Gin, Television, and Cognitive Surplus

1) The article is about how the industrial revolution transformed society and how people should take advantage of the opportunities of cognitive surpluses and deploy it in more engaging ways.

2) Literacy is defined as being able to participate to create a new resource intend of just sitting around watching something such as TV. This definition is somewhat different than the one in the Wolf and Carr articles. In the Wolf article, literacy is defined as being able to think deeply about the information that you read. In the Carr article, literacy is being defined as being able to actually read an entire article and think for yourself. In the Shirky article, literacy is being defined as being able to participate, produce, and share information.

3) A cognitive surplus is a person's free time to produce knowledge and share it.

4) It matters because it calls people to start producing and sharing knowledge with the world to make it a better place.

5 and 6) Cognitive surplus is used a lot. It is used as a call to action to get people to gain knowledge and share it with the world.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

The article's main argument is that our minds are changing. Carr thinks that we are no longer going to think for ourselves. He talks about how the Net is becoming this universal medium that is reprogramming us. Carr says that the Internet has affected his thinking process by chipping away his capacity for concentration and contemplation. He says that deep reading, that used to come naturally, has become a struggle for him. Literacy is defined in this article as being able to pull information from a text. It is similar to the Socrates article because both deal with getting facts from a text, but the article on Socrates focuses more on being able to think deeply beyond face value while this article focuses more on just being able to think for yourself and actually read a whole article. The Internet has changed the thinking process and mental habits for many people by making them unable to concentrate. People now skim passages and bounce from one site to another. The author backs up his claims by providing evidence. He talks about Google, brain and cognitive studies, and research from other scholars. The evidence is effective because he has so much of it to back up his claims. The reader can take away that the Internet has an effect on their brains. If one is not careful, they will no longer be able to concentrate long enough to read a long article or book.

Unit 3 Brainstorming

I decided to pick Beth Moore's twitter account to analyze. Beth Moore is a Christian speaker. By looking at her tweets you can tell that she is also a mother. She frequently posts pictures of her children and tweets about them. She also posts random tidbits and inspirational/positive tweets along with occasional tweets about a conference or a person that has blessed her. Beth Moore does not have anything negative on her page because she wants to glorify God and to do so she needs to maintain a positive image. I think she will be a good person to analyze because she keeps her profile up to date.

Social Media: What does your tattoo say?

By looking at my twitter you can tell that I am a student who goes to Auburn that occasionally complains. Some of my tweets that show that I am a student say, "Got out of class 10 minutes early" or "done with lab an hour early." You can also tell that I go to Auburn university by all of my tweets that say, "War Eagle" or " so excited for the game." And every once in a while I will complain by saying, "can I just stay in my bed all day" or "I just want to go back to my apartment and take a nap." But I do not always complain, sometimes I post positive things such as, "God has put such amazing people in my life" or "getting things done today." I think that by looking at these tweets, you see a Auburn college student who has good days and bad days. I think that my tweets show an accurate representation of me. I do not tweet a lot and half of my tweets are retweets so there is not a bunch of information about me. I do feel like I need to maintain a positive social media identity because I do not want to put anything on twitter that would cause someone to have a negative perception of me. I do not feel pressured by trying to have a good image because I have always tried to maintain a positive identity. If I were interviewing for a job I would still get it even if my tweets were printed out because there is nothing wrong with what I post. I do not post things that would jeopardize my reputation.

Interpretive Leap

I decided to change my song to Lana Del Rey's song "Young and Beautiful". The main question of the song is to her lover. She wants to know if he will still love her when she is no longer young and beautiful. She answers her own question by saying,"I know you will" repeatedly. But her face does not reflect that. In the video it is dark and dull. She is somber throughout the video and does not always make eye contact with the camera. It seems as if she is asking for a confirmation of his love for her. This song is also used in a scene in The Great Gatsby. However, in The Great Gatsby, the scene shows a different story. The scene is very lively, bright, grand, and cheerful. The people in it are smiling and laughing and having fun. During the scene, Jay Gatsby looks at Daisy and remarks on how splendid she is and how he did not want to forget a moment of their day together. This is a confirmation of his continual love for her. Even though the lyrics are the same in both videos, two different stories are revealed.

From Flappers to Rappers

“The Great Gatsby” used a blend of contemporary music and 1920's jazz because they wanted to "weave" in music from different eras. When F. Scott Fitzgerald used jazz music he was criticized because it was said to be of the moment. So, it makes sense for the new Gatsby soundtrack to have modern day music as well. Even though the new soundtrack has modern day hip-hop songs, the songs still fit in with the mood of the movie. For example, in the song "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody", contemporary beats and elements from the jazz age are "weaved" together. The song fits in with the mood of the movie because it is played during a party scene.  Just like a party is lively and upbeat, so is the song. I think that the music was a successful rhetorical choice because it meshes well with the scenes in the movie. The original movie had modern music from that era so the new soundtrack should have modern music as well.

Process and Product

Typically when I start an essay I start the night before and I just write. But, this time I made an outline of everything that I was going to write about. Then, once I had my outline I started writing. I do not like to jump all around. I start with the introduction and work my way all the way down to the conclusion. I think that this process of using the outline helped me stay organized with my ideas. I was not as overwhelmed because I knew what I was going to talk about. Also, I actually like having required drafts due. By doing this I did not wait until the last minute to write the entire essay. I also like that I get feedback from you so that I know if I am on the right track. The writing process is much easier when I write a little bit at a time and then turn it in. If we did not have required drafts I might would have started about three days before it was due. I am glad that we had required drafts and writing workshops because it makes me feel more confident about my paper.