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3 technology and (versus?) languagePeter Norvig and Abraham Lincoln, “The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation”, Nov. 19, 1863 / Jan. 2000. ”Um, my name is Abe Lincoln and I'm your president. While we're waiting, I want to thank Judge David Wills, chairman of the committee supervising the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery. It's great to be here, Dave, and you and the committee are doing a great job. Gee, sometimes this new technology does have glitches, but we couldn't live without it, could we? Oh - is it ready? OK, here we go.” What would Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address have been like if he could have done it in PowerPoint? Perhaps some things are best left alone.
For Response1. Lincoln’s address (presented in full text form below Slide 6), an example of great and concise oratory, employs a rhetorical strategy using negative statements (“The world will little note nor long remember … ” ) as counterpoints to emphasize the powerful positive arguments he made. How did that rhetorical strategy transfer to the medium of PowerPoint? Was it effective? Why or why not? 2. How do PowerPoint presentations and bullet lists change the flow of information from the way we hear/read it in ordinary sentence syntax? What parts of a sentence are emphasized in bullet list presentations? What parts are missing? 3. Norvig was clearly creating a satire of PowerPoint as a medium; he attempted to remain as faithful as possible to Lincoln’s original text and intent. How well did he succeed? Did he exclude anything important? How might you have approached the same task with the same intent? What might you have done differently? Why? Write an essay addressing these questions, providing examples to illustrate your ideas. Graham Lampa, “Imagining the Blogosphere: An Introduction to the Imagined Community of Instant Publishing,” from Into the Blogosphere, Jan. 2004. ”The blogosphere forms an imagined community based on a new form of amateurized and personalized journalism practiced by persons who may never meet one another yet can engage in conversation and share a common identity.” Lampa’s essay speculates on the future impact of the blogosphere as a medium of communication and as a tool in maintaining global communities. Lampa is a blogger and a senior at Hamline University.
For Response1. Lampa cites statistics that the vast majority of all weblogs have “nanoaudiences” composed of the blogger’s immediate circle of friends and family. Does he believe that these limited-exposure blogs interfere with the ultimate success of the blogosphere as a medium of maintaining global communities? Why or why not? Provide evidence to support your conclusions. 2. How often do you read weblogs? How often do you post to a blog? Use a blog index (Globe of Blogs or any of the ones mentioned in Lampa’s essay) to find one or two blogs that address topics of your interest. Participate by reading and perhaps posting for one week, then work with two or three classmates to discuss the following questions: Did you learn new and useful information during the week? Did you make new personal contacts? Why or why not? Could weblog participation (as reader and/or writer) change the ways that you perceive yourself in relation to your various communities, your social networks, and the larger world? 3. As Lampa notes, the mass amateurization of weblogs provides the public with access to ideas and information that market-driven journalism cannot provide, making the concept of “news” more democratic. How do you anticipate that the dissemination of important news might change in the next five years? Use Lampa’s essay and any other research sources you find appropriate to support your conclusions. |
