Key Terms and Main Idea

• Technical > relating to a particular subject, art, or craft, or its techniques
• Mechanical > not having or showing thought or spontaneity; automatic
• Discontinuity > a distinct break in physical continuity or sequence in time
• Provincial > of or concerning the regions outside the capital city of a country, especially when regarded as unsophisticated or narrow-minded
• Intellectual > relating to the intellect, or a person having high intellectual ability
• Symbolism > the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities
• Incorrigible > not able to be corrected, improved, or reformed
• Industrial folklore > the large belief in the passing down of ideas from the past to the present

Main Idea: The author portrays the world to be changing yet unchanging. There are those who choose to follow the attitudes and actions of society, and those who choose to be outside of the realm of conformity within society who change our world. There are also those who find meaning in everything, and those who would rather not even look for meaning. 

Analysis

I thought the author definitely allowed for many different audience perspectives from this highly educated text. Although people may have had many different ideas of the points McLuhan was trying to get across, I think they all somehow lead to the same conclusion. We can definitely see that McLuhan was connecting the past to the present and in human reaction/interaction now. I believe he saw two different types of people, one being the majority. There are those who follow along with all of the societal “rules” and those who go outside of the box and do what they want, which is truly what changes our world. The majority of the population in the world tends to follow conformity. We, humans, do not prefer to be different. There was another perspective that I saw towards the end of the article. It described how people do not realize the beauty in things, or the specific meaning of things in the first place. We can choose to find the meaning in what we are doing or seeing, but many choose to follow conformity, which restricts our ability to change and find our own personal meaning in things. 

Commentary

I was for sure confused while I read this entire article by McLuhan, and now only somewhat am understanding what he was trying to say. We went over it in class and I got a little grasp on what he was trying to say. I believe the author was intending for us to see two different (or many different) kinds of people. Those who conform, and those who do not, such as Picasso and James Joyce. There are also those who find the meaning in things and those who do not. Who are you? There was a lot of other information within the article as well, and it seemed to be a bunch of metaphors. We were able to discuss and unveil some of them, but there are just so many. The most understood metaphor was the turtle one, which describes that a turtle does not realize its beautiful shell, just as a reporter does not realize the power his article may have. 

It is 1:00 am and I am scrolling through the recent posts on Instagram. Next thing I know, I’m awake, now, and it is 10 in the morning. Time to scroll through Vsco and Facebook. I see so many pictures of what others are doing, what they are saying, and who they are with. Little do I realize, I am not paying attention to the meaning or intention behind their post, or the many other simple events going on around me. I now click on a link that was on my snapchat that takes me to “The reason Fast Food is Diffusing Around the World” article.  As I read, I am learning without even knowing it. I did not even think about the beautiful mind that was making it possible for me to read and learn.

Through reading the article, “The Mechanical Bride,” by Marshall McLuhan, I have recognized the extent to which technology takes our attention away from our personal growth, meanings/intentions of others, and direct emotional connection with humans. There are three different perspectives I see on the effect of technology.

The first relates to what McLuhan describes in the article, “The reporter doesn’t even know there’s a beautiful shell above him. He grows the shell, unwittingly, subhumanly, biologically. This is not even the voice, but only the feel, of the turtle.” Just as the reporter does his job and doesn’t realize the beauty in it or himself, we read off the internet and technology everyday without acknowledging our beautiful mind. We take in the things we read/see and learn from them, expanding the extent of our knowledge, but not realizing the growth in ourselves. When I am bored I click on news articles and magazine subscriptions available on snapchat, and begin learning about something random, such as how to bake a lava cake. I learn how to make this wonderful cake, but I never even acknowledge my ability to learn such a thing is because of my mind.

The second perspective also relates to something McLuhan explained in his article, “These habits blind people to the real changes of our time. Conditioned in this way, people have been taught to accept opinions and attitudes of the press. But the French symbolists, followed by James Joyce in Ulysses, saw that there was a new art form of universal scope present in the technical layout of the modern newspaper.” We, humans, are accustomed to following the actions of others so that we may not feel out of place or uncomfortable. This relates to the modern technological world of the younger generation. We walk or drive from place to place, not really speaking to anyone we do not know, and when held still, we take out our phones and look blindly at something on our device, acting like we have some agenda. This is true for almost any younger person. Even I catch myself doing this as I wait for the Statistics class to disperse from the room where my English class is to be held. I look through my photos, so I may seem to not look alone. I avoid human contact in that moment. Technology has taken our attention away from what others are doing, and coming in direct contact with other people. We follow the actions and attitudes of those around us, restricting our ability to grow and be unique. But there are also those who stand out beyond the realms of technology and the unspoken rule of actions. Those who are able to express themselves and find a new path to go on, such as James Joyce, become unique and grow consciously.

My final point and perspective has to do with our ability to act, but finding no meaning. “The same man would rather dunk himself in the newspaper than have any esthetic or intellectual grasp of its character and meaning. The incorrigible dunker would perhaps do well to skip the next few pages,” (McLuhan). This also relates to the vulnerability of the human race to conform to the actions of others around them. As you pull out your phone, avoiding contact with others and making yourself look like what you are portraying, you look at a news article, Instagram pictures, Snapchat stories, etc., and find no meaning in what you are looking at. When I am surrounded by people in a quiet place, I will look at something, some words, reading them, but finding no meaning behind them. I would rather portray myself as busy, important and independent, rather than find meaning in what I am actually doing in that moment of silence, outside of the classroom where our English class will take place.

As we act and associate ourselves with technology, we allow it to take our attention away from other small details around us. Whether it be sympathetic human interaction, improvements in ourselves, or the meanings we should find, we lose that interaction and realization by choosing to veer away from social events.

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Have you ever felt so strong that you know all about a subject, but then realize you actually don’t? I thought I knew everything there was to know about hockey, but I found there was a lot of information I didn’t know. This is similar to what we believe about blogs. Throughout the article, “Imagining the Blogosphere,” by Graham Lampa, the idea that the majority of people believe presumptions about blogs when there is actually more to the blogosphere, is realized from the examples given. While reading, I found that the main point throughout the entire article was that there is one set belief about blogging, when it is a lot larger than we think. This is represented by the blogging iceberg  example. The most active and social bloggers makeup the small sliver of iceberg above the water, and the majority of the blogging community represents the larger part of the iceberg underneath the water. There are also many types of bloggers. I know I have always thought of blogging with one perspective and when I thought about a blogger, I thought it was one type of person. The three major blogger categories are active, highly socially and disengaged. The active bloggers post regularly and continuously link to other blogging websites (as well as bring different information and articles into their own blog to make a connection). The highly social bloggers are bloggers who blog for leisure because they want the world to know what is going on. They like to talk about what is going on. These two types make up the sliver of iceberg above the water. Lastly, the disengaged bloggers are the ones who maybe post 1-2 times per month or less, and when they do they are usually posting to update family members and/or friends. I was surprised by how much I did not know or realize about blogging. I seriously had tunnel vision about the subject, like many others have as well I’m sure. After learning about the different types of bloggers, and what the majority of blogging consists of, I began to realize other things, such as the effects and issues of blogging. Blogging limits the ability of journalists to share information with a print source and get that information out. Since blogging is online (internet), the print sources are having trouble getting the same information out in the same short amount of time. Blogging also has a positive vibe to it, as information can be accessed quicker and is at our fingertips at all times (smartphones). The one major issue I did come across in the reading, though, is the fact that although blogs are mostly public and put out there for the WORLD to see, most of the world is not able to access this information, or cannot read the english language. A lot of the countries in the world are still developing countries, and are spending their time and money on the primary resources, such as getting food and shelter for survival. They have not yet reached the point of technology and internet, so they cannot even look at blogs. The other issue is that much of the world speaks a different language than English. The language thing can be good and bad. Bad in the sense that not as many people can read and understand the written blogs, and good in the sense that it is encouraging people in other countries to start blogging in their own language. Overall, we have tunnel vision when it comes to blogs, bloggers and blogging, but there is so much more to it.

Key Terms and Main Idea

• Blogging Iceberg > The most active and regular bloggers are above the water, and beneath the surface of water, lies the majority of bloggers who are disengaged and do not blog regularly
• Blogosphere > personal websites and blogs collectively.
• typical blog > is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries
• Perseus study > found that the majority of the bloggers are not regular in posting and are disengaged = they concluded that the blogosphere takes on the form of an iceberg whose vast bulk floats out of sight and out of mind
• Tom Coates’ model for discussion > discussion resembles an amateurized academic citation network, with each new argument referencing the original work and influential derivative works
• blogdom > the world or sphere of weblogs
• diarist bloggers > people who blog about personal occurrences in their own life, almost like a public diary online

Main Idea >> The community, described as the blogosphere, is seen as one thing to the public, but has so much more to it, such as bloggers who post a couple times per year, and bloggers may sometimes post for a “global audience,” but the truth is that the majority of the world stay offline.

• Many people have this one main idea of what blogs are and the community of bloggers, but beneath that that there is so many more assumptions.

Summary

The article begins by describing what people originally think about blogs and the blogging community, and then dives deeper into the underneath. There is more to the blogging community than just the people who blog regularly. The entire article shapes around the idea that people have certain assumptions and conceptions about blogs and the blogosphere, but also describes the reality of that community in association with the world. The main diagram used by the author was the iceberg, which shows that there is a small sliver of ice above the water, which represents the highly social and frequently active bloggers. And beneath the surface of the sliver of the iceberg, lies the rest (large majority) of the iceberg, representing the not so social, frequently inactive bloggers. The assumption is that we only see and acknowledge the bloggers who are very active. There are three types of bloggers, active, highly social, and disengaged. Blogging has also had the comparison between profit and non-profit. There is more profit made from blogs than newspapers, but there are also many blogs that are out there for free, giving useful information. Another underlying assumption of the blogosphere that was described was that there is the idea that blogs are put out there to be public and for the world to see, but in reality, the majority of the world (which is mostly undeveloped) does not have access to the internet or devices that allow them to see the internet/web, let alone blogs. Throughout the entire article, the concept that we have certain perceptions of blogs and the blogosphere, but we do not acknowledge the majority of blogs and bloggers.

Commentary

There were so many points made in the reading that describe how blogs work, what their effects are, and the different types of bloggers. The many topics considered in the article are profit vs non-profit, effects on journalism and print, market vs gift economy, diarist blogging vs conversational/informative blogging, active/highly social/disengaged bloggers, giving people a voice (democratizing), and how blogs are public but not necessarily accessible to everyone. As a blogger there are ways you can make a profit off of your blogs, but then many choose to blog just to share information with the world for free. As more and more blogs are sharing the world news and information (even magazines online) has decreased the profitability and funding of journalism and print. The market vs gift economy topic relates to the profit vs non-profit topic. There are those who would like to share information for free, but then there are also those who want money for it. Collectively (majority) we can be either a market economy or a gift economy. There are two major subcategories of blogs, which are diarist blogging and conversational/informative blogging. Diarist blogging involves a person relaying the information and events they encountered during their day to allow people to connect with them. Conversational/informative blogging is strictly sharing facts and knowledge to inform others on a certain topic. Lastly, there are three main types of bloggers; those who are active, those who are highly social, and those who are disengaged. The active bloggers are posting and linking to other blogs on a scheduled basis, highly social bloggers write about things that happen (like gossip kind of), and disengaged bloggers are those who choose not to blog on a regular basis and when they do so, it is usually for family and friends to read/see.

 

The license I would choose for my blog would be the Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY_ND. The website states that, “This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.” I would like my blog to have this license because I would like others to be able to see my work and so that it can be spread to other people around the world. Although I like creative passions and want my work to be shared, I do not want my work to be altered. It was written by me, and that is what it should be cited as if used by others.

After reading the first chapter in “Seeing Ourselves Through Technology,” I have gained a new perspective of technology, but also have a certain argument against the points made. The point that the author made saying, we represent ourselves through pieces of work, such as stories, books, memoirs, songs, diaries, and so many more, and as some people still do that, the times have shifted and we now use technology for most self expression. I realized that all of the social media I have ever used has been used to represent myself. I post pictures on Instagram that show myself, who I am, and where I have gone. My most recent post is one where I am sitting on some rocks in the Mountains of Colorado. I am smiling and the sun is shining. From this picture, people understand where I am, what I am doing (hiking), how I am feeling (inside and out), along with who I am with as you can tag people, show your location, and write a message (caption) of your choice. On twitter I always wrote about my feelings about certain situations I am in or have been a part of that either made me upset or happy. Facebook is another place of self representation as it shows who I am, and I can connect with others to eventually find a dorm roommate for college next year. After reading the words of the first chapter, I realized most of what I have experienced on technology is showing everyone who I am. My argument against the author’s chapter, though, is that a very large part of technology is sharing knowledge, most of it being irrelevant to personal self expression. For as long as I can remember, I have found all sorts of information on the internet having to do with history, science, english, and so many others. None of what I had researched expressed self representation. All of the self expression portion of technology is found on magazines, newspapers, and social media. Although technology does show self expression in some places, I see that most of technology actually incorporates learning and the sharing of factual intellect.

Commentary

I really enjoyed the reading this week. It definitely showed a different side to the use of technology and some internal unconscious reasons for why humans do what they do. The introduction of chapter 1 began with the artist, Parmigianino, who made a self portrait of himself by looking through a convex mirror. The main point from the beginning was that we self represent ourselves through specific things, such as diaries, memoirs, scrapbooks, photo albums, stories, music, and now in recent technology. I thought this main point was quite interesting throughout the entire chapter. the author built off of this main point as he gained momentum in his writing. Another major point that bounced off from self representation, was that we write and show ourselves off even if we do not intend or realize it. After reading this chapter, I definitely noticed some things about myself. 

Summary

The author begins with describing a majorly important artist named Parmigianino, who created a self portrait of himself by looking through a convex mirror. This shows the self representation of the human. This led into the point that there are several ways humans have self represented themselves in the past, such as through diaries, memoirs, photo albums, songs, stories, etc. and that it has now changed and combined into technology, mostly dealing with social media. We represent ourselves by showing the world who we are (or what we want the world to see or think). Times have changed for sure, and we are now in a new era of representing ourselves. This self expression is represented through visual, written and quantitative methods, says the author, and has been this way for as long as humans have been alive on this earth. We also use graphs, maps and lists to represent ourselves (humans). We use many of these things to communicate with others (such as letters, texts, etc), but it more so is a place where we represent ourselves, and share who we are and what we are doing with others. 

Analysis

I completely agree with most of what the author is speaking about in this chapter, but a lot of technology is not only an area for self expression and self representation. Although a lot of social media, such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. is a place for self representation, that is only the smallest portion of what technology has become in recent years. When I see the word technology, I think of the many areas of information and knowledge that is being shared with everyone in the world. It is not necessarily someone or a group of people representing themselves, but statistical and other related facts that are being described that makes it up. 

Blogging is a type of writing I have never explored until just recently. I had only heard of blogging through my sister, who had blogged for a company she worked for, but I never read into it much. Now that I am having to write a regularly scheduled blog for this English class I am taking, it has opened up my eyes to new things… for one, the motivation it inspires for many things.

The most significant piece of motivation gained through writing, specifically blogging, is a desire to write for yourself and for others’ enjoyment, knowledge, inspiration, etc. Through a regularly scheduled blog, one learns to like it. This is known to many as intrinsic motivation, which refers to behavior that is driven by internal rewards. For example, you begin writing about your newest recipes on your blog. You do this in order to share your knowledge with other people, giving them an opportunity to recreate your dish (and possibly become famous for it… that’s a rarity, but we can always hope).

Not only do we gain internal motivation to write and share our knowledge with the world on blogs, but you can learn new motivation from everyone else’s blogs. There are so many different styles and genres of blogs, such as cooking, political updates, polls for different interests of your city population, analysis of books… the list goes on and on. There are endless possibilities for what a blog can be written about. Continuing on my point, though, from the variety of blogs, you can find your interests and act upon them. Let’s say I was reading a blog about hockey players and the game of hockey, and I previously did not know what the sport was about. After reading I found an interest in the sport and began playing myself and wanted to become a better hockey player just like the well-known hockey players noted in the blog I had read. The steps in finding such a motivation were >> finding an interest through reading about a specific topic, engage in the actual performance of the thing I was interested in, and finding motivation to become better at it.

One last example of motivation found through blogging, is the desire to read more (read more of what you want to learn about). Blogs can advance your writing ability, but taking a step back… reading other people’s blogs may also lead way to your new found love of reading. Instead of reading a book your teacher picked out for the entire class that you would write a paper on, you can choose to read what interests you and, therefore, increases your motivation to read.

Blogs have not been a part of my life growing up whatsoever, but I have recently found motivation to write through the inspiration and direction of my professor. It can be like this for anyone and everyone. You will find what your major interests are, as well as take a liking to subjects you have not always been keen toward (reading/writing). *Below is a link to a website that lists 9 major benefits of personal blogging that I thought were interesting* take a look!

http://www.motivateamazebegreat.com/2017/08/9-benefits-of-personal-blogging.html

Key Terms and Main Ideas

• Intrinsic motivation > refers to behavior that is driven by internal wants (rewards). Your motivation is driven by satisfying your internal desires
• Extrinsic motivation > behavior that is driven by external rewards such as money, fame, grades, and praise
• blog > a regularly updated website or web page, typically one run by an individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversational style
• blogosphere > personal websites and blogs collectively
• belligerent > hostile and aggressive 
• Rhetorical questions > a question asked in order to create a dramatic effect or to make a point rather than to get an answer
• Autonomy > freedom from external control or influence; independence
• Quasi-academic style > of or relating to a college, academy, school, or other educational institution, especially one for higher education
• Serendipity > the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way
• Blog Aggregator > client software or a web application which aggregates syndicated web content such as online newspapers, blogs, podcasts, and video blogs (vlogs) in one location for easy viewing

     Main Idea: The idea throughout the entire article pertains to the reasons for writing blogs including creativity, a road to being an expert, and finding intrinsic motivation, as well as the basic structures and components of blogs. 

Summary 

Reid begins by expressing the necessary components of becoming an expert in writing. He emphasizes the fact founded by Malcom Gladwell that in order to become an expert at writing, you need 10,000 hours of writing experience. This would be possible only over a specific number of years (it would take forever to become an actual writing expert!). This just emphasizes the point that there is always room to improve. Reid explains how blogging is one way to gain experience and become a better writer if you desire. He later goes into finding a desire to write for your own satisfaction, which is intrinsic motivation. As one gains more experience, and continues writing a blog on a continual bases, then one will gain motivation to write for themselves and it will become a habit and a necessary component of their life. Reid ends by going over specifics of blog components and explains how being on a regular schedule of writing will give you motivation. 

Making Connections

From the article, “Why Blog,” by Alex Reid, I understood his point completely as I made connections with aspects in my own blogging experience thus far. He began the article by relating the topic of blogging to writing and becoming an expert. Reid used the words of Malcom Gladwell saying, “…it takes some 10,000 hours of dedication to a craft or profession to become an expert” (Reid 302). Although this may be scientifically proven, I agree with Reid when he defines writing experience as becoming better and better. You don’t necessarily need 10,000 hours of writing to become a very good writer, but if you do write consistently, then you will become a better writer. I have found this true within my own life. I used to feel uncomfortable writing papers and finding words to put down on the sheet. My vocabulary did not represent an intelligent student. Over the many years of schooling I have received, I have become much more comfortable with my writing and finding certain words to emphasize my many points. Another major point of Reid, was that if you continue writing on a consistent scheduled bases (such as blogging), you will find intrinsic motivation. You will begin to write because it satisfies you and your wants. I have also found that true, like when I began writing this note on making connections I was not very inspired and did not want to do it, but at this point I have soooo much I want to say. Time results in the internal motivation of writing to rise and experience to show accomplishments.