Group items tagged

This is a short cartoon that satirizes the experience of using twitter to communicate. It has some funny phrases including when one friend inquires about people on twitter "who are they talking to?" the other friend responds "this is how we communicate now in bite sized yippity-yap!" Once the first friend becomes extremely cynical and essentially awakens the people in the "twitter-sphere" from a zombie-like slumber, the whole reality begins to crumble. As silly as it is, it says some interesting things about social networking and the public's perception of the different forms of communication.  Also, it's worth noting that the video was made prior to some of the Iranian and Egyptian conflicts in which twitter played such an important role in empowering the masses (but is it the opiate of the masses?).

This is another satirical look at what's going on online and how sites like myspace seem to be loosing relevancy. In some ways the video is actually a little disturbing, but it does at least partially bring into question what makes a good social networking site and what causes us to favor sites like facebook over sites like myspace. For instance, was myspace too customizable to the point that it left the user with too many choices and left visitors feeling out of place every time they visited a page that blasted music at them they didn't actually enjoy?

This is the latest on the Google/Viacom copyright issue over videos on youtube.

Unique TED talk from Kellee Santiago who claims that Roger Ebert's claim that video games can't be art is wrong.

I'd like to say that this has implications for Bogost's book, but really it's just awesome.

This is the second version of a promotional video made by specialty glass and ceramics company Corning Inc. I interned there in 2008. Seems to fit with a lot of McLuhan's ideas of technology becoming an extension of our bodies. I think my fingers would get sore. Also, if this is the future, would buy stock in Windex...

For all the times I was saved by a good book. I still have a secret desire to be a librarian!

Here is a live recording of Vanessa Place reading at the Kelly Writers House in March 2011. Vanessa Place was of course cited frequently in Kenny Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing. I think listening/watching the live reading really aids in the comprehension of his discussion of her work.

A fun video of that madcap guy Kenny Goldsmith, reading three pomes about the Brooklyn Bridge, one by Whitman, one by Crane, and one by Kenny himself.

This is a video of Marshall Mcluhan discussing how the medium is the message in 1977. It's interesting to both see him and hear his voice while he talks about his opinions we've already discussed in his book.

I had to share this because it's just too funny but also seems to make an interesting critique on the problems with fact checking and collaborative and anonymous contributions to an encyclopedia. It also seems to make a commentary on how we establish relevancy by adding items (including ourselves) to these kinds of encyclopedias.

Considering how often we look at TED talks, I thought it might be worth including this fake TED talk used as a clip for the new Ridley Scott movie, Prometheus. I know this probably looks a little like getting off track, but I thought it was interesting that the author claims that humans have become gods through their acts of technological creation (in his case, "cyberkinetic individuals). Science fiction often does a great job extrapolating certain ideas or issues, and I think in some ways we can find links to the issue and use of Wikipedia in which we can freely take place in the act of creation or manipulation of a text and even the meaning behind the entries we change. Obviously this is not necessarily created in our own image the way a cyborg would be, but it is still using McLuhan's idea of the extension of man into the cyber world. The question we're left with here though, is whether or not we deserve the moniker of "creator" if we create anonymously.

And we know we couldn't avoid adding the thoughts of Michael Scott on the use of Wikipedia. Obviously, some of our sources seem to take a more genuine approach at propagating the veracity of Wikipedia, but the Office's use of Michael Scott as a supporter does represent people's general fear of the quality of contributor on the site.

Here's an interesting interview with N. Katherine Hayles (author of this week's readings) for a program called The Artist's Craft. Hayles talks about some of the concepts found in this week's readings and also touches upon some new ideas. I find the material to be extremely accessible in this Q&A format.

This probably seems ridiculous that I'm sharing this, but this directly relates to a paper I wrote last semester about the rhetoric employed by AXE and now I think they're making a move that applies to this class. Here we have some combination of McLuhan's idea of media being an extension of man and we see elements of IF as people actively contribute the making of a graphic novel and then are characterized by the creators for their input all the while fusing their digital selves to some sort of global and digital AXE alliance. Imagine how difficult it would be to by a different product once you become part of their story and your digital self participates (to channel the ideas of Barry Brummett) in this particular reality.

I talked about this in class and I've posted on this before, but when I first posted this the idea was still in the inchoate stages of development. Now you can click on different chapters of the story and there will be a menu on the right hand side that shows animated versions of people added to the story. By clicking on this drawing, the story will advance to the period where this person makes a guest appearance and will show the real photo used for the drawing which is sometimes a facebook profile picture. Why I think this is especially interesting is that it has elements of IF that are in use in electronic literature, but it also creates a participatory community based around a specific exigency which is buying products from AXE.

What does Zuckerberg really do? Assange on SNL tells you!

This RSA adaptation of Evgeny Morozov's 2009 talk illustrates (and examines) the concept of "cyber-utopianism": the theory that the internet "plays a largely emancipatory role in global politics." Morozov discusses whether or not the internet predominately empowers or censors citizens by facilitating activism and allowing individuals to disseminate information more effectively.