Blog #7

The path I chose in reading through http://ten.fibreculturejournal.org/wp-content/dynmed/ball_moeller/index.html was a linear path. First, i started with the abstract. While reading, i click the first hyperlink that popped up. The first one Topoi. When i finished, i cliked “Go back to the first node” and continued reading until the next hyperlink which was commonplace. Then the next hyperlink was letterate and then  multimodal. Choosing to read this site like this I was able to understand the auther more clearly and efficently, Everytime i came across a word i didn’t know, it was in hyperlink, and when i clicked it, it expanded to further explain the word. With so much information and so many options to learn about them, the way the reader chooses to read will be the best way for him to understand.

In the youtubve video http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/14.1/disputatio/burns/index.html, the focus was to promote National Day of Writing, In this 60 second video, it shows babies playing with a typewriter, which shows how the current generation has moved to a digital form of literacy and has no idea of how to us ethe old school typewrite, which potrays the old form of literacy. 

What forms of topoi and commonplace are shown in the video?

What other meanings do you think this video has? 

blog 4

i tried thinking of some issues i have talked about in other courses… but i only take two other classes, Calculus and General Chemistry. I wasn’t able to think of any issues we have discussed becuase we haven’t had any. 

However, a debatable topic my friends and i recently discussed was, “if ya person does bad things, are they considered a bad person?”. This is a very braod issue that can be taken any way possible, but my thesis was “A persons actions defines the person; If a person does bad things, they are a bad person”. 

Even among my friends, i had a lot of opposing views saying the exact antithesis,” A person’s actions does not define the person; If a person does bad things,, it does not make them a bad person”. 

When i thought long and hard about the antithesis, there are alot of evidence that makes it valid, for example, if a person steals food from a store to feed his hungry family of 4, yet he still has a good heart, is he considered a bad person? Or, if a kid smokes weed for the first time due to peer pressure, is he now a bad person? People who agree withe the antithesis would say, these people are still good, but to support my thesis, i can argue that, how do these actions prove they are good people? If a person did a bad thing, at that moment, they are bad people. 

What i would do, before i finalize my thesis, is to do more research on my thesis and the antithesis, weigh in the opposition’s opinion, make concessions, and finally, maybe alter my thesis

Gay

Everything you know about the subject

• The word “gay” is used in many different way
• the old, traditional definition means happy
• it means a homosexual
• it also means something you dont like,  for example: that hard math test was so gay
• it was a word that is daily used.
• it can also be used to describe colorful, flamboyant people

 

Everything you want to know about your subject

• does the word offend anyone?
• how the meaning of the word has changed 

Blog 3

As technology is expanding, and a new form of literature is created, the way we perceive literacy is also changing. New writing practices are being created, rhetoric is starting to be used in different ways, and innovations is creating new changes.

In the film ” The components of Scholarly Media”, it depicts the print loyalists as cavemen. When they encounter the totally new, IBook, which is shown as fire, they get scared and tries to destroy it. At first they couldn’t find the purpose or usefulness of the IBook. However, just like cavemen found use for fire, and it revolutionized the world, the print loyalists soon found the usefulness of the IBook and it led to a revolution. Kuhn,in a media form, was able to use rhetoric to show is main idea. I learned that even in a new, digital way, you can use rhetoric to get your idea across

In the film ” The Machine is Us/ing Us”, Wesch was able to get his message across clearly and effectively. The video was also very engaging and cool how he was able to manipulate words in certain ways to express himself. For example he turned ” machine is using us” into “machine is us” which is interesting. With the quickly changing words, it also shows how quickly technology is changing.

Blog 2

After reading the article “Ten Ways to Think About Writing”, and reflecting on my past writing. i realized how right Reid is. Every time i wrote a piece of literature, ( English essay, science essay, SAT, ap tests, etc) I was told to have the topic sentence at the beginning of the intro, have 5 paragraphs, 3 main ideas, and a conclusion restating your thesis. I got so used to writing this way that it became my only way of writing. With all these rules, and limitations, i wasn’t able to fully express myself and write a really good, rhetoric literature.

In high school, with every piece of essay, came a rubric. Every rubric had the basic rules. Always have a thesis statement, always have 3 supporting ideas, always restate your thesis in your conclusion, a paragraph should be more than 5 sentences, have supporting evidence, and keep it to 2-3 pages.  Although these rules were supposed to benefit me,  they did the opposite. I wasn’t able to fully develop my thoughts, and it made me very self conscious about my writing.

Learning how to write was the same thing as learning biology, or math for me. It felt as if I was learning how to write from a textbook, with set rules and ideas. I never learned about rhetoric and had no idea what ethos, pathos, and logos was before this English class. Through this class, and this article, I realized how flawed my way of writing is. I have to learn how to use rhetoric in my writing, with explicit details, arguments, primary and secondary audience in mind, showing not telling, and so much more.

I don’t think i’m writing this essay rhetorically because i still don’t have the full idea of what it is. However this essay has taught me a lot on how to write using rhetoric and hopefully I will be able to improve my writing on future pieces of literature

Im planning to …

Im planning to write about how i learned how to use the computer. I first got a computer in the 5th grade, which was very late compared to my peers. At school, or at a friend’s house, i was always envious of how everyone was able to use the computer so well while i had no clue. I was clueless. First time i felt so lost was when my friend asked me to type in a song on google. I didn’t know how to type or what google was. i aish to talk abut my struggle to become technologically literate

is this narrative interesting?

what would make it more appealing?

Hi, My name is …

Hi, My name is Daniel Yu  and i am from New York. My desired major is business at the school of Ross while studying pre-med. I love to play piano and to watch sitcoms like friends, how i met your mother. my goals of this semester to to become familiar and comfortable with UMich, make lots of friends, and do really well in school.

While reading the article by Mark Bauerlein, i felt a bit offended by his approach to digitized classrooms and how he believes a pushback was needed for intellectual learning. His approach was very orthodox and traditional with methods of learning. In my personal experience, i believe the use of technology is a great way to learn and thrive in classrooms. With the use of smartboards, online research tools, and much more, i was able to learn a lot better than i would have sitting in a classroom, watching a teacher write on the chalkboard. One great thing about the use of internet is its freedom. With the freedom given to explore so much, a person is bound to learn more things than a traditional student would. For example, when i search up, how to make a blog, it leads me to youtube videos, hundreds of different links and tutorials, and with a few clicks, you might end up on a random blog you really enjoy. Learning in a digitized classroom is more enjoyable and engaging which gets rid of the push-back and is definitely a great way of learning.

The article, Connecting the Digital Dots, was more accepting of the changing times. I agree on their views of the new meaning of literacy because it is a new digital age and it will continue to change.

Bauerlein believes that we need traditional, book and pen, way of learning rather than learning digitally. he always believes that no benefit at all has came from digitized classrooms. His way of thinking is extreme and also false. On the contrast, Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan embraces technology and with the right learning techniques and teachers, it will be beneficial. Bauerlein defines literacy as the traditional definttion, able to read, while Jones-Kavalier and Flannigan believe that the meaning has changed to move with the time, into a digitized era.

Photo on 2012-09-06 at 09.51