Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Blog Post #3

In reading Johnson-Eilola and Selber’s journal they bring up the recent phenomenon of a remix culture and what that could mean in relation to the strict plagiarism and copyright policies of our society. The journal discusses assemblage as being apart of the remix culture and how, through a change of notion on plagiarism, could actually be applied to an improved academic curriculum and setting. Instead of academic institutions holding students originality so highly in writing, the journal suggest a shift to application and how students can remix other texts to solve problems or enact social action. How it is conceived today, the journal acknowledges a hierarchy in academics that holds students original writing above all, especially borrowed work. This hierarchy is exemplified by not only the strict plagiarism policies seen around the country, but also the citation practices that act as an indicator for teachers to what is borrowed and what is original. However, the journal brings up how these citation practices, that value borrowed text less than students original work, are problematic and often are what lead students hide their borrowings. If academic institutions took on the reconception of downplaying the value of originality and instead focused more on problem solving, assemblage could be a very beneficial part of students’ composition skills. By teaching and encouraging students to build on existing texts in order to bring about resolutions, as opposed to hiding the unavoidable interactions with the work of others behind concepts of citations, an entirely new skill can be put into use. 

Blog#4


“Read and respond to Richards: In each of these excerpts, what do you think Richards is saying? What parts are you confused about? How might these readings relate to our discussion of Remix thus far?”

 

It was very confusing reading Richards, most of the time I had no idea what was going on and it had to do a lot of re-reading because I would lose track. It took me a long time to read because of that and it just made me become more and more unfocused. After multiple reading this is what I got from it Richard is trying to say that the words around the importance words, are of more importance.  He is basically saying the way that your sentences are  set up you, and how they are organized to express whatever was meant to me understood in that sentence. The words around it, is really give that word its true meaning, because if they chose to use other words or decide to place the words differently it can have a totally different meaning. It relates to remixing, because remixing is based off other things as well not just that remix, but what the original piece was so that it is very much similar to what Richard is saying. Things are built open each other, and that’s what makes it what it is. It wouldn’t be that without the influence of others. For example, you wouldn’t be able to create a sentence without using different words that you have learned over time to do so.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Ideas for Genealogy

As a music major my focus in life is classical music. It is passion/drive that I have so I thought it would be a cool idea to analyze how the geniuses behind the foundation of what music is today got ripped off. I have three composers in mind that have gotten their compositions ripped off and well as some may call it “remixed” One example of this is Gustav Holst, one of the most prolific composers got one of his biggest compositions stolen by a very famous composer now a day, john Williams. John Williams stole the main theme of Hosts symphony "The Planets".
Another Idea I have in mind is actually the use of a big movie such as "We are the Millers" It is a comedy that is actually a remix of many other movies. The focus of the movie moves around the idea that a drug dealer has to go to another country and has to smuggle drugs into the U.S. The main character is then encountered with many comedic barriers that make his life that much harder. This is very similar to 21 jump street. The comedic relief is pretty much the same, also it focuses on the drug issue and how they should find it. 

Thursday, February 5, 2015

“Read and respond to Richards: In each of these excerpts, what do you think Richards is saying? What parts are you confused about? How might these readings relate to our discussion of Remix thus far?” 

Richards excerpts were very interesting but slightly difficult to understand. The beginning section about his opinion on how words can never be labeled or judged was unclear the first couple of times I read it. However after revisiting the text a couple of times I was able to gain a better understanding. Overall I believe Richard is saying that individual words do not hold nearly as much weight as the words around them, if some at all. I believe that he feels that the way in which you use certain word and chose to organize sentences is more capable of judgement than specific words by themselves. This relates to our class discussion on remixing because it is assemblage in its own right. In order to complete a thought or fulfill the requirements of a proper phrase you must pull from many different areas of your own vocabulary.

Blog Post 4- Ryan McCormick

“Read and respond to Richards: In each of these excerpts, what do you think Richards is saying? What parts are you confused about? How might these readings relate to our discussion of Remix thus far?” 

            Richard’s writing was very difficult to read, interpret, and understand. I found that he took a long time to make his point and could inform the reader his thoughts in a much simpler piece of writing. His writing “flow” was off and his vocabulary was old-fashioned and difficult to read. However, after reading the excerpts several times, I finally understood what Richards was trying to say and why he was saying it. He is saying that the meaning of words is different for every person. We all interpret words differently and the word itself does not define itself, the words surrounding it defines it. Therefore, Richards says “No word can be judged as to whether it is good or bad, correct or incorrect.” His point is that not one word in the dictionary has only one true meaning. It changes for every person and the words around it form the meaning. Just like our discussion with remixes. Everything now is a remix, we see one’s work and transform it into our own. 


 "Read and respond to Richards: In each of these excerpts, what do you think Richards is saying? What parts are you confused about? How might these readings relate to our discussion of Remix thus far?"

 

 

Honestly I don’t really understand some of the article at all. I am having a hard time gripping the text as a whole. I don’t really understand the point it’s trying to portray. I tried and there are some things that are familiar but I just don’t get it fully. For instance I understand the meaning of word and I get that but the rest of it is new to me and I’m not getting it. The meaning of word is familiar because I deal with that a lot outside of the class. Words and its context are used multiple times. It’s the meaning of the word and its description. Other than that stuff I don’t what it’s saying. It is a complicated text to read. I know that we are going to talk about it more in class so hopefully that helps me get a grip on what’s being talked about. Can you please explain what it is really saying I get the meaning of word part I just need to know the rest of it.

 

Davante  Phillips
2/5/15


Mr.Maynard I do not understand the text very well, however, If I get a good ideaology of the text I will be sure to make it up (If Allowed) thank you.