Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-sept11-nbc-hackingtre7887kl-20110909,0,3086885.story
Sunday, September 11, 2011
The New York Times vs. The Chicago Tribune: NBC News Twitter Account Hacked
On the evening of September 9, 2011, NBC New’s Twitter account was hacked and a false threat claiming that a hijacked plane had crashed at the Ground Zero memorial in New York was tweeted. NBC News immediately disabled their Twitter account to prevent any future hacks and NBC profusely apologized for heightening the already possible threats that have been made by al Qaeda on New York City for the tenth anniversary of September 11. The New York Times (online) and The Chicago Tribune (online) both covered this story later that night on Friday, September 9, 2011. Although both stories were not on the home page of their respective news sites, The New York Times article, by Brian Stelter and Jennifer Preston, felt as though this story had more news value because its story was eleven paragraphs long and included more in depth information. The Chicago Tribune article (which was reported by Jill Serjeant and edited by Bob Tourtellotte and Cynthia Johnston) was only eight paragraphs and focused on different elements of the story. The New York Times titled its article, “Hackers Take Over NBC Twitter Account” and included no picture with the story. The article quotes the statement that NBC News’s anchor Brain Williams read on NBC news later that evening, as well a quote by Ryan Osborn, the director of social media for NBC News. This newspaper focused more on the reaction and response of NBC News to the hacked tweet, while The Chicago Tribune’s article concentrated more on the group that did the hoax, The Script Kiddies. The Chicago Tribune’s article titled, “NBC News Twitter hacked with fake attack messages” included a picture of the Twitter logo, the small blue bird. This newspaper's article title, brief story, picture and content made the article seem more casual compared to The New York Times account of the situation. The Tribune include quotes from the same statement given by Williams on NBC News at night, an excerpt from the Business Insider and a quotation from Melissa Bell (Washington Post blogger). Twitter is a worldwide social media site that many use as a source of both national and international news, so this prank tweet reached many people and caused some hysteria. Both stories highlighted how the wrongful information in the tweet worried people that read it, therefore it reflected badly upon the always-reliable NBC News twitter account. The New York Times article about this event centered its story around the apologetic nature of NBC News, not The Script Kiddies as The Chicago Tribune did.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
My Partial Literary Narrative
Annik Spencer
May 9, 2011
WSC 2
Paper 4
My Partial Literary Narrative
In Joan Didion’s talk, “Why I Write,” she describes when, why and how she started writing. Didion and I are very different in our individual reasons why we write. I feel as though I write because I am required to and she writes because she wants to. Didion writes because she is so inspired by and observant of her surroundings that ideas come to her simply by being attentive of the world around her. These inspirations fester in her head until she must write them down. She says that while she was developing as a thinker and a writer she “would try to read linguistic theory and would find [herself] wondering instead if the lights were on in the bevatron up the hill.” She is so distracted by her environment that she cannot focus on facts and theories, but only on inspiration to write. She must write because she is so stimulated by the world around her. I must write because I am told to do so and because I need to write to communicate. I am required to write papers, essays, emails, and text messages many times a day. I enjoy writing and don’t mind writing, but I will only write if I am required to.
Didion also discusses how she has “pictures” that “shimmer” in her mind that she must write about. These pictures motivate and dictate her writing. They begin her writing process and “arrange” her entire piece of writing. She says, “The picture tells you how to arrange the words and the arrangement of the words tells you, or tells me, what’s going on in the picture.” Didion and I may write for different reasons, but we create art for the same reasons. The “shimmered pictures” in my head are choreography that then turns into steps to a dance. I am not required to create this choreography. I want to. Creating movement is to me what creating writing is to Didion.
Since I “write” in a physical way, like by creating choreography, I envision a sentence starts out like a good, long run. First you start off thinking, "wow I really do not want to run three miles, but I know it is good for me and I'm at the gym so I might as well." Then after that first lap around the track, you're off. You let your mind roam and you think about things, while your legs just put themselves one in front of the other. You do not even think about what you are doing physically. All of these thoughts that you have are the sentence. The ideas and themes in your head while you run are the words you write or type in your sentence. And then you finish that good, long run by sprinting to the finish, or while writing, by closing up that magnificent sentence. The finish line is your period at the end of your sentence. And then as you look back at your run, you congratulation yourself and think "I will run longer next time and continually get better." This is your revision of your sentence. Maybe you change a few things in the sentence, but in the long run your sentences will just continue to get better and better.
And I want my writing to get better and better. I am a perfectionist, and so even though I feel as though I only write because I am required to, when I do write I want to get it right. In Billy Collins’s poem, “The Flight of the Reader” he discusses how he feels about his readers. Collins describes in his poem that he really has a crush on his readers. He even goes as far to say that, “[he] hates to think of that morning when [he] will wake up to find [his reader] gone.” Billy Collins and I feel the same way about our readers in this way. I too want to please my reader and hope that he or she “[stays] perched on my shoulder.” Collins and I both constantly think about our reader while we are writing. Collins and I have different outlooks on the extremity that we relay on our readers. In his poem Collins says that, “It’s not that [he] cannot live without [his reader].” I disagree with this because I think so much about reader’s reaction to my writing endlessly. While I am writing I tend to do exactly what Collins says he does not do which is “pester” my reader “with invisible gnats of meaning.” I tend to embrace my reader so much that I am almost begging him or her to love and appreciate my work. Collins and I both agree and disagree with how we feel about our readers. And since I love my readers so much, I have much advice for them and their own endeavors in writing.
My advice is to remember and then forget. The remembering part is to remember your roots. Remember how and where you learned how to write. Always remember the essential writing techniques that you learned. Keep this technique with you, so that you can write without fear. Also, always remember who you are and what your personality is. You need this in your writing. After all, it is you who is writing what you write, so you must be in it.
After you remember, you must forget. This is hard to do if you are used to coloring in the lines like I am. Nevertheless, forget everything you think is right. Even if you can only do this for just a split second, it is essential because this is when creativity starts. This is what makes you a truly, wonderfully, readerly, writerly person. This forgetting references Ron Koertge’s poem, “Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out.” His last stanza says, “When the tower
falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud every body in the world frowns and says, ‘Shhhh.’” Everyone else is frowning and quieting you because they are stuck in their boxes and their technique. They cannot forget. Please remember what it feels like to be those people, then throw your head back and laugh. This moment is when you will forget and just create. Write on.
Monday, April 25, 2011
What Is Happening to Writing? Essay!
Annik Spencer
April 27, 2011
WSC 2
Dr. Lay
What Is Happening to Writing?
The author Eric Maisel said in his book, A Writer's Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write, that “The writing life is defined by the succession of choices you make, primary among them whether or not you will write. You honor your writing space by entering it with this mantra: ‘I am ready to work.’ You enter, grow quiet, and vanish into your writing.” This quote describes what it is like for a writer to create. Inspiration and imagination is what did, and still does, compel humans to write down his or her thoughts. Writers have been vanishing into their own personal “writing spaces” to create writing for many years. Just like the ideas and thoughts of authors change, authors writing spaces change and develop as well. The way in which we create and write changes the way that we transcribe writing.
To appreciate writing it is important to understand why written work is essential. In Chapter 2, "Writing as Technology," in J. David Bolter’s book, Writing Space, he discusses the evolution of writing and writing surfaces in his section titled, "Hard and Soft Structures." Writing has always been a necessary and valuable way for people to remember events and stories. This is why symbols and language were created in the first place. Old texts were then translated, so modern audiences could comprehend and read them. These texts were often translated to "fit the times" and translators often changed, restructured and rewrote them. These are all considered hard structures because they are "tangible qualities of the materials of writing" (Bolter 41). Bolter explains soft structures as being how we present our text visually. The way we present our writing has evolved as well. Bolter says that we have introduced grammar, punctuations, paragraphing, and chapter divisions so that the modern reader can more easily read the text. The very first example of a soft structure was actually the alphabet because it was the first time the ancient people had put together a structured way of how to present ideas, or how to write.
This section, “Hard and Soft Structures” also discusses how text is restructured, changed, and sometimes even rewritten so that it will make sense to the modern reader. The first change is the actual writing space itself. Bolter discusses how in ancient times things were written on papyrus. And before the printing press was invented, scribes wrote down text by hand on paper. The final evolution is the technological evolution of writing spaces. Bolter says that is evolution is inevitable because the writing space must evolve with the times so that the reader may understand it.
Writing spaces have grown and changed over time. Chapter 5, “The Electronic Book” of Writing Space discusses the evolution of writing spaces, specifically how the papyrus evolved into the codex. Bolter says that the papyrus was the first form of the "book." Papyrus were usually about 25 feet, but there length was not predetermined. The author would simply write until he or she felt that their story was finished and then they would cut the papyrus. Papyruses were also rolled like a scroll, not bound. Stories were a large part of the culture at that time and papyrus rolls were the most effective way to transcribe the stories that were being told. Storytelling was the main form of entertainment and so papyruses were mainly scripts that storytellers would use.
Writing was not done in a sequential order, but at random. Other works could be added before, during, or after the papyrus was written. Writers wrote as much as they wanted on a papyrus because one’s space was not predetermined and the author could write with no stopping point. All of these elements of papyrus writing changed how the writer wrote because ideas were not continuous, writing was never stopped, and other works could be referenced or added.
The shift from papyrus to codexes not only was a change of physical writing space, but also a change in the way humans wrote. This is because people began to have an interest in writing down more complete thoughts and ideas. Also, society wanted to transcribe information and facts onto paper and this could be more easily done in a codex. Because the writing space changed the way the author thought, the way the author wrote ultimately changed as well. This is mainly because a codex was more complete and other works could not be referenced or added to it. Writing now had to be planned and organized before the writer began to write because the codex had pages bound together with a cover. The codex eventually evolved into today’s modern book.
Codexes replaced papyrus because they were more complete and bound together. They protected and limited writing and made written work a complete verbal structure. They were different from papyrus rolls because they had to fill predetermined space. Codexes also closed off other works because they were only one story long where papyrus rolls would sometimes include other works.
After papyruses and codexes, writing spaces finally developed and changed with electronic age with the introduction of WebPages and eBooks. WebPages remind the reader of the days of papyrus. This is because WebPages are not sequential and can be changed and added to. The use of hypertext on WebPages makes the website multi-dimensional and not chronological. Chapter 3 of Writing Space by Bolter, "Hypertext and the Remediation of Hypertext," defines hypertext, discusses the existence of hypertext, and the difference between hypertext and regular text. The chapter describes hypertext as being a link on a webpage that can create relationships between different things. Hypertext creates a network. It can take the reader on a path, from one idea to another. Also hypertext and WebPages are very different from today’s modern book. Books give the reader control, but not as much imagination. Hypertext can enhance the imagination and overall experience for the reader. The new invention of the eBook takes the modern book digital. Society had moved to the electronic age, and so the writing spaces have had to change to fit this new era.
Another comparison of how writing spaces can change the way the author creates is verbal text versus written text. Verbal text may seem like an unusual form of writing, but all speech can be written down as it is being said, so it can be considered writing. In fact, the contrast of spoken text and written text strongly demonstrates how writing spaces can change. The writing space of written text is obviously on wherever it is written, but the writing space of oral text is much more complex. The writing space for verbal text is the listener’s ear.
Chapter 6, “Refashioned Dialogues” of Writing Space talks about the differences between spoken and written text. The chapter discusses the variation in the thought processes of the written philosopher, Plato, and the oral philosopher, Socrates. Bolter says, “It may be harder to hoodwink a reader than a listener because the reader can stop at anytime, reflect, and refer to a previous section of the text” (Bolter 102). Plato was a written philosopher and he wrote all of his theories down, his readers could interpret or use his text any way they wished. This frustrated Plato because his teacher, Socrates, was an oral philosopher. Socrates could easily convince his audience because he could guide a path for his listeners to follow. His listeners would never argue or challenge Socrates’ oral teachings because they we were so easily convinced by his speeches. The reader can control how the information is interpreted when the text is written. “The question of control can be posed in the absence of writing…” (Bolter 101) and thus Plato had to understand that the reader might read his philosophies in the wrong way. Because the reader has the control, Plato and all other written speakers, must analyze what they are writing down. The difference of written and oral text shows how the change in writing space can change the way in which a person writes.
So why does the change of writing space change the way we think and vice versa? To analyze this one must know why writing is so important. Writing has always been the most effective way for humans to communicate and remember events, although the way society uses writing has changed over generations. It was first used as a way of remembering stories, facts and events. As humans became more advanced, their writing became much more developed as well. Society began to not only want to remember stories and events, but also to write down their thoughts, hopes and dreams. Philosophers like Plato and Socrates began to both write and speak about their philosophies. Spoken and written texts now became the newest forms of writing spaces, but these two forms were so different that they often challenged each other. Plato, the written philosopher, and Socrates, the oral philosopher, both differed in what they felt a writing space was. Writing was now used differently than it was when it was first developed.
These changes in writing forced writing spaces to change as well. Over time the writing space has changed and developed to fit the times. Because the way that we communicate, think, and write changes, our writing spaces must change as well. Papyrus rolls and scrolls served a different purpose than codexes and books. New forms of writing spaces were invented because they needed to most effectively record what people were writing at that time. The modern WebPages and eBooks are the newest forms of writing spaces. They make writing and information accessible to everyone, anywhere and at anytime.
The great American author Truman Capote once said, “A writing space is not a physical place, but a place inside your imagination.” Capote is referring to the writing space in one’s mind. This writing space is where one’s stories, philosophies, ideas and thoughts are created. After the author creates writing in his or her head, he or she must leave that writing space to enter another writing space, the physical writing space. The development of human’s means of communication affects the way in which human kind thinks. The way that human kind thinks affects the way humans write, and finally these developments influence the physical writing space. The way that society thinks and communicates changes the way that they write on their writing spaces.
Bibliography
Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Print.
Maisel, Eric. A Writer's Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write,. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2008. Print.
Truman Capote. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.capotebio.com/index.php>.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
"Writing Space" by J. David Bolter Chapter 5, "The Electronic Book"
This prezi on Chapter 5 was extremely well organized. It had light blue, pink, and white writing on a dark gray background. The points made flowed from one to another by arrows. The physical arrows from one point to anther helped the viewer to organize the points in his or her own head. The prezi itself was also not as zoomed in as most of the other projects. When the presenter had one specific quote from "Writing Space" on the screen, you could still see the other points because it was zoomed out. I feel as though this was a weakness because it did not make the viewer solely focus on just that point. This prezi also did not include as many examples. It only had one example which was a YouTube video that discussed the difference of eBooks vs. printed books. More examples could have helped explain the presentation. Some of the presentations strengths included its extreme organization. Also, it was almost theatrical in the way it was "presented," or shall I say, "performed!" The presentations were very well prepared and they presented the information very well.
1. 1. How is a codex different from a modern-day book?
2. 2. Is a web page never ending with no closure, like a papyrus roll?
3. 3. Which is more authentic? The eBook or the book?
4. 4. Are electronic encyclopedias or text encyclopedias more useful?
5. 5. Will physical libraries not exist in the future?
6. 6. Will people stop finding information they need in printed books?
This presentation begin and ended with the same quote from Bolter's "Writing Space." This quote was, "They are writing in and on the world." This quote refers to how all writing spaces are important and utilized in today's society. The beginning of the presentation discussed how the book has changed throughout time. The papyrus roll was the first form of the "book." Papyrus rolls were about 25 feet long and were cut after the author was done writing them. They were scripts that story tellers would use. Papyrus rolls then developed into codexes. A codex was a cousin to today's modern book. Codexes replaced papyrus because they were more complete and bound together. They protected and delimited writing and made written work a complete verbal structure. They were different from papyrus rolls because they had to fill predetermined space. Codexes also closed off other works because they were only one story long. Then the prezi discussed the chnages that "books" have made throughout time. The shift goes as follows: papyrus->codex->book->eBook. eBooks seem like they are close to the papyrus rolls because they can scroll up and down, like a papyrus can roll. Lastly, the encyclopedia was a new invention that took all information and put it into one place. The encyclopedia became one of the first books to not read all the way through. It became a benchmark to hold all credited facts and sources. Britannica was one of the first printed encyclopedias, but it also became electronic to fit with the modern times. The presentation ended by saying that cyber space will become the universal book, encyclopedia, and library all in one.
Monday, April 11, 2011
"Writing Space" by J. David Bolter Chapter 4, "The Breakout of the Visual"
The prezi physically was a black background with all of the text in white writing. Within the text there was also examples that included a graph and a picture. The main strength of this project was its organization. The presenters organized the prezi very well and each presenter’s points flowed nicely with the other presenters. Also, the examples used in the prezi were helpful and beneficial to the audience. The examples included helped explain the points in the prezi. Some weaknesses include that the prezi itself was sometimes hard to read and sometimes the prezi had some repetition. Some of the text in the prezi was too small to read and the black background made the text sometimes ard to read. Also, the presenters sometimes repeated each other, and sometimes their points seemed to be repetitive as well. Overall, the presentation was effective and informative.
1. How do books with no pictures have “visuals?”
2. What exactly are electronic magazines?
3. How is email not electronically advanced? Can’t emails link videos and visuals?
4. If graphs include text then how are they visuals?
5. How is a “metaphor” in a book considered a visual description?
6. Are we going back to the medieval times with how we write because we now often include visuals within our writing like that did in the medieval times.
This presentation made many points about how text can be considered visual. Printed text in the Medieval Ages was very different than it is today. Text at this time included many pictures and visuals around the actual text. Although, Bolter says that print is remaking itself to be more like these medieval texts. Newspapers, like USA Today, include a lot of pictures and visuals. These pictures enhance the visual experience and give a more behind the scene look to what the reader is reading. Another example of something that is purely visual and does not require many words are graphs. Graphs have few words, but they visually make their point without needing a lot of writing and paragraphs. Bolter explains that text can also make visuals through the use of metaphors and descriptions within text. Text is also developing into visual work. Books that are made into movies are a perfect example of this. Also, the use of “Ekphrasis” transforms readers into viewers. Electronically (we obviously have to reference the electronic age because we are reading Bolter!) books are being changed from purely textual electronic books to combined visual and textual electronic magazines. The hypermedia is now replacing the hypertext.
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