Interesting Topic

When i reflect on all that we've looked at in this class, there are many interesting topics. From the communication circuit to map content distortion, each has caused me to take a deeper look at the world of language texts and technology. But the topic that stuck the most with me the evolution of literature from print to electronic.

This particular topic was covered in several of the readings and assignments, and hits particularly close to home as i am an avid reader and there has been a boon of e-books and e-readers recently. The beginning of Haye's "The Republic of ABC: Alphabetizing Americans, 1750-1850", was very affective in furthering my understanding of the impact of media evolution by proposing a what-if situation between monks concerning the shift from hand written books to printed books. By starting the reading this way i learned that the shift from one type of literature to another had a deeper meaning and significance than i had originally thought. the introduction of the printing press lead to greater availability of book and more freedom for those who wished to express their thoughts and ides through text.  The creation and expansion of the Internet and digital culture was a reflection of past technological advances, allowing for a nearly universal exchange of ideas.

Throughout the readings i have found many correlations between printing presses and digital media, such as piracy and fixity. Given unlimited time and resources i believe that i would find more correlations between past and present. i would focus more on the controversies that the shifts  in technology had in their respective times, and use evidence from each to make some educated guesses about what the future may hold. As we grow in technology and as a culture, so to must our literature evolve with the times. I find the topic of literary evolution fascinating and am interested to see how will develop.

Final Paper Topic

Inspired by this week's reading revolving around interactive entertainment, I have decided to revolve my final paper around narrative in video games. For years video games have been labeled as mindless entertainment massed produced for children and trigger happy college students. but as a DTC major and a gamer, i see the textual and narrative potentials present in games. There are many different genres of gaming, each able to introduced narrative properties on par with today's other  media, and i feel that negative view of games in this respect should change so that we may embrace it for all that it has done and all that it can do for us through narration.

I believe that this medium should be counted among the texts and narratives found in movies in television. My paper will argue the narrative properties available in video games and how interactive entertainment should be viewed as a valid outlet for it. I will support my paper with the readings from this week, academic studies, video and written interviews with various game designers, and my own personal experiences with this medium. I will also compare gaming to other media such as movies and television in order to express similarities between them and validate the inclusion of interactive entertainment as a narrative medium.

Video games have a lot more to offer other than as a diversion. With games such as Fable and Mass Affect, critics can no longer claim with any validity that this medium has no purpose as a narrative medium. And i hope this paper will have a part in placing games in their proper place alongside movies and television as a narrative medium.

Ltiarary Importance

Q: In the reading, Hayles began by using monks to compare the literary importance of hand-written vs mechanically printed literature. They discussed how printing decreased the value of literature as precious artifact, allowed others the ease to flood the world with "commonplace scribbling," and affect the culture by letting uneducated people access literature and  interpret the works themselves instead of relying on those more learned in the subject to do so for them. Given the accessibility made available with the invention of the Internet, have Brother Paul's fears come true? Has new technology lessened the value of books, flooded the market with nonsensical ramblings, and affected the culture through it's availability? Give modern day examples to support your argument.


Potential Answer:
While the advancement in technology has certainly affected the world, i believe that Brother Paul's fears, though having some legitimacy, where blown out of proportion. Today, books are becoming more antiquated as electronic literature is becomes more popular. But that doesn't necessarily mean that books are less valuable in our culture. They will always have a place in the world and may even become more valuable as technology makes them more obsolete. The problem with a system based purely on electronic literature is that while more available, it also runs the risk of being fragile. Power outages, computer viruses, and other manner of electronic mayhem can destroy thousands of books stored on a nook or i-pad just as easily as a fire could destroy many tomes within a library. Hard copies are always going to be necessary, and often literary enthusiasts prefer them to more advanced version (such as myself). There is even a niche for rare books that are much more valuable than when the were first printed. The use of books may be going down, but their value has not decreased.
As for the availability of electronic media, Brother Paul viewed such advancement negatively, but i see it as a positive result . while there are millions of blogs and tweets about useless inane crap, there are just as many with valuable thought provoking information. while technology allows crazies and jackasses to voice their opinions, it also allows those with something worthwhile to say have a medium in which to be heard. And just as written literature has changes the world for the better, so to shall the openness of electronic literature affect modern times.