proposal of a digital media artifact

Purpose:

During the short time I’ve lived in Houghton, there are only a few things that upset about being here, one is that sometimes I feel homesick and miss my family and everything related to my hometown, and the other thing that upset me, almost every day, is eating in the dining halls and see how much food is wasted by the people eating in there. Through a digital media artifice I’ll be developing, I want to aware people about this huge waste of food in order to reduce in the minimum, because it is not fare that here that much food is wasted, when other places in this country people are starving (not going too far in the poorest countries in the continent or in others)

 Audience:

My audience will be students who eat in the dining halls in MTU constantly, because they are the ones who are familiar with the environment of the cafeterias in campus. They can provide different perspectives than the one I already have about the food.

Context:

When I start to gather information and data for this artifact, it is going to be early November, this means we’ll be in the second half of the semester. By this point many students are tired of eating constantly in the different halls and we’ll be missing home food, so this may increase the food waste

Statement of purpose:

·         Reduce as much as possible the food waste in dining halls.

·         Strategies:

·         I want to take pictures of the food that is thrown away, to have visual proofs of this issue.

·         Interviews with students to listen to their perspectives

·         Interview the dining halls to provide a new opinion in this matter.  

Medium:

I still don’t have a clear idea of what medium to use, a colleague suggested a Facebook page so it is easier to share and won’t require that much background in web design, nor copyright problems as a video would have (due to a possible soundtrack). I really liked the idea of the Facebook page, because can combine videos from the internet, pictures uploaded by different users, and it can go beyond MTU with friends or relatives in other universities living similar experiences. 

rhetoric message

In order to create a rhetoric message the environment, the audience, the context, the medium used to transmit this message and the purpose of this message.

Through the reading the example of the girl who is sending a letter to dean of students for a late drop of an English class covers all of these requirements and explains them.

You have to consider the audience; in this case the dean of students is high authority who is required of a formal tone, not being too demanding.

Next the medium, in this case first a formal letter and then a face to face meeting with the dean, because the persuasion would be easier in this case, and will show interest of the girl willing to drop this class.

Next the context is to be considered, the situation in which both interested parts will face the meeting is what context means. Day, time, place, mood among others create the environment.

Once all of this is considered the message must be highly review by external people, to avoid any mistakes, in this case with the dean avoid misspelling and grammatical errors.

Issues with copyright

The topic of plagiarism and copyright violations must be one of the most discussed topics when somebody speaks about the internet, and by being a moral and ethical problem it has no proper solution, because let’s be honest, as an ethics professor once told me. “Ethics has been debated since ancient Greece (almost 22 centuries) and it can’t find a definition for what is good, if ethics can’t define what is good, what makes you think we can define what is wrong…” Defining is something is wrong is a matter of moral, but I don’t want to bore you remembering my classes of ethics and philosophy, the topic here is copyright and plagiarism.

I mentioned it is a matter of ethics and morals, because the information is there, ready to be downloaded, it is up to you and your judgment to obtain it. One of the most controversial topics associated with copyright is music and the napster problem a few years ago. Musicians were complaining about them losing money because people were not buying their records anymore, but still you find pictures like this ion the internet ¬¬ Musicians may be losing a small percentage of the earnings of the record but they won’t be having money issues. I remember somebody comparing napster with Robin Hood, stealing from the rich in order to share with the poor, I think this is wexaggerated but it has certain point, why spend money in a record that is expensive if you just want to hear one piece? At the end napster had to be put down, but still people found a way to get music with no copyright until iTunes came and stop this in great amount, because it allows the users to get the music with no copyright violation.

The other main issue with internet is plagiarism and this is a little bit more delicate, because you’re pretending somebody else work is yours and that is in fact an insult to the creator, because one doesn’t know how many effort he/she put while writing this paper, the desperation, the sleepless nights and a very small payment this creator may have is to be recognized for the work done.  I’ve been there: I and my teammates received a notification that somebody tried to use one of our papers in other class (our work was in the database of my old college and our paper was published there) we had to go face to face with these other students and I told them that, not mad or angry, but dammit kids we stayed awake for two days finishing this project for somebody else using it without recognizing our effort.

The biggest issue is that we are barely aware of the existence of copyright, which is why we constantly avoid it, you learn the complexity of it when you are in college and by that time is too late to kill old habits. Thisvideo relates perfectly how new generations are dealing with copyright, and include myself in this new generation.

  

Rhetorical situation

Identifying a rhetorical situation is more complex than it may seem, because first it must be understood what is rhetoric? What is it main purpose? What are its main components? Lloyd F. Bitzer answers these questions in his paper called “the rhetorical situation”.

A rhetorical situation does not show in front of you saying “Hey I’m a rhetoric situation”, before identifying one it must be known it is loaded started by a rhetorical discourse, and rhetorical discourse is highly influences with the situation in which was created, is highly influenced by the person creating this discourse, because it has always the purpose of persuade. So in few words a rhetorical discourse is one that changes the audience with a new discourse based on one particular situation. With knowing what is a rhetoric discourse, a rhetorical situation it’s easy to understand, because it must have a discourse, audience, exigencies and constraints. A rhetorical situation uses language as a tool to persuade.

Once the rhetorical discourse is present, it needs and audience who is able to understand it, because it may certain language that not everybody will, that is why audience is so important. The audience is there to be persuaded, so the speaker must be very well prepared in the topic to support his main idea, and the audience may work as a moderator in this discourse in which persuasion is seek.

Now a discourse and an audience are present, the next thing needed is exigencies. Exigencies are imperfections made by urgencies, so this means these are the things that need to be persuaded, usually exigencies are bad things happening around, like small issues or imperfections in the surrounding, for example an imperfection in MTU would be the waste food in dining halls, this happens when people serve more food than they are going to eat and the remains are just thrown away.

The next thing needed to have a rhetorical situation is a constraint, which are basically restrictions. These restrictions are loaded in the audience and may be an obstacle for the persuasion in progress.  Constraints are not bad; they are just simple loaded in the education or in the routine of the audience. For example if a rhetorical discourse about politics is offered the ideologies of several people in the audience will be a problem for the persuasion. It is due to this that persuasion not always is effective, but thanks to this variety of discourses exist.

A rhetorical situation is more a process than a situation, simplified to it is minimum, a rhetorical situation is a process in which language is used in a certain situation to persuade an audience, it may have exigencies and a group of constraints, which may represent a challenge for the discourse. 

Technological Access in MTU

Computer literacy and the global village

Talking about problems with technological access in the Upper Peninsula is an unfamiliar topic for me and there is one main reason: I don't have any problems with it. I was born and raised in Mexico, and having a 4g network in my cellphone for a suitable price and high speed broadband for free in certain places is not something I'm used to, but for the meanwhile I'm taking advantage of these opportunities. The point of departure is: why am I not used to this technological infrastructure created around internet? The reason is simple: In Mexico internet access is a very controversial topic, due to the telecommunication group that has complete control of the internet there. In the following paragraphs a brief comparison of internet access between U.S and Mexico, and how this ease to internet access affects to create and develop computer literacy and fluency. According to Kate Williams for computer literacy it’s understood to have the basic knowledge for use basic computer applications, and the other term used is fluency, this term involves computer literacy, certain skills and adaptability to use properly computer technology. (Williams) Once the situation of the internet and computer literacy are clear, it is necessary to understand the important of these elements in the present and near future.

As mentioned before internet access is a controversial topic in Mexico; the reasons are the way it is distributed, who provides it, how much is costs and why is it in this way. Back in 1990 an economic recession was taking place, this due to problems with the currency all over 1980’s and bad economic policies made by the former presidents and TELMEX, a company which provides telephone service to the whole country, was a government property, and during this recession Mexican government being unable to sustain it, sold TELMEX to the highest bidder: a Mexican business man named Carlos Slim Helú. Twenty two years later Slim is the number one billionaire in the Forbes list, according to the list published in March 2012, and in this list he is over Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. (Forbes ) After Slim bought TELMEX he made private investment to modernize telephone service in Mexico and during the 90’s all the profit made by TELMEX was going to Slims companies. An article written in Time may give an idea of Slims yearly profit,  this article is 5 years old, which means this number has grown. “Carlos Slim isn't just Mexico's richest man — he possesses an astronomical 8% of the country's GDP.” (Padgett)  With these profits Slim bought around ten different private companies in Mexico or either became a high investor in other powerful brands (Zepeda Patterson). The breaking point comes when the internet became relevant and it had to be provided by telephone companies. TELMEX being the only telephone company in the country, back in 2002, was the only option to Mexicans if internet access was wanted in house or office. Soon Slim had the control of both internet access and telephone service, in top of that Slim became full owner of TELCEL the main company that provides cellphone service in Mexico. A brief comparison of Slims companies would be if he owned Charter, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all together.

After this brief lesson of Mexico modern history it is easier to understand the limitations of technological access that exist in this country: The control that TELMEX monopoly has in telecommunications makes difficult to have internet access. Also it must be understood that half of the population lives in poverty (Padgett) and the main concern in Mexico is bringing public school to every kid in the country, not improve internet access; with the purpose of getting rid of illiteracy, because by 1990 people who were not able to read or write was about 14% but by 2010 decreased to 9%, according to 2010 national census. (Consulta Mitofsky) It is worth to mention that in Mexico the terms computer literacy and computer fluency are not well known, because people with internet access in México is about 33% of the population. (Consulta Mitofsky) This is a low number if compared to the number of homes in the U.S (numbers from 2009): “home broadband penetration remained in a narrow range between 54% and 57%.” (Horrigan) And this only considering homes; considering work and school, the number raised up 69% in 2010 (Pew Internet) of the population with internet access. This high percentage of people with internet access demands a whole infrastructure built around it, in order to support it and to make it work. One point that is very important is the competence, because users not only look for internet access as it happens in Mexico, users in the U.S look for high speed internet for a suitable prince  and they have several options to choose from. Other important point in this infrastructure is the education level of people using the internet, because educational institutions are now also focused in providing this kind of knowledge, and even the knowledge acquired highly depends on the social context of the student (race, economical level), the knowledge is there. Considering that in the United States people are exposed to this technological access and to computer literacy since very young, they are making this computer literacy part of their lives, from an early age kids are exposed to all sort of technological devices and this helps to develop skills that will help them to develop fluency.

With technology evolving every day, constantly changing for the users who are able to keep up with it offers vast of applications for different purposes such as education, work or entertainment, but, what happens in countries that can’t keep up to this process of evolution? As seen, the difference of technological growth between US and Mexico is abysmal, and with the globalization, the world is becoming what is denominated global village (McLuhan y Fiore) which means media makes everything being closer and even this term was first published in the 60s’, now technology is making possible be in  constant touch with remote places. But there are some countries being left out of this global village for their limitations in matters of technological access, Mexico being one of them, but eventually the need of becoming part of this global village will impulse them to improve their technological access, and it is going to be interesting how things turn out when this moment comes.  

Offering a solution to the problem of the difference between technological access in Mexico and US is a matter of economics, politics and education. The comparison offered before shows that the needs of these two parts are completely different. For Mexico the need of competition is needed and antimonopoly law is required, so new options can be offered. Slowly this is happening but it will take a few years to establish a true competition. In the US the need to keep expanding internet access is a main concern. Falling behind in matters of computer literacy and technological access is being left out in the new education that world demands, and this affects the future development of the society, not only in matters of technology, but also in the way of life.

Works Cited

Consulta Mitofsky. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2010. 19 de October de 2011. <http://consulta.mx/web/index.php/estudios/otros-estudios/281-censo-de-poblacion-y-vivienda-2010>.

—. Habitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre el internet . 19 de October de 2011. <http://consulta.mx/web/index.php/estudios/otros-estudios/291-habitos-y-percepciones-de-los-mexicanos-sobre-internet>.

Forbes . The world billionaries . 2012 de March . <http://www.forbes.com/profile/carlos-slim-helu/>.

Horrigan, John. Home Broadband Adoption 2009. 17 de June de 2009. <http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/10-Home-Broadband-Adoption-2009/1-Summary-of-findings.aspx#>.

McLuhan, Marshall y Quentin Fiore. The medium is the MASSAGE an inventory of effects . Corte Madera: Gingko Press, 1967.

Padgett, Tim. Carlos Slim's Embarrassment of Riches. 11 de Jul7 de 2007. <http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1642286,00.html>.

Palfrey, John y Gasser Urs. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. Basic Civitas Books, 2006.

Pew Internet. Home Broadband 2010. 11 de August de 2010. 11 de October de 2012.

Williams, Kate. «Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing then NRC's Being Fluent with Information Technology .» 2002. University of Michigan School of Information. <http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume3/literacy.pdf>.

Zepeda Patterson, Jorge. Los Amos de México. México D.F. : Temas de Hoy , 2007.

 Bibliography

Consulta Mitofsky. Censo de Población y Vivienda 2010. 19 de October de 2011. <http://consulta.mx/web/index.php/estudios/otros-estudios/281-censo-de-poblacion-y-vivienda-2010>.

—. Habitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre el internet . 19 de October de 2011. <http://consulta.mx/web/index.php/estudios/otros-estudios/291-habitos-y-percepciones-de-los-mexicanos-sobre-internet>.

Forbes . The world billionaries . 2012 de March . <http://www.forbes.com/profile/carlos-slim-helu/>.

Horrigan, John. Home Broadband Adoption 2009. 17 de June de 2009. <http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/10-Home-Broadband-Adoption-2009/1-Summary-of-findings.aspx#>.

McLuhan, Marshall y Quentin Fiore. The medium is the MASSAGE an inventory of effects . Corte Madera: Gingko Press, 1967.

Padgett, Tim. Carlos Slim's Embarrassment of Riches. 11 de Jul7 de 2007. <http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1642286,00.html>.

Palfrey, John y Gasser Urs. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. Basic Civitas Books, 2006.

Pew Internet. Home Broadband 2010. 11 de August de 2010. 11 de October de 2012.

Williams, Kate. «Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing then NRC's Being Fluent with Information Technology .» 2002. University of Michigan School of Information. <http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume3/literacy.pdf>.

Zepeda Patterson, Jorge. Los Amos de México. México D.F. : Temas de Hoy , 2007.

New literacy

Talking about new literacy is talking about the expansion of technology and the need we have to keep up to it. Literacy is a hard word to define, here the best definition I could find: Literacy. In few words literacy is the ability to read and write properly. So what is new literacy?  New literacy is being capable of understanding and using computers in an efficient way.

In this lecture Kate Williams analyzes eleven theses about the new literacy and in them several relations and perspectives of new literacy are offered. Here is a hyperlink for the original document in case, you my dear readers, feel like reading it: Document

Every thesis is superficially analyzed, but the main point are stated and explained.

After every short analysis several truths about the computer literacy are shown with short statements, almost all of this statements are pretty obvious but despite this are truths that we people who are fluent in this new literacy rarely notice this facts. For example, computer literacy is not only a matter of knowledge, but also of skills because you need to coordinate sight and touch to properly create a message and send it.  Another important point is related to the history of printing and it is expansion. When printing was created the first books to the be printed were bibles and  only a few were able to read them and share the words with other, as printing expand over Europe more and more people were able to read this first pages and eventually, this persons were person of the higher spots in society, high class, clergy and army, considering a privilege; something similar happened with computer literacy, at first only a few people were able to understand it, but as technology made possible that six of every ten homes in the United States have a computer with internet access (Williams 2003). A very important of this (as I consider) is that this computer literacy gives certain privileges to those who are fluent with it, gives certain advantage a sensation of superiority because one may feel more important, or smarter than someone who is not familiar with this literacy.  

But as with literacy being different for every person according to their studies, jobs and education, computer literacy is also different for every user. The example in the reading is that a lawyer or a physician won’t use the same applications or programs as an engineer, because each of them have a certain need to communicate and they will use applications, language and pictures to express themselves. And all of this is learned as a part of elemental education, in order to be fluent in this new literacy you must be able to get access to an education that gives the opportunity to be in touch with this since one is young. The longer the process of being in touch with this literacy, the more fluent one will be.

As technological improvements are released every day this computer literacy is constantly changing and we, as users, have keep up with changes updating our knowledge and ability to handle technology. With this is worth mentioning one important point of the theses analyzed in the text which mentions that this computer literacy is becoming part of our culture, but no the culture of a nation or an ethnical group, but for all the computer users in the world. For me this is critical. I recall a book of one of the most splendid writers in my country, Octavio Paz, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1990. In his book, the labyrinth of solitude, he analyzes the Mexican culture, how has it evolve over the time and how today we Mexicans are a mixture of our past and present, a mixture of everything we have learned in our school years and trough religion, this process to create a cultural identity took more than three hundred years, and in less than forty years, since this computer literacy began to expand, it is creating a culture around it. If this computer literacy is achieving this in a short period time, who knows what will come next. The only thing we can do as students and future workers of digital media is watch closely the evolution and the impact of computer literacy. 

Williams, K. (2002). Literacy and Computer Literacy: Analyzing then NRC's Being Fluent with Information Technology . Retrieved from University of Michigan School of Information: http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume3/literacy.pdf

Internet for minorities

Hello reader, a new introduction: 

in case you wonder, I’m Mexican and NO, I don’t have a giant sombrero and I do not travel on a donkey. I was born and raised in one if the biggest cities in the world. I play tennis which is a “European” sport and speak 3 languages, pretty well for someone from Tequila-land. I hate taco bell. I don't spend the whole day slepping 

This was Mexico……(I can't stand people calling USA America ¬¬, America is the whole continent, named after Americo Vespusio, who was an Itallian explorer back in the XVI century and draw the first maps of the American continent) 

I feel like starting this time because that is what the reading is mainly about, stereotypes in the internet. and for what I looked for, this is the mexican stereotype. 

This reading is focused in that, of how African-American college students deal with the internet, how they relate with it and what they think about it.

The point I really liked about this article by Samantha Blackmon, is that she focuses in how it is necessary to embrace a new cultural identity while writing in the internet and browsing through it, especially because I’ve been in a similar situation while using the internet and the resources it offers, but even though it was created by a majority ethnic group for the largest ethnic group everybody can use it, I think it is not the race it is the contact you have with it and having a more frequent access to internet doesn’t depend on your skin color, I think it will depend in many other things, for example place of living, annual income, major among many other.

Other thing I liked about the text is the begging in which is mentioned that minorities are forced to embrace a new culture while using internet and this may be possible, it also happens when you are learning another language (pending citation). 

Also the word "Eurocentric" is used and this is a pretty strong word, culturally speaking, because it refers that something is all about European culture, and according to text, one of the African-American students feels Internet is like this. 

I think this article is just the tip of the iceberg for an intense debate about how different ethnics relate with digital media and why.