Reflection Memo - Paper #2

     The topic of popular cultural artifacts are so broad and it seemed difficult for me to narrow it down. However, I liked the freedom and flexibility I had in choosing the artifact to write about. I chose to write about Facebook because it is the popular cultural artifact that I use the most.
     When thinking of the issues that relate to Facebook, I didn't want to stick with just one because there were quite a few that I brainstormed. There must be a reason why Facebook is such a popular cultural artifact though, so I also brainstormed the advantages of Facebook. Because I now had the pros and cons of Facebook, I felt it appropriate to structure my paper in a way that illustrates both.
     One obstacle while writing this paper was making sure that my audience did not think that I was neutral on this topic. Although I was showing both the good and bad of Facebook, I needed to make sure I emphasized my point of how Facebook stalking is a concerning issue.

Reflection Memo - Digital Remix Project

     When thinking of which paper to choose to remix for this project, the narrative paper seemed of upmost interest to me because it reminded me of a movie that could be based on a true story. So, as I was looking through the possible genres I could use, a "movie trailer" fit perfectly.

     I watched a lot of trailers before planning out my storyboard just so I could get a feel of what real trailers look like and how I could make mine characteristic to them. That could be considered "research" in a way as I was looking into trailers for similarities and facts.

     The average duration of movie trailers are about 1:30-2 minutes long so I wanted to fit mine in that time slot as well. The filming process was fun as I got to involve my friends into the project and direct this trailer. I have never used iMovie before which was a disadvantage but it wasn't too difficult to learn how to use. This project was definitely my favorite one over the papers that we did in this course.

Reflection Memo - Paper #3

     For this music research project, I first thought about what my favorite thing about music was. I asked myself why I listen to music in the first place and the answer was because of the lyrics. I think lyrics are one of the most important parts to a song and so I decided to write about them. Then, I had to connect this idea of lyrics to an issue and the first thing that came to my mind was profanity.
     As I was writing my rough draft, I wanted to incorporate evidence of the points I was making about the evolution of lyrics so I included lyrics of different songs by different artists for support. This slightly changed the structure of my paper (in a positive way, I hope).
     This was the first time I had to conduct my own primary research and it was a good experience. I wish I would have had a better outline for my paper before the interview took place because I realized afterwards that I could have asked better questions. I consider that one of the weaknesses of this paper.
     I look back and conclude that I should have done more research earlier. It is much easier to write with the research already done than trying to search for more sources to fit into my paper.

IAR Strategies - The Song Decoders

Invention

What is invention?
- The author, Rob Walker, had to look up the history of Pandora before creating this text
- Walker used Twitter to issue a call to Pandora users who feel that it had an impact on their listening tastes
- Walker sat in a meeting of several Pandora's song deconstructors talking about Indian music
- Walker used Pandora himself by typing in the name of a specific artist or song on the website

What is being invented?
- Walker is unveiling the behind the scenes action of the methods of Pandora
- He explains "The Music Genome Project" of Pandora which involves algorithms and "genes" of songs that a computer can analyze to see what other songs you would like depending on one you picked

Arrangement

What is arrangement?
- Walker is putting individual tastes in music in relation to how Pandora arranges music
- How Pandora arranges and analyzes music is free of cultural influence and very technical
- Individual tastes in music depend on culture and peers and common sense

What is being arranged?
- Walker uses evidence and quotes from Pandora users who are both unimpressed and impressed by Pandora's method of analyzing music
- Walker breaks down how Pandora decodes songs and groups them in relation to how others may group their music tastes

Revision

What is revision?
- Walker states that Pandora can guide listeners to what music they like using their algorithm
- He says that lately, social systems of music-liking are popular and Pandora is one of them

What is being revised?
- Walker provides a lot of support including quotes from Pandora users and C.E.O.'s of other companies similar to Pandora
- He gets direct methods of how Pandora analyzes music including melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics, etc.

Reflection Memo

     When trying to think of a topic for paper #1, I decided to choose a literacy that I did the most often. Looking back at the literacy logs that we filled out, I noticed that the literacy that I did the most each day was texting. Once figuring that out, it was easy to think of many issues that related to texting. Some issues that I brainstormed included texting in class, texting while driving, texting at the table, and cyber bullying. Out of these ideas, I had to pick one that was relevant to me in the sense that it applied to some event that occurred in my life. Looking at what I came up with, my story of my friend texting and driving jumped in my mind which was perfect because it was one of the more major issues out of everything on my list.

     As I started to write my rough draft, I planned to start off with my narrative. As I was explaining it, there were many parts in the story where I wanted to stop and explain how this was an issue. That is when I decided to split up my story and connect it to the issue separately.

     When revising the rough draft, I made sure that my story and how that story connects to the issue was clearly differentiated. My main concern was that readers would confuse the two which would ruin the flow of the whole paper.

     I think that a strength of paper #1 was the format as it was unconventional and engaging. A weakness was finding a good balance between the lengths of the story and the issue. I learned that it is wise to write the rough draft little by little everyday so you won't be overwhelmed last minute. I want paper #2 to be more planned out as a lot more research has to go into this paper compared to the first.

The Struggle to be an All American Girl

1. Elizabeth Wong is a playwright and television writer who grew up in Chinatown in Los Angeles. She was educated at the University of Southern California (1980) and New York University (1991). Wong also worked as a reporter and taught in the theatre department at Bowdoin College.

2. Similar to Carrie's moves in White Buds on an Apple Tree, Elizabeth Wong also considers her audience and the extent of her audiences' literacy in the topic. In White Buds on an Apple Tree, Carrie is careful to make sure she explains uncommon medical terms and acronyms by putting the definitions in parentheses after each one. In The Struggle to be an All American Girl, Elizabeth also explains the Chinese terms and sayings that her audience might not be familiar with. For example, Elizabeth says that the people in her culture would say, "My, doesn't she move her lips fast." Then she goes on to explain that that saying means that she would be able to keep up with the world outside of Chinatown.

3.The intro of this essay begins with an anecdote as Elizabeth starts off with a mini story that depicts the topic of her essay. Elizabeth ends her essay by highlighting an important aspect of her topic of how she struggled to be engrossed in the American culture yet regretting it as an adult.

4. We know for sure that Wong regrets her assimilation into American culture because at the end of her essay, she states that she is sadly still an "all American girl" and not someone who is part of the Chinese culture. Also, before the actual essay, the paragraph that gives background information about Wong states that this essay recounts her adult regret of her assimilation into American culture.