M 19-Apr “Studio” Workshop — from emblem to refashioning concept (in electracy).
- » Tuning / Warm-up (checkpoint):
- emblem: selections finalized (one’s “ingredients” for “recipe”);
“sketches” in progress (online) and/or finalized. - tentative topic for project — Career or Community dimensions
- Praxis: more direct/explicit than last week, implicit in our review of Chapters 9-11.
cf. Chp. 1-2, “General Project,” “Attunement,” “Stimmung” etc.; plus “Mystory” (Chp 3). - examples below.
Due: Extra Credit Response (optional Exercise)
W 21-Apr (last class) “Studio” Praxis: poetics for final project (design)
- » Soundcheck (checkpoint):
- emblem revised (if necessary); final version online
- topic (“target” concept) revised / finalized (post in brief blog entry)
- “raw materials” (sources) selected; refine during/after class
- poetics / “blueprint” for assemblage; refine during/after class.
» Blog Entry (optional / e.c.):
- Spring term “Playlist” or “Mash-up” (multimedia suggested; perhaps also test Tagxedo?)
R 22-Apr No Class—Complete Project 3
F 23-Apr Due: Project 3 Progress checkpoint/update (website shows “work in progress” )
S 24-Apr Update: Due: Project 3 (11pm deadline)
Ulmer Relays:
» “What Happens When MONUMENTALITY becomes electrate?”
- from “Consultation (postponed)” → MEmorial (Electronic Monuments, 2005)
- Example: Death Penalty—Personal Best
- MEmorials (page)
- “Florida Rushmore” — the MYSEUM
» What if historiography had been invented in the 20th century
—like avant-garde art—rather than in the 19th century? (Teletheory, 1989) → Mystory
- MYSTORIOGRAPHY
- Noon Star (Ulmer’s mystory)
- My Own Private Oklahoma (student’s mystory)
- Contrast (“how not to compose a mystory”)
Graduate Seminars
Critical Expressionism (grad. seminar, Sp. 2008)
- —Target: Public Policy decision
- example: myOptica (ghink, 2008)
» cf. Apparatus Theory:
- — Target: “Experienced Image”
— cf. excerpt in “The Learning Screen” (Networked, 2009).
— cf. Recent entries @ Heuretics blog
- — Target: flash reason & collective rhetoric.
“Routine is a concept constructed for thinking from the position of event” (Ulmer 2010).
ghink: Novel Experience/Expression course (AML 2410-8974, Fall 2009)
- Task:
Develop a new mode of academic discourse (thought + expression) to express the lived affect of someone else’s specific historical experience — as we imagine or intuit it, without judgment, while taking responsibility as producers (not passive consumers) of knowledge.
» Problem (for humanities “research” or “experiment”):
- “People do not understand each other. The incomprehensible part of each of us makes up the entire basis of life.
Perhaps by reading these texts, we can work toward an effort of mediation on the incomprehensible. I do not say that we are going to understand the incomprehensible, but we have to accept it” (131).
— Hélène Cixous, “Poetry, Passion, and History” (1985)
Monday 19-Apr Class Workshop
Creating a concept (remake, in electracy)
0. Premise / Prelude: Emblem
— Expressive Figure (my “disposition,” affect, experience); Attunement (“natural standpoint,” “default mood”); Syncretic (entire Popcycle)
1. To extract a concept to remake, identify a “problem” from Career or Community discourse — perhaps a “blindspot”? (what is excluded and/or overlooked?)
— Example in class discussion: college students’ binge drinking; what is ideal/value motivating this behavior? Consider what policy/administrative perspectives overlook…
1.1 Refine focus: myopia or hyperopia? Adjust perspective to particular concept relative to context.
1.2 Not circumstantial / reactionary: e.g. U.S. Gov. reform (health care, finance); UF Parking Protest.
— think in terms of experience, desire, affect (i.e. Life) within context of Career or Community.
1.3 Need not propose “solution” — just presenting concept.
→ Remember, project target is not the “problem” identified to start; rather, task is to remake a concept (form, expression, “product”?) for Career or Community discourse in electracy.
2. Use Emblem to think in alternative (third) mode, outside Belief & Reason aporia.
2.1 Hypothesis: this method avoids judgment (morality, ideology, reference).
2.2 Judgment prevents the creation of any new modes.
— “Herein perhaps lies the secret: to bring into existence and not to judge.” (Deleuze)
2.3 Emblem in Electracy — expresses affect, experience; “well-being”?
— Concrete visual figure for my disposition; thus, decision-making by thinking (with) entire paradigm of Popcycle and by taking responsibility as producer of knowledge.
3. New / Re-invented Concept — Assemblage Expression (electracy)
3.1 Mode: Aesthetic = Expressive (of experience, affect, joy/sadness); not a critique or explanation.
3.2 Logic: virtual (“real without being actual, ideal without being abstract”); assemblage
3.3 Perspective: Middle Voice; myself as experiment, figure for collective experience.
3.4 Discourse: Hybrid (critical & creative), Syncretic (multiple institutions/languages)
— an assemblage concept features heterogeneous elements, with resonance between them — no longer binary logic of exclusion (“contradictory” filter of Reason using True/False criterion).
— a familiar instance of resonance is the Stimmung (affective tone) reverberating from your entire Popcycle. What is your “frequency” (note, tonality, key signature)? This is your “default mood” — thinking & expressing with this attunement enables parallel composition (by analogy) to the wabi-sabi of Japanese haiku; to Tarkovsky’s nostalgia through poetic-film; to the duende & funk of respective singing and dancing styles.
Question from class:
In finding a “problem” could we also examine something people do not want to do? In class, we discussed why people do things to feel happy/belonging, could our problem examine why people don’t want to do something because they don’t want to feel sadness/fear/ etc?
Good Q. for you to think about now, as should everyone in “homing” & “honing” their “target.”
To that end: We “could”…but would we want to?
Remember that the class exercise worked to move from identifying a desire within the “problem” to the task of refashioning a concept — a form (?) in this case to express this desire to belong / happiness of social inclusion.
To “examine why” is only part of this recognizing the situation, thinking about the ideal/value that motivates behavior (decision-making, etc) — the “blindspot” of perspectives ruled by judgment (right/wrong, true/false).
We want to “find” a concept — (or meme, “form,” category, “product,” “manifestation,” image?) — to reinvent / re-make / update within electracy, with which we (you, me, current students) are already operating & working as “internet age” participants rather than “television age” passive receiver-consumers. I’ve also articulated this in terms of the emerging logic of virtuality & assemblage, which I’ve added (via Deleuze, with Ulmer’s blessing).
Perhaps an assemblage concept would be
like a songmusical: melodies, refrains, counterpoints, key + tempo changes (respective moods??); not a static image but a dynamic arrangement of “highs” and “lows,” yes?As you envision “target” (reinvent concept), keep in mind Ulmer’s
Apparatus Theory
Apparatus : Electracy
Practice : Entertainment
Procedure : Style
Institution : Internet
State of Mind : Fantasy
Behavior : Play
Philosophy : Aesthetics
Ground : Body
Ontology : Chora
Mode : Figure
Well-Being axis : Joy/Sadness
Becoming Electrate?
Beach House, the original band, called this “one of the best things ever to happen to us!” on their Facebook page.
Relay for us?
for extra credit response, I would suggest a combination of two prompts:
A) the Exercise “Personals” (p.278) — emblem of “well-being” (1/3 total)
&
B) Testimony (p.300)
Ad Art (pg 260)
or Corporate state of mind (p.314)
The Exercise “Personals” (p.278) is good for composing another “practice emblem.”
I envision this as Part 1, serving to contrast the other prompt — “Testimony” for example instructs “juxtaposing with some aspect of your wide image.” Instead, you’d contrast the “Personals” emblem (happiness as “well-being”) and the image/description (of “blindness” or “foolishness”) in the news report or corporate brand.
How will we be separating the sections as in word count for each and as for our emblem the explanation will just be in poetics?
rough estimate (and area of less urgency at moment, in perspective of tasks):
—emblem (image + 200-300 words?; 10 points)
—concept (~500 words, 10 points)
—poetics page (200-300 words, 5 points)
— reflection page (300-400 words, 5 points)
— design / multimedia work (5 points)
But, as I’ve forecast, we’ll address in class Wednesday how to arrange — as final project Parts I & II will not be discrete sections. So, we need to imagine / decide / envision how to organize, in terms of wide site (emblem) & assemblage concept. Thoughts so far?
Fortunately, web design (hypertext, multimedia, aesthetic choices) will be familiar area for us, aspect easiest to experiment with (and enjoyable! right? I promise!).
We have several Relay models, after all (though perhaps less explicit in our inventory, considering cultural logic of virutal: mash-up, music video, sketch comedy, others?);
and many examples of Contrast: e.g. the category, definition, argument of Literacy, from Ulmer. Simple template: an essay has paragraphs, a film has narratives; how to organize info. in assemblage composition?
Our emblems help again in this practical sense, as figure we compose by writing & thinking with entire paradigm (Popcycle). Hence the double importance of project sequence; we’ll compose the form of expression similarly, for presenting our refashioned concept — output / arrangement of which we should discuss more explicitly; notes on this above.
trying to understand today’s lesson. I had an a particular concept in mind.
the task of refashioning a concept :
We want to “find” a concept — (or meme, “form,” category, “product,” “manifestation,” image?) — to reinvent / re-make / update within electracy
my example would include a Web site for neglected cats within the Gainesville community. There are thousands of stray cats who have been neglected from their owner who had originally purchased them as pets. To own a kitten allows me to to feel a sense of control and power and i express that thru purchasing a pet. But when I graduate I drop it off at the park on 20th ave. these leads to an influx of strays that keep reproducing more strays. I could include some national statistics and reference them. i can have images of famous cats, kittens and cats. Also mention the use of collars across different genres and environments and create a blog entitled The Cats Meow – a how to on be a a good pussycat parent. may include something about the film the Truth about Cats and Dogs*
is this the direction i should be heading in?
Instructive contemplation, for all of us to consider scope as we refine focus — in this case an example of probably “taking one step back.” What is community concept to be refashioned, regarding pet ownership? (also, is this your community? all of us need to consider how we’re envisioning this context)
» Tangent: our example/exercise yesterday should not mislead us to envision task as creating new concept to present in the “gap” — we’re still attempting task (more/less difficult?) of the remake or “update” for electracy. And, you need not solve the community “problem”; just starting with “situation” to extract a concept. «
So, “zoom out” one level (Google/Bing map view):
what are existing concepts in my community about pets?
Mostly litigious / juridical, with prohibitions and conditions: e.g. “register, with vaccinations, for license to walk and to visit parks”; also informal understanding, such as adopting / abandoning “stray” cats and “curbing” dogs.
» Tangent Analogy: my community has a misguided sense of responsibility for maintaining the beaches / coastline. Combination of brand image (“America’s Greatest Family Resort” must have clean beaches every day) and investment interests (replenish beaches and dunes to protect multimillion-dollar beachfront properties). In other cases, state DEP regulates areas as natural habitats for endangered birds, mandating protection.
→ In this case, what would a remade concept look like, to express “well-being” in terms of positive conservation desires — in aesthetic form resembling entertainment rather than municipal laws/policies? (review Electracy apparatus) «
In case of pets, similar “misplaced” sense of “ownership” in many examples: I might want to have a domestic companion (to make me feel less isolated?); to adopt a stray cat, which friends perceive as sign of being “a good person” (morality); to walk a dog in order to socialize (catalyze interpersonal relations, via my “cute” novelty item taking this scenario to extreme). We could surely “market” pet-ownership in brand/product economy using these “consumer desires.”
→ What is the concept to refashion here, re: positive responsibility impulse, outside of judgment & marketplace discourse (thinking, expression, behavior)?
Thus far, this is the best we (collective googlesphere citizens) can do…?
Q. Like with LOLCats and related memes, I wonder whether this serves to us as Relay, Analogy, or Contrast?
The Fun Theory :: An initiative of Volkswagen
This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.
2009/10 Award Winner:
Other finalists:
— Finalists page
— All entries.
the fun theories are a great relays for :what would a remade concept look like, to express “well-being” in terms of positive conservation desires. These entries definitely hit on the POSITIVE. for example with the one with the use of stairs- going in my career discourse, I would have definitely researched the situation, found statistics, facts and numbers, came up with objectives, strategies and tactics, and probably would disseminate awareness tactics. like posting signs to use the stairs more. in this example it made it fun! This was super creative and refreshing. When i interview for potential internships and jobs, and i meet with PR department members at different business, and what my professors are preaching to me, they all tell me they want creativity. But i know if I ever came up with a campaign to launch something like this, especially on the grand scale… they’ll probably think its cute, different, but lets move on to the next. But in my wide site I can use this for sure as a great relay. even in the cat concept… but then again, you proved a great point about the is this MY community. And it is,its from my college/uf/gainesville community. I know it past projects/exercises this was not the community i mentioned. But I have several communities under the Community umbrella that i am apart of and that are apart of me. These relays got me thinking…i feel like telling a story:D…
Reply to student’s Q.
I know we have to use our emblem to approach the concept but I’m just not sure on the elements that we are suppose to present. When looking at our emblem and incorporating it in the project are we going to do the four pages like Ulmer did leading up to our final product?
Right, we can elaborate / develop the emblem components in several posts (tagged appropriately) rather than separate pages.
The lesson about “composing with the entire paradigm” is what I’ve been saying for how our emblem helps us compose the “assemblage concept.” Just like the emblem should have elements from all dimensions of popcycle, so should the concept be presented by selecting details from all four “databases” (five if we include autobiography plus family, school / career, community, entertainment / culture).
The “EQ” balancing as a DJ helps as principle for poetics: balancing narrative, critical/rational, and lyric/expressive modes; we don’t want the “hybrid discourse” to be overwhelming with details either too rational or too aesthetic, after all.
What is the difference between a tag and a category?
on a similar note to Heather’s question, to what extent are we tagging and categorizing? Are we adding tags and categories to all our old projects and previous pages, or just the weekly posts and exercises we put in our main feed? And to clarify our new posts on emblem and widesite, do you want a specific tag/category for everything in project 3?
Tags and Categories
@ Wordpress
Different functions for us:
— a few general categories, to organize Posts (e.g. Project, Weekly Entries, Exercises, Misc?);
— while many Tags; these are specific & content-based; concept taxonomy label (a bit more abstract and descriptive, as in my examples like “attunement,” “resonance,” “threadwork” — entries might not explicitly state these terms, but they are about or function as these labels.)
»Indeed, we want to Categorize (essential) & Tag (to extent feasible) all blog entries given the new function of our sites as a network of assemblages (or vice versa?). The sketches for the Emblem and any earlier entries during the term producing a pattern, for example, are valuable posts — unique feature of this format for readers to see when reading by tags, unlike a “polished” essay (finished product excluding prep. work).
Why were traditional dictionaries alphabetical, rather than familial?
Hardly our operating logic in electracy, thinking with/in database.
Tags organize the fragments conceptually — via conductive logic — which presents an additional (unconventional) mode of navigation.
what’s the reflections page all about? OUr reflections on the class? How does it differ from the Poetics?
Reflection page prompt
Good reminder for me to direct everyone’s attention to the project page…
(as well as this thread, which I’d overlooked in favor of emails today!)
(reply to a request for elaborating poetics of “hybrid discourse”)
“Different styles” is exactly right, and I will elaborate for your composition with reminders from class:
1) “hybrid discourse” : critical and creative.
Scholarly info (to explain / account, not to argue); in your case, discourse of Career / School (“expert discourse”).
Examples include definitions / explanations, quotations or paraphrases from sources (academic/scholarly/reliable; materials from your courses). This “voice” should appear in your project as a distinct mode, articulating rational / critical thinking.
— remember 2 sources (minimum), from Career / School (“expert”) discourse.
Creative — Narrative & Lyric/Expressive modes
Narrative:
— includes
1) Anecdotes (event accounts);
2) Stories (readymade, from culture);
and 3) Storytelling (fictional / invented).
Lyric/Expressive:
— artistic figures, to express feeling (poetry logic); not media / art as representation or reference.
Our emblem is “lyric” by expressing our mood and by serving as a figure for us / our experience.
(thus not metaphor / symbol)
An image is lyric when expressive, “poetic” (vehicle, if you recall that discussion re: Synecdoche NY film); music is the most expressive, and poetry is closer to music and painting than to photography or an essay.
2) Think and write with your entire paradigm, composing entries with material from any/all popcycle dimensions.
→ Select material from Popcycle “databases” to use in Critical, Creative, and/or Lyric modes.
(Too many examples to list, but this is the simple formula; autobio. / experience, Family, School, Community, Career, Entertainment dimensions provide materials to select, to compose hybrid discourse.)
3) “EQ” mixing board
— balance of the hybrid discourse ( Narrative / Creative; Rational / Critical; Lyric / Expressive).
Balance each “frequency” — quantitatively, material of the assemblage. Not an artificial equivalence, though — electracy is more (mostly?) expressive; “assemblage expression” is neither a novel nor an argumentative essay, remember.
Organizing content into fragments like you mentioned, keep this in mind; likewise key logic of juxtaposition — not just “breaking apart” but using counterpoint through “high concept,” as you said; specifically within heterogeneous entries (e.g. two discourses or popcycle dimensions within proximity yet without explanation, possibly “contradicting” in binary logic — but ours is “both/and” virtual logic).
This design / composition principle shows the overall project (organization as assemblage) in miniature / particular scope, individual entries.
4) Multimedia and multimodal composition.
Remember, purposeful use of media (critical, creative, lyric modes?) — trying for increased expression, beyond representation or documenting (in literate mode).
“Multimodal” is familiar to us in our practicing logic of virtuality. Our prior projects have included a mix of actual references, fictional elements (e.g. characters, stories), and speculative / propositional ideas. “Virtuality” in our context is not “simulation” (like “virtual reality”) but a different logic: “real without being actual,” as in functions and effects. We operate well with this thinking already, as it has become the prominent mode of pop culture (examples in almost all of the media we have examined).
The “both / and” inclusive logic helps us compose a heterogeneous assemblage, with diverse elements — not governed by Reason (e.g. “contradictions” or “nonsense” prohibited!) but working in the aesthetic mode like Entertainment (“contradictions” and “nonsense” abound!).
In case of Emblem, is it “right/wrong” morally or “true/false” scientifically?
We wouldn’t know how to answer these questions; it is “real without being actual,” expressive of my “style/mood of thought” (attunement) as a poetic figure.
This logic guides our composing the “assemblage concept” remake in Part II.
Reply to layout question:
> Should I put pt 1 and pt 2 of my project under Frontpage/ Home, or should I create another page with a more appropriate name for my project.
Home/Front page will be for you to decide, with a number of options; re-visit this Q. later/last, as you’ll decide probably Emblem & Assemblage Concept and/or maybe an overall image / motto? (Home page of entire blog, after all.)
New Project 3 page seems necessary, with sub-pages for Materials, Poetics, Reflection, and Intro pages (unless Home is 1st page of project, which is fine too). Be sure to have clear links to these, like Projects 1 & 2.
In case you’ve not seen this direction on blog or in email: content for Parts I & II appears in Entries, organized (and navigated) by a combination of Tags and hyperlinks (like prior projects, images & text). 15-20 fragments, which can be “cross-referenced” (e.g. one entry might have content that relates to Emblem & Concept).
The fragments are more dispersed, and with more links / navigation options, than prior projects; don’t forget, emblem is a composite, and the component parts can appear “intermittently” throughout entries for pattern / emphasis (see Noon Star example).
More specifically, I’d estimate 2-3 emblem entries minimum — one image “gets lost” in a non-hierarchical assemblage after all; emblem is important, and hypertext design can subtly convey its function / significance for the project.
[...] Blog Discussion (new comments, useful to review) [...]
As far as the materials and the source requirements page is this for the entire website as in past posts or just for project three?
Materials page (required, in addition to comment citations)
This is essentially a “Bibliography,” the web analogue to an essay’s “Works Cited” page: provide source info. about the “materials” that appear within your project. Specifically: culture / entertainment sources; scholarly documents and info; media and references from pop culture. This section identifies the component materials that you’ve used to create the composite assemblage.
So, just a detailed list of the sources of your materials, with bibliographic or publication information (specifying source/link for media acquired, crediting artist when applicable).
Individual posts have brief citations for those respective entries; the citations refer to the sources listed in “Materials.”
» Just like Project 1 for citations (e.g. Ulmer pg.# in comment-reference; full source of Internet Invention Bib. detail in “Materials” list).
Reply to a question about Lyric/Expressive Mode (“hybrid discourse”) & Word Clouds
In thinking about lyric and expressive language, could word clouds fall into that category? For example, if I were to create a cloud on Tagxedo with words associated with my concept and emblem, could that count as poetic language towards my 500-600 word total?
» in poetic formula, words become used as figures (e.g. metonymy) — more like an image, as in the concrete detail of haiku.
This is expressive/lyric mode, unlike rational use of language to explain/describe. Quotations, language/text fragments, wordplay — these examples function this way, distinct from storytelling or rational explanation (think EQ). We want to try a variety of modes in our “hybrid discourse,” for both Emblem & Concept parts of assemblage (700-800 total, the EQ settings to balance).
Tagxedo visualizes this creative mode of using words as images/figures. Not part of the word count, as in this mode the text is more like the notes/chords of a song or the color/shades of a painting — operating in Lyric/Figure mode (of EQ).
This relates, and evokes an important reminder, to my frequent suggestion of using media in expressive function rather than (just) representation, reference, documentation.
Reply to a few folks about layout aesthetics
(and semantic importance of design, deliberate choices rather than careless default)
Minor layout tip: you can disable comments on specific posts & pages (especially useful) — this removes the giant comment forms from the bottom of the page, below the content. (logout and view your page to see what I’m referencing)
On this note of layout, to emphasize the content: might remove superfluous Widgets (e.g. Meta, Recent Entries); if your Blogroll extends your page excessively, might remove the widget and instead list the links on a page (e.g. About page?).
Depending on your theme, resolve redundancy by removing “Pages” Widget — especially if it is displaying links to all pages; the top navigation should remain, by your Theme’s template.
I mention this advice having designed an ultra minimalist site for my brother using Wordpress, with his one point of insistence being to “make it not look so ‘bloggy’ now”: http://www.brianhink.com/brian/blog/
» Just like we “polish” final essays for submitting, finished projects should be “cleaned up” in terms of visual appearance, organization, navigation.