by Muslims. Cheers to the European countries who decided to respond to the Muslim outrage by reprinting the cartoons themselves. America the Beautiful decided to side with the Muslims. Foolish swine. Us, not the Muslims. Whether or not cartoons shitting on Mohammad are allowed is definitely a free speech issue, and we dropped the ball by siding with the censors.
This literacy event--experiencing cartoons--is one I’ve enjoyed ever since I was a kid. Calvin and Hobbes is one everyone enjoys. Maybe Denmark would have done well to stick to the classics. They went out on a limb, printing pictures undermining Muslim faith, which does not allow pictures or representations of Mohammad. It increases the chance of idolatry, which is bad.
I really like the one with the bomb.
Cartoons are important. They make us laugh. Often they are pointed, satirical, and until recently, safe ways to poke fun at serious issues. If the US reaction to the Mohammad cartoons is any indication of our cartoon future in this country, then I’m going to be pissed. The point of cartoons is to convey messages you might not want to say in words. At least, it always seemed that way to me. The New Yorker. Newsweek. Time. All of these publications, and more, have plenty of politically charged and potentially offensive cartoons. Why must we tiptoe through the tulips with Muslims? For the record, I realize that context is huge when considering any literacy event. Radical Muslims like to blow shit up, so try not to piss them off. I get it. I’m not sure who sets the rules for what is and what is not an acceptable cartoon. I’m pretty sure it’s not Muslims. At least not yet.
However, it saddens me to think that emailing has made good, old fashioned letter writing a practically extinct literary event. I’ve read many letters that my grandparents wrote to each other while dating, as well as post cards that my great-grandmother kept from her communication with family members in Germany. These mementos are cherished by my family and I often think that it is a shame that my grandchildren will not have the same opportunity to read letters written between myself and family and friends. Although some people may print out emails and save them, most people will either keep them in an ever-growing inbox (like myself) or will delete them altogether. Emails lack that cherishable quality that cards and letters seem to have. I wonder if children in elementary school even still have pen pals like we did or if they now communicate with children from other countries via email.
Email has also given us a new form and even language for written communication. When we compose emails, we are not bound by the typical forms that letter writing used to encompass. We tend to be more succinct and to the point in emails we send to co-workers, feeling it unnecessary to open with a greeting and end with the typical closure of a written letter. Emails can be only one sentence or a multi-paragraph correspondence. They can also contain special characters, such as the grossly over used exclamation!, or pictures and smiley faces. In emails words are often abbreviated or acronymic.
However, I may one day reminisce for the good ole’ days of emailing. As Internet connections become increasingly faster and technology advances I can foresee a day when a new, more efficient form of communication may overtake email in popularity. As it is now, email has even changed in the last couple of years. Email used to involve the use of a computer and keyboard and an Internet connection. Now there are cell phones and other technology that allows a person to send and receive emails while away from their computers (although I will never understand how to do this on my own phone). As technology advances, I think that we will find that the forms of communication that we once held dear are continuously replaced by newer forms of communication that will come with their own set of benefits and downfalls.
I decided to focus on an event that can be both, that I do on a sort of regular basis. That event is reading (as I did this weekend) or writing Greeting/Birthday cards. I started by thinking of what work these cards do: acknowledgement of an event, vehicle for some sort of gift/token, method of showing affection, showing off memory skill (that sounds cynical), etc. Daily life would not be adversely affected if these did not exist, except perhaps that acknowledgement of the event would take more work. It might even force us back to actual communication with the recipient (instead of just signing your name). (For the record, I’d like to say I love cards and think that finding the perfect card can be just as hard or harder then writing a regular note.) This event is already taking on new forms with the e-card, and in the future, I can see it becoming increasingly digital. Depending on how much effort goes into personalizing the card it may or may not take a great deal of proficiency. If all you do is sign your name that’s all you need to know. If you write a little note then you have to know how to formulate sentences to convey your message, etc. If the card is blank it takes still more effort. Choosing the card actually takes more skill than personalizing it because the person must be able to read the card, read the culture and traditions surrounding the event, read the person and their sense of humor and decide if something may be offensive. I guess technically knowing these things are not really rules: you could walk into a store pick a random card sign it and send it, but then it sends a totally different message-–I didn’t care enough to find a relevant card. These rules seem to be more out of politeness then actual card laws, but there is room for variation. For instance, if I sent a birthday card to a good friend of mine from high school I might add a note that has nothing to do with her birthday but is reminiscent of /refers to a shared experience from high school. Some messages might even be (playfully) impolite like one I received last year when I turned 21 before she did: “happy birthday beotch. You’re gonna get old first.” This event is something I encountered gradually. I can’t think of a time that I was actually taught to do this--it seems like something that is grasped over time: you watch your parents do it, then you sign it yourself, then you pick the card yourself…
Ok, I’ll shut up now…
A response to M. deLauney's "Birthday, football, and a Weekend of not Getting Much Done" by E. Piccirillo
Maggie- I always think about birthday cards like that and if you got it from someone you weren't really that close with. It
would mean something so different. it would be interesting to give birthday cards to people at work or school that you
don't know very well, but say things like "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to
you when you don't remember the words... Happy Birthday Friend" It would be so awkward and hilarious! Let's Do it!
Just the whole pre-written card market in general is interesting in terms of audience. We are required to go into the store and interpret not only the messages in the cards but our relationship with the person we are buying it for.
A response to M. deLauney's "Birthday, football, and a Weekend of not Getting Much Done" by S. Kibler
I can relate to your statement about the difficulty in finding the perfect card. I usually search for hours to find the
perfect card for family and friends and then also spend quite a bit of time personalizing it with a message that says more
about how I feel than simply "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations." However, I often think about what a card doesn't say,
what is left out and how that may contribute to meaning. For example: I am unfortunately not on very friendly terms with my
father (it's a long story), but I do still make an effort to send him birthday and father's day cards. This has posed a
problem in the past, as most cards say something like "Thanks for always being there for me" or "You're the greatest Dad"
(you get the idea). Instead of just buying one of these cards for him I usually buy a blank card and simply write "Happy
Birthday/Father's Day" inside and sign my name. I know why I don't buy the cards with the mushy messages in them, but I've
often wondered if my father knows why I don't. To me, what is not in the cards message says more about how I feel about our
relationship than what is in the card.
A response to M. deLauney's "Birthday, football, and a Weekend of not Getting Much Done" by W. Chewning
Wow...what's not in the card brings as much or more meaning as what is in the card; who woulda thought?!?! That really is an
interesting idea, and it sort of reminds me of some Montaigne and Bacon essays (or "essai" [from the French]) that I am reading for another
class. These guys talk about social/moral/semi-political issues and often define them by discussing what DOESN'T apply.
This sort of negation is used fairly often in writing, and we can identify it when we see it in our readings of text. But
to identify it in our readings of personal interactions, life, etc... that's something I haven't really thought about but
makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
As for Facebook, frequenting this site has become just as much of a habit as checking e-mail. It takes just as short a time to access Facebook as it does for me to sift through mail. At the same time, I rarely get any information that I need to know. I check Facebook to keep track of my friends, whether that means checking birthdays or looking at pictures, but ultimately, Facebook is nothing more than a useless way to distract myself from other work I should be doing. Now to answer [Shipka's] questions:
- What kind/kinds of work does (or might) this practice do? Why is it necessary, or why does it even exist in the first place? How might day-to-day life be impacted if this event/practice was done away with? How might you envision the event and/or the rules for the practicing the event changing in the near (or far) future?
As far as e-mail is concerned, I believe it exists in order to give society another means to contact with each other in a less formal manner. Often times we don't access our other means of communication (like letters or voice mails) as readily as we access our e-mail box. I could envision e-mail becoming more advance, although it's hard to imagine how it will be easier to access e-mail than it is now. People can check mail through their phones or other portable devices, like day planners. If e-mail was done away with, there would just be less chance of communicating with someone if phone or letter access was limited.
As for Facebook, the reason that it is necessary is the site serves as a network connector. The site is designed for people to meet each other or to reconnect with people that one loses contact with over the years, like high school friends. If Facebook was done away with, it wouldn't be a big issue as people have many different ways to network. As far as it being modified, modifications to the site are done all the time, like the addition of photo albums and a social timeline.
- What makes someone a proficient participant in this event? For instance, what skills, qualities, or interests must one have to need and/or to excel at this practice? Who says? In other words, how are the rules for the event/practice determined? Is there much room for variation when one participates in this event or are the rules pretty hard-and-fast?
The rules are not complicated to access e-mail and Facebook. One would just need to know how to handle a mouse and browse a website. The rules and accessibility is user friendly. Facebook is designed in a way to enable a regular Internet user to access the site without having any problems. E-mail is similar, although one would need to know how to type and respond by using the keyboard in order to reply to the texts.
- Where, when, why and/or how did you first encounter this event? In other words, was it something you wanted to do? Required to do? etc. How did you learn to do well at this event? Who was involved? Teachers, family members, work peers, or was this something that was largely self-taught--whether through books, TV, radio, watching others?
This is an interesting question because in terms of accessing e-mail, this is something I've been doing since I was in high school. I believe that the first time I encountered e-mail was when my brother bought a then new computer when I was in the 10th or 11th grade. I wanted to learn how to use it because it was the new communication system in place, although it wasn't as big a deal to me then because I had few contacts and content to review at the time. I learned how to become a regular checker through practice.
I got recommended to Facebook through friends, but I already knew about the use network sites like Friendster so it wasn't hard to pick up what to do. I wanted to join because it seemed like a fun way to keep in contact with friends and maybe make new ones. In addition, I wanted to find friends from high school and middle school who I had lost contact with over the years.
 |
Not really, but someone I know is. He spins hot beats and throws crucial parties. This past Saturday, he hosted what came to be known as the “ultimate jump off. According to urbandictionary.com (a site which I have had to be friend due to my friendship with the aforementioned hip-hopper) “jump-off” is defined as “anything that's hot, ‘phat’ or just plain awesome. Usually referring to a party.” Needless to say, I was pretty nervous when he asked me to come to the party and help out behind the bar. I mean you would be nervous too; this was the ULTIMATE jump off.
Learning all the hip-hop lingo was one literacy issue I thought I had down. Walking into the party I had to meet a lot of people. And I guess when you’re just plain awesome you get to have two names. Marcus à Awnpoynt, Ellison à Black “E,” DJ Optimo whose real name I can’t remember, Mike à M Quest etc. (I really need to come up with a name, what do you guys think about DJ Lizzle?) It was important to know both names because they are used in certain and specific conversations and scenarios and one must know when are where and why to use which moniker, otherwise you’re just lunchin.’
My party post was initially to sell drink ticket behind from behind a table. I was given five large rolls of tickets: A white roll, a yellow roll, a red roll, a green roll and a blue roll. I was also given two lists that said:
Bottled Water: $2.00
Shots: $3.00
Call Drinks: $5.00
Rail Drinks: $7.00
Premium Drinks: $8.00
I looked around to find someone who could tell me what tickets meant what. I turned to M Quest who said “Obviously, the yellow means Premium because it says Premium on the ticket.” They he told me White was for Water, Red was for Call, Green was for Rail and Blue were for Shots. And I thought that seemed easy enough. I could understand that the tickets would be read as representatives/vouchers for these drinks. However, I wasn’t literate in what the drinks were. No one told me what a call, a rail, or a premium was. And M Quest was no where to be found. People were lining up asking me if I had Courvoisier, Did I have Patron, What about beer? Did I have beer? And what kinds of shots could they get? And did I have Hypnotiq? “Come on girl, that’s the shit!!” “Sorry, sir.” “Sir?! What is this, Little House on the Prarie? (Uproarious with friends).
The literacy was there when I learned how to read the ticket colors in accordance with the list and the prices listed. My life-long illiteracy concerning simple arithmetic cost the cash drawer five bucks, but it was my illiteracy of liquor types and brands that caused a complete failure of the system. There can be memorization (of colors, images, lists) but without meaning the cycle of literacy is incomplete. In studying cases of elementary school students learning to spell I came across a theory that connected failure with the use of images and words together on flashcards. The children would memorize the picture associated with the word and therefore memorize the sound of the word and it’s spelling in accordance with the picture. The meaning was lost. The combinations of sounds and letters were lost and the word therefore would become and image. There must be a complete understanding of a literacy system. How it is used, How it works and What it means.
A color-coding system being viewed as a new media text is only as good as the human components behind it; their awareness and their knowledge of the meanings/materiality. If these components are absent less people will get drunk and have a good time.
When I left my house and started driving to school, I had the opportunity to engage other people in my literate practices; I had to negotiate meaning with other drivers. It is understood, for instance, how to behave at four-way stops. Because people in cars cannot talk to one another to negotiate meaning, they must rely on a set of learned behaviors instead. This shared understanding of “proper” driving behavior is essential to safety on the road. If everyone approached a four-way stop with their own ideas about how to behave at it (e.g. to drive through without stopping, to park, to drive in circles, etc.), chaos would ensue. As it is, behavior on the road is regulated by a set of shared expectations, and the road is safe to the extent that everyone adheres to these expectations.
Having braved these dangers and survived, I found myself at school and in a multitude of social, face-to-face situations engaging in literate practices. Among these, I’d like to focus on chess. A game of chess, I think, counts as a "text" because it communicates something to a specific audience, namely, chess players. When I arrived at chess club and took my seat across from John, we both understood without any discussion where to place the pieces on the checkered board to start a new game. We also knew exactly how each piece was allowed to move. Because chess is governed by universally accepted rules, John and I did not have to speak to each other at all in order to complete our chess game; we had only to use our knowledge of how chess operates. (If either of us had been without this knowledge, or if our knowledge had been incomplete, some talking would have been required.) I acquired this knowledge from books; John, I think, got it from his parents.
As I said, we did not need to talk in order to complete our chess game, to construct our "text." But in fact, John usually negotiates with his opponent before each game to decide what "type" of chess game is about to occur. One popular chess variant involves replacing captured pieces back on the board. John knows my distaste for such variants, so he rightly assumed (without asking) that our game would follow the classical, universal rules of chess. Chess, as a literate as well as a social practice, depends not only on knowledge of the rules which govern it but also on an understanding of one's opponents (his/her preferences and the extent of his/her knowledge).
A response to G. Masters' "Checkmate!" by W. Chewning
I can relate with your position on Chess as a literacy event as it is very similar to my own take on "poker literacy." No
argument here!
However, you said, "If everyone approached a four-way stop with their own ideas about how to behave at it (e.g. to drive through without stopping, to park, to drive in circles, etc.), chaos would ensue. As it is, behavior on the road is regulated by a set of shared expectations, and the road is safe to the extent that everyone adheres to these expectations.
In my experience, everyone does approach four-way stops with the own ideas about how to behave! Chaos does ensue! I understand that people are supposed to have a shared understanding of 'the rules of the road,' but do you really find that they do? If so, maybe you drive in a better part of town than I do. :-)
A response to G. Masters' and W. Chewning's Posts
Both of you are quite fortunate. I have neither shared expectations nor chaos in my area. I have anarchy or "The Wild
West Mentality" so to speak. I live in southwestern Baltimore and everything is resolved with a gun battle.
With this in mind, my band and I wrote a song but were not sure whether to have words put to it or not. The song was written in a minor key, mainly because it can cause a melodramatic feeling in listeners. If we put “happy-go-lucky” lyrics to the song, it would strike confusion and be somewhat of an ironical joke to listeners. If we chose to go with the stereotypical “emotional-I hate the world” type of lyrics to the song, the listener would get two hits of depressing forms of art in one song, which can be annoying to many people. We chose to keep it instrumental because we believed that the listener would feel the emotion put behind the song through the music itself, not through the lyrics. Whether the song is a tool for someone to remember or just a random tune on their iPod, the collection of notes that make up the song will cause something to the listener.
Since we were little kids, our parents or guardians sang or provided music for us. Some believe that speaking is a form of singing. If that is true, then we started singing when we spoke our first words. Some songs that I hear today bring up images of the house I grew up in. Much like signs that direct people to locations, music guides us to certain parts of our memory. Remember the A-B-C song? How about the silly songs in “School House Rock?” Catchy jingles such as the “Jell-O” slogan and the McDonald’s “I’m Loving It” allow us to remember the logos, the company, and their products. Anyone who can hear the jingles more than once will most likely remember it. Even if the listener does not speak the same language of the slogan, the melody can be remembered.
For the full experience of jingle advertising to be effective, images and sometimes words are put with the music. This is a downside of music as a teaching/memory tool. The auditory aspect is dependant of the visual from a previous experience. Although music can be a form of reading with the ears, the use of sight will sometimes have to be used in conjunction with sound. Even with music without words, a visual image from a previous experience will appear in the listener’s mind, whether they have heard the song before or not. I can only imagine what images a person born blind would see in their mind.
The work that the practice of playing guitar produces is that it helps me to express my feelings creatively. it also produces a soft, acoustic melody that is pleasant to the ears (at least that's my goal!) like playing any other instrument, I believe the practice exists for us to be able to express ourselves creatively through song. obviously music is not the only way through which self-expression is produced, but some people choose to use song as a means of expression because they find music a more exciting, or meaningful, stimulant as opposed to say, painting or film-making. If I wasn't able to play the guitar anymore for whatever reason, for me, personally, I would die. Ok. Maybe I wouldn't die. But I definitely wouldn't be very happy about it, to say the least. I suppose that I would go on with my day to day and find some other instrument to play in place of the guitar. Nonetheless, it still wouldn't be the same. Also, music as a whole would be extremely affected by the disappearance of the guitar because, especially in pop bands today, the guitar is the lead or main instrument used. The rules for guitar playing are constantly changing as music changes and evolves and the listener's tastes changes. What was popular back in 1950 isn't today and therefore the guitar work produced back then has had to evolve into something more pleasurable for the current society to listen to. However, throughout history, the guitar itself has pretty much kept its shape, size, etc. but, who knows really. Things these days just seem to be getting smaller and smaller. In ten years or so, I may be able to walk around with a compact guitar in my back pocket! It seriously wouldn't surprise me.
Those who are proficient in practicing guitar playing usually spend a considerable amount of time each day practicing chords, notes, etc. guitar players are not automatically great. The skill requires much patience and practice and it's considered to be a loads-of-fun activity for those who choose to participate so most of the time, the practice is super fun! Except when you have to play the same three notes over for an hour to memorize them and practice scales for a couple more hours... but that's a different story. Anyway, the only requirements for playing the guitar, if one chooses to do so, are to have an actual guitar to play and the want to play it. I’m not sure if this is true, but I’ve heard that most people who choose to play an instrument, paint, film, whatever to express themselves creatively use their right-brain to think and communicate, as opposed to the left, the majority of the time. So I guess an extraneous requirement could be that to play guitar one must be right-brained. :) The rules for playing guitar are not strict and have not been implemented by a single person. I mean, the actual chord diagrams and music notation were indeed created by someone in the past, but there are no strict rules as to how to learn to play them. There are only strong suggestions. For instance, there are many tutorials that have been created for the purpose of learning music and learning to play and instrument, but they are not required. I play guitar and I have never once touched one of these manuals. BUT, I do believe that in some instances using the tutorials will help the learner to learn more, faster. in my case, I just played around and guessed at a lot of things. I also had some informal instruction from friends and fellow musicians. Therefore, I don't think there is any particular structure that satisfies any strict number of rules for playing guitar.
I first began playing guitar when I was in the 7th grade. I wanted to be like Green Day or The Offspring. Also, my neighbor played and I thought he was like some kind of guitar god, so I knew I had to pick one up immediately! I first learned the basics of guitar from a teacher. I know what you're thinking, "I thought you never touched a tutorial!" I didn't. He didn't teach me how to read music. I would bring him songs that I wanted to learn and I’d say, "here, teach me this!" soon afterwards; I realized I could very easily do this on my own, for free. So then I began playing guitar for hours after school each day. I ended up favoring an acoustic guitar, rather than electric, and music like John Mayer and Jack Johnson, rather than Green Day or The Offspring. But, either way, I’m still learning new chords combinations and melodies every day. I’m also currently trying to teach myself how to read music, as another way of furthering my guitar playing abilities.
An interestingly event I never would never have thought of before is AIM (instant messaging) Being constantly on the computer I am constantly talking or chit chatting with my friends. This kind of text helps one to be in touch with the people they care about (and some they have no interest in). I feel that AIM exists in the first place to slowly drive the phone companies out of business. No not really, but I feel that it does exist to make a persons life easier plus quicker for one to get their point across. I find it convenient for me because I keep in touch with long distance friends and relatives. I don’t feel that AIM is necessary just yet but I think it will be in the future as the world is slowly becoming more computer savory or more computer dependent. Instant messaging I feel exists right now because it is another way of communicating for the people who have the luxury or opportunity to communicate in this way. I personally feel I have become lazier after AIM has come to my world. I think that if AIM wasn’t here one might not be in touch with day to day news (as news headlines are coming into aims now). I also feel that one may not have the opportunity to make new friends or be as close to the friends they have already. I think this kind of text is helpful because it brings out the people who are to shy to talk in person. As the world is changing I feel that AIM will be changing as well. Unfortunately I think it will change as a positive and as well has a negative sort of way. I think that in the future, any language can be written on AIM. For instance is someone is typing English, it can be converted into Arabic for the other person. Also maybe if one person is speaking in English and the computer is typing everything down it can be spoken to or shown in Arabic for the other person. I know this might be a long shot but who knows a person can dream right? I think that has we, as a society has become dependent on computers as well as aim. I think that the rules for aim won’t change as much, but unfortunately I think a person has to have some knowledge of computers to understand AIM. I think that makes a person more vulnerable, and I feel in the future the text wont be as private to from person to person.
Another interesting event that I had not noticed before is me communicating to my puppy. I am not sure if it is right to consider this an event but I think that the text has gotten across to the specific audience I wanted it to go across to so that is why I would consider this an literate event. My puppy is a fairly new addition to my family. Very young. Very much like a kid wanting the attention and needing the obedience. On the day I was recording my events, I noticed that I communicated quite a lot with my puppy. Training Missy (the dog’s name) to not go to the bathroom in the middle of the dining room carpet. I was also including missy in my activities for instance watching TV. Missy would be watching TV with me and I would at time to time, communicate part of the story (of the show) to her. Or ask her questions if she is hungry or sleepy. I know this might be a tad weird but I am communicating to my audience, giving it the love attention Missy needs as well as making sure the purpose of my literary event is getting across. I think that this kind of event can happen as long as there is an animal and a person. I think it is necessary because otherwise, there would be chaos (exaggerated a bit) between the animals and the people. I don’t think the love that is needed would be there. An animal can become a friend or an enemy. I think that communicating to the dog like this can make the dog your friend rather then your enemy so that is why I consider it necessary. Day to day I think as there is a loving relationship there is trust and I feel the trust can help both the animal as well as the dog. I think that the communication practices between and animal and person are changing day by day and I think will be changing much more later on. Giving a new and interesting way to get the message across, between two living beings. To understand the rules between an animal and a person, I think if the person gets their message across, that is the main and I think at times the only rule. This is something that I feel can be self taught, but it is best that the person doing the teaching does some research. I think if I had done some research on my student, I would have had more success in getting my message across for not going to the bathroom on the dining room carpet. Teaching is another way of communicating and I think in this literary event I feel that anyone can be involved. They don’t need to even know what they are doing. The only reason I feel I got the message across is because I was repetitive and I think this helped for my student missy to finally understand.
I never realized that there many literary events, I think out of all of my events for that day, I listed these two because I never realized how big aim (instant messaging) actually is, and how much greater this event can be. I also feel that me communicating to my dog Missy, is an interesting event to note because I would never have thought of it before. I guess one learns as they go.
I think short story writing and reading are great because if they were not around, life would not be as fun as it is today especially since such lack of literature would not only leave people with a shortage of literature that they can choose to read, but writers who do not know how or have the time to write a poem, an eight hundred page book, etc. would not be able to express their feelings or give wings to their imagination like today’s writers do. Also, I think short stories are so important because I like to write them myself, and they are the reason why I am majoring in English. Therefore, short stories have made me the person I am today.
Also, because short story writing or reading is so nice, I would invite everybody to do so especially since it is a good way to pass ones free time. But before doing anything if you are the ones who like to write, you should remember that their rules have been created by professional people; therefore, it is not such an easy task. Of course, such rules do not really matter if the readers like the story, but one must always remember that readers usually expect a certain kind of writing style, way of narrating, character development, etc., so writers should be very careful when deviating from the common and accepted rules.
Finally, I really began to like short stories when I was in elementary school, and my teacher made us buy a book of fables. But even though I started to like them at an early age, please do not think I am a professional writer since most of what I know is self-thought. Now to conclude this I can say that this kind of writing has impacted my life as well as the future I expect to have, and even though their rules are somewhat flexible, and they will change as time goes on, it does not mean they are or will be any easier to write or any less important than any other kind of piece of literature.
A response to E. Sanchez's "Short Story Writing and Reading" by Shipka
What exactly are the rules of an essay?
The Words E. Sanchez Could Not Say to Shipka P.C. Paul and Hesse now speak for E. Sanchez
Return to the top of the page