1. For this week’s blog post I decided to write about “The Capture of Sound” by Brian Winston. In this article,  Winston gets into the detail of how the capture of sound and radio began. On page 33 of the article, Winston states that “The first electromagnetic device which converted electrical waves into sound is credited to a Dr C.G.Page of Massachusetts in 1837.” This quote highlights the origin of electrical waves that create sounds, which started way back in 1837. If we fast forward to current day society, the advancements we have made shows that there are so many different devices that capture and project sounds. To the music that plays from the bottom of our phones to the surround sound system that is a normality for movie theaters, we continue to evolve. Instead of talking on the phone, we are able to send voice notes, or talk on facetime, this is a new way to project sounds with a more easier approach than ever before. The only issue with the advancement of technology is how we are casting out face to face interactions. The rise of the smartphones changed the way we project sounds, there is a whole possible way to have a voice conversation with another without calling their phone. Dr. C.G Page was credited for the first electromagnetic device that created sound from electrical waves back in 1837, and all the technological advancements we made wouldn’t be a thing without this breakthrough.  

Brian Winston. “The Capture of Sound.” Media Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. Routledge, 199

For this week’s response, I will talk about Brian Winston’s article “The Capture of Sound”. In this article, Winston talks about the invention of the telephone. He starts the article with “it is unlikely that Philip Reiss, researcher into Helmholtz’s wave theory, was particularly looking for a system to transmit the human voice”(Winston, 1998). I find this interesting because, from the time when the telephone was invented to modern technology now, society has advanced very far. The invention of the telephone led to many things. We went from the telegraph to wireless and portable phones.  Not only new technology but new ways of communicating with each other. However, this is a good and bad thing. Back when the telephone was invented, people used that and communicated face to face. Nowadays, we have more than the telephone to rely on for communicating with other people. The boom of the telephone ultimately influenced this change in how we communicate with others. The only bad aspect is that we rely a lot on technology to communicate with others which I will guess was not the idea back when the telephone was first invented. It was made to use for communication and to expand on that, however, in today’s society it has expanded at an alarming rate.

 

Brian Winston. “The Capture of Sound.” Media Technology and Society: A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. Routledge, 1998.

All my life I was told not to use wikipedia as a trusted source when it came to doing research and writing papers. I never had an issue using wikipedia as a place to get some quick information on something. For this assignment I posted an Albanian flag since there weren’t many pictures of it. I wanted to use a picture that I took of the Albanian flag myself. Wikipedia did not let me use it because it might have been someone elses work when in fact it was not. I started to get frustrated because I really wanted to use it but then, I gave up. It was so interesting to see how easily you can change pictures and information on a source that millions of people access every single day. I still trust wikipedia I think it takes a lot to put false information, there are guidelines and precautions that Wiki takes on what you post. I’m sure there is some information that is false or misinterpreted but for the most part I think it’s mostly accurate. I still wish I could use that picture because it is my own picture that I took in Albania this Summer!

For this week’s blog post I chose to write about Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan. This article struck my interest because I grew up in a time that technology was just starting to advance. Computers were starting to become smaller, laptops were being introduced, ipod and iphone was introduced, T.V.’s were becoming plasmas etc. My generation knew what it was like to go outside and play everytime there was a school break, computers were used once in a blue moon for homework only, schools didnt really use computers either. Now, technology is accessible for anyone at any age. I think it is important for the newer generation of kids to read about this or watch this. We have smartphones that can do anything with just a click of a button. You can research and find anything, you store your entire life in a smartphone. We have grown so attached to phones and computers that sometimes you get anxiety when you dont see your phone. This year alone I went to Albania two times each way was 12 hours then I went to Jamaica. I was so itchy to use my phone because I kill time when I am on my phone. I read the news, I go through my pictures, I go on facebook or instagram etc. It just shows you how much weve grown to be so attached to something so small yet its the biggest part of our lives.

I know from personal experience that transcriptions can be very challenging. People simply speak at a much faster rate than we can write or even type. When communication transitions from orality to literacy there’s a lot that can be lost or misunderstood. It’s the same reason I prefer calling or talking in person over texting. Because it’s not what you say, its how you say it. Simple things like sarcasm, aggression, or sorrow simply require more effort to communicate through writing. While completing the NYPL oral history assignment it was obvious that the technology that automatically generates transcripts needs to be improved upon. But what struck me most was the consensus percentage points on some of the stories.  It just goes to show that even though we might all be presented with the same material the interpretation of this material isn’t always going to match.

For this week’s blog post, I chose to write about Marshall McLuhan’s Medium is the Massage. I absolutely loved reading this work because I believe it is extremely valuable, and imperative for the young generation of today to hear. McLuhan states that all the technologies that were ever created are the messages themselves, not exclusively the messenger, delivering the message. Technology is something that was originally created to help mankind, to benefit us. Today, it has become something that, while yes, it is super beneficial, and is so helpful and quick in everything, has crippled us and made us addicted to, on top of what Marshal calls the  “Age of Anxiety”.  Anxiety is definiltey one of the top words I would put hand in hand with technology. I can say from personal experience how any times my outlook and stress level would’ve been better had I not been attached to a device or connected to a technological relation of some sort. I won’t sit here and write how we would’ve been so much better off before smartphones, or advanced robotic equipment, because everyone is born in their right time. Not as second to early or late, and how they navigate this world is intended for this time period. But it is so crucial to check in with ourselves, to make sure we aren’t falling to prey as much as we unfortunately do nowadays.

For this week’s blog, I will talk about Johanna Drucker’s “Comparative Textual Media”. Specifically, I will focus on one of her chapters called “From A Screen”. In this chapter, Drucker talks about letters and the alphabet. She brings up “who created the alphabet?”. That is a good question. Most people believe it was the Greeks. Others do not believe it was the Greeks. Everyone has a different idea of how the alphabet was created. Drucker did debunk this concept by saying “The Semitic language speakers forged an alphabet to serve a tongue whose consonantal morphemes communicated adequately without vowels, and the technical specifications for their writing were different than for the Greeks, who later modified the writing for their own use”(Drucker, 2013). However, who is to say that the Greeks didn’t invent letters? They simply just changed what they learned. Other cultures also do this with letters and make it their own to fit into their society. Letters and the alphabet change throughout cultures, however, they all consist of the alphabet that is conditioned into our minds when we were young. The ABC song is the same, but in every culture it’s different. It isn’t about who came up with it first, it’s about who can modify it into their own.

References: HAYLES, N. KATHERINE, and JESSICA PRESSMAN, editors. Comparative Textual Media: Transforming the Humanities in the Postprint Era. University of Minnesota Press, 2013

For this week’s blog post, I am choosing to respond to Johanna Drucker’s “From A to Screen.” In the reading Drucker ask questions about the transfer of letters from print to screen, noting that the status of letters cannot be resolved through technology alone but necessarily involves reflective and even perceptual questions. Drucker states that “So let’s return to the letters, the inventory of their conception, and ways such notions shift in the transubstantiation the alphabet undergoes in the course of historical change and technological variation.” (Drucker, 74) This quote stands out because were moving to the new age where letters are installed on the screen. We are fortunate to have a screen on our devices. The screen provides us with text and graphic images. For instance, the Touchscreen is becoming the new normal for devices. We often must be touching or swiping the screen to used it. For devices like the iPhone or car dashboards which are mostly touchscreen now. I found it to be very beneficial to have touchscreen because it’s much easier to work. Nobody never questions how letters appear on our screen we just like the fact it follows our command.

Work Citied
Drucker, Johanna. “From A to Screen.” Comparative Textual Media, University of Minnesota Press, 2013, pp. 71–96.

Museums to me are wonderful place to be and spend some time in.I give myself an excuse to go whether it is for class or even I just got some free time on my hands. Museums are buildings that contain information within various subject. They are literally libraries of history and information lined up against the walls. They could contain information in topics such as history of a lost civilization or even to less important stuff like pizza. The Metropolitan museum in New York is one of the most famous sites in world. It contains physical history from different parts of the world and time periods as well as art. Museums hold paintings, statues as usual ways to show history. But they can even go the creative route with Visualizations. In “What is Visualization?’ by Lev Manovich hr speaks of the definition of a visualization. According to him it is hard to pinpoint an exact definition but it is along the lines of using computers to create a visual of information which can either be static(still) or dynamic (moving).

One of my favorite examples of visuals in a museum is in the Whitney. There was an exhibit that used lights and live movies in different rooms to create fantasy like environments. Some rooms just contain lights to create physical patterns you can reach and touch other rooms are just movies you can watch with surround sound systems in the room to make it feel like your in a different environment.