Yearly Archives: 2010
Using Asynchronous Video in Online Classes – Griffiths
Griffiths, M.E., & Graham, C.R. (2009). Using Asynchronous Video in Online Classes: Results from a Pilot Study. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 6(3). Recently, I discovered that Michael E. Griffiths, Senior Project Manager in the Center for Teaching and Learning at BYU and Charles R. Graham, an Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology…
Avatars of the Word – O’Donnell– 2: The Instability of Text
O’Donnell, J. J. (2000). Avatars of the word: From papyrus to cyberspace: Harvard University Press. In this chapter, O’Donnell discusses the instability and, in some ways (un)reliability, of the written word in both printed and electronic form. The printed format is generally a far cry more consistent than the pre-Gutenberg manuscript format. However, upon closer…
Avatars of the Word– O’Donnell– 1: Plato’s Phaedrus
“A drug of ambiguous power may heal or poison.” – highly paraphrased Derrida O’Donnell, J. J. (2000). Avatars of the word: From papyrus to cyberspace: Harvard University Press. A point that O’Donnell raises early in this text is the public-vs-private setting of the pre-Gutenberg writer, who wrote, copied, and distributed his texts in hand-written manuscript…
Is a blind man’s cane part of the man?
Based on a question I found in Hayles’ book originally posed by a professor (Gregory Bateson) to his graduate students, I queried “Is a blind man’s cane part of the man?” on my Facebook page. This launched one of the longer conversations I’ve had on FB, the culmination of which is worth repurposing into a…
How We Became Posthuman 2 – Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers – Hayles
Hayles, N. K. (1999). How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics: University Of Chicago Press. In chapter 2, Virtual Bodies and Flickering Signifiers, Hayles discusses virtual reality settings and models of signification. My research has nothing to do with virtual reality as we understand the term–a computer-simulated/generated environment into which one…
How We Became Posthuman 1 – Definition and Subjectivity – Hayles
Hayles, N. K. (1999). How we became posthuman: Virtual bodies in cybernetics, literature, and informatics: University Of Chicago Press. Katherine Hayles puts forth this text on post humanism, which essentially discusses how information lost its body, that is, it is inspired by Hans Moravec’s prediction that one could in the future download an entire human…
The Gutenberg Galaxy – Experiencing a new technology – McLuhan
McLuhan, M. (1968). The gutenberg galaxy: The making of typographic man: Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968. This text, obviously enough by title, largely addresses the effect of the Gutenberg press on both oral and chirograph communication. There is much to this that will be of use to me as I get further into my…
Movies: The Reel World – McLuhan
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1st MIT Press ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. In this chapter, McLuhan begins by noting that movies, which for the purposes of this post only certain aspects refer also to video, merges the mechanical and the organic in a special way. On the base level, the…
Pre-Proposal posted
I am aware that I’ve been getting many new readers to this blog over the past few weeks and months. Furthermore, I realize that someone embarking on this blog anew might be at least somewhat lost, as if opening a text to the middle page and beginning to read. I frequently reference the “OVC” and…
The Spoken Word: Flower of Evil? – McLuhan
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. 1st MIT Press ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. “Language does for intelligence what the wheel does for the feet and the body. It enables them to move from thing to thing with greater ease and speed and ever less involvement” (113). McLuhan begins this essay with…