What is Style?

Style is a form of self-expression. It can be manifested through writing, dress, speech, use or non-use of makeup, hairstyles, singing, etc. Style can also mean the manner through which a task is performed on something is created. For instance, the video we made had a formal, controlled style to it. We drafted a script, created characters, made the costumes, filmed a few times and then edited. The dialog wasn't "on the fly" or "impromptu". The video was made in an orderly style.

English 328 is about writing, style and technology. From this class I've learned to adapt my personal style of writing within the framework of various writing rules. Also I've learned how self-expression can intersect with various types of technology. Following grammar and writing rules does not mean giving up personal style. Following grammar and writing rules can enhance ones personal style.

Also, this class helped me to "come out of my head" and think more about my audience when writing. I've learned to differentiate between interpreting a point and relating information so that the reader can make connections. I see connections between writing and technology that I hadn't seen before.

This class has been at times "strange" yet interesting. I've enjoyed the collaboration between classmates on peer review and the video project. Finally, I've learned not to be so glib about writing. I've re-thought my old attitude toward writing, i.e. It's easy. Writing is hard work.

Peer Review part 4

Over this past term I have come to appreciate the peer review process. For the first peer review project I didn't find the process useful. However the second, third and fourth reviews were pretty good. Several of my reviewers went indepth and gave me some very good ideas. I found the video collaboration peer reviews to be the best.

I've found that the effectiveness of the project depended on which peer review group to which I was assigned. I wound I was in the same group twice with one classmate who was the best reviewer. From reading his drafts I can tell that he is a very good writer himself.

Google docs and the Wetpaint Wiki made the review process easy. I've done manual peer reviews that were bearable because we did them in class. I prefer this process.

Only once did I find a reviewer's comments offensive and I replied as tactfully as I could. For the most part I did not feel the need to reply to any comments because everyone has their own opinions.

Looking Back at past readings and looking forward to the essay on movie-making

I think the readings on low bridge technologies, YouTube, Baron's essay, and my earlier essay on creating a writing technology will help the most with my final, reflective essay and making the movie. "Understanding Comics" is useful too in terms of considering our audience, the purpose of our video and how text and images intertwine. My team and I plan to talk about a Strunk and White rule "Avoid Pompous-sounding Words". We have worked out a script and characters.

I have never been interested in movie-making, but I'm not dreading this project. I am actually pretty interested and look forward to seeing the completed project on YouTube (a site I've never visited). It helps to be working with team. If I had to do this myself it would not get done. I see a lot of myself in the essay on low-bridge technology. Having videocams and software like I-Movie makes things very easy also. I graduated from high-school in 1981. Making a video then would have been pretty hard. The technology was pretty cumbersome and my team and I would have been limited in where we could film. Also editing would be difficult. This ties in with Baron's essay on the progression of technology. Today's technology makes everyone a producer.

Writing an essay on writing, writing technology and movie-making should be interesting because all three are related. Writing and movie-making are recursive-they both should be revised over and over until "perfect". Movie-making is a type of writing technology.

YouTube and Low Bridge Videos

I watched Michael Wesch's video on YouTube and read D. Anderson's essay on using low-bridge technologies to teach and engage students. I already read Alexandria Juhasz's essay on teaching (or not) YouTube. I enjoyed all of them.

Here are some of my observations:

Controversy and technological advances go hand-in-hand. They always have and always will. I think educators, academics, political leaders and students need to realize this and calm down. That doesn't mean there shouldn't be ongoing discussion about what is useful and what isn't. I have never viewed computers as a threat to mankind. They are an extension of man's mind.

As for teaching YouTube, I found it very interesting but not surprising that the students in Ms. Juhasz's class found they still wanted a "real" teacher and structure. This parallels Michael Wesch's finding that people who use media such as YouTube love technology but long for community and connectivity which is what traditional academia is. I too don't find anything on YouTube for me, but that could be just my personality-I hate silliness. Frankly, I don't want to watch anyone sitting in front of a webcam talking about themselves. As for the dancing and singing videos they were kind of cute, but I can't watch a lot of that. Again, it's just me. I don't care if others love it.

I read an essay about technical writing at a U.S. military facility in New Mexico. It was talked about how new technologies were received and/or used in the production of written work. One thing that came out of the study was that the new technology did not replace older technology, it merely augmented it. That's what education in particular grapples with. Many school administrators and teachers don' t realize that every time a new technology comes out, they don't have to "start all over". Indeed, in the study on the facility in New Mexico, it was also determined that new technology was often misused or not used at all, because it was not needed to produce work. These are issues that have to be resolved by various facets of society concerned with technology.

I think that students' personalities govern how well they receive and use new technologies. That is why there is such division over the use of various technologies in the classroom. A few students will love all of the new technologies, the majority will be willing to try, and a few will hate them or just not be interested. Of course a teacher can't tailor one class to each student's tastes and abilities, especially in grade schools. That is why low-bridge technologies work best to try to engage all students. This allows the students, on their own, to personalize their projects.
Right now in English 328 I am collaborating with 3 classmates to make a video about writing. I don't care for movie making, picture taking or videography (okay I just like to read and watch t.v.) but I have to participate. That it only needs to be 3-5 minutes long makes it bearable.

I found Michael Wesch's anthropological exploration of YouTube to be fascinating and relevant. It's very interesting that YouTube's total video viewing in 5 years exceeds that of networks televisions' 60 years of broadcasting. I found very true Wesch's assertion that "We are all producers".

Writing about Comics as described by Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud' 1993 book, "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art", uses comic style drawings and frames to help readers understand comics. He traces the history of what he defines as comics from ancient times to 1993. McCloud's definition of comics is "Juxtaposed (side-by-side) pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer" (20). Scott McCloud's book is interesting because he helps us to under the difference between cartoons and comics. Comics must be more than one drawing in a frame and must be sequential. He also makes it clear that comics need not be funny to quality (in fact most are not). He talks about icons which are representational drawings or symbols that stand for various ideals, concepts or even words. Icons figure prominently in comics.

Scott McCloud also explains that all comics can be explained in the term of a triangle. At the left point is "reality" and at the right point is "language/meaning" and at the top point is "The Picture Plane". This triangle "represents the total Pictorial Vocabulary" of comics..." (51)
Some other important points are how time and space are the same in comics and how wide or how many frames there are in a comic can represent time.

I chose a comic strip called "Jumpstart". Here is the link:

http://www.comics.com/comics/jumpstart/archive/jumpstart-20081003.html


"Jumpstart" is about a middle-class black family: dad is a cop, mom a nurse and they have a son and daughter. The comic strip author, Robb Armstrong, uses his comic strip to portray blacks more accurately. He says "Many readers see themselves reflected in Jump Start's scenario. I'm thrilled that people say that. I'm drawing about my life; about a black couple because I'm black. Nearly every married couple I know is like Joe and Marcy. The image of young blacks is so skewed, so false. I don't know anybody who's carjacking, playing basketball, rapping. Joe and Marcy and the characters I've developed are deep and based on real life."

The comic strip covers the family in all aspects of their lives: school, work, social situations, other family members, political activity, etc. It also features several white characters who interact with the family. This comic strip fits the definition of comics as found in Scott McCloud's book on page 20. Also, each strip has no less than 4 frames concentrating on a particular subject to make a point.

Style Rules Essay Peer Reviews

Only two people reviewed my style rules essay. One didn't critique it at all. This person just noted that our papers have the same format! The other person gave some good advice about not repeating the same phrase over and over.

The peer review process was better for me with the Writing Technology project. I sensed more overall class involvment in the project. For the Style Rules Essay, I would have preferred if someone said if my writing made any sense or was useful. Overall, I don't really find peer reviews to be a useful tool.

What other's are saying

I seems that most of my classmates prefer Strunk and White because it is short and punchy. Like me, they view it as a reference book with a few writing guides. Many students appear to prefer a short, to-the-point read. Others don't want a reference book. They find Joseph Williams's book a tough, dry read, but much more useful. Those that are striving to be professional writers, prefer Williams.

Most students found the peer review process for the Writing Technology project to not be truly useful. They didn't feel that got a "true" critique. I think we should all remember that it's not easy to criticize one's classmates.