Here's a link to the American Memory Project search page. You might try to search for "early films" or "Edison films" to get back a wide range of results. You might also want to try some of the films listed in my entry on American Memory Project. Search around and have some fun! Your blog on American Memory Project is due on Friday.
Your blog on Roland Barthes is due Monday, but you should be prepared to discuss the essay on Friday in class (possible quiz/in class writing alert!).
Your first group blog entry is due on Wednesday of next week. Send me the URLs by Wednesday as well (you can appoint one person per group to do this).
For Friday be sure to read the selections from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida, including the sections that I gave you in class. A blog entry on Camera Lucida will be due on Monday, but as always, you should be prepared to discuss (and possibly write about) CL in class. Later this afternoon, I will place a quick glossary of Barthes' key terms.
You should also be working toward setting up your first blog entries for your group blogs, which will be due one week from today, Wednesday, November 5. Once you get started on your group blogs, be sure to send me the URLs (nominate one person per group to do this). More instructions to come.
¶ 8:21 AM
Monday, October 27, 2003
Wednesday
Just a quick reminder that we'll be meeting Wednesday in Skiles 302 to give you time to begin coordinating your group projects. Also be sure to turn in your papers to turnitin.com in order to receive full credit for the assignment.
¶ 9:32 AM
Misbehaving is Good
I'd like to recommend the newly established misbehaving.net, a group blog dedicated to gender and technology issues. If you're still looking for good examples of group blogs, this one is highly recommended.
¶ 8:34 AM
Discussion of Early Cinema
This summer I discovered the American Memory Project's digital collection of the Edison film catalog. We'll discuss in class several questions that I began thinking about over the summer. I'm certainly interested in talking about how these early films offer complicated temporal structures, but we'll also spend some time discussing the effects of preservation, including Stewart Brand's argument taht preservation is a social, not technological, problem.
Take a look at the techniques these authors use in constructing collectively authored blogs. You might consider offering an introduction to your blog modeled on the ones these authors use. You might also use these blogs to provide your group with a sense of focus or purpose. See the assignment sheet for further details.
Don't forget to bring your rough drafts to class on Monday.
In case you're interested, here is a link to The Homeless Guy, a blog authored by Kevin Barbieux, a man who has been homeless off and on for the last twenty years.
¶ 2:39 PM
Wednesday, October 15, 2003
Gallery Assignment
As we originally discussed, Friday will involve an activity outside the classroom. For this assignment, you will be expected to attend a local museum or gallery (possibilities include but are not limited to the High Museum, the Georgia Pacific Folk Art and Photography Exhibit, the Martin Luther King Center, the Carter Center, or the Michael Carlos Musuem). Most of these spaces are accessible by MARTA, many by MARTA's rail service.
When you analyze the museum of your choice, pay carefuil attention to the questions we raised in class during our discussion of the William J. Mitchell discussion of museums.
First , make clear what exhibit or museum you analyzed. Is it the museum's permanent collection or a temporary exhibit? Depending on the status of your object of inquiry, your answers to the following questions may be different. How would you describe the space of the museum? Does the space create a "narrative" that guests are encouraged to follow? How would you describe this narrative? Is it organized chronologically? Is it organized by "school" or "movement?" Does the organization follow another pattern? Did you find this organization effective? Confusing? What implications might this method of organization have in terms of framing our understanding of art? Our understanding of narrative?
In closing, Mitchell comments that in virtual museums, "sprawling gallery spaces become unnecessary" (59). Given your experience in this virtual museum, what is your reaction to Mitchell's claim?
The Technique, the "south's liveliest college newspaper" (the student newspaper here at Georgia Tech), has a feature about using blogging in the classroom featuring our classes and Doreen Piano's English 1101 courses. I'll provide a link to the online version of the article as soon as it's available. Thanks to Jeff Wei for a well-written and comprehensive exploration of our classroom activities.
Here is the link to the Technique article, as promised.
¶ 8:59 AM
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
New Deadlines
Your rough draft for paper 2 is now due October 20.
The final draft will now be due October 24.
For Blog 8 (due Friday) you should identify the visual text you'll be addressing in your next paper. For the entry you should discuss in 250 words or so why you've chosen that particular text, what you find interesting about it, and how you think you might evaluate it (what criteria you plan to use).
For Monday, take a few minutes and check out a few of the "advertisements" at Adbusters. Especially check out the Creative Resistance section.
¶ 9:58 AM
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Photography and Memory
One of the major conversations about photography is its role as a technology of memory. When we watch Kodak commercials, their cameras are portrayed as capturing all of the important moments of our lives. A much different take on photography as memory can be found here. For your next blog entry, read all of the relevant material and then reflect on the discussions of the material we've read this week. To what extent do these "technologies of memory" fulfill their role? To what extent do photographs actually inhibit our capacity to remember? Perhaps you can address this topic by discussing whether or not you take photographs and then explaining what you photograph and why.
¶ 9:32 AM
Stream-of-Consciousness Blogging
This is just a quick self-reminder to take a look at this blog by Nicholas Laughlin. Looks like he's addressing some of the same questions that I do.
¶ 7:48 AM
Official Blog for Dr. Chuck Tryon's English 1101 courses at Georgia Tech. Opinions expressed are those of the writer(s), not Georgia Tech.
