The Problm w/shorthand?

      Text-speak and e-mail slang is spreading like wild fire from middle school age to college kids and beyond.  The more adept an individual becomes with technology, the more likely they are to use it.  Thus, it becomes only a matter of time before someone adapts their speech within that technology.
     Many critics of instant messaging and text messaging critique the grammar that it implies.  Within texting there is an abundance of words such as g2g (got to go), lol, rofl, and such words.  When humans use keyboards to interact socially, its only a matter of time until language modifies itself.  Methods of shortening words involves removing letters and misspelling things.  This may create a problem if the receiver loses the meaning of the word.  However, if the receiver understands this method of communication it is not necessarily a bad thing.  I feel the only reason that this short hand method of writing is a bad thing is if it carries over to a professional setting.  If this shorthand carries over to a professional life, then obviously it is a problem.  As far as peer to peer style communication, shorthand is not a bad habit as long as it is reciprocated among users.
    I occasionally use shortened text when im texting on a cell phone.  I rarely use it online with a keyboard but that is because I am much quicker at typing on a keyboard than I am with a phone.  With phone texting I'm quite slow at, therefore sometimes I will shorten words.
    Technological communication is under the scrutiny of many skeptics and people who just flat out don't like what they don't understand.  I could see how an outsider to the technology would be skeptical of a generation not knowing how to spell "because" but as a member of the generation, there is nothing to fear.  Shorthand typing, like technology, is like anything in life in regards to a time and a place.  I would challenge a critic of shorthand and ask them whether or not they talk to their boss the same way as their best friend?
     All in all, there is nothing wrong with shorthanded text via CMC or any type of technological advance in communication as long as individuals don't bring their bad grammar to a professional setting.

Is it adapting or something else?

     Technological advances are made everyday from new apps to new processors.  The technological revolution of internet and computers is still a fairly new field of human communication.  There is no evidence of any computers before mid 1900s so we don't really know all the effects of such a technologically saturated lifestyle.  Technology has been a part of human existence from day one when cavemen invented fire.  But who would have predicted that we have gotten this far?
     So the question is, are we in a fifth age?  According to to Marshall Mcluhan, there are four ages of technology.  These ages are tribal, literacy, print, and electronic communication age.  In the tribal age, the ear was the most dominant organ because there was no form of writing.  As civilization advanced, methods of writing were developed.  The age of literacy put scribes on a high pedestal and gave them great power.  As we advance to the print age, hundreds of books and newspapers can be printed and it creates an entirely new dynamic.  People are now able to get information about things across their nation.  The last age of communication is the age of electronic communication, the global village.  Electronic communication age is defined as when humans started to talk instantly to someone over a phone or computer.  Now the question is, does electronic communication encompass things that perhaps Mcluhan did not factor into his ages of technology?  Modern advancements like instant video chat were never part of Mcluhans' design.
     According to Mcluhans' media ecology theory, we can construct meaningful social environments through different forms of communication.  The key to this is that humans are adaptive with their communication.  Many speculators thought that instant messaging and texting would not be such a craze because it lacks face to face emotion.  The prediction was assuming people wanted to have that kind of interaction.  However emotions adapted to texts and now people construct environments via texting and IM daily.  As a result, some people have more online friends that real life friends.  That topic in itself can be debated for weeks however each side has valid reasons in which their method is superior.  Some people think it's great they can text for various reasons and likewise with people who believe face to face or phone calls to be superior. 
     In a recent article I read on Slate the author Taylor Clark discusses three of the biggest contributing factors why college students and Americans are so stressed out.  One of the factors is that our brains are not designed to handle as much information as we process daily.  This is an effect of having new technologies and computers.  This causes us subconscious stress.  Another factor is loss of a real community.  When we exist solely on computer mediated human interaction, our bodies feel a loss of real human interaction.  This is bad for us because it is natural for humans to have a community.  The article states that people in Nigeria are five times less likely to have anxiety and stress issues than Americans.  How can that be possible when they are a third world nation and we are lead to believe our lifestyle is superior to other nations?  Its because its natural for people to interact with others and deprivation of that can have effects.  Like all things, computer mediated communication needs to be taken in moderation.
     The overall effect on our society from this information overload is negative in my opinion.  It allows people to communicate with people they don't want to see in person and makes it easier to say mean things.  I believe excess of IM and texting has a negative effect on people.  There is no more getting nervous to call a girl for the first time when you can just text her.  It lacks nonverbal messages so it can be whatever the sender wants.  This is ok to a degree with human interaction but eventually humans require real interaction.  I would believe it's safe to assume we are entering a fifth age.  There are elements to daily life that Mcluhan had not predicted and CMC has evolved beyond the age of electronic communication.  Although there are positives and negatives to use of CMC the bottom line is that like everything, needs to be taken in moderation.

Anthropo-what!?

     The article "The Media Equation" written by Bryon Reeves and Clifford Nass, features the topics of of new mediums,  computers, and how humans interact with them.  The theme of this book is how people treat their devices like real people and things.  This article starts out discussing how average citizens today can confuse life portrayed by the media with real life.  Because of this exponential increase of exposure to technology it is easy to blur the lines between fiction and nonfiction.  Because of the multitudes of things you can do on a computer, computers create social presence.  Even though they are not real and do not have feelings, we as humans treat them as if they do.  On a computer you can connect inter personally with friends or you can connect to mass media.  You can communicate inter personally via instant messenger, voice, and video chat.  When talking to a friend on video chat, your computer creates a social presence for who you are talking too.  Even though it is a mediated social exchange, it's an exchange nonetheless. 
     The article points out an interesting finding about human social behavior.  That behavior is that humans are adept to social adaptation.  Older discoveries of interpersonal transactions indicate that face to face interaction is much more fufilling because you can see that persons nonverbal cues.  However, due to the human ability to socially adapt, many internet users have met other users and have become friends.  Especially in the online gaming genre.  Massive Multiplayer Online games have become a utopia for meeting new people and creating an environment conclusive for social interaction.  As a result, computers facilitate these happenings and acquire a social presence of their own.  When humans treat inanimate objects as humans it's known as Anthropomorphism.
     I have personally experienced this phenomenon and I would venture to assume that in current society so has everyone else.  My laptop computer recently had a hard lesson in physics when my five year old sister knocked poor macbook off my kitchen table onto the ever so gentle granite tile floor.  Needless to say i felt as if I had actually lost one of my friends.  However, I've recently purchased a 27'' imac and have been experiencing anthropomorphism like never before!  I always make sure to compliment my computer when it demonstrates it's new graphics card.  I'm sure to brag to my friend when my computer and I download something three times as fast and i mock him as he curses his PC.  and I even bought her some screen cleaner so she'll stay clean and in turn reward me with good performance.  I treat my computer with respect and sometimes make decisions concerning the well being of the computer.
     As written in the article, the amount of time we spend on computers tends to blur the lines of whats real and whats simply a pixel.  As a result human interaction with their computers is a key outlet into another discovery of human communication.  We can use computers to see how humans treat them which leads to an honest understanding of their communication with the computer.  In otherwords, people will be polite to other individuals sometimes and as a result their responses are not always true.  When interacting with a computer, there is no face to face human communication which lends to a more honest answer.
    All in all, by studying computer mediated communication we are brought a different perspective on studying human communication.  By using computers to communicate in some contexts we can choose who we want to be, where we want to be, and be able to define ourselves to other  users as we want to be.

Camel Advertising

     This advertisement is for Camel cigarettes and was created to make smoking cigarettes more attractive.  The shape and position of the woman's body in this advertisement keeps our eyes moving around the picture.  The curves of this woman contour with the objects she is sitting on.  The "Camel" logo appears at the top of this advertisement and tapers downward.  This added curve leads our eyes back into the picture and the text "Pleasure to Burn".  The colors in this picture allude to a certain coolness as the background, logo, and one of the objects the woman sits on share a same calming color.  The yellow compliments these colors and creates the atmosphere for this woman to smoke her cigarette.
     The first step in Bennet's four step process to analyzing ideology within an artifact is "what should the audience think or do?"  This ad makes viewers think about an attractive woman smoking a dressed up cigarette.  Also that she is having a good time because of her smile and relaxed posture.  It appears she is holding a cigarette casually in one hand and a remote in the other.  Overall, the viewer thinks that this woman is attractive and having fun and perhaps the cigarette is the reason for this.
     The second step is, what does the text ask the audience to do?  The text in this advertisement has a duel meaning.  Under the Camel ad, the text reads "pleasure to burn".  One interpretation of this is; burning cigarettes causes pleasure.  The second meaning is that of a sexual meaning.  Attractive women are often considered pleasureable so this ad capitalizes on that.  Basically the text in this advertisement encourages women to smoke and become something desired.  Also to a man, this advertisement makes the cigarette more attractive because of the attractive woman smoking it.
     How does the audience know what these texts mean?  The audience knows this because everyone knows that cigarettes burn.  In our society the word "pleasure" is often associated with euphoria which is often related to sex.  The ad almost advertises an indulgence in pleasure because there is so much of it, you can let it burn.
     The last analytical step is; who is empowered or disempowered?  Well, depending on who you are and your perspective there could be several view points.  One way to look at it is, women are disempowered because the woman is being objectified as an object of pleasure.  However, another viewpoint is that the woman is empowered.  She seems to be having a good time, she is in control of her surroundings, and the she is the focal point of this picture.
     After dubunking this advertisement with the four step process one thing is for sure, smoking is desirable.  To who is empowered could be debated but basically the purpose is to sell cigarettes.  The demographic this ad targets is extremely broad because this woman is attractive to many generations and both sexes to either want to obtain the woman or be that woman.

Pineapple Express

     The beginning of Pineapple  Express takes place in the 1940’s, in a secret underground government testing facility. Here, government agents are using another agent to test the effects the marijuana. After seeing the funny but strange behavior exhibited from the ‘guinea pig’, government officials outlaw the use of the drug. This scene advances the dynamics of the plot because it goes from past to future and explains why it’s illegal. The next scene Dale Denton, an avid pot smoker and process server, is driving to various people to serve them sepinas, all the while smoking pot and calling into radio talk shows. Here, he is giving and receiving commentary about the pros of legalizing marijuana. This scene shows the shift from older governmental attitudes toward the use of marijuana and the new-age supported acceptance of the drug. the transition from driving around and smoking and him working to advance the plot, showing Dale by himself and how he interacts with others. This gives the audience a sense of how he is in social situations and meeting new people. After work, Dale goes to his drug dealer, Saul Silver’s house which leads us to the next scene. At Saul’s house, Dale learns about Saul’s compassion for his grandmother, and how he sells drugs so he can not only support himself, but afford to keep his grandmother in a nice nursing home. Dale can tell saul is a little strange by the fact He watches two televisions with two different programs, at the same time. Someone then knocks on the door, Saul exchanges a few words and sell them some low-grade marijuana. Then a friends of Saul’s costumer asked for prescription drugs, which bothers Saul. “I’m not a drug dealer” he responds harshly. Here, the audience can see Saul only sells pot because he has to make money, not because he enjoys it or thinks it’s morally right. This part shows Saul’s personality which is essential to the rest of the plot, transitioning into a friendship between Saul and Dale. The two men leave and Saul rants about the them. Meanwhile, Dale is looking for a way to leave without being rude. Saul shows Dale this amazing marijuana called, “Pineapple Express,” which intrigues the two. They smoke a joint of this pot and the scene is over. This scene is important to the plot because it shows the titles significance. It also contrasts drastically with the first scene, showing an outward acceptance of the drug. Also, the last scene ties together with the second, showing how Dale interacts in different social situations.

Suspicious Minds

Suspicious Minds

This akward family photo breaks the norms of a family photo on many levels. The overall gesture of this photograph is extremely comedic. First off, this photo breaks the norms of a basic eye line. Most family photo's done in this fashion include all members of the photograph looking the same direction. Also, each family member has a different expression on their face. The father seems to be staring angrily at the camera in typical hard-edge father like figure. This attitude is excentuated by his domineering eyebrows and hands at his hips. As we move our eyes lower and to the left, we see the mother with a shocked look on her face. Her daughter sitting next to her is looking off screen and looks extremely annoyed. Something tells me that the daughter and the father of this family were perhaps at a disagreement with each other about how much fun they were having. The last person in this photo is the son of the family. His expression is completely different from the rest. He is looking slightly to the side of the camera, but close nonetheless. He appears to be the only one besides his father that the camera is there. He seems to be the only member actually looking at the photographer and making a photogenic face. Another factor that contributes to this photo's awkwardness is the selection of clothing. There does not appear to be any common dress or theme within the choice of clothes. The mother is wearing a light blue dress while her daughters patterned and full of warm colors. The father and son are wearing similar shits, but if you look closely, their ties are completely different colors. Lastly, the photographer themselves contributed to this awkwardness by placing the members of the family at a slight distance. Most of all, the picture itself is lined up poorly. Ideally, eye lines of the tallest member of the picture should be way higher in the picture. Instead, this photo has alot of extra gray space above the family photo. In summary, this photo has many visual clues that make this an akward photograph. It violates the norms by its dress, facial expression, eye lines, and even photograph skill. Although Im sure it would make a very interesting conversation piece above a living room couch.

Visual Elements of Time Photograph

    

      This is a picture of a sleeping polar bear and what looks to be a younger polar bear cub.  I can tell this is a younger cub to the left of the bear because of the defining dark line between the two individuals.  It appears that the baby is pressed up against its mother to procure some body heat.  The tonal quality to this photograph is on the light end of the spectrum, however it does include the bear's black nose, therefore engulfing the full spectrum.  The contour lines of the snow guide your eyes into the background of fluffy white tundra.  The bear's fur is a series of textural lines.  This photograph is completely realistic.  This photo represents a universal feeling of love from a mother to daughter.  There are visual texts that lead us to believe we are in the tundra and the background is fading away.  The lines in the snow get closer together the farther away they get.  The tonal background is simply white, however the light hitting the snow and creating shadows creates dimensions of color within the white.  The lines in the snow and the shadows on the ground also create the image of the polar bear sinking into a hole or a den. The bear and the snow, although they are technically the same color (white), the light and dark shading as well as the detail, captured the contrast of the rods and cones  makes it easy to find the focal point.