All posts by Sakshi Agarwal

Reflections

Infrastructures of Labor – Extra Credit

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I have never found urban development and planning an interesting topic. But, this event hosted by the Urban Democracy Lab at NYU was not only fascinating and eye-opening, but it also supplemented and complemented much of the content in this course regarding technology and its effects.

The event was centered on four guest speakers: Kafui Attoh, Rosalind Fredericks, Malini Ranganathan and Catherine Fennell, who were moderated by Penny Lewis. Each of these speakers presented for 15 minutes on a topic of their choice that related to the friction caused between the government and the urban dwellers in matters of infrastructure.

Kafui Attoh focused on the issue of transit workers. There is a “speeding up” in public transit as drivers’ spot time and recovery time is shortened. A spot time is one where a driver would have time to eat and rest before resuming work again. A recovery time is one where drivers prepare for their next shift and adjust. Now these times are being shortened because of delays and longer routes. If a worker is delayed, he will have a shorter spot time. He would only have a few minutes to relax and use the bathroom. As a result, the health of these workers are being affected as they cannot properly use the bathrooms and don’t have proper access. I think Attoh’s argument is interesting because it shows how today’s fast-paced, technological society does not consider its toll upon human labor. Present in our industrialized society is the erroneous conception that human labor can perform at the same level as machines. But, as Attoh points out, this is impossible. Humans cannot function at the same level as capital. We have explored this relationship between machines and humans and the impact of an increasingly technological culture in our reading of ‘The Machine Stops’ by E.M. Forster and ‘Fahreheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury, which show that technology can have a dehumanizing effect on people. Technology plays a pivotal role in our lives to the extent that it  guides and dictates our lives.

In addition, Malini Ranganathan presented on the stormwater drains of Bangalore (Bengaluru), India. According to Ranganathan, these drains are “socio-natural assemblages”. Floods are becoming increasingly common in this city, heightening the need for proper and efficient stormwater drains. But storm drains are not as efficient as one may hope in Bangalore. It is clogged by waste from the surrounding areas. Worse, the most serious floods occur in areas of the city that have the poorest maintenance. What I gathered from Ranganathan’s presentation was that today’s technology needs to concentrate further on infrastructure that is beneficial to its residents. They need better drainage systems and innovative technologies that help in waste removal, to provide a cleaner environment. Ranganathan provides a fresh perspective for this course, because we have discussed about the greater dangers and consequences of technology on our society in the present and future, but we have not discussed in further detail about how new technology can be used to affect a change for the better or worse in the environment.

In a similar vein, Rosalind Fredericks discusses the situation of trash in Dakar, Senegal. Her main area of focus was the ways in which technology influences infrastructure. She also aimed to explore how governments assert their power through infrastructures “as they often crystallize uneven development and unjust power relations.” According to Fredericks, materiality, in this case, garbage forms a key discourse into how developing technologies influence infrastructure. In Dakar, there have been numerous volatile institutional reorganizations regarding the city’s trash. There have been intense movements that have formed around the policy of waste. Unions of trash workers have protested various times. But in more recent times, such protests are now characterized by public dumping that occurs as form of showing solidarity. In Frederick’s opinion, governing garbage disposal has been a key form of asserting state power as government engage in anti-union practices and “low-tech infrastructural formulas.” Consequently, more burden is placed on human labor to collect and dispose trash. Frederick’s argument is very relevant in terms of our course in that she discusses how through technology and infrastructure, states impose and dominate over society. In the works of dystopia and discussions that we have had in class, it is apparent that technology is an important tool of the government as they force obedience and subjugation in society.

Lastly, Catharine Fennell spoke about Detroit’s infrastructure problems. Although she made several significant points, one of her most noteworthy arguments was the using of lead in infrastructure. She highlighted that there has been an increasing use of lead in construction and in demolition practices (use of wrecking balls, which are made of lead. Because of this widespread application, people are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of lead.  This is especially true in the case of children who may unintentionally chew on materials containing lead. What’s particularly terrifying is that developers and infrastructure companies frequently claim that lead is not harmful, resulting in a misinformed public who are exposed to risks that they didn’t intentionally create. Through such a discussion, Fennell aims to fuel a discourse that would make lead a public matter and provoke collective action against such detrimental practices. Fennell’s articulation is very similar to the article ‘The Geology of New Media’ by Jussi Parikka, that we read for class. In that article, Parikka analyzed how elements used in our present technology could cause potentially harm our environment and our health when they are improperly disposed. He provides the examples of Benzene  trichloroethylene and Freon which “are not necessarily “things” we associate with digital media cultural ephemerality, but they are some of the historical examples of health hazards caused from production of disk drives.”

 

 

Final

SynesthEasy Annotated Bibliography

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Radvansky, Gabriel A., Bradley S. Gibson, and M. Windy McNerney. “Synesthesia and Memory: Color Congruency, Von Restorff, and False Memory Effects.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 37.1 (2010): 219-29. PsycARTICLES. Web. 27 Nov. 2014.

The authors of this article are Gabriel A. Radvansky, Bradley S. Gibson and M. Windy McNerney. Radvansky is a professor in the Department of Psychology at University of Notre Dame. Gibson is an associate professor in the same department at University of Notre Dame. McNerny was a doctoral student under the direction of Dr. Radvansky at time of publication, but has since earned her PhD in Cognitive Psychology. In this article, the authors aim to show how synesthesia influences memory performance with regards to word lists that produce the experience of synesthesia. The authors claim that synesthetes place more emphasis on item-specific than relational processing. Memory performance is enhanced because this method allows to specifically target a particular memory during recall. In other words, memory retrieval is more organized around distinct features of each item rather than their similarities. The author’s intended audiences are psychologists and other academic professionals.

As the article was in the form of a study conducted by the authors, there was no bias. The authors were objective, providing both arguments and counter-arguments in the article. The article accurately concluded that people with synesthesia recall more words from lists than others, but have difficulty processing words with incongruent colors. The authors also clarify that synesthetes do not have an overall superior memory than others but just for items that elicit photisms. The weaknesses of this article were that it only focused on word lists and not on more complex forms such as sentences and narratives. Thus, it only shows one aspect of memory in synethetes. Moreover, the article only focuses on those 18 years and older. It does not show the effects of such studies on children and senior citizens with synesthesia, who have problems with memory recall. However, the article supports the thesis of our project which is that people with synesthesia have better memory and inducing synesthesia can have positive effects on the performance of an individual. The information presented in this article is very significant because not only does it show the positive effects of synesthesia but also points out some of its problems such as difficulty of synesthetes in recalling words with incongruent colors, that we seek to avoid or improve.

Colizoli, Olympia, Jaap M. J. Murre, and Romke Rouw. “Pseudo-Synesthesia through Reading Books with Colored Letters.” PLoS ONE 7.6 (2012): 1-10. PLoS ONE. PLOS, 27 June 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2014.

The authors of this article are Olympia Colizoli, Jaap M.J. Murre and Romke Rouw. Colizoli is a professor of Brain and Cognition in the Department of Psychology at University of Amsterdam. Murre is also a professor of Brain and Cognition in the faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at University of Amsterdam. Rouw is also a professor of Brain and Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the same university. In this article, the authors aim to examine if it is possible to produce synesthetic-like experience of synesthetes to enhance learning. They also intend to examine the effects of learning synesthetic associations in non-synesthetes. The authors claim that synesthesia is not necessarily an innate, genetically inherited trait. Features of synesthesia are present in early toddlers and synesthesia is also influenced by environmental factors. The intended audiences of the authors are other professors of psychology and academic professionals.

The authors are more inclined towards the benefits that synesthesia provides. There is hardly any discussion on the problems that synesthesia causes such as the difficulty in identifying words with incongruent colors and the challenge to interpret the magnitude of certain numbers. The article is effective in explaining the potential benefits of learning and adapting synesthesia. However, the studies are pretty inconclusive because they don’t observe the long-term effects of induced synesthesia and if it activates the same neural connections as it does in synesthetes. The article supports our thesis as it demonstrates that it is possible to teach people to experience and learn like synesthetes. It is very relevant to our paper because it is shows possible ways of teaching synesthesia that are congruent with our product.

Yaro, Caroline, and Jamie Ward. “Searching for Shereshevskii: What Is Superior about the Memory of Synaesthetes?” The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 60.5 (2007): 681-95. Web. 4 Dec. 2014. <http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17470210600785208>.

Caroline Yaro is a research assistant in the Institute of Child Health at University College London. Jamie Ward is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the same university, whose main research interest includes synaesthesia. In this article, the authors aim to study to what extent a powerful memory is a characteristic of synesthetes and to explain this difference with respect to the cognitive workings of the memory system in the brain. The authors claim that people with synesthesia have better memory for stimuli that induce synesthesia in comparison to stimuli that do not. They also claims that synesthesia usually possess a far superior memory is because of their better memory and perception of color. The intended audiences of the authors are other professors of psychology and academia in the sciences.

The article is objective and displayed no bias as the authors evaluated both the advantages and disadvantages of synesthesia. The strengths of the article are its explanation of how synesthesia operates in the brain and how it heightens memory of synesthetes. They clearly show the potentiality of synesthetic elements being simulated in non-synesthetes for enhanced memory and perception. However, the authors only tested the elements of synesthesia in the synesthetes for better memory but did not test non-synesthetes that were trained with synesthetic elements. This would have allowed a better understanding whether the superior memory in synesthetes in innate or acquired. The information in the article supports our thesis as it verifies that synesthesia results in a superior memory and perception. The article is very relevant for our paper because it provides us with a cognitive understanding of synesthesia to explain the phenomenon.

 

Assignments, Final, Reflections

WriterCreator

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Imagine a piece of technology that would make it easy for writers to experimentally yield different versions of their work. Writers would no longer struggle as they become uninhibited in their creativity. Behold the revolutionary “WriterCreator”. It is an application that assists a person in producing their work in different forms of writing, for example, poems, prose, plays, songs, and even pictorial representations of their work. But this software would not only be limited to just writing forms. Writers could also use the software to experiment with multitudes of writing styles. The styles would not only include the traditional ones such as rhetoric, persuasive as so forth, but also new, evolving styles such as the Twitter style of writing that motivates the writer to be succinct and avoid verbosity. Assist is the operative word. The application would not serve to do the work for the writer and subsequently allow laziness on their part, but merely help by providing advice and lessen the struggle some writers may experience when experimenting with different writing forms and styles.

My idea is inspired from the works of David Foster Wallace, Nicholas Baker and Jennifer Egan, authors who have experimented with different styles and forms of writing, as discussed by Jason Pontin in “How Authors Write”. As Pontin points out, Wallace and Baker are known for their use of footnotes in their writings such as the “Host” and “The Mezzanine” respectively. Additionally, Egan has also approached a different way of storytelling by using PowerPoint slides in “A Visit from the Goon Squad” (Pontin).

Such creative attempts to attract and enrich the readers’ reading experience not only triggered my idea, but also encouraged me to enhance it by introducing improvements upon current technologies that somehow limit or make it difficult for authors to creatively manipulate their writing. Thus, my product also features an improvement on the footnotes technology implemented in word processors such as Microsoft Word. In my opinion, the tool in Word is very cumbersome to use. So, my software would also consist of a footnotes system that does not automatically place the note at the end of the page, but instead initially is in the shape of a bubble above the text that is being footnoted. As soon as the writer has finished typing his footnote, they can double-click on it and the note would be allocated to its rightful position. I think this would be a great help to anyone who writes because it makes it easier to refer to the text that is being footnoted while writing the note. Even though it would not be of much help when footnoting a citation, but people who use footnotes to convey extra information apart from the story could find it very convenient and helpful.

Nonetheless, this technology would be created to address the absence of a tool that allows such a writing experiments. Of course, there are websites and media that help writers write in different forms and styles. Searching Google would easily yield websites that provide templates and even an automatic poem generator for the purpose of writers:

random poem generator

screenplay_format_sm

 

However, my software intends to be broader and more encompassing of all multitudes of forms and styles and thus act as a hub for all writers to attempt creative formats of writing and reaching. The new media technology is therefore, a build up on previous technologies. As authors such as Kevin Kelly and Lev Manovich in “What Technology Wants” and “The Language of New Media” respectively, state, much of today’s technology is derived from previous inventions in an attempt to improve upon the flaws and provide a better product enhanced with new features and conveniences. Furthermore, the software is a speculative or reflective design that isn’t simply restricted to improvements; it is also an attempt to transcend the technologies of the present like in Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” and contemplate on technological fluency (Kraus 76).

Moreover, I want to implement this idea in the form of software rather than a device in order to avoid the use of materials that are harmful to the environment. Creating a physical device would mean an accumulation of poisonous chemicals such as Benzene and trichloroethylene that cause health hazards (Parikka). Yet, the larger goal is to easily distribute the software to the masses of aspiring and professional writers. The product would be a cloud-based software available on all platforms like Mac, Android, Windows and on devices such as the iPhone, iPad, PCs, MacBook etc., that would allow users to synchronize it with all their devices and work on the go. The application would be a paid one, but will have a reasonable price in order to maintain a large consumer base.

The software would be created with the help of a software developer that would make it multiplatform. The crux of the tool, the advice feature, would be designed with the help of experts in various fields of poetry, playwriting and so forth as well as scholarly English professors with regards to writing styles. As mentioned earlier, the application is not intended as a replacement for the entire writing process of the writer. They will always possess complete creative liberty and the technology would by no means deprive them of such powers.

In addition, there would be a global advertising campaign for this product. Since the target audience is the writer, it should thus be catered to writers from all parts of the world. Television advertisements would show the results of using this product and how it positively enriches the creative talents of writers and appeal to their readers in unique ways. Also, social media advertising would be vital to the promotion campaign and I would hire people who would be marketing ambassadors to spread the message about this application. Plus, to attract potential customers, I would initially provide free 30-day trials.

Works Cited
Atwood, Margaret. Oryx & Crake. Bloomsbury: London, 2003. Print.
Format of a screenplay. Digital image. Filmmaker IQ. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://filmmakeriq.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/screenplay_format_sm.png>.
Kelly, Kevin. What Technology Wants. New York: Viking, 2010. Print.
Kraus, Kari, and Charity Hancock. “Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday.” Textual Cultures 8.1 (2013): 72-100. Print.
Manovich, Lev. The Language of New Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. Print.
Parikka, Jussi. “The Geology of Media.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/the-geology-of-media/280523/>.
Pontin, Jason. “How Authors Write | MIT Technology Review.” MIT Technology Review. MIT Technology Review, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <http://www.technologyreview.com/review/429654/how-authors-write/>.
A Random Poem Generator. Digital image. DE Tools of the Trade. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2014. <http://www.detools.ca/wp-content/2011/06/poetry3.jpg>.
Reflections

TRACK CHANGES QUESTIONS

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You have discussed writers such as George R.R. Martin who use obsolete word processors such as WordStar. You justify this in terms of its practicality for the authors, but what about the issue of sentimentality? Some writers can also use a certain writing format because of their attachment. To what extent is our use of certain word processing technologies related with sentiment?

Writing is considered a tool of self-expression. But it is also true that certain tools we use to write are also forms of self-expression. Therefore, to what extent is our word processor a mode of expressing ourselves?

We have become intrinsically connected to technology. As you mention in your article, even though Martin may be considered old-fashioned in his use of WordStar, he is still connected to the technological world (13). Is it truly possible for us to disconnect ourselves from the technology that surrounds us?

 

Reflections

Oryx and Crake – Provocation

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Loneliness is repressing. And claustrophobic. In our modern world, we constantly crave attention and have hundreds of friends on Facebook and Instagram. We have a need to socialize with people because loneliness is not an option. The Snowman’s loneliness is the hardest to reconcile with. He craves human interaction and physical contact with another person. He needs to hear the voices of people and animals. In desperation, he imitates the voices of animals such as the roar of a lion to reassure himself (11). It feels like he is shouting into the void because no one can hear him. We don’t have to fear that in our world. Modern technology has equipped us to be in constant contact with people all around the world. We are not alone. But in a way, Jimmy’s loneliness still feels familiar. Our technology has certainly upgraded our level of communication, but in a way has diminished our human interaction. We mainly speak through technology. Is it possible that once we realize the importance and necessity of human interaction it might be too late?

One of the most interesting scenes in Oryx and Crake was the one on pages 31-32, where Atwood describes the separation of the Compounds and the cities. “Long ago, in the days of knights and dragons, the kings and dukes had lived in castles, with high walls and drawbridges and slots on the ramparts so you could pour hot pitch on your enemies, said Jimmy’s father, and the Compounds were the same idea. Castles were for keeping you and your buddies nice and safe inside, and for keeping everybody else outside” (32). I found this passage enlightening as it resonates with the social conditions of our time. There is a class division in society as the bourgeoisie (the business owners, CEOs, bankers) are separated from the working class (factory workers and so forth). the bourgeois society shields itself from the rebuke and protests from the working class by creating laws and rules that legalize the inequality between these two classes, acting as castles that keep these people safe. Similarly, the society in the novel is very similar as the OrganInc people deem the ‘pleeblands’ as unsafe and beneath them: “there were people cruising around in those places who could forge anything and who might be anybody, not to mention the loose change – the addicts, the muggers, the paupers, the crazies” (31).

Another thought-provoking instance in the novel is when Jimmy/Snowman’s mother condemns the OrganInc as unethical and a “moral cesspool” (64). “At NooSkins’ prices it is. You hype your wares and take all their money and then they run out of cash, and it’s no more treatments for them. They can rot as far as you and your pals are concerned. Don’t you remember the way we used to talk, everything we wanted to do? Making life better for people – not just people with money. You used to be so … you had ideals, then” (64). We can observe this terrible truth in our society as well. Our culture is based on profits and money. Big corporations such as the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry promise in their advertisements and propaganda a better life for their consumers. But they only cater to those with money. What about the poorer sections of the society who cannot afford to pay exorbitant amounts of money for these services and medications that could potentially save their lives? Everyone has a right to health and development but such corporations in their goal to earn profits stray from achieving the common good.

In addition, the environmental destruction in the world of Oryx and Crake is terrifying. I am afraid to ask, but is that where are planet is heading? Jimmy’s mother discusses how beaches and many eastern coastal cities were washed away due to the rising of the sea level. “And she used to snivel about her grandfather’s Florida grapefruit orchard that had dried up like a giant raisin when the rains had stopped coming, the same year Lake Okeechobee had shrunk to a reeking mud puddle and the Everglades had burned for three weeks straight” (72). This reminds me of our situation – the increasing global warming, carbon footprints, pollution etc., but Jimmy’s world is so much worse. Margaret Atwood shows our future in a way; how are actions impact the planet we inhabit. I love that through this fictional universe, we get a glimpse of the reality of our present and perhaps act as warning of what we shouldn’t be doing.

Reflections

QUESTIONS FOR KARI KRAUS

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Reflective design also highlights beauty as part of the equation in design (76). But how does beauty provide a different interpretation, and can it be practical rather than just for aesthetic purposes in technology? Moreover, is it possible for the aspect of ‘beauty’ in reflective design help resolve technological issues?

On page 76, technological fluency is defined as “the capability to understand, use, and assess technology beyond its rote application.” How can different perspectives help address the flaws of technology that are observed in its common application?

To what extent is the original interpretation of the work lost in order to construct new interpretations? Also, is it possible that in this pursuit, the author’s perspective and intent in the text is compromised?

 

 

Midterm

THE SOCIAL REALITY OF TUMBLR (FINAL)

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Tumblr is a social network that is apart from other networks because it is driven by content and not by the social graph, harboring different communities of shared interests (Cheshire). Sufferers and victims of depression, eating disorders, anxiety and so forth can especially find blogs that expound and understand their problems helpful and supportive. It can have a therapeutic effect as such individuals can gain acceptance and avoid the alienation that they usually experience in the outside world.

Tumblr has played an incredibly positive role in my life. It’s posts of inspiration and self-acceptance really helped me during my battle with depression. They encouraged me to believe in the optimism of life and to see myself in a positively different way. However, lately I have been observing that there has been an increase in the number of depression-related posts that express tragic and suicidal messages that frankly serve to worsen depression if not actually causing it. There are also ‘pro-ana’ blogs that promote the eating disorder anorexia nervosa as a lifestyle choice, which I found truly horrifying, as I have suffered from anorexia nervosa because of my depression. Such blogs also help in causing depression and inculcate the belief that starving yourself is a beneficial choice. Hence girls who are not able to adopt these ideas can have low self-esteem, which may progress into depression. I chose the topic of depression because not only do I have personal experience dealing with it, but also because I am curious to know whether Tumblr that helped me in my recovery is actually at the root of the problem. It is my opinion that Tumblr actually creates a paradox – it certainly helps people gain acceptance and achieve freedom of self-expression, but it can also inflict and exacerbate psychological and emotional damage and cultivate a community of victims.

There has been a growing online cultivation of beautiful sadness related to depression on Tumblr: users can take a photo, manipulate it into black and white, pair it with a quote about misconstrued grief, and instantly be consoled with compassion and sympathy by other bloggers (Figure 1) (Bine). However, this has serious psychological ramifications. According to Dr. Mark Reinecke, a chief psychologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, it is tempting for adolescents during their vulnerable years to seek out self-affirmation and recognition from others, this hope of being recognized as strong, beautiful and mysterious by Tumblr followers. But more often than not, it results in more teenagers believing they are depressed, self-pitying, and self-harming. It is very easy for such glorification of self-pity to occur on Tumblr (Bine). The aforementioned ‘reblogging’ mechanism makes it very easy to proliferate pictures and graphic gifs. The exhibition of suicide, depression, self-harm or self-loathing under the assumption that it is beautiful, romantic and deep has resulted in a flourishing community of people feeding off each other’s emotions (Bine).

 

FIGURE 2. EXAMPLES OF ‘BEAUTIFUL SADNESS’ POSTS ON TUMBLR

sad

FIGURE 1. EXAMPLES OF ‘BEAUTIFUL SADNESS’ POSTS ON TUMBLR

Therefore, searching the “depression” tag on Tumblr produces a disclaimer at the top of the page: “If you or someone you know is dealing with an eating disorder, self harm issues, or suicidal thoughts, please visit our Counseling & Prevention Resources page for a list of services that may be able to help” (Bine).

However, the word depression is slowly losing its meaning on Tumblr and in people’s minds. There is a critical lack of understanding as adolescents confuse normal, everyday challenges with clinical disorders such as depression. This over-diagnosis has become a social trend on Tumblr (Bine). This phenomena can acutely observed in teenage girls: between 2008 and 2010, 12 percent of teenage girls aged between 12 and 17 suffered from a major depressive episode, which is three times higher than the rate of teenage boys (4 percent), according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2012 (Bine).

In my opinion, the increase in depressive episodes can be a direct cause of social media like Tumblr because of the content that tends to circulate. Certainly teenagers might delve into self-pitying and glorification of depression on Tumblr, but they are also subjected to images and posts that continually reiterate the same message that are not necessarily positive and uplifting. Examples of messages include “I want to be skinny”, “I want to die” and one pretty abysmal one: “Happiness is for beautiful people. Not me.” Such messages show that Tumblr does not always inspire or help others. It might just worsen the very problem it tries to solve through self-expression. Moreover, I disagree to some extent with Bine’s view that there has been an over-diagnosis of depression as teenagers have a misguided notion of what entails depression. These tragic and desolate messages are a strong indication that depression is a serious problem. I think classifying it as some misunderstood idea conceived by teenagers severely undermines the grave need to address the root cause of depression. Unfortunately, popular social media such as Tumblr might just be one of the plenitude of reasons that trigger depression in these adolescents.

Furthermore, emotional and psychological harm in the form of depression is also perpetuated by another overt mechanism of Tumblr: the “trigger warning.” These are tags attached to posts that may contain content that might be viscerally disturbing to some users (Bell). For example, if a post mentions depression, the writer will add a tag saying “trigger warning: depression.” Issues such as rape and self-harming also carry trigger warnings (Figure 2). Such warnings are justified, as survivors would not want reminders of their experiences. However, it is possible that such trigger warnings are possibly contributing to the creation of a community of victims (Bell). The existence of these warnings heightens the reader’s sense of danger and also pre-empts psychic pain and behave in a similar way as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder briefings. Studies have shown that debriefing people during disasters and terrorist attack on PTSD resulted in more people qualifying for the disorder and feel depressed and anxious (Bell). In other words, early interventions were actually hindering the brain’s natural recovery process. The trigger warnings in their attempt to protect the users are more likely to increase feelings of fear and victimization. Warning people of potential trauma is a self-fulfilling promise of trauma (Bell). Therefore, Tumblr’s attempt to create a utopian safe community is actually creating one of entitled victims.

 

trigger

FIGURE 3. EXAMPLES OF POSTS WITH ‘TRIGGER WARNINGS’
FIGURE 3. EXAMPLES OF POSTS WITH ‘TRIGGER WARNINGS’

Overall, Tumblr can be a platform where different kinds of people find their community and avoid the humiliation and alienation they may experience in the external world. It can psychologically and emotionally support them. But one must also be wary of Tumblr. The microblogging website might actually cause emotional harm as posts relating to depression keep circulating and trigger warnings inflict more pain on emotionally vulnerable people.

 

WORKS CITED

Bell, Lenor. “Trigger Warnings: Sex, Lies and Social Justice Utopia on Tumblr.” 6.1 (2013): n. pag. Print. (Im)Personal Desires: Pornography, Sexuality And Social Networks Of Desire.

Bine, Anne-Sophie. “Social Media Is Redefining ‘Depression.’” The Atlantic. N.p., 28 Oct. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Cheshire, Tom. “Tumbling on Success: How Tumblr’s David Karp Built a £500 Million Empire (Wired UK).” Wired UK. N.p., 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Everything is so lovely. So why do I feel so sad? Digital image. Blogger, 14 Apr. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://huishan0420.blogspot.com/2013/04/im-lucky-because-im-surrounded-by.html>.

Stedeford, Sarah Louise. Amelia Zadro Smoke Break Outtake. Digital image. Sarah Louise Stedeford. Tumblr, 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://sarahstedeford.tumblr.com/post/62718243127/amelia-zadro-smoke-break-outtake-by-sarah-louise>.

Trigger warning of alcohol. Digital image. AMERICAblog. AMERICAblog News, 3 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://americablog.com/2014/04/trigger-warning-article-critical-trigger-warnings.html>.

Trigger warnings of homophobic slurs. Digital image. AMERICAblog. AMERICAblog News, 3 Apr. 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2014. <http://americablog.com/2014/04/trigger-warning-article-critical-trigger-warnings.html>.

Reflections

MY EXPERIENCE AT THE BOOK TRACES EVENT

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I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Book Traces event. This was my first time at Columbia University, which has one of the most beautiful campuses I have ever seen. The library assistants guided us to the book racks focusing on American and British Literature pre-1923 where we were supposed to find books which had old annotations, dedications and so  on. Initially, I had no luck. I searched for the oldest books on the shelves but none of them held any significant markings. I was just beginning to lose my enthusiasm when finally after an hour of searching, I encountered a seemingly plain book that contained a heartwarming dedication:

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Soon, I encountered another interesting book which contained a rather unusual marking:

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This was the highlight of the day. I am unsure whether this illustration is from the 19th century, but apparently I was the only one who discovered a drawing in a book.

The event was quite an enlightening experience for me. These books contain not only stories by the authors but also of the readers themselves. Every marking reveals the thoughts and feelings of the reader and gives us a glimpse into their mind. It felt like I had time traveled to the 19th century. To say I enjoyed the event would be an understatement.

I believe that Book Traces is an essential project that must continue and spread all over the country and even the world because these books need to be protected. They contain so much history and so many memories that it would be cruel to destroy or discard them. I am especially prejudiced to this cause because I am an avid reader who worships books. Nonetheless, these books need to be preserved, studied and admired.

My one suggestion to improve the project would be to expand to other genres of books as well. May be the project could be stretched to include not only American and British literature but also literature from other nations as well. But for this to occur, the cause must be spread internationally.

Reflections

REFLECTION ON KELLY’S ‘WHAT TECHNOLOGY WANTS’

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In Chapter 5 of What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly, I found the “choice of returning to our early state” particularly interesting. “Citizens in developing countries can merely take a bus back to their villages, where they can live with age-old traditions and limited choice. They will not starve. In a similar spirit of choice, if you believe that the peak of existence was reached in Neolithic times, you can camp out in a clearing in the Amazon. If you think the golden age was in the 1890s, you can find a farm among the Amish. We have lots of opportunity to revisit the past, but few people really want to live there.” (80). The urban city is the land of choice and technology. As Kelly states, they are “technological artifacts” (81). We are so accustomed to a technology-based society that it is almost impossible to imagine our lives without the ease and comfort we derive from it. When I was a junior in high school, we went on a camping trip to a hill station in India. It was a remote part of town, so we had no access to the Internet. Even our phones and laptops were confiscated. It was certainly refreshing to experience the simplistic life of the area, but soon all of us were agitated and restive to use our hand held devices or use the Internet. We wanted to check our Facebook profiles, our twitter pages and so on. Soon the once refreshing and charming hill station became a place of nightmare because we could not live without modern technology. Thus, although one may criticize industrious cities with “rapacious appetites for energy materials and attention,” life in the city is considered the most desirable as people voluntarily “leave the balm of a village and squat in a smelly, leaky hut in a city slum” (82). With cities, individuals also experience freedom not present in a rural society and are confronted with a vast range of choices and opportunities for their development. In short, the “city as a whole is wonderful technological invention” (84).

In addition, the theory of inevitability is also interesting and thought provoking. The theory states that when “the necessary web of supporting technology is established, then the next adjacent technological step seems to emerge as if on cue” (138). However, I find this idea very problematic as it disregards human ingenuity and the efforts of great inventors such as Nikola Tesla, Edison, Marconi and so on. In Chapter 7, Kelly provides the example of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Before Harry Potter was released in 1997, several versions of the story were published by authors such as Neil Gaiman, who worte a comic book about a dark-haired English who discovers he is a wizard on his 12th birthday, and Jane Yolen, who wrote about a boy named Henry who attends a magical school for young wizards and must vanquish an evil wizard (146). Although there are certain similarities between these stories and that if Harry Potter, Rowling’s work cannot be discredited and written off as a mere inevitability. The intricate and particular details of the world of Harry Potter have been created and written by none other than Rowling (146) On the other hand, even though I find the theory of inevitability flawed and problematic, I concede to the fact that it highlights a broad framework of future technologies based on existing inventions.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: If, according to the notion of inevitability, most modern inventions and discoveries are either improvements or based on supporting technologies, is it possible to invent technology independent of past ideas?

Reflections, Uncategorized

What is ‘New Media’?

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New Media can be defined in several ways. It is another type of media, but it is also a particular type of computer data which makes media programmable. New media technologies thus have the characteristics of being manipulated, networkable and interactive. But new media is constantly evolving and its definition ever changing. What maybe characterized as new media today is different from its perception in the past and also in the future.                However, what sets new media apart from the traditional media is its digitization of content. As Jussi Parikka states, in new media ideas become coded into zeroes and ones, and thus detached from the material sphere of communication.  Nonetheless, the most important features of new media according to Manovich, are its modular structure, variability and branching interactivity. A modular structure means that individual media elements such as images, sounds, pages of text and so on, always maintain their separate identity. The variability principle of new media means that an object in new media can exist in different versions. The concept of branching interactivity can be explained by the most popular new media structure of today: hypermedia. In hypermedia, multimedia elements that create a document are connected through hyperlinks.
Hyperlinking has also transformed the writing process because it allows people to structure and aggregate their information differently. Blog posts, articles, opinion columns are now organized according to hyperlink organization. subsequently, new media results in the emergence of a distinctive voice of modern bloggers — reactive, informal, colloquial, personal and loquacious. Yet this level of personal exposure reveals the dangers of new media. Online sites and corporations can monitor user content such as personal emails and browser history for advertisement purposes.
Although new media is often separated from the ‘old’ media, they are inextricably linked. As Manovich explains, cinema was the original multimedia as filmmakers experimented with moving images, sound and text. the principle of new media were already present in the old medium of cinema — discrete representation, random access and multimedia. Old media can hence be characterized as the ancestor of new media. Therefore one can also observe that what really separates new media from the old are not its principles but its programmability. Nevertheless, new media is slowly eroding the importance of traditional media as it has enabled the average person to discuss and actively participate in political, social and economic issues, implying that old data outlets are secondary sources of information.                                                               Overall, new media values  individuality over conformity. It is a semblance of the most perfect conception of utopia composed of unique individuals. New media subsequently assures users that their thoughts and choices are unique.

Works Cited:
Parikka, Jussi. “The Geology of Media.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.
Ponti, Jason. “How Authors Write | MIT Technology Review.” MIT Technology Review. MIT Technology Review, 24 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.
Socha, Bailey, and Barbara Eber-Schmid. “WHAT IS NEW MEDIA?” New Media Institute. New Media Institute, 2014. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.