The European Pragmatism Association. Found it on a google
search for something to do with pragmatism and academic conferences and blogs. It was the
first hit on a few of my searches and has an online peer-reviewed journal, a blog, multiple
conferences/ events, and a very helpful list of affiliates. It looks at
pragmatism in all kinds of disciplines.
The Wordsworth Conference Foundation. Two conferences a
year, one in the summer and one in the winter, where participants take walks and
visit Dove Cottage by candlelight in between sessions. Now accepting proposals
for the summer conference. I’ll have to polish up my extensive undergraduate
c.v. for this to be an option, but it’s such a beautiful idea.
National Undergraduate Research Conference. It looks like it’s
always held at Weber State, but it came up on a few searches—I clicked on it
off of this useful list from the
Maryland Center for Undergraduate Research. Although I'm probably looking for something a little more specialized, it's nice to see something acclaimed and close to home.
Pragmatism Today. An online peer-reveiwed journal primarily interested in pragmatist philosophy, but also calls for submissions on "all kind of relevant issues (philosophical, cultural, social, interdisciplinary, etc.) as seen from pragmatist perspectives." Wordsworth and pragmatism could fit.
Romanticism. Another lofty goal, but I’m drawn to the
traditional, print nature of the publication and its call for "textual and bibliographical essays prepared to the highest scholarly standards, reflecting the full range of current methodological and theoretical debate." I found it using this helpful list from New York University called Publishing in Romanticism. A Wordsworth paper could theoretically make it in to any journal on the list.
I'm not sure if a person counts as a plausible audience, but I checked out a bunch of profiles of people who associate themselves with the European Pragmatism association, and this scholar seemed to fit my research interests. I could use one of his books as a source, or send him an email.
Twitter, Instagram, television contests: the hastag is everywhere! We cannot escape the hashtag no matter how much we would like to. The hashtag has even become the catalyst for many jokes. Let's face it we all know the over hashtagger, who underneath all their instagram pictures, writes every description possible using hashtags. #selfie #selfienation #selfies #TFLers #me #love #pretty #hansome #instagood #face #fun #smile, and yes I did copy that from someone's picture, and yes I didn't even copy them all. What about he hastagger who uses the hashtag to cram their sentences into one word #lovesthecrinklybedpaper, although I must admit I have done this before as a joke. The reality of the situation is we are giving the hashtag a bad reputation. So why was it originally created?
After discussing in class the idea of how we can spread art and digital media, I automatically thought of the hashtag. It can be such a useful tool if used correctly. I decided to see how ideas and art can be spread through the hashtag.
Twitter
This social medium allows people to explore and find new contests that they probably wouldn't have heard of without the hashtag. I decided to search #artcontests and through that I found Contest Watchers and Revolution Art Magazine, which are international contests that allow you to enter your art to win prizes and get recognition for what you do.
The hashtag can also guide us to find new information, or guide us to sitest that teach us how to learn new things. I hashtagged #slampoetry and found this link that had a video teaching the 5 easy steps to becoming a slam poet.
If I wanted to do a DIY project, but don't know what to do, I could easily hastag #DIY and find a list of artist who are willing to share their secrets. Painted palette garden & craft ideas
Even with Instagram I can hashtag anything I may be interested in, whether it be art, hair tutorial videos, or whatever else interests me.
We may be afraid of the hashtag, but we shouldn't be. The hashtag really is a great tool that can help us explore new venues and learn how to do new things. We can even connect with other people that may inspire us, or that we may inspire. Instead of misusing the hashtag, we should learn how it can be a powerful tool in catapulting as to inspiration, creativity, or exploration.
When we had to search quick, accessible ways to tell serious information, I had a hard time finding creative ways people do that. Then I thought of propaganda. Both of those are effective means by which to tell a message. And there could be very little directly telling us what to think too.
Below are three decently known WWII propaganda posters. Though they do not say what the problem is with "someone talking" or "loose lips" directly, the art portrays the message. Talking about the navy (and other military departments) would provide opportunities for the enemy to hear and use that information to their advantage. The connotation suggests speaking is dangerous. Even without the accessibility of the internet, these posters stuck up all over cities were enough to get the message across the entire nation.
It may not be awe-inspiring, but as I research cycles of awe and the psychology behind it, I find it interesting that we cycle ideas or effective means of communication. Brian Moore (work shown below) took these old WWII propaganda posters and parodied them to be effective propaganda posters for today's time. He came back to the original sources of well known propaganda posters and used them again. What does that say about the new posters? Do you find it effective? What would have changed in terms of the message if he had just created new propaganda posters? I think because the idea of propaganda is heavily tied into WWII posters, that feeling is echoed in the new posters. Parody of old propaganda posters automatically brings a certain connotation to the new ideas being presented in Moore's work.
Posters, whether propaganda or not, must convey or sell a message immediately. Minimalist posters present an idea or message with minimal images or text. Billboards must be structured so that a passerby can see the message quickly. We cycle back to posters to tell a message because it can be effective and accessible.
I've been thinking a little bit about
accessible ways of conveying meaningful ideas, and I've come up with
a few different techniques focused on digital media.
On the more technical side of things,
we have things like MOOCs, or
Massive Online Open Courses, and
instructional sites like Codecademy. Admittedly, the “ideas” are
meaningful in a more practical sense, but MOOCs and other similar
resources nonetheless represent an important mode of digital
conveyance.
The Codecademy Interface. Codecademy and other educational sites allow users
MOOCs provide a way for
educators and innovators to share information with broad audiences.
They are pretty much like a regular course: there are schedules and
assignments and a teacher or small group of instructors, but it's
completely free, lower-stress, and catered to your interests. There
are MOOCs for just about any topic you could think of. This
list, for example, shows various MOOCs on fiction writing.
Instructional/educational sites like
Codecademy and Khan Academy are similar to MOOCs, but rather than
working on a set schedule, the student sets his own pace and works
toward completing objectives based on specific micro-tasks (i.e.
learn “if” statements in Javascript).
Videogame criticism is in the perfect sweet spot culturally right now that it demands both substantial ideas as well as mass-market appeal. This turns into some very interesting videos and presentations crossing back and forth over that line in very interesting ways. Here are some of my favorite:
While not actually about videogames, this first video talks about Roland Barthes and the "death of the author" in relation to an anime series:
This next video gives a great overview of feminism and videogames, then gives some solid theoretical background and thoughts:
To ask another question, what is the best way to explain them? Browsing through You Tube in my quest to discover informative videos that would help me understand more about the Higgs Boson, I found and watched the following six clips. Some are informative and fun to watch, some are fun to watch but not really that informative, and some are informative but boring to watch as a you-tube video.
Let's go through them all and see how these videos portrayed their knowledge, and see if that medium was the best choice for helping us to understand what the Higgs Boson and Higgs Field really are.
(1) White Board
In my opinion, this video was the most clear in explaining what the Higgs Field was. This video used its graphics, as simple as they were, to their maximum strengths. For example, although the cartoons were stick-figures, the creator of this video made them move and fly across the screen, which was helpful in showing his or her point. Humor also helped the person watching to become more engaged in the video, "swiss cheese," as opposed to the narrator just talking on and on, which enhanced this video's watchability. For the explanation of how the Higgs Field gives things mass, you can just watch from 1:18 to 2:11, but the whole thing is well done. Even the background music added mood to this piece, giving it a light, springy mood.
