Final Project Part 2

So far this project has mostly revolved around getting to know Wix and tweeking various elements for each page.  There has been many small details that are not present when writing plain text, such as color and effects for each piece of text.  There are also the inevitable yet unforeseen technological glitches when Wix wants to do one thing with page elements when I'm trying to do something else.  At this point I hope the template I've created will not lead to unforeseen problems and a dead end that needs to be scratched, but I believe I have a grasp on how its working.  So, I'll continue on adding the graphics and images while trying to map the various connections between pieces of text.

Final Project Part 1

At this point, the project involves collecting the images I need and working on the layout.  As I have never built a web page before, other than a blog with pre-made templates, this is a new experience.  The initial part of the work will require some thought as to color and layout.  After that is complete I can move on to the images. So it seems that this stage is all about the visuals, and then I can think about the narrative and integrating the text later. The big challenge at this point is to figure out how much material I need to provide enough to tell the narrative effectively without going so deep that the project becomes unworkable.

Multimedia Project Proposal

At this point, I'm thinking of working with the technology literacy narrative as a website, probably a Wix one.  I would like to show the progression of my narrative in a more visual way.  I think this will emphasize how much things have changed and how important technology has become as a part of the fabric of our current lives.  It occurs to me that many of the younger people who are driving our electronic culture probably don't have a clear sense of how fast things have changed in the last twenty years and how clunky computer technology was before. I think a website would show how much more transparent technology has become and how it has evolved from a very specific tool.  I think screenshots would be interesting, and if possible some video that shows this evolution.  The multi-dimension aspects of digital technology seem rather dull when put into text, so I think this would tell the story much better.

Technology Literacy Narrative Pre-writing Part 2

Thinking about the progression of technology in the last thirty years has revealed to me just how prominent technology has become in everyday life.  It seems hard to see without stopping to think about it, as we are so used to having our devices.  On the day I was born my parents were buying one of the "new" handheld calculators.  At that point technological devices were just tools, in the sense that they sat in a box or drawer and were used only when needed to perform some specific task. There was of course TV, radio and eventually VCRs and tape players, but again they only seemed to be something that was used at very specific times, they were not ubiquitous in the way things are now.  These days, everyone has so much computing power in their pockets that the calculator and even the telephone function are just a byproducts of a much more powerful device.  They have become so multi-functional that many people can find a constant use for them and no one is very far from a smartphone or PC anymore.  They have become so interconnected that the future we now live in has its importance in "the cloud."  I would not want to go back to the days where every electronic device was an isolated machine.  Access is the key factor of modern technology, whether it is being able to communicate with distant friends in a relatively short amount of time, or finding information quickly, or instantly finding media such as music or a movie-on-demand.  Everyone and everything is finding its way into this interconnected space, and this is why I always welcome the latest technology, as it is usually a step closer to better and more complete access.

Final Project Speculation Part 2

I'm still thinking along the lines of doing something with the technology narrative.  I'm certainly thinking of a web-based presentation, but I'm not sure if Prezi will be the right choice as it seems too much like a linear presentation.  I'm thinking either a more traditional web page or perhaps a blog.  This might be easier for a graphic-intensive presentation where much information can be presented in an economic way.  Using these I can break up the story a bit and classify things or times, and using the blog might be the easiest way of dividing this information.  By including many links that connect each post the narrative could be told in a less linear way, with each reader choosing to prioritize the information in the way that seems most important to them.

Final Project Speculation

For the final project I am thinking about doing something web-based.  One idea involves a paper I did about post-modern ideas in the novels of Douglas Coupland in reference to the theories of Fredrick Jameson.  Since many of Jameson's ideas are presented in a visual spatial-oriented way, I would think that graphics and photos might present a more interesting argument than just text.  But, I'm not quite sure how to discuss literature in a multimedia setting.  Another idea is do something with the technology narrative.  I think that would be far more interesting told through a technological medium, but I don't want to consider it too much until I've completed the text assignment.

Technology Narrative

I have always had technology available as a form of entertainment.  But aside from having electronics as isolated entertainment devices, my real technological progress began with my first computer in 1986, a Commodore 64.  Though it was limited in its functionality, and considered by many to be a glorified gaming machine, that electronic box became my introduction to making technology a consistent part of ordinary life.  In 1992 I upgraded to an IBM PC which seemed to be a much more serious device, and I subscribed to my first on-line service, Prodigy, which expanded the scope of computing beyond that simple box.  The introduction of Windows 95 made the user interface much more transparent and that seemed to accelerate they productivity of home computers and the deployment of broadband, which I subscribed to in 2001, made computing vastly more useful.

Now, its reached the point where I have four PCs at my desk, all networked together through virtual switches and connected to network drives.  Additionally, my house consists of two laptops, a Playstation 3 and a Wii, all doing their part in providing information and entertainment from the network.  While on-the-go I am never without my iPod, containing my entire CD collection and frequently I carry an iPad, ready to connect to my Google-assisted-memory.

I have found that learning a new technology is fairly easy when it can be done slowly and over a period of time, before its needed.  But, when something new is ignored for too long and then its needed for some immediate need, the frustration can be high trying to master it quickly.  My experiences with computer technology have been enjoyable enough that as devices proliferated in the 90s I obtained my A+ and Net+ computer technician certifications.  At that point I started building my own PCs rather than buying off-the-shelf ones. That makes me the most technologically literate person that I know and I'm the one that gets called when somebody's computer stops working.

I imagine that in the future technological literacy will concern the user interfaces of on-line sites and consumer devices, rather than the circuit-board filled components that still sit next to my desk.  Capturing and communicating one's life will be the driving motivation.  I find myself using cameras much more and upgrading to more high-tech versions and using programs like Photoshop more frequently in order to provide my content onto the Web.  I think that social networking is here to stay and that the future will be so much more documented than the past that the pre-net life will seem like the dark ages.  Anyone not contributing to networked collective will be irrelevant.

Literacy Narrative Video

Part 2:

Literacy Narrative Thoughts

In my own reading history I can't remember being struck by a particular moment of literacy.  I remember being read to as a child, but the first key moment I can recall was one day reading a book to my first grade teacher - who seemed quite surprised. My usual interaction with books was not school, but it was the monthly family trips to the library, where any kind of reading was possible.  I think I was mostly drawn to books about technology, military history and science fiction.  By the time I was thirteen I had my first computer - used mainly for games, and as many of the games were text based at the time, those became part of my reading selections.  Also, films of the time had a significant effect on my understanding of narrative.  I never had a strong urge to write much, I wrote the least amount of letters necessary to communicate with people.  However, as a way to amuse myself I did write film scripts- or attemped to, as I created sequels to my favorite films.
As I went through high school, I always felt that the books we were forced to read seemed so boring and that there were ideas "out there" that were really fascinating,  So by the time of graduation I began to accumulate works revolving around philosophy and more theoretical fields such as quantum physics.  My first term of college I jumped right into working on a philosophy degree, and the subsequent amount of reading that it produced.
I still never found much use for writing outside of class.  Not until the explosion of social networking on the internet in the early 2000s did it seem to have a point.  But after the advent of blogs, anything written could be instantly available for anyone in the world.  Knowing that something I wrote could actually be read by someone else made it more compelling.  Blogging served as a decent outlet for expressing casual opinions about the world, as well as more academic material.
It seems to me that literacy is more than just being able to understand written language, but it consists of being able to use writing as a tool to continually expand knowledge and being motivated to constantly learn more and more and widen understanding to larger areas and higher levels of thought.

Writing and the Electronic Age

In my experience, the more transparent an act of writing is, the more productive it is.  If the physical process demands great attention then it becomes a distraction from converting the thoughts into language.  The writing processes that are the most familiar as well as efficient seem to me to be the best.  I find both the oldest and newest methods problematic.  For instance, the act of writing with pen and pencil I find to be too slow and laborious, as the brain can often perform faster than the hand.  The newest methods involving portable electronic devices I also find difficult .  The iPad, for instance, is great in its ability to always be available in any location, but I think the user interface is terrible.  The on-screen keyboard is nearly unusable for intensive typing.  Without any kind of tactile feedback I constantly have to look at what I'm typing and make corrections, and that distracts from my train of thought.  But this technology is in its infancy and it will be interesting to see what advancements come in the next generations of slate PCs.  For now, that leaves the middle ground of the venerable but boring keyboard.  I find using a full-size, comfortable keyboard (along with a good monitor with plenty of on-screen real estate) to be the most efficient method.  It provides just enough feedback for my subconscious to cope with the physical act of typing, while allowing my consciousness to remain on the task of reducing concepts into strings of words.

Of course, this way of thinking is based on the idea that the work is purely an intellectual property or product.  As the electronic age accelerates, my experiences of a work or text in the post- iTunes world is becoming more and more based solely on content, and not on the physical artifact that was previously important.  When the product of writing was limited to being only a physical object, the aesthetic value of the form was just as important as the content.  Thinking about the physical process that Shakespeare might have gone through suggest that historic writers had to be an artisan in more ways than just using the word.  Whether written for the public or for actors, the work had to project itself as a significant item.  Losing this dimension of the writer may be the price we pay for the convenience of technology and the ever-present access to everything that exists in the electronic "cloud".