Blog Assignment #4: My Online Persona

In class we have been discussing argument and the representation of “self” in new media contexts. Specifically, we talked about the creation of personas on social network sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, etc.). Persona can be defined as one or more versions of “self” that all individuals possess. Each persona you enact varies according to a given social environment and the impression you wish to make on people that belong to the subculture at hand. So, you may encompass one persona while with your friends and others while at work or with your family.

The objective of this assignment is to reflect on the persona you have created of yourself on Facebook. Look at all the elements of your fb page that are visible to your audience: your profile, your status updates, any text written, links shared, videos posted, and (perhaps) most important, your pictures. Ask yourself: what have I represented about myself and my life?

Questions to consider during your reflection:

(1) Reflect on the people that make up your “friend” group. How fb “friends” do you have? How many subcultures do they represent (e.g. high school friends, relatives, people from work or class, teachers, bosses, friends of your parents)? When composing content on your page, do you consider how your persona might be interpreted differently by members of these different subcultures?

(2) Which aspects of your fb page are composed for a large audience? Who is your audience? What social borders do you collapse by “friending” people from different subcultures to which you belong? Is the collapsing of social borders problematic according to the content you choose to display about yourself? (see. p.159)

(3) How do small details within individual photographs or images reveal things about a subculture to which you belong? (see p. 155)

(4) When reflecting on the persona you have created on fb (as a whole), which details about your life have you chosen to exclude? How does the exclusion of certain details affect possible interpretations of your persona? (see p. 166)

(5) How does your persona (or, maybe, just an image or detail) reveal your larger beliefs about what an ideal student, son or daughter, friend, --fill-in-the-blank) should be? (see p. 167)

(6) Thinking about the notion of the “photo-op” (e.g., birthday parties, vacation spots, achievements, events, etc.), chose an image that represents a photo-op that is specific to our culture or to one subculture to which you belong. How does the photo’s composition reveal your values and/or beliefs about what constitutes an “ideal world”? (see p. 168, 422)

(7) How is this context (Facebook) different from more traditional forms of personal representation (e.g., photo albums, home videos, diaries, etc.)?

Requirements: 1 argument and 2 paragraphs (1 claim each) written in the following format:

Argument (one sentence): _________________________________

Claim 1 (one sentence): ___________________________________

Support (develop your claim with explanations, examples, quotes from outside sources, photos or screenshots, etc.):________________________________________________

____________________________________________________

Claim 2 (one sentence): __________________________________

Support (develop your claim with explanations, examples, quotes from outside sources, photos or screenshots, etc.):__________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

300 words minimum, at least one image to support each claim you make regarding your reflection/analysis of your persona (that means 2 images minimum).

Blog Assignment #3: Clip Analysis from The Sixth Sense

For this assignment, we will be working from Roland Barthes’ notion of the “writerly” text. According to Barthes, “…the writerly text is ourselves writing” (S/Z, 5); therefore, you, the reader, will be interpreting the text (in this case a clip from The Sixth Sense) in order to produce meaning from it. Using Barthes’ Five Codes of Meaning, you will identify the codes within this clip, labeling them as Barthes does in S/Z. It is important to note that Barthes does not only identify the codes, but he discusses their meanings in detail. In your analysis, you should explain why you believe a code exists, and what meaning you derive from it. Barthes claims that we should be able to appreciate the plural meanings derived from different interpretations of a text. Therefore, there are not necessarily right or wrong interpretations – so long as you can fully support your argument for the existence of a code within the text, we should be able to derive multiple meanings from even a short text such as this one.

Since we are dealing with a movie clip, the codes can take the form of spoken dialogue, auditory cues or music, visuals, and/or editing choices. Remember, Barthes says that “Each literary description is a view” (55). He describes the writer (read: artist of any kind) as someone who places a frame around reality, creating a perspective from which we see the story being told. Every decision the artist makes creates a frame. Decisions to include or exclude details, to frame characters in a particular way, or to place actions within a specific chronology all affect the way we interpret the scene.

CLIP à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE (The Sixth Sense, 1999)

REQUIREMENTS: 300 words minimum. Post must be live by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 10, 2010. Mimic Barthes’ writing style (see handout for examples), which means: describe the detail you are discussing in italics then identify each code with a star (first code = 1 star, 2^nd code = 2 stars, etc.) and support your claim for each code immediately after identifying it. If you are going to discuss different moments within the clip, you should separate them into different paragraphs. Barthes wrote separate paragraphs for individual sentences or groups of sentences in his analysis. You should do the same, no matter if you are discussing a visual detail or spoken dialogue.

Barthes’ Code:

Hermeneutic Code (HER) = denotes an enigma that moves

the narrative forward; it sets up delays and obstacles that maintain

suspense.

DELAYS:

1. Thematisation. What in the narrative is an enigma?

2. Positioning. Additional confirmations of the enigma.

3. Formulation of the enigma.

4. Promise of an answer of the enigma.

5. Fraud. Circumvention of the true answer.

6. Equivocation. Mixture of fraud and truth.

7. Blocking. The enigma cannot be solved.

8. Suspended answer. Stopping the answering after having begun.

9. Partial answer. Some facets of the truth are revealed.

10. Disclosure of the truth.

Proairetic Code (ACT) = organizes small sequences of

behaviors

Semic Code (SEM) = signifiers (people, places, objects) to

which unstable meanings adhere (Sarrasine, wealth, beauty)

Symbolic Code (SYM) = meanings that are only represented by

metonymies (figures of speech), which renders the text open

to different interpretations (castration)

Cultural Code (REF) = reference to scientific or cultural

knowledge

Blog Assignment #2: Image Analysis

Step 1: Find (and post) an image of your choice.

Step 2: Chapter One in Picturing Texts offers some terminology for how to talk about the composition of images. Using these terms, write a paragraph below the image in which you analyze the image you have posted to your blog site. What is conventional or unconventional about this image and its composition?

Step 3: Roland Barthes believes that an artist’s form is vulnerable to becoming a convention once it has been released to the public. He claims that creativity is an on-going process of continual change and reaction. Thinking about the conventional/unconventional aspects of your image, in what way(s) could you add text to the image that would change/build upon/modify the conventional composition? Post the image below your paragraph from Step 2, this time adding either a caption, advertisement box, or text superimposed (or some combination) on the actual image to change it in some way.

Step 4: Write a second paragraph discussing the way(s) your addition could change the perception of the original image. For this section, you must reference someone we have discussed in class. You should identify an argument and either agree or disagree with it, supporting your own claim. Since this is a blog, you are not (for this assignment) required to site the source according to academic regulations (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.). But, you MUST identify who made the argument you are discussing. If you know the text (e.g., Barthes’ Mythologies), please put that information in parentheses.

Requirements: 300 words minimum; two images à one without text/caption, the other with your own text/caption added to it. Due: Sept. 5 by 8:00 pm.

EXAMPLE of an altered image:

Resources for Project One: Multimedia Blog

Project One: Multimedia Blog: For this assignment, you will create a blog entry that incorporates still images and written text as well as other forms of media (i.e., podcasts, voice-over narration, video, etc.). This entry will require you to write your own narrative, situated in a place that you know well: your family home, your dorm room, a favorite hangout.

First, you will write a narrative using written text only.

Then, you will find images that illustrate your story.

Your options open up at this point. The main objective is to combine the written and visual images as a mixed narrative on your blog site. You can do this several different ways: you can keep the segments separate, you can embed the pictures within your text, or you can use your narrative as a way to discuss the image/word collision. Your images can act as illustrations, you can purposefully create confusing or satirical juxtapositions, or you can play with keeping the images and words separate to see how different your narratives can be. The possibilities are nearly limitless!

In addition to your narrative, you will reflect on the meanings created by combining your written/audio and visual texts. The purpose of this last segment is to discuss the elements of design you have used in this post. You must use the terminology discussed in the textbook, Picturing Texts p. 26-46 (e.g., description, pattern, point of view, etc.). Talk about why you designed your mixed text the way you did and what you are hoping to convey by presenting your narrative through this design.

(total words = 1000 minimum) Due: 17 September, 2010

Resources for Project One:

Tips for Writing a Narrative: http://www.whitesmoke.com/how-to-write-a-narrative.html

“In general, all narrative writing makes a point beyond the story and contains selected details, not everything.”

“All of these forms of narrative writing have in common the telling of a story. The story nearly always conveys a theme. Like any good short story, non-fiction and poetic forms of narrative writing develop interesting, three-dimensional characters, describe scenes and settings, and move through a plot. A plot begins with a main character encountering conflict and obstructions while moving through life. The conflicts tend to increase to a crisis point, then resolve. The writer ties up loose ends as the action falls to the end. In short, narratives have a beginning, middle, and end.”

Podcasting: http://podcasting.about.com/

Types of Podcasts: http://podcasting.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=podcasting&cdn=compute&tm=6&f=20&tt=14&bt=0&bts=1&st=26&zu=http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1238165,00.html

Adding Audio to Blog: http://www.google.com/support/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80259

Adding Video to Blog: http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/2007/03/add-video-clip-to-blog.html

File Sharing: www.mediafire.com

Example Project One: MultiMedia Blog

Section One: Narrative Through Images:

"Next Door Neighbors"

[Insert Audio Clip]

Section Two: Reflection on Image/Text Collision

Commentary: When we place images together, they can form a sort of narrative -- or rather, we concoct our own narratives out of images that appear in succession. What story does the above series of photographs tell?

The order of images suggest certain things to you, the reader. Since I put the map and the golf course images first, you might assume that the images following those take place within (0r near) this community I have identified at the beginning.

The content of the images also suggest certain themes. Since I have chosen to include images that depict extreme poverty (as we know it in the U.S.), you might assume .... (fill in the blank).

But I follow the street images with images of people smiling. What does this suggest? It might suggest that there are people within this community that can help those in poverty. It might mean that monetary wealth is not the determinant of human happiness and comfort. It might mean that these people have found refuge within the community building in picture #6. But what about that last image -- the one of the church? Why is it at the end and what does the progression from map to street to people to building suggest? Well, as the reader, that is up to you to interpret. Without words to tell you what these images are of you have to construct your own meanings (i.e., you have to fill in the blanks) to understand this narrative of images.

In this course, we are interested in the intersection of different types of texts. For the first few weeks, we will be discussing how diverse forms of media interact to create narratives. This means that we will be talking about how artists, filmmakers, writers, etc. use images and words TOGETHER to tell stories. We will also talk about how the juxtaposition of such media forms can be interpreted in different ways. Lastly, you will create your own narrative using images AND words in the form of a multimedia blog.

This blog entry serves as an example of Project One. In this first section, I have chosen to show you the images first. I did this to illustrate the point that images can be interpreted a variety of ways when they are not accompanied with words that attempt to explain them. This can be a very beneficial thing depending on your objective as an artist. There is one thing I want you to think about as you go about this project: when we add captions or narratives that explain images, do the images lose some of their communicative power? Do they become merely illustrations? Are they confined to the meaning that accompanies the words beside them?

For the next section, I will demonstrate the juxtaposition of images and text in a narrative blog format. The following blog entry was written by Grady Newton, an artist/teacher who lives in Salado, Texas. The pictures from above were all taken from the trip that he describes below, but now the images are embedded in the text.

Section Three: Narrative Through Images AND Text

EveryTrail: On the same trip, Rolly Correa tracked their trip using EveryTrail, an iphone app that uses GPS navigation to track the travelers' location and upload photos according to location. This multimedia format combines visual images (the map, photographs) with written words (captions, explanations) in a digital format. Go here to see more images of this trip: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=680018&code=12683d5844c522d31634cbf5ff18e57b

Hurled Over a Distant Ocean

By: Grady Lewis Newton

Experiences on a mission trip to a third world country take time to digest and sort into a language that can be empathetically deciphered by those willing to listen. One can only highlight parts of days, pieces of conversations, and images that will be forever embedded in the observer’s memory.

Some images are merely interesting;

some quite novel; some echo haunting, black clouds of injustice, poverty, and hopelessness;

and some gloriously reflect the smiling visage of God.

Kenya is a proud, magnificent, lumbering beast. She is pierced with jade and gold jewelry of past civilizations, tattooed with waving banana forests and cool blue mountains, fed by free roaming lions and giraffes, scarred by civil unrest, shackled with corruption, yet fitted with an elaborate headdress of knowledge-hungry citizens. She ambles forward through a maze of English and Swahili syntax and collides head-on with Western culture.

Her myriad needs are apparent and beg for redress.

So why would anyone want to leave the security, safety, and comforts of small-town, USA to travel so far to an unknown place to see strange sights and people? For me, I can only state two reasons: 1) precisely to follow my own innate yearning to leave the security, safety, and comforts of my small home town to see strange sights and people and 2) to heed the nudging voice of God to… just go.

I heard of a traveler besieged and robbed on a distant highway in a distant land. Passersby ignored his torn cloak and moans of pain. We know the story. It is about caring for a neighbor. A Samaritan walked along the same road, saw the man, bound his wounds, attended him to the next town, procured a room for him, and lent him money against his return.

There is a road closer to our homes. Across the access road paralleling Interstate I35 is an oozing hot asphalt street leading to a trailer park. A middle-aged man walks the road who has not worked in three months and can no longer afford cigarettes, a change of underwear, or a meal for his four children. Neither is there a gesture of hope for his anxious wife. Oh yea… he is there….a neighbor…

Another dusty road meanders through the Kenyan hillsides…. The road is deeply furrowed by two-wheeled ox-driven carts…A 15 year old head of the household stands with his three little sisters in front of their splintered wood and corrugated tin shack. Both parents have died of AIDS. The girls sleep together on a tattered blanket on the dirt floor.The boy rests in an adjoining room in a hammock. A wire strung across the room serves as his closet. A tiny family room houses a homemade wooden table and two rickety chairs. Nailed on one wall is a faded portrait of Jesus. Facing their shelter is a small two-room wooden plank shed. The left side shelters two goats, and the other serves as a kitchen. In it, a dirt mound is topped with scavenged pieces of lumber and bush twigs for fire. A dirty black pot sits on dead ashes. The boy must find some bananas today. A calm but unsure look resides upon his face.

Oh yeah… he is there…across an ocean and across a continent…still a neighbor…

We cannot always pick the persons we encounter. Do miles or language or race or economic situation bar us one from another? Are my neighbors only in my community?

A recent journey to Africa found ten travelers and myself near Meru, Kenya. Three dusty, bumpy hours of inching along a lonely, rocky road had rendered our bones shaken and our mouths dry. After maneuvering across one more jagged ravine dotted with straggly, thorny bushes, we came to a halt atop an arid, rocky hillside. Nearby, a large, round cinderblock water tank proudly rose against the vast horizon. We were heartily greeted by a few neatly dressed men and about a dozen bare-headed women adorned in multi-colored dresses and elaborate necklaces. They sang us two songs in Swahili as they swayed and clapped in unison. We mingled awhile and talked briefly with those who could communicate in heavily accented English. Hitherto unnoticed, a very black complexioned man announced himself wearing crinkled denim blue pants, leather sandals, a sweat stained red and white striped shirt underneath a dusty, worn, dark blue sport jacket.

Bare-headed with a bent walking stick, he looked like someone had randomly glued rusty wire on his face…. Another neighbor?…Another neighbor…”We had”, he emphatically and boisterously claimed, “been placed in the leather pouch of David’s slingshot by God and hurled over a distant ocean” to land on this particular piece of parched land to stand in front of his gleaming black eyes. He thanked the visitors from Grapevine who had provided funds for them to build a water storage tank and pipeline. He welcomed his curious visitors from a strange town called Salado. His friends and relatives had prayed, and God had answered. He assured us that seven kilometers into the distant spring-fed hills and seven more back to their arid, rugged countryside is a daily trek dutifully made by the women of his community to retrieve water for their families. However, the pipe from the hills to the water tank had been trampled by elephants, and there was no water. He unashamedly and humbly beseeched us for money to repair the pipe and erect an electric wire around the tank so the elephants would not damage it. He confidently stated that his faith would surely see his village through to the day when they could turn the spout from the tank and fill their buckets to the rim with fresh water and in turn fill them with the Holy Spirit and thankfulness for friends so far away who had become partners with them in the name of God. Then he backed away behind his friends and disappeared over a rocky hill… Yeah, he’s our neighbor too.

So, what now?

Rather than being overwhelmed by the immense magnitude of the poor and needy, let us act individually and collectively to care for our neighbors both at home and abroad.

To do that, we have to take an honest look at our own position in society and decide if we are able to leave our comfort zone and truly act on behalf of our neighbors.

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who stated that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Technology has made people aware of the cesspools of poverty around the globe. So let us roll up our sleeves and act. Each of us can make a difference in some way. Henry Van Dyke said “Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Let us heed the wisdom of Proverbs 21:13 … “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.”

Perhaps an old African saying might be appropriate here:

“If you think you are too small to make a difference,try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito.”

Poverty and its wretched effects on people worldwide will undoubtedly never be completely eradicated. But God is love and hope.

Therefore let us ponder the words of Helen Keller: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”

My hope is that each of us will become more aware of our needy neighbors both near and far. Let us find the courage to reach out to each other in compassionate faith.

Homework Assignment: (Re)contextualize the Image

On Wednesday, we discussed the basic assumptions that go into reading a "text." By text, we were referring to a variety of things, including written language, visual images, online communications, etc. We were mainly concerned with how images and mixed texts (i.e., hybrid documents) are appropriated within our society today. In this course, we will be spending a lot of time interpreting, discussing, and debating about texts. In addition, you will be creating and writing about your own work.

One popular approach to art consists of re-appropriating existing (or found) images. Artist Nancy Chunn marked up the front page of the New York Times every day in 1996 to create new meanings, draw cultural connections, and to make her own argument about the power of the media.

I asked you to take the same approach with an image I gave you. The results were truly impressive, each demonstrating your own ability to criticize things you disagree with in society, to voice your

own opinions visually, and (in some cases) to express your sense of humor through this assignment.

Here is the original image:

It is a still from Dennis Gansel's film, Die Welle (Germany, 2008); one of my favorite films, but one that I was certain few of you had seen before. We spent a good deal of time talking about this image before you took it home to change it. I asked you to change the image in some way, following Nancy Chunn's example, to make an argument about our society today.

To read about the film, go here:

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1063669/)

Here are just a few of your responses:

"Just as perception alters the young mind in The Wave, headlines in newspapers paint the ultimate image for how a situation or event will be perceived."

"Kids blindly following anything Disney tells them"

"I put some thought bubbles and colored some of the shirts to draw attention away from where I stuck Waldo."

"I altered the colors of the picture as well as changing their hands to do the "Gator Chomp" to emphasize the strong following of the Gator Nation."

"I basically re-contextualized the image as a sort of 'public service announcement' advertising the expression of one's self."