Extra Credit Blog

For the past semester we have been required to blog on certain topics, and i know that i have failed to complete all of these blogs and i dont really know why. i think part of the reason that i didnt blog and i think the main reason is because for awhile i thought that blogging was dumb. i didnt get the point of it really, i thought i was just for people who had to much time on there hands and sat by a computer all day, when really it isnt. Blogging is a way to express yourself, its a way to voice your opinion on a certian topic or anything you feel like talking about, and thats the great thing about it. Sometimes its a way for people to get something off there chest thats been bothering them, and they have had no one to turn to for help. so when they blog about it they may find help through there blog, from some one across the state, across the country, or even across the world. its a way for everyone, whether your white, black, hispanic, indian, or of any other descent. Its something all people should do because its not just for nerds, or computer geeks, or someone who just has too much time on there hands. Blogging is something that has really fallen off the last couple of years and it think that it is something that we can bring back to its glory. Some people have problems and have no one to turn to and they dont even know the help that they could be getting from just signing onto there computer and just blogging about what they are going through because they dont think anyone will care or because they dont even know. Blogging in itself is something fun and people dont know this until they try it, and thats what happened to me and thats why im going to try and continue to blog even after the semester is over because when im having a bad day or just want to get something off my chest i know that when i log onto a blog someone out there will listen and maybe even help me out. That is why blogging is cool.

Extra Credit -Simple Things I've learned

I, too, am going the "reflection route", but it's going to be a little different because I remember we wrote reflections of the class before spring break.

3 things I 've learned from attending Kent State:

1.
One of the most important things I learned is that laziness must die. Also, (and this is kind of a no-brainer, but hey, I am a slow learner sometimes lol) that college is not like high school at all academically wise. In high school, I could just not turn in a project, and I would still manage to get a good grade in the class. But at Kent(at least in my experience), there are less assignments which means every grade is weighted a lot higher. You would think I would of already taken this into account before hand, but nope..I regretably still revert back to my old and stubborn high school ways sometimes. There isn't much room for laziness. Which is a really good thing actually because in the real world you have to learn how to juggle everything and if you don't manage your time wisely you're screwed.

2.
Another thing I've picked up is how to schedule classes strategically so you can be successful! I am a night owl, so naturally I came up with the idea to schedule all of my classes past 12:30 pm. That didn't work out as well as I thought because after about 3pm my brain thinks that it's time to have fun. So next semester, I'm back on the morning classes train. Also, I learned to schedule classes as close as possible to my dorm because it is pretty much miserable when it's cold.

Basically, use your head in college! What a novel idea.

3.
My final thing is that making the most of campus life (and it means different things to different people) is really crucial because if you don't have fun, you'll go crazy. And the only way you can have fun is if you do your work!

"Work hard, so you can play hard!"

The End.. yay

Extra Credit - Reflection

Well, I wanted to give some reflection of my overall experience in your class this semester.

I gotta say... starting my first day in your class, I wasn't expecting to actually enjoy having you as my teacher this semester, going from loving music, to even bringing up George Carlin as a reference for a homework assignment. That can go a lot of the same with other teachers I've had so far, but you're an awesome teacher with, in my opinion, how flexible and relaxed you are in terms of our teachings in this course.

The blogging was something new that I never would of thought that would come up as a homework assignment. With the freedom of writing in our own way, with no boundaries of HOW we write, I quite loved the idea... and coming to today, I've enjoyed it so much.

You made our readings, and even our essays, interesting to tackle on. In comparison to the teacher I had last semester for College Writing I (even though he was good as well), you've actually made it more interesting, and mind grasping for the audience to get involved with, and be more creative (which is what I like in a English teacher). I rather express my writing through a more free-style of writing, rather than it being constricted and narrow.

Although I'm not in much favor of ALL the readings, most of them were ones I quite liked. Your AUDIO essay I LOVED (far as copying it onto my computer, as I mentioned... although I haven't listened to it so far yet lol). The Google article, and several other ones I've liked (and I gotta remember to copy those until my computer as well). You brought in topics that were interesting to being open-minded and awed about, in comparison to having a history lecture throughout the whole, entire course.

Your essay topics were a good mix. The 'music video' one was my personal favorite because it allowed me to think a little more open-minded about the video, and the song, through different perspectives of it. As a writer, I should expect to have more point-of-view on things, but you touched something in my head to look at a music video through more aspects of it. I never would of saw more to the 'One' song than before; it was all focused to the passing of my grandpa, and war, and pain... but you opened my eyes more to the overall production of the messages.

The only few things I felt were a little unease, were things like when we learned about topics like the Gettysburg Address and such. I'm not gonna say they were completely boring, or 'what's the point of knowing this', but... it seems like it was a fill-in, especially that we never really talked about it much afterwards. That, and when it came down to the last essay, the Works Cited... I was completely iffy with, and I felt a little uncomfortable about, because I wasn't sure on some things on a correct format.

Overall, Mr. Sloan, you've been an awesome teacher for your first steps into teaching the college level! I'm really glad to have you as my teacher this semester, and it's going to be somewhat of a mini-heartbreak when I end up seeing you again on Monday lol.

... On the side, I'm kinda curious about if you've ever done any creative writing, or perhaps have any recordings of music from your old band (or your own personal writing) that you've done. I would like to hear/see em' sometime!! : )

I'm hoping you may end up teaching College Writing II!!

Best of Wishes,
Joseph Sendelbach

extra credit

I decided to blog on my overall experience of this class. I basically had no problems and thought everything that was expected of us was made clear and simple. Like I said at midterm I’m not the first one to volunteer to speak in class so blogging was a good way to get my opinion across. Although some found it annoying I didn’t mind it too much. I didn’t find anything we did in this class to be particularly difficult and I like how many essays were assigned. It wasn’t too much work to put on my plate but enough that I actually got something out of the class. When working on essays and blogs it was really helpful how we basically went over things in class and did class work that would help us with what we had to write. Another thing I liked about the last (once again I stated at midterm) was discussing and practicing revision. I like how we had the opportunity to change problems that were addressed during peer review in class. To sum it all up I found the class to be pretty laid back which was nice. I basically didn’t have too many problems with anything and the only somewhat difficult part of the class was part 2 of the final essay. This was completely understandable though keeping in mind that it was the final and was supposed to be a little more difficult than everything else. Overall I enjoyed the class, two thumbs up!

extra credit blog

this class was overall very good. i really do not like any class that takes attendance for points i just think its unnecessary and if a person doesn't want to go to class they shouldn't necessarily be penalized. i thought the class was pretty interesting as far as content. doing 3 essays is plenty enough so i think 4 would've been too much. so the teacher should probably leave it at 3. i love the take home final idea it saves so much time for me. thanks to this take home final i can go home about a week earlier then everyone else. i like how the blogging was used as a form of participation points since no one really talked or participated in this class that saves a lot of peoples grades. i believe i did pretty well in this class I'm hoping to get a B but i don't know what i have right now which brings me to online grades. i think online grades are a must have because people need to know what they have at all times. so maybe online grades could be incorporated into the class. The instructor was very good. overall the class was a good class that i enjoyed. watching and using the videos on the computer is a great idea. i liked watching videos and really thinking about them.

EC BLOG

first I would like to say that overall, I enjoyed the class. I didnt know what to expect at first but I liked the tools that were given to help me as a student become a better writer and reader, for example some of the literary devices we talked about like 'the straw man','bandwagon' and so forth. I also liked the different stories that we read because somehow regardless of what i thought about a piece, there was always something more to it and Ive never been a "out of the box" thinker so it was suprising and interesting to see what the class would come up with. one of my favorite pieces we read was about the important documents of history where there was a typed font, a calligraphy, and a hand written doc. I think I liked it so much because it seems like all of the "important" documents of America are written like that I just figured thats how they were written from "the beginning of time"...lol..but I always wondered why. Then the article was saying how the calligraphy print came from the times of monarchy and it was the ways of kings and queens. That kind of made me question why "America" adopted that idea if were a "Democracy".
I liked watching the videos, like the one of the band who was singing and they guy who was layin outside in the middle of the sidewalk, and then also the videos we had to watch and write a paper on because I learned to look at thevideos (well everything) as something thats not just put in front of me, but something that could have deeper meaning. I guess I liked the fact of exploring new meaning to the things I thought I knew.
I was looking forward to fall semester so I could take CW II, but looks as if all the classes are filled... (sad face to that one), this was my most favorite class of the year. thanks sloan!

FINAL!?!?!

I feel that the largest obstacles within this paper are trying to meet requirements such as the page length and the strict guidelines. Yes there is a lot of information that can be translated into my paper, but i feel like a lot of that information will overlap causing a lot of papers to sound similar and look similar. However, the only factor that is a positive is that everyone is allowed their own individual freedom in selecting their topic and the ideas that follow. The hardest thing is getting the paper to reach the required length (especially using only the 3 questions and sub questions). I will make sure that I meet these requirements, but i am letting you know now that it will be difficult.

biggest obstacles

im not having any trouble with the project itself except for the fact that i dont understand the 'citing sources' part. for some reason i was thinking the paper was supposed to our opinion, more or less depending on the quuestion we chose.like i chose to rite on if multimodality is positive or negative...so am i supposed to find sites and things in books to figure this out bc im confused..

other issues i would have with doing my project as well as with any other school related work would be internal issues im dealing with that arent necessarily from school. but i guess they are affecting me huh? going thru some family issues trying to balance a relationship that seems to go every way but mine from time to time and then when i feel like im doing good in my classes my grades sneak up on me and show me otherwise. but as usual ill get it done....just kinda one of those curveballs life throws at you huh

Obstacles with project

One of my biggest obstacles with this project is that I haven't started it. I haven't had too many ideas as to where I should go with this topic, and so far, the words just haven't come to me yet. Although, I haven't done the necessary research yet either. So that has something to do with it. Since I didn't start it yet, my blog post isn't going to be of much help.

Final Essay Obstacles

Well... for me, I guess it's just the idea, the imagery, of how I want to see the final project as.

So far, I may have a few ideas for the music, but it's uncertain how I want to approach that.

The more important obstacles I'm trying to overcome is the idea behind it. I got to eventually start processing the 'story line' of where exactly I want the project to discuss. I’m still gotta motivate myself to doing the research on it.

… To be honest, I’m still on the drawing board. I still gotta give myself some time to look for things, and start generating the ideas.

It isn’t like I’m completely facing the obstacles from the view of a mountain. … But I guess the only thing that could bring up a challenge is what research I’ll uncover that can prove useful to my argument. That, and the nervousness of uncovering enough information to at least reaching the minimum requirements of the length of the video.

You’ll likely see some good ideas come up before you know it : )

final essay

to be honest i really dont find anything to difficult about our final essay. things that was complicated for me just a little was coming up with a thesis statement. The reason this was hard because i didnt really know what i wanted to write about, so it took me a minute to come up with my thesis statement. other than that i think the essay should be fairly easy i just need to make sure i use correct grammer in my essay and the correct punctuations. Also i need to make sure my that my paper is very interesting. I never wan to write a dull and boring paper. This final essay shouldnt be to hard.

I'm not having that many difficulties with the final essay project. It is hard to find many resources to back of my thesis though. I have a few good examples that I am able to go into detail about and there are also very good articles on electronic media but many I don't believe are very creditable. The topic I chose I am able to go in many different directions with which is very easy for me to get off topic so I definitely need to narrow my whole topic into only a couple subtopics. Overall it has been going pretty smooth but once I start actually writing the majority of my paper is where I will probably run into some problems.

I'm not having too many problems with our final essay. I think everything was laid out pretty clearly. The only thing I might be a little concerned on are my arguing skills and ability to clearly get my thesis statement across. I thought in my other papers I put the thesis statement out there pretty well but after peer reviews I realized I didn't. I also don't want my view on the argument to be unclear. I'm going to go over pros and cons of both and I don't want my point to get lost. Those two main points are my only real concerns. Other than that I think I'm doing fine with it.

The Final Essay

I think that with the final essay the hardest thing will be the good backup resources. this is gonna be difficult because when using the internet to find good facts for your paper is sometimes a good and bad thing all at once. Sometimes it is good because you can find a good resource and facts about your topic but at the same time it could just be someone on the other side of the country voiceing there opinion on what you have decided to write about. But then again you could get lucky and find a good resouce that has true facts but it takes awhile to find this information. Another obstacle will be my patients because sometimes i tend to just rush through a paper and use any facts i find on my topic. For this final essay i will really need to just relax and write the essay as long as it takes.

My Final Project...

My biggest difficulties with my final essay project are trying to combine two of the three questions, while also trying to organize my ideas. I feel another problem for might be the whole "research & siting" aspect. I kno what I want to talk about and I hav the right idea of where I wanna go with the paper, bt for summ reason wen I go to put the ideas on paper the never come out in the fashion tht I would like then to. Then I always forget about siting my words, & also nt using more "opinion" in the paper than fact. For example if I go off common sense tht I may kno bt it may nt be tht common to everyone else, I normally would nt thnk of siting the source tht it came frm bcuz it is nt somethng tht I kno where to find, I jus kno the facts. So instead of rolling with the flow I hav to look it up. Combinging the questions is also vry hard bcuz I kno hw i want the state the new found question, bt again it never sound right wen I read it out loud to myself off of my paper.

Essay Difficulties

I am really confused about making the argument. I am on both sides for this argument so i dont really know what side to pick. I have positive and negative things to say about both sides of the argument. So as a result i am at a standstill as to what i am supposed to do. Another thing that i am puzzled by is the way we are supposed to connect the modalities to the argument topic. I can give you facts telling you why books are obsolete, but i really am confused as to how we are supposed to squeeze the modalities in there. I think that some more reasearch needs to be done in my part, so maybe while doing that the answer to all my questions will arise.

problems with the final essay

So far, I would have to say that the biggest challenge to writing our final essay is finding credible sources to cite with information to support my thesis statement. Only because credible information on the internet can be hard to find at times if you don't know where to look. However, it may be easier because of the question I chose to do. The other obstacle is probably going to have to be making my argument understandable. I know what I want to say in my head but might have difficulty writing it down. Other than that, writing the paper shouldn't be that hard. Knowing my writing style the only other hard part will be in writing in the required amount of pages.

In-Class Blog

I chose to do a traditional paper, so I really don't think there are many obstacles with my final essay. I think the hardest part is always picking a side and then giving valid reasons to why you are right. We have already done that. The brief synopsis was the hardest part. It took a while to think of good points that contributed to the side I choose. All I have to do now is take those points and create a well written thesis statement. After that the paper starts coming along. You take each point and start elaborating. That elaboration creates the body of your paper. After that all you have to write is the conclusion. Overall the most difficult thing to do is to pick a side and give good reasons as to why your side is correct. After you have that done, the rest of the paper is really simple. I think the brainstorming and outlining are the hardest parts of writing essays.

Final Project

I think that the biggest difficulty with my final essay is getting started. I know that as a professor that is probably the last thing you want to hear but actually sitting down to write the paper is going to be the hardest thing. I already know what I am going to say but to actually sit down and write it is going to be the hard part. Getting all my information was kind of easy. I knew the authors that I will pull from and I always have ideas like this in my head anyway. I have been organizing it in my head for a bout the past week but when I actually make the effort to write it down is anybodies guess.

Final Essay Obstacles

Some obstacles that I think I will encounter will be how to argue my point clearly and effectively. It seems like I know how I feel and what I want to say, but I do not know how to exactly get that across. I want a neutral person to feel more like I do on this topic after they hear my audio essay. I feel that the multimodal cultural pheneomenon is a negative thing because it is eliminating face to face interaction, ultimately effecting reality. I want to expand my ideas and thoughts thoroughly through my audio essay.

final essay

I think one of the major difficulties with the final essay paper was really thinking about what exactly i wanted to write about. With so much already on the subject matter I wanted to go down a road that hasn't really been visited, especially when it comes to some of the newer technology. After that it'll be hard exactly how i want my argument to go and what I'll be narrowing my choices or material down to. I think wording will be a slight challenge because in order for an argument to be clear you need to have your words flow smoothly and avoid the wordiness factor and off tangent topics.

Difficulties of Final Essay

Personally, I feel like I only have 2 real difficulties with my final essay. One of those being the actual research involved. I think it's going to be harder than I think to actually find valid sources that have solid information that can relate to my final essay. The other difficulty, is going to be not rushing with this paper. It's the last paper of the semester for me, so I know I'm going to want to rush through it and get it over with. This obviously would not make my paper as solid as I would like it to be, or could be.

Final essay

I haven't really found too many obstacles dealing with the final essay. It may be difficult to write three to four pages on technology because you can only say so much. I think that trying to support my argument might have its difficulties. Sometimes it's hard to prove something when you may not have a lot of facts on it. I never liked having to cite a paper so that could be an obstacle. But there are plenty of sources to help me do that. So all in all, I think this project should be pretty enjoyable and uncomplicated to write.

Final Essay Obstacles.

With these kind of argumentative toned essays, your going to run into some road blocks along the way. The most obvious is proving your right, while simultaneously making sure you support why I believe the opposition is wrong. Your never going to be able to be 100% right in most cases. Thats why there are two sides to every story. With my topic choice I specifically have to worry about why something is going to happen- even though it hasn't happened yet. How do I convince an audience that I'm right in my findings, even though it isn't completely true? (yet, that is) Its a hard thing to disprove something entirely, but if I support my thesis with facts and explain why things will be the way they will be, I think I'll do just fine. In fact, I'm supporting my topic right now by writing this blog. Looks like I've got one foot in the door already, coach.

I think this episode of the simpsons is making fun of how people are more preoccupied with cool things rather then cool people. It is basically saying it's not the person that we're really looking at, but instead what they do, and if what they do is considered to be cool then they themselves are cool as well. The episode shows how Homer is considered to be uncool based on his age alone. I thought it was kind of funny to see how listening to classic rock in the 90s was uncool as opposed to now where if you buy a led zeppelin t-shirt from kohls everybody thinks your a bad ass (classic rock shirts from the same place my nana shops is the coolest! ) Anyway, getting back to the point, the episode is more focused on cool things and exaggerates the fact that we are so centered around them.

Whats cool?

I think that this episode is based on things being cool, not people being cool. Homer even said in the begining of the episode that he has not changed, yet he is no longer cool because whats cool has changed. I think this is probably how it is for everyone. I think when we get to be in our 40's and 50's, we probably aren't going to seem like were cool to our kids. I believe that when people are trying to be "cool" theyre just conforming to whatever the media portrays as "cool". This episode relates directly to Malcom Gladwells quote because he is talking about how people have to change to be cool so its actually impossble to be cool because youre really not being yourself.

Simpsons and cool

I think that the episode is more concerned with cool things. Most of the old time bands were uncool in the episode, but really their music is pretty good and I would consider them cool. But in that era, they were uncool. Then the bands that were considered cool aren't anymore. Homer was trying to be cool but he wasn't ever a cool person. People change throughout life but usually reamin cool or not, but things grow in and out of cool all the time. So if you were never a cool person, your chances of becoming cool are slim. If something is not cool, the chances of it becoming cool are a lot higher.

Simpson's Kool

I feel tht the Simpsons episode is concerned with both. They target kool people doing cool things. Wen they discovered Homer was able to take cannon balls to the chest he was looked at as suddenly being kool bcuz he could do summthng kool. Also when tht one guy Frank (summthng) was on stage perofrming, the teens inthe audience thought is was kool bcuz he make his guitar "talk" bt as soon as the technolog stopped working he was seen as all tht gretat. So in conclusion wt I feel the Simpsons r getting at is, is relays on bth elements... kool thngs and kool people

simpsons

i think the episode is concerned more with cool things. it was trying to show how many people think certain things are cool and certain things are not. Like for instance the music homer listen to and the things he did wasnt cool so he started to think about things he could do to make him cool to people. he soon started shooting himself with a cannon ball thinking people will like that and they did. people started thinking he was cool because of what he was doing. in my opinion cool can be anything as long as you like it and it makes you happy then that is whats cool to you.

Simpsons

Malcolm is saying that it is impossible to be cool unless you already are good. And if you have to show somebody why something is cool, it's no longer cool. So it's really very confusing. Just like how the Simpson's episode ended. Homer and Marge tried everything to be cool, but their kids weren't buying it. I think the episode was more concerned with cool things. If it were to do with cool people that Homer would have been cool from the beginning, but he wasn't. The things that he did made him cool. I also got from the episode that being a freak meant that you were cool. It's really very confusing. I think it's all about perspective. Different people think different things are cool. And you can't really make someone think something is cool.

Uncool

I feel like the episode was more concerned with being cool by doing cool things, not exaclty by being cool yourself. Homer was only cool because of what he was doing, not by actually being himself. He wanted to relieve the feeling he had when he was younger and he believed he was cool, leading him down this path that led him to do and perform the actions that he performed. He did it so he would be seen nas being cool in the eyes of his kids and in the end still didn't receive his wish. The question is that if everyone knows whose cool and whose not, how do we become cool and if it takes more work being cool, do we want to be cool?

Simpsons on 'Cool'

From watching a classic Simpsons episode, I saw the idea of cool more evolve around both cool things and people.

With things like music, dares (like Homer and the cannonball shots), and all these other abstract ideas that show something new, different, out of trend... it makes the idea of cool evolved around those things.

In this case with the episode, Homer was cool when he took up the job. He found it different, and a new way for him to gain his reputation of coolness back to him that he had long ago as a teenager. In this situation, Homer is the more focused idea that’s cool... but the job he had (plus the cannon and cannonball themselves), are THINGS that are cool as well.

So, to me, in reflection, both things and people are marked upon as cool. ... Or wait, perhaps not lol (last moment turn). It's the people that help motivate the things that appear to be cool, but without those things, those people can't become cool in the first place.

... In ways of looking at it, this episode (and life in general) shows that Homer (the person) was cool, but only because he took up the risk of his new job, taking cannonballs to the gut (the thing). It’s because of the two contributing factors does ‘cool’ get noticed more better.

Cool?

I think the connection between what Gladwell said and the Simpsons episode is that they both declare that cool is something in the person not something that you wear or something that you say. It was sort of funny because no matter what Homer did he was never really cool because cool is just something that you are. I think that the episode really showed that cool is something that is relative. It showed bands that used to be cool in the 70's and bands that were cool in the 90's and how perspectives can really change over the years. The grand funk railroad references were probably the funniest thing about the entire episode. I can not think of a more terrible band than grand funk railroad. I also thought that the Peter Frampton jokes were rather funny.

TheSimpsons

I think the Simpson's episode we watched shows that "cool" is associated with the person. For instance, in the beginning when Homer was driving all the kids to school- they thought the classic rock Homer was listening to was uncool. They never actually listened to the music to give it a chance. They simply thought it was uncool because Homer liked it. Homer is a middle aged man so who would think his taste would be any good? However, when Homer started taking cannonballs to the stomach he became cool. I think there are 2 sides to coming off as being a cool person. The audience watching Homer taking the cannonball to the stomach didnt think Homer was cool, he thought what he wsa DOING was cool. So ultimately, i think it comes back to cool THINGS not cool people.

cool

If you are cool you could do something that isn't uncool and it would make you not cool anymore. Like when homer backed away from the cannon he was no longer cool because what he was doing was cool and he wasn't the cool one. His son thought he was so cool and then when he watched his dad back out he no longer thought he was cool. Something could make you cool or it could make you uncool. If a good singer really wasn't good in person that could make him not cool because you thought he was a really good singer. That goes with that gladwell is trying to say. Homer was no longer cool to his kids after what he did.

The Simpsons on being cool

Gladwell's assertion is saying if you try hard to be cool, but you're not already seen as cool, it probably won't happen for you. The episode had a flashback of Homer in high school, and he wasn't cool back then either. He was never seen as cool except for by Bart because he thought the fact that Homer was taking cannon balls to the stomach was cool. A lot the episode, too, was about what's cool to your parents usually isn't cool to the youth anymore. What's cool back in the day isn't cool now. Trends come and go, but can be recycled, though. I know a lot of people who listen to Smashing Pumpkins.

So how do you know your cool?

This simpons episode draws almost directly from Mr. Gladwell's quote. Homer finds himself at a crossroads with his coolness. If he was cool back in his time, how did he become uncool with this generation? Does coolness just fade with age, or does what you listen to and wear define your level of hipness? Homer keeps asking his kids if he is cool and they emphatically respond "No!" But to their standards, not conforming is cool, so wouldn't that make homer cool as well? The true definition of coolness can't be defined by anyone but themselves, because they in fact are making up the definition of what it is to be cool. So in a broader sense, everyone is cool, and everyone isn't cool all at the same time. Ah, what a glorious thing it is to be cool!

UNcool vs cool

i think the Simpson's episode is more concerned with cool people instead of things, simply saying they have all the bands during the musical concert and then they go on dealing with cool freaks doing cool things. Personally the idea of cool is something that's more of a general perception. If you think your cool chances are your probably not. Being cool is probably more about how you are in your surroundings and how people are reacting to you in a situation. To me if your a cool person then people are generally more inclined to want to talk to you or be around you. Uncool people are not necessarily shunned like they were in the Simpson episode they just have a tendency to not have a lot of friends or do a lot of social things.

The Simpson's

I think it is a little bit of both. Just like we discussed in class on Wednesday. It's not the people who are cool, it is the things they do that make them cool. Furthermore, just as Gladwell wrote, and how I thought of it is that only cool people can do cool things, wear cool clothes, and so on. That is why Homer and his wife could not be cool at the end of the episode, they were only cool when they did cool things. Just the same, the idea of cool things is kind of moot because styles and views change so rapidly, by the time something is cool, it is uncool.

Another thought though is that the average person is the coolhunter. Only because Homer was cool when everyone thought he was cool. Yes, what he did i guess helped make him cool, but in the same token, it wasn't what he did that made him cool. It was all the people who thought it was cool that made it cool.

In-class group blog on coolhunting

Well done. Good work by everyone.

Selling cool

I agree pretty much all the way with the "Selling cool" article. There are a lot of things in the world that really are cool, then there are things that people make cool but are really stupid. Usually something becomes cool when a cool person starts using it. I think a good example would be shutter shades. In my opinion, those were the dumbest invention ever! Not only are they ugly, but they're dangerous. I think they make people look like complete idiots and you can't even see out of them. They work well to keep the sun out of your eyes because it's basically like putting a piece of solid plastic on your face. But they became popular for a short time because you would see stars like Kanye West or Brooke Hogan wearing them. So the trend took off. But you don't see too many unpopular or uncool people starting trends because they usually are automatically listed as uncool. Even though some of those people may actually have something that really is cool.

katie alex and joe part 2

The second rule is that cool can not be manufactured only observed.

katie alex and joe, it's not easy being cool.

1.The paradox of being cool is closer you get to the cutting edge the further away it becomes. It shows how quickly "cool" can change.
2.Gladwell means when he says that they were the Lewis and Clark of being cool that basically they were looking for the meaning of being cool, they were the first people to find it. Yes, it's a nice analogy.
3. The first rule is the quicker the chase, the quicker the flight. The third rule is that you have to be one to know one.

The Coolhunt

1. The paradox is that the better cool hunters become at bringing the mainstream close to the cutting edge, the more elusive the cutting edge becomes.

2. Referring to DeeDee and Baysie as the Lewis and Clark of cool refers to them discovering what the next cool thing is. We would agree because just like Lewis and Clark discovered new land, DeeDee and Baysie discovered their definition of "cool".

3.Rules:

a)The quicker the chase the quicker the fight. Meaning the faster that trend is launched, the more popular it will be.

b)Cool cannot be manufacture, only observed. You cannot create cool, you can only discover it.

c) It can only be observed by those who themselves are cool

ABBY AND BRAD

The Coolhunt

1. The paradox is that, "the better the coolhunters become at bringing the mainstream to the cutting edge, the more elusive the cutting edge becomes."

2. He means that they are like "founders" or that they are the "definers" of what is cool and what is not cool. We agree.

3. Rule 1 - The faster something is seen as "cool" the faster it spreads and becomes popular.

Rule 2 - "Cool" can't be made in a factory or warehouse, "Cool" is how people see or think about a certain object or idea.

Rule 3 - The person with the "cool" style is the one who recognizes "cool" when he/she sees it and others notice that.

Cameron, Rachel, Laumara

CoolHunting !

The paradox of coolhunting is that once something becomes so popular, no one wants in anymore and it moves on to something else. Because that item has been popular for so long it eventually becomes boring. People want something new and refreshing instead of what everyone else is wearing/doing. Baysie, Dee Dee, and other coolhunters are like the Lewis and Clark of cool because they are taking a chance on products they think will become a big hit. Lewis and Clark took a big chance going into uncharted territory- and they ended up finding valuable property. Coolhunters are never sure if what they have found will become popular- its a 50/50 chance.
The 3 Rules of Cool:
1) You can't make something cool over night, it takes time for people to think something is cool
2) Cool things can't be manufactured, what the majority of people wear is what people observe as cool.
3) You have to be aware and in the loop of cool, to know what is counted as cool.
-- Sami & Alexis !

The Coolhunt

1. That the better coolhunters become at bringing the mainstream close to the cutting edge, the more elusive the cutting edge becomes.

2. Lewis and Clark were a part of the first overland expedition undertaken by the United States to the Pacific coast and back. They discovered it, or the found it.

3. Three Rules of Cool

1. The quicker the chase the quicker the flight. So the faster you discover cool the better it is and the more popular it becomes. It has a life of its own. It's very ordinary.

2. Cool cannot be manufactured, only observed. You cannot create cool, you can only discover it.

3. It can only be observed by those who themselves are cool.

"The coolhunt" Class assignment

The paradox of being a coolhunter is "the better they become @ bringing the mainstream close to the cutting edge, the more elusive the cutting edge becomes." This paradox is significant bcuz we feel tht is closer people come to discovering what "cool" is, it changes so rapidly no one every really gets it.

Gladwell mean tht all these people are out to explore a "marked" territory. The explore the lengths of 'cool" and are vry good at it. We agree with this statement bcuz they are out to find new things and bring things to people attentions tht they may nt hav ever thought of or tht they would never thnk to "look for"

Rule #1: "the quicker the chase the quicker the flight"

-meaning once the thnk they found wat "cool" is it takes off into a whoel new era of meaing

Rule #2 & #3: "cool cannot be manufactured , only observed" & "cool can only be observed by those who are themselves cool".

- something can onlii be seen as "cool" if the person/ persons carrying out the look are presented tht way. & second yu cant buy kool straight out of a store, "cool is wat u make it"

Allison Bishop

Patrick Katusin

Autumn Ware

What cool is

I think there are two main definition's of cool that we throw around. Some people call something cool because a lot of people like it, and it's popular. It's like back in middle school, we would call the popular kids the cool kids sometimes even though we may not have liked them. I tend to favor calling something "cool" because of the simple fact that I like it and think it's awesome.

Sometimes, different trends start because just one person thought something was cool. Like when do we decide when a style of clothes is cool again? Someone thinks a certain trend from the past is cool, and then they advertise it, and other people like it too. So I do like when they use the term "coolhunters".

Cool?!

The term cool can be perceived so differently according to the culture. I think social norms have a lot do with being cool. I think if most people are doing something, positive or not, it is thought of as cool. For example smoking is seen as a cool thing to do. A group of friends make an outing out of smoking. I do not smoke, so when I tell people that they call me a good girl. Also with alll these young girls having babies. Its insane. It is not that hard to prevent pregnancy. It seems as if it is the thing to do.

Media has a lot to do with promoting what is to be thought of as cool. Such as music. Music has a lot of things in it that people will follow. Not all music is negative, but it is a nice amount of it that is. If a rapper or singer is doing something, then it is quickly imitated. Advertisement such as commercials too. They tell you what is the best to eat, buy, or wear. If you have these then you are seen as cool.

Cool

The word "cool" can be interpreted in so many different ways. Some people think that it is super cool to be in a frat with all your other cool friends, but to me being cool is the same thing as being unique. I think that people with unique features and characteristics are cool. Some people like that frat guys and sorority girls try way to hard to be awesome in every way. They wear the clothes that are in trend and drive nice cars just to try and look cool. The thing i have against them is they all look and act the exact same. Like no offense to the people in the class that belong to a frat or sorority, but how can you be friends with someone that is just like you its just weird in my opinion. The people that are cool to me don't try to impress people with their clothes or cars. They are unique in their own little way. They don't try to be cool they just are cool, their personalities are just so cool to me. I try to meet a lot of different people with different styles and characteristics, because that is what i believe to be cool and upbeat.

Cool

The word cool can mean so many different things to so many different people. The word itself is very broad and can be used in many different ways. It has literal meanings but we use it as slang. A lot of stereotypes come with the word. In elementary and middle school it was cool to sit in the back of the bus! In High School it was cool to be a football player or a cheerleader. The one reference to the word cool that I never understood was to drugs. It's cool to smoke or do drugs. That never made any sense, and it still doesn't. Everybody wants to be cool. The advertising world uses that to their advantage. They show super attractive people wearing their clothes or buying their products. Then the people you consider cool start doing those things so you want to do it. It's really funny. All the popular kids wore a certain brand in High School and everybody tried following and doing the same thing. Abercrombie and Fitch used to be really popular in High School. I even owned a bunch of A&F clothes. Just because all the cool kids are doing it you want to do it too. It's human nature. And advertising companies use it to their advantage! But sometimes other people's cool isn't cool to you. Like some fashion statements that are considered cool don't make much sense to me. I already talked about the drug thing. And when it comes to relationships and guys. Some guys think it's cool to have multiple girls and keep them all in the dark. Same goes for girls. But I don't think those things are cool. It's kind of pathetic.

Selling Kool...

When I thnk of kool I usually thnk of styles and trends I like and wat best fits mii. I dnt alway like to buys wats "in" nw adays bcuz I feel it takes away frm my personal style. The piece tht I read called "selling cool" didnt cover these aspects. I feel tht onlii saw cool through the eyes of wat is most common. When they talk about hw Reebok & Nike only came with my shoes every 18 months, to mii tht a since of being unique and "cool". This way nt everyone is guaranteed to be seen in the same thngs at the same time. For examlpe If I missed the selling of the new trendy shoes last year, I dnt hav to wrry about buying it bcuz I can jus by the new one nxt year. I also feel tht was a good way of keeping peoples interst in tht brand. I agree wit the author wen he says tht if he were to write an encyclopedia of all the knowledge of "coolhunters" [such as DeeDee & Baysie] it would be virtual unreadable bcuz of the footnotes. This would happen bcuz he would hav to explain where tht was considered to b kool, why it was kool, && also wat people who engaged in tht type of fashion tht thought kool was.

When I think of the term cool I don’t really have a specific image that comes to mind. I start to think of people that think they’re cool and then what I sort of consider to be cool. In my mind, what is actually cool is not trying so hard to be “cool.” No offense to the self tanning dudes in wife beaters or the girls who wear sun glasses bigger then their face, but that’s just not what i consider to be cool. I try not to judge based on “the books cover” but sometimes it’s inevitable. I just find myself being attracted to people who don’t try so hard or care so much. My closest guy friends have been wearing the same t-shirts since 8th grade and most likely can’t remember the last time they got their hair cut. But it’s cool to me because they’re hilarious and aren’t that concerned with what people think about them. But then again some of the people I’ve come across who seem like they would be the biggest idiots have become people I’m actually really close to. It all goes back to the saying we’ve heard a billion times, don’t judge a book by its cover. You just have to do what feels right to you, and in the end someone is going to think you’re cool, and those are the kind of people you should surround yourself with.

WhatsCool?

I think the term “cool” is different to everyone. For instance, I think boys wearing tight girl pants is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. However, to the boys in the girls pants they think they’re COOL. What is cool to me is completely different than other people. The first portion of the article was talking about Converse shoes. Gladwell was talking about people jumping on the bandwagon with Converses. That was in the 90’s. (I’m assuming?) I think now-days fashion isn’t all about what everyone else has. Today’s styles are very diverse and I think that’s what people want. People now want to be different and stand out of the crowd. In the 90’s Converse shoes were really popular but I think in present day “anything goes.” I have also noticed most of the fashion trends in present day are old trends simply coming back. For instance, leggings as pants (the 80’s), babydoll shirts and floral prints (the 70’s) and over-sized glasses from I don’t even know what decade. Since there is no overly popular mainstream culture trend people are just dressing however they want. Whatever someone thinks looks good or looks “cool” is what they will go with.

selling cool

The word cool can mean all sorts of different things for different people. some people think that it is cool when they are bad and dont follow the rules. Other people think its cool when they help people out or become successful. I think cool is just a word used to describe something you like yourself. Like when i see something i like i will say oh thats cool. Anything could be cool it jsut depends who you are and how you see things. I have never really thought about the word cool but i use it in alot of different ways. Like when i describe something and then there is how i descibe someone.

selling cool

i was interested when i read the intro paragraph to 'selling cool' because it was asking questions about whats cool and how does something become cool and why its that way and i started thinking about the things i think are cool and why..i found that most things i find are cool is because of the person who does it...not specifically the thing. and thats what was mainly discussed throughout the passage. (pg 630) baysie says...'i can see a coat on one of my friends and think its not cool but then see the same coat on DeeDee and think that it is cool.' thats like with me i can see an outfit and not like it on myself but like it on one of my other friends. i think its all about someones personal style and who can and cannot pull certain things off.
(pg 630) 'it is not possible to be cool, in other words, unless you are-in some larger sense-already cool...' is just the same as when people say 'sex sales', which it does, but how could you sell sex if you dont know how to be sexy?...not look sexy like the people you find 'beautiful' but be sexy as yuorself, you cant be something your not. thats just it. (pg 630) 'youve got these kids who dress ultra funky and have their own style, then you realize their just running after their friends'.

Selling Cool

When reading this article i became very fasicnated by it. in my opinion i think many people in society today now think that doing bad things is "cool". for instance like smoking not doing good in school or just trying to be bad in general. that is not cool at all . That is very ignoranant. Most of this i think comes from what people see in the media now days. Whats cool is having good grades being respectful and being successful. from a person that has changed i can tell you that doing wrong things isnt cool at all. when being youger i use to be sort of disrespectful and just a non caring person. i had friends that told me they love the way i look at things because i just didnt care about anything. Soon i saw that that way of living and acting wasnt going to get me anywhere in life. i quickly change my attitude towards my grades and also started being respectful to everyone and from that i ended up in college with a full ride. i started by distancing myself from my bad friends to focus on me a better life and now i like the way things have turned out. many people get the wrong idea of whats being cool and who is to say that whatever you doing is cool anyway? to me if your doing something positive and effective to the community then that is the definition of being cool.

"Selling Cool"

When I read the first article talking about the shoe companies... I gotta say, I'm not interested with the trend of shoes types. To me, shoes are shoes; they're there for the convenience of needing a pair to run around in.

The overall view on the article, it tells me that no one can say what is cool, and what isn’t. To me, I believe that everyone’s personality and interests represent to them what is cool, and what isn’t. I can’t convince everyone to love my favorite music, can I? Of course not!! Everyone’s different. 

For example: one of my friends loves modern/’Beatles’ rock, while I’m more into metal. That’s more of his loving for (which can be another way to look at ‘cool’), and that’s what I’m into as well. He’s got his interests in cool, and so do I. 

Even if someone’s popular in some way, they can’t convince me 100% what is cool to me… but it doesn’t mean I WOULDN’T like it, and perhaps love it myself : )

Which brings up the next article with Rocky and the hoodies. I wasn’t influenced to loving to wear hoodies because of him. I love them because of the comfort, the style, and the use to becoming isolated from the world with them. But what the article shows me is that anything can represent something different to someone else, like a rapper or a jogger.

‘Cool’ is a word that only the person him/herself must figure out for themselves. If you what you wear is ‘cool’ to you, but no one else… who cares? Be a rogue; love what you love, and be your own type of ‘cool’ : )

Obama's Speech Edits

From my observations, I can see some of the reasons why Obama made the changes he did to his speech.

To me, the changes he made… we’re for numerous reasons: to open with a more warm welcome to the audience, bring in emotion and feeling into the piece, and to further progress some of the topics he brings up in his speech.

A good example I saw in his piece was the additional one at the end of the article (2^nd to last one). He originally talked about in his piece on“… some of measure of security and fair play that only government can ensure” (Obama). He then changed it to “… and an acknowledgment that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.”

The reason why he changed it was because the first one sounded like government was more of a grasp, unsure thing; if the government is the only thing that can bring security and fair play, I’d be scared out of my mind because it sounds more of a threat than something to be ‘ensured’ about.

With his new change, it sounds happier, more patriotic. “…to help deliver on that promise” gives me the warm, secured, sure feeling that the government will help our country.

Between the two, it’s a change in the interpretation of the mood within the statement. Obama did a good change with this revision.

Speech edits

Why did obama make the edits to his speech you ask? one simple answer to make it better obviously. honestly i dont know why he did it maybe he just didnt think of some of the things in the speech the first time he wrote it. i do that sometimes too, find a place where i add more onto in a paper or a speech of mine. But i just think Obama wasnt pleased in his writing when he was finished writting it the first time around and he decided to make it better. i feel as if he changed it to make it a more personable speech toward teddy. but i really dont know why he changed his speech, but honestly who writes something one time and doesnt change a single thing about what they wrote. I mean he is the president but he isnt some sort of writing machine. he's just like everyone else, just makin things better one sentence at a time.

Obama's Edits

I don't really know why he made the changes that he did. I guess he thought that it would put him on a more personal level with the audiance. When he says that "congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it". In this he is obviously talking to the people of america, giving them his point of view on the situation. Threwout all the edits you can tell that Obama is putting his opnion into the speech, but I am really not sure what he is trying to say. I don't really follow polotics or anything like that so I am not with the loop as they say. It seems to me that he is trying to get americans to see his point of view with these edits.

Obama Speech

I agree with the comments made. He changed the wording of those parts to make the speech more concrete. He gives names to be more specific and when he uses words like "we," to include that we are all in this together. Pretty much, those changes were good and used to give the feeling that he is talking to us rather than at us. He adds in about both republicans and democrats coming together to solve and issue. This was good because he gave emphasis and was more specific about what and who he was talking about. He adds in "I know," this was good because he was showing that he can see what is going on and hes not above us acting like he knows and just goes of random assumptions. Below in the singled out changes. It was better when it was revised. It gave the impression that the government isn't always interfering and they are letting things run their coarse but at times the government needs to step in when it truly believes something needs to change.

Obama

I believe that Obama was trying to reach out to the citizens of the United States and kind of show them that he knows what they grow. It showed a little sympathy and understanding for the every day, working American. I support the changes he made to the speech, I believe it would reach out too more people and more people would understand. He added more pronouns and active verbs which I think gives him more credibility. It would definitely make the sound of the speech more personable and easier to understand. He used examples and he was not biased. It's very positive which definitely reassures the government and the citizens of the U.S. I didn't really find anything negative changes to the speech, it is very easy to relate to. I am a strong believer in the healthcare act that he passed because I know many unfortunate people that can't afford healthcare and I think it's going to take the U.S.A in a more positive, caring direction even though many don't agree with that.

Obama's Edit

This is something I'm not too fond of and can not really get into. I really have no idea why he made some of these edits. I will take a shot at it though. I think in a way he was trying to make the speech more personal for everyone else, especially when he was talking about Teddy. One of his edits was "But those of us who knew Teddy". He is not just talking about himself, but about everyone who is there who did personally know Teddy. Then when he talks about the government stepping in to help deliver. He's making it seem like the government steps in only when it needs too and it always just "helps" but without the people, the government can not succeed when it steps in.

Obama's edits

I think that Obama edited the speech the way he did because it he wanted to bring out the point of the speech, social security and medicare. His editing in a way makes you feel like he has the same problems as everyday people, even though we all know he doesn't. He is trying to make it seem like the government has a very warm heart and wants to help out people as best as it can, even though it was pointed out at the end of the speech that the government only helps out when it HAS to, not when it should.

obama edit

sloan i think your gonna hate me for this because i really have no clue as to how to asner the question. i honestly dont knw why Obama made those edits. um for the parts that i could decipher and have sum type of understanding as to why he did it is to show what a 'government' is?. through these past years i feel many amercians have been fed up with the government and arent quite sure what its duties are anymore...its like at the end when Obama says and an acknowledgment that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise. ' i think hes trying to build on that and let Americans know that help is here & that it will keep its word and do what it says it will as long as the people hold up their side of the bar

The Big O

I feel like Obama changed and altered his speech to make it more understandable to us (the public). For example he replaced the word him with Teddy. By using something as simple as this we now know who exactly he is talking about at this point in case we had missed him mentioning it previously. There are lots of lines and (from what i can see) many additions as opposed to subtractions. I feel as if he did this to make sure that his point came across as being clear and valid. An example of this is that have you ever tried to tell a story but you had to describe the setting and the events that were occurring before you can get to the point of the story in the first place? This is exactly what Obama is doing and he is simply adding minor details that will make a major difference in the end. In my opinion he could have retyped it after he was done revising it (as he probably did) to make the paper seem more understandable as opposed to getting confused every time you see a line or bubble next to a paragraph, even if it doesn't apply to that specific paragraph.

Obama

the reasons of Obama's correctional errors is because i think he was trying to make the paper a more personal paper. i really didnt see to many reasons why he changed things. the reason of me thinking he tried to make it more personal because in the paper he stated In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away, there were those who argued that Social Security would lead to socialism, but the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it. basically i think he is trying to show that we the people didnt panic they stood there ground and it helped us as a nation. Also he stated in one paragraph that members of Congress -- Democrats and Republicans did not back down. They joined together so that all of us could enter our golden years with some basic peace of mind. this is saying how our elders to help us have what we have to today in the world. this paper is a personal paper to everyone. that's basically what i got out of the paper.

Obama's Speech

I think Obama edited his speech like this because he is a person just like us, and for most of us, nothing we write is perfectly how we want it the first time. I think he changed the word "him" to "Teddy" made the speech more personal and that's what he wanted. I believe that he added the part talking about his friends because he wanted to make it clear that Teddy had relationships with politicians from both parties. I also think, when he talks about the year 1935, he adds the part about over a million senior citizens not being able to afford their needs and couldnt take care of theselves because it hits the listener harder than just talking about social security. I think he adds the words "I know that" before saying many people are skeptical of the government looking out for them, because he wants the public to know that he knows personally how they are feeling and that he's not oblivious to the problems Americans are facing.

Obama speach

In the speech Obama gave on the whole health care debate when you read the speech without any of the revisions it reads out a lot like a formality or something mechanical. Speeches at least on this level are meant to elicit reactions and pull on your emotional strings to get you to really think about the issues. Obamas changes did that to the speech, especially when he was talking about Teddy's compulsion to really feel what it is to have a sick child and be the parent of that child. When he changed "Teddy's ability" to "he was able" it takes Teddy off the high chair and makes him more a person, not some superior ability to just understand what it must be like, but rather KNOW what it's like because he's able to get down to that level. It makes it more human. Some big edits that really brought together the whole speech was in the 3rd paragraph where he makes changes to make people understand that while it may seem like a socialistic takeover, these "things" have happened before and list in a comparative way how when both parties can combine thoughts and feelings and fight for the people that nothing but good things can result. I think one last important update that made the speech more powerful and less mechanical. Was where he changed the government can only ensure your security and fair play. To The government can help ensure the promises delivered was really important because as it stood before the edit it made the government seem like this god like figure standing before everybody, and only IT could ensure your happiness and longevity.

Obama's Speech

I feel tht Obama changed the way the speech was written to make it more persona and more "simplistic" to the hear. Alot of speeches in politics tends to include extra lengthy words and also use a certain language nt most understand. Bt by adding different words Such as using Teddy's name instead of saying "him" or "he", Its gives a better feel of who is being refered to, therefore making the listening a bit easier. I also feel he might hav cjaged the speech simply becuase Obama might hav noticed some common grmatical and essay type errors people normally make wen writing a lengthy speech. It is very common to miss things wen yu are the onlii one who reads & edits a paper tht yu urself hav written. A third reson as to way he my hav changed to speech is maybe he knew more up to date in formation the the topic at hand, and he felt tht those important facts should e added in. such as the second part of the first paragraph written in blue.

A Mr. Obama

I found the revisions in Mr. Obama's speech to be rather interesting. The original version has a more cold feel to it. After you read it you feel less included and more alienated. I think in the second version there is more of a sense of inclusion that one would not find in the first version of his speech. It was probably for the better that he included some of the words that he did. In reading the first version I get the feeling that Mr. Obama is in favor of bigger government. That feeling is a little less in the second version of of the speech. I think that was an important move to make because you want to please both sides of the isle as best you can and he achieved that better than he would have if he went with the first version of the speech. Overall I think that his revision was definitely for the best.

Obama..In Class

I think Obama made changes obviously because there were things he didnt like about it. I think the changes he made supports a different path than what we are used to. He thinks it is time for a change among the American people. He is tired of seeing the old and sick suffer and he thinks it is time that the government intervenes. He thinks that even though the Democrats and Republicans have their differences, they need to put them aside and work in favor of this healthcare plan. To accept it rather than neglect it. Also the governement should step in when the help is needed. In my opinion he basically was saying that the country should work together for a positive cause.

Obama's speech edit

President Obama made a lot of subtle changes to be more direct with specific audiences. When you use more casual dialect, it hits home with certain groups of people. A good portion of his edit is supporting facts with smaller facts, making them sound more like stories then just random truth's. He wants to try to sound like he is speaking to America personally, so he edits words and sentences to set a calm, genuine tone. In this sentence he inserts an edit that changes the whole dynamic of the message- "In 1935, when over half of our seniors could not support themselves and millions had seen their savings wiped away[further edited before delivery], there were those who argued that Social Security would lead to socialism, but the men and women of Congress stood fast, and we are all the better for it.." This is a prime example of how he interjected a sentence to include a specific group of people, and how the government responded to them in their time of need. Other than that, I'm not too sure why he made some of the edits he did. I'll trust that he made the proper corrections for a reason- he is the President, right?

Obama's Speech Edits

Looking through Obama's speech there were tons of things he edited and tweaked to make the speech how he wanted it. I noticed that he changed several words to "us" and "we". I think he did that to make his speech seem like the united states is a whole and we all need to make the changes together. He specifically put "Teddy" instead of just "he" to make it clear whom he was talking about. He made his speech more active after he edited it. By speaking in an active tense he comes off like he's trying to get everyone involved. He says "we" a lot also, showing he can't do everything by himself. He mentions joining together and being an American. He edited things like the security of our government. He wanted to make a point that we can rely on our government to help us as American Citizens. But again, the government can't do it alone and they need our support.

First of all I think Obama made the changes he did because he understands the importance of revision. He knows that in order to make something truly great you need to go over it and make it the best you can. I think when going over the speech he decided to go in a slightly different direction which inspired the changes he made. I think going in the direction of stating important names throughout the speech was a good choice and overall helped make the speech more effective. If he didn't revise it the speech might not have been as good which is weird to think small changes can make that much of a difference. I believe the revisions Obama mad were a good choice and most likely helped the delivery and effect of his speech.

Speech

Obama changed somethings to add more detail and so that people knew what he was talking about. Instead of he, he put the name teddy in place. He thought that doing it this way would make more sense. Changing the words did make more sense and was easier to understand and read. He also added things to the speech not much just a little at the end of a paragraph every now and then. He wanted to add more to the sentence to put detail so everyone knew what the speech was talking about. He also added a few sentences here and there to add detail. Like he added details about his friends that knew stuff about him and wrote that it was basically true about him that he knew what actually drove him and that it was true there was something more.

Obama's Speech Editing

I think the reason why Obama made all those edits was to make his speech more relative and listener-friendly to the American people. He used pronouns, and even nicknames, so that it didn't sound so business-like. He also wanted to include everyone so he used the word "we" for unity. His approach for reeling the public into his speech was endearing, instead of stern. He also added a lot to further clarify or define what he said. He really wanted everyone to understand what he meant by what he was saying.

Every good speech should be revised multiple times. He wanted to be thoughtful, and he wanted to be effective.

newspapers

In my opinion twitter is great and very fun to have but the newspaper is something that would never leave or get old. nothing can compare to a daily newspaper. even though the newspaper is not something new it still gives you a chance to know whats going on around you and in your community. Also its not going anywhere because many people have been reading newspapers for so long that it is now a habit that many can not break. The society today is use to waking up eating breakfast while looking at the newspaper. if anything i think twitter will get old before the newspaper do. the reason of this is because twitter is one of those things that people is doing now. probably in a couple of months something new will come out and twitter will soon get old to a lot of people. if the newspaper would stop running in the u.s. then i think there would be a big talk about it and a lot of the citizens wouldn't be to happy. We need the newspaper! mornings wouldnt be the same without it to many people.

Newspapers vs Twitter/ Conspiracy

At least in my observations, our generation doesn't have a large population that reads the newspaper or even watches the news. My dad reads the paper every day, and he drops everything he's doing to watch the 11 o'clock evening news. I feel like our parents' generation is one of the last newspaper-reading generations. I, on the other hand will watch the news just sometimes, and read the headlines on yahoo, and that's my daily dosage of news. I doubt I'll get a daily newspaper delivered to my house when I am a full-fledged adult.

I hope Twitter, and things of the like, do not become the main source of news for us. I think that Twitter should suppliment or compliment the news media, not take it over. I'm not too worried..I think newspapers will stick around.


As for the conspiracy article, I think to a certain point we should all open our eyes and learn all the facts we can about the world and the way our government is run. You know, just don't be naive. But some conspiracy theorists go way to far, are paranoid, and they really do have "dark minds". They've always got someone to blame.

I like this quote:
"Grandiosity is often a defense against underlying feelings of powerlessness."

Newspapers aren't going anywhere.

After reading the article, I would have to disagree with the statement that newspapers will eventually disappear. I don't think people will ever grow tired of walking to the end of their driveways and picking up the sunday paper for their news. Its almost become a ritual. Get the paper, brew the coffee, then catch up on the local news over a muffin. The local news provides us with local stories, told by local people making it special to the people of that area. Sure, twitter can tell us what is happening this very second in the world, but there is something special about reading news from a paper. Its not as sudden; you have time to let the news soak in. Its not forced down our throats, much like facebook and twitter so often do.

In the big picture, there is just too much business behind current journalism to just let go of the newspaper. Reporters, writers, printers- they are all an important part of our local news chain. These jobs and people won't just disappear.

Eye-less computer design

All the groups did a really great job with this. Some of you really pushed the limits of human thought and interaction, and many of your proposed ideas were quite unexpected/interesting. Actually, some of those ideas are downright creepy.

Overall, though...nice job.

I personally disagree with Anderson’s thoughts that newspapers with eventually disappear. I thought about it and absolutely everybody would have to be “connected” somehow, which just isn’t the case for a good chunk of people today. You also have to think of other generations. I know if it wasn’t for newspapers my nana probably wouldn’t know we have a black president. I guess if you look into the future it may be possible but it would have to be far into the future. I don’t believe that it will happen anytime soon. Bringing up other generations again I think that people in the 40s plus category would think it was ridiculous to even propose that newspapers would become obsolete. To sum it up I think newspapers and any form of solid printed news is here to stay for quite awhile, and personally I think that’s how it should be.

NewsPapers

I would have to disagree with Anderson and say that I do not think newspapers will stop being printed. I realize that everyone gets the news online, on their cell phone or whatever apple product they have. However, I still feel like people enjoy reading the newspaper. The newspaper is a way for the community to know what is going on around them. For example, The Kent Stater- I don’t go online to the Kent Stater website to read what’s going on. I think that just picking up a hard copy of it is better. Maybe in the future newspapers won’t be as common. If they did become obsolete I guess people would have to be forced to keep up with technology. But I can not picture my dad or my grandpa going online just to read what’s going on in the world. I think printed copies of things will also stay around for the fact not everyone has a computer let alone turn one on. It is convienent for some to go online and check their news though. I can see both aspects of how newspapers COULD disappear. I just don’t think they will anytime soon. Maybe in a few generations as kids are becoming accustom to technology since like infancy or something? I could see that happening since all this technology is growing so rapidly.

Who needs newspapers when you have twitter

I think that Chris Anderson presents a very good point. There really is no need for newspapers or magazines anymore. In my opinion, the internet and computers will ultimately take over just about everything we can produce on paper. Right now the only problem is that not everyone likes this idea. But by the time that we figure out how to replace everything with online sites, then the people who disagreed in the first place, will be gone and everyone will be up to date with the latest technology. Unfortunately though, all of the print companies will in turn be shut down. There will be no need for paper such as newspapers or even school work. Most everything will be replaced by computers.

blind computer setup..

bree && calvin
braille keypad braille letters for each of the aphabet letters, single buttons for main functions such as gettin the internet, searching the internet, (there would be a braille button but with a symbol 'e' instead of the word, big e equals internet, little e is enter)
there would be a main button for logging off on the keypay
theres a sound for every function of the cp
there pretty much will be a single button for every application on the cp w/subset buttons to control tht program...the amt of buttons on the keypad would be customly be made for each person so their cp size would vary.

katie Alex and Joe Where the hell did all of our eyeballs go??????

We would absolutely love to do this blog post, but at this time we find it more necessary to ask the question "where have all the eyeballs gone?" If the people would have been blind it would have been a different story, blindness we can deal with, but an absence of eyes is incomprehensible. Seriously what happened to everybody that caused all of their eyeballs to go away? And why would they need a computer if they didn't have eyeballs? Until we find out where the eyeballs have gone we are in no position to adequately construct a desktop.

Computer For The Blind

We would start off with making a keyboard in brail. Recently, certain computers have been made to take auditory commands from humans. If you were typing a paper, you could use the brail keyboard. If you wanted to use a verbal command you could say, Internet and then it would bring up the interenet. Next you would say Search and then say what you would like to search.
There would be no screen on this computer because no one has eyes. If you were typing a paper, when you were done, the computer would read everything you have typed, back to you and tell you what corrections would need to be made. There would be certain commands for every application on the computer. If you wanted to listen to music, you could push a button and say iTunes and then the computer would bring up iTunes. Then you would say Play and then then whatever song you would want it to play.
The last thing, we would invent something to put in peoples brains that would make them be able to see what they were doing on the computer. They would basically have a visualization of the screen in their head. A cord would connect the computer to their brain.


Abby, Emma, Rachel, Laumara

If nobody had eyes

if nobody in the world had eyes and one was to use a computer while blind you would most definitely need to have a keyboard made in braille so the person using the computer could type out whatever they need to say. On the actual computer screen you could have on each side of the screen braille like buttons that would signal the computer to talk to you, telling you what was on the screen and what type of website or program you were in. the whole use of the computer would be very simplistic because you couldn't actually see anything so it would just be limited to internet searches, emails and sounds.

Kris, Alexis, Sammi

Desktop Redesigned 2010

The keys on the computer would be brail.

The computer its self would inter act with you.

Such as to turn on the computer, you would say summthng like "turn on computer"

and if yu were looking for a certain article or webpage you would tell the computer to

go to tht page, and which specific article you want read, and it will read it to you. Also if wanted to listen to a song you tell the computer the category (such as music) then u tell it the artist or name of the song tht u would like to hear. In a sense ur computer would be like ur "partner", like another person bt smarter. Like a robot in a sense.

[it would also notify you (and read) of things like emails, updates, etc.]

Allison

Autumn

No eyes...

Our desktop computer would go behind our necks and be connected to our brains. You would be in the virtual world called the internet. You have a paperclip thats your friend and it talks to you. You can ask it anything and it will take you anywhere you wanted. Everybody's facebook would be there home. You can write on there walls, poke them. Birds would always be flying back and forth with messages on them. That's how news is delivered. "Twitter". Occasionally pop ups will show up but you need to be careful. If you go on game pages you can actually play the games! You can't die or get hurt because it is virtual.

newspaper

I believe that a newspaper is a place to get your news but will probably soon not be there anymore. On my phone i can find out the news in just seconds and dont have to pay for a newspaper. It will just soon not be there anymore, There are so many different ways you can find out news. Although i do like watching it on tv because i like seeing pictures and see what other people think about it. Twitter is not a good way to hear about things because i will never have one and either will about half of the world. If that was the only way to find out news i would be good without it because i thinking tweeting is really dumb and just a waste of peoples time when they could be doing other things. News can come in all different forms other than newspaper and i think it is making it extinct in some way with all this technology. The ipad is now like a newspaper. Apple will sell alot of those because its easier and you can do many more things on them.

Who needs a newspaper?

This article was very interesting! It made me think about the media and how we get our news. Honestly I am not one of those people that grab a newspaper and read it everyday or every sunday. I don't watch local news because I believe there really is no point. The only thing you get out of the local news is the weather and half of the time thats wrong. Local news is only thirty minutes long, 10-15 minutes of the program is commercials, weather takes up 5 minutes, and sports news takes up another 5. That leaves 5 minutes for news? It's kind of ridiculous. I do however watch programs like CNN once in a while. I even like BBC. I like unbiased news, which is nearly impossible to find these days! When it comes to the newspaper I also think that one day they will completely disappear and we will get the majority of our news from online. Everyone loves yahoo's homepage! It gives you a variety of news with a click of a button. I like reading my news online, simply because it's convenient. It might be the same information that was in the paper that day but it's just easier to read it online! I don't trust the majority of the media anyways. News is created by amateurs these days. News stations have a 24 hour slot to fill with news. I wonder how much of the news is actually legit and how much they just make up to fill up time. It really makes you think. It's important to be informed because you can't be oblivious to the world around you. But don't believe everything your read or hear.

twitter? over the paper?!

um twitter over the news paper? huh i dont think so! first off twitter is not as universal as the newspaper n what i mean by universal is that everything you could find in the paper cannot be found on twitter. the paper prints different articles and passages that are both local and world wide as does twitter, but to see those same things on twitter, you have to be following that person or group thats producing the info to get it. besides although the paper prints things that are opinionated, most of em are facts, whereas twitter consist mainly of peoples 'ideas' and their own opinions...i think the paper would be a better source of info because it had a higher content capacity than twitter which can only host an idea up to 140 characters and then you must submit a new one (status). and to add to the list, the newspaper is a worlwide source for information that both the young and older generations can associate with, eliminating the newspaper leaving things strictly to twitter will exclude the people of the older generations and even some people a little older than me who arent so technologically savvy. i think we should stick to the paper n leave it at that.

Tweet This!

I believe there is some truth to the fact that we don't really need newspapers anymore when we have other means to update us such as twitter. There is so much information within newspapers that you can get earlier by use of Twitter. For example, if an incident was to happen within the world (such as the earthquake in Haiti or the death of Michael Jackson for example) you'll know about it before the media has time to print the news onto a paper. Another positive thing about it is that you get the information as soon as it happens as opposed to having to wait the next day for the answer. If your favorite NBA team(s) were playing right now and you werent able to watch them, how would you know if they won or not? You'd have to wait until the next day, right? Wrong. Thanks to the various methods of media updates and information, you can discover something as simple as this within literally seconds of them winning or losing the game. There was also another valid point that was made within the reading and that was that by reading newspapers, the media has the power to alter the truth into however they would want, but if you were to hear the information straight from a source you would be able to see the truth behind all the lies and misconceptions. In the end, its basically preference as to which you would prefer, but in an ever changing world that is constantly finding new ways to transfer important information faster and faster, I feel it is only a matter of time before newspapers and other paper means of transferring information will slowly fade into nonexistence.

Conspiracy

Everyone at some point in their life has had some thought about conspiracy. Either if its about 9/11 or even about the president, either it has been thought about. I dont get too deep about topics dealing with conspiracy because it can get a little scary lol. For example people thinking that the world is going to end in December of 2012. The movie 2012 is scary to me. I saw it and afterwards was creeped out. I felt this way because all the things they were saying leading up to the world ending, is true. All the natural disasters, global warming, and the economy. All these things have occurred, like the movie said it would. So this leads me to think that the government is building some contraption to save certain people. It may sound silly, but so be it.

Once last semester in one of my classes, I heard a student say that Barack Obama was elected on purpose. The economy was in such a bad shape, that he wont be able to fix it. So they elected him to blame it on the black man and that so people can say that our first black president didnt help the country at all. I was shocked to hear this, but like I stated earlier, i dont get too deep with this conspiracy stuff. There is always going to be that person that has a twist to everything.

The World Changes

Well, after reading these links, I was slightly confused about what exactly was the overall theme of these.

One showed the world and what was happening, another symbolized on conspiracy, and the last one talked about how the media was changing.

… I guess they’re talking about the changes of the world. How life was different at one point of time, and then changed later on.

The media’s changing because of the technology, and how news is becoming more and more free (in terms of the distribution); used to mainly be by newspaper, and that was getting profit from it, but now is becoming more and more read through the internet without pay.

Conspiracy, obviously, about the questioning of our government, and the answers we desire from them. The truth and nothing else. It can go leading into the topic that started getting my attention perhaps when I was getting into college: textbooks. Think of it: the one thing I would read for information (forced, or for my enjoyment), and it could be false. It’s so unbelievable.

The world is changing all around us. Looking at the images in the MSNBC website, it tells me again of what’s happening to the world. Even today, some disaster, horror, catastrophe, is happening to people in some part of the globe. 

I’m thankful we live in a ‘free’ country; it may not be as free as we would want it… but we gotta be fortunate we live here, in comparison to another country where it’s limited. We can always strive for a better tomorrow though; we’re not in a perfect world, you know.

Google making us dumb

Carr's mind used to naturally read pages of information but now his mind drifts after a page or two. Now his mind just wants to get to the point of what he is reading because he's used to googling everything and getting his answer in a few minutes. His mind wants instant gratification instead of searching an entire article for one piece of information. Carr thinks the benefits of the internet is being able to find information much quicker. Instead of spending days researching and finding something, you can type what you need into google and the answer will pop up in seconds. Carr explains how a medium can shape its users. We are reading more than the 70's and 80's because now we are texting instead of watching TV. The medium of texting is shaping texters to interpret the messages. Carr is saying google is everywhere and we are relying too much on it. It is making us stupid because without Google we would have to do all the extra work we are trying to cut out. We depend on Google for all the questions we need answers to. Without internet search engines we would be lost.
-Sami & Alexis

Is Google making us stupid...

1. I thnk when Carr says tht his mind is changing, he means tht te way his mind takes in information is changing. he uses he example of hw he used to be able to gt into a good book and nw it is harder for him. I thnk this means for him tht he is so used to the internet summarizing and bring in info more quickly tht the lengthiness and long reads of a book, are as interesting anymore.

2. One benefit of the internet tht Carr mentions is research. He state tht research papers and projects tht could takes weeks of bookwork to find out, can nw easily be sereached in Google and the info you will every need frm a book, appears right before you in various links.

3. A medium can shape its users in the sense tht it can change thier total out look on the way they do things. for example it can change hw you expect thing to wrok (like reading a book).

4. I thnk Carr is afraid tht google can give a sense of false intellegence in a way.??

Autumn w.