Compare it side by side to your process for your key word newsletter--how do they compare? Next, I want you to defend, with support, your choice of medium (this is a "real" defense so I need to be persuaded here =). Last, you need to quickly connect your theory of composing to all of this.Make sure your reflection is fluid--this means even though you are discussing several things--find connections.
I think my process for this remediated project was somewhat less difficult than that of the newsletter. Although I began very confused, by not knowing in what direction to go, after I pinpointed exactly what I wanted to do, it became much easier to actually put the whole thing together. Compared to the newsletter project, it took me twice the amount of time to figure out what medium I was going to use to remediate my project, whereas with the newsletter, it was simply about choosing what layout I wanted to go with. After figuring out the medium, I just began collecting different samples of what I wanted to be on my final product, and I began to brainstorm on other possible ideas that would represent circulation. At this point in time, I would have been doing the daunting task of researching and attempting to find the main scholar for my newsletter. After collecting all the materials I needed, I just placed everything on the surface and rearranged the pictures and cut outs around until it made sense to me. I then took everything off and began to paste the pictures. In comparison to my newsletter putting together the final project went by much smoother than putting together the newsletter, and I am also much more satisfied with the end result.
ReplyDeleteI chose to do a concrete collage instead of a digital medium (like a powerpoint, vuvox, etc) because I felt it would accurately represent my word. Circulation is all about the cycle of distributing your work, and having others consume your product, and I feel like a collage accurately represents that. I put together clippings from newspapers, movie posters, book posters, a paper, a news homepage, a text, a blog, and a post it to represent various ways in which we can get our word out. Circulation is all about distributing the product through different mediums and making sure that the product is actually consumed. I also decided to include certain key words that make up the definition of circulation (as well as being part of the newsletter project) to incorporate both the meaning as well as some of the original work from the project. I feel like this medium works better than the digital options because it represents how complicated circulation can get, since you are not always sure in what direction something goes, but you do know that eventually it gets there. I feel like I would not have done well with a digital medium because it would have taken away from the creative and symbolic process of choosing certain images and the placement of words to put together the final product.
I can connect this project to my theory of composing, because like a collage, I feel like when I first compose, whether it is writing or a project like this, I’m usually all over the place. I need to kind of have everything I want to say or do on there (like the arranging of the images) before I can actually make sense and put together the actual piece. Once I see in what direction I am going, I can then begin to cut and paste what I want where, and I am able to notice what makes sense in what order, basically it is a lot of arranging. The final product comes together sort of like a collage, where every piece fits in well with the other, and it looks well structured.
My process of composing for my remediation was very different than my process of composing for the key word newsletter. Composing my newsletter was a more linear process. I moved from brainstorming ideas about my topic, to researching, to writing, to finding pictures to represent my concepts and finally to putting them all together in the format of a newsletter. Creating my remediation was different, because even though we needed new sources the main element of the remediation (my key word and it’s meaning) is already present in the newsletter. From this point my process was almost entirely creative and was definitely non-linear.
ReplyDeleteI began by thinking about how I wanted to depict my key word – voovox, photo essay, digital image etc. I decided to do a mixed media painting because I enjoy painting and thought that this would be a great way to visualize the idea of invention. I feel that the medium represents the idea of invention more effectively than print. Much of the debate about invention today is over theories about the processes of invention. Is invention restricted to exploring an idea? Is it only written, or does it involve the discursive process of posing questions to gather insight into a topic? There is also debate over the purpose of invention, do we use the theory to “reach new insights” or to “locate arguments to support a thesis” (Lauer, Invention in Rhetoric and Composition). The opposition of ideas about invention can be shown through the mixed media painting. It shows how completely unconnected written and symbolic elements combine through different media– tissue paper, canvas, acrylic paint, copper wire, paper and felt pens – to create a cohesive product.
After I began to paint my canvas and work on the separate elements I wanted to represent I began to search for new sources. This was completely different than writing the newsletter because without first gathering sources I wouldn’t have been able to write. Once I found new sources I chose techniques that I discussed in the newsletter to show in the remediation. The concepts that I chose to repurpose were examples of invention strategies, looping (shown by the quill and tissue paper with text), free writing (the entry painted on the top right of the canvas) and questioning or interviewing your topic (represented by the question mark inside the light bulb). Each of those concepts is visually represented through a different media - tissue paper, paint etc. – but they all come together to turn on the light, which represents the invention of ideas and arguments for a topic.
Overall, the process of composing my remediation was more enjoyable than that of the newsletter, simply because it’s in a medium that I truly enjoy. However, the combination of both processes would most accurately represent my process of composing. It is mostly linear beginning with a topic and the formulation and research of ideas. Yet, I also look at my work from a non-linear and creative perspective. I’m always trying to make sure that my work is recognizable as my own, that it is creative and original and sometimes I might work on the creative aspects like finding images etc. before I write.
My keyword newsletter was a difficult assignment for me to grasp. It was hard for me to associate the concept of technology and display it as a newsletter for incoming college freshmen to read. I worked through the struggles for defining such a word for freshman to understand, one that is so broad and vague to try to describe. After completion of that project, I was looking forward to the remediation. I knew that I could take what I had done, and change it to make it amazing with limited boundaries of medium and limitations.
ReplyDeleteThis remediation was exciting for me. I had a vision in my head from the start of what I wanted, and I really feel like my vision matched the final product. I wanted to display technology, not write it. Technology can lose interest fast if it isn’t given the credit and excitement it deserves: which is why I chose a video of photos.
Initially, I decided to take the photos myself, in order to manipulate just what my brain had seen for the product. I captured my roommate, brother, mother, stores, books, newspapers, coffee shops, and streets in attempt to satisfy the image in my head. Finally after all the photos were taken, I converted them all into Polaroid form to get the appeal for scholars. The Polaroid framing did exactly what I wanted it to do, it helped tell the story. I made the remainder of my decisions based on what I felt a scholar would like to see, hear, and know. I chose a classical piece for the background music for two reasons: The first that I wanted scholars to take my remediation seriously, and the second as to not confuse with words being displayed and words being heard. The choices of the subjects of the photos were all derived from the idea of appealing a scholar. The determination of capturing the Wall street Journal over The National Enquirer, the choice to display encyclopedias and text books over entertainment reading, and the choice to capture a coffee shop were all designed toward that attempt to entice a scholar.
My idea of remediating my original work was to take some of the elements of my keyword newsletter, i.e. “the new shiny toy” and “technology having no boundaries”. But I then incorporated new scholar’s ideas such as the positivity and the change from old to new, which is the reasoning behind the scenes stating “ we used to read like this”, “we used to learn like this”. I felt that scholars would be able to relate to these connections, and it would help connect their attention to a world we as students know better than anything.
I feel that the medium I chose suited the piece well, and created a sophisticated and amusing approach to teach about technology. My theory of composing can be largely connected to my choice of medium as well, because not only do I feel that I learn more affectively visually, but I teach better visually and state my utterances better in a visual format. I think that my video remediated my original keyword newsletter well, and that I fully grasped the intentions of this remediation project.
The process of creating my remediation project was complicated and hands-on compared to the key word article. The article wasn’t easy since we had to use a few sources and find a way to take a scholarly topic and make it fun for freshman, but at least we had a set medium and the conventions that come with that medium are well-known and easy to follow (make the newsletter look busy, use images, casual language etc). Once I had gathered my information and drafted what I wanted my newsletter to look like, it was smooth sailing from there.
ReplyDeleteWith the remediation project, however, I spent a lot (a LOT) of time coming up with the right genre/medium. This project took a lot more thought than the article did because I couldn’t just open word and start typing to brainstorm ideas. I had to think about what I wanted to make and how I wanted/could make it, all while staying connected to my old media version and my new sources (so many sources made doing the new project a bit more complicated). Similarly to the newsletter, though, once I found my new sources and chose how to show them in the remediated version, I was ready to go. For me, both projects were all about organization: find the sources first, pick what I want to represent from each, decide how to represent it. In the newsletter, my representation was through examples that are relevant to freshmen, like resumes and persuading your parents. In the remediated project, the representations were in images that anyone at FSU could understand and recognize.
Finally, the newsletter process was all digital, from writing it to creating the newsletter (I used InDesign). My remediation, however, is crafty and more creative, to say the least.
I changed medium ideas a few times, from my original concept of making a PSA about literacy to a t-shirt promoting reading. Finally, I settled on making a bag. I struggled with this idea at first because the word “remediation” just makes me feel like only digital things count. But after reading the Bolter and Grusin definition about a hundred times, I decided that it could work. B&G say that remediation is “the formal logic in which new media refashion prior media forms.” So, the newsletter is an old media form, and the decorated bag is a new media form. The bag uses a mixture of genres, from text to images. It uses color for emphasis, too. The bag definitely refashions the newsletter because it takes the ideas and even specific examples I used and turns them into images and the written parts into advertisements. It takes a piece informing and almost persuading young people to get into stronger literacy practices and turns it into something that tells pretty much everyone “hey, people don’t read or write as well as they should. Work on it. And spread the word.”
This project expands my theory of composing a bit, since my remediation was out of the old media (and even digital) box. My theory of composing, which has always been partly made up of creativity, now emphasizes the possibilities and great outcomes that being creative can achieve. Thus, using creativity and different forms is something I would use to define composing. I did stay true to one of my staple concepts in my theory of composing, though: organization. I don’t mean organization in my usual OCD way- my room was a wreck when I was done with the project (shards of felt and markers everywhere). I mean that it’s important to get the foundational material- sources, ideas, for this project my newsletter- down before you can really get creative. That way, you don’t stray from your original intentions.
The process for creating my remediated newsletter was a lot rockier than I’m used to. When we were first assigned this project, I wasn’t sure what to do. I just kept drawing blanks as to how I could remediate my key word(s). After a while, the ideas just wouldn’t stop coming to mind. The only problem was that I would come up with an idea, but it was just the surface-level type of idea. Nothing all that substantial or workable came to mind. With the newsletter, I knew what I had to do. All I had to do was find a layout and sources. The rest was simple: explain the three rhetorical appeals as straight-forward as I could. With the remediation I though about doing photographs, a photo essay, a collage, anything with photography to get into the new genre.
ReplyDeleteThen the idea of greeting cards came to mind. They would help me clearly separate the rhetorical appeals into their three distinct entities while still keeping them connected in some way. In the newsletter I had around 250 words in which to explain each appeal, as well as the appeals in general. Here the greeting cards presented another challenge: I had to describe each of the appeals, as well as the general idea of them, in a short message – a phrase, really. To do this, I looked for quotes or poems which dealt with the appeals individually. This seemed to work well, and I was surprised at how easily I found the appropriate template for each greeting card (logos – apology, ethos – thank you, pathos – memorial).
After the templates and concise explanations of the appeals, I had to find one short line which concerned all of the appeals, and this is where I pulled from my original sources. I placed this on the back of each card, like the slogan of the card company. Not only did this describe the appeals in general, but it also added a cohesive element to the cards by placing on each one.
I feel that my remediation is successful because, as Bolter and Grusin state, I have used a new medium to “refashion prior media forms.” While the newsletter focuses on giving as much information as a specific audience cares to know, the greeting cards, usually for an ambiguous audience, provide explanations of the terms in short messages or quotes. Also, the newsletter standard copy paper, while greeting cards are traditionally printed on cardstock. I did consider using e-cards to move my remediation into a digital medium, but I felt the traditional feel of a you’re-paying-for-a-crease greeting card would be lost in the digitized form.
I believe my remediation is strongly connected to my theory of composing. To begin with, I brainstormed like crazy. Literally, there was an F5 tornado of ideas going around in my head until I finally chose the greeting card concept. Then I searched through several new sources for the right information (packed into a rather short phrase). I asked for several people’s opinions on my work and continued working (editing, revising, etc.) until I came to a product which I was content with. Even after I reached my finished product, my mind kept spinning with other ways I could have gone about the project, or at least certain aspects of it.
“I am a procrastinator. In fact, I could probably teach a class on effective time wasting techniques. If procrastinating were an art form, I'd be Picasso. Since I was less than enthusiastic about my key term, in classic Sammi fashion, I waited until the last possible minute to complete the project. A few days before it was due, I made my way to FSU's Strozier Library equipped with the nectar of life (aka a Starbucks Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte) to complete my project. Of course I had to go on Facebook first and chat with my friends from home for a while and then my mom called and of course I had to talk to her for a few minutes (read: an hour and a half)… Once I dove into my research the brain juices started flowing and in no time at all I was able to produce a newsletter that I was proud to turn in. I even enjoyed picking out a layout and designing the template. It brought me back to my time as reporter for my county 4-H program (no, I did not show cattle...) and it was fun! I put meticulous care into all of the little finishing touches and I showed the finished product off to my roommates.” –My process for composing the original newsletter project.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that, as with my Key Word Newsletter Project, in the Remediation Project I definitely procrastinated. I knew from when the project was first assigned that I wanted to create a Vuvox, but it took me a long time to buckle down and actualize my ideas. I didn’t have to research as much this time since I already knew the basic scholarly definition of my key word and instead my focus had to be more on organization. I had to make an outline of what I wanted my Vuvox to say. I had originally just tried to start making it without the outline and by the time I had pasted in a few pictures and quotes it was clear that I needed to create an outline. I started the presentation with a few common questions (i.e. whether or not Freshman Composition is remedial) and it was my goal to answer them with the rest of the presentation.
My theory of composing focuses a lot on style. This was reflected in my creative process for this project because in all of the decisions I made, I was mindful of the style and feel of the overall project. I was careful in my choices of media and the quotes that I chose to use to reflect a style that was unique and also appealing to a scholarly audience.
Like I said, since the very first time the project was assigned, it was clear to me that a Vuvox would be my best option. I think that since my key word was not very abstract, it would have been difficult to use a more abstract medium like painting or photography. I also needed to be able to explain some key concepts with actual words, so I needed to use a medium that allowed me to incorporate words. I wanted to be able to be creative and make my project interesting and appealing as well, and I thought that a Vuvox would allow me to do all of these. I’m very pleased with the final product, I think that the way Vuvox allowed me to incorporate images, text and video made the finished product interactive and interesting and it clearly defined my key term, while refreshing the ideas from my newsletter.
It took me a little while to figure out exactly what to do for this project. Just like with the newsletter project, I had to brainstorm ideas for what I wanted to do, what I wanted it to look like and what I wanted to include. This process actually took about a week to a week and a half—a lot longer than I thought it would. From the get-go I knew I wanted to do something “arty”. It might sound a little dorky but I love to draw, paint glasses (think those Lolita wine glasses) and scrapbook. It’s a catharsis for me and I like making things pretty and eye-catching. Within the “arty” category I just didn’t know what medium to work with. Eventually I decided that old fashioned sketching a design and using colored pencils would be the best medium to work with because I was the most experienced with it.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s safe to say that idea of drawing and using pictures to express some kind of point is one of the oldest employed methods of communication. Long before there was any kind of real written-with-letters form of idea/record keeping, people carved on walls. All throughout history, drawings—and really art in general—has been used as a way to express and communicate ideas. It’s similar to written word because both the author and artist want the audience to come away understanding the message they are presenting. We also know that drawings and art are still looked upon with importance because just like with important literary words, there are museums and galleries all over the world dedicated to the craft.
Once determining the medium I got to skip to what I refer to as step three: determining what to include in the drawing. Step two normally would have been research but since this was just a remediation of the newsletter, the research had already been taken care of. Figuring out what to include in the drawing was pretty similar to figuring out what information I wanted to include in the newsletter. One way it was different was that my biggest determining factor on what elements to include in the drawing was whether or not I could represent the idea with a picture. With both the newsletter and the drawing I had to make sure that all of the ideas and sections flowed together while still revolving around the key word.
With both my newsletter and with my remediation, the actual process of getting the ideas onto paper, revising, perfecting and finishing them was by far the most time consuming part. With the drawing I split up the time over a period of three days, just so that I wouldn’t go crazy. Not that the process wasn’t fun, I just have a tendency to triple-question myself and get stressed out. Just like my other processes, I put on a DVD and go in the “zone” working on drawing, refining, coloring and shading.
In all honesty, the process of composing the newsletter and the process of composing the remediation were relatively the same in structure; they just required different methods of accomplishing each task. With the newsletter, it was how to layout the page and what cartoons would be funny and eye catching. For the drawing I needed to decide how each symbol flowed together the best and what colors to use so that the main idea is what the eye automatically focuses on. During the “revising” stage I looked for typos and errors with the newsletter and determined shading techniques to use for the drawing. This plays into my theory of composing because I’m starting to think that the basic idea and outline of composing is the same for all mediums, the mediums just have different requirements for each stage of the process.
The remediation, I decided that I was going to try something I’d never done before. Now, I do realize that we were cautioned against this at the beginning of the semester… especially with the non-digital media I’ve chosen to remediate into. I decided to do a painting that shows a rhetorical situation. I should mention that while I have always admired artists, I’ve never been one. The final product looks like a twelve-year-old did it. But that’s quite alright with me, because I had a blast making it and I think it holds true to the images that inspired it.
ReplyDeleteTo compare the newsletter side-by-side next to the painting, they have one very solid common aspect: example of a rhetorical situation. In my newsletter, I thought it might better help a younger, less exposed reader get the jist of what the rhetorical situation is. At least in my case, I wasn’t able to get a grasp on it until I was able to connect it with some real life situations. When you have all of the prerequisite information, it’s not a difficult concept to understand but without, you’re left drowning in a sea of scholarly definitions . In this case, my audience already knows what we’re talking about here. In fact, it’s likely that many of them might be able to explain it better than I can. With this shift of audience, it gives us (as composers) more creative freedom. While staying true to the original medium and message, we can create a less diluted presentation of our terms.
I’m glad that we were given examples of former students’ compositions. After looking at the variety they used, I realized that we truly do possess some creative license in this project. I saw things that I didn’t like; things that left me uninspired. Conversely, I saw a couple that were downright interesting or inspirational. I decided that I was going to try something different, too. I chose to do the painting because it hits you all at once: BAM, in your face, this is the rhetorical situation. The image calls for action to be taken. It screams “urgent”. Or at least yelps it. I chose this medium because I wanted to have fun with this assignment. It was either this or hours spent on some template website to create something almost identical to my peers, simply rephrasing what I’d said in the newsletter.
I feel that this reflects my theory of composing because I’m not a fan of commonality. At the risk of sounding like a “rebel,” I’d like to break away from conventions (after I learn them, of course). To create work that could be distinguished without a name attached to it is what we’re all trying to do here, right? Our creative expression, that’s why we study liberal arts topics. That, and to train us as diverse and engaging conversationalists. If someone looks at my cardboard painting and sticks their nose up at is, then that’s just fine. I didn’t do it for them. If one person looks at it and says, “hey, that’s kind of cool,” then the final product wasn’t just for me.
I found the remediation project a lot more challenging than the key word newsletter. With the newsletter project, we were given a clear targeting audience, a clear medium and a key word. The only real decisions we had to make was what layout to choose. The remediation project however, to figure out what medium to take, was a daunting factor as this will be one of the crucial points of the project. A vuvox, video of photos, slideshow of photos, a painting, all of these ideas were running through my head. It wasn’t until I really thought about how I can show my key word revision in things such as a painting that I chose to do a slideshow of photos but also words. I know that I was going to find this more challenging as I really had no idea where to start, whereas with the newsletter, I could find my own and just write. I have had to do other newsletters for other classes before so I felt a lot more comfortable in this medium.
ReplyDeleteAfter doing a lot of research on PowerPoint presentations, and finding information to pull out of my newsletter, and also new information to include in my PowerPoint, I was able to start choosing, a layout, fonts etc. Once I got started and had the information and photos that I knew I was going to use, I enjoyed putting it all together. Playing around with the fonts, backgrounds, order of my photos and quote, it all really interested me as more creativity was needed than with the newsletter. The one aspect that really challenged me in this project was the targeted audience. Because there was such a large target audience, being the whole of FSU campus, it was really hard to find a happy medium for things that would attract scholars and freshman year students. This was a big difference than in the newsletter, there was a small, easy audience to target, and it was clear what these students would want and need from a newsletter to help them as we have all been in their situation. I think that I did a good job of choosing a medium, following the guidelines and making something that can inform a very wide variety of people.
I think that the way I composed my PowerPoint project really defines my way of composing. Because I did a lot of research, then organized myself from there continuously connecting back to make sure I was targeting the right audience, really shows how I work. I think that I am very thorough in making sure that I am on the right track, and although I found this project hard, I think that it really enabled me to put into practice my own way of composing. It was interesting and fun to use this new way of composing that I have learnt since starting this class.
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ReplyDeleteRhetorical Knowledge.
Originally, when I was given my key word, I felt frustrated and I was a little intimidated by trying to cover such a broad topic with only 1000 or so words in which to do it. My process began with a rough draft of what I wanted to accomplish, completed with research on what made up rhetorical knowledge. One I broke the main concept into several smaller concepts, I began working within each individual section, trying to mold it to fit my audience while still getting the point across in a semi-scholarly way. Choosing the theme for the Newsletter was probably the easiest part as I knew that a sports theme was something universal that I could work with and that would give me some fun aspects to play with. Since my newsletter on rhetorical knowledge was sports themed, the idea for my remediation followed along the same trends.
I had originally decided to make sports trading cards, but that idea transformed into making playing cards along the lines of Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, you get the picture. I thought that since the first project worked out well with the creative aspect (which was an unexpected pleasantry) I would try my hand at it again. Strangely, even though our major calls for digital creativity, I decided to stay away from digital remediation. I wanted my project to be original and also relevant to today’s society. I knew that the cards would serve that purpose, but I faltered a little with whether or not I was hitting my target audience. Something in my gut told me to stay with my idea (and hoped that I could appeal to the humorous and quirky side of scholars in the field), and I went ahead and made the cards.
The process was long and arduous, to say the least. My first step was to research how a playing card works, so I found some websites that explained the different colors, what all the different symbols stood for, the lettering and coloring of the card’s name, the Attack and Defense points, the serial and reference numbers, as well as the series that the cards are in, long story short, there was a lot more to playing cards then I originally knew about. (All that small print that no one ever reads on the cards). Finally, I delved into actually making the cards and began with looking at a playing card as my basis, and used Microsoft Paint to format all the cards, cutting, copying, pasting, and shading my cards to perfection. It was only after I had finished all of them that I found a website that basically did the whole process for you. For those of you that ever want to make your own set of playing cards, let me know I will save you quite a few frustrating hours.
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ReplyDeleteAnyway, working with the cards was fun and definitely something new for me. I was able to bring in new aspects of Rhetorical Knowledge that I couldn’t originally fit into my newsletter and hopefully I was able to reach my audience by the card descriptions. Let’s put it this way, if anything, you need a basic knowledge of the subject to understand the cards, and if you know enough about them as I assume most scholars would, they turned out to be quite funny. I believe my playing cards to be a remediation of the RK newsletter because it completely reformats the original idea into a completely new medium and brings in new aspects of Rhetorical Knowledge. The cards also bring the audience closer to subject by adding visual stimulus and interactive learning. In short, they provide a means of immediacy with Rhetorical Knowledge.
My composing process, something that continually changes in this class, is now hyper aware of AUDIENCE and MEDIUM. In every project I shift my focus from one thing to another, usually it has to do with how I’m going to start my focus or what I’m going to focus on, but I’ve found that an important factor, in any genre that I’m working in, is audience awareness. I feel that this upcoming project wherein we will be revising past newsletters for a new audience will only further educate me on that subject matter. I also have to comment on Michael’s composing process. Like him, I find that when I work a tornado is going through my brain with different ideas and mediums that I can work in. My composing process has always contained that element. Sometimes I think that I can’t come up with anything right because I have so many ideas going on in my head. At the end of the day though, everything comes together in one cohesive work.
For this project, I had a particularly difficult time figuring out where to go with my remediation. I knew I would be daring and choose a digital medium, but later I chickened out and decided a vuvox was the safest way to go for what I wanted to do. I wanted an excuse to use my Nikon D60 that had been sitting in my closet for the past two years, as well as an excuse to get in touch with my artsy side that is if I even have one. This later proved to be more difficult than I anticipated for a word like reflection. But soon I was able to find examples around campus to photograph that play into the literary theory. I started with the front of the Wecott building, figuring a reflective surface like windows would be a good place to start. After I started to get the creative flow going, I noticed a statue of a notable alumni who would prove to be a useful representation of reflection in himself. After pretty much loosing the creative energy after that, I decided to take a break in the library at Strozier, where I happened to find my next inspiration. Kathleen Yancey, my theorist for the word reflection, said that reflection helps students become ‘agents of their own learning.’ Duh, Im in a library! So after getting permission from the staff at the library I began to take some shots of books, where I found all of sources for the Key Word newsletter. Then I managed to grab a couple idle students who were friendly enough to be my models, and shot them opening books in the isles at the scholars commons downstairs. Okay, I’m not doing too bad here. After snapping a couple more shots around campus, I preceded to create my vuvox. remembering the three important constituents of literary reflection, that is projection, retrospection, revision, I decided to include three hotspots corresponding to all three in an example I thought would be appropriate for the audience of literary scholars; the evolution of literacy in human history. The first link, for projection, leads to a site of the earliest example I found of literacy; hieroglyphics. The second, retrospection, is a site explaining the history of the printing press. The third link corresponds to the definition of the word hypertext, an example I thought to be appropriate for revision in literary history. I felt like the connection between my Key Word newsletter project and the remediation corresponded very well, and since this is a new medium for a new audience, this makes me feel accomplished. Other than not originally knowing where to go with this new medium, I think the vuvox has a very sophisticated appeal to it appropriate for a scholarly audience. All in all, I would say it was a success.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were first given the assignment to remediate our key word newsletters I didn’t know what to do. But after careful consideration and thought the idea popped into my head to have some type of picture depicting the inside of a library. Whenever people think of genre they think of the different types of literary genres so the most logical place to find all those genres in one place besides a book store would be a library. We also had to include theorists and the definition of our key words in the remediation so I thought to use the titles and authors of the books for that. The titles on the spines are the definitions of genre and the authors are the genre theorists.
ReplyDeleteThe process of creation for both my key word newsletter and remediation were very similar. For both I had to do some thinking to figure out how I was going to set it up. I also had to research it and I had to make two versions of each because the first version wasn’t very good. However because they are two vastly different mediums other than those few similarities the process’s for each were completely different. For the original I had to do a lot of research into what genre was and to find genre theorists. I then had to use my newfound knowledge to create something that would appeal to people younger than me. I had to write in a way that someone younger than me would find interesting. To that endeavor I wrote each article a couple times, reread and changed and then sent them off to be inspected by friends. For the remediation though I had to draw instead of write. I had to figure out which drawing medium would be the best for the project. Using a pencil, eraser, and ruler I drew the picture from my head onto paper. For the first draft I used watercolor and a pen and a dash of colored pencil to emphasize details. It didn’t turn out how I wanted it to though. It was too sloppy. I had to redraw it and change how things were set up. I also increased the amount of books, which means more theorists. It took me a while to do and I researched a few colored pencil methods online before I had my second draft completed. All in all the processes were different because of the different mediums and their constrictions.
My theory of composing shows up through the processes of creating both the original newsletter and the remediation drawing. For both I researched and created more than one draft of scraping ideas along the way.
The medium I used for my remediation really was the best one I could have used. Colored pencil is very versatile and has many different color creations that you can work with. It’s also easy to fix mistakes, beyond that though I am not as proficient using digital mediums as I am with hand drawing mediums. I have a lot of experience using colored pencil and other mediums like it from high school when I took art classes and I have continued to use those same mediums since. I am also more comfortable using these types of mediums when I go to do something creative. This medium also fit my key word. Using it I was able to make the words pop out and the scene to look natural. The titles of the books and the names of the theorists fits in well with the rest of the drawing and I think that the medium I chose ties all the elements of the piece together.
My experience with the remediations of our keyword projects had been a journey with its ups and downs. All in all, I enjoyed experiencing the project and hopefully exploring my full potential in my usual voice and the new medium that I chose was a pleasant one with which to work. I chose to do a vlog as a remediation of the newsletter.
ReplyDeleteWith the newsletter, I mostly do not remember the experience except for what I recovered after the pain medicine cleared, but from what I do remember I focused too heavily on pleasing the target audience of freshman. I feel I dumbed down my speech rather than meeting the freshman on a playing field that would be pleasing to both. However, with the vlog’s audience of scholars in the field of rhetoric, I felt like I could use the words I preferred and still fit the diction appropriate for the target.
My project started with wanting to do a film trailer that I found would not pan out because of the lack of a decent camera. From there, I wanted to journey into a stereotypical scene of someone in a velvet robe and ascot, sipping cognac or tea by a fire, but that was all too silly. However, despite the silliness of such, I still filmed that scene and I posted it to my vlog as a sort of deleted scene experience. I finally came to doing a regular vlog where I talked to the camera in a professional style of dress about ideology.
Still, how is this a remediation? I just talked to a camera. That’s where interaction came into play. Users commented on my vlog, posing questions and bringing up their own ideas on ideology. I ran with this, allowing discourse between users and then reflecting on the most commonly posed questions and vlogging further. My second video, rather than being a general overview on the impact of ideology on rhetoric, is a scientific reflection on the parts of the brain that hold ideas, beliefs, and imprints of emotions.
This is where I worked the hardest, ironically. The medium was not cooperating in the slightest and would only upload the first fifty-nine seconds to youtube. If you end up viewing it, you’ll hear me ranting about parts of the brain, but you’ll only see a link and a blur of yellow. Still, I believe that my portion of the project in remediation meets the standards necessary and the bags under my eyes are understandable. I’m a college student, after all.
This remediation project was interesting. I decided to take my newsletter and transform the information into digital photography and video. This (video) is not something I’m incredibly familiar with, so I thought it would be fun to try and figure it out. Before I started this project, I’d never used Windows Movie Maker or had a YouTube account. I’m still not sure I understand all the dynamics of YouTube. So it was interesting to be working in a medium that I’m not familiar with. However, the fact that I already knew what the “content” of my project would be (being the meaning of my key word “process”), I had plenty of time to tackle the “how-to.” This only seems appropriate, since the whole concept of my key word is the fact that how you create something is more important than the product itself.
ReplyDeleteThe audience change was something I was a little unsure of. At first, I was afraid that my material wasn’t going to seem scholarly enough. My concept was kind of playful, and I was afraid it wasn’t going to work out. However, just because our audience is “scholarly,” doesn’t make them boring. I’m assuming that everyone watching my video will be able to determine the meaning of words like “editing,” “revision,” or “audience.” At least, I’m hoping.
When I was creating the newsletter, the most important thing I had to do was getting the facts. I had to research and discover what the word “process” really meant. I had to form my own definition of it, and explain it to someone with almost no experience with rhetoric or advanced composition. With the remediation, I already had all this worked out. My research efforts were turned away from finding the meaning of the word, and instead I had to figure out how to visually represent that meaning. I had to learn new skills and techniques for a new medium, without losing the main ideas from the old one.
I thought that a series of photos, made into a video, was the most appropriate medium for expressing “process.” The video is meant to show an alternative to the composing process, while still maintaining the same components. The composing process (and any other process) is a series of decisions, tasks, actions, and events. A single photo is capable of expressing any of these things within a single frame. It’s a fact that people comprehend and remember messages when they are conveyed in the form of a picture or image, as opposed to print or auditory delivery. And hey, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Each frame expresses a part of a “process,” and the organization of the photos shows how a process can be non-linear, even repetitive or seemingly random at times. By making a video, I could show my audience the way a creative process has so many different components. In a short amount of time, I was able to represent the purpose of each of these elements and also give at least one example of all of them. The progression of the photos themselves is a process that informs the reader and ultimately brings them to the ending point, or comprehension of the main idea.
I went through quite a “process” myself while making this video. Because I had no idea what I was doing, my “composing process” now had an additional step. I’ve always taken for granted how comfortable I am working with written words. Writing or typing out words and sentences has always been pretty easy for me, so when I suddenly found myself having to express ideas in a whole new way, I was kind of stumped. Using images instead of words opened up a whole new range of possibilities. Unfortunately, I also found out I’m not exactly a natural when t comes to photo-handling and movie making. I had to get to know my media better (fortunately, my photographer roommate was willing to offer her support), something that I haven’t always found myself faced with. This is all a part of “context” though, understanding my constraints, resources, and limitations. I’m really glad I did this, though. Now that I know how to use the Movie Maker, I’m definitely going to use it on other projects in the future. Yay for trying new things.
With a remediation you need to consider things such as immediacy and hypermediacy, as well as remembering your original idea and incorporating it into the remediated work. When thinking about how I was going to choose a medium to remediate my newsletter on ‘Audience’ and it’s role in the composing process, I figured a collage would be fitting to the requirements. However, it soon dawned upon me how difficult it could be, and time consuming, to portray the message behind my newsletter using only images. I never realized how broad and transparent a word like ‘Audience’ could be until I was set this task. As a composer now reflecting on his work, I feel as though I have accomplished what I set out too at my best ability.
ReplyDeleteThe choice of collage was always going to be difficult. I was familiar with it and it’s conventions from my time in IB art, and though I was an admirer of its capabilities, from experience I often ran into frustration with the long, drawn out process that surrounded it. I see collage being as the first form of paper hypermediacy and believed it would be an appropriate way to convey the aspects of ‘Audience’ seeing that too is a subject that often is addressed before anything else is considered. Today, as composers, we can utilize the features of technology to replace collage’s provision of immediacy or hypermediacy, however I believe it holds more intimacy with the composer, and intimacy that is similar to that between a composer and his audience.
The main component behind the collage is the search for an audience a composer must embark on before continuing with his or her composing process. This is more difficult than it sounds because there is debate of when that search should take place, before or after whatever form of composition they may choose. Can a work choose it’s own audience? Or is it determined by the composers, themselves? The collage represents this search with images of optical items, a telescope, a camera, a pair of binoculars and a magnifying glass, all seeking different and diverse audiences. It is finally wrapped up by a composer of any sort, shown by the multiple tools of composing and broad spectrum of colours, placed in the foreground. This asks the question of where the decision of choosing an audience should stand in ones composing process. One thing I can establish from this all is that it can be a very sticky situation.
My composition process for the key word newsletter was long and caffeine fueled. It required me to research and synthesize information, before even beginning the writing part of the assignment. Then after understanding the key word and writing the content I still had to pick a layout! In the end I created something I was proud of, but it was an arduous process. Contrarily, my composition process for the remediation project was enjoyable. My keyword was “collaboration” and I chose to remediate it into a fusion meal. I was going to post my remediation as a food blog, however I had difficulty syncing my current blog audience with the scholarly audience of the assignment, so I decided to create a prezi instead. I’ve been cooking for years, but I’d never attempted a fusion meal so I was excited to find a recipe for this part of my project. I wanted something that would exemplify the concept of balance that is associated with academic collaboration. I chose to take two distinct cuisines, Japanese and Mexican, and show how elements of both cooking styles can be combined to make something original. The desired result of both collaboration and fusion cooking is something both individual and encompassing. It was also my first time making a full length prezi, so initially I was intimidated by the program. However, prezi wound up being really user friendly and I plan on using it again! The major challenges I faced were finding a fusion recipe (harder than you would think) and streamlining my message for prezi (the medium calls for WAY less text than was present in the newsletter). Overall this project was more enjoyable to me because I chose a medium I’m passionate about. My theory of composing is heavily reliant on audience and inspiration. This project served to reinforce my views. You must know your audience and choose a medium they will appreciate. In addition, when
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say this project kicked my butt. It’s a lot easier in theory to completely remediate something. I began trying to remediate my newsletter into a blog, that quickly proved to be entirely too complex so after getting pretty involved in that version of my project I had to step back and start over. I was then going to do a screenplay but if I didn’t actually act it out then it was just a genre switch. What I ended up with instead was a vuvox combining pictures and words to convey the message while a mash up of music and dialogue drive home the point of different discourse communities. Some of the dialogue is extremely hilarious and it was fun to collect.
ReplyDeleteInstead of my weak point being the sources and research for information as with the original newsletter project, this project was harder in establishing what I was actually going to do that would be a true remediation. There were also some challenges in the song mash up. I almost preferred doing the newsletter because I had a clear idea of where the project should go and where I hoped it would end up. With the remediation the starting line was blurry and the finish line was always just past the next hill.
I chose to use a vuvox because it allowed me to present pictorial representations as well as the written word to convey the meaning of discourse community clearly and concisely. What I especially liked was being able to add my own soundtrack, which I personalized with a combination of actual songs and dialogue. It is my intention that the different sound blurbs help reinforce the idea of different discourse communities following entirely different conventions.
In terms of my theory of composing I believe that this has helped me expand that somewhat because I definitely had to go about this project differently. Again, music played a huge role as you can see. There was very little peer revision and an uber ton of self-editing and tweaking everything about a million times. Everything is still not exactly perfect, but who wants perfection, that’s boring. Right?... Right? I think that’s the biggest thing this project added to my theory of composing that sometimes good enough is good enough. There is no true north, no perfect result.
In all honesty my process for my keyword project and remediation were equally difficult. I felt pretty confused during my process for the keyword newsletter, and now looking back I wish I would have asked for more help earlier on in the process. After receiving back my newsletter, I must admit I was quite terrified to even begin the remediation for fear that I would once again not grasp the concept. The remediation took me even more time to try to figure out what medium might be best. At first I thought I might go with a video, but after following up that idea with you, I had a quick change of heart. After collecting ideas of what I thought might work for my remediation, I felt myself becoming more confused and unsure if I was along the right track. I must say talking to you helped me most with my remediation, and assured me that I am capable of completing this assignment. I chose to do a photograph for my new medium. After jumping back and forth between The Beatles Abbey Road, The Abe Lincoln Memorial, and The Last Supper, I decided to not go with any of those. I really feel confident that the photograph I distorted in Photoshop represents my subject well. I used photos of scholars that are relevant today such as Anne Beaufort and Andrea Lunsford, and then past scholars such as Cicero. I did my research on the scholars to make sure that I understood how they defined the word context. I chose to use an original photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. marching with supporting protestors hand in hand and replaced their heads with those of well known scholars. Martin Luther King Jr. was well known as a rhetor (persuasive speaker) that has changed the world and has made history with his speeches of freedom and human rights. In the same context, President Barack Obama has made history with his influence on the world and is a living example today of everything that Martin Luther King Jr. fought for in his speeches. The well-known scholars Cicero, Anne Beaufort, and Andrea Lunsford practice similar forms of speech such as the use of context and rhetoric through the use of their own work as well. Putting all these scholars/rhetors together it is understood that they are all connected in some way shape or form, although the photograph is technically out of context.
ReplyDeleteMy theory of composing can be connected to my choice of medium because I’ve always worked best as a visual learner. Although it was difficult to dig deep, it helped me better understand the subject matter. I’ve learned new things during this process such as never hesitating to ask for help. Just like scholars are there to support your work, there are other resources that are there for me to better understand the guidelines and what is expected of me. Overall I did my best taking my understanding of context and applying it to the my new medium. Still I believe that work such as this can never be finished, but only abandoned.
Although the newsletter and the remediation focus on the same subject, the processes of construction vary greatly due to completely different concepts and target audiences. For my newsletter I had to brainstorm and keep in mind my audience, their level of maturity, and what I ultimately wanted to convey. The newsletter for the freshman was worded in a “fluffy” type of language (for lack of a better word). It was simple, to the point, didn’t require much thought, and broke down all complexities. While my audio clip doesn’t seem to be elevated in the maturity department, I believe it’s real. What I meant to communicate was that although it is expected to serve a scholarly audience with elevated diction and censored material, I decided to take a more genuine approach to it. I figured that since the audience was an older, more developed crowd I would include things that were uncensored and processed differently. Voice is “personality on the page” or in this case, “personality on the clip”, and I was sure to include different peoples thoughts and audio, including a song in another language to show diverse perspectives. The song in the background within the first minute is a song called “Power” by Kanye West, which is Kanye’s own thoughts and interpretation of what power is. In the song Kanye conveys that he needs to kill his old self and be ritualistically reborn. Once this is done, true power is within his grasp.
ReplyDeleteMy newsletter was nowhere near as metaphoric as my remediation, because like I said, the audience was a lot more immature. Like I said in my theory of composing, “Composition differs by genre. You wouldn’t use the same process to create a leisure piece that was directed for entertainment purposes that you would use for an article for your job at a newspaper. You have to be in the right mindset as well.”
My newsletter was not only a lot easier to word but also put together. I have experience within that department so it was a simpler process to go through. On the other hand, cutting music and blending it together to work as one was not easy considering that I was an amateur at using audio mixer programs.
But, what better way to remediate the word “voice” than to put together an audio clip? That’s usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think of that word anyway. Like I said before, a good portion of the audio mixed was strategically placed. I included many different sounds, instruments, song clips, and voices to create my “mash-up”.
Another point I made within my theory of composing was, “Again, compositions are a reflection of you, and emotions are sometimes involuntarily tangled into your words.” In this case I was in a very light-hearted and humorous mood, so my audio has random funny voices and sounds. It is also serious, but the humor shines through. My “voice” shines through.
When trying to figure out the type of medium to remediate my newsletter on ‘audience’ the medium that seemed most fitting was a collage. The elements that are present in a collage and an audience are parallel. The newsletter was very straight forwarded and the language was more elementary so that it would be properly geared toward the freshman class. Prior to starting the remediation I wanted to make so I was accurately portraying my keyword and the question I kept debating was “One question I often debate over about audience and composing is how exactly your audience is created, whether its created before its finalized or once its finalized is the audience assigned?” Before I was satisfied with the final collage, the idea took a couple different directions, and was somewhat difficult to express while still staying in the conventions of the medium. The hardest part was making a collage “scholarly” while not going against the conventions of a collage and overloading it with too much text. So I figured by making the collage images spell out the word ‘audience’ was all the text I would need to provide; the images would do all the speaking for me. However, unlike the newsletter, the collage one must be able to step back from the conventional thoughts of audience. The pictures individually must be given consideration and then as a whole the images literally create the word ‘audience’. All the images used are of different types of audiences ranging from yourself or a stand filled with 20.000 screaming fans. I feel each picture accurately represents an aspect of ‘audience’. For example, there is a photo of President Obama giving a speech and the audience is of diverse groups of people who share the same purpose (or reason for being there). Like wise with the collective collage because each photo is diverse but all serve a purpose in forming ‘audience’. All the images are different types of audience that display different elements of audience that work together as once to create audience physically and metaphorically. Tying back to my initial theory of composing where I expressed that composition was like a recipe, countless possible ingredients but the final product/ “recipe” is unique to the individual/ “chef”. Just like with a recipe where you have to determine who you are cooking for and type of meal you are going to cook before you finalize the recipe applies for composing. Prior to composing you should have the audience in mind and how you will effectively portray your concepts to your audience before you can have a final project. This key word newsletter and remediation projects allowed me to further realize the importance of an audience and how it affects your finalized design/project.
ReplyDeleteSo, as I begin my reflection, I come up with a better idea for my remediation project. Its funny how that always happens to me when I just don’t have enough time to re-do the entire project. If only “Five Hour Energys” worked… Anyways, his reminds me much of my keyword newsletter. As I wrote in my reflection, I wish I had started earlier (as I have wished I did for every project this semester). If I had done that for this project, I would have had time to re-do it. Nonetheless, I chose to use Vuvox to create my remediation project. I really liked the program and it seems like a newer version of PowerPoint, which was my first thought in doing this keyword remediation assignment. In my assignment, I used the word arrangement, so I chose to arrange the same information in different scenarios and different audiences, while scrolling on Vuvox. This and my Keyword project are similar, but with this assignment I was more limited so I chose to focus on arrangement and audience and arrangement and providing a clear and the best understanding of the information I am trying to get across. I chose specifics and decided not to focus on why arrangement is important and what rhetoric was, and I just used different examples of arrangement. I really like to use analogies and show, not tell. This is part of my theory of composing, and I feel it reflected upon my work. I like to think of examples and use images, and then as I am finished with that I like to add in a few scholarly tid-bits here and there.
ReplyDeleteThis assignment was challenging. At this moment I am still unsure if I accurately represented Arrangement in my remediation as I did in my keyword newsletter. I do think I learned through these projects, and I hope others could learn from my project.
I enjoyed remediating the project. Since my newsletter wasn't up to my personal standards, it was nice to revisit the keyword and take another whack at it.
ReplyDeleteI knew going into it that I wanted to do a portrayal in imagery. I thought it would be interesting to explore the use of style through pictures that were more symbolic than explicit. I chose vuvox to explore and I'm pretty content with the results.
After the first go, I came to the conclusion that I had the right concept, but I didn't pay much attention to audience intelligence. I reedited the project, keeping with the imagery I had in mind and the music tone, but I upped the ante when it came to jargon.
I feel much more comfortable with the outcome of the remediation of the keyword project more than I did the newsletter, even with the constraints of the program.