Project 5: Show Me More Tats

Any every day aspect of life may seem dull, but the way people present these elements to the public can portray different and interesting perspectives. The development of online writing, specifically blogs and Facebook, allow people to portray any personality they wish. How permanent do these online writers want their public personalities to be?

This project is an expansion of the fourth project "Show Me Your Tat." Tattoos are an every day subject, but also a permanent one. We see tattoos every day, but what does permanently writing on your body mean? People get tattoos for a variety of reasons, from family to favorite band. Tattoos can be seen as expansion of online writing: permanently sending people a message about yourself. People with tattoos write to the public every day. I e mailed, facebooked, and blogged people to send me pictures and/or descriptions of their tattoos. Their descriptions could be as simple or complicated as they want. Some people only told me what their tattoo looks like and some people gave additional information of when they got it, what it means to them, and why they chose that part of the body to be tattooed.

I have taken four steps in order to expand on this project. First, I found more tattoos. When I encountered people with tattoos, I asked if I could take a picture or if they would tell me something about it. Second, I grouped all of pictures together so you can see the comparisons in this every day yet permanent subject. Similar to placing blogs with subjects about the every day, such describing what you've been doing for the past three hours, in a list, the meaningfulness or pointless has been emphasized.
See the grouped pictures of tattoos here.

Third, when I named and listed the submissions to this project, tattoos became even more every day. Placing a simple name to an obviously important aspect of the body makes the relationship to the owner's tattoo and personality more interesting.
Check out which tattoo seems the most interesting to you based on its name. Click on one of the links below.

3 L's

American

Angel

Arm

Art

Band

Barbed wire

Bass

Bishop

Butterfly

Crest

Dempsey

Dove

Dragon

Dub V

Fairy

Family

Fish

Flamin'

Frat

Gemini

Goblin

Grandparents

Hager

Halo

High Risk

Horoku

Hummingbird

Isaiah

Jerry

Judge

Meeting

Meiyo

Meso-American

Metal

Mountaineer

Name

Orange

Parrot

Papaw

Peace

Psalm

Sign

Skull

Star

Stars

Step

Swirly

Symbols

Thorn

Tribal

Virgo

Wedding

Wings

Woodrum

Yankees

Finally, I was interested if there are any relationships between the area people live and the types of tattoos those people have. To better examine this point, I created a map with all the submissions using the Flickr website. To find out where people call home, I searched for each person on Facebook and learned their hometown. If one was not listed, I used whatever location they claimed. Obviously, my project is somewhat focused on college students, but participants want tattoos for a number of different reasons no matter where they call home. For those who commented on their tat, it seems that experience is the biggest influence in choosing a subject.
Look over the tattoo map here. (Zoom in and out to see marked entries, or click on the blue dot of an entry that interests you.)

5th project

I feel like I'm working on my 5th project all the time. Everywhere I go I look for people with tattoos, and I become that crazy person who asks strangers personal questions ("Hey, can I take a picture of your tat?").

Aside from that, I'm trying to figure out a better way to format my pictures. Sandy suggested using something like Flickr, so I'm going to try that and see how it works. Sandy also suggested that I create a map that shows where participants are from, which would be an interesting aspect of this project. This might not work though since a lot of my project came from people I know, and even more from my hometown. Anyway, after I make everything look pretty, I'll link it to my blog.

Blogs.

Blogging is important because it's an easy way to learn the public's opinions. I don't read blogs unless I'm curious about public opinion. Any company can learn what people think about something by simply posting a prompt on a blog. People are more excited about blogs because everyone is blogging in some form. Almost everyone has a Facebook or Myspace. In a way, these accounts are people blogging about themselves.

5th project?

I have no ideas for the fifth project. All of the examples in class require a lot of time and again, collaboration from others. My collaborative means were exhausted on the 4th project when I was able to ask lots of people for pictures of their tattoos. There's not really enough time to figure out how to do something with people I don't know. The PacManhattan games and similar examples are all great ideas, but I would have no idea how to set that up. Also, the weather is cold now and not many people would like to do that.

more thoughts about project 4

I've started my project and I'm still working on it. I'm waiting on some more people that I know to send me descriptions or pictures, but it would be nice if more people that I don't know would submit something. I've posted that people can comment on my blog or e mail me.
I'm thinking about creating a list of links to each description and/or picture so you won't really know what to expect. I'd need more people to submit something though.

PROJECT 4: show me your tat

My fourth project is about tattoos. I chose this topic because people get tattoos for a variety of reasons, from the personal to the estranged. I e mailed, facebooked, and blogged people to send me pictures and/or descriptions of their tattoos. Their descriptions could be as simple or complicated as they want. Some people only told me what their tattoo looks like and some people gave additional information of when they got it, what it means to them, and why they chose that part of the body to be tattooed. I found that many people get tattoos because of family tradition or pride, and few get tattoos for no reason.

The difference between the way people write on their bodies and the way they write online is interesting. Writing on the body is permanent, so most people wanted to write something on their bodies that they would be proud of or would reflect a certain critical point in their life. However, people write on a wide variety of topics online, from sports to who slept with who. Isn't the Internet permanent? I guess not, since the creator of a webpage can delete the page and bloggers can even delete their own posts. On the other hand, online writing can be seen by so many more people than body writing. So which is more personal? This project attempts to combine the permanent and the personal of an every day thing: tattoos.

On a technical note, I had some issues with the blogspot. I wanted to keep the pictures and descriptions almost exactly how they were sent or said, but blogger would not let me. Apparently, blogger knows what spacing amount, font type, and font size is best for me. I even had to delete some pictures. So, there are some inconsistencies with the format, but each entry is numbered. I know most of these people, but some I don't know. I wish I could have received more anonymous entries, but not everyone wants to participate.

#1
I got a tattoo of barbwire around my arm when I was 18 to piss my parents off. And I just wanted a tattoo.

#2
I've got a yankees interlocking NY on my shoulder and instead of being filled in it has 6 pinstripes going through it....outline is in blue.

#3
My tattoo is gonna be a 3 demensional cross sorta deal embedded in a tribal design or a thorn bush. In the top area of the cross is my dad's initials. In the left, my brothers, and in the right, my mom's. In the bottom part is gonna be my birthday. Centered in the middle of the cross is gonna be a four leaf clover. Written in a belt along the bottom of the cross below the thorn bush/design is going to be the phrase "In Nomeni Patri, Et Fili, et Spiritus Sancti." which is Latin for "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." It's gonna be a symbolism of faith, family values and Irish heritage.

#4
My last name is tattooed on my back because I'm proud of my family heritage. Then, I got a tribal around my name for the protection of my family. And it looks cool.

#5
I don't have a tattoo, but my friend Pete got one on his butt. He was drunk, and he requested a "bass on my ass."

#6
I have an American flag waving behind a cross on my right arm because I'm proud to be an American and fight for our country's freedom. The cross is for all the guys that have died. I fight for them.

#7
My first tattoo is near my hip bone/bikini line -- it's a fairy. Dumb. I got it somewhere in Delaware?


#8
My 2nd one is a heart with wings & a halo & also the initials of my grandfathers--I plan to get each of my grandmothers initials also. It is really low on my back..and I got it done at Thinkin Ink in Morgantown.

#9
I have one on the back of my neck that say "Gemini" that is for the month i was born, and also another for my papaw where he passed away on my birthday.

#10
I have a Meso-American tribal bird on my lower left back ( I love birds).

#11
I have a parrot on my upper right thigh (Birds are the most free animals in my opinion).

#12
My tattoo is Psalm 118:8 and squiggly lines around my ankle. I got it because its my favorite bible verse and its my birthday 1-18-88 minus one 8 lol they all have bright colors they all mean a lot to me.

#13


















W for Woodrum.

#14





















I got this tattoo at ancient art. The f stands for faith & Felicia & the way it's made, it's 2 j's that meet in the middle, standing for my mom's name, joyce. the seaparate heart is for michael hall & it's located on my shoulder meaning I'll alway have my angels on my shoulder.

#15

Got these fuckers on both my shoulder, nick at ancient art in Kanawha does all my tats!
Greatest band on the earth!

#16

3 stars for the 3 people that i've been close to that have passed away.. got it done in august 07 in ancient art in Kanawha City.

# 17

The tat is on my right shoulder blade. It is the Irish Wedding Band that means "Friendship, Love, and Loyalty* The rose making the heart bleed shows that there is pain in life, but you have friends and love through it all. I got it in September 2008 at Tat Nice in Downtown Huntington. I am going to add more to it later in life. I am going to put the wedding anniversary of my grandparents in the heart and the dates of their deaths above each hand, and from the blood two four leaf clovers will fall down my back, one with my dad’s initials and one with mine. Because I get the Irish from them and they are the biggest influence and support in my life.

#18

My newest tattoo.

#19

New Tattoo, dont tell mom.

#20















This was my second tattoo. I got it so that I can always take things in life "one step at a time".. Enjoy what happens while it's happening and don't rush your life. :o)

#21

This was my first tattoo. I believe there are angels to watch over each and every one of us and this is my constant reminder.

#22

My tattoo on my right leg. It says, "Bishop" and its for my papaw bishop that passed away on my birthday.

#23

It's a peace sign done in white ink. I got it done at Ancient Art in Kanawha City.

#24

I got this one Spring 2008. It was partly because of my love of music as well as the lyrics from Let It Be. To me it means that there are reasons for the good and bad things that happen around us and we don't have the answers...we just have to let it be.

#25

I got this because of my love for history and especially exploration. The meaning it has is that it is a Sailor Jerry Original tattoo. Sailors use to get it when they came back from WWII. It symbolizes them leaving the Pacific Realm of the War...hence the red sunset in the background.

#26

Tattoo I got when I was 18 for a friend who was killed in a gun accident, and this was one of the best ways I knew how to honor his life.. Got it at Harry's Tattoo Shop in Danville, VA.

#27

This is my tattoo. I got it at Skin Deep in Winfield. I got it after making through a very rough period in my life. The two things that got me through were my faith in God and music was my release, the way I let it all out.

#28

This is my Japanese family crest, the orange blossom

#29

I thought the skull looked cool. It did say Lucky 13, but I changed it to High Risk because it better suits me.

#30

This is my virgo tattoo

#31

This tattoo is "horoku", the Japanese symbol for pride.

#32

My tattoo is the Japanese symbol meiyo, or honor.

#33















My family is really proud of our heritage, so most of the guys in my family get our family crest tattooed on their arm. Since our family crest contains dragons and swords, I decided to get this more girly tattoo with my last name. I love the colors and I feel like it adequately shows my family pride. My dad paid for this tattoo as a present for my 18th birthday. We didn't tell my mom, so when I was late for the birthday party with my mom's family, I had to lie to her. She didn't find out what my dad and I were really doing until I'd already left for college a few months later. I was home one weekend, and while I was dressing, my mom walked in my room and saw my tattoo. She was mad at me and my dad, but there was nothing she could do at that point.


#34

This is of a fallen angel. I got it because it help remind me of the bad times in my life, and helps me avoid going back to those places in my head

#35

My tattoo is a dove with an olive branch in its mouth. It is a symbol of hope and my faith.

#36

My tattoo was done on 4th Ave. in huntington, but i don't remember the name of the shop. I got to remind myself of how i want to live my life. I want to always live life to the fullest, laugh as much as possible, and love with all my heart!

DO YOU HAVE A TATTOO?

For my 4th project, I'm asking people to send me a picture and/or description of their tattoo. If any of you guys have a tattoo, it would really help me out if you sent me either or both. The description can be as simple or involved as you want, by simply saying what your tattoo is or going on to say what your tattoo means to you or others.

My e mail is jdempse2@mix.wvu.edu or you can comment on my blog.

Project 4?

I have a lot of subject ideas for project 4, but I'm not sure how they would work. I still like the idea of writing the first paragraph to a narrative and asking others to write a paragraph. I like the list idea better though. I thought about asking people what they thought about Morgantown (likes or dislikes) and asking people if they have tattoos. If so, what is it? What does it mean? People should tell a story about it. Pictures of these tattoos would be great. Tattoos involve both the meaningless and the personal.

My biggest concern with the project is how to do it. If I post something on my blog and ask others to respond, how many people will actually see it? If I post on my blog or facebook then I can ask my friends to respond, but I'd like for people I don't know to respond. Along the lines of the tattoo list, how many people will actually send pictures and how will they do it?

i don't like this and i like that

What I don't like.

Biting my fingernails
Onions
waiting tables
floods
Princesses
teachers that assign homework every day
unreliable friends
losing my keys as soon as I unlock the door
pets
whiny kids
Uggz
techno music
a bad mountaineer football season
watching my loved ones go overseas again and again to fight a rich man's war
scary movies
bleach blonde hair
baggy clothes
computers!
the increasing number of psychological disorders
driving long hours by myself
people who know everything
students that attend WVU and are surprised to hear a souther accent
learning spanish
heavy beer
dreadlocks
split ends
fighting with my mom
tea
breaking up
being late

What I like.

reality shows on VH1 & MTV
Tina Fey impersonating Sara Palin
rain
sleeping in
Johnny Depp
blue
parliament lights
drawing things i see
taking pictures
Ashley Judd movies
Halloween
figuring out something really complicated
softball
long phone conversations
writing letters
reading law books
Messing with someone's facebook account when they leave forget to log out
pirates
laser tag
air hockey
orange, yellow, and red leaves in Fall
the spanish word tiquismiquis (which means picky)

I could ask others to add to the likes or dislikes list. I'm sure it would be as random as the submissions to Lost. I like when people make these lists on their facebook because you can learn a lot about a person by learning what they'll admit about themselves to the general public. How truthful are you? Do you express your feelings to others? Regularly? Never? Are you spontaneous--can you say the first thing that comes to mind? My lists reflect my personality fairly well, but they also reflect my reservation of more personal experiences. For example, I listed "breaking up" under stuff I hate, but I didn't specifically say what I don't like about breaking up. That's a little too personal for the public.

Project 4 Ideas

In class right now, I'm completely entertained with Learning To Love You More. I like the idea of prompting many people to do something. I'm thinking mostly about writing the first paragraph to a story and asking a bunch of people to write another paragraph. This idea reminds me of a game that my brothers and me used to play when our family would make long car drives. We created a story by taking turns saying a word, but the order had to follow the alphabet from beginning to end. That's a good idea too, but it would require too many people.

Project 3

Part 1: English Editing Mixup

I abandoned.
High School adjusted English about Friday.
General apologized Motors.
Asian Dragon baked Cafe around Christmas.
Chestnut Street bled
Pizza Hut.
Stallone burgeoned Pacino beside Italian.
Freaky chain-smoked Friday.
Quaker collaborated Marine for Corps.
Sometime coruscated If.

Quarter peanuts debarred gum off Mondays.
Wednesdays disappeared popcorn.
book pizzas earned mushrooms under Hari.
dancer college eschewed
crops.
ghost felicitated want above vampire.
werewolves fractionated mummies.
zombie gnasehed teacher at company.
I has frog.

body it humidified barn between brother.
earth kibbled ballpark.
street library lionized grandmother from greg.
machine I masqueraded
Persons.
Kate molted tanks onto janitor.
building nitpicked book.
Rick ostracized he until people.
you pended driver.

I someone poked stranger over I.
history protested city.
Dad Ted reciprocated Sports up Illustrated.
Dr. Lopez rived
clinic.
parkside scribbled college after senator.
holland simplified january.
renee spouted flordia behind aunt.
sarah surmounted british.

church england thrashed minute down sociology.
New tried Orleans.
Mardi Gras varied I inside Andy.
forest avenue whimpered
tropicana.
tide abided maxwell through house.
Chicago adulated loop.
june appalled chevrolet upon heartbeat.
Arnold bamboozled Schwarzenegger.

This poem was created using the workbook, English Brushup, for English 302: Techincal Editing. The nouns in the poem are answers from the workbook. I liked the Noun + 7 alogorithm, so I wanted to use something similar. I looked up the verbs in The New American Webster Dictionary. Verbs were selected by flipping through the dictionary and selecting the first word on every twentieth page. All of the verbs are in past tense. The prepositions were selected from a preposition chart (reading left to right) in English Brushup. I created the pattern of the nouns, nouns, verbs, and prepostions:

1 2 v 3 p
1 v 2
1 2 v 3 p 4
1 2 v
3
1 v 2 p 3
1 v 2
1 v 2 p 3
1 v 2

Similar to any other modern text, I like the nonsensical storyline. I also like how some proper nouns were separated by verbs, for example, "New tried Orleans". I don't know what some of the verbs mean, but in some lines, my ignorance adds to the humor. One example is "Arnold bamboozled Schwarzenegger". Overall, I'm happy with the outcome of this alogorithm. Although it was a little time consuming, methodically creating the poem and then reading the poem for some sort of meaning was entertaining.

Part 2: Psych paper cut up

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one such confusion men who personality bangarang. man’s and di pikny’s cared for by smadi place di needs of fi im dependent fifty years ago? di dependent make decisions based on di men inability ta make norms. what is of di most persuasive wife’s husband groups) before herself, and even man’s slim figure of examination of family.
would differ greatly and men include a need ta be loved or throughout societal norms encouraged their own ta stay at gates ta raise functioned as di should be included today? what was expected income, and multicultural society. men one generations ago. issues in can be attributed ta norms of di

ractively of wocated benefits men more compliExample, di attrole in di expen behaviors desctation of womeof fi im their alone, was notegard for expec viewed as disrcribe decisionsility on others of dis ya bang. some symptomsted of dependabldren, depend olse, attractiven a husband’s earang these chian questions fconfuse a psychorty years ago a century ago. ect of norms in di diagnosis o in di could beology is di effy (if not additrception of herional viewed pef today a familsociety’s answmily. could di ers ta these faself desires, a is particular t dada today? onime period. forstandards time
n women who perang. woman’s ansonality bangare such confusiored for by smads of fi im depei place di needd di pikny’s cars ago? di depesions based on ndent make decindent fifty yeaity ta make nordi most persuasms. what is of di women inabilife groups) befd even woman’s ore herself, anive husband’s wexamination of iffer greatly afamily. would dslim figure of e a need ta be hout societal nloved or througnd women includ their own ta s raise functiontay at gates taorms encouraged be included toxpected income,day? what was eed as di shouldral society. woions ago. issuemen one generat and multicultuributed ta norms of dis in can be att.

Several alogorithms were also applied to this text. First, I took part of a psychology paper about women and Dependant Personality Disorder and put it through the Lazarus Cut-Up. The text was cut up (4 words per strip), transgenderized (both ways) and rasta racked. I then cut up that text in the link Cut Ups Self Explained (4 columns). In the second paragraph I transgenderized (both ways) the first paragraph again, then cut up the text (3 columns).
I enjoyed my new psychology paper because of the irrelevance of the many disfigured psychology terms, in which I think the meanings of many of these words are confusing anyway. The two paragraphs are very similar, but notice that the first paragraph refers to a husband more often than the second paragraph. This happened because the first paragraph was transgenderized against my original paper that was primarily about women. Many new words were created in the two alogorithms, such as "woions", "wocated", "decisionibility", and "multicultuributed". "Bangarang" appears several times in funny situations, so Steve looked it up:

Bangarang (according to the Urban Dictionary)

1. Battle cry of the Lost Boys in the movie Hook.
2. Jamaican slang defined as a hubbub, uproar, disorder, or disturbance.
3. General exclamation meant to signify approval or amazement

This might be a cut up, but I'm assuming that bangarang is a result of rastaracking.
Some interesting phrases were also produced, such as "some symptoms of dis ya bangarang these children, depend on a wife’s else" and "woions ago". "Woions ago" sounds longer than eons ago, so woions ago might go as far back as the beginning of time.
Overall, I'm happy with my new psychology paper. The cut up words and nonsensical rastaracked tone sounds like the author of the paper came from a part of the world that used to speak English, but since they moved to the jungle, their English has transformed.

Part 3: Solitaire in English?

I was looking for a juicy story to play with, so I let the story solitaire create one for me. The generated story was really mysterious, but it didn't have a story line. I thought maybe a story line would develop from translating the solitaire story to Spanish to French to Greek to English again.

Starved for the humain contact, rôde the night. In the moment of discovery, the interruptions thinly d'? a cry their lip and their hands they upset jusqu'? in the cover the confrontation more fast by? the eye can see. Strike with the leg to the abroad, turning his body in a effort for escape. The new rich person, this I wish to be in the discretion. In to landscape sad unpeopled, this soña his pale hands, the beauty of his fingers d'? ahusamiento. It hears the quietness, separating the quietness of loneliness of quietness common hope. the lighting it discovers his confrontation. In to apretón confusion of also despair, it turns where they have been found. Glistrietai maintained between the buildings. Tandis qu' with the night, his thoughts reveal in tons a mark his colour that is wetted blood is presented sometimes to be separate to the abroad through that is upset his hands. The landscape is wide and cold and only. It reaches brought to despair to they were for but. it has dreamed this dream. Between that breaks buildings of brick that are abandoned with his windows defeats, exhaustions of their fire aherrumbrados and. the hands of fraud. Now his shade is presented in his dreams. It will say his but. The votes? Echoey continues him. A mysterious concealed void reigns in the hands of marvel. Settles papayes? a twilight in the city. The high buildings are converted the shades. This soña in a new woman with the abundance and the beauty. It so much imagines in cerebral and in aware as she is open and spontaneous. distant.

No story really develops; however, some ideas expand. For example, the translated version talks a lot more about buildings and dreams. I'm not sure these make a good story, but the structure of sentences are interesting. Some of the phrases still have the main idea, but is similar to a foreigner's tone, similar to the cut up of my psychology paper.

Below is the original:

Hungry for human contact, he prowls the night. In the instant of discovery, a thin cry breaks from her lips and her hands flutter up to cover her face quicker than the eye can see. She kicks out, twisting her body in an effort to escape. A rich, goodlooking young man wishes to be in touch. In her bleak unpeopled landscape, she dreams his pale hands, the beauty of his tapering fingers. He listens to the silence, separating the silence of solitude from the silence of shared expectation. A flicker of light discovers her face. In the grip of confusion and despair, he returns to where they met. He glides quietly among the ghostly buildings. As he slips through the night, her thoughts unfold in him. Sometimes a stain the color of wet blood seems to spread out across his restless hands. The landscape is vast and cold and lonely. He desperately reaches out for her but. she has dreamed this dream. Among the abandoned brick buildings with their shattered windows, their rusted and broken fire escapes. the hands of deception. Now her shadow appears in his dreams. She will tell his fate. Echoey voices pursue him. An eerie dark emptiness reigns over the hands of miracle. A milky twilight settles over the city. Tall buildings become ghostly shadows. He dreams a young woman of wealth and beauty. She imagines a twin as cerebral and conscious as she is open and spontaneous. She slips away.

Look @ project 3

Google's Thoughts about Jack Dempsey

My dad and my brother's name is Jack Dempsey. This is also the name of a famous boxer in the 1920s and the name of a fish.
Googlism has this to say about Jack Dempsey:

jack dempsey is very very aggressive it will eat everything i have put in the tank
jack dempsey is the meanest fish in the world
jack dempsey is an aggressive
jack dempsey is a very aggressive cichlid which can come in many colors
jack dempsey is considered by many as one of the greatest boxers pound
jack dempsey is that he also fought hundreds of exhibition matches against hapless opponents
jack dempsey is a pretty fish that is very aggressive
jack dempsey is currently in the top three fish of the week and cannot be voted for until next week
jack dempsey is the best fish around to me
jack dempsey is the most beautiful fish to me
jack dempsey is considered to be one of the most popular heavyweight champs of all time
jack dempsey is the son of hiram and celia smoot dempsey
jack dempsey is little known
jack dempsey is one of the most popular “pet” fish
jack dempsey is a popular beginners cichlid
jack dempsey is also scheduled for an exhibition fight in nearby stockton the following monday
jack dempsey is a good breeder and parent
jack dempsey is appointed champion after winning an elimination tournament
jack dempsey is being besmirched
jack dempsey is as great a chap in
jack dempsey is famous because he was the heavy weight boxing champion of the world for seven years
jack dempsey is named the greatest fighter of the first half of the century
jack dempsey is named after a famous heavy weight champion
jack dempsey is on hand to see romany win the jack dempsey purse on february 11
jack dempsey is scheduled to meet jess willard for the heavyweight championship of the world
jack dempsey is a bigger hero to me than babe ruth

This is funny to me because any time I'm with my dad or brother and they have to give their name to someone (for the sake example I'll say to a cashier), if the cashier is of a younger generation, they will almost always relate my brother's (or dad's) name to the fish. If the cashier is of an older generation, they will almost always relate my brother's (or dad's) name to the boxer.

My Mixed Up Poem

My poem is a remix of a technical description of coal that I wrote for English 305. I used the Lazarus Corporation to cut up the text (4 words at a time) and add a rasta rack. I cut up that text again (6 words at a time). Here is the result:

Remains ta create coal. explosives, and efficient heavy machinery ta explosives and or ready ta bun. most underground mining. srip accumulation surface mining and remains of plants fossil fuel, an electricity, it must from seams matter carried off by di two primary methods of mining are obtain that are close ta di sediments continuously water or ice) as sulfur. color and is combustible, is mainly composed of elements, such animals in rocks with a coal is a sedimentary (I-tal mined and transported. reach seams that are too of di surface. underground cover and stip coal can become carbon and other and otherwise. shaped and shiny. rock is a areas, sand and other smaller equipment, minor extract coal compact di surface mining includes before black or brownish-black debris content, that dis ya typically when mining involves using using irregularly plants and other types are be digging techniques ta high carbon die in swampy far underground ta

I like what the Lazarus Corporation did because I'm focusing on the words instead of what they really mean. (This is what I do when I read a boring technical description anyway).
The following is the original text:

Coal is a fossil fuel, an accumulation of the remains of plants and animals in rocks with a high carbon content, that is mainly composed of carbon and other elements, such as sulfur. When plants and other debris die in swampy areas, sand and other sediments continuously cover and compact the remains to create coal. This typically sedimentary (organic matter carried off by water or ice) rock is a black or brownish-black color and is combustible, or ready to burn. Most types are irregularly shaped and shiny. Before coal can become electricity, it must be mined and transported. The two primary methods of mining are stip surface mining and underground mining. Srip surface mining includes using explosives and heavy machinery to extract coal from seams that are close to the surface. Underground mining involves using smaller equipment, minor explosives, and efficient digging techniques to reach seams that are too far underground to obtain otherwise.

What's up with project 2's draft

What I have posted on my blog today is the draft of my draft. I know what I want to do, and I've written out some of the material. My project is going to be a story about a camping trip I took this past summer. I have a lot of pictures of this trip, so that will be helpful. I want it to be really random, so I'm going to start the narrative talking about Morgantown summers. There's going to be multiple links so people can choose which direction in the story they are interested in. I'm working on some video for a fictional part of the trip where we get attacked by something.
So, I have a lot of questions about how to do things. My main question is about links within blogs since we have to post everything on blogger.

How about project 2.

So I'm not really sure what I think about project 2 and don't really have any ideas. We've talked about a few possibilities in class, but not many of these seem like something I want to do. Google maps seems like a good tool to tell a narrative while forcing the reader to interact by clicking on different stuff. This seems like a really simple idea though. The Audacity sound program definitely seems like the tool I'll be working with, but I'm concerned about finding material to work with and time constraints. Creating a sound file that I like will take a long time. Today in class, we looked at using Windows Movie Maker. If I can figure out a sound file I like and fix it up, then finding images for animation won't be difficult. So, I'm kind of waiting until Tuesday when we learn how to create animation with the movie maker.

Project 2

Check out project 2 links!

McCloud's Amplification through Simplification

The concept of amplification through simplification in McCloud's second chapter of The Vocabulary of Comics explains how viewers relate to simplified drawings versus complex drawings. If a character is drawn simply with basic shapes and lines, then this character can look like anyone. A viewer can relate to a simplified face because they can associate simplified features with someone they know or possibly themselves. An artist can amplify this association by contrasting the simple character with a detailed background.
The recommended website for Ninjai displays amplification through simplification. The demons are simply drawn, with a face that has simple features. The colors of all the characters are plain with little shadowing or detail. In chapter one, Ninjai never shows his face, further simplifying his character so that anyone can compare themselves to him. Similarly, in the link to Landscapes, the creator uses simple shapes that create the image of a landscape. The background colors could possibly come from the Microsoft Powerpoint color schemes. Real life pictures that depict random images (or not?) are positioned somewhere in the landscape. My eyes are first drawn to the pictures, which I keep in mind as I study the landscape. Through simplification, I can place my associated thoughts to the pictures in any landscape I choose.

Project 1: "This is Just to Say"

My first project is a concrete poem/notated version of William Carlos Williams poem This is Just to Say. I often have a hard time understanding why some things are considered literature or art. When I first read this poem, I definitely did not understand why it's so famous. The more I read the it, the more I enjoyed its simplicity and I found myself digging deep to figure out its meaning. I began to study the placement of the text and the grammar used throughout. I wanted to incorporate these thoughts in my adaptation of the poem. In order to do so, some components of my project are font type, font color, word placement, and the background image.
I chose different font types for different words. For example the words "so sweet" are in segoe script, which is a very curvy text that reminds me of something sweet. For different words that I felt like were key words, I searched through the font types and chose one that suited the mood of the word.
I did the same thing for the font color. To stick with the same example, I chose pink for the words "so sweet" because I think of something sweet as being pink. And an obvious example is
the word "plums" in the color purple.
Although I'm not sure you can tell or not, there are three plums created by the placement of the text. The layout of the words in the three plums are identical. I wanted to create the visual of the plums and force the reader to reread the words in order to figure out what words are really there. Can you tell? Would you be able to make sense of this poem even if you could read it line by line? These are questions I want the viewer to ask themselves. The words are a part of the overall visual, but complicate Carlos's original meaning (whatever that might be). Also, I realize that some of the words are hard to see, but that was an issue with the background. I wanted an image of ice and plums so the viewer will wonder why such random things appear (in the same way that I wonder why someone would write about plums in an icebox). Hopefully this component will make the viewer study the project harder.

My thoughts on Project 1 so far

The activities and examples displayed in class today really eased my anticipations for project 1. The powerpoint example showed me a way to create movement with a powerpoint presenatation, which I was unsure if we could do before today. Sandy also explained that we can draw the project and download a picture of it onto our blog. The ideas everyone else came up with were along the lines of my own ideas: just a concrete poem of some sort. I now imagine the project to include a simple poem or other text that has been recreated with different color, layout, and etc. I'm really interested in rearranging the words or even the letters to create some kind of motion for the poem. I'd also like to vary the font size and type to emphasize the meaning of words. Lastly, every color has a connotation; the different connotation to every individual could make a concrete poem more meaning specific to each person.
The poem I worked with today is This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams. I chose this poem because it is short and is often manipulated for various interpretations. I'm not sure I want to use this poem because it is so popular and I typically choose more outlandish texts. However, for the sake of making the goals of my first multimedia project obtainable, I should use a simple text and focus on expanding my ideas. I might write my own version of the poem in order to incorporate more open ideas than simply taking a plum out of an icebox. Maybe I'll apologize for stealing my friend's boyfriend and use crazy text in angry patterns. A more abstract idea sounds interesting, but I can't think of anything abstract to steal and from who I would steal from at the moment. In the meantime, I'm going to search for other short poems (although I don't think I'll find many shorter than This is Just to Say) and experiment with my ideas. I usually process too many ideas at once for projects like these, so I'm going to try to set some goals before I start on anything permanent.

Project 1 Ideas & ?s

Since this is the first project, I have a lot of open ended questions. My main concern is my lack of experience with functions of computer programs. I'm experienced with Microsoft Word and Notepad and programs of that sort, but I don't feel like I can create my project the way I want to with these programs. The examples of multimedia writing that we have reviewed in class so far have somewhat intimidated me. Many of these examples are videos or some other complex project that I definitely don't have the skills to create yet.
I'm also struggling with whether to write my own text or choose one I like. To write my own text would require a lot of thought, but it would also be hard for me to choose one text that I like and transform the words.
To wrap up this blog, my questions include:

• Are your expectations for the first project really high? Or do most students improve throughout the semester?
• Is this project really as open ended as the syllabus suggests?

Below is an idea for the first project:

Notation Types from Past to Present

Types of notation are affected over hundreds of years due to the technological advances and economical developments (sometimes as simple as discovering new materials). The Chinese use of symbols in their language, paintings, and calligraphy are an expression of ideas in each type of notation. People of Mexico created books made of animal skin and whatever minerals that were available for ink. With limited resources, notation was usually iconographic. With printing comes the question of standardized texts and how that affects the kinesthetics of informal writing or symbols for readers. Karl Young's essay Notation and the Art of Reading provides several examples of different notations from various areas of the world that emphasize this change.

The Aztecs used notation that best suited their means of learning since travel and materials were limited. One type of notation used by the Aztecs was the use of images to enhance the kinesthetic experience. The Aztecs believed that real life experience was the only way to learn new information. As a result, books were 'read' in order to provide more examples of images already experienced. Books were a guideline for the reader/singer and they read/sang what they felt and their audience used the images to join the experience.

The Chinese also embraced the surrounding materials to create the right notation for the right message. One example Young gives us is the painting and poems created on buildings or cliffs to create the kinesthetic feeling for the audience. Long journeys were a typical component of Chinese art, so creating these notations on these buildings and rocks could have created a sense of sound and image as the reader worked through the painting or poem.

When spelling and grammar became standardized after the development of the printing press, people lost interest in reading as notations became more streamlined. Young provides examples of poets such as bill bissett who refuses to conform to these standardizations. In doing so, he forces the reader study the notation by rereading lines and reading aloud. Such actions automatically tune the reader into the kinesthetics of studying the sounds and images in order to determine meaning.

As technology has advanced to present day with with all the different types of multimedia availability, people are no longer interested in the kinesthetics that reading a poem involves: trying to determine the meaning of a text according to the reader and the author. According to Young, some modern, nontraditional poets are revitalizing these kinesthetics by losing the standardization and forcing the reader to read the notation and simply the text. For the future, readers may become more involved in notations of images in order to deepen experience, similar to the Aztecs.

My experience with the web

I use the web for the same purposes today as I did in grade school. My first memory is sitting beside my best friend of fourth grade at her house playing on her father's computer. We only opened the browser, but we felt like we had done something really bad and immediately hit the x in the corner. My first use of the web was when I became a pen pal and e-mailed friends religiously. I soon began using the web for homework purposes, games, and instant messaging. Now that I'm in college, my use of the web is almost identical. I'm not sure if most technologically impaired people have the same experiences with the web as I do, but most college kids visit the same sites. I check my wvu e-mail and my facebook account at least twice a day, sometimes as often as 20 times a day if I'm expecting a message. I also check my work schedule online at www.hotschedules.com several times a week and send messages to coworkers in order to swap shifts. If I'm bored, I might surf YouTube or play games like Text Twist on yahoo or www.addictinggames.com. The only other occasional uses of the web is for homework purposes, when I become curious about something on the news or a celebrity, to search for music, or to search movie times in morgantown.
I hate my dependency on the web. I don't feel like I use it for many important purposes, but when I travel somewhere that I don't have access to the Internet, I am lost. I'm not sure that I'm a native of the web, but its appearance in most of my life has created a dependency to entertain myself.