Writing Digitally: Bob Dylan Sex Tetnis

As I read Jeff Rice’s relatively recent posts on Dylan and Google searches, I can’t help considering what I might refer to as “target terms.”  This is something that Jeff discusses quite often, though he uses different terminology.  Here, his emphasis on search engines and the process of searching is of noted significance.

Though it might seem that there are a plethora of diverse and interesting ways that one can use digital databases, everything generally seems to hinge on a rather generic system of word processing.  This system is one that many of us are intimately familiar with.  When attempting to find something of noted interest or particular relevance, the user types in a slew of words that, in conjunction, will allow them to find the most useful results.  We eliminate “the” or “and,” words without much descriptive import, in favor of slightly more specific or telling terminology such as “Bob Dylan.” 

Here, Jeff has done an incredible job of reading the texts that are inevitably produced - a succession of screens documenting related subjects such as “Dylan walking in New York.”  These screens are numbered, and placed in an order of relative significance that is determined by various factors; the popularity of the article/picture/etc, the amount of money contributed to a particular site for advertising purposes, and relevance to search query (it must be noted that the latter seems increasingly insignificant).  The theory is that the typical computer user’s attention span insures that the best location for a work is really within the first two pages of any search engine. 

This is where my understanding of rhetoric and writing is complicated.  Partially, it seems as though this is really an issue of ethics and effectiveness.  Quite simply, the contention arises between the success of one’s writing, partially determined by its very level of readership, and the deceitful tactics that one uses to garner such attention. 

Though the terminology of success is accessible, it seems that deceit is something that many fail to consider.  With the rise of search engines, there evolved an interesting methodology arose.  This methodology, in part, relates to the rather deceitful tactics that one uses in order to insure a higher rating on various search engines, and, by relation, a higher level of readership.  One might adapt one’s piece by plugging a number of popular search terms, thus increasing the probability that the post will be featured on one of the more immediate search pages.  Or, similarly, one could assign a text a variety of tags that really have no bearing on the work that is described.  For instance, if one is writing some prospective on Aristotle, it is feasible that one might use tags such as “sex,” “death,” or “Paris Hilton” to insure increasing readership.  Moreover, the third, and most interesting tactic, relates to the excessive use of advertisements on one’s page. 

Though these tactics can immediately be dismissed as a rather deceitful and unethical move, these are the same methodologies that insure the relative success of a text.  In a way, it seems possible that the intial measure of deceit is really the only way of securing a readership greater than a hundred people a day. 

But then, what are the implications for digital writing/rhetoric.  Does this necessarily indicate that one must sacrifice ethics in favor of success?  Does this suggest that without this sacrifice one is necessarily doomed?  Is this really such a bad maneuver anyways?  I mean, does ethics really have the same place in the digital?  The title of this post, in many ways, is an attempt to negotiate this. 

For now, these questions remain, for me, entirely unaddressed.  Undoubtedly, I will have to make several very significant decisions regarding this issue in the immediate future.

Personal Ads for Superheroes

MSH looking for an FSH.  I am extremely athletic, as I run approximately seven miles every hour.  I like to lift buses, and often swim depths of nearly a thousand kilometers.  Also, most would say that I have a lot of world experience (especially considering the amount of times I’ve saved planet Earth as of late).  I really enjoy dressing down as I go out on the town, as this is really the only way that I can conceal my identity.  And, due to the early death of two very wealthy parents, I am the sole inheritor of nearly $200 million in public and private assets.  As for the psychological difficulties I experience in relationship to this event, the doctors assure me that I am well on my way to a successful turnaround.  

If you are willing to take a chance with this super hunk, I guarantee nearly two human lifetimes of exciting and equally romantic moments.  You can rest easy at night knowing that I will light your fire.  Literally, I have laser beam eyesight.  And with the ability to see through most material objects, you can be assured that I will frequently undress you with my eyes. 

Those interested must be able to fly or teleport, as I am looking for someone who is interested in traveling long distances over short periods of time. 

It’s raining, it’s pouring: A Networked Threshold Model

As I’m standing outside of my apartment, I study the clouds.  As is typical for a dismal summer day in Metro Detroit, the dark sky indicates that it has been raining sporadically.  This is news to me, considering that I’ve been inside for most of the day sleeping and working on papers.  Yet, despite the rather abysmal mess that I’ve walked into, I can’t help finding something particularly interesting about the way in which the water has been dispersed.  Walking out the street, I notice that one of the large trees near the front of the house is still shedding water.  And, it would seem, that this very tree provides an adequate model for understanding a certain networked threshold theory.

As I am concurrently working on the first issue of a maga(zine) that I intend to publish shortly, I am reminded of the introduction or foreword.  Here, I discuss Detroit and the surrounding suburban area with a certain objective in mind.  In direct refutation to a model of linearity or succession, I propose that the magazine be read in terms of the network.  It seems that not only is the former model fraudulent, but equally self-serving.  For the most part, the model of succession or linearity is the most accessible means of approaching any urban milieu.  For the purposes of pedagogy, it is easier for a professor to give a set of dates, localities, and names, than to actually consider the very complexity and density of information that is.  This, of course, does not mean that it is the most appropriate model.  In contrast, it seems, without delving too far into the matter, that the most suggestive means of reading a city is by considering it as a network. 

Returning to the tree, a revision to traditional threshold theory (that of linear succession) one might propose an important revision.  Eventually, after enough water has gathered on the uppermost leaves of the tree, the branches, unable to support anymore weight, allow the water to fall upon the leaves below.  Here, instead of a rather simplistic understanding of this model, as a progression from top to bottom, one must understand the event as a complicated networked progression.  The water falls on varying leaves in a rather interesting pattern.  The sound of the water, as it finds its way through the tree, reminds the listener that various different movements are occurring.  Some branches hold the water longer than others, while other water drops miss leaves completely.  What does happen, which must be noted, is that the whole of the tree (every branch and leaf), is shaken; an acknowledgement occurs.  But what this acknowledgement means is just as complicated as what the model means in its entirety.

(Part II tomorrow)

Shut up and dance boy: Rhetoric, Life, and Pedagogy (in that order)

It’s often interesting to me, foremost as a student, to find that rhetoric has a bearing on most everything I do.  The study of rhetoric, for the longest time, seemed this really stodgy and extraneous endeavor; outside of everyday life.  I don’t think it was really until Atwill, Harraway, and Midgely, that I realized the potentiality of rhetoric in everyday places.  This, of course, isn’t to say that I didn’t encounter hints of this in the work of Foucault and Deleuze, or that rhetoric should be read and written in and of everything.  It is just that something has changed pretty significantly for me as of late. 

                I guess, if I had to locate the determining factor or the specific locus of change, it seems that my trip to Pennsylvania was particularly satisfying.  I came to understand that rhetoric holds a significant place not only as an interpretational framework, or in the pursuit of a more powerful modality of communication, but that one learns rhetoric and uses rhetoric outside of the very bounds that one studies it “officially.”  In fact, it is beginning to seem that the texts I enjoy the most, are those which refuse to bury this very obvious relation; those texts that work to get outside the control or lure of the university or educational facility.  These are authors that ask what it means to study rhetoric in relationship to animal rights (Midgely), or forces that control in really strange or curious ways (Foucault).  For Midgely and Foucault likewise, the goal is not the text itself, but rather, effected/affected difference.  Foucault’s text, at least from what I understand, was intended to be used amongst those that found themselves in imprisoning situations similar to those described in his books. 

                But then, what does this really do for me as a student or future professor?  Is this realization of any import or utility?

                In many ways, I wish that it would have come earlier.  Though there were, as I have stated, hints of it as early as a year ago, I feel like I arrived a little late to the party.  Moreover, it seems that it would really behoove others to learn this as well.  Surely, something is missing from a pedagogy that fails to instruct students about the very instruction they are receiving.  What I mean by this, is that while we learn the material which is taught, we often fail to learn why this material is taught.  What is the purpose? Pedagogy, it seems, should foremost be about a double instruction; an instruction as to why one is teaching certain material or what this material is intended to do.  Here, I find that it is at this very interstice that the realization I discussed previously arises.  Instead of simply reading Midgely and saying that this is a different and exciting reading of the cannon, and focusing more and more on what is said, one should attempt to grapple with the issues discussed above. Though I have my complaints, I find that I have been particularly lucky to receive this type of instruction from a few dedicated professors at Wayne State University.  Hopefully, it pays off. 

Pennsylvania Day I

My mother and I arrived in Belmonte a little past noon.  Taking the advice of a Penn State grad, we checked out the local living situation.  I really enjoyed the Victorian architecture, and the overall utilization of public space.  This is a town of density; a town that I can appreciate.  Around every corner stands a wonderful locally run restaurant or pub.  As I sit eating my lunch, I observe an elderly lady drinking a decent beer.  These are drinking people; my kind of people. 

Unfortunately, despite a generally positive experience, my mother and I chose a rather ill-equipped restaurant.  The greater irony was that despite the excessively condescending tones of the wait staff, the food was terrible and the beer selection was a mockery at best.  How deceiving.  Luckily, I was able to somehow score a Railbender.  For eighteen dollars I received a horrible burger and a decent beer.  Obviously, this equation failed to balance out.  There is something horribly obvious about a waiter’s attempts to make up for the quality of the food with an almost excessive emphasis on presentation.  When my mother asked for some lemon for her fish, he brought it in a bowl, on a fancy napkin, over a plate, with additional garnish for which there was no apparent utility.  Moreover, in the midst of this assemblage he brought a bowl of cooked broccoli, claiming that the chef had prepared this dish especially for us.  Needless to say, I was a little disenchanted.  Come on….broccoli?

Midway through the afternoon, we moved on to the campus itself.  The architecture and nightlife was pretty interesting.  Yet, despite the bustle of the crowds and the apparent density of the campus, I am still having difficulty imagining myself as a local.  I imagine how I might interact with the locals; with the buildings; with the history.  How might I make my place here.  Learning to “move” on Wayne State’s campus was a difficult process for me.  Four years of learning abandoned for another campus?

New Places, New Maps

I find that my interest in mapping has re-surged as of late.  Unfortunately, due to my own inadequacies, I have been unable to create any really great digital maps.  I think that part of the digital experience, if I may call it that, relates to a particular type of transfer or lack there of.  As Jeff Rice informed me a couple of years back, there is a rather dramatic learning curve when it comes to the digital.  For example, I can remember a time, not too long ago, when I barely understood what an RSS feed was, let alone how I might upload a new image to my website.  Now, I can grab pictures from my own computer or use a URL linkage…I can transfer items from word without too much of a discrepancy, and I’m learning more complicated HTML code. 

And yet, despite my abilities and accomplishments, I find that certain “things” just don’t transfer quite as readily.  In many ways I feel that the internet is crawling along at the same speed as I am; learning how to provide a map making service as I am simultaneously experiencing the desire to begin using one.  Sometimes one has to be a hack artist, to use programs for something other than what they were originally intended.  But either way, a certain point of conflict emerges.  Quite simply, whereas certain stuff transfers (I do most of my writing online now), certain technologies are refused (I still do most of my artwork and maps offline, and then transfer them over as image files). 

Despite the frustrations that this often provides, I am also delighted by this mix. 

Returning to the issue of mapping more generally, the trip that I am taking to Penn State should provide several great opportunities.  First, I will be encountering a space that I am, as of yet, unfamiliar with.  Mapping is always more exciting/fascinating when a space is absent of individual story; void of the descriptions that one eventually ascribes to each store, building, home.  Second, if I actually decide to go to Penn State this will provide the opportunity to do an exhaustive before and after comparison.  How will my opinions change as a student? How will my experiences be different?  What difference will a change in season make?

Lil Wayne and Digital Information

Recently, it was announced that Lil’ Wayne’s number one album “Carter III” sold approximately one million copies in its first week alone.  Apparently, the albums success, as always, determined the fate of other music heavyweights, namely 50 Cent.  Though I don’t claim to be a huge afficianado of mainstream rap (especially the type of rap that 50 cent produces), I find that I am often interested in the success that certain artists experience.  

It seems that for an artist to be successful, he/she has to fit into the parameters of a rather formulaic equation; an selling system that operates on the details of an artist’s image, the quality of the songs produced, the marketing/advertising strategies that an artist’s label attempts, etc.  Lil Wayne’s success surprised me because of the very inability I have of locating the same details in his image or his work.  The lyrics aren’t particularly grabbing as they are often difficult to process.  On a brief ride to the local store, I found myself interrogating my girlfriend:

Jargoncomputer: What did he just say?

EZ (The girl): I’m not quite sure…

Jargoncomputer: I think he said ”poop stains”

EZ: (Looking mildly confused) I think you might be right…

Jargoncomputer: You think so?

EZ: I mean, it sounded like he said “poop stains”

Jargoncomputer: Huh.

For his part, Lil’ Wayne’s style is reminiscent of Gertrude Stein’s impossibly complex texts.  Yet, despite the similarity to modernist texts, I refuse to accept this in the same graces as intended difficulty.

Moreover, Wayne defies everything that people find infinitely “cool” about the rapper’s image or rap itself.  From “poop stains” to the wheel of fortune,  the subjects that Wayne draws on refuse the association of cool.  When Ice Cube talked about shooting cops, store clerks had a difficult time keeping records on shelves. Understandably so…nobody had ever really said that before.  Paradoxically, it seems as though Wayne’s success derives from the exact opposite.  It is not that Wayne is attempting to distort or change the image, but rather, how the image is processed.   

I think there is something profoundly digital about the way that information is distributed in Wayne’s songs.  It is as though Wayne, himself, is drifting at a ridiculously fast pace from webpage to webpage, reading whatever material happens to be available at that very moment.  Though we see in Wayne’s work a certain metaphor, a metaphor for the experience of using the internet, we also find something of a methodology.  Is this methodology beneficial; is there a certain utility to the rhyme scheme?  I’m not quite sure that there is, and yet, I can’t whole heartidly abandon this line of thought.  It seems, at the very least, that his success necessitates attention.  For now, though, I am confused as to what this might contribute to my understanding of language/image use.  Quite simply, what benefit might I derive from a more extended examination of Wayne’s structure? 

Though I feel ridiculous, I know that more will inevitably follow.  For now, this is a start.

Graduate Submissions Paper

Lately, I’ve been meeting with Jeff Pruchnic and working on my graduate submission paper.  With Jeff’s continued assistance, it seems that the text is finally coming together.

In short, I’m revisiting Aristotle by means of Heidegger, Derrida, and Mary Midgely (more specifically, her work in Man and Beast).  For the final part, I’m imagining a rhetoric of multiplicity.  Though I agree with Midgely’s method of approach, her effort to invert Aristotle’s hierarchy and her thesis more generally, I feel as though there is more utility in going a bit further.  Though Midgely took seven very large steps forward, the eighth step is of particular interest. 

Here, my move is towards a reading of Aristotle that works in conjunction with that which I am learning from more contemporary texts, namely, a recent issue of National Geographic and Brian Vaughn’s brilliant graphic novel Pride of Baghdad.  I think that I can locate something here that will be particularly useful as I attempt to imagine a new rhetoric of animal (de anima).

Movin on up…

Well, after about a month and a half, it finally seems that I’m getting my life back together.  Among other things, I moved about three miles north, finally had Comcast install highspeed internet, fixed my personal computer, purchased an old school Schwinn, and got a new kitten named Ema.  On a more professional note, I’m going to Penn State this weekend to check out the campus and the local hotspots.  Also, it seems that Jeff Pruchnic hooked me up with a pretty incredible job opportunity (more on that later). 

Considering that I’ve been absent from this space for far too long, I definitely have a lot on my platter.  I feel like I just quoted Method Man’s Tical, but I’m not positive on that one.  In any event, the podcast is still coming together, and I’m about to start the interviews within the next few days.  The first segment, if I didn’t mention this previously, will deal with the alter-ego/alternative identity.  Also, I have a few serious posts to make about Brian K. Vaughn, Mountain Gorillas, and Mary Midgely. 

For now, I have to get back to my college submission paper, an oatmeal stout, an adorable kitten, and a stack of vinyl that requires sorting. 

And now, for the ambiguous photo plug of the week…

The unadulterated subtitle reads, “Town arsonists will cause death”

A New Edition

Soon, I will be introducing a new feature to the jargoncomputer network.  I’m in the process of putting together my first weekly radio podcast, and it should be available within the next two weeks.  It will be a compilation of the most fantastic music and interviews ever assembled.  Currently, it seems that the theme for this broadcast will relate to the alter-ego. 

If you have any suggestions just drop me a line. I’m  already thinking of playing “Psycho-killer.”  If I’m lucky, the RZA will be available for comment on the subject matter.  I’m probably getting way ahead of myself, so I’ll just stick to the details.  It will be available for free download, and will be approximately an hour in length.  Whether you believe the hype or not, you won’t want to miss out on the orgasm that is my first broadcast.