During this project, i decided to transcribe  Melba Wilson mainly because she was an African american woman living in my neighborhood of Harlem. the interview was based on Melba’s personal and family life. she was born in Harlem, however her family is mainly in south Carolina. she talks about her upbringing and then owning a restaurant in her own neighborhood of Harlem.  surprisingly i realized that her aunt owns the world renowned Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem. she talks about the role soul food has had in her life and family life and how it has influenced her to embark in her own business.

overall i found it an easy experience. but at times, i found it difficult  for many reasons. although she spoke clearly it seemed as if the audio would go in and out, which i could see being a problem for full transcription. i had to constantly lower any background or environmental noise, so i can hear it clearly and even then i had to replay the audio. reading the transcription that was already done by the computer, i noticed some mistakes, as it would transcribe words into the wrong but similar words. there were few edits that were done from outside so there were many computer generated mistakes. sometimes it would have the wrong pronunciation points or grammar structure. however through these mistakes i realized the computer has a high rate of understanding and transcribing human voices clear.

in the article orality and literacy by walter ong,  the author talks about how some technology is actually having a negative effect on us. in my opinion, i believe technology is a double edged sword. on one end its good, on the other its bad. technology has expanded our thinking and development as human beings. our advancements allowed us to live longer, express ourselves differently, and even interact with others differently. technology has advanced the world and connected countries to each other, who would otherwise not be connected. we were given technology in its infant form, from print, telegraphs, and telephones. we affirmed our reliance on the various technology by constantly using and developing our technology. we never questioned how technolgy would affect us in a negative way, but we always highlighted the positives. we began to rely to heavily on our modern technology which lessened the strength of our human nature. for example, people use their phones to schedule their days and important information, which i believe made our memory less powerful as we have our phones. television has made us more lazy as we sit in front of it for hours on end learning nothing in the process. social media has lessen our confidence in ourselves as we explore and envy other peoples lives, while being extremely critical of our own. technology in some forms changed the whole human experience. our dependence on technology in our daily live  is similar to a drug, and if somehow someway technology as we know was magically erased, well see a lot of tech heads suffering from withdrawal. Myself included.

reading Decolonizing The University by Marie Battiste made me reflect on the power of language and how it can be seen as a threat to manipulative takeover. when the Europeans first encountered the indigenous people, they realized the native people had a fully developed language. this was seen as a problem as it made it harder for the Europeans to convert the people to their thinking.  although the indigenous peoples language is less dominate, they could potentially catch on to the Europeans manipulative ways. this article proved to me that someone that is illiterate can be easily manipulated and sabotaged. the power of language translates to a power of freedom. one gains a differenti understanding of life and in this case the Europeans seen this

In this weeks post i will explain my reaction to the claim that technology is an extension of man. i believe this quote is intriguing because to me it seems as if the development of technology is equivalent to the development /evolution of man. written word can be seen as technology as it allowed humans to take their thoughts from their mind and put it on paper or stone for others to see. as humans progressed, technology advanced as well. the radio allowed voice to be transmitted across the country to large masses. this development helped spread live voices to hundreds of people which would typically reach a few amount of people. film allowed man to express their philosophy and imagination in a creative way to the masses. in my opinion this creation helped humans become more mindful and insightful to new ideas. thoughts that people wouldn’t typically have were expressed in film changing perceptions of different topics and concepts. in modern times our smartphones are seen as our daily tracker. our phones keep track of when we wake up(alarms), our schedule, important dates, connects us to those we need. to me smartphones show our social evolution. before phone, man had to manually write down important information, be mindful of our own schedule, and relationships. phones keep track of all of these things easily, making life in a way more convenient. on one hand we are more prepared for our daily lives. But, our reliance of phones to keep track of our affairs is making lazy.

for this weeks post i will talk about  “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” by Walter Benjamin. in this article the author talks about authenticity and art. while reading this article, i began to recall all the museums and art shows i went too, wondering if all the pieces i seen were legit work or just copied. when we are told work is an original piece we rarely think it could be a phony or altered in any way. as i get older i begin to see that claims of authenticity are accepted by those who are naive to art. in my production class i begin to see how ones perception can be manipulated by editors to give viewers a set perspective. although it is presented as authentic, the alterations made to the work make it less than real. we are constantly surrounded by so called authentic work but without proper digging and inspecting of a pieces history, we must stay skeptical to its authenticity.

“The Coming of the Microcomputer” by Brian Winston  explored the advancing technology of the computer system. when it was first introduced the computer wasn’t what it was now. when it was invented typically a computer and the monitor would be huge. taking up big spaces in rooms. scientist were the ones who could operate this technology. they were not used for public entertainment purposes but for only for government en devours. as the technology has advanced the size and its usage purpose has changed as well. it slowly became integrated into offices schools and homes , becoming readily available to the public. the size of computers also started to decrease as it became readily available for the public. in the present day, computers have become the norm in certain institutions. we use it everyday to interact with friends, business partners, and as a past time. computers have developed rapidly, that its structure have been Incorporated into our smartphones. essentially you can do everything you can do on your computer on your phone.

Johanna Drucker’s article “From A to Screen” opens your eyes to the historical and conceptual nature of how letters appear upon your computer screen. when we type, we never take into consideration that a simple letter as “A” can take on a different or new meaning based on the size and font. it is common for students in college to use a times new roman font for our work. it is seen as formal and legible but what if in another country times new roman is shunned and look down upon. with many things we are used too, we fail to recognize the history or power of words and font.  although speech is universal, language is widely different. our alphabet and how we use it, may seem peculiar to people from other countries. just how their language may be different from ours. i had a vague understanding of the power of letters. slowly im beginning to see how the look, sound, and presentation of a letter can be considered a aesthetic representation of a country or culture.

in  “The Capture of Sound” by Brian Winston’s, winston writes about the invention of the telephone and its impact in the office space. this article made me wonder how businesses conducted business with other companies without it. the telephone seems to have been apart of our human nature forever, so much so we take it for granted. talking to someone thats not in the same room or state is revolutionary in many ways. we connected with people regularly, conducted more transactions, and more work. this article also made me realize how much money the telephone has made for various companies. before companies would have to send representatives to other companies to complete business transactions. the telephone saved time and energy by simplifying this process to a simple phone call. i began to wonder how much the telephone has contributed to our current advanced society? to what extent can we relate our success by this invention? not only did it connect businesses but made talking to other countries easily accessible.