Reading Notes #5

Jeff Rice’s Chapter 7 (Popular Culture and Cool) centered around how modes (music, electronic writing, literacy etc.) of “cool” affects current popular culture. Rice believes that the development of new media technologies directly relates to literacy growth, and I have to agree. He points out that “before the 1500’s, few people knew how to read and write, and, consequently, the ability to produce written texts was a limited activity” (126). After the invention of the printing press, however, many people were able to both write and read text in public and private spaces. Computers and related technologies have furthered these abilities. People are now even more able to connect with a large number of people or work in solitude. For the purposes of this class, I believe the focus should be on the large-scale connectedness that results from new media developments. Rice thinks that developments of literacy and technology are intertwined. A key term Rice mentions is “computer literacy” (127). The traditional notion of these words is one that focuses on one’s ability to turn on and use a computer’s components. As mentioned in previous blogs, I would say I am not very “computer literate” using this definition. However, Rice points out that the true definition of computer literacy” streches beyond the traditional one. “Computer literacy” also encompasses one’s ability to “create discourse with computers...and rhetorically be persuasive” (127). I’ve realized that new media is developing rapidly, and that in order to be fully competent in all aspects of society, one needs to keep up with and adapt to these developments. In this sense, I believe I am slowly beginning to improve my “computer literacy”.

After reading all of the articles by Barabasi, Rice, and Gladwell, I’ve been a bit more aware of “cool” people around me. I recently heard my roommate talking about certain people called “hipsters”. I didn’t really know what this term meant, so of course I turned to Urban Dictionary. Their definition is as follows: One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream.” Apparently, hipsters are what most of the above authors would call the “innovators”, the first people to start a trend or fad. The part of the definition that says the hipsters “walk among the masses in daily life” also gives a sense of mystery and disconnectedness. In order for these people to be considered “cool”, their overall ways of life must reach a hub, who must “spread the word” and influence many other people. If these trends catch on, they are accepted by other “cool” people.
Also, the fact that the hipsters “walk among the masses” seem to connote that they are difficult to spot. Gladwell would agree with this notion, and would say that it is actually impossible to truly observe “cool” kids because “the quicker the chase, the quicker the flight”. Just as “cool” is being accepted and becoming the norm, another hipster or innovator is producing some other “cool” trend.
Overall, I think the idea of “catching cool” is tired and somewhat impossible. There are always new ideas being formed and new people to accept them. Although I admire the effort of cool hunters like Baysie and DeeDee, who ultimately record random observations, I don’t think I could base my job on something so unstable.

Since I didn’t have too much free time to conduct an official “cool hunt”, I did mine on Bus 80 going to work. The bus is certainly a public place, right? Anywise, I was waiting for the bus and started to observe the people around me. There was a handful of girls wearing puffy Northfaces with Uggs, which is quite a popular trend around campus. This fashion statement is clearly considered “cool” by a large group of people. However, this look is highly criticized, especially in the Badger Herald Shoutouts. So, according to another group of people, this look is definitely very “uncool”.
I also noticed a guy wearing baggy clothes and who had a pierced ear. I remember back in the day, when I was in elementary school, when a pierced ear on a boy meant that they were “cool”, and somewhat rebellious. I still think these connotations carry over to some extent in today’s society.
Once I got on the bus, I noticed a variety of people. There were many ethnicities and well as fashions and overall appearances. Some people were wearing athletic clothes, while some wore business casual. I noticed that many people, if wearing tennis shoes, wore either Nike or Adidas. A couple of people stood out, however. They looked significantly different from the others. They were wearing different fashions and would not be classified in the same group as the other people on the bus. These “innovators”, as Barabasi and Gladwell would call them, displayed piercings, tattoos, and other distinguishing characteristics.
Piercings and tattoos nowadays symbolize rebellion and therefore a sense of “coolness”. However, this view may change with time. Gladwell says that “cool hunting” is merely a collection of random observations that keep changing as the definition of “cool” changes. So, what I viewed as “cool” now could just as easily be seen as “uncool” in a couple of years. Barabasi believes that the ability of a fad or virus to spread depends on the individual receiving the “cool” ideas. The idea that tattoos and piercings were rebellious caught on, and enough individuals were persuaded. But, there may be an innovator who decides these things aren’t “cool” anymore, and begins to spread this idea. If enough people believe this idea, an anti-fad may arise.
Gladwell states that “cool” can never truly be observed. He says that the “quicker the chase, the quicker the flight”. This statement is very applicable to my “cool hunt”. I can believe that the fads and fashions I saw were “cool”, but in reality, they were most likely just “old” fads. Newer fads are being created somewhere in secrecy. They will soon emerge and ultimately become popular and “cool”.

Reading Notes #4

In “The Connected Age”, Duncan Watts discussed several different types of networks. He presented the power grid as a vast network that might possibly be the “most essential technological feature of the modern world”. The problem with the power grid, and also many other networks, is that the individual behaviors of the components are known, but the collective behavior of the group is not. This is a problem that continues to boggle the minds of many scientists, mathematicians, and other professionals. A general consensus is that the individual parts don’t connect in a simple fashion, and that this process is very complicated. On the other hand, complete systems’ behaviors can sometimes be predicted without knowing the behaviors of the individual parts. Watts also discusses the dynamic nature of networks. They are not fixed, and change with time and the world in which they operate. An interesting topic that they discussed was one of “clustering”. This is the idea that most people’s friends are also friends of each other. This coincides with the “small world” idea. I cannot agree more with this concept. I cannot count the number of times I have been at a get together or in a class and discover that we have mutual friends. This is actually one of the aspects I love most about the UW. This “small world” feel makes the population seem a lot smaller than 40,000 students. What is clear is that networks lack structure, are adaptive and ever-changing, and are still a puzzle to many who study them.

Lastfm will be the end of me!

So my new favorite thing is Lastfm.com. I've heard about the site before, but never really checked it out. Music is such a central part of my life, so it is nice to find a site that is so user-friendly and that offers such a variety of artists. Lastfm, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is a music networking site. You create an account, start playing any kind of music you like, and are able to add friends, recommend songs, and much more. They have a type of media player that allows you to search, by keyword or artist, for a bunch of songs. You are also able to "tag" each song you listen to, describing it any way you like. I have to say, there are a ton of different artists available, and you are able to play full-lenthg songs. Alright, enough of the sales pitch, but I just want to say I highly recommend this site! I'll leave you with a video of a song called "Coffee and TV" by the band Blur. It's pretty funny...

Reading Notes #3

If I had one word to initially sum up the content of last week’s readings, it would be “chaotic.” We read parts of Hayles’ Writing Machines and viewed Memmott’s Lexia to Perplexia. Writing Machines was a written narrative of the online Lexia to Perplexia . These pieces were about the same topic, yet differed in their presentations. I’m glad I read Writing Machines before I viewed Lexia to Perplexia . Initially, this reading and presentation were very confusing to me. Hayles was similar to McLuhan in that she was concerned with how the medium shapes the message. She believed that the medium shapes how we receive the message and also how the message is generated. I would agree with this belief to some extent. Two completely different processes are used when producing a message broadcast via television versus a message broadcast via a book. I believe people’s reactions and ways of interpreting the messages also differ. Some people prefer the “movie version” over a story in a book. These cases are obviously very different. In the movie case, you have someone’s opinion and understanding shaping your understanding. You consequently form your own opinions while reading a book. Reading a book also requires just one sense while watching television or a movie requires multiple senses.
I was initially very frustrated with Lexia to Perplexia. As I continued to click on different areas, I got more and more confused. It was difficult to keep track of the content and how the different parts related to each other. I thought that the many puns were creative, but I was not familiar with that kind of language, so it took me awhile to catch on. My feelings changed somewhat after discussing in class. Scot pointed out that one of the main objectives of the presentation was to purposely be unclear and unstable. Our class pondered why this was so, and came to the conclusion that it dealt with the relationship between the user and the computer. The user clicked on different areas of the video, yet had to explore in order to find the “right” spots. In this way, both the user and the computer were in some sense “controlling” the other. The computer in this case was what is called a “cyborg”, which is something that has both machine and biological components.
This reading and online video were challenging, yet broadened my perspective about ways in which messages are broadcast and ever-evolving relationships between technology and humans.

Writing About Cool

What does the world “cool” exactly mean? There are several answers to this question. In “Writing About Cool”, Jeff Rice attempts to give it some definition by explaining its past and present meaning.
Rice says that “cool” has been typically associated with independence and rebelliousness. James Dean and Elvis Presley are two major figures that represent these qualities. After the invention of the Internet, however, “cool” took on a new meaning. The ability of the Internet to reach so many places at the same time captivated companies trying to sell products on a large scale. Words were manipulated in order to attract as many customers as possible. Rice contends that it is possible that the “rebels” of the 1960’s influenced the Internet. In this way, “cool” still is associated with ideas that vary from the norm. It is used by proactive entrepreneurs that attempt to influence future customers and make profit.
Rice also paralleled the idea of “cool” with connection. He believes that common words are used to bring people together, usually to influence and persuade.
At the end of Rice’s first chapters, he asks: How can writing be cool? and Can you write cool? I believe writing can be cool in the sense that it involves creativity, thinking “out of the box”, and connectivity between many people. Writing, especially with new media, can be used to present ideas across a network. I’m not sure if one can “write cool” because I don’t completely understand this concept. I don’t think one can write meanings (independence, revolutionary, rebelliousness), only that writing can be considered these meanings.