The first installment of this prolific series has had long lasting effects.
I remember when I first received the game. It was donated from one of my father's friends. I can't be sure now who it was, and the mystery of this previous owner only added to my sense of purpose. The cartridge was silver and relucent, so starkly different from the muted gray of every other game I owned. And inside the weathered box was a map, the signs of use in the wrinkles and tears mended with stotch tape. Most importantly, there were notes scattered around the map: I could find meat hidden here beneath this rock; the entrance to another dungeon across this bridge, 100 rupees to buy the raft to get from that bridge to the other shore---beneath this bush.
I was continuing an unwon quest. The map contained every screen of the over-world landscape. It did not show the under-world, the dungeons. On the back of the map, there were spaces for the player to complete their own maps of these dungeons, and only a few had been filled in by this mysterious ancestor player. It didn't matter that the notes were sometimes wrong. This only added to my belief that I would be the one to complete this journey.
I didn't complete the journey; not in my parent's basement anyway. This game required an immence amount of patience, and the tasks were not always clear. The player must be prepared to wander, and search with no results. Added to this was the unpredictability of NES cartridges after several years of use. My friends and I never assumed that we would play the game we wanted on the first try. Part of the experience was getting it to work. We would run through teh list of cleaning methods we had accumulated: No, you must blow this way; No, you must put teh cartridge in this way; No, it isn't the game---It's your system! (That one always hurt.)
I took my NES and games with me to my freshman dorm. And surprise! I wasn't the only freshman nostalgic for the original Nintendo. A friend of mine finally beat the original Mario, and I beat it myself sometime later (believing now that it was possible). And with my map, I completed Zelda, guided by the notes of that mystery owner, the notes I left as a child, and the notes I filled in as I completed the game.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
My Gaming History
From our discussion on the the eight myths of gaming, there were a few points that stood out to me. Although I enjoy video games, and have a long personal history starting with the first Nintendo, and dispite the fact that I embraced the potential for gaming in education, I still avoided writing this reflection, and I at most skimmed through the articles related to this theme.
?So, the question I present to myself here: Why would someone with a stake in this topic resist considering it? Furthermore, what must be done to include those ardently opposed in this conversation?
There were a few points brought up by our discussion as we considered What must be done to change the conversation about gaming? Here are a few of points that stood out to me:
-Language: We must develop a language for discussing what games do, and what gamers do when playing.
-Are video games art: We must develop a critical means of discussing good and bad games. After all, we don't question the validity of film every time a sequel to the Saw series comes out.
-Puritan fear of addiction: The Puritan belief that goodness can only result from hard work, and anything less is a sin and must be shamed. The prof. suggested the example of early American resistance to gambling.
This fear of addiction rang painfully true to my understanding of myself as a gamer. I know that there are certain games that when I start playing, I will not be able to stop. When I have a free moment, I will be playing, until I have completed the game. This is the reason why I have resisted buying any of the new Zelda titles for Wii.
This is a lot like AA's approach to drinking: One must recognize that one has a disease. One must avoid all triggers of the disease (Including friends and family who drink, and all situations where drinking is present).
For me, each of these elements maintained a sort of quiet apprehension to gaming. I couldn't talk about what was good or bad about particular games, or what happens when I do play, and I maintained a fear that I couldn't play "responsibly."
?So, the question I present to myself here: Why would someone with a stake in this topic resist considering it? Furthermore, what must be done to include those ardently opposed in this conversation?
There were a few points brought up by our discussion as we considered What must be done to change the conversation about gaming? Here are a few of points that stood out to me:
-Language: We must develop a language for discussing what games do, and what gamers do when playing.
-Are video games art: We must develop a critical means of discussing good and bad games. After all, we don't question the validity of film every time a sequel to the Saw series comes out.
-Puritan fear of addiction: The Puritan belief that goodness can only result from hard work, and anything less is a sin and must be shamed. The prof. suggested the example of early American resistance to gambling.
This fear of addiction rang painfully true to my understanding of myself as a gamer. I know that there are certain games that when I start playing, I will not be able to stop. When I have a free moment, I will be playing, until I have completed the game. This is the reason why I have resisted buying any of the new Zelda titles for Wii.
This is a lot like AA's approach to drinking: One must recognize that one has a disease. One must avoid all triggers of the disease (Including friends and family who drink, and all situations where drinking is present).
For me, each of these elements maintained a sort of quiet apprehension to gaming. I couldn't talk about what was good or bad about particular games, or what happens when I do play, and I maintained a fear that I couldn't play "responsibly."
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Value of Social Media: Continuing the Conversation
After our last class, discussing the Media Education article, I had a few remaining questions and comments. When social media is used in the classroom, the conversation doesn't need to end when class is over.
-My discussion with Wei:
1. In Singapore: Schools are replacing books with iPads. Wei described this as "replacing the old washing machine with a new washing machine." And I agree. I think this shows a lack of careful thinking on the part of the schools, a naive over-endorsement of technology for technology's sake. I have seen this in my student teaching with the use of SmartBoard, which seems to just be replacing the white board with digital markers, and transparencies with slide shows. Here, there is no student application of technology.
2. Technology can lead to a degradation of language: Wei observed that in discussion boards online, posts and comments are often unreflected outbursts, sometime inflammatory, and unproductive.
-I would suggest that the same concern could be applied to class discussions with 7th graders (or adults), with no instruction of the necessary skills needed for meaningful discussion. Students shout out their thoughts without consideration for what has been said. These skills must be made transparent, valued, and practiced.
-My discussion with Wei:
1. In Singapore: Schools are replacing books with iPads. Wei described this as "replacing the old washing machine with a new washing machine." And I agree. I think this shows a lack of careful thinking on the part of the schools, a naive over-endorsement of technology for technology's sake. I have seen this in my student teaching with the use of SmartBoard, which seems to just be replacing the white board with digital markers, and transparencies with slide shows. Here, there is no student application of technology.
2. Technology can lead to a degradation of language: Wei observed that in discussion boards online, posts and comments are often unreflected outbursts, sometime inflammatory, and unproductive.
-I would suggest that the same concern could be applied to class discussions with 7th graders (or adults), with no instruction of the necessary skills needed for meaningful discussion. Students shout out their thoughts without consideration for what has been said. These skills must be made transparent, valued, and practiced.
Media Education for the 21st Century
-Some responses to Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Henry Jenkins, et al.
! Some reservations: This article provides an excellent examination of the many skills that can be applied and developed through Media Education, and offers many examples of how those skills have been successful applied in particular programs. However, it is important to note that this article is intended to inspire educators and administrators, and does not necessarily offer methods for application in the classroom.
-There is the suggestion that young people, through pursuing their own interests connected to media, have developed this core set of skills, and were readily capable of applying those skills to classroom learning. With the example of Sam, the baseball card collector, the article states:
"On another level, the cards provided a scaffold, which motivated and shaped his acquisition of other forms of school knowledge. ... Sam developed a sense of himself as a learner."
! He did not develop his sense of self as a learner, until an educator made clear the connections between baseball cards and school subjects. It is far more likely that teachers and other students reinforced the notion that baseball card collecting is a "hobby," a free-time activity, and less important than math homework. I'm not sure that I have ever encountered a student at any age who was able to connect life learning to class learning. If I were to ask Sam in the classroom, as the article states, he would say he was "having fun."
-There are several elements that must be developed under the guidance of the teacher:
-"...researchers such as Black and Henry Jenkins have argued, the new digital cultures porvide support systems to help youth improve their core competencies as readers and writers."
! Some reservations: This article provides an excellent examination of the many skills that can be applied and developed through Media Education, and offers many examples of how those skills have been successful applied in particular programs. However, it is important to note that this article is intended to inspire educators and administrators, and does not necessarily offer methods for application in the classroom.
-There is the suggestion that young people, through pursuing their own interests connected to media, have developed this core set of skills, and were readily capable of applying those skills to classroom learning. With the example of Sam, the baseball card collector, the article states:
"On another level, the cards provided a scaffold, which motivated and shaped his acquisition of other forms of school knowledge. ... Sam developed a sense of himself as a learner."
! He did not develop his sense of self as a learner, until an educator made clear the connections between baseball cards and school subjects. It is far more likely that teachers and other students reinforced the notion that baseball card collecting is a "hobby," a free-time activity, and less important than math homework. I'm not sure that I have ever encountered a student at any age who was able to connect life learning to class learning. If I were to ask Sam in the classroom, as the article states, he would say he was "having fun."
-There are several elements that must be developed under the guidance of the teacher:
- Meta-Cognition of learning styles or process, strengths and weaknesses. Sam must be able to discuss how learning or understanding takes place, and which terms best describe his style.
- Identification of the skills applied in baseball card collecting or trading, and understanding of how those skills were used.
- Identification of the skills necessary for the academic subject, for example: architecture, 20th century American history, and map-reading (subjects identified in the article).
- A familiarity with the subject: When a teacher identifies the skills necessary for map-reading, for example, these skills will most likely remain entirely abstract, unless the student has some experience reading maps.
My point here is not to suggest that this is impossible. And I admire the zest and enthusiam for Media Education projected in this article. However, it is naive, and perhaps misleading, to suggest that life-learning and academic learning is inherently transferable. And perhaps this is not because of a lacking on the parts of the students, but rather the result of a education culture that prioritizes particular skills (math and reading, for example) and stigmatizes others (almost every subject of Media Education).
I would like to point to a particular example with Graphic Novels in Language Arts education. With the increase in publishing and availability of graphic novels, teachers have seen struggling and resistant readers eagerly consuming books with images. The assumption often made here is that reading comics will increase readers' interest in reading texts. There are several problems here:
- This reinforces the hierarchy of texts over comics. The comics those reader love are devalued when treated as a stepping stone to texts.
- This fails to consider the many cognitive skills necessary for understanding and making meaning from comics, as well as the skills necessary for text reading.
I suggest instead, that the teacher must make transparent the process of reading comics and reading texts. Where are skills supported with the other? What are the potential limitations of each medium? A comic reader must be able to see herself as a comic reader even when reading texts.
-"...researchers such as Black and Henry Jenkins have argued, the new digital cultures porvide support systems to help youth improve their core competencies as readers and writers."
Sunday, November 6, 2011
1040 Metropolitan (Third Space)
-Very much a first attempt at connecting Education Theory for Social Justice, some of the artists we spoke to at the open studios, Understanding Comics, and my own work (writing and linoleum print-making).
- Kelly Lycan (Video Instillations): The video I watched displayed only text, asking questions and giving instructions to the viewer, centered on perceptions and emotional connections to color. The first questions focused on the immediate surroundings, color we could see and touch. The questions began moving from seeing to visualizing or imagining. We were asked to imagine a color we could not see. I tried to imagine purple. (This discussion of her work is really lacking without being able to quote the film. These instillations are new works, and are not posted on her website.)
! The experience of the video relied heavily on the participation of the viewer, and my efforts to imagine, for example, the color of my favorite cup, and how the color affects the taste of my drink.
! I thought of the poem Cloud Piece from Grapefruit, Yoko Ono's book of poetry in the form of instructions.
This particular poem was the inspiration for John Lennon's song Imagine. Like the questions and statements appearing in Lycan's video, the viewer is asked to imagine objects and the immaterial, and then perform some mental work with it. (Lycan's video asked us to drink from our favorite cup, and note the change in color as the drink is consumed.)
Last spring I taught a lesson on Lennon's Imagine to my class of adult ESOL students. Almost every student was at least familiar with the song, and the class was generally excited to be reading the lyrics and listening to the music. In researching for the lesson, I read about the connection to Ono's poem (Cloud Piece). I had been unsure how I would address the themes of Lennon's song, namely the suggestion that conditions for peace depend on the erasure of religion and national identity:
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
This song has been performed by numerous popular singers at international events (such as the Nobel Peace prize award ceremony.) For my lesson, I didn't want to minimize the controversial elements, which often seem to be lost in the bitter-sweet melody, presented with sentimental optimism. After reading Ono's poem, it seemed clear to me that Lennon's lyrics were in fact instructions.
So I asked my students to imagine. I asked them to imagine a word with 1) No heaven and hell, 2) No countries, 3) No religion, 4) No possessions. This, I felt was the most fair way for students to accept or reject his claims. A student with a deep personal connection to his faith or her national origin, could describe a troubled world in the absence of these identities.
This discussion failed utterly. It didn't matter how I rephrased the instructions, the students did not engage. I failed to recognize the difficulty of imagining. My lesson depended on the students' ability to imagine different worlds, before I confirmed that they could at least imagine different weather. I think the greatest strength of Lycan's video was in her scaffolding: discussing color first concretely with the objects around us, before we were asked to imagine a color we have never seen.
The success of Chrisostomou's work also seems to depend on the participation of the viewer. He described his interactions with Richard Serra's sculpture. Before moving to NYC, Chrisostomou had only seen Serra's sculpture from photographs. Of course, viewers' engagement with Serra's massive iron sculptures depends entirely on their presence; they must stand dwarfed before the sculpture's impossibly heavy facade, and walking through the impossibly graceful curving of the walls.
When I look at a photograph of Serra's sculpture, I can't engage with it as I typically would with an image. The giftshop postcard in my hand can only offer me the promise of a future experience, just like a travel ad. The image of cascading hills and valleys under the bluest skies invites no sense of calm or reflection. The image invites me to imagine my presence there, drawing me into an imagined world, drawing attention to everything that is around me, discovering knew dissatisfaction with every corner of my kitchen--how cluttered the table and how tacky the tiles.
This is the space that Chrisostomou seems to be working in.
Wasted Youth
The scenes he constructs invite me in with the sense of familiarity, achieved by his painstaking attention to detail. And at the moment I that I enter, I'm confronted with the unreality, pushed back out. I see the soft light reflecting from the cabinets. The kitchen of my childhood looks nothing like this, but that light draws me in to early evenings in the summer, helping my mother prepare dinner. And then I see the giant eggs that threaten to break through the counter, discolored and spotted, maybe rotten, stamped with the cage number where that giant hen must be held.
The result of this is not quite fantasy. Fantasy authors, directors, or artists make every effort to remove the mediation. Tolkien created new languages to the reader for the express purpose of immediacy, every aspect of Middle Earth carefully constructed for readers to lose themselves. But the more I look at Wasted Youth, I begin to find new disconnections. That's not a tiled floor; it's a plastic simulation warping and lifting from the base.
It seems to me the success of Lycan's and Chrisostomou's work lies in the dissonance and the unfulfilled. Chrisostomou's kitchen reveals it's unreality, and Lycan's instructions grow increasingly impossible. Works like these depend entirely on the viewer. The product lies in the thoughts and imagination of the viewer, suspended and unresolved. These works demand a lot from the viewers; they must construct their own experience. Serra and Tolkien has done all the work for us. With Wasted Youth, the viewer can't just show up and stand before the photograph and be overcome. However, this increase in expectation of the viewer, also indicates to me a profound level of trust and faith the public's intelligence and creativity.
Notes for future edits:
- How does this "third space" connect to my beliefs about education?
- How can Lycan's and Chrisostomou's approach be applied in the classroom?
- How does their work connect to my own?
Learning to Listen
I am currently student teaching after a year of taking courses. I feel an intense pressure to apply the theory I've steeped my head in for the last 12 months, and frustratingly, the personal principles I drawn from all that pedagogy often feel at odds with the "realities" of the classroom.
I am not making excuses, though. This post will be an attempt to connect theory to the real concerns voiced by my supervising teacher, my cooperating teacher, and other staff at the middle school where I'm observing and teaching.
At the most recent staff meeting for 7th grade teachers and administrators, nearly everyone voiced the necessity of developing listening skills among the students. This fits well with my personal goals of learning how to develop community in the classroom. I believe that in order for students to truly learn, knowledge must be constructed in the classroom, achieved through the participation and contributions of every student (as apposed to what Paulo Fiere would describe as the "banking" system, where teachers "deposit" or transfer their knowledge to the students, only requiring students to be able to recall that information, making it available for "withdrawal" at the time of the test.)
For a student to build on the ideas of their classmates, they must be able to truly hear them. They must develop their ability to listen.
When I am teaching reading skills, I first determine that the individual student can decode the words. Students cannot be asked to consider thematic content of their independent reading, when they are still developing their phonemic awareness, their ability to recognize the specific sounds dictated by the grouping of letters. Additionally, from my experience with the practice of visual culture, I understand that interpreting images depends upon an individual's ability to read images closely.
I believe that if we expect our students to listen to others, and respond with interpretations, we must help them to develop their ability to hear. I first discovered the notion of listening exercises from Jon Mueller, through his work with the Haggerty Museum of Art. On his blog, he writes: "Oftentimes, when people hear something they are unfamiliar with, a natural tendency is to disassociate oneself from it." Here, he is discussing how people typically react to experimental music, especially when the sounds are harsh and abrasive. However, I think it's easy to see the connection to dialogue, and our potential to disengage when we disagree with the ideas of a speaker, or don't understand, or don't believe we can actually participate in the conversation.
My goals in developing lessons on listening:
- Identify recordings that will challenge modern listeners (experimental compositions, field recordings, radio shows, etc.), while still offering students some point of access (probably won't start out with Merzbow)
- Identify a measurable skill set
- Identify connections between the listening skill set and the skills expected of students in Humanities curricula
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Pictorial Rhetoric and Visual Poetics
-Title is taken from a subheading of chapter 7 in Visual Culture: An Introduction by John A. Walker & Sarah Chaplin.
-In this post, I examine in more detail the rhetorical devices discussed by Walker and Chaplin.
! Rhetoric is a persuasive form of speech, and therefore, all of these devices are considered through their application to persuasion. All of these elements can be used in other media forms.
Hyperbole: Here is an example from the Chevy Truck TV campaign: Like a Rock. (There are better examples of hyperbole in car ads, where the commercial shows the car performing something impossible.)
-Hyperbole uses extreme exaggeration. We understand that the truck isn't literally indestructible, but the advertisers want us to see it as really strong, nearly indestructible.
-Hyperbole seems to play on an enjoyment of fantasy. We know that Tobby Macquire (spelling) can't climb buildings, but we want to see a humble, friendly, likable person do that. We know that cars can't land from tall buildings, but we want to see a ______ (insert brand) land on the street undamaged. (This is where brand is important. A Jeep fits this commercial better than a Lexus.)
-Hyperbole plays to lust for a fantasy while simultaneously denying that fantasy, with the only possibility of fulfillment through buying the product. (This is where hyperbole differs from fantasy in movies: Spider Man is understood to actually be able to climb buildings.)
Personification: Because we find ourselves in the object made human, we generate affection for an internalized image, which we would ordinarily reserve for our most loved characters (or real people), for objects like cleaning supplies.
Symbol: Instant recognition, no interpretation, and fixed to the degree that words are.
-Symbols don't create personal interaction. For example: the US flag. I understand the flag not through my experience in the US, but through what the broader American public has defined it. Symbols are reminders of our relationships to groups (whether in favor or opposition). Symbols remind us where we belong and where we don't, what we stand for and what we oppose.
Metonymy: Visual similitude. Walker and Chaplin describe this as a "change of name" and "cause for effect."
-They use the example of the "hippie" who used to ask: "I need bread, man." According to Walker and Chaplin: "bread" is a "substitute for money because money could by bread."
! This seems like an over-simplification. "Hippies" don't say "bread" for money because they need food. "Bread" is a signifier, indicating those who are in the know, "one of us," and those who don't belong.
-Walker and Chaplin use the idea of substitution to define Van Gogh's Open Bible.
-According to Walker and Chaplin: Bible=Van Gogh's father and Novel=Van Gogh. But here they are too concerned with meaning (as if there's only one) rather than effect. Metonymy can be used as a form of inclusion or exclusion.
! It is more significant that the artist is using personal narratives in his work. Once we are invited to see it this way, we are included in the artist's world, and more likely to side with the novel, spatially dominated by the oppressive Bible, yet still shining brighter.
! More importantly, for the books to have real metonymic potential, and mean something more than a family portrait, we can't limit the Bible to equal father and the novel to equal Van Gogh.
Synecdoch: "parts that stand for the whole"
? What is the effect? Showing part of a soda bottle offers viewers the opportunity for participation, and they mentally complete the bottle through closure.
! With Pop-Art: the subject is so obvious that the meaning can't come from the content. (A Brillo box is not about Brillo brand steel wool.) Synecdoche delays the "what's it about?" just long enough to make the particular brand of soda the answer and the meaning.
! Cubists seem to do the opposite: We are denied entrance and participation because every angle is revealed to us.
Allegory: Prolongs our participation. Each moment of recognition can become connected to the place where we discovered it (as our experiences with books or music are connected to where we first read or heard them.
Alliteration: repetition of assonance or rhyme. In images, the equivalent can be found in "repetitions or patterns of colors, forms, shapes and brush-marks."
! Alliteration makes the viewer a performer of the piece. The repetitions of sounds make the words easy to remember and replay. In Van Gogh's Starry Night, the brushstrokes invite the viewer to trace (with eyes or hands) the movement of the artist's hand.
Antithesis: "opposition, contrast". This can be used to limit the terms of a discussion to a clear binary. When the viewer is given only two options, both in strong opposition to the other, the viewer is called upon to make a choice. When artists or authors are using antithesis, one position will represent the winning side, the smarter choice. The viewer is relieved of further contemplation of the issue, because the author has been "fair" and "objective", presenting both sides.
Chiasmus: "crossing", juxtaposition. Seems to have similar effect to antithesis, and can actually reinforce stereotypes, common perceptions, by showing how "ridiculous" the opposite is.
-In this post, I examine in more detail the rhetorical devices discussed by Walker and Chaplin.
! Rhetoric is a persuasive form of speech, and therefore, all of these devices are considered through their application to persuasion. All of these elements can be used in other media forms.
Hyperbole: Here is an example from the Chevy Truck TV campaign: Like a Rock. (There are better examples of hyperbole in car ads, where the commercial shows the car performing something impossible.)
-Hyperbole uses extreme exaggeration. We understand that the truck isn't literally indestructible, but the advertisers want us to see it as really strong, nearly indestructible.
-Hyperbole seems to play on an enjoyment of fantasy. We know that Tobby Macquire (spelling) can't climb buildings, but we want to see a humble, friendly, likable person do that. We know that cars can't land from tall buildings, but we want to see a ______ (insert brand) land on the street undamaged. (This is where brand is important. A Jeep fits this commercial better than a Lexus.)
-Hyperbole plays to lust for a fantasy while simultaneously denying that fantasy, with the only possibility of fulfillment through buying the product. (This is where hyperbole differs from fantasy in movies: Spider Man is understood to actually be able to climb buildings.)
Personification: Because we find ourselves in the object made human, we generate affection for an internalized image, which we would ordinarily reserve for our most loved characters (or real people), for objects like cleaning supplies.
Symbol: Instant recognition, no interpretation, and fixed to the degree that words are.
-Symbols don't create personal interaction. For example: the US flag. I understand the flag not through my experience in the US, but through what the broader American public has defined it. Symbols are reminders of our relationships to groups (whether in favor or opposition). Symbols remind us where we belong and where we don't, what we stand for and what we oppose.
Metonymy: Visual similitude. Walker and Chaplin describe this as a "change of name" and "cause for effect."
-They use the example of the "hippie" who used to ask: "I need bread, man." According to Walker and Chaplin: "bread" is a "substitute for money because money could by bread."
! This seems like an over-simplification. "Hippies" don't say "bread" for money because they need food. "Bread" is a signifier, indicating those who are in the know, "one of us," and those who don't belong.
-Walker and Chaplin use the idea of substitution to define Van Gogh's Open Bible.
-According to Walker and Chaplin: Bible=Van Gogh's father and Novel=Van Gogh. But here they are too concerned with meaning (as if there's only one) rather than effect. Metonymy can be used as a form of inclusion or exclusion.
! It is more significant that the artist is using personal narratives in his work. Once we are invited to see it this way, we are included in the artist's world, and more likely to side with the novel, spatially dominated by the oppressive Bible, yet still shining brighter.
! More importantly, for the books to have real metonymic potential, and mean something more than a family portrait, we can't limit the Bible to equal father and the novel to equal Van Gogh.
Synecdoch: "parts that stand for the whole"
? What is the effect? Showing part of a soda bottle offers viewers the opportunity for participation, and they mentally complete the bottle through closure.
! With Pop-Art: the subject is so obvious that the meaning can't come from the content. (A Brillo box is not about Brillo brand steel wool.) Synecdoche delays the "what's it about?" just long enough to make the particular brand of soda the answer and the meaning.
! Cubists seem to do the opposite: We are denied entrance and participation because every angle is revealed to us.
Allegory: Prolongs our participation. Each moment of recognition can become connected to the place where we discovered it (as our experiences with books or music are connected to where we first read or heard them.
Alliteration: repetition of assonance or rhyme. In images, the equivalent can be found in "repetitions or patterns of colors, forms, shapes and brush-marks."
! Alliteration makes the viewer a performer of the piece. The repetitions of sounds make the words easy to remember and replay. In Van Gogh's Starry Night, the brushstrokes invite the viewer to trace (with eyes or hands) the movement of the artist's hand.
Antithesis: "opposition, contrast". This can be used to limit the terms of a discussion to a clear binary. When the viewer is given only two options, both in strong opposition to the other, the viewer is called upon to make a choice. When artists or authors are using antithesis, one position will represent the winning side, the smarter choice. The viewer is relieved of further contemplation of the issue, because the author has been "fair" and "objective", presenting both sides.
Chiasmus: "crossing", juxtaposition. Seems to have similar effect to antithesis, and can actually reinforce stereotypes, common perceptions, by showing how "ridiculous" the opposite is.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Why do we have to read books?
-Looking at the process and evaluating the importance of reading
-My own work: How can authors make the book object important again?
! Students will not make books in school (there are exceptions). And how many teachers have written a book? Therefore, if we value books (or any form) we must communicate this to our students.
? What happens when we read a book? How is this unique only to this form? (Scott McCloud addresses similar questions in Understanding Comics, and may serve as example.)
! Students will not make books in school (there are exceptions). And how many teachers have written a book? Therefore, if we value books (or any form) we must communicate this to our students.
? What happens when we read a book? How is this unique only to this form? (Scott McCloud addresses similar questions in Understanding Comics, and may serve as example.)
Visual Literacy in Schools
For Visual Literacy to have a place in schools, educators must convince:
- Other Teachers and Administrators
- Parents
- The students
! Each of these groups is remarkably concervative (including students) in terms of expectations for curriculum and teaching methods.
I will consider teaching TV (for example) when I can explain to parents, principals, teachers, and students:
- What makes the TV experience unique?
- What can it do that other mediums can't?
- What can "reading" TV offer in intellectual development? (Must also consider what exactly is intellectual development, compared to emotional or social for example, and how exactly can this be measured?)
- What are the limitations of TV?
- What does it mean to "read" TV? (Most would argue that the TV experience is passive, and unlike reading a text, no training is necessary.)
The items in this list will change according to the medium considered.
Potential and Limitations
-A list of attempting to articulate what different forms of media can and can't do. Comments, suggestions, additions would be appreciated.
*Comic Books: May require a different catogory, as Scott McCloud suggests that comics (sequential art) function in ways distinct from text or images alone.
Process (All of these terms assume the reader is active. When beginning readers are focused on sounding out words, i.e. decoding, they are not necessarily understanding the content of the text):
Potential:
Limitations:
TV
Process:
TEXT/PRINT
Examples: Books, comic books*, magizines, zines, newspapers, pamphlets, *Comic Books: May require a different catogory, as Scott McCloud suggests that comics (sequential art) function in ways distinct from text or images alone.
Process (All of these terms assume the reader is active. When beginning readers are focused on sounding out words, i.e. decoding, they are not necessarily understanding the content of the text):
- Visualization: reader creates internal image, which is not literally "seen." The image is formed from the reader's experience. This includes what the reader has seen personally, and has seen in other media (such as photos, movies, TV, ads, etc.)
Actions of the active reader
- Create: Reader creates internal image
- Building connections: Readers continually make connections to the source text from past experience, and other texts and media. An initial connection may occur as the reader is scanning the line, and may continue to add connections when not reading.
Potential:
Limitations:
IMAGES
Examples: Photos, digital images, painting and traditional arts, prints (lino, woodblock, lytho, etc.), advertisementsMOVING IMAGES
Examples: Film, video, animation, TV, moviesTV
Process:
- Reader examines the image projected with light. (Reading a paused image on a TV is different than reading a photo, painting, or other still image.)
Actions of the active reader:
- Examine: The reader scan around the frame, identifying the familiar (from past experience) and the unfamiliar.
- Connect: The reader will connect familiar subjects in the frame to past experience.
- Question: When readers has identified unfamiliar subjects in the frame, they will continue looking until they find the answer
INTERNET/SOCIAL MEDIA
Examples: Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, webcamsMUSIC
Examples: ORAL COMMUNICATION
Examples: Lectures, radio news and interviews, BODY LANGUAGE/FACIAL EXPRESSION
Traditional Arts Pandering for Youth
-New York Philharmonic (NYP): "the moving image's interjection into the classical concert hall" (From Rosen's The Image Culture).
-"In 2004, the New York Philharmonic experimented with a 15-by-20-foot screen that projected enormous images of the musicians and conductor to the audience during performances of Wagner and Brahms" (Rosen).
-From the orchestra trustee encouraging the project: "We want to increase attendance at concerts, change the demographics" (from New York Times).
"We have to recognize that this is a visual generation."
"They are used to seeing things more than they are used to hearing things."
! This is a clear example of overdependance on a medium, as well as failing to consider the essential limitations.
! This problem is not unique to orchestral performance.
Recognizing declining attendance, and wanting to reach broader audiences, many art museums have developed education programs to reach more people without sacrificing the integrity of the work or the experience of engaging with a work of art. (Though the research and application of museum education programs are largely focused on traditional art, such as drawing and painting, contemporary museums like The New Museum develop approaches to film/video, sculpture, and instillation among others.) These museums didn't add TV displays next to paintings.
The NY Philharmonic trustee demonstrates a lack of creativity and underestimates the intelligence of his public.
Moving images wil dominate and negatively transform other arts, if we cure our lust or obsession with moving images with more moving images. (Terms like cure, remedy, or any other term that presumes to fix a problem with the public, assumes to be working from a deficit.)
! Shitty Movie Adaptations: Why does it seem that the movie versions of books, even when the books are mediocre, are so consistently lousy? "The movie wasn't that great. The book was better."
? Did the the directors consider what made the reading experience so unique? Did the director find a way to capture the narrator's voice in a way that only a film could?
Examples: Lolita, and Lolita (Novel and Screenplay written by Vladimir Nabokov.
? A question is not asked: Why must we cure this love for images?
! A live performance with images or video is simply a different experience, as reading comics is different than text alone. The problem with the NYP, and the reason for the lack of success that Rosen describes, appears to be the lack of purpose behind the image presentations, which do not draw our attention back to the music.
! Using pictures of space because the piece is called "The Planets" is really stupid, and embarrassingly literal.
-My problem with Rosen and The Image Culture:
Rosen uses an exceptionally bad example to suggest a wide reaching cultural decline, but offers us nothing but lament and regret. She fails to consider her own question: "Did things have to happen this way?"
-"In 2004, the New York Philharmonic experimented with a 15-by-20-foot screen that projected enormous images of the musicians and conductor to the audience during performances of Wagner and Brahms" (Rosen).
-From the orchestra trustee encouraging the project: "We want to increase attendance at concerts, change the demographics" (from New York Times).
"We have to recognize that this is a visual generation."
"They are used to seeing things more than they are used to hearing things."
! This is a clear example of overdependance on a medium, as well as failing to consider the essential limitations.
! This problem is not unique to orchestral performance.
Recognizing declining attendance, and wanting to reach broader audiences, many art museums have developed education programs to reach more people without sacrificing the integrity of the work or the experience of engaging with a work of art. (Though the research and application of museum education programs are largely focused on traditional art, such as drawing and painting, contemporary museums like The New Museum develop approaches to film/video, sculpture, and instillation among others.) These museums didn't add TV displays next to paintings.
The NY Philharmonic trustee demonstrates a lack of creativity and underestimates the intelligence of his public.
Moving images wil dominate and negatively transform other arts, if we cure our lust or obsession with moving images with more moving images. (Terms like cure, remedy, or any other term that presumes to fix a problem with the public, assumes to be working from a deficit.)
! Shitty Movie Adaptations: Why does it seem that the movie versions of books, even when the books are mediocre, are so consistently lousy? "The movie wasn't that great. The book was better."
? Did the the directors consider what made the reading experience so unique? Did the director find a way to capture the narrator's voice in a way that only a film could?
Examples: Lolita, and Lolita (Novel and Screenplay written by Vladimir Nabokov.
? A question is not asked: Why must we cure this love for images?
! A live performance with images or video is simply a different experience, as reading comics is different than text alone. The problem with the NYP, and the reason for the lack of success that Rosen describes, appears to be the lack of purpose behind the image presentations, which do not draw our attention back to the music.
! Using pictures of space because the piece is called "The Planets" is really stupid, and embarrassingly literal.
-My problem with Rosen and The Image Culture:
Rosen uses an exceptionally bad example to suggest a wide reaching cultural decline, but offers us nothing but lament and regret. She fails to consider her own question: "Did things have to happen this way?"
Christine Rosen: The Image Culture
-Reactions and questions raised while reading this essay. Not intended as an essay or formal response. This will serve for reference notes for later.
? What is the debate Rosen sets up?
-Two opposing sides:
1. Images open new understanding/expression
2. Images are superficial, create slavish dependance at the expense of deeper truths (which can only be expressed in words)
? What is the purpose of such a debate? No theorist can rationalize the population from their inclinations. Clearly we are drawn to images for their power to communicate something that was previously missing.
? What did we lose of our oral capabilities with the growing dependance on printed text? Certainly text is less personal and less immediate than an orator? (Considering some lectures that I have seen, this may not actually be true.)
? Why attach value to certain forms? A hierarchal preference to text will disadvantage the less literate. Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory has been generally accepted among teachers and education theorists (not sure of the accuracy of this statement, or how to prove this). Regardless of whether one accepts Gardner's claims, this theory offers a method for affirming and developing skills in students, considering each as individuals, rather than identifying deficiencies according to impersonal standards.
! We must instead articulate the potential and limitations unique to each form, so that we don't lazily substitute one for another, when a particular idea demands a photograph when an essay would be insufficient.
"Images do not necessarily lead to knowledge. This is due in part to the fact that photographic images must constantly be refreshed if one's attention is to continue to be drawn to them." (Rosen)
What is our measure of knowledge here? Facts?
Would Rosen limit the potential of texts only to the knowledge that can be extracted?
Since the public generally recognizes the verisimilitude of images, few expect images to transmit some pure "truth." And, this skepticism that has developed with the inundation of images can be useful for teaching critical thinking. Besides, we don't hold this responsibility for communicating truth for all texts.
"Does every cultural trend make a culture genuinely better?" (Rosen)
? How could we possibly determine this? What is best culture? Is there a single unified culture anywhere?
! Lasting trends (TV for example) are successful b/c they successfully fulfill desires. My question is: How can we use TV (for example) to its full advantage, without becoming overly dependent and ignoring its limitations?
Rosen's normative and exclusive Value system
-Much of the article's claim depends on exclusive values: 1) assumes a shared understanding for what constitutes knowledge 2) assumes a hierarchy of media forms 3) assumes a shared understanding of what constitutes culture
-My objection is not that Rosen has preferences, but that these preferences are unexamined, and unacknowledged. Rosen begins with assumption that text is superior, without ever considering that these values have a history (most of her claims seem to fit comfortably among New Critical Theory).
Therefore, the conclusions reached are entirely arbitrary, and predetermined.
-Damien Hirst: "posturing and shallow." (Rosen)
I have no interest here in critiquing or validating Hirst, whose artistic contribution is subjective. Rosen is misleading here. She bolsters her rejection of Hirst, not by evaluating his art, but justifies her opinion because of his preferences. This is a weakening of substance and argument, the kind of arguments we might find in petty political campaigns. Rather than evaluating a Senator's history, we question her integrity because she prefers _______ (insert controversial topic of debatable value).
Rosen's use of Predictions
-Rosen quotes E. B. White: "If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in nothing."
? Maybe. But how can we predict the people's behavior, especially in a vacuum of particular conditions? Why do this? Why write eulogies for future generations?
! Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to the various forms of media and presentations of information. Predicting which form will come to dominate, and which will superannuate seems inconsequential, as predictions serve no practical function in the present.
? What exactly is there to prepare for? How could we prepare even if we knew? Apologists of print should panic and fortify a levee of books and magazines and newspapers?
! For education to remain relevant (considered primarily from perspective of English/Language Arts teacher), teachers must consider how people are currently communicating, if our goal is to prepare students for the world, and the work they want to do in it, we need to consider how people in the world are communicating.
Looking at form in The Image Culture
-Rosen: "But concern about a culture of the image has a rich history, and neither side can yet claim victory."
! The existence of fear does not prove the existence of the source, even when that particular fear has a legacy.
! This claim here seems to sum up Rosen's method of argument.
1. For the audience to consider forming an opinion, the essayist must establish the problem, and the urgency of this problem. Rosen does this through use of binary arguments, referencing opposite claims about her topic. If there is a fight, and there are only two sides, the reader is asked to choose.
2. Rosen appears to be objective because there are references to "both sides" of the apparent argument. News reporting proves that it is "fair and balanced" by limiting an issue to two choices, and finding two experts for each opposing perspective.
3. Also like TV news, Rosen's references are almost entirely hyperbole, replacing the dramatic effect of image with shocking claims.
Apologists for Text: image culture will lead to illiterate societies and the elimination of books. These critics appear like war-mongers predicting the apocalypse.
Apologists for Image: image culture will lead to new languages entirely based on images. The advocates for technology appear ludicrously optomistic.
Both of these claims are predictions, and therefore impossible to prove or disprove.
4. Focusing on predictions, there is no real evaluation of ideas or values, which appear to be presented as facts.
5. Common sense wins: The claims of the text apologists seem to ring more true because the claims refer to common sense beliefs, such "TV is bad for you" or literacy is the primary indicator is intelligence. Common sense is always beyond questioning and therefore not intellectual or academic, and totally emotional.
? What is the debate Rosen sets up?
-Two opposing sides:
1. Images open new understanding/expression
2. Images are superficial, create slavish dependance at the expense of deeper truths (which can only be expressed in words)
? What is the purpose of such a debate? No theorist can rationalize the population from their inclinations. Clearly we are drawn to images for their power to communicate something that was previously missing.
? What did we lose of our oral capabilities with the growing dependance on printed text? Certainly text is less personal and less immediate than an orator? (Considering some lectures that I have seen, this may not actually be true.)
? Why attach value to certain forms? A hierarchal preference to text will disadvantage the less literate. Gardner's Multiple Intelligence theory has been generally accepted among teachers and education theorists (not sure of the accuracy of this statement, or how to prove this). Regardless of whether one accepts Gardner's claims, this theory offers a method for affirming and developing skills in students, considering each as individuals, rather than identifying deficiencies according to impersonal standards.
! We must instead articulate the potential and limitations unique to each form, so that we don't lazily substitute one for another, when a particular idea demands a photograph when an essay would be insufficient.
"Images do not necessarily lead to knowledge. This is due in part to the fact that photographic images must constantly be refreshed if one's attention is to continue to be drawn to them." (Rosen)
What is our measure of knowledge here? Facts?
Would Rosen limit the potential of texts only to the knowledge that can be extracted?
Since the public generally recognizes the verisimilitude of images, few expect images to transmit some pure "truth." And, this skepticism that has developed with the inundation of images can be useful for teaching critical thinking. Besides, we don't hold this responsibility for communicating truth for all texts.
"Does every cultural trend make a culture genuinely better?" (Rosen)
? How could we possibly determine this? What is best culture? Is there a single unified culture anywhere?
! Lasting trends (TV for example) are successful b/c they successfully fulfill desires. My question is: How can we use TV (for example) to its full advantage, without becoming overly dependent and ignoring its limitations?
Rosen's normative and exclusive Value system
-Much of the article's claim depends on exclusive values: 1) assumes a shared understanding for what constitutes knowledge 2) assumes a hierarchy of media forms 3) assumes a shared understanding of what constitutes culture
-My objection is not that Rosen has preferences, but that these preferences are unexamined, and unacknowledged. Rosen begins with assumption that text is superior, without ever considering that these values have a history (most of her claims seem to fit comfortably among New Critical Theory).
Therefore, the conclusions reached are entirely arbitrary, and predetermined.
-Damien Hirst: "posturing and shallow." (Rosen)
I have no interest here in critiquing or validating Hirst, whose artistic contribution is subjective. Rosen is misleading here. She bolsters her rejection of Hirst, not by evaluating his art, but justifies her opinion because of his preferences. This is a weakening of substance and argument, the kind of arguments we might find in petty political campaigns. Rather than evaluating a Senator's history, we question her integrity because she prefers _______ (insert controversial topic of debatable value).
Rosen's use of Predictions
-Rosen quotes E. B. White: "If everyone is going to be able to see everything, in the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and it may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially interested in nothing."
? Maybe. But how can we predict the people's behavior, especially in a vacuum of particular conditions? Why do this? Why write eulogies for future generations?
! Clearly there are advantages and disadvantages to the various forms of media and presentations of information. Predicting which form will come to dominate, and which will superannuate seems inconsequential, as predictions serve no practical function in the present.
? What exactly is there to prepare for? How could we prepare even if we knew? Apologists of print should panic and fortify a levee of books and magazines and newspapers?
! For education to remain relevant (considered primarily from perspective of English/Language Arts teacher), teachers must consider how people are currently communicating, if our goal is to prepare students for the world, and the work they want to do in it, we need to consider how people in the world are communicating.
Looking at form in The Image Culture
-Rosen: "But concern about a culture of the image has a rich history, and neither side can yet claim victory."
! The existence of fear does not prove the existence of the source, even when that particular fear has a legacy.
! This claim here seems to sum up Rosen's method of argument.
1. For the audience to consider forming an opinion, the essayist must establish the problem, and the urgency of this problem. Rosen does this through use of binary arguments, referencing opposite claims about her topic. If there is a fight, and there are only two sides, the reader is asked to choose.
2. Rosen appears to be objective because there are references to "both sides" of the apparent argument. News reporting proves that it is "fair and balanced" by limiting an issue to two choices, and finding two experts for each opposing perspective.
3. Also like TV news, Rosen's references are almost entirely hyperbole, replacing the dramatic effect of image with shocking claims.
Apologists for Text: image culture will lead to illiterate societies and the elimination of books. These critics appear like war-mongers predicting the apocalypse.
Apologists for Image: image culture will lead to new languages entirely based on images. The advocates for technology appear ludicrously optomistic.
Both of these claims are predictions, and therefore impossible to prove or disprove.
4. Focusing on predictions, there is no real evaluation of ideas or values, which appear to be presented as facts.
5. Common sense wins: The claims of the text apologists seem to ring more true because the claims refer to common sense beliefs, such "TV is bad for you" or literacy is the primary indicator is intelligence. Common sense is always beyond questioning and therefore not intellectual or academic, and totally emotional.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
My Interest in Media and Visual Literacy
Naturally, I have professional goals in taking this course, but my interest necessarily begins with a personal fascination with non-textual art and unspoken expression. Images especially have this power to render us speechless, and in that silence, compel us to speak. Theorists suggest that the advancing popularity of images has deflated the impact; we are desensitized. But we are not unaffected. The study of visual culture has the potential to confront this apathy.
In my professional life as an ESOL teacher for adults, I have tried several times to approach themes of visual culture. While the students did appear engaged, and willing to discuss the images, the potential of these lessons was always limited. My approach was focused on teaching “visual culture” as a discreet subject, like a lesson on the parts of speech. Most recently, I attempted to address this lack of context with a semester long project, where students were expected to develop a personal portrait in the form of a narrated slide show, using photographs taken specifically for this project. I believed I was using the critical approaches of reading images as a tool for enhancing our projects, rather than the main focus of the lesson. We spent a lot of class time developing methods for analyzing and critiquing slides of portraits, intending to make the photographer’s process and choices transparent. Overall, the students did increase their ability to critically discuss my selection of images, but this never quite translated to approaches to the students own photography. The professional portraits remained art. Their photographs were still family photos. As most students had familiarity with using a camera, maybe it seemed unnecessary to do anything more than insure we could see the faces we were intended to see.
I do not want to seem critical of the students' efforts or disappointed in the results. The students overcame overwhelming obstacles to complete their projects. Many students were beginners with computers, some of them using a computer for the first time in my class. You can view the class blog and their narrated slide shows here.
I believe the best opportunity for student success requires a truly interdisciplinary curriculum. Though, no subject, whether history, art, politics, or music, should be treated as a means to an end. I don't want to use paintings or graphic novels, for example, as a step toward literacy goals. With this class I hope to broaden my understanding so that discussions on visual culture illuminate the complexity of this subject.
I do not want to seem critical of the students' efforts or disappointed in the results. The students overcame overwhelming obstacles to complete their projects. Many students were beginners with computers, some of them using a computer for the first time in my class. You can view the class blog and their narrated slide shows here.
I believe the best opportunity for student success requires a truly interdisciplinary curriculum. Though, no subject, whether history, art, politics, or music, should be treated as a means to an end. I don't want to use paintings or graphic novels, for example, as a step toward literacy goals. With this class I hope to broaden my understanding so that discussions on visual culture illuminate the complexity of this subject.
-Eric
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