TRANSMORPHATIONS...

I looked at W. Bradford Paley's page- he is the author of TextArc and he calls it his "gentle obsession" although he credits others for supporting his project in important ways--with the java code, with the graphical cacheing, with the archive to work with, and the bandwidth to host his display. It was very interesting to look around within the TextArc site and to try its various permutations. I agree with Meg that it makes me feel a bit underpowered; my brain doesn't have enough wattage to see what this is really good for. (Yet?) Although every time I encounter one of these "texts" that use the affordances of linked computing in innovative ways I feel my mind stretch just a bit more. Coming from a text-based literacy as I do, these discursive objects that morph and change are a bit strange. (I decided to look at "Alice" because that already inhabits a bent realm. Funny, the TextArc treatment made Carroll's drug trip of a story seem "normal" because all the examples undergo a uniform semantic fractalization.)
This is from Paley's bio-page which offers a link to a really interesting visual representation of scientific paradigms and where/how they overlap and intersect: "Map of science collaboration:
opens pictorial feature in the journal Nature
Katy Borner's Places & Spaces exhibition (currently at the New York Hall of Science commissioned an “illuminated diagram” presentation of how different paradigms of science interact and where in the world science gets done. The work was a collaboration between Kevin Boyack, John Burgoon, Peter Kennard, Dick Klavans, and myself. One of the two images in that display (Kevin's Dick's and my own) was chosen to open the journal Nature's annual pictorial review as a two-page spread. Follow this link to read a short discussion of the image and related work. " Paley has very broad interests that link together through this visual/mental mapping technique.
The Gender Genie coded all my writing samples as "male" (about 10 separate pieces), but all were theory related academic essays-- even my long papers about females, such as Helene Cixsous and Katherine Hayles. When I submitted one paragraph from the Helene Cixsous text it did code "female" but that particular snippet a quoted her prose. When I (on-purpose) wrote something to be first person and descriptive it did finally code "female". Just goes to show you, assuming the algorithm makes a valid-ish frame-- nothing is perfect; nothing neutral, or ideology-free-- that academia priviledges the male persona as authentic, and so-called "female" writing is other-than. At least I can convincingly impersonate a male when I write for school, which must mean I am learning something.

More...TextArc

The associations enabled with this form seem to be semantic because the words are isolated. This gives the reader a certain ability to exercise a type of critical faculty but also denatures the text and completely decontextualizes words.

TextArc and Gender Genie

I had some trouble with TextArc but also found it fascinating. first the technical problems. It seemed to want me to disable activex filters and then when I tried that my computer scolded me and told me to re-reconfigure my security settings and it still would not let me apply activex.

p2p filesharing: a kid's eye view

According to Lawrence Lessig, in Remix, his latest book about the intersection of copyright law and culture (2008) because of the new affordances of technologies we have moved from what he calls a ReadOnly to a ReadWrite society. This has enabled the formerly passive consumer of media to become an author, a re-mixer, in ways not imagined when copyright law was established. He treats peer to peer (p2p) music filesharing as a particular case of a popular practice that our kids engage in which puts them in the category of criminals. He argues that it is critical to figure out how to de-criminalize p2p file sharing while still compensating artists for their work. “to the extent that kids view the laws regulating culture as senseless, or worse, corrupt, that makes them less likely to obey those laws” (283).Lessig calls himself a fighter “against copyright extremism” (293) and offers many stories about ordinary citizens who purposely or inadvertently transgress copyright protections. He says “there is no justification for the copyright war that we wage against our kids… let’s get on to the hard problem of crafting a copyright system that nurtures the full range of creativity and collaboration that the Internet enables: one that builds upon the economic and creative opportunity of hybrids and remix creativity” (294).

So… about p2p music filesharing—I asked two students, both 17, about the practice. James told me he has downloaded about 8000 songs to his computer in the last year. He understands it is not legal, which is why he had to hurry up and harvest as much music as possible before somebody turns off the tap. For now he doesn’t need to add any more to his stash:

“It will take me a while to hear all of what I already have” he says.

He starts to talk about Yoyo Ma.

“I’m learning about him right now—he’s so fascinating. He’s got a broad perspective and he’s considered the best cellist in the world. “Ecstasy of Gold”, from that movie the Good the Bad and the Ugly—one of the greatest westerns, right? The piece is by a guy named Ennio Maricon. Yoyo Ma is playing it with the Roma Symphonetta and it is the best thing I’ve ever heard. Before I discovered what’s out there” (meaning the Internet) “I used to listen to System of a Down and now I see that stuff is lame, commercial—I have expanded my horizons to a world that I have to know. I am studying music theory; I want to learn instruments, besides the guitar and harmonica. I like Mahler, and Brahms and I have Iron Butterfly’s songs on solo piano and Crosby, Stills and Nash’s music played as bluegrass, and complete discographies of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton and the Byrds and bob Dylan and Pink Floyd—and a lot more. This is what I want to do with my life now—something about music.”

Are you stealing this from these artists? I ask him.

“Well, maybe—I guess you could say that” James replies. “But it’s not like I’m depriving anybody of sales—I don’t have any money. I’m in high school—I don’t have a job and no transportation and no time to have one either. So nobody is losing money on me—I am just learning about music however I can. That’s how I see it.”

I also asked his friend, Melanie, what she felt about p2p filesharing.

“Sure, I have some songs I downloaded. Not like James—I’m not a freak like him. But my family doesn’t have that kind of money. My dad works two jobs as it is, and my mom has had some health problems. I just want to be part of it. Know what my friends listen to. I can play music while I do homework and that is great. The world is such a negative place right now, and music helps you feel better—right? Why is it wrong for people to share? I think maybe if it was affordable people would subscribe to it” (p2p) “like cable—so musicians could get money, but people could still afford it. I can’t just go out and buy $20 cds all the time. I guess I’m breaking the law but I don’t think they’ll find out and I’m not that important to them. I just need to be part of what my friends listen to and all that.”

These kids are using the music they download for education and for building a sense of community. Both regard access to this music as transformative and central to their sense of self. We must find a way to reward the innovation and creativity of artists while at the same time acknowledging people, especially young people’s need to be connected, to sample culture and use it to grow, to learn, to develop, and to stay connected. Like Melanie said “The world is such a negative place right now” and we are bombarded with the technology-culture at every moment. Why is it wrong for people to use the tools available to mix their own tape, so to speak, of what surrounds them?