textual media

Scott McCloud said about the “non-sequitur” transition between the panels of comics: “No matter how dissimilar one image may be to another, there is a kind of alchemy at work in the space between panels which can help us find meaning or resonance in even the most jarring combinations.”

I started to think about why it is that humans think in terms of causality; seeing one image and then another and then making an inference. I tried to apply this across mediums and realized that Hemingway’s iceberg technique functions in a similar way. For instance, if you look at his short story “Hills Like White Elephants,” he never once explicitly mentions an abortion, but it remains an essential element to the story. Through his use of language, he forces the reader to fill in gutter, and to become an active part of the story.

The more I thought about it, the more I started to realize that the gutter wasn’t only unique to comic books; it’s just more visually defined than most other mediums. In comics, the gutter is more of a vocalized pause, where other mediums simply have a silent pause—or one that is more universally ignored.

In film you don’t see the space between cuts, because you don’t need to. Between cuts, there is an implied gutter. Since the viewer isn’t physically looking from panel to panel, there is not a need have a pause between cuts. The viewer is looking at the same location the entire time, and the cuts do all the movement. As the pictures on the screen change, it is understood that two images juxtaposed one after the other is the same as observing two separate panels, as opposed to one continuous shot. The same amount of closure—a third relational idea—can be drawn from two cuts in a movie as two panels of a comic book.

In other static art like paintings and photography, there seems to be an elimination of the gutter, assuming that without multiple panels there can be no real progression. However, if the painter or photographer is worth their weight in jellybeans (whatever that means), the viewer will be guided through the image in a different way. By the use of shapes and colors, different parts of the image will catch the eye of the viewer first. Then, as more time is spent with the piece, different things will become apparent. While there isn’t a clear, chronological progression, the piece can tell a story through the flow of the viewer’s eye.

In literature too there is a gutter. Takethissentenceforexample. The previous sentence is not very easy to understand because there is no gutter guiding the flow of information. Imagine a whole paragraph without spaces. Even with the correct capitalization and punctuation it would be very difficult to understand. Textually, written literature makes the most use of the gutter, separating the book into chapters, pages, paragraphs, sentences, and words. In an artistic sense, like the way that Hemingway draws his readers into the story, the gutter is present in a the actual content of the text.

The gutter can then be separated into evocative and representational purposes. Part of the gutter’s purpose is to separate the content of a work, while the other part is to encourage to reader to fill in the blank—to become an active part of the experience.

A conversation between two strangers will usually begin with an attempt to establish a general understanding between the two of them. This usually begins with a broad topic, which is why such a common initial subject is the weather:

“Nice day out isn’t it?”

            “Yeah, it’s gorgeous out.”

             While the subject of the conversation is concerned with the weather, what the two of them are actually doing is establishing is a common ground; a shared experience. The importance of the establishment of a shared experience can not be underestimated (no matter how broad or superficial the actual conversation), because it is the first step toward empathy. While it is not necessarily a reflection of deeply felt emotions, it is a way of saying “you are not alone in your feelings, I feel the same way you do.”

These shared experiences aren’t even always vocalized, a smile or a wink or a wave, any sort of reciprocated action is an acknowledgement of some shared experience; even if only that moment.

When was the last time you were walking across campus and you weren’t sure how to interact with a former acquaintance? Chances are you’ve thought: “should I stop and talk to them, should I just smile, should I acknowledge them at all, should I just ignore them—I don’t want it to be awkward?” The reason that there is such an apprehension in these situations is a sort of fear of rejection; a fear that the action will not be reciprocated and you find out that the other person doesn’t feel the same way about you (the snub).

Have you ever had an experience that you particularly found hilarious, but when you describe it to others their reaction is much less than what you expected? You generally will resort to qualifying the story by saying something like “You had to be there.” Why? –And why are standup comedians funnier in person? Why do we go Why do TV shows have laugh tracks—do you not know what’s supposed to be funny?

            Where am I going with this? Well…

I think that this human need for empathy is the basis for all literature (as well as many other endeavors). “We Feel Fine” takes a much more direct approach, linking people on the internet through emotions, which essentially makes it an “Empathy-Networking Site.” The reason that we are interested in reading about how other people feel is because we’ve all felt that way at one time or another.

This has a lot to do with our ability to see ourselves in electrical sockets and two dots above a line (as McCloud depicts in Understanding Comics). With the more avant-garde pieces we’ve looked at throughout this course, I think it’s been a lot more difficult to find the human emotional connection. While I can appreciate the artistic elements of the different pieces, I think it really comes down to the fact that the less I see of my (human) self in a piece, the less emotional connection I will feel towards it and the more apprehension I will feel towards approaching it.

I really enjoyed working with these different programs. I thought it invoked other avenues of clearer thought for me. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that Twitter is extremely similar to that of Facebook wall posts, which is familiar to a large majority of the younger generation. There is also a familiar theme of staying connected among these three and Facebook or the other sites some of use, like Myspace or even email in general. The way that Twitter was set up more or less disappointed me. I felt as though we went from stressful works that had a trillion different triggers for our senses to a work that had a cute bird and a box for writing text-like messages for the world to see. I did enjoy the work because of the stress free aspect, but I was already conditioned to expect the intense nature of the other works. Twittervision draws the viewer in immediately and you find yourself intently waiting for the next bubble to pop up. The cute little bird has a new activity of jumping from place to place delivering you the text-like messages from their original location. I remember watching it in class and seeing someone pop up from Richmond, Virginia and I instantly felt it become more real and personable. This work also allows for ads to pop up, which I found interesting. It speaks to how inundated the world has become to material and financial opportunities. These ads are for things like news channels, radio stations, etc. The only thing that would make this more interesting is if you could see a story being developed by these tweets that are being shown. I suppose a story could be developed by chance, but the likelihood of it being a cohesive story is slim to none. There would seemingly be no beginning or end.  This could relate back to the work Implementation because it’s as if we’re seeing parts of a random story as we come upon them. We would have to wait to stumble upon another bit of the story in the future. The twitervision, however, provides an obvious way to go back and search for the rest of the story by including a writer and potentially their picture. The last work, Twistori, reminded me so much of We Feel Fine and I’m sure it’s completely obvious why, with the similar structure and content. One of the main things I found interesting is how they both provide the reader with surprising results after an emotion is clicked on. This morning I went back and viewed Twistori and I clicked on “Love.” The first line that came up was something to the effect of, “I could kill myself - I LOVE meetings.” These works all force the reader to disarm any stereotypical answer for emotions that are being sought out. Don’t choose an emotion with expectations of a certain response, because you may get just the opposite.  These three works were a good way to end the semester because they were way more relaxing and they were something very familiar to most of us in the classroom.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Be safe and good luck on your projects!

In Game, Game, Game and Again Game, the question of whether this new media is considered a game or story was heavily discussed in class. In my opinion, I believe it could be either. I’m not sure if this was mentioned during the discussion, but I thought it was interesting because every time I would fiddle with the piece of new media, my mind would focus on something different. This all depended on how I was feeling or what time of day it was.  The piece, like many others in this course, takes on several different titles. When I initially engaged in the activity, I completely ignored the text and the things that were being blasted across the screen. My focus was on that weird squiggly ball getting to the door. It wasn’t until I lost the second round and saw the church cracked in half with weird bolts coming out of it when my attention shifted. This attention deficit towards the seemingly more important aspects of the piece is probably due to the amount of senses the artist is trying to reach. I tried interacting with the piece without the sound and instantly I felt more at ease. (Notice the use of the word ‘interaction.’ I’m trying to stay away from verbs like ‘play’ or ‘read’ because I don’t want to suggest that I think it’s more of one than the other.) Avoiding attention to the words or the massive random objects that would appear helped me to pass each level, but I certainly had no clue what was trying to be conveyed by the text. The person interacting has to decide what it is that they want out of the work and how much searching or analyzing they want to do. The general idea that all of these pieces have layers to them is quite significant and generally isn’t something a reader has with a book or with a simple game. The choice of playing or analyzing is often chosen before other types of media or entertainment. This piece gives the viewer the option during any point of their interaction. The only catch is that in order to be more analytical, you have to be more interactive with the gaming aspect.  This is typically the case with other works that we have looked at. We have found that with pieces like the Bomar Gene, the interactor has to do something in order to get something - in a give and take type of relationship with the piece. These types of pieces allow the interactor to decide their fate with the piece they’re interacting with.

Jason Nelson’s “Weather Visualizer” was an extremely jolting experience for me. I used to be a weather girl (long story best saved for another time) and specifically recall rattling off the scientific data that created some sort of idea for the audience of what the weather was like, in addition delivering the predicted forecast. I remember explaining things like tornado warnings, barometric pressure, and warm and cold fronts. It was customary to discuss temperature highs and lows. Now, encountering “Weather Visualizer,” I was confronted with perhaps the most abstract concepts of how one might visualize the weather. I was particularly confounded (and amused) by the “Video” option of visualizing the weather, because it portrayed Jason Nelson in various ways doing inane and ridiculous things. He would allude to the actual weather every now and then, describing days that made him want to do nothing or using sock puppets to explain that it was “partly cloudy” and 25 degrees Celsius. I also couldn’t help but find it memorable when he peered into a box and asked if it was “cloudy in there.”

However absurd or arbitrary many of the visualizations seem (“Abstract: Noir” – really???), there is something to be said for Nelson’s artistry and creativity in making such an innovative work. To take an everyday thing, which could hypothetically be seen as a “found object” and turn it into a work of art of sorts truly breaks traditional concepts of both the found object and art itself. By using weather as a found object, Nelson reinterprets the concept of the found object because it becomes a constantly changing “object” representing the changes in data being fed into the database of “Weather Visualizer.” The idea of an “object” is redefined – no longer is it a static material, such as a piece of aluminum foil, a collection of silverware, etc. In turn, the concept of art is re-defined. Though the definition of art is perhaps unaltered by “Weather Visualizer,” regardless of how avant-garde the work is, it is ever-changing in that it continually encompasses a growing number of ideas and representations. Additionally, in the “Prose: Poetics” visualizer, Nelson similarly re-interprets literature by relating it to changes in the weather and corresponding these changes with sentences that are seemingly very convoluted and confusing. Perhaps he is implying the complex nature of the weather.

The most realistic representation of the weather can be found in the “Animated” option. Nonetheless, it is a cartoon-like and rudimentary representation of the weather, as if a five-year-old had created it.

What is Nelson’s intent in creating “Weather Visualizer”? It is difficult to have strong convictions about any claim in particular, although some are more likely to point to the root of Nelson’s creative intentions. It is my contention that Nelson wanted us to delve deeper into the work, traveling from its representational meaning and into its evocative meaning(s). Nelson may be creating art for art’s sake; he may be attempting to assert his opinions about the weather and what it means to him; he may be doing a combination of both or something else entirely. While his creative intentions are unclear, to say the least, Nelson certainly provides us with an evocative work worth examining. I use the word, “worth,” quite loosely in this sense, however…

P.S. No matter how senile Nelson may be, I LOVE the sock puppets used at times in the “Video” visualizer.

http://www.abyssandapex.com/200710-wikihistory.html

This is a cute series of simulated forum entries that end up telling a story.  Since online forums like this are relatively new to the world, however, this is something that we literally could not have seen not so long ago.  The methods people use to interact are changing, and in doing so, the things people choose to present are growing and evolving with the new technologies.  Those people not familiar with forums and their related etiquettemay not immediately understand what is going on, but reading through once or twice should straighten everything out.  Those that have used forums to any decent extent will recognize all the familiar symptoms: the bulletins, the enforcers, the noobs that insist on rushing in and ignoring the aforementioned.  This could all have easily taken place in a real forum, and were time travel real, these would no doubt be issue tackled constantly.

And, though composed by one person, great attention is given to the different characters.  They, though brief in this short adventure, come to have roles and characteristics we expect of them.  The author even plays upon our expectations with some of his interactions, such as the exchange between AsianAvenger and SilverFox316.  BarracksRoomLawyer is another character who becomes familiar, with only four appearances in the text.  It’s all very well done and flows nicely.

In addition, the piece works to establish a background, while not worrying too much about filling the reader in.  The reader is expected to be able to figure out what is going on, as though a snapshot of a forum’s timeline is being examined.  BigChill’s reminder that “everybody kills Hitler on their first trip” sets the basis for a long-standing setting in which this has gone on enough for veteran members to be accustomed to it as a regular event.

All in all, I think this is a very effective new media text that pushes the current boundaries of literature into new areas that conform to growing world stages where they can be seen as applicable and fitting.  They’re new works catering to new audiences, and the fresh style targeting the electronic-savvy demographic should prove to hold a large fan base.

I thought I’d post some musings I had about the Textual Media Experiment on here. I think I’ve settled on one idea (finally).  At the outset, I thought about using some of my own writing and creating something along the lines of my body - a wunderkammer.  However, after looking at Implementation, I started thinking about graffiti. One thing led to another, and I started thinking about visual images, images in media, and images in technology. I came to the realization that we’re a culture surrounded by visual images. I then began thinking about photography and how a picture is supposedly worth 100 words. I’m still a bit skeptical, but I thought hey, why not try to prove it? Then, I started thinking about technology and how pervasive technology is in our everyday lives.  With that said, I have decided that I’m going to attempt to document how many times I come into contact with technology over the course of one day (or maybe more).  I’ll have to carry my camera along with me everywhere I go, but I think it’d be interesting to see just how much of my life revolves around technology. I’m not quite sure what medium I’ll be using, but I’m leaning towards creating something in Flash. I’m still not sure if I’ll be adding text to the work, but I’m definitely going to incorporate some music to go along with the images. This idea isn’t set in stone yet, and I’d really appreciate some feedback about what you guys think.

“Lovelines,” like “We Feel Fine,” is, of course, a database, at least per the parameters Lev Manovich sets. In the statement of the work, the statement’s author clearly indicates that he used the same “data collection engine” to acquire the material that pops up on the page before the reader’s eyes. However, I feel as though “Lovelines” is in an interesting look into the dispute between whether or not a work is merely a database or a narrative. “Lovelines” seems to look deeply into the eye of the human condition, particularly because it is less randomized than “We Feel Fine.” By dragging the gray heart across the line at the bottom of the web page, the reader can develop a sense of what love and hatred mean in our society. The beginnings of the statements range from “I love,” “I like,” “I want,” to “I hate,” and so on. While we are often aware of our own opinions on various matters, it is unlikely that we would have any sort of opportunity to voyeuristically peer into the desires and dislikes of others if it were not for a database like “Lovelines.” Perhaps by eavesdropping, one could do such a thing, although it would be a different experience from interacting with “Lovelines.”

When I wrote about “We Feel Fine” for the media inquiry assignment, I briefly mentioned the concept of an internal narrative taking place within the reader’s mind while interacting with the database. I feel as though this is more likely to occur, however, with “Lovelines.” As people, we are inclined to be at least partially influenced by the opinions, desires, and dislikes of others in relation to our own. For example, I can relate to one blogger who writes, “I love Family Guy I love Family Guy I love Family Guy.” I feel a connection to what seems like a person because I am aware that this statement was attached to a person in that they wrote it. Another example might be that one blogger writes, “I hate when I start reading a book and then have to put it aside.” While it had not previously occurred to me in a conscious way that I hate student loan companies, I agree with this statement and therefore have identified something that already existed within myself without my even knowing it.

One major difference between the influence one might feel while interacting with “Lovelines” as opposed to everyday human interaction deals with peer pressure. In a group, one person might say, “I hate ___” or “I love ___” and perhaps the rest of the people in the group concur, so one who does not necessarily agree will say that they do for the sake of fitting in or continuity. In the realm of the Internet, there is nothing at stake whether the reader agrees with a particular statement or not, though it is likely that some form of internal narrative will take place, regardless. The anonymity of, as well as the level of control the reader has in “Lovelines” allows the reader to engage in a deeply introspective internal, personal narrative that is evoked by interacting with the “Lovelines” database.

Okay. If you haven’t got it by now, I am totally obsessed with Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. Sure all of their stuff seems the same superficially, but I am here to argue that is most definitely is not. “All Fall Down” kind of exploded my brain. Instead of having some foreign and unfamiliar text that I can ultimately ignore besides seeing it pulse and change along with the music, it is all in English and there are way too many things going on at the same time. When it was on the big screen in class, I seriously considered my chances for having a seizure. I think that this project plays with the relativity of words and how things are all connected. There’s always someone who has some sort of commentary on things that you have to say no matter how obvious.

“all fall down. (yup.) things fall down. (right.)”

“stars fall down. (on alabama.)

These are just some examples of the screens change, I feel like I am not precisely articulating exactly how I feel about this piece. I don’t know how many of you watch “The Office” (US version, although the UK one is highly underrated), but this reminds me of a conversation between Michael and Dwight so let me set the scene and diverge from “All Fall Down” for a quick second. Dwight is at his desk holding a bunch of grapes over his face plucking them off with his mouth Michael comes in and, although no one has said anything, says “that’s what she said”. Dwight says, “I don’t get it” and Michael says, “Grapes? Seductive?” I feel like the second or the response to the first statement, which I consider to be the main statement of the idea, is more of a “That’s what she said” almost an unrelated little quip. I still don’t know if I am making any sense. I think I’ll stop trying to explain it now.

What makes this such a sensory overload is not only the rapidly flashing text and contrasting black and white and your brain struggling with all of its might to keep up with what it is trying to process at the speed of light (signature of YHCHI) but also with the seemingly unconnected thoughts scrolling along at the bottom of the screen. I say seemingly unconnected because sometimes, if your eyes are quick enough, you can sometimes simultaneously look at both of the changing texts and they are somehow related, I can’t think of an example right at this moment but if you have looked at this piece enough, I think you know what I am talking about.

And once again, you are totally stuck in this piece although you may wish and pray for a pause button or maybe even slow motion (is that too much to ask?! I’m an English Major! I like to process what I read!!) there is no going back, and I don’t necessarily think you would want to fast forward. Although I think I may like “Nippon” better, this is most definitely an intriguing piece.

Jason Nelson is crazy. He may be a genius, but I think he is absolutely crazy and that is not necessarily a bad thing in my book. His creepy/haunting creative/crazy side came through with “The Bomar Gene” and I think that “The Weather Visualiser” allows him to show his more eccentric side.  I think the weather in general brings about the most eccentric side in people naturally, and I think that this project is very fitting to that effect.  I know I can’t speak for the rest of you but the first warm day of the year I feel like running around being goofy like he does in the video interpretations of the weather. Also very cold days make me a little crazy. Anyways, if you take the time to notice and scroll through a few states or regions of the world, the “prose/poetics” interpretations of the weather has a definite template and only the words in red change to create a different meaning for each one.  I think that the same can be said for the weather.  The day is a universal template, and the different weather patterns change the meaning or the mood of the day, with the weather being represented by the words. Okay, maybe this is a little far-fetched but I think you can all see where I am trying to go with this.

When I try to look too deep into his work, it seems a little fruitless.  At first it seems like it could have meaning, but there are so many wacky elements to it sometimes it seems like there could not be any at all and he is creating for the sake of creation and for people to muse and marvel over his work.  Maybe he is making some kind of statement on how the different weather affects people’s emotions or attitudes by showing his own. I’m still a little baffled by this piece. I think that Professor Sample should ask him for an explanation video about this piece.

So I am going to be completely honest here. I spent a lot of time in class when our computers were unfrozen playing “Arteroids”.  In my defense, it was the relevant topic of the day, and definitely expanded my knowledge of the application/project.  First of all, the game was fun. Who doesn’t like shooting at things on a screen, honestly? The words that they had programmed in were a little boring, depending on what mode of game play you are in, but when I found out that you could program your own words in I got a little mental “BINGO”! Honestly I put in an email from my bonehead ex-boyfriend and totally shot away at them, naturally with my name as the shooter. It was kind of justifying, not going to lie (what an honest blog post for class!).  I think that “Arteroids” is an excellent example on a variation of an old game, and a good attempt at really ‘prosing it up’ (puns are fun).

Second of all, aside from it being fun and an awesome tool for personal revenge, it got a little boring after awhile, sure I wanted to try and get to level 216, but my patience definitely ran out (as did class-time).  I think that this project serves solely as an example of what the miracles of the internet can do, although maybe not utilizing them to their fullest potential or expanding on an existing idea to its fullest potential. I don’t have an exact idea of how this could be improved from its current state, so I’m not going to try and pretend to offer up some suggestions. All I’m saying is that I believe that somehow it could be made better. Maybe the color scheme could be adjusted somehow, or have the words fire back as you instead of needing to avoid them, or maybe when you get to a certain point there is some ultimate high-score list that is recorded on the internet forever (okay I lied here and really did offer some suggestions).  Although this might be the most fun interactive media we have covered this semester, it also might be the most lacking.

Our discussion about Implementation reminded me of graffiti art, which also seems viral in nature, as it spreads like wild fire in various cities all around the world.  I agree with Krisztian’s argument that Implementation might be more about “how a counter-cultural movement begins and works” than psychological warfare, for instance.  I think one of the main goals behind the project is to get people involved in the story-making process.  The sticker idea encourages a collaborative effort and offers people the opportunity to add their own meanings to the work.  According to Montfort and Rettberg, “We hope that this form of interaction will engender new and unanticipated meanings as Implementation is situated in specific public spaces that resonate with the texts in different ways.”  In other words, the ways in which people choose to situate and photograph the stickers add new meaning to the work.  A passerby who reads a sticker in Philadelphia, for instance, would interpret the text differently than someone reading the same sticker in Tokyo.

At the same time, however, it’s difficult to piece the different texts together and construct a complete, full-blown narrative, just as it’s difficult to form a narrative from various graffiti tags across New York.  I think it’s almost impossible to fully grasp all of the major themes of the work.  However, as we discussed in class, individual stickers can be effective and thought-provoking on their own.  The story begins to take shape as more and more people take action, too.  Although I don’t think that Montfort and Rettberg wanted their audiences to uncover the full narrative, the Internet helps us put some of the pieces together.  If it wasn’t for the Web, we probably wouldn’t know that this project even existed.  With the image archive, we can see stickers popping up all over the world and compare stickers side-by-side.  The same holds true for graffiti art.  You can find archives full of graffiti art online.  Here’s an example: http://www.graffiti.org/.  With the help of the Internet, we can at least form some kind of coherent narrative.

Just like “The Bomar Gene”, I vividly remember watching “Bust Down The Doors!” in 325 recitation (can you see a pattern here? All of these are why I signed up for the class.). However, “Nippon” is not just all about shifting pronouns and creating the reader into a voyeur, but tells some sort of stream-of-conscious story/stage directions (all so very complicated).  What intrigued me most about this piece was once again the bold contrast of the colors and the very catchy music, but also the text. If I could read Japanese (I think ) I would be all over the top part as I have heard (or maybe read) that it is not an exact translation of the English at the bottom.  I love the musical nature of the text as the English responds to the note changes and rhythms with the horns and the top language (I’m going to just call it that at the risk of sounding ignorant) corresponds to the piano part of the music.

I secretly love that Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries is really into controlling their audience. I am the worst and impatient Internet reader that I know.  If there is a large block of text on the screen I have to force myself to strain to stay and read it, or otherwise I have to print it out.  It’s really that bad.  The projects that they produce force me to stay in front of the screen, straining my eyes through my expired prescription glasses to actively participate in reading what is being thrown at me on the screen.  I can’t fast forward, and if I miss something (inevitably) I cannot for the life of me rewind, I have to watch the entire thing over again.  The words fly by so fast in some instances and I find myself way too happy for a slight pause to be able to register what was just thrown at me.  I find all of these elements, the music, the text and the story simply delightful.  Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries is in my bookmarks now and I am a frequent visitor. I think that their projects are a good inspiration/brainbreak when homework gets a little too stressful.  They are also a very helpful reminder that even the simplest things can be very complex.

I remember this from 325 recitation last semester, but could never remember exactly what it was. I remember it being a little weird but overall interesting.  I think my favorite gene would have to be the Felton Color Gene where Milly is hyper-sensitive to colors. I think the story and not the little gadgets where you can change the colors and make windows of images appear is what is most intriguing for me about it.  There is terrific irony in that in order for the student/teacher who is dealing with Milly ultimately destroys Milly’s eyes, which are the things that actually make the gene affective.  The woman goes on to be successful and does contribute monetarily to Milly’s life, but nothing can really bring back Milly’s true essence which existed when she could still see and be so sensitive to colors.

I think that watching Jason Nelson’s explanation for his creation of the Bomar Gene was kind of hillarious. Though, I think that he is a little strange as re-referenced in the Weather Visualizer.  I think his explaination was excellent about the ways and reasons that people do create different kinds of art or any kind of emotional expressions.  I am also not quite sure if he was positively reliable in all of his explanations of the different genes.  I do like the thought that he brought up, however, about incorporating very personal relations and character traits of people who you may know or once knew into any type of self-expression.  I think that his grandmother’s belief in the paranormal and psychic is a very interesting driving force behind his project.  I do have a slight facination with certain traits, but not even necessarily physical traits being genetic, and I think that is maybe why I feel some weird connection to this work.

Maybe someday in the distant future genes will manifest in certain people almost akin to “The Bomar Gene” or maybe even “Heros” (super-duper powers).  But for now, the idea of super-human traits or super-sensitive traits, almost synesthesic will have to exist in these kinds of works of fiction.

There seem to be two types of people on the net, those that use emoticons, and those that don’t.  The sides are like those people that prefer dogs to cats, Redskins to Cowboys, shaken to stirred–they are fortified in their belief.  The question arises, however: why?  Why does anybody use these things?  Or why doesn’t everybody use them?  What creates the divergence between those that :) upon it and those that frown?  Perhaps it’s all in interpretation.

Both words and emoticons sent via the web must be interpreted.  Some things are easy, like “I’m going to Burger King in a few minutes, you should come.”  That person’s probably going to end up at Burger King in the near future, and wouldn’t mind your company.  Then there are the elusive comments, like “Yeah…” or “Ha.”  What does it mean if the “year” trails off like that?  Does that means it’s awkward now?  And the single “ha,” is that laughter, or is that pointed criticism hidden behind e-sarcasm?  These are things that the sender has to carefully craft based on their knowledge of the recipient of the information.  In the same way, people must be careful with using emoticons for the same reason–perhaps to a greater extent.

Here’s another example:
Mike:  See you soon!
Mary:  Okay

That’s pretty straight-forward, and you’d be hard-pressed to mix up the implied happiness of Mary’s declaration.  But how about this one:

Mike:  Hey Jenny
Mike:  Mary*
Mary:  Jenny? `,: |

The semi-stern cocked eyebrow may be lost on some viewers, and Mike may instead think that Mary has just fallen asleep on the keyboard.  This example just shows how you have to be careful when working with more complicated expressions.  The same goes for sad Santa: *<||:-(>

In addition, different people have different styles of emoticons.  For instance, it was only a matter of time before the simple smiley met it’s upright counterparts.  Different genres, like anime and video gamers spawned their own various faces and meanings, which then slowly became integrated into the public mixture to further confuse the rest of the populous.  For example:

>.<
=.O
T_T
t.t
o.o
@v@
-.-
^.^
etc…

I am of the belief that some people have confidence their conversation partner will be able to keep up with their meaning, whereas other people are more confident that the words they choose will effectively carry their intentions.  In this way, some people see fit to toss in smiles and frowns and yells all over the place.  Others think even the most basic use could potentially be catastrophic, and forgo the option altogether (see below).

Mary:  Ugh
Mary:  Today was HORRIBLE!!1
Mike:  Why is that?
Mary:  I can’t find my necklace.  My mother gave it to me!
Mike:  Oh..  :)
Mary has signed off.
Mike:  You left it in m–

That’s as far as Mike gets in trying to tell Mary she left the necklace at his place, but she just thinks he’s insensitive because of his satisfaction that he was going to be able to make her day.  Is the situation irreversible?  Of course not.  Could it lead to a big fight?  I’ve fought over less.

I’m not one to tell a person how to conduct themself on the Web; I’ve simply noticed trends that run across it, and think they’re worth exploring.  Emoticons probably will not be anybody’s downfall, but they may lead to some unnecessary confusion.