Hearing is believing (kyle baker)

In the audio essay I agreed with multiple ideas that Prof Sloan touched on. When he said that words and sentences can't express the real meaning of the point that you're trying to get across. Say you text someone something it doesn't have nearly the same meaning as if you said it to the person. The tone in your voice has everything to do with the interpretation of what you're saying. We really do construct our worlds based off of what we hear. If something is written it can be interpreted in many different ways. Today in society sound overwhelms lyrics in pop culture today. Many kids listen to songs and have no idea what the lyrics actually are. Often times if you play a song to a little kid the first thing theyll pick up is the beat or they'll just hum to the song. The song by luke ray's that had no lyrics is a perfect example of how sound has actually been a major influence in not only todays society but even back then. I never really thought about how much the radio makes you imagine things, it makes advertising that much more effective because you make the picture you want to see based off of what they said.

Audio Essay

This audio essay was quite different from i am used to i must admit. i agreed with the fact that music is influential in terms of its lyrics. Most people in society will be influenced by what they hear and see so this was an accurate statement. I do alos believe there are people who listen to music and never even hear the lyrics. I know that i personally listen to alot of rap music and hip hop solely to hear the beats. I like music with lots of base so to say that the lyrics are heard or interpreted by everyone who listens to them is false sometimes. In terms of photographs i really do believe they are worth a million words. Pictures often explain what some people cannot put into words. since i am a visual learner (which you will read more on in my essay) pictures are a major influential instrument and learning tool. The audio essay was cool though because, instead of reading and kind of thinking about other things and having your mind wander on a dry topic, it allowed me to really focus on the content and allowed me to think about what i was actually hearing so my imagination was quite vivid during this 8 minute period. I realized that many of the points about how different forms of learning, in terms of auditory and visual, help different people grasp certain things better.

Hearing is Believing (BG)

This weeks reading was very interesting to me. I like how it made you pay attention to get a better understanding of the material. I agree with a lot of what Phil said. Music and lyrics today are more about the words and message rather than the sounds. Today many people pay more attention to the words or lyrics of a song, rather than the background music. Listening for the message. I love to listen to music and one thing Ive noticed is that every song starts out in the same way. Every song starts out with a catchy tune to keep the listener and then the lyrics come in and the message is given. teachers today use music to teach students, and by using music, something that the students are already interested in, the student has a better chance of learning and remembering the message and the lesson. Pictures are another good way of getting a message across. A powerful picture can stick in your head alot longer than words alone sometimes. i think that today visual and audio learning is playing a bigger part in learning and helps more than just words and presentations alone.

Hearing is believing/Photographic icons Greg Knapp

Hearing is believing was a very interesting audio. The power of music has always been influential, but this audio essay put it into an understandable aspect. When Phil talks about lyrics being not as important as the actual music, I was a bit skeptical about how he was going to back this statement up. He then went into talking about the song “Johnny Be Good”. He made a very good point with the introduction of the song. He proves just how powerful music is by stating that Chuck Berry simply stated where Johnny lived. It instantly became a very catchy song due to the song and not the lyrics. Phil goes on to talk about a song that was banned from the airwaves. This could be understandable due to explicit lyrics. However, this song was simply an instrumental and was banned because of how it sounded. This puts into perspective the effect of the music on people. The last thing Phil talks about is the radio. By using sound effects, the radio can put different images into each person’s mind. Images tell you what to think but sounds give you your sense of imagination. The power of sound is great.

Photographic icons talks about pictures and their validity. A lot of people will see a picture and immediately assume. Like the book talks about, if you see a man with a rifle and in uniform, you would think that he was a soldier during war. When in reality, he could have been a model posing for a picture that was set up by a photographer. Likewise, the book talks about Rosa Parks. I have always thought that the picture was her actually refusing her seat. The legitimate picture. However, the book goes on to talk about how it was taken about a year later by a photographer that set the whole thing up. This goes to show that pictures have a story behind them, rather than an instant truth that you might assume.

Photographic Icons etc.

"Hearing is Believing" and "Photographic Icons" are great pieces to compare considering one mainly focuses on visual arts and the other audio .A quote that stood out to me from "Hearing is Believing" is "Radio stretches the imagination". It's true radio and other media revolving around audio give the audience a creative license that television and film can't. This is interesting because television and film are more popular then radio. Video killed the radio star, right?

I liked what was said about Chuck Berry and how his music became such an influence since his music debuted. Though, I would say Chuck Berry did not become the icon he is today solely on his unique sound but also his image. His style and personality (and iconic "duckwalk") contributed greatly to his performance as well as those he influenced.

The piece on photographic icons was surprising. I had no idea most of those images had been fabricated. I do feel like when I look at a photograph I tend to believe what I see. I hardly question the circumstance of the photo. Last year I sat through a lecture on photojournalism. Part of class was a matching exercise where we had to match a list of places where the photographs were taken to the pictures. One that stands out in my memory was a photograph of a mosque, the entire class placed the picture with a middle eastern country but in reality the picture was taken in Michigan. Reading this article was a really good reminder that we need to factor in context while interpreting a photograph.

MTV/Buddy Holly (Blog Week 7)

When I started watching MTV's launch I was kind of amazed at how it began because when I watch MTV today I never knew why they have the Astronaut at the beginning but now I know. Also, the first music video was kind of cool because I've heard that song on one of the Grand Theft Auto games before and I would always try to find that song while playing the game so it was cool to actually see the music video. And also, the second music video I've heard the song before but I have never seen that music video before either. Now I have, just talking about MTV reminds me of a day when I was in grade school, when I woke up I watched a music video of Jimmy Fallon's I guess it's just something I remember. I used love waking up and watching music videos so I guess MTV has changed my life a little bit. MTV is a good thing for television and needs to continue to air for years to come, I mean after all it has lasted since 1981, why take it off the air? Exactly.

The Buddy Holly reading kind of amazed me. They were given such direct and down to the point directions. Although they were not known they still knocked there shows dead into applause. I kind of liked the part where they played at "The Apollo" they were heckled by the crowd and pulled out one song they hadn't sang yet and knocked dead one of the harshest crowds. Kind of reminds me of an underdog story. It was a very interesting blog this week.

BelievingIsHearing/ PhotographicIcons - - - JK

To start off, I thought this assignment was really cool. As much fun as reading is, listening to music and the information was so much more refreshing then just simply reading it.

It’s crazy to think that without lyrics there was a bad song. Just the sound of the music could make it “bad.”

I also liked listening to the hot chocolate, mountain of whipped cream, and cherry on top. As he explained it, and as the sound effects went off, I just pictured the entire scene in my head. Listening instead of listening and seeing is very different. Just listening allows you to be more creative, and it allows your imagination to run wild.

I actually really enjoyed reading “Photographic Icons.” I think it’s completely true what the reading said. Photos are a fantastic way for people to really see events without being there. However, I think that when a picture is posed it ruins the “magic” of the moment. When I know something is an add it does not bother me as much, but when something is supposed to be spontaneous and is not, it’s dishonest.

I liked looking at the pictures in general, that’s always something that interested me so it was cool to see what was staged and what was not. I must say I was shocked that Marines Raising American Flag on Iwo Jima was not staged. I really enjoyed learning that Rosenthal actually did have a staged one, but his candid one was the one that made it big.

Overall I think photography is a big part of today’s society, but with the new editing systems out there it’s hard to distinguish between fact and fiction.

Hearing is Believing

This is a nice change of pace as far as the readings go. I really like how this actually requires you to pay attention and if you don't you miss everything. I also really like how Phil is reading/talking so it feels exactly like were in class. Another good thing he did as far as active learning goes is incorporating real music into the essay. Teachers who use music or items that catch a students intreast really get the point across and the students have a better chance of remembering what that lesson was about. Phil has a good point about how a song that sounds dirty or just the overall has a general feeling can impact people emotions. I know from personal experience that songs really can effect your mood. When people listen to bands such as Metallica or Pantara they tend to want to be the crap out of somebody but when they listen to The Fray they want to just relax and take stock of their life. The part about the radio show painting a picture and listening to those sound effects that paint a picture is ever so true in today's society. The main reason anyone listens to the radio anymore is because there is nothing else available or their Ipod is dead. One of the most prominate bands that is good at painting a picture not only with music but with lyrics is the band Pink Floyd. If anyone ever has the chance to listen to thier music, see them in concert, or even watch a video on YouTube I highly encourage it. I recently saw The Wall and it was one of those "life experiences" that everyone should see because I feel it makes you a better person.

hearing is believing- photographic icons

I really enjoyed listening to "Hearing is Believing" it was a lot more interesting than the normal passages we have to read, but also a lot harder to focus on. I agreed with a lot of what Phil said. My favorite part was towards the end he mentioned how "Images do the work for us, they tell us what to see." I guess I've never really thought about it like that but it does make a lot of sense. When you're watching T.V. nothing is left up to the imagination it's already right there for you. If your listening to the radio you can make your own visual and stretch your imagination so much more. You imagine what the D.J's look like, what the studio is like how everything is set up you can play with it so much more rather then just actually seeing it. It kind of takes the fun out of things when you already see the image and don't get to create it yourself. It reminded me of those haunted houses when your little where you're blindfolded and u stick your hands in a bowl that they say it's eyeballs when really it's just grapes. It's a lot easier to imagine it being eyeballs or something creepy when you didn't see the bowl before hand. I can somewhat agree with what Phil mentioned about how music can still be good without understanding the words. However, I really enjoy music more and can get more into it when i hear the words and can relate to what the singer is saying. There are a few songs that have a powerful enough sound that you can feel the emotion without a single word being sung. I definitely enjoyed this passage and I thought the music in the background helped back up his thoughts because even the songs or clips without words proved what he was saying.

The passage Photographic Icons gave me some perspective on the way I look at pictures. I've never really thought about how much trust plays a factor when you see a picture. There could be a picture in the newspaper showing someone helping out somewhere saying that they've been helping for days, but in actuality that person could have just got there and did a quick pose and the sad part is most people automatically believe it. As Gefter says, the real truth is "measured in the circumstances that led up to the moment the picture was taken." This passage makes you really question the authenticity of any photo. Some photos being staged are acceptable, like ads, magazines, posters, etc. but when the picture is said to be spontaneous and random, a posed picture is the opposite and ruins the picture all together. I think that with some iconic images it really doesn't matter if the picture was set up or not, and it should not be looked into. When we know the event to be true, a powerful image reflecting that event is still a reflection of the event whether it was a pose or real.

Hearing is Believing/Photographic Icons (Blog Week 6)

When I listened to "Hearing is Believing" I really agreed with Phil's explanation of our culture today. Songs today aren't really about the sound but the words. Some people don't notice the background music today because songs are meant for words, where as back then they were played for the beauty of sound, so people see the true beauty of music. Today people do listen to songs for their own personal reasons, but mainly I think people listen to music to hear the words someone is singing. My personal experience is that I do like the words in songs, but almost every song starts with a certain sound which can trigger someone to keep listening to it. So if the sound wasn't appealing to someone they might not listen to that song. Some people won't give certain genres of music a chance just because of their sound. So music is somewhat still about sound. The radio part of this was appealing also, anything can happen when you can't see it so a commercial is way more appealing on the radio.

After reading "Photographic Icons" by Philip Gefter I kind of understood where he was coming from with the truth's behind photographs. Just because you have an image that presents a reality doesn't really mean you know what went down before the picture and I agree with Gefter. Yes you have the truth's of that photograph at that moment but what went down right before that or right after that? You may never know unless you completely remember or if a picture was taken every second. But, that's not very likely. This weeks blog wasn't to bad. I liked last week's better. Looking forward to next weeks blogging topics.

Photographic Icons/Hearing is Believing

After reading Phillip Gefters passage I learned that pictures are not always what we think they are. When we read a newspaper we automatically think the pictures under the article are fact. When we are watching or reading an advertisement we automatically think the pictures are fiction. But what happens when the pictures we think are fact are actually staged? For example, Gefter spoke of the photo called "Kiss at the Hotel de Ville" by Robert Doisneau. For years this picture was referred to as the spontaneity of life. That this kiss between two people was real passion. Later in the 1990's, the believers found out that this "loving couple" was hired to stage this photograph. Take history for another example. Gefter spoke of deceased soldiers and how they are laying in each photo. Did they fall to their death that way? Or did the photographer place them in a certain way to make their picture better? when it comes to photos you never really know if it is fact or fiction. Some are authentic but I bet majority are not.
During Prof. Sloan's Hearing is Believing auditory a few things stuck out to me. I agree that the way people are communicating with one another is changing drastically, just like we discussed in class. When we had our "hi, hey" discussion we talked about how emphasis on the word could change the meaning completely. When he said that lyrics are not as important as the music itself, I agree and disagree. I agree in the way that if the music is not catchy you may not listen to the song at all. However, I believe lyrics have a impact as well on the listener. Personally, there are some songs that directly relate to whats going on in my life. Since I can realte to what is being said, it makes me like the song itself. Maybe without the lyrics I would not like that song at all.

writing, social or individual?

I personally believe that writing can be one of these or even both. What medium you use is going to define everything you do. if you are competing in a state wide essay contest, my guess is that you are writing socially if you are going through the thought process that everyone is going to be reading it. Multiple people are going to review it, and of course it is going to be judged by others. If we are talking about the act of writing itself, when you sit down with your pen and paper and write words? I would personally define that as more of an individual solitary thing. When I am required to write something for a class I prefer to be alone, so that whatever I am thinking can be channeled into what I am trying to get across in the essay. Do not get me wrong some people get their writing done faster while they have distractions, because they can zero in more. What I am getting at is that I think that writing can be either it just depends on who you are, why you’re writing, or what you plan on doing with your writing.

Social/Individual

I think that wring can be either a social or an individual practice but in most cases, it is a social practice. When I think about writing in terms of who the audience is, it is mostly not only the writer who is the audience. There is writing all around us and words are written down to be seen again by others. The news paper is a prime example of social writing. There are millions of articles written every day all over the world telling of stories from the town, the country, and even the world. The point of the stories are to inform. It is a medium that is used all over the world and is used every day. Letters to the editor and advice columns are more proof that it is social. Letters to the editor are used to give the audience a chance to get their opinions out as well as say what they think needs to be heard. Advice columns are a way to help out the audience and give them suggestions to how to deal with issues in their own lives. This type of writing is put into the paper to make the readers see the paper as more of a personal thing. The news paper tells about issues around the town as well as personal issues to make you feel included.

social or individual

I think writing can be both a social and an individual practice based on the person and their reasons for writing. For some, writing is like an art form, it's an expression of how they feel and it can be anything from a journal entry, to a poem, to a full length novel. When people are writing to either relieve stress, express an emotion, or just see where a story is going or anything along those lines, I think it's an individual practice. When people are writing to share their writings with others, to communicate a message to someone, or for money and publishing, I think that then it becomes a social thing. It can also be a combination of both. Some poets might be writing a poem to express there emotions and then share it with others just to further express is and really share there feelings. This type of writing was mainly something being done for themselves but when some type of audience is involved where the person can get feedback, compliments, or criticism it becomes a social interaction. So, my answer is that any type of writing can be an individual thing when a person is writing for there eyes only to reflect or relieve stress or whatever the cause may be. Any type of writing can be a social thing, when an audience is involved and there's some type of communication of the piece. And any type of writing can be both, when both of these things are done.

SOCIAL...OR...INDIVIDUAL ?

I think writing can be both social and individual. a majority of people including myself try to find their own ways as individuals to express what they are trying to say by writing. They usualy express their thoughts in ways that are understandable to themselves but may not always be completely understandable to everyone else. As an individual writing can be a good release, a good way to clear the air. For some people getting their ideas and opinions out into the publics eyes may also be satisfying. I think it all depends on the individual.

Is writing a social or individual practice ?

When I think of writing something I am thinking of sharing what is on my mind. It is my time to share what I am thinking and tell someone else about it. When you are sharing what you are thinking you could be writing something or you could be speaking out loud. There are many different ways to interpret writing and I think that it is very true. I also agree that it is a social justice to because you can be talking to someone just as if you were writing a paper and still be exspressing your feelings as a social matter instead of writing something down. When you talk about writing it doesn't nessesarily mean that you have to be writing down what your feelings are, it could be what movie you saw last week or how school is going or just anything that you had done in the last hour, month, year or decade. When you exspress feelings you can exspress them in many different was and I believe that this question weather or not that writing is a social or individual practice can be interpreted in both ways. Now I myself do not like to write things down as much as I would like to say them out loud and to someone else because when you write your feelings down, people think that it helps them get out anger and solves their problems. That maybe true but as for some people like me I would like to have some feedback for what I am telling them instead of just looking at my feelings on paper. I guess it all depends on how you feel about the whole subject and what you perfer to do, either way it could be a social or individual practice.

Is writing a social or individual practice

Writing is both social and individual practices. It can be social because whatever you write about can come from other idea's. What people write about comes from something socially. By this I mean that people write about things that goes on in the world. People write to respond to other people, to describe other people/things,etc. I think that anything that is written is about someone or something in one way or another. Writing can be an individual practice because there is only one person doing the writing. The way idea's are presented, the rhetoric used and the style of writing comes from the individual. How the point gets across comes from the individual as well. It can be individual because writing can express the way one is feeling. Writing is both social and indivdual.

Social or Individual

I believe that writing could be both social or individual. When you sit down to compose a paper you are normally by yourself. You are using your thoughts and ideas to construct the paragraphs. If you keep an up to date journal of how your day has gone, that is also individual. The journal is yours and typically is not shared with anyone. Therefore, I feel that those examples are individual writing. I also believe writing is social because when people read your work the writing is between more then one individual. For example, when famous writers write their main purpose is to share with others. Whether it is fiction or nonfiction it is meant to be sold in stores and for an audience to enjoy. Authors write to be acknowledged and gain a positive reputation. Therefore, I believe depending on the situation writing could either be individual or social.

Writing IS a social practice

Writing is a social practice because writing often involves other people. I’ve never written a paper where there wasn’t a critic (teacher or friend/family) looking at it. To effectively write one may need someone to edit or read their paper at some point. Once another party gets involved I consider it a social practice. I also don’t know of too many people who write to no audience. The only exception I can think of is a journal or private log of some sort. I’ve always figured to purpose of writing was to persuade or inform others, so how is that NOT social?! Just like they have book clubs and seminars, they also have writing clubs and all kinds of ways to get your ideas and words out there. Look at what we are all doing right now. BLOGGING! This is a social form of writing. We all write/post daily updates on our facebook pages, send emails, and log onto other social pages. Tell me how that isn’t SOCIAL Writing! As I said before there are a couple exceptions like private journals and such but for the most part I believe most writing is social. Probably in the upper 90 percentile range.

WRITING- social or individual practice?

When asked the question of whether writing is social or an individual practice I would have to answer by saying it could be both. I think it a social practice because many people use writing as a way of communicating to other people and a great form of interaction. People write by texting, emailing, instant messaging, and just plain old writing letters. All these are forms of writing in the social catagory. Writing can also be an indivual practice because of the fact that people do indeed write for their own enjoyment, or for a job. This is completely geared towards the individual themselves completely outside the social catagory. They may have to write because they have to or they may write because they want to. All in all, i beleive writing is both a social and individual practice depending on what the person is doing, and what kind of person it is.

Writing is a individual practice (mostly).

I think writing is mostly an individual practice because most writers write alone. Most books are written by a single person as opposed to more than one person. Not to say this doesn't happen, of course it does, but the majority of things written have a single author. Many writers write alone because there are less distractions. I always associate writing with being alone. My generalized, stereotypical construction of a writer is an introvert. This isn't always true just as stereotypes in general are never always true but when I think of writing I never imagine big groups of people sharing ideas (though I know that happens). I would also say writing is typically an individual practice because a lot of writing is self reflective or invented from the imagination of an individual. Many writers think of their writing as a valuable possession. Again not to say writing can't be a social practice but in general writers tend to write alone.

Social or Individual?

I believe that writing is a combination of both social and individual. I think that I am more of a individual writer. I tend to keep the things that I write to myself and not show anyone. I think that if I showed people what I wrote then it would be a little awkward. Even though I think that I am an individual writer, I think that I can be a social writer too. In high school we had to blog about a topic of our choice and I connected with different people through blogging. It became pretty social and we started sharing ideas. I think that this is a way that I have been exposed to social writing.

Writing Practices (In-Class Blog Week 6)

I believe writing in itself is an individual practice. This is because when someone writes they are usually writing about something they have come up with and no one else has. It could be just writing a story from their own imagination or writing about a life experience they had and no else experienced. So looking at it from this perspective it is an individual effort. In other cases there are people who create a story together as a social practice. A lot of this writing comes from thought of an individual or individuals. So either way it can be classified as an individual or social practice. Another way to look at it is people all over the world write so it can be classified as a social practice since the whole worl.d writes, its a social hobby of everyones. At least everyone who can write. My personal take on it is that it is an individual practice because when I write no one else is feeding me ideas, it's just my imagination, life experiences and I.

socialORindividual? --- JK

Is writing a social or individual practice?

I would definitely say it can be either or depending on the writer. Some people enjoy writing in diaries or writing stories for themselves and others plan to make it public. Some people express themselves through their own personal writings so it can definitely be considered personal. I definitely think that writing begins as an individual thing. Whether people make it public is up to them.

I also think that writing can be a social thing as well. Today especially with all the different ways to communicate using technology. There are cell phones with texting, there is email, there is Facebook, all involve writing and all would be considered social. Generally, I think that people who don't write a lot or write personal things are more of social writers. For example, I think that people on Facebook are social writers.

To conclude, I think this question can be supported either way. I just think it depends on the writer and what they are writing for.

Writing: A Social or Individual Practice?

In my opinion writing tends to be more of an individual practice but can be categorized as both a social and individual practice. I believe most people write intentionally for themselves. They write about things that come to their minds and things they have questions about. It’s when other people begin to read these things that they become part of a social writing practice. Writing is about expressing who you are as a person whether or not you’re doing it for yourself or someone else depends on you and only you. The kind of practice it actually is also depends on what exactly a person is writing. When writing in diaries or journals those are typically for the person writing it but it may became a public thing in the future. Compared to when you’re writing a specific story it is intended for a specific audience so that is social writing. Although there are many ways to argue whether writing is social or individual it really depends on what your writing and what you’re going to do with it when you’re finished.

social or individual

I think it is both! It is social because when you write you are shareing with people what you think or things you think you known or that are stated facts. also it can be social when people are looking for information. It is individual when you write in a diary and when you dont wanna share the information you are putting out. it can also depend on who you want your aduiance to be. if you want it to be shared then it is social because it is not just kept for your eyes only to see. when i write it is social i just write to write and share. when i write papers it is social because i am shareing the infromation. Im not really and indivdual writeing i mean at times it is nice to write out your feelings but thats not really my style. so there for it can go both ways just depends on the way you do it.

individual vs. social

I think writing is an individual practice and a social one. I think this is true because most times when people are writing it is done on their own. But sometimes it is done with others, or with research from other sources. By using other sources you are combining your ideas with others which can be social. Also if someone writes something individually, they can share it and others can interpret it. I think writing will usually start out individual as someone writing things from their prospective and what they believe and i think later it tends to be more social when more people read, and then provide further interpretation or if someone contradicts what the first person said, and so on. I also think when writing is social it can be edited and improved, which is an important part of the process.

Social or Individual?

I believe writing is both social and individual. It is social in fact that when someone writes a book or a magazine article, it will be read by the general public or is intended for the public to read. Also, with this being a technological era, I find that more people write on the internet for the public to see. Websites that facilitate such writings are Facebook, Myspace, Blogger.com, and a million other similar sites. One of the main features of Facebook and Myspace is that you can post a status and it will show up on everyones homepage. In addition to the status update, you can also post a blog, which would show up on your profile and anyone of your friends can read it. Writing as an individual practice, in my opinion, means writing by yourself. An example of such would be someone writing a book to be published but when they"re actually writing, it is most likely by themselves. Another interesting fact is that when you post updates or blogs on social websites, you are almost always by yourself which is quite ironic. This goes along the lines of the video we watched at the end of class on friday saying that being on a social network is actually desocializing our society.

Is writing a social or individual practice

You can take this question in many different ways. Writing as i found out in this class can be so many different things and can have so many different purposes. Often times if an individual writes in a journal or a diary because they want something to look back on or just to express how they feel on a given issue that presents itself in their life. This type of writing is almost always for individual practice because a lot of things that a person puts into a journal is not meant to be pulic. However there are exceptions to when writing is more of a social topic then an individual practice. Whenever you see a post on a blog or someone writing a status on facebook it is almost always meant towards a group of people or meant to be heard. I think more often then not writing is a social practice due to the fact that there are so many published books. People conciously or not write in a social atmosphere more then they realize. Even though both social and individual writing are shown daily i think it is more common that writing is a social excercise.

writing- social or individual?

I believe writing is an individual practice. I believe it is an individual practice because I write the best when I am writing on my own. I can only come up with ideas to write about whenever I am alone. When I am in a social environment I have trouble keeping my ideas while I am in the process of writing. I tend to lose my train of thought while I am writing when I am with other people. I think when you are writing individually the writing is more from you when you work alone and it is not affected by either what the people around you think or they are not fully your ideas, they could be someone else’s ideas. When I am also in a social environment I notice my work can be full of grammatical mistakes and also not make sense, I do not have this problem when I am writing alone. I think this happens because I take more time to think and focus when I am on my own versus when I am trying to write socially.

Writing: Social or Individual?

Writing isn’t just simply a social practice or an individual one. It depends on what you are writing and what you then proceed to do with the writing. Writing in some sort of journal or diary is an individual practice for the most part. Sometimes though, the writing in the journal is about something that happened with other people and in that case, the physical process of writing is an individual practice but the piece of writing itself is social, whether you wrote it alone or not.

Overall writing is, I think, a social practice. All of the ideas you come up with are inspired by past experiences and anything you have read. These inspirations are mostly sub-conscious happenings. Everything that has made you who you are changes your writing and causes you to focus more on certain topics.

Sharing the writing, by being published or even just sharing it with friends, makes it more obviously a social practice.

Social or Individual

I believe that writing is both a social and an individual practice. I think that writing should be considered to be both for many different reasons. One of the reasons that I think it is social practice is the fact that some things are read by other people which in turn would make it social. Another reason I think that writing could be social is because it takes a group of people to make a product. There are writers, editors, publishers and many other people that take part in the process. I think that it is individual in a way because when you write it's usually just you and a sheet of paper, not you and a group of people. It all depends on what type of writing you are doing at the time and what processes you are using. If you are writing a biography on someone it would obviously be a social process because you have to research and interview people about the person. On the other hand if you were writing an autobiography I think it would be an individual process because you don’t need anyone or anything else to get information.

Is writing social or individual practice? (BG)

I believe that writing is both social and individual practice. Social because you use writing to stay in touch with others and you use it even when instant messaging someone. Companies use writing to advertise sales or specials or even to get the word out about the company itself. Writing dosent always have to be about reports, essays and projeccts for class. I think that writing is also a individual practice because people write to write. Weither it be a journal passage, a blog, writing a song, poem, story exc. people write to express emotions and personal stories. Writing is so universal that it can really be used for anything. you write to talk to pepole through letters and you write to write for fun.either way i believe that writing is concider to be both social and individual practice.

Social or Individual?

I think that writing can be a social or an individual practice. It really just depends on who the audience is that you are writing about or the topic your are writing on. Overall, writing is more of an individual practice because when you write it is usually your thoughts. it is a lot more easier to write by yourself rather than with other people. Writing usually consists of your thoughts and the way that you want things to be without anyone else's input. Since writing is more of your thoughts it is really not so much of a social practice. It can be a social practice because you can do so many things to write as a group or even peer review would be considered a social practice. I think this because if you are doing it this way then you are getting other peoples ideas to make your writing better.

Greg Knapp- Social or Individual

I believe that writing is both a social and an individual practice. I think that it all depends on who the writer is. There are some people out there who don't want other people reading their work; for instance someone who writes in a diary. These people obviously don't want other people reading their work and they keep it separate from the rest of the world on purpose. For those people who write for a social purpose, they want their work out there. These people write to be heard or to entertain people with their work. They write because they have a crowd or a certain audience to please. I know a few people who write on a sports blog, and they do so because they want other fans to read and respond. In the end, I believe that writing is whatever the writer makes it. Some people are more private, while others share their work with whoever wants to read it.

Writing: Social or Individual (Kevin)

When thinking of writing I think of it was a social and an individual practice. When writing in a journal at home to express your feelings, or just to write down what happened in your day, I would say it is an individual practice. You're alone and writing to yourself about how you feel. And you probably don't want anyone to read what’s going on. But when writing a paper for a class or to present then it is more social. Depending on how important it is, you may go through one or many peer reviews, asking people to look over and revise your paper. Or say you are writing a speech, which is very social. You are presenting what you have written to everyone around that is listening, also with a speech you may also have people go over it with you and revise it before the final product is ready to be presented. To me I think writing is both a social and individual practice, depending on which way you are looking at it, either as a journal or an essay.

Hearing Is Believing!

This auditory essay was very interesting to listen to. It talks about how the medium of communication today is changing from the medium used in earlier times. This is a good point now communication is mostly electronic. There is rarely any face to face contact today. Professor Sloan also talks about how you can send a text message and the meaning can be interpreted in many different ways which bring me to our class discussion about hi and hey. There were some people who felt like someone saying hi meant they didn’t really want to talk and others felt like someone saying hey meant they didn’t want to talk. He talks about how when listening to music you focus on the background music rather than the actual words. He says “we make meaning through sound” I think this is a good point. You take more when listening to things rather than when you’re seeing and reading these same things. It’s very interesting how that song got banned for being a bad song when it had no words. How can you really say sounds are bad? There are many different ways to interpret songs and their sounds & meanings when listening. This current generation relies mostly on current technology advances as their only mean of communication. Trying different media will give you a different outlook on things.

HeariingIsBelieving

Until i listened to this recording, i have never thought in so much detail about the radio. Radios have been around for about 100 years. As technology changes and improves daily, it is crazy to think that it has lasted this long. The radio is listened to all the time and in various locations. It can be listened to in the car, in a house, online, etc. I think that it has had such a successful run because it is something that you listen to but also accomplish other tasks at the same time. A television and other technologies require most of your attention while they function. It is always nice to have music and morning shows in the background of a car ride while on the way to school for example. You can listen and not have to worry about picking out a song once you pick a station. Also, DJ's personalities often match the listener's personality. I listen to certain radio stations and it varies depending on my mood. The DJ of a station is a big deal but they tend to like the same kind of music that the station plays so it makes it more enjoyable and also, they are more likely to pick songs that I view as good. Besides the convenience of the radio, they also stay in business because of the advertisements. Companies pay to use the radio as a medium for their ads because, just like the listening said, they can make words come to life in vary interesting ways. Just how most people enjoy a book version of a story better than a movie version, the imagery is used to appeal to the audience. They let you paint the picture in your head and it keeps the ad interesting.
Overall, i enjoyed the listening. It was a new way of learning and also had many valid points such as comparing radio ads to regular tv ads.

Hearing is Believing (Kevin)

Professor Sloan's audio essay was really interesting to me. He talks about how lyrics in a song are not as important as the music itself. This I agree with, when I listen to music I notice the music first and hear if something is catchy before I even listen to the lyrics. But after the lyrics start I don't focus on what they are, I listen to how they flow with the actual song. This goes along with sound being more important than lyrics, instead of what the lyrics say you listen to how the lyrics flow first, which is based on sound. Everyone can probably agree that a song isn't good unless the lyrics flow with the song. The essay also talks about radio being a better medium than television because it brings out your imagination. I didn't agree with this at first but after thinking about it and using music as an example. I would rather listen to music on the radio than watch it on TV. When watching a music video I feel like I'm being distracted from the song and having my focus put on how "cool" or crazy Lady Gaga looks. On the radio I can actually listen to the song and understand it better and actually focus on it and how good it is because nothing else is taking my attention away from. This goes along with our first essay, our attention is brought to how something sounds, music, before what is actually said, lyrics.

Online Auditory Essay- Dowling

In this essay Professor Sloan was proving that today's society doesn't communicate through simply writing or verbal communication but with a lot of sounds too. Sound has a great affect on the meaning of what we say. For example if you say yes to answer a question there isn't much emphasis on the word. But if you're saying yes because you are excited about something then you may shout the word and emphasize it a lot more. I definitely agreed with Sloan's point about how a song's music and how it sounds is typically more important than they lyrics. I think when people say they like a song they first decide on how it sounds, then later when they actually hear the lyrics it will not matter how they feel about them as much because they already know they like the song. Sloan's example of Chuck Barry's "Johnny Be Good" is an excellent example, Chuck is talking so fast many listeners probably missed what he was saying but a lot of people like the way it sounds. A lot of what Sloan is saying is about how sound is more important because it completely affects what we are saying by how we say it, with that said, when things are all written via the internet, we lose this ability.

Hearing is Believing

The auditory essay by professor Sloan was pretty interesting and was something different than just reading text like we have been for the past couple of weeks. The one thing that stuck out to me was that lyrics can be an important part of the song but the music will always be more important. I agree with this because people don't just pay attention to the lyrics due to the fact you can't understand them sometimes. The music itself is more important because that is the first thing you hear and if the beat is not good then you are automatically going to think the song is bad. At least that's how it is for me. The one thing that I found interesting was how the instrumental song was banned from the radio just because it sounded dirty and dangerous. I also liked how prof. Sloan said that listening allows a limitless landscape of possibilities. When you are listening to something compared to looking at it it makes a big difference. I think that when you are listening to something then you can get a better picture in your head. Basically it is all your thoughts that you get while listening to it other than looking at something that is already there.

week 6 post

ONLINE VIDEO: I believe having the music in the essay made the rhetorical aspect of the essay more focused on the music and what was said about the music. Especially when the music that is used is well known or current versus music that is not well known. People enjoy the topic much more when they find the topic interesting. I believe that Kurt V. was in a way having a dream about the way society speaks now. When people are texting, IMing, or e-mailing I believe people lose the meanings of words. When people for example say "your doing your homework," that should really say "you're doing your homework." When making that mistake the person is completely misusing the definition of your and you're. As we discussed in class, not only does watching your timing on what you say aloud, but how you say something in a text also matters. IF YOU TYPE A TEXT LIKE THIS, your reader is going to think, what in the world did I do wrong that this person is mad at me. Also like we debated on class whether we believed hey was warming or if we preferred hi. Another example of the way things can be mistaken in text is how you previously used as an example "Oh Phil is so cool," in a text that sounds completely serious, but you may be completely sarcastic. The meanings of words is also diminished when sent in a text versus saying it out loud, for an example texting ily for I love you. I agree with what you said about a good song has a good beat, but may not have good words to it. I like many rap songs based on what the beat is, but the word of the songs could be very graphic. On the other hand lyrics can also be very important to me. For example I relate to many of Taylor Swift's songs because she makes her song lyrics stories of things she has gone through in life and many teenagers can relate to her songs. I could not believe that the song that had no words was pulled from the airwaves just based on the fact that it sounds dirty, but yet it had no words to go along with that theory. For them to just assume it could be dirty well I've grown up on the saying assume means it makes an ass out of you and me. I agree completely about the cherry and the river example. If they were to show the commercial on TV the producer of the commercial would give you what the characters would look like and how the huge cherry would look as it hit the river. The same kind of thing happens when you read a book and then you go see the movie. I personally prefer to read the book first, just so movie producers cannot ruin my imagination.

BOOK ASSIGNMENT: I never really thought about how photographers can make pictures be fact, fiction or metaphors.Anytime I see a photo, well depending on the situation, I usually thought it was always the truth. When I take pictures for friends. I would say I probably take pictures for facts, since my pictures are of events to look back on. When reading this article I realized that photographers really do stage pictures from making a solider's face look at the camera and have his gun perfectly laid on him, to the couple on a date making a scene that any romantic would want to be in that situation and be the happy couple on the date. I can honestly say that I learned something new when I read this. When I read the part about Rosa Parks, I had no idea that the famous picture of her on the bus was posed. Which makes sense since, when would she really have time to take a picture when she is getting kicked off a bus? In society we hear all the time that models are airbrushed to look that skinny and no one is really that skinny in real life. So to hear that the New York Times air brushes people out of pictures does not really surprises me. The sad part of society is however that they cannot just show the rest of us what the world is actually like.

Hearing

I like how you said that meaning of words were just sentaences with no meaning. But now i feel like they have a lot of meaning to them well most some have differnt messages. Also how you talked about texting it to someone and how it can come off a differnt way for example when i said in class about hi as a text how i think it differs from hey. It is better for a song to mean something, it touches the soul when it does. music is a big part of peoples life. "the sound comes first." yes it does but now a days it means so much. timeing is everything in songs. the tunes and melodys bring off a lot too. I actaully like listening to this i would much rather do this then have to read a bunch of words. plus this is also about music which i am a fan of and that intrests me a lot. you did say this was a while ago, i did like the music choices though. now a days we have many more ways to keep in touch and talk to people. it made me think different about sound. i found it intersed that the song got banded because of things going on. also how you pointed out it painting a picture. When it was talking about how you can do so much more then you could see in a visual text. music tells us what to see and it is like what we are talking about in class. we are hearing and painting pictures with our eyes. the medium is the message. how it is present deffently changes the way you precieve it.

Hearing is believing

In the clip prof. Sloan touches on a few points that really tie into the theme of the class. Which is how the medium by which we talk to people is changing. With the technology today people have the access to various different mediums to communicate to their friends and peers. In the clip Prof. Sloan touches on how if you write something or text/email to someone they can interpret it in so many different ways and they may not be understanding exactly whay you are saying. If heard the person knows exactly what you mean by the way you say it. He states " how something is said is infinitly more important that what is said" which shows that someone doesn't truly know what you mean inless they hear it. Then when he gives the example of the ad on a radio oposed to if it was on tv. This is such a good example because it allows you to make your own mental images on what you are hearing. Just like Prof sloan said tv tells you what to see but audio allows you to make your own visual. These examples given are great for the main point of the audio clip which was how important the audio medium really is.

Hearing is believeing

This auditory essay by Prof. Sloan was very interesting to listen to. I agreed with pretty much everything that was mentioned in the essay. I also hope that I interpreted the meaning of everything correct but if not I apologize. It is indeed very true that the lyrics in a song get heard a lot less then the actual music it self. People focus on the instrumental sound more then anything because of the fact that if the instruments sound bad, then the song will of course sound bad. But sometimes people do listen to the lyrics, you just have to focus in order to "hear" them. When I listen to music I try to hear both the lyrics and the music because music is my biggest hobby but it is still difficult for me to hear both at the same time. Another thing that Prof. Sloan talked about was a song that was banned from radio and such. I thought it was weird that the song didn't have lyrics but critics thought the song "sounded bad" so they then banned the song. It is very crazy how you don't even need lyrics to have a song be bad. One of my favorite parts of this essay was the radio commercial about how radio is better than television. I thought it was very clever how the comedian guy described the hot chocolate in the ways that he did. I agree that it is sometimes better to imagine things better when you hear them rather then seeing them on TV or some form of advertisement. It definitely paints a better picture in your mind. I think this was by far the most interesting thing so far in this class. I really enjoyed listening to this auditory essay.

Hearing is Believing - Photographic Icons

When listening to the essay, "Hearing is Believing," it made me think in a different way about sound. I think the main point of this essay was to show that seeing isn't always the best way to show or explain something. This relates to the course theme because it relates to all the types of media we use. My favorite part was the radio commercial about how radio is better than TV because radio can make impossible things seem true unlike a TV. They showed that radio is a better way in some instances because of the use of sound effects to make things seem as if they are actually going on. They did this by saying a Lake was drained and filled with hot chocolate, whipped cream, and a massive cherry. After he described what was going on he then used sound effects and it made it seem like the event was actually happening. I also thought it was interesting that in the 1950's a song with no lyrics got banned from the air just based on the fact that it sounded like crazy things were going on. They banned it because they didn't want gang violence to increase. Overall, this was the best thing we've had to blog over so far this year.

While reading photographic Icons, it also brought up a lot of ideas I had never thought about. In the reading it talked about how newspapers are thought of as pictures that are truthful and advertisement picture are not. I had never thought about this before, when I look at picture that were published I usually see them all as being real. I thought it was interesting that in the book it talked about how some of our most famous pictures have been staged again just so there could be a picture. This includes the 3rd picture of the flag being raised at Iwo Jima and Rosa Parks sitting on the bus. I also thought it was interesting that even though they were staged they still were factual pictures. This is proved by the Civil War pictures because even though they moved the dead bodies around the pictures still had factual information in them. This factual information included how many dies, when they died, what they were wearing, and the place it took place at. I learned a lot of new information while reading this last reading.