Fourteen

In his article, Morris seems to be saying that without captions or background information, pictures do not have as much meaning. He also explains how pictures cannot be true or false without knowing anything about them. His argument is kind of confusing and I am not sure that I agree with it. While I think that captions help to understand pictures, I don’t think that pictures are meaningless without them. When people look at a picture, they are going to interpret it in their own way, whether there is information presented about it or not. I think pictures themselves are truthful, whether you know anything about them or not. Even if what you see in them is not necessarily factual or true, it is still a real image that happened at some time, besides of course the digitally created pictures or photo shopped fake images that we see today. I think that looking at a picture always evokes a reaction that is unique and personal to the person that is looking at it. Putting a caption under it or describing it through text does not always change that. Even though it helps people see where the picture came from and better understand its context, they still might interpret it differently than the next person. I think the stories and emotions that come from pictures are more important than whether the picture can be true or false. This article is kind of a weird article and I don’t find his arguments that meaningful or useful.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/cricket-game-bangladesh/

National Geographic has a great collection of photos and on this blog in particular; they put up a photo of the day every day. When looking at the pictures, I have thoughts about them even before reading the description. They give a little description at the bottom, giving more background and explanation which helps to understand the picture better. Even without reading the description, I think they are true pictures and show true places, people, and emotions among other things.

Thirteen

Taking an approach is like working in the mindset of another writer. Harris sees a weak version of this as just taking the ideas of another writer and incorporating them into your writing, or applying their work to your own ideas. A better way to take an approach is to take someone’s work and to reshape it through the way you interpret it, and the changes you think could be made to it. An example of this that Harris uses is in the creative realm, where people take plots that have already been created and change the perspective or setting or other things about it to make it their own story. Taking an approach means using the style of a writer, the way they write, and not just their ideas and what they say. Harris points out three ways of taking an approach: acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity. Acknowledging influences is about giving credit to writers whose work you used to model your own after. It is about rewriting in someone else’s way of writing, and then citing them for using that style. Turning an approach on itself involves asking the writer what he or she asks of others, or taking a subject and method from the work. Reflexivity is reflecting on key decisions you made while writing. Throughout the New York Times, the examples of taking an approach are more in the editorials and personal pieces because those are more opinionated and leave more room for individual thoughts to come through. An example of taking approach can be seen often on YouTube. People often take songs and cover them to make them their own, putting their own unique style into the song. People often also make their own videos, based on original music videos or novels. They make their own adaptations and take a whole new approach to the things they are working with. Bloggers on YouTube also use this method a lot, stating why they think what they think. Examples of taking an approach can be seen many in different ways through many different kinds of writing.

Twelve

The countering that Harris refers to is not just about stating what is wrong with a certain text and saying what you think is the right thing. It is more about bringing your own new interpretations to different ideas and moving the ideas forward in different directions. The point is not to end a discussion, but to alter the direction and keep it going. I think the comparison that he made about forwarding and countering was helpful to understanding the two. “Forwarding aligns; countering individuates.” He lists specific ways to get that distance in order to individuate: arguing the other side, uncovering values, and dissenting. Arguing the other side is about showing the negatives of a positive a writer has pointed out, or showing the positives of a negative they have pointed out. Uncovering values involves analyzing and finding ideas that the piece of work does not explain. Dissenting is pointing out a point of agreement in order to note the limits of it. http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/08/16901421-the-2011-ransom-note-and-the-gops-sequester

This blog provides an example of countering because Maddow uses a tweet from another person and then evaluates the argument that the tweet is making. She does not just say that she disagrees with the tweet, but she analyzes the argument that it makes. She uses the arguing the other side method and states why she disagrees with what the other person thinks is negative and she also uses the method of uncovering values. The tweet is brief, but she looks further into what it is implying and meaning to say. She brings new conversations into the idea by putting her own opinions and inputs about the tweet into the blog. The new ideas that she brings in are keeping the conversation going.

Eleven

Harris discusses the idea of writing as a conversation and the idea of forwarding is not about debating in conversation, but more about moving the conversation forward. It is about bringing new people and readers into the conversation. Forwarding is about taking the work of other writers and putting it in your own work. The ideas are the same but the context is different. He points out four specific ways of countering: illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, and extending. Illustrating is about using examples for other works to help to make the point you are trying to make. Authorizing is about using another writer’s expertise to support your own writing. Borrowing involves using other writers’ ideas throughout your analysis of a subject. The last specific way, extending, is coming to your own unique position on the concepts from other writers. http://dish.andrewsullivan.com

This is an interesting example of forwarding because it is a blog post about someone forwarding. Andrew Sullivan posted about Justin E. H. Smith, who used the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson to get his point across. He uses the method of illustrating because he is making a point through Emerson’s writing. 

Ten

Jarvis makes many interesting points in his post “The Press Becomes the Press Sphere.” he is saying that the ecosystem of the news is changing, and that it is not all about the press. The press is not the center of everything and the news does not depend on it. Jarvis states that we have to realize the new system in order to successfully come up with systems for the news. With the Internet, there are many factors that go into news stories. There are links, comments, sources, and many other things that impact the story continuously. He makes the comparison with print by saying that in print newspapers, you get a final product. You create the paper and that is your product. With online stories it is much different though because the process is the product. I think this is the main idea of the whole post. Stories online are always ongoing because there is always someone that could add to it or have a new idea about it. Instead of the press being at the center of everything, it is the stories that are at the center. Stories are constantly being changed, even by readers, who are becoming editors and distributors themselves. I think it is easy to see the changes that Jarvis is mentioning in our world today. The news is becoming so much more interactive and it is no longer just the press feeding people information. It is about people sharing information with each other and even adding their own inputs and opinions into it. There is a totally different format for the news than there used to be, and I think Jarvis explains that clearly.

Nine

One of the similarities I noticed among many of the blogs was that most people get the majority of their news information from the Internet. I also noticed that a lot of people get their information from their friends and the people around them. Those seemed to be the two most prominent news sources for people. Another common theme was the change from living at home to living at school and how that has affected people and the way they get information about current events. These blogs could be used to prove the point that people of our generation are getting more information from the Internet than previous generations. It does not seem to be a bad thing though because most people still do get the information, they just do it differently. I think the easy access to the news that we do have makes us more in touch with what is going on not only in our country, but also around the globe. While social networks are not always the most trustworthy sources, they do provide a way for global news to get shared immediately. It is truly amazing how much of a difference that they have made from previous years when the news traveled more slowly. I think Carr and Hedges would view these responses in a negative way, using them to add to their argument that the Internet is changing us for the worse. Sullivan on the other hand, would look at these sources in a more positive light and argue that while the medium is changing, we are still getting the same information. They would definitely have opposing things to say about these blogs based on their personal views.