Arendt

I found our class discussion on Arendt very interesting. The fact that we are always conditioned beings, and we have to make sense of the world could not serve more true. We learn through experiences even though we may see them as mistakes. However, if we do not go out and live life, we will never be able to grow into our full capabilities. We now see that technology is preventing us from living life and we are so consumed by screens that we do not get the full experience of life. Therefore, how will we grow? Technology is alienating the world in a sense. No one is ever the same, but yet behind a computer screen or conversation via text messaging, we can blend ourselves to be whoever we want to be, not living the true experience of life for ourselves or others.

Digital Classical Music Composition?

This article really leads me to question what's happening with the world. True music is created from the vibrations of strings, wind, metal, etc. This digital version of an instrument, to me, can't possibly be the same. 

 

By MICHAEL HSU

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THE COMPOSER Franz Liszt, who lived for years with his mother in a modest Paris apartment, might have welcomed a digital piano. The best models simulate the sound and feel of an acoustic instrument, yet take up less space. They also don't require tuning, are impervious to the swings in humidity that wreak havoc on standard pianos, and can be played silently with the use of headphones.
"For students, a good digital piano is better than a mediocre upright," said Andrea McAlister, associate professor of piano pedagogy at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where, as at most schools, students learn basic keyboarding skills on digital instruments.

Concert pianist Simone Dinnerstein shows you what to look for in a digital piano by putting a handful of models to the test.

Ms. McAlister recommends that beginners opt for a full-size 88-key model that has a "weighted action," which simulates the feel of actual piano hammers. She also stresses the importance of a stand that keeps the instrument at the proper height, since good posture is essential to proper technique.
To find a worthy digital model, we enlisted the help of classical pianist and Sony 6758.TO +5.70% recording artist Simone Dinnerstein, whose latest album, "Night," was released earlier this month.
"I always scoffed at digital pianos, mainly because the ones I had tried in the past had a very unrefined sense of touch," Ms. Dinnerstein said. "There wasn't a connection between how I would press down on the key and the sound that would come out—there was no subtlety."
She suspected, however, that technology had since advanced. And the prospect of being able to play with headphones appealed to her. "I don't want people to hear me struggling when I practice!" she said.
According to many of the musicians and teachers we spoke with, Yamaha makes the most innovative digital pianos, so we asked Ms. Dinnerstein to meet at a dealer, Faust Harrison Pianos, on New York's "Piano Row," on West 58th Street.
Ms. Dinnerstein started by playing a few passages from the Goldberg Variations on models in Yamaha's CLP and CVP line, which start at about $2,400. On one model, the resistance of the keys gave her pause. "It feels like I'm having to push through something to get to the sound," she said. She switched to a Chopin Nocturne. "I can't play it gently, so maybe it's not teaching somebody to be as subtle as they could be." She also found the sound to be electronic and fake.
Ms. Dinnerstein was pleased, however, with the Yamaha CLP-480 (about $5,600, yamaha.com ). "The way it sustains is much more similar to a piano," she said. "It has a lot of variety of touch and sound. I like this one." Her only complaint: The keys were too stiff. "But you could say the same about an acoustic piano; some are a bit brutal in how they make you play," she said.

“'I could probably be fooled that this was a real piano,' said Simone Dinnerstein.”

Yamaha's AvantGrand line is one of the more advanced (and expensive) on the market. The two top instruments in the range simulate the feel of string resonance by sending subtle vibrations to the keys as you play. And the sound reproduction is purportedly state of the art.
Ms. Dinnerstein started on the AvantGrand N2 (about $12,000), an upright piano with the action and sound of a grand. "I think this is kind of amazing actually. I could probably be fooled that this was a real piano," said Ms. Dinnerstein. "There's something a little bit freaky about it—but I love it. I would definitely consider having one of these." (She noted, though, that while the sound was "really close" to an acoustic piano, the timbre was markedly more electronic when she played with headphones.)
The higher priced model wasn't necessarily better. The larger AvantGrand N3 (about $16,000) sounded and felt less realistic to Ms. Dinnerstein than the N2.
At Allegro Pianos, a dealer next door, she played a Kawai CA95 ($5,745 list, dealer pricing varies, kawaius.com ). According to the manufacturer, the instrument has a spruce-wood soundboard that "faithfully reproduces the tonal ambience of an acoustic piano." But Ms. Dinnerstein was not convinced. "It's a certain kind of sound that is a bit brittle and a bit nasal," she said. She was also unimpressed with the feel of the instrument.

Can a digital piano teach me to play?

Some digital pianos have a high-tech teaching feature: keys that light up to indicate which ones you should press next when playing a song that's preloaded on the instrument. But is this approach useful for beginners?
"Yes, but most people quickly outgrow it," said Rachel Kramer, a piano instructor and director of member development at the Music Teachers National Association. Light-up keys only help with one aspect of reading piano music, she said: learning the notes on the keyboard. Students tend to pick that up quickly. "It's deciphering the sheet music that blows most people's minds," she said.
Yoheved Kaplinsky, chairwoman of the piano department at the Juilliard School, said that she wouldn't use the feature when teaching, but "anything that makes practicing the piano more attractive is legitimate." Ultimately, though, the lights are a crutch. "People have been learning to play piano for several hundreds of years without them."

Neither the Roland RG-F1 ($7,999, rolandus.com ) nor the RG-3F ($10,999) passed muster. "While the sound is nice," she said, "it's kind of thin and a little two dimensional." The Yamaha AvantGrand N2 was more realistic to her ear, she said.
Ms. Dinnerstein also tested the Casio Privia PX-350 ($799, casiomusicgear.com ), a portable keyboard at the lower end of the price range. Casio makes an optional stand and foot pedal ($150 for the bundle) that convert this 25-pound keyboard into an upright.
"The sound is quite synthetic, which is to be expected," she said, but the piano would be good for novices. "The keys have a nice weight to them—similar to playing on a real piano. Beginners would benefit from this. The resistance in the keys would help strengthen their fingers."
It might even suit a seasoned concert pianist: "I could easily imagine practicing on this myself in the middle of the night, when I didn't want to wake anybody up.

A Robot to Create Poetry?

The New York Times

Times Haiku is a collection of what they are calling “serendipitous poetry,” derived from stories that have made the homepage of NYTimes.com. The haiku live on a Tumblr hosted by the Times. Harris built a script that mines stories for haiku-friendly words and then reassembles them into poetry. (For those of you that may have zoned out in class, haiku are comprised of three lines with, in order, five, seven, and five syllables.) The code checks words against an open source pronunciation dictionary, which handily also contains syllable counts.
“Sometimes it can be an ordinary sentence in context, but pulled out of context it has a strange comedy or beauty to it,” Harris said.
Harris was inspired by Haikuleaks, a similar project that found poetry in the cache of diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010. The backbone of that project was an open source program called Haiku Finder, which crawls through text to generate haiku. The program was built in Python; Harris made his own version in Ruby on Rails.
The result, much like @nytimes_ebooks, is bizarre, quirky, and kind of zen. The haiku have a strange way of getting at the heart of a story, or teasing out interesting fragments from an article. “There’s something appealing about finding these snippets of text, these turns of phrase and pulling them out,” Harris said. “You find it compelling and it drives you to read the article that it came from.” (Think of it as a more lexicographically strict version of Paul Ford’s SavePublishing.)
In its own poetic way, Times Haiku will be another access point for Times stories, said Marc Lavallee, assistant editor for interactive news at the Times. “If someone sees the site, or the image of an individual haiku and shares it on Tumblr, and it gets them to think about who we are and what we do, or gives them a moment of pause, I think we’ve succeeded in a way,” Lavallee said.
Lexi Mainland, social media editor for the Times, said they wanted the poems to be able to stand on their own and be readily sharable. That’s why the haiku are actually images, which fits well with the aesthetic of Tumblr, she said. Outside of Tumblr, the Times will promote the haiku through the paper’s flagship Twitter account.
That the Times has the ability to build a haiku bot isn’t surprising. But why build a haiku bot? “A lot of the projects we work on here are these incredibly big heaves, which are very, very gratifying,” said Mainland. “But you crave these smaller projects, which are just as valuable.” Similarly, projects like the haiku bot may seem silly on the surface, but the underlying code, the use of natural language processing, or other components could be valuable to future projects, Lavallee said.
It helps that the project came at little expense to the Times — Harris put it together on his own during a fit of post-election letdown. Harris had been working on projects connected to the presidential race for over a year, and after election day suddenly found himself with idle hands. He wrote the code in November and began monitoring what it was spitting out. After showing it to Mainland, Lavallee, and other editors, they gave the project a green light. Designer Heena Ko and software developer Anjali Bhojani gave the haiku their distinctive appearance for Tumblr. (Those lines you see running askew of the text of the haiku? The length is computer generated, based on the meter of the first line of text.)
As whimsical as a haiku bot or a spammy-sounding Twitter bot might be, both are efforts to find new uses for the Times’ vast collection of work. “It’s just this large corpus of text that gets very dizzying to look through,” Harris said.
The Times may also have a soft spot for artwork inspired by the written word. Anyone who has visited the lobby of The New York Times Building has likely seenMoveable Type, an algorithm-backed art installation that displays fragments of Times content across 560 display screens.
But why poetry? For starters, today is the first day of National Poetry Month, Mainland said. (Today is also April Fool’s — and if you were wondering, this is not a joke.) Still, for lovers of verse, it may sound like a cold and bloodless way to create poetry. Can you really create poetry without a soul? Do robots have feelings? Can they really see a sunset, or be moved by the sounds of a whale songs CD?
Harris admits the bot is imperfect; it’s required a little teaching along the way. One reason he limited the scope to the front page was because it provides an editor-picked selection, which tends to be richer features and important daily fare. (Running the bot on the Times Wire, Harris said he often got haiku made up of basketball scores, which may be too esoteric for any lit major or stat nerd.) The algorithm is designed to toss haiku with certain sentence constructions (sentences that start with a preposition, for instance) or from sensitive stories. Mainland, Lavallee, and Harris also keep an eye on the haiku being created to see if anything untoward sneaks through.
But Harris also has to do some syllable counting himself, teaching the bot words that appear in the Times (“Rihanna,” for instance) that it doesn’t know. Henry Higgins would be proud.

This story was originally published by Nieman Journalism Lab.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-new-york-times-has-built-a-haiku-bot-2013-4#ixzz2Pu9cOHiQ

Technology Changing Education?

The video we watched in class focused a lot on how technology was changing the face of education. Not only is technology in the classroom constantly increasing, but it is altering education as a whole.  As one of the professors in the video stated, technology is like 'oxygen'; it just helps school make more sense to students.  Many schools are switching from an influence on contemplation and thinking to more hands-on actually doing things.  Some schools implimenting these strategies show higher attendance rates and higher test scores.  However this is not without its criticisms.  Some people label it as instant gratification educations, basically saying that it is based on quick and fleeting thought that does not foster long term linear thought.

Video Games

Watching that video in class about video games and how people get addicted and have to get sent to camps and stuff to take them away from video games is pretty crazy. I know that it has been a huge contraversy on whether video games cause violence and things of that sort, but honestly I didn't think it was that serious. I really believe its because people in china are using laptops and other technology in class to educate a little too much.... Anyways, do I think that video games are a negative or positive thing? I think that it depends on the video and how much time you are actually spending playing the video game. The lady in the video who quit her job because she didn't want to stop playing the game is a little over board. If you quit your job because you want to play a video game than there is a bigger problem at hand. I think that video games could be a form of "play time" if they are not over used.

Turkle Chapter 10

 In chapter ten of "Alone Together," it discusses how email, texting, and instant messaging have become the preferred method of communicating over talking on the phone and talking in person in general. The teenagers that Turkle speaks with in this chapter all agree that they prefer texting or instant messaging over talking on the phone because written messages allow for time to think about what they want to say and how they want to portray themselves.

           

But just like it’s not just teens who are using Facebook and virtual worlds, adults are also becoming more lenient toward an avoidance of the telephone. Many claim “exhaustion and lack of time” but is it more than that?  Texting and emailing is certainly the easier way to maintain relationships. Phone conversations require more attention for a longer time.... And then there is the annoying situation of how to end a telephone conversation without offending the other person...

By removing voice from our communications with others, Turkle argues that we lose something inherently human.  The human voice conveys a variety of emotions and the way in which one speaks and says a TON about their personality, education, and background. By removing this from social interactions, it takes away a certain level of ‘realness.’ Just like letter writing is dying art form, soon  phone conversations will become a thing of the past as we expect technology to handle our busy lives and relationships more and more so that we don't have to invest much time or work into them.

Are kids getting dumber?

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/04/01/toddlers-learning-technology

I found this article in the news recently and thought it was quite interesting. The news company/host brought about the point that kids these days are actually getting dumber because they are so focused on technology these days. We are giving our kids Ipads and Iphones younger and younger and they become infatuated until the point of not being able to talk to anyone while they are doing this. It has come to a point where these younger generations have such difficulty talking to each other in person because of technology. Face to face contact is dwindling down more and more that's its a wonder we are even able to talk to people at all. I just wonder when will our future be silent because people are unable to talk to one another.

Texting not talking

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/fashion/02BEST.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

In chapter 10 Turkle talks about how people no longer talk on the telephone because they are texting or chatting online. She is worried about the effect on relationships. Here is an article in NY Times that talks about just that. It says that the trend in relationships and interactions between pre teens and teenagers is towards increasingly superficial and public interactions. I can't help but wonder about potentially negative consequences of having public relationships. Publicity ruins intimacy, just ask celebrities.

Breaking Up with Technology

In Turkle's chapter 10 she discusses the use of cell phones and other electronics in order to end relationships with people. In the chapter she discusses how it's "easier" for people to do this because it's less personal and you don't have to see the hurt someone is going through. People know that it's not how they should breakup with someone but it's just the easier way to do so. I'm just wondering what everyone else's thoughts about this are. Has society today really become so emotionless that people nowadays think this is an acceptable way to break up with someone? I've never done but I've heard stories of people who have been together for years and do it. Has technology put us in such a place that it has, in fact, beat out the emotional level to things?

What's more important?

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/robot-dog-toys-win-georgia-tech-contest/nWrj3/

I found this website via a friend on Facebook that talks about how a college student won an invention contest by creating what he calls "ChewBots". ChewBots are little robotic dogs that can move and are fluffy similar to a real life animal. The interesting thing about the article, to me, was that these toys beat out other inventions that could benefit the human race very well. For example, the second place holder invented a disposable test that would help people to check for anemia themselves rather than having to go to a doctor and find out. Third place, went to someone who invented a system that makes it nearly impossible for someone to steal your things even if they have your PIN number. I find it interesting that society is turning itself into something so focused on the fun aspect that we let things that could benefit our overall health and well being for a little fun.

Friends vs. Phone

On page 175, Turkle was talking to a young woman named Julia. Julia states that when she feels a variety of emotions she'll pull out her phone and immediately text her friends to tell them how she feels. I found this quite entertaining because I am the exact opposite. If I'm feeling some sort of emotion I do pull out my phone to tell someone, but most of the time I will call them. I like having the personal connection of hearing someone's voice and genuine reactions to my news over the phone rather than waiting for them to respond via a text message. Julia went on to say that while she waits for a text back she often has unsettled emotions because she is so unsure of how people will respond to her. That is why I like to call someone, there is more of a personal connection with the person, you hear their genuine attitude, and you get the response you were looking for much quicker. Then I don't need to go around to all of the people in my life looking for a response because someone didn't answer, I just talked to the person on the phone, got the response, and now I can easily move on to the next thing I have planned for that day.

Communication and Driving

Turkle talks in chapter 9 about the danger of texting and driving and how so many young people do it today. The kids she talked to said that the reason they text, answer phone calls, and read messages while driving is the "need to connect". I found it interesting to see why they do this because I do it as well when I drive. My reasoning is just to make sure someone is not hurt or in trouble whereas theirs is this insatiable need to be connected to their friends and the world. While most of these kids do believe texting and driving is okay, I try to restrict myself as much as possible and really not let it get in the way too much. I'm known to turn off my phone for hours on end because I don't want to talk to people or be interrupted doing homework, etc. The world we live in has grown so technology driven especially with cell phones that kids are literally attached at the hip to their devices. I just found the reasoning behind always answering the phone while driving or texting and driving for someone else other than myself.

texting and dating

http://thatteowonna.com/?p=3964

why are people using texting to date? the answer is simple: fear of rejection. when you think about it it makes complete sense. if you get rejected over text its just eh whatever and go back to what you were doing. no people see you and no one may even know you asked someone out on a date. but if your hanging out with friends and you see a girl youd like to ask out on a date it becomes humiliating in front of people when you get rejected. and the fear is stronger than the satisfaction of getting a yes which is saddening but true

Individuals and cell phones

If you look closely at my title, it states INDIVIDUALS and cell phones. The reason I am putting emphasis on the word individuals is because many people have the misconception that the only peopel who have their phones hooked to their hip are teens, when that is an incorrect statement. Although, I do agree that teens are one of the higher percentage people... everyone who owns a cell phone are becoming more attached to their device. I don't think we made that a big enough point during our discussion. What we discussed in class is very interesting, and turkle is correct in my opinion when she says that phones are becoming apart of people and their daily lives. When driving individuals can't even ignore a text or phone call because they don't want to feel "disconnected" it's pretty crazy considering it is puttin your life at risk. Technology is beginning to take over our lives....... in positive and negative ways.

Cellular Connectivity and Teens

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/teens-sleeping-cell-phones-clear-and-present-danger

Turkle addresses this concept of adolescent connectivity in her book. It's interesting, but true. 75% of teens sleep with their phones. Oftentimes, they say it helps them sleep better. As frightening as it is, I would have to agree. My phone gets me up on time. It is within reach if I need to communicate with anyone. And, it is right there if anyone needs me. If I found myself suffering from the all too frequent bout of insomnia, the cell phone gives me instant access to Twitter and Facebook. I find myself amazed by the distance I have traversed from being without a cell phone entirely to being entirely dependent on my cell phone.

Arendt

Arendt's chapter was one of the most complicated readings that I've ever encountered. At the beginning of the chapter there was very difficult language being used and I was having a hard time really comprehending the point of the chapter. As I read more and more the point became apparent. Humans are shaped from the day they are born until the day they die by their interactions with other humans and other beings on Earth. From day one we are constantly being conditioned and changed into different people. This is very interesting and I think it is a bit scary to think of. If we lived our lives in a constant battle to only have positive interactions with people it could be exhausting. I think the point though, is that whether our interactions are good or bad, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will end up good or bad. There are so many interactions that humans experience throughout just one day it is silly to think that just one bad interaction could shape us positively or negatively. The point here is that humans must do everything in their power to interact with as many people as possible to give themselves a better understanding of the world we live in. Interact and grow as a human being and learn about things outside of your personal comfort zone.

Turkle and Cellular Devices

     I find what Turkle has to say about cell phones and similar technology to be interesting. After reading chapter 9 of Alone Together, some of my own observations have been confirmed regarding cell phone use and other technology that allows instantaneous messaging. I always notice how a majority of people are constantly on their phones or messaging on Facebook. While this does lead to a form of connection, it can also lead to a form of simplification that would not happen in a face to face conversation. Personally, my cell phone is mainly used as a timekeeper. Therefore, I always find it somewhat odd that others can be so engrossed within their cell phones.

Turkle about life online

the video we watched in class today addressed the issue of the younger generations in society facing the difficulties that come with growing up online. The influence that the Internet based social life has on the formation of young minds is said to be detrimental by all account of some. others would argue that an online plugged in life style for the youth generations is just preparing them for the future. the role that the children of today will have in the future is significantly different from the roll that earlier generations filled. i think that it is fair to say that both sides of this argument are kinda correct. yes the Internet is a tool that can not be escaped in the modern world but we also must be cautious and not allow the Internet life consume our society. people must be taught to function not only online but in the real world as well.

Technology and the Environment

I find this article to be an interesting comment on how technology is actually saving the environment which, in previous years, it has had a hand in destroying. Green energy, which is a quickly growing field, is entirely based upon technology. Often times, people speak of technology and the environment together in a negative fashion. Here, we can see how technology can actually aid in the saving and sustaining of our planet.

http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/issue.aspx?id=1021&y=2007&no=2&content=true&page=3&css=print

Social Networking in the Work Place

Here's an interesting article I found researching for another class! It evaluates, from a scholarly standpoint, the use of social networking in the workplace. It's directly related to Turkle's Chapter 8 "Always On" whcih evaluates societies new need for continuous connectivity. I find this concept especially interesting as, from personal experience, I have found that having social media and networking sites to actually be required for my job--I work in retail!

http://www.lscits.org/pubs/HOReport1b.pdf