Monday, December 8, 2008

WP3

Well, here it is: the last of your 3 major writing projects. For this assignment, you will be asked to write a soundtrack for your life. Each song you choose will contain the following elements: 1 embedded video, the name of the band & song, 250 words that contain an O-O account of the video, a BRIEF narrative strand relating the video to your life, an O-O account of an object that relates to an object in your life AND the video, & 3 relevant hyperlinks for each song (1 of which must be the band's site & another of which must be a place to acquire the song legally).

The soundtrack itself will consist of 8 songs (no more no less) & each video must be engaged directly. By this, I mean that you need to take an aspect of the video, whether it be visual or auditory (music or lyrics), & address how that element speaks to or for your life. To this extent, you will be utilizing the video as an entryway into your life by writing through the object (i.e. O-O approach). But, once you enter that doorway, you are NOT to provide a straight narrative of some event that took place, but instead say something about who you are through another object, thing, idea, etc. As mentioned in class, you will most likely need a BRIEF narrative strand to connect or transition between different objects or thoughts, but this should in no way be the focal point. I would HIGHLY recommend looking toward the essays we have read for class as examples of how to do this (e.g. Sanders' paragraphs on his hammer). Furthermore, the order of your videos MUST be chronological in nature, according to the part of your life it relates to. Finally, your essay will best be served if you have a common theme running throughout.

The final draft of this project is DUE, Friday 18, December 2008 @ midnight.

As a matter of example, here is a sample I wrote myself. Please use the formatting for your project that I have here (i.e. margins, embedding, band/song preface). Notice how the first two sentences address the video directly, then the third sentence transitions into an account of how the "Atari-aesthetic" relates to my life (even so, I defer the use of the first-person "I"). Sentences four and five provide further description of the nature of an "Atari-aesthetic," while sentence six once again relates it to my childhood. Of particular importance is how sentence six utilizes 1) the gaming units as the subject of the sentence, 2) contains SPECIFIC jargon with regard to games, and 3) employs an overloaded prepositional phrase through the use of cataloging. The final sentence returns to the Octopus Project video and provides the vignette with a certain amount of closure, but does NOT attempt to develop an epiphany, meaning, or overt lesson for the reader other than relating the "Atari-aesthetic" back to the video itself.


Octopus Project, “Music is Happiness”: Between cuts of the band playing on what appears to a Saturday Night Fever dance floor, this Octopus Project video splices in clips of a gerbil scurrying through several different retro-video game worlds: Legend of Zelda, Berserker, & Asteroids just to name a few. The gerbil-scenes present the viewer with an Atari-aesthetic that anyone who grew up in the 80s can no doubt recognize. As a child, many of my weekend mornings were spent in front of the television set playing highly-pixilated arcade games on my family’s Atari 5200 gaming unit, &, a few years later, on an original Nintendo Entertainment System. At the time, these ancient games were technological wonders; in retrospect, our amazement appears laughable. The squared-off images were more abstract figuration than mimetic, & the movement of individual entities mimicked the herky-jerky nature of a poorly conceived stop-action film. A far cry from the life-like images & fluid movement today’s systems offer, Atari & early Nintendo games nonetheless enabled my brothers, friends, & I to enter into fantastical worlds in which we could play the roles of a happy-go-lucky star fighter with a penchant for shooting at robots with laser beams, a jungle adventurer attempting to save a distressed maiden (all the while leaping boulders & dodging arrows), or a chivalrous knight in search of golden coins & fire-breathing dragons; & this is to say nothing of classic arcade games such as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, or Frogger. By the look of the video, it would seem that the Octopus Project may have shared similar childhood experiences (Not to mention that the music itself sounds as if it could be used in one of these games).

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

12.02.08: UPDATE

READING: For Thursday's class, please read the Masello essay on Blackboard. Per my instructions in class, bring a print out of the essay, along with a scissor and a glue stick or tape.

WRITING: For your next three weekly blog posts, you will write an autobiography via the object-oriented (O-O), or "constellation" method (This is not a narrative, per se.). By this, I mean you will write in-depth about a particular object: describing in detail its materiality, jargon surrounding its discourse or use, and manners in which it connects to other objects in your life. As I mentioned in class, the "hammer section" of the Russell essay should provide you with a decent template. Each post should contain 300 words, 2 hyperlinks, and 1 image or video. For some great reading on constellations, check out Adorno's Negative Dialectics on Google-Books, or Benjamin's "On the Concept of History."

First O-O post DUE Wednesday, December 3rd @ midnight.
Second O-O post DUE Friday, December 5th @ midnight.
Third O-O post DUE Sunday, December 7th @ midnight.

As a reminder, your journals will be due on December 9th during class. If you are not present, or do not have your journal with you, there will be no extensions and no late-acceptances. Make sure you are present and ready to turn in your work. If, for some reason, you know you will not be in class, please turn in your journal early.

I will post WP3 guidelines within the next few days, so keep an eye out of your final assignment.

Monday, November 24, 2008

UPDATE: 11.24.08

READING: For next Tuesday's class (12.02.08), please read Scott Russel Sander's essay "The Inheritance of Tools." I will post this on Blackboard later tonight

WRITING: In lieu of class tomorrow, please complete the following writing assignments: 1) Write a 300 word observation of your favorite music video. In addition to embedding the video into your post, please include 2 hyperlinks. This is NOT a re-capitulation of the narrative (if there is one) of the video. You are to focus on the manner in which editing, lighting, audio-video interactions, patterns, etc. construction this hybrid text; 2) Write a 300 reflection on or about the video that includes 1 image (or alternative-related video...NOT the same video as the previous post) and 2 hyperlinks. This post should engage the video, and your relation to it, through "extending" practices. Both of these assignments are due on Tuesday, November 25th @ midnight. (That's tomorrow night.)

Additionally, you will need to write a 300 word rhetorical response to the video you chose that will include 1 image and 2 hyperlinks. Given the scope of this assignment, you will mostly likely only be able to focus on 1 strategy or appeal and demonstrate, using SPECIFIC elements from the video, how it functions within this particular context. DUE: Tuesday, December 2nd @ 2:00PM. (That's the day we get back.)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Extra Credit Opportunities

Before you read this post, please note that the post 2 posts immediately below this one contain information with regard to WP2 guidelines and this week's writing assignment. Do not forget to read them.

For both of the below readings, you will need to write a 300 word response on a phrase, line, or poem that the poet reads during the event, NOT about the logistics of the event itself. Furthermore, responses must be posted no later than 1 week after the event date.

Tuesday, November 11th @ 7:30PM in the Alabaster Lounge (2nd Floor, Old Main): Joanna Klink.

Thursday, November 20th @ 7:30PM in Callen Conference Center (S-C Building): Timothy Liu.

Writing Project 2: Rhetorical Analysis

ROUGH DRAFT DUE: Tuesday, 18 November 2008.
FINAL DRAFT DUE
: Sunday, 23 November 2008.

For your second Writing Project, you will choose a visual or hybrid art-object that you will analyze, paying close attention to the types of rhetorical strategies & appeals utilized. As such, you will want to ask yourself, & then answer, the following questions: “What is the argument of the object?” “In what ways is the argument structured?” “What types of claims are being made?” & “What design elements are employed to forward the argument?”

The rhetorical analysis requires substantial time and thought, so it’s best to find an object you find interesting or feel passionate about. If you know a topic/text well, you’ll have a sense of what arguments are being made about it, and you’ll likely be eager to undertake sustained analysis & brief research.

A rhetorical analysis looks at the way an argument works (NOT HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ARGUMENT) and may evaluate its effectiveness. You might think of your analysis as an argument about and argument. Accordingly, rather than simply listing every rhetorical detail you see in the objects, you should focus on some specific thesis, or claim. After examining the arguments closely, generate a claim with supporting reasons that describe or assess the way the object works

If you’ve chosen arguments that interest you, readers will sense your enthusiasm and want to learn more. But remember that won’t necessarily be familiar with the object you’re analyzing. You may need to provide background information and enough examples—quotations and images—to show them how the argument works.

When you write a rhetorical analysis, it’s obviously important to study your chosen object carefully to identify key patterns. It is also important to lay out the basic facts of what is called the rhetorical situation: who is writing about what for which audience. Conduct research in the library or on the internet so that you can accurately identify the argument, where and when it appears, in what medium, and so on. You may need to provide a short paragraph of background information early in your paper to set the context for the argument.

How will you most effectively accomplish this assignment? Examine logical appeals by looking carefully at how well the claims made in a piece are stated, qualified, and supported. Be specific in identifying these appeals, quoting from verbal arguments and describing visual arguments. Examine the emotional appeals by identifying emotions and explain how they are generated. Evaluate their relevance to the claim offered. Again, be specific, quoting or describing the emotional details clearly enough for readers to understand them. Examine ethos and assess the credibility of the writer, artist, or sponsoring institution. Is the argument presented by someone you are moved to trust? Is the appeal honest? Explain why, using specific evidence from the argument you are analyzing.

These analyses will make up the body of your essay. You’ll also need to frame this discussion with an introduction, perhaps outlining your thesis and providing relevant background information, and a conclusion that comments on your focal point and answers the “So what?” question.

Check that the logistical elements of the paper work smoothly: If you’ve incorporated images, are they clear and readable? Have you documented any outside source materials? Does the structure and content of your analysis make sense—can readers move easily from idea to idea as you develop your analysis?

Minimum Criteria: a) 1200 words, b) 4 multi-media elements, c) 7-10 hyperlinks, & e) a works cited section at the end of your post if you utilize secondary sources.

REMEMBER: You will need to construct a clearly articulated thesis statement in your introduction that specifically addresses the argument you will be forwarding about the text you have chosen. Think of this an argument about an argument.

Rhetorical Appeals: How does the author of the text use images to work in conjunction with rhetorical appeals? For instance, does the image reinforce an appeal to reason? Is it designed to produce an emotional effect on the audience? Does the use of a certain style, such as black-&-white authority, contribute to the ethos of the text?

Strategy of Development: What strategy of development does the text rely upon? Narration? Definition? Comparison-contrast? Example & illustration? Classification & division? How do these strategies contribute to the ad’s persuasive appeal?

Finally, refer to your MLA handbook for proper integration of secondary source material.

***************** PEER-REVIEW QUESTIONS ******************

Does the essay begin with an introduction that grabs the audience’s attention? Or, to phrase this statement another way, were you as a reader captivated enough by the introduction that, even if you did not have to read this paper for class, you still would? If not, how could the introduction be improved? Provide specific examples.

Is the thesis a well-articulated, declarative statement that clearly states the purpose of the paper & defines the argument the writer will put forth? If not, how does the thesis fail? Is it purely a statement of fact? Is it a subjective opinion? Is it over-generalized? How could the statement be re-worded so as to make it more effective? What questions do still have about the essay after reading the thesis? How could the answers to these questions be incorporate into the thesis? Be specific.

Has the writer chosen a piece of visual or hybrid rhetoric (i.e. is the text something that can be seen, NOT just text)?

Does the analysis directly engage the images & words found in the primary text? Are there aspects of the primary text that are not dealt with? Should they be? Does the analysis “make sense?” Again, be specific.

Does the writer engage the rhetorical strategies (Read “Envsision2.pdf” page 31 for a list) employed by the primary text? Does the writer discuss how these strategies contribute to the overall argument? If so, are there strategies that are not discussed that are present in the primary text? If the writer does not discuss strategies, what suggestions can you, as reviewer, make?

Does the writer engage the rhetorical appeals (Read “Envision2.pdf” pages 33-49 for the three types of appeals & their uses) employed by the primary text? Does the writer discuss how these appeals contribute to the overall argument? If so, are there appeals that are not discussed that are present in the primary text? If the writer does not discuss appeals, what suggestions can you, as reviewer, make?

Has the writer incorporated secondary sources into the fabric of their essay? If so, is the source properly documented within the essay, as well as at the end in a works cited section? Check the MLA handbook to make sure both in-text & works cited citations are correct.

Suggest 52 places within the text where hyperlink links would be appropriate. It will be helpful to add hyperlinks to words that could provide some additional background information about the subject matter that is not present within the essay.

Outside of the primary text (visual/hybrid rhetoric chosen by the writer as their subject matter), make a suggestion for another multi-media element & where it should be located within the framework of the essay, not at the beginning or end.