February 20, 2008

Lecture: How does comm tech make us who we are?

Textbook: C&T Ch. 13: Identity

Textbook: C&T Ch. 14: Challenging Identity

Announcement: Midterm review sheet (PDF, 2 pages) now online

Assignment: BLOG POST: Do-it-Yourself Digitization

Imagine you are an inventor who has created a new process for digitization. In this post, write up your process to share it with your investors.

Part I. Choose something analog that fits one description from the following list: a picture, a song, a sculpture, the weather, an experience from your senses. State what you chose in your blog post. Before you go on, be sure that you chose something that is analog!

Part II. Invent your own process for digitizing it. It is perfectly OK to re-use one of the many methods covered in lecture on 2/13 or in the discussion/lab sections. But: You can also use your creativity! We will award a +10% bonus if you come up with your own creative way to digitize something that does not repeat something already mentioned in class. Write up your process in a blog post, and illustrate it with at least one picture, photograph, or diagram.

Part III. Briefly discuss at least one consequence that might happen if your digitization process became very popular. (You could also think of this as a benefit or drawback of your process.) Would it be easier or harder to digitize some things vs. other things? Would some kinds of information be lost, transformed, or even added? For example, you could write: "If this process becomes popular, ____ will be harder/easier to watch/listen to/understand because my process _____." In your write-up, use at least two words from the following vocabulary list. (Tip: To "use" one of these words, it must be clear to the reader that you know what it means, and you should use it to refer to YOUR process, not just stick it in.)

Vocabulary List:
(These terms are from the Manovich reading and lecture on 2/11 and 2/13. The definitions are from the dictionary.).

• Discrete. (a., n.) separate; individually distinct (the opposite of continuous)
• Quantization. (n.) to assign a numeric value to
• Sampling. (vbl. n.) testing at regular intervals
• Resolution. (n.) the frequency of sampling (e.g., a "high-resolution" vs. "low-resolution" digital image)
• Fidelity. (n.) the degree to which what comes out of a system resembles what went in (as in a "high-fidelity" or "hi-fi" stereo system)

Tips and Advice:

• Your process does not have to be technical in any way or involve devices. A drawing with pen and paper will be great!
• Your process does not have to work very well, or to be useful. It just has to be a way to digitize something that is analog.
• If you want to get the +10% bonus and come up with a process not copied from material we already covered, it is perfectly OK to email your TA or the instructor to be sure you are on the right track.
• If you get stuck on Part III, use (or pretend to use) your process to digitize more than one thing and look for differences between the results.

Post an answer of at least 300 words to your blog. DEADLINE: 11 a.m. -- one hour before class begins.

Help/Handout: How to Turn in Blog Entries for Grading

How to Turn in Blog Entries for Grading (Microsoft Word document, 2 pages) -- originally passed out in discussion section

Help/Handout: Midterm Review Sheet

Midterm_Review.pdf (PDF, 2 pages)