In teams of 2-3 people (no more, please!) during Thursday’s discussion of our sci/tech public genre samples, I will ask you to spend some time writing a brief but coherent post on the question that corresponds with the genre you are assigned.
Genre Assignments
Wald’s “Is Ethanol for the Long Haul?”: How does Wald push the limits of current research on ethanol use and production to increase the certainty of his position on the topic?
Mann’s “The Coming Death Shortage”: What role do metaphors, lore, speculation, and prediction play in conveying how Mann thinks we should feel about the impending “death shortage”?
Joy’s “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us”: What role do literature, contemporary science, historical science, and current events play in conveying how Joy thinks we should feel about genetic engineering technology?
Lehrer’s “The Future of Reading” (and related links in BB on the Lehrer controversy!): For Lehrer's blog post(s), wherein lies ownership of the ideas he uses? In other words, do you think his blog post(s) reenacts and transforms technical information, borrows it, represents it, or develops it further, or a combination of the above?
Tools/Concepts
To help you develop your response, here are some talking points that will aid your analysis, so I suggest that you compile notes on as many of these things as are helpful:
- shared value(s), ideologies, or assumptions on which the article is based (use 1-2 passages from Killingsworth/Palmer)
- evidence of community formation (use 1-2 passages from Killingsworth/Palmer)
- stasis (or stases) that seems to drive the argument (use 1-2 passages from Fahnestock/Secor)
- arrangement/organization of the article
- evidence of audience accommodation
- key terms, or buzzwords, that the article takes up to challenge, complicate, or reaffirm
- whether/how the article blurs genre or discursive aim, i.e., is it pretty focused in a sci/tech problem, or does it extend the problem out to other fields, such as law, politics, education, business, economics, etc.?
- implied narrative(s) (e.g., dominion, apocalypse, stewardship, anthropomorphization, shared ecology, biodiversity, colonization, etc.)
- relevant concept(s) from Style lesson 3 in “characters” (especially pp. 24-25) or lesson 7 in “shape” (especially pp. 71-75)
- relevant concept(s) from WWC chapter 8 (the final section on ellipses and parentheses) or chapter 10 on “clarity” (especially pp. 138-139, 141-142)
Feel free to post your group response by "commenting" to this post, signing your names (or pseudonyms).
-Prof. Graban
He uses various examples and states different outcomes – give us facts – various types of visual arguments – something for everyone to attach to
ReplyDeleteShared Values from Killingsworth/Palmer - Human Interest issue
Evidence of Community formation – all of us are together in this – will affect us all equally
Stases used: Cause – showing process from start to finish; Fact/Conjecture – myth busting about ethanol; Evaluation/value – “good or bad?” Policy – “should they be continued?”
Arrangement/organization of Article: Uses various a lot of visual aids to keep the readers engaged, charts, sidebars of related information that accent the argument – evidence of audience accommodation
Buzzwords: “pay off” -will this be worth it?
How article blurs genre - Mixes form of advertisement and scientific article; Political nod towards there being another reason why we cant come to terms with ethanol use
Implied Narrative - Shared Ecology
Relevant concepts from Style and WWC - They don’t use parentheses but they use the sidebars which act in the same way
Brittany Morrill, Stacey Cox, Shay Morant
RESPONSE TO WALD ARTICLE - ETHANOL
DeleteGroup: Catalina, Lindsey, Katherine
ReplyDeleteLehrer seems to take ownership of ideas used in his article by transforming them to fit his tone and style; however, we do not know if these are his own thoughts and ideas since he was convicted of plagiarism. The article focuses on the neurological process, and how that in turn affects other aspects of reading and understanding. He brings into question technology, the digital age, and other current issues and ties them together through the focus of neurology. He focuses this article in the beginning by using the stasis of definition by defining the neurological pathways that sets up his argument for the rest of the article. At the end of this text he leaves the audience with an open-ended statement that implies the stasis of policy of digital technology.
Borrowing (Without Asking)
ReplyDeleteIn reading Lehrer's blogs posts and the articles about his controversy, we found that he mostly borrowed work - though he didn't ask permission. The ownership of his ideas belonged to others and even his recycled, self-plagiarized, material was somebody else's to begin with. We think that Lehrer believed he was and wanted to transform and develop technical information further, but he did so illegally.
Journalism professor Charles Seife found "examples of what [is] considered recycled work, plagiarism, dubious facts, problematic quotes, and reuse of press releases."
Joey Arellamo
Morgan Hough
Brittany Stephens
Wald's "Ia Ethanol for the Long Haul?"
ReplyDeleteWald states that while he agrees with the idea of ethanol, the product need more research and improvement in order for it to make an impact because the ethanol product of now is not helping, in fact it may be hurting. He gives the example of using the cornstalk and not the corn. Mother Nature is too much of a variable and cannot be accurately predicted. Wald's point is at first ethanol seemed to be a great idea, but it is dirty, expensive and as of now not producing enough energy. He does not believe ethanol is the long term answer. He questions current research and says that more attention should be paid to the side effects of the process of making ethanol.
Corey Smith Annette Hansford Rachel Cushanick
In literature, Joy makes comparisons with science fiction novels such as, iRobot. This novel plays as an antagonist to the human race and also give off a negative connotation towards humans and technology. Joy references the acts of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, a luddite, who shunned technology but used it to harm people that were involved in the technical world. Ray Kurzweil invented the reading machine for the blind and he stated that if technology were to become superior it would be a gradual process. As for the historical event, the atomic bomb teaches us that we should be prepared of the aftermath of our actions. Overall, Joy composes an apocalyptic narrative that cautions us to the responsibility of our technological advancements.
ReplyDeleteAnneleise Sanchez
Amanda Diehl
Wald’s “Is Ethanol for the Long Haul?”: How does Wald push the limits of current research on ethanol use and production to increase the certainty of his position on the topic?
ReplyDeleteWald synthesizes the multiple constraints which affect ethanol production, research, and use into one article. His article tells a narrative of the entire debate around the use of ethanol . He begins with a stasis of value, arguing how “ethanol will remain a cumbersome product with little net benefit, and the country will remain dependent on foreign oil” (Wald 3). Then, most of the article is concerned with a stasis of cause, as his language shifts from questions to a fact-based account of all the details in ethanol production. He constructs diagrams which weave an easily understandable argument for a general public. The visual representation of farming, drying, transportation, and refining give the audience a view of how unsustainable to process is. Fahnestock and Secor discussed how an author has to explain the issue before presenting the argument. Wald wrote his article in Scientific American for an interested, but uninformed public. Wald notably synthesizes many research sources, from Cornell University, University of California, Berkeley, Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Transportation Research, and many more. His statistics argue for finding the “net energy balance” for ethanol. The extensive time spent on a stasis of cause is why his final stasis of policy is successful.
Erik Reed
Rachel Young
Tyler Avery
(I'm commenting for Taylor and Austin, who couldn't get Blogger to accept their comment)
ReplyDeleteMatthew L. Wald defends his answer to the question regarding the wide use of ethanol. By providing scientific evidence that explains the process of the creation of ethanol, this evidence proves how unprepared our culture is for the wide use of ethanol in the US.
-Austin and Taylor
(I'm commenting for Chris and Cassandra, who accidentally posted to Chris's blog)
ReplyDeleteGENETIC ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY vs. HUMANS
What role do literature, contemporary science, historical science, and current events play in conveying how Joy thinks we should feel about genetic engineering technology?
Recent advancements in contemporary science such as e-trade algorithms have proven dangerous to human life. They were a large factor in the 2008 stock market crash. Although robots cannot be conscious their pre programmed actions (legally supported by the American government) can imbalances in day to day life. "The Short Run" theory states that technology may reach a point where it needs to be controlled. Currently, we have robotic vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, and lawn mowers. Governmental coercion may support the human population by placing emphasis on labor. Technological improvements can lead to the surrendering of mundane human tasks. People will eventually loose their purpose and it will be the responsibility of the "panoptic power" to guide the human population in order to establish an equilibrium between humans and technology.
Cassandra Hamilton
Christopher Menendez
In Joy's article it isn't too hard to see why/how he comes to the apocalyptic conclusion of a futuristic human-less society. From a Scientific standpoint, the growth of the field of electronics and robotics has been exponential. In fact, we've come farther in the past 12 to 13 years since this article was written than the 20 years before the article was written to when it was. I felt as though this idea could be developed further to support his claims if the article was more current. It has a very '1984' feel to it. This wasn't uncommon at the time. Some people were obsessing over the thoughts of a 'Y2k' global meltdown. Scientific support for this claim however is more than lacking. He seems to be arguing this stasis with nothing more than a few anecdotes and assumptions, which isn't very persuasive. This indicates that the target audience is more than likely a group that already believes in a 'Y2K' Apocalypse as well.
ReplyDeleteAlexander Snider
Donovan Todd