my abstract: 2nd attempt, a week late, i feel illiterate

Okay, So.. I have so much to blogg about I think it will require two or more. BUT, the most important thing for me to do now is claim a topic by making an acceptable abstract. So here I go. I noticed that literacy was still missing one person and I was thinking, that after my week of feeling very left out of the ENG480 club, as i never have time to peruse other's weblogs OR the WIKI. Actually the WIKI scares me as I still cannot really figure out what to make of it. This feeling has led me to think that I am destined to do literacy as it is something I hope to become in terms of this damn class. So, I started thinking, and reading everyone's old blogs about literacy from WAY BACK WHEN earlier this semester. This is what i have to say about it...

I like Literacy because it ties a lot of the other subjects together. I mean, if you take literacy literally.. haha... then it really limits accessibility. I mean, if you can't read, then you would have a huge problem working your way around the internet. It also incorporates style a little bit. When i was a little girl I read a story on a poster at the library IN MY SCHOOL for advocating literacy, and it had a picture of a can of cooking grease with a picture of bucket of fried chicken on it and the story at the bottom told of a young woman who bought a bucket of Crisco to feed her children because she thought it was friend chicken. She couldn't read. Now, I feel as though computer literacy works very similarly to that story. Makes you sad doesn't it?? I still remember the poster VIVIDLY. Anywho.. I don't think that many people are age even consider technology literacy. I re-read some of the literacy articles and it got me thinking what about that photographer that can take pictures with the walnut thing on his head? like Bush suggests? he shouldn't put a picture of a bucket of chicken on anything BUT a bucket of chicken or it ges messy... and that links up with the standards on the level of personal responsibility and such.

Bush says, "Much needs to occur, however, between the collection of data and observations, the extraction of parallel material from the existing record, and the final insertion of new material into the general body of the common record. For mature thought there is no mechanical substitute. But creative thought and essentially repetitive thought are very different things. For the latter there are, and may be, powerful mechanical aids."

The common record could be the internet, or journal, or newpaper, or whatever... and I can see that there is indeed a process between accumulating facts and the end product, BUT... the second part about mechanical aids helping repetitive thoughts.... but not creative? Doesn't making a web-site require creativiity, ect. ect. This web-log, while sorta repetitive because I do it at least once a week, is creativity. At least a bit anyway. I understand his argument that adding was a repetitive process and now we have calculators, but i think that keeping up with technology, even when it involves a walnut on our forehead that records our every movement and takes picutes of everything we see is vital. It is the new literacy. I cannot figure out the WIKI... if I do no figure it out soon, my grades will suffer. Granted a bad grade doesn't put you out homeless and cold on the street but it is a big thing in my world, and in most of ours I would assume. So then. ... where does literacy and the internet/computer come together. How does it change writing? and how does that change effect us? What also can be done to help those who aren't so computer savy? Imagine if no one had ever taught us how to use a pencil? Whoever taught me did a poor job if, as one can tell when trying to decifer my handwriting. But, in order for pixels to replace pencils everyone has to be literate of how to use the pixels. Also, as you can see, I do not write on this as I would in an essay. My sentences are not quiet complete and I use bizarre punctuation. I do not know why I do this, it's just a type of pixel "slang" that I hav been accustomed to. I have heard arguments that say programs like instant messenger are hurting our youths ability to write. To that I compare the argument that regional dialects and slangs are not "english". I think that just because it is text book doesn't mean its not real english. What would you call it? Spanish? no....

On another note. anyone who is thinking hard about all this copyright stuff. As i was re-reading the pencils to pixels essay he compared how phone companies used to limit the use of the phone only to the subscriber, threatening to sue places like hotels and airports that allowed anyone to use the service. They didn't let up on this argument until pay phones were invented and the profits were insured. IT IS similar to the music and software copyrights. But how would you set up a pay-phone for a service like Norton's AntiVirus? I guess you could pay-per-scan?? Or for something like microsoft office, pay per excel sheet? ... anyway.. I digress...

There is still more to be thought about, and I will, only the screen is making my eyes hurt... So until tomorrow... good-bye lovely 480ers!! (short for god be with you) O, and Mr. Dilger? Will you let me know soon if this is acceptable this time so that if not I can start thinking hard about another topic. I am already thinking about metadata as i can see no one is in a hurry to scoop that topic up... just in case... haha... good night all.