New Found Creativity

An Exciting Challenge

Before I came to DU, my writing process was a mess.

It was like an unorganized desk that seemed impossible to clean.

I felt like I was buried underneath all of my work, unable to escape.

Writing was something that I dreaded and never wanted to do.

Rather than focusing on my writing I spent most of my time working on biology.
I was a self-proclaimed science nerd and didn't want to branch out.

I learned how to perfect a lab report, but I did not feel comfortable in any other genres of writing.

Biology was all that I knew

All of my classes adhered to the typical writing format, thus I did not branch out too much.
Science was what I felt safe with, and I was okay putting all of my focus into it.

Since being at DU, however, I have branched out.
I have enjoyed learning and writing more than I ever have before.

Sociology is my new biology, and I am so excited about it.

Despite the fact that I love sociology, I don't allow it to consume all of my attention.

Instead, I use it to help me with my other subjects.
I use the concepts that I learn in sociology for my other classes, such as Writing.
Writing used to be something that I dreaded, but now it is one of my favorite classes.

I wrote my first paper in an article format, and had a lot of fun while doing it.
I never thought that I could branch out beyond what I was used to, but now I know that I can.
With every new type of assignment, both my interest and confidence in writing increase.

I finally feel inspired to take on a variety of assignments that involve creativity and ingenuity.
Rather than seeing writing as impossible, I see it as an exciting challenge.

My desk is finally clear, and I have more confidence in my skills as a writer.

Rather than feeling overwhelmed by writing assignments, I know that I can tackle them.
I have come to enjoy writing, and look forward to expanding my knowledge with every new assignment.

I started out small,

A little child trying to find his way

With no thoughts or cares in the world,

Just a few words and a pencil

With one stroke of the pencil

Words start to appear out of thin air

When two or more are combined

The paper begins to fill

As the child begins to grow

The pages become longer

The same words are used

But with a new found meaning

Once the child is almost an adult

He has mastered more words

More subjects of writing

The who its for and why its written

It begins to make more sense

The writing has transformed

There is now a situation

And a group of people willing to listen and change

An Interview

Job position: marketing assistant of a technology communication company.

Audience: Interviewee of the company.

Exigence: Interview conversation

Genre: Ask and Answer

Logos:

"Please introduce yourself concisely, and tell me why I have to employ you?"

I am a student of University of Denver and double major in Marketing and Computer Science. Nowadays, most of projects are required on computers. I am good at computing, so I can do the jobs with mathematics. Operating any kind of computer systems is also my strength, such as Windows 7, Ubuntu Linux 11.10, Mac OSX, which means I can use any kind of computer to complete my jobs. I am very aware of others’ interests. I have the abilities to be competent for this job, because your company is a big company dealing with technology communication and is hiring marketing people. All in all, I believe I am the suitable candidate for this position.

Ethos:

"You describe yourself so smart and competent. Do you think you have weaknesses?"

Everyone has weaknesses. I think you, mister, must have amended your weaknesses and have improved your skills since you join the marketing team of your company. I will improve my weaknesses and skills too. When I knew the qualifications for entry-level position, I thought that I still have some skills have to be obtained. I should have good organization skills, which are assessing needs, planning or arranging presentations or social events, designing programs, coordinating events, delegating responsibility, evaluating programs, and managing the implementation of projects. This is the biggest and the most important problem I have, because if one does not have good organization skills, one would not become a leader of a team.

Pathos:

"Do you know how to improve your weak ability, and what do you want to learn from this job?"

Learning how to be good at organizing is the first significant task of mine. Because I am a student without working experiences, I need a big platform to learn new knowledge and to applied knowledge I learn from school into the work. I would definitely work hard and asked my colleagues once I have problems, which I cannot solve by myself. I am applying to the marketing assistant, so I should learn more communicative skills and learn how to making good social relationships and social network from my colleagues.

a Love Hate Relationship

I know we have had or deference's
I was selfish
I wanted nothing to do with you

at first, you were weak

please help me learn

Pathos, Logos, Ethos,
What is your rhetorical situation?

I think I'm starting to get it
forgive me?
You've helped me understand
and I want to move forward

you...writing
you mean everything

the world sits on your shoulder

Reflection over Main Assignment #2

In this reflection, I want you to take a moment to discuss what you learned through the process of having creative control over your own project: you came up with a new argument, a new genre, and a new audience based upon your first main assignment. What are some pros/cons to this process for you as a writer--I'm not looking for whatever you liked the process but rather what you learned about yourself as a writer. Try and think past ideas such as waiting to long to start, issues with programs you might have been working in, the time crunch to finish, etc. I really want you to reflect upon you and your identity as a writer and what, through this process, you might have learned about yourself. 

Shoot for 250-400 words. 

**We will do this in class on Tuesday!

Portfolio Brainstorming

The portfolio is an opportunity to showcase yourself as a writer--to present your best work of the quarter as well as define and explain who you are as a writer--and this is going to be represented through your theory of writing. In this brainstorming session, think about which pieces you are going to put in the portfolio and why. What makes those two pieces stand out for you? Why do they represent your best work (try and think about it in terms other than a grade)? 

Next think about what key terms might be a part of your theory of writing. Revisit previous blog posts. Are there additions? Subtractions? Why? 

A major portion of your reflection-in-presentation revolves around your ability to support your argument--the argument you are creating about yourself as a writer and the pieces you chose to represent you as a writer--with your own writing. How do you plan to do this? What pieces, other than the two in your portfolio, might you use to help evidence your claim? What theorists might you use to help evidence your claim? 

Last, what do you believe your purpose for this portfolio is going to be? And why? 

**Be thoughtful in your responses. This is a great opportunity to organize your thinking, planning, draft, etc for this portfolio. 

**Shoot for 350-400 words. 

The Unveiling of a Writer

Throughout the past quarter, you have been discussing the process of writing and your identity as a writer. For this last (!) blog post, I want you to discuss who you believe you are as a writer and/or composer. To do this I want you to have a little fun, so I'm not looking for you to do a traditional 300-500 word response. What I want is you to think about how you could represent the characteristics that define you as a writer/composer that you have developed and honed this quarter (and those that you came in with). 


Some suggestions for ways to create this:
*A job wanted ad or a personal
*A  poem
*Through a series of images
*an obit
*a short short (short fiction piece)
*a song


The possibilities with responding are very open. You can respond back to this post OR you can create a new post. 


This should be as long as it needs to be to get your point across. I should see elements of you----so I should be able to get a sense of who wrote what without even looking at the author's name.


And remember: have fun with this---it's your last one for this class. =)


Due by Friday, March 9, 2012. 

Transfer of Knowledge

In this blog post, you are exploring what it means to "transfer" knowledge from one situation to another. Begin by discussing what transfer means and how a student can achieve successful transfer according to the researchers of How People Learn. What are contributing factors to successful transfer? Next extend your discussion to yourself: what prior knowledge did you come into the WRIT 1122 class with that has helped you with assignments--both homework and major/mini assignments? What do you believe you will transfer from WRIT 1122 and why (be very specific)? Where will you transfer this knowledge to? And conclude by wrapping your discussion up: why is transfer of knowledge important? Do you believe transfer happens whether you think about it or not? 

Engage with others. Support your thinking with the text. Target  300-400 words. 

Due: Thursday, March 1, 2012 by class time. 

Weiphone!

The knowledge community comes to my mind is Weiphone.com, a forum of technology (China).

I am very proud of being a moderator of iPhone forum, because this is a largest apple relevances forum in China.

Due to my professional knowledge of computer science and interest in apple staff, I successfully applied the moderator 3 month before.

In order to make this forum to function, there must be many kinds of member to maintain and refresh the forum everyday. There is a technology website in the United States--- Engadget.com. Both Weiphone.com and Engadget.com are deal with tons of information of new technology everyday. Weiphone.com start to imitate Engadget.com by hiring many professional technology person to maintain the website and post many quality posts, which can help newbie to learn some knowledge from the website.

Weiphone is made up of several boards--- iPhone, iPad, iPod, macbook forums and newsletters and download resources area. Each forum has a moderator, who are refreshing his board everyday. Moderator control the posts in his forum. If a person post some uncorrelated posts or some illegal posts, moderator have to cancel it and publish the person for prohibiting post for days. Also, everyone in the forum can post some interesting things or educational posts or news in the forum, in order to share information with others. Geeks are come from here.

The mission of the forum is to share information and help the newcomer to learn knowledge by themselves. In order to maintain the website runs well, moderator has a lot of responsibilities. I love weiphone.com.

A Typical JMAC Hallway

The Hall: A Knowledge Community Within Dorm Life

Many people think of a dorm hallway simply as someplace they live, but it is so much more. The environment and its residents make up what is called a knowledge community. Different than the family dynamic that they are used to, the community acts as a common knowledge among residents.

Audience

As first year students, the individuals that make up the community are wide-ranging coming from various places and backgrounds. Despite the fact that everyone is different, we all get along and support one another. We are able to do things collectively that we would not be able to do on our own. Whether it is helping each other with homework, choosing teachers for the next quarter, or simply giving life advice we are able to work together and share our knowledge.

Every person within the community has something to contribute, and if they feel they do not fit they are able to leave. When this happens, the community will undergo a change. The beauty of a knowledge community, however, is that it adapts. We learn new things from new members who, in turn, make the hallway a better community.

On move in day, my biggest concern was that my roommate and I would not get along. This was quickly dispelled, however. As we were unpacking, we realized that all of our items were the color blue. We discovered that we shared a favorite color, one that would be spread throughout our dorm room. Because of this little fact, we were able to share knowledge with one another and work cohesively form the start. We are different people, but we use our knowledge within ourselves to get along and live together in harmony.

Leader

The dorm is a completely different environment from the home community that we are all used to. There are still rules, but there is also independence. Our RA, Taylor, is the one that keeps us on track, and makes sure we don’t do anything against these rules. He holds the community together and makes sure that we live cohesively with one another. He acts as a kind, support system in case we need anything, and is key to making residents feel as though they can share knowledge with the hall. He is the one that encourages us to maintain the community.

Outside Sources

It is easy to get upset with those who live in your hallway because you are always together. It also makes it easy, however, to become close. Many of my closest friends at DU live in my hallway. Among these, are 5 girls in my sorority Alpha Phi. We are able to collectively bring our knowledge from being in such a strong organization back to our hallway. We spend the majority of our time together and are able to have the strong bond that comes with being part of two amazing groups. Because we all share this common tie, we are able to greater benefit from the knowledge community.

Changing

The knowledge community is always changing, and adapting. As residents, we take not of this and work in order to get our community back to its best shape. We learn new things everyday, and work together in order to make it through freshmen year while having fun.

Finding a place to Skate

Picture taken in Battleground, Washington at a skatepark i found on concrete disciples.

Many skateboarders who travel with their families on vacations, with their school on trips, or just have a car and are able to travel understand the importance of bringing a skateboard along and hitting whatever local parks are existent. There is truly nothing better than hitting a new skate park with a fresh skateboard and a brand new pair of shoes, but how does one find these parks? Throughout my whole life I have been using a website called “Concrete Disciples”, which is basically a skateboarding blog that contains a very useful knowledge community created by skateboarders that enjoy hitting new parks that don’t necessarily know where to find them. The great thing about this community that make me enjoy using it is that fact is shows pictures, videos, vivid descriptions, hours, free or pay, and if the certain park has ever been closed and whether it is open at the time a person visits the site. Members of the site are free to update, comment, and remove parks that have been permanently shut down to make sure skateboarders don’t travel long distances to a nonexistent park. I believe that the freedom of outsiders to comment and help each other makes Concrete Disciples my top knowledge community because it directly correlates to my love of skateboarding. Many times while on vacation, being away from my native St. Louis, I have used the site to find parks in many different states including Utah, Colorado, California, Illinois, Maine, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington. If not for this fantastic knowledge community, I would not have progressed and hit as many parks as I have to this day. I believe that knowledge communities only function because people with similar interests that both know different facts can help each other become more knowledgeable. Concrete Disciples differs from the survivor community in many ways due to subject matter, but the idea is the same. The Survivor people really just wanted to figure the show out before they were “allowed” to see the results, and the easiest way to do so was to start an online community of people with a similar goal in mind. Once they had established that goal, they can all use their separate knowledge to help the group as a whole. In the chapter it talks about how some people might not have ever posted on the site, until the correct time when a person from the town they lived in was on the show, or if they had extensive knowledge about a certain location. The great thing about knowledge communities is a person doesn’t even have to contribute to benefit from the knowledge others have shared. In my case of concrete disciples, I never had a skate park in my town, and all the ones close to me had been listed, so I had nothing to post. I did, however benefit from other peoples posts by being able to find skate parks in new places and visit them on my travels. Knowledge communities as a whole function for the sole purpose of solving a problem through the combination of mind power, whether that be to beat Survivor and figure out the winner before the show airs, or finding a skate park while relaxing in Mexico on vacation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbh1Wiw60Hg

Video of a few friends and I at a skate park we found.

Newschoolers

As the article about knowledge communities pointed out, these communities are becoming a major social experience for most people in the world. The internet has provided a forum that can bind people from all over the world, and the concept of joining and contributing to these communities voluntarily and based off of genuine interest provides a sense of inclusion for all those involved, many of whom may not have those feelings outside of the community. Before the article I knew such groups existed, but I did not know the term "knowledge community" to connect to them. It is one of those concepts that you know exist, but don't really read much into it until their definition and existence is layed out right in front of you. After this happened, I started to notice how many knowledge communities that I am a part of: Facebook, the TV shows that I follow, and even this english blog are all optional associations I choose to participate in, but the one that is the best example of a highly functional and more inquisitive knowledge community, and the one that I am most involed in is Newschoolers.

Newschoolers is a website that is sort of the Facebook for the freeride skiing community. Freeride skiing includes halfpipe, slopestyle and big mountain skiing, so there is nothing about racing or nordic skiing on the site. Like Facebook, you can sign up for an account, and you have your own profile on the site, but that is not what the site is based on. It combines stories about the latest events happening in the industry (major competitions and the results, new movies coming out, interviews with major atheletes, etc...), videos and pictures posted by users, and also includes many "threads" which are discussions stared by users that range from anything from what company we anticipate an athelete switching to as a sponsor, to which resorts have the hottest "ski bunnies".

Here is the link to Newschoolers: http://www.newschoolers.com

Like the survivor "spoilers" there is a hierarchy to Newschoolers. Although only the administrators can publish the top news stories, the threads are available for anyone to make, which opens up a lot of opprotunity for false information to be released. Luckily because of shear number of such threads, not many are really noticed, and even if they are, members are critical of posts and question legitimacy much like the survivor spoilers, but this is the case with the videos as well. Newschoolers has over one hundred thousand members, and a lot of them post videos, so there is a system that shows the authority of posters. Administrators, professional atheletes and companies have their username in orange, so you can tell by that which videos are likely to be higher quality and not just some kid going off his first jump. The administrators, unlike ChillOne in the survivor spoiler forum, do not keep their identity a secret, they are known by their real names, and are almost as famous as the atheletes themselves because they are known to be the closest industry insiders in all aspects of the industry out there.

Newschoolers has the last say in everything that happens in the ski industry, and although they are good about being objective, provide the fuel for many debates based off of them. Since the majority of skiers are not lucky enough to be in the loop of the industry, this gives them a way to subscribe to a lot of the knowledge that those who are get to have, and that makes them feel like they too are a part of something. For me, I was the only real serious freeride skier coming out of my hometown, and no one really understood what I was workng so hard to achieve, and Newschoolers really did provide me with not only a sense of belonging, but it gave me insight into the industry I needed to become successful. Their articles would outline the winning runs from many of the competitions, so I would know what tricks I needed to do in order to do well in such competitions. Once I finally broke in and got mentioned in my first article on Newschoolers, it was the best feeling in the world. That meant almost more to me than the competition I had won, and I got more congratulations for being mentioned on Newschoolers than I did for actually winning.

The first picture of me in a Newschoolers article:

As far as the anatomy goes, this knowledge community is made up of three major contributors, the administrators, the atheletes, and the subscribers. The atheletes provide the content that the entire site is based off of, the administrators are in charge of running it and putting the information out there, and the users are what makes it have any sort of significance. Another one of the cool parts of Newschoolers is that almost every athelete is a subscriber as well, so you feel like for once you are participating in something ski- related alongside your idols.

Composing for a composer

During my time here at DU, I have noticed that almost all classes could be considered a knowledge community. The class is on a topic that the school has deemed necessary to offer and assigns a professor to lead it. The students of the class then interact their fellow cohorts (with guidance from the professor) with the endeavor to gain more understand of the topic, learn and create new ideas on the topic, and further themselves as students. Rather common, no? We all find ourselves participating in 4, 5, or even sometimes 6 of these knowledge communities every week. I am no exception.

There is, however, a knowledge community that I am a part of where I feel obsolete. A broken link in the knowledge chain if you will. Ironically enough, it is part of my major: music composition seminar.

Once a week, all 18 composition majors gather for two hours to give presentations on composers, musical rhetoric, new-age theory, their own works, and much more. The point of this class is to generate new ideas and to spark creativity while learning. It is supposed to help push ourselves to study, explore, listen, discuss, and create "new music." We do all of this for the end goal of a concert near the last week of the quarter. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? It actually is quite a bit of fun, but let me explain why I feel like a broken link in the knowledge chain.

Though this example is a false and egotistical, it will help with understanding. Let us suppose that the professor of this class is a big record company. The record company is told by a representative of the public listeners (the head of the composition department) and delegates and decides who they wants to represent the sound of the label. Then, let us suppose that the 18 students all represent musical artists that the record company shows interest in. Diggin' my jive so far? The record company only knows that these artists have musical talent, but regardless of what they artists have created, the record company wants to give them all contracts. But they have to pump out pop music for the record company. Still with me? So, the artists all agree and the record company presents you with Rihanna, LMFOA, Justin Bieber, Adele, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Led Zeppelin, Jennifer Lopez, Niki Minaj, Britney Spears, and the cast of Glee.

The record company makes great profits from these artists and the knowledge community of pop evolves and grows out of this group. With everyone under the label working hard and communicating the best way to make the next hit, they dominate the radio waves of the world. Except Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin is trying to make a comeback, but according to the record company, they're old news, everyone has already heard them. Even if they make new songs, it's a sound that everyone's heard. The record company wants new pop music, something that's so new, it's like nothing anyone has heard before. Even if that means it sounds like a pug faced elephant falling down a flight of stairs into a pile of flatulent hissing cockroaches, it's new and exciting to the record company and they will label it as "pop music". Zeppelin decides to stay and try to communicate new ideas to all the other pop artists. Some ideas of theirs are valid, but most are shrugged off easily with Taylor Swift adding, "Ew, that's the kind of music my hippie uncle listens to."

All the other artists share knowledge and try to move music into an entirely new world while Led Zeppelin is trying to revamp the sounds of yesteryear. So, as you may have guessed, I am Led Zeppelin in this situation. I have a difficult time contributing and communicating what I believe are good thoughts to the room full of other artists and am often let down by the record company when everything is old news and that "that's all been done before." I firmly believe it hasn't and the record company needs to work with everyone just as much as everyone is working for the record company. However, I am trying to be part of that "'invisible and intangible engine' for the circulation of commodities," as well as attempting to "play the game [...] and become a policy wonk." It's just that I want to be part of this engine, I just don't like the policies.

Sp0rtZ!

While reading this article, and got passed the fact people still care about Survivor... I started to think about my knowledge communities in a different way. A knowledge community does so much for human growth, it is almost unfathomable. However, within our collective knowledge community as society, we have small communities within those, and so on. This is much like our living situations.

We all live on the same planet, but within that we have our own continents, countries, states, cities, counties, districts, towns, neighborhoods, homes. Still, we come together as a whole and decide together within each of these parts.

With that being said, I did not want to go the obvious route of a town being a collective knowledge site. I'm deciding to look at a different part of my life, soccer.

Before I go all Mia Hamm on you all,

#onecandream

I think it's a different approach to this idea. Something besides boundaries are making us a collective whole, it's our interests and our abilities. 

Joining a new team or club is always difficult. 

#Cruelladevil???

You show up like this kid and you're immediately shunned. You must prove yourself before you are accepted onto a team or into a club. 

It's almost like starting a new job. You walk in the first day not knowing what to expect, you're in the way of everyone else and it seems like everyone around you is moving at rabbit speed while you're stuck in turtle mode. Soccer is the same way. A team that has been playing together for a season is going to make you, the newbie, stick out like a sore thumb. The adaptation takes time, but it's the collective knowledge of the game that allows this process to move faster.

If you're like skunk head up there, things may take more time because your ability may not be up to par with the other girls. Then you must work harder, knowing what you have to do in order to achieve the same level of the other girls and be on the same page with them.

Being on the same page as someone is very important, especially in soccer. Soccer is all about creativity, there are no set plays for the team or players, the game comes from each individual's mind and the team's collective ideas that create opportunities to score. When one player is not on the same page as everyone else, the entire opportunity can go into shambles. Just one person that is a second or two behind, they make all the difference. 

The collective knowledge of the game and abilities required comes from years of experience. The more experience you have, the easier it is to adapt to a new team, new players, new coach, even new cleats. Just as the Survivor freaks, the more you do something, the easier it becomes. Still, the collective whole of specific knowledge is going to make all the difference when it comes to success in a certain field. Experience is knowledge and without individual knowledge comes no collective knowledge, and without collective knowledge, there is no progression. Without it, society, and all parts of society from soccer to a television cult, is stagnant. 

Reddit: The Ultimate Knowledge Community

Reddit is the ultimate knowledge community. It is a popular social and news website that is based on user generated content and is all about sharing things people come across in their day to day lives or their views on a particular subject. There are many different subreddits (subsections where you can talk about a specific subject, and there are different subreddits for everything).

The website is a place where people come and can laugh and think and enjoy the things that people experience or observe a stroke of creativity that one of the members might have on any given day. There is literally everything on there from political and religious banter, to the user created memes (those stock photos that you see on facebook all the time now-a-days with captions), cats and more cats. While I’m not all that interested in the tons of cat pictures, I do enjoy Reddit as a quick broad source of information, and the occasional laugh.

There is a system of upvotes and downvotes (people like or dislike certain content) and the stuff with the most upvotes is seen first on the boards. This is much like the vetting process that Jenkins talks about in the Survivor fan communities.

The people of the Reddit community are many and diverse. Though there is a general demographic of male 20 somethings, Reddit has many different types of people from very different backgrounds to provide a skeptics view on almost everything that comes to the boards. People who are knowledgeable about physics talk on the science threads and people who are knowledgeable about politics comments on the politics threads and anyone who is interested can share their knowledge, and any who are interested in learning more can start that process by visiting the conversations and learning.

These conversations sometimes galvanize the community into action and enable them to do something outside of themselves unlike the survivor oriented groups, whose biggest activities outside of the spoiling would have to be gambling on their information.

The Reddit community is a treasure trove of knowledge and is one of the biggest knowledge communities out there. Though some of it may be silly, it is a great source of knowledge and any and all additions are welcome.