Monday, August 27, 2012
Friday, August 17, 2012
Binary Opposites
Topic of discussion: Who, what, when, where and why binary oppositions occur?
Post no. 10
What exactly is Binary Opposition?
Dictionary.com defines binary opposition as:
"a relation between the members of a pair of linguistic items, as a pair of distinctive features, such that one is the absence of the other, as voicelessness and voice, or that one is at the opposite pole from the other, as stridency and mellowness."
Binary opposition first ties itself with Structuralism. These are some of the key points I picked up from the slides which I think are relevant.
Binary opposition: Divides the world into categories.
Who started binary opposition?
It has always been a mystery to me. If I would pick a guess, I'd guess religion. In Christianity, in the first chapter of the Bible he separated heaven and earth, angels and demons and categorized the land and sky. He did state the difference between the darkness and the light. The creation of the earth is FILLED with binary oppositions. Ying and Yang also take pride in their Yin and Yang theory. The difference between dark and light, women and male.
When and Where did I first experience binary opposition?
That would definitely be in my schooling years, at school. Males and Females would be instructed to form two straight lines in front of class, the short ones in front of the line while the tall ones always get away by lining up at the back of the class. The geeks would sit up front while the playful ones would sit outback in class. This was the place binary opposition revealed itself to me.
Why do binary oppositions occur?
Does having categories always keep things in order? Is it good or is it bad? Should girls and boys just line up in just one line to maximize space or is it better to separate them to avoid trouble? Which brings me to the first point that I have picked up from the slide. (highlighted in yellow)
I have to agree about how binary opposites form from a culture. It is just human nature for everyone to follow..everyone!
Which brings me to my next point, this generation 'dadaists'. These are the people who desperately or are of nature, not following the norm and culture that is set for them. They breach between the two said categories and create something so unusual and entropical that creates the wanted or unwanted attention they desire.
Examples would be, merging cars and robots to become Transformers or fishes and humans to create mermaids. These breaches create something new, unique and something that the public won't see everyday. Male and Female breaches would be the LGBT association. However, this community is not well received in certain countries due to religious beliefs and moral statures. Which leads back to binary opposition. In some countries being gay is something evil or dishonoring where as being straight could mean something good.
But did they not think about all the straight rapists and the fabulous gay designers that..are not raping people?
Binary opposition is definitely an interesting topic to ponder on. Till next time.
-Charissa Ong
Post no. 10
What exactly is Binary Opposition?
Dictionary.com defines binary opposition as:
"a relation between the members of a pair of linguistic items, as a pair of distinctive features, such that one is the absence of the other, as voicelessness and voice, or that one is at the opposite pole from the other, as stridency and mellowness."
Binary opposition first ties itself with Structuralism. These are some of the key points I picked up from the slides which I think are relevant.
- The key is that we are all shaped by our cultural
background - therefore our way of seeing and understanding the world is
culturally determined.
- We can only define what something is by knowing what isn't.
Binary opposition: Divides the world into categories.
Who started binary opposition?
It has always been a mystery to me. If I would pick a guess, I'd guess religion. In Christianity, in the first chapter of the Bible he separated heaven and earth, angels and demons and categorized the land and sky. He did state the difference between the darkness and the light. The creation of the earth is FILLED with binary oppositions. Ying and Yang also take pride in their Yin and Yang theory. The difference between dark and light, women and male.
When and Where did I first experience binary opposition?
That would definitely be in my schooling years, at school. Males and Females would be instructed to form two straight lines in front of class, the short ones in front of the line while the tall ones always get away by lining up at the back of the class. The geeks would sit up front while the playful ones would sit outback in class. This was the place binary opposition revealed itself to me.
Why do binary oppositions occur?
Does having categories always keep things in order? Is it good or is it bad? Should girls and boys just line up in just one line to maximize space or is it better to separate them to avoid trouble? Which brings me to the first point that I have picked up from the slide. (highlighted in yellow)
I have to agree about how binary opposites form from a culture. It is just human nature for everyone to follow..everyone!
Which brings me to my next point, this generation 'dadaists'. These are the people who desperately or are of nature, not following the norm and culture that is set for them. They breach between the two said categories and create something so unusual and entropical that creates the wanted or unwanted attention they desire.
Examples would be, merging cars and robots to become Transformers or fishes and humans to create mermaids. These breaches create something new, unique and something that the public won't see everyday. Male and Female breaches would be the LGBT association. However, this community is not well received in certain countries due to religious beliefs and moral statures. Which leads back to binary opposition. In some countries being gay is something evil or dishonoring where as being straight could mean something good.
But did they not think about all the straight rapists and the fabulous gay designers that..are not raping people?
Binary opposition is definitely an interesting topic to ponder on. Till next time.
-Charissa Ong
Does it tally?
Topic of discussion: Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion and My Website.
Post no. 9
I have received some useful constructive criticism from my Media Culture and Histories Lecturer, who stated:
"My big gripe would be that the moody background has a haunted connotation. The graffitied named of CFZ on his photo is not appropriate lah. Needs some formality. "
Speaking of haunted connotations, I was reminded on how I would love to insert Cheong Fatt Tze's many ghost stories on my first website. That's how I first came to know about this mansion. My parents would always drive by and tell my sisters and I about how it was the most haunted mansion in Penang and that only daring tourists that are adventurous and brave enough would rent a room there. To me, it was called the Haunted Blue House. However, I have decided to filter down the information as I didn't want to scare off my target audiences that come across the page. Come to think of it, do ghost stories actually make a site more interesting to visit? It depends. Therefore, I have attempted to implement the old scroll style as well as an ample amount of vignetting, to somehow convert the many mysteries and stories the mansion carries into image. What I am trying to convey is that this Mansion should not only be recognised by its bright blue exterior, but should also be known for its history, ancient beliefs and facts that reside in it.
I couldn't agree more on his second comment though. I had a gutt feeling to remove that Graffiti-ed 'Cheong Fatt Tze' on his image in the 'Cheong Fatt Tze' tab. That's the one thing I let go. It was definitely my laziness to create a new image as a title. Ha-ha. It does displease me every time I look at it.
Since I did not have the chance to input any interesting Cheong Fatt Tze ghost stories into the site, I might as well put them up here!
My dad around his younger years would loiter around the CFT Mansion with his friends as his grandfather cooks for the CFT in the Annex, right opposite the Mansion. More info on the Annex here.
Father and the tourguide tells us that the people in charge of the heritage preservation projects painted the Mansion bright blue to get some attention from the media. Which worked, and saved this iconic Mansion from being destroyed. I could say the colour of this Mansion is pretty iconic. Everyone would refer it to the Blue House, or Blue Building without knowing what it actually is.
Anywho, ghost stories. Babies were born there, people passed away and generations regenerated among the Cheong Fatt Tze family as well as the renters after CFT's death. My parents heard stories from their relatives, who then passed them onto us and now me, passing them on to you.
In the middle of the night, travelers and the people renting the rooms could still see the ghosts of the maids and concubines working in the mansion, carrying sheets and blankets in and out of the rooms without using doors.
Stories by travelers also said that they could hear the concubines descend and ascend the blue spiral staircase in woe.
Gates that were locked with keys the night before, were mysteriously unlocked in the morning.
The tour guide didn't mention all these, but she must have left them out intentionally. It does freak me out even when writing this blog post. There are many more CFT ghost stories that could be looked up online. What may be scary to most, might be interesting and fascinating to some.
- Charissa Ong
Post no. 9
I have received some useful constructive criticism from my Media Culture and Histories Lecturer, who stated:
"My big gripe would be that the moody background has a haunted connotation. The graffitied named of CFZ on his photo is not appropriate lah. Needs some formality. "
Speaking of haunted connotations, I was reminded on how I would love to insert Cheong Fatt Tze's many ghost stories on my first website. That's how I first came to know about this mansion. My parents would always drive by and tell my sisters and I about how it was the most haunted mansion in Penang and that only daring tourists that are adventurous and brave enough would rent a room there. To me, it was called the Haunted Blue House. However, I have decided to filter down the information as I didn't want to scare off my target audiences that come across the page. Come to think of it, do ghost stories actually make a site more interesting to visit? It depends. Therefore, I have attempted to implement the old scroll style as well as an ample amount of vignetting, to somehow convert the many mysteries and stories the mansion carries into image. What I am trying to convey is that this Mansion should not only be recognised by its bright blue exterior, but should also be known for its history, ancient beliefs and facts that reside in it.
I couldn't agree more on his second comment though. I had a gutt feeling to remove that Graffiti-ed 'Cheong Fatt Tze' on his image in the 'Cheong Fatt Tze' tab. That's the one thing I let go. It was definitely my laziness to create a new image as a title. Ha-ha. It does displease me every time I look at it.
Since I did not have the chance to input any interesting Cheong Fatt Tze ghost stories into the site, I might as well put them up here!
My dad around his younger years would loiter around the CFT Mansion with his friends as his grandfather cooks for the CFT in the Annex, right opposite the Mansion. More info on the Annex here.
Father and the tourguide tells us that the people in charge of the heritage preservation projects painted the Mansion bright blue to get some attention from the media. Which worked, and saved this iconic Mansion from being destroyed. I could say the colour of this Mansion is pretty iconic. Everyone would refer it to the Blue House, or Blue Building without knowing what it actually is.
Anywho, ghost stories. Babies were born there, people passed away and generations regenerated among the Cheong Fatt Tze family as well as the renters after CFT's death. My parents heard stories from their relatives, who then passed them onto us and now me, passing them on to you.
In the middle of the night, travelers and the people renting the rooms could still see the ghosts of the maids and concubines working in the mansion, carrying sheets and blankets in and out of the rooms without using doors.
Stories by travelers also said that they could hear the concubines descend and ascend the blue spiral staircase in woe.
Gates that were locked with keys the night before, were mysteriously unlocked in the morning.
The tour guide didn't mention all these, but she must have left them out intentionally. It does freak me out even when writing this blog post. There are many more CFT ghost stories that could be looked up online. What may be scary to most, might be interesting and fascinating to some.
- Charissa Ong
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
CLICK ME
Check it outtt.
My first ever website that I done for an assignment!
Topic title: Digital Heritage Website
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Monday, August 6, 2012
Marshall McLuhan, Media Theorist.
Lecture conducted by: Daniel Chong
Topic of discussion: "The World according to Marshall"
Post no. 8
According to Marshall, his laws of media are:
An Extension/Enhancement: Every technology extends or amplifies some organ or faculty of the user.
What does the medium enhance or intensify?
Lets take a car for example. This medium extends the legs of an ordinary human, enabling them to go travel further without getting lethargic or tired easily in a short amount of time.
Telephones could also be an enhancing medium. It extends the hearing ability of a human, allowing them to have a conversation with someone kilometers away without having to raise their voice.
Closure/Obsolescence: Because there is equilibrium in sensibility, when one area of experience is heightened or intensified, another is diminished or numbed.
What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new medium?
Lets take the car again for the example. Due to the existence of this new medium, horses and carriages begin to diminish in demand.
Telephones also diminish the effort of setting up fire signals to communicate with one another, or using messengers that would take a longer period of time to get the message across. Media is always improving, very quickly. Old media would be forgone, newer and more effective media would replace them.
Reversal: Every form, pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its characteristics.
Alright, if the car is overused and abused, it would cause humans to be idle, lazy and fat. It prevents them from moving around or getting to nearby places by walking. That would be the reverse of the abuse of effective new media.
The telephone as well. People would overuse it, causing dangerous health problems from the radiation the device emits. People would also take for granted that communication would and could be easily made anytime of the day, therefore there would be laziness and communication would not be done at all.
Retrieval: The content of any medium is an older medium. (I'm personally not very sure how this applies)
The telephone retrieves the ability to meet up, talk and bond.
Cars on the other hand retrieves the ability to move around and meet people at designated places.
Overall, what Mc Luhan is trying to say is that every new or old medium has its pros and cons. It's up to us to define what thoses are to come up with a suitable design solution that would properly obsolete a media, or create a new one that would benifit mankind.
source
Topic of discussion: "The World according to Marshall"
Post no. 8
According to Marshall, his laws of media are:
An Extension/Enhancement: Every technology extends or amplifies some organ or faculty of the user.
What does the medium enhance or intensify?
Lets take a car for example. This medium extends the legs of an ordinary human, enabling them to go travel further without getting lethargic or tired easily in a short amount of time.
Telephones could also be an enhancing medium. It extends the hearing ability of a human, allowing them to have a conversation with someone kilometers away without having to raise their voice.
Closure/Obsolescence: Because there is equilibrium in sensibility, when one area of experience is heightened or intensified, another is diminished or numbed.
What is pushed aside or obsolesced by the new medium?
Lets take the car again for the example. Due to the existence of this new medium, horses and carriages begin to diminish in demand.
Telephones also diminish the effort of setting up fire signals to communicate with one another, or using messengers that would take a longer period of time to get the message across. Media is always improving, very quickly. Old media would be forgone, newer and more effective media would replace them.
Reversal: Every form, pushed to the limit of its potential, reverses its characteristics.
Alright, if the car is overused and abused, it would cause humans to be idle, lazy and fat. It prevents them from moving around or getting to nearby places by walking. That would be the reverse of the abuse of effective new media.
The telephone as well. People would overuse it, causing dangerous health problems from the radiation the device emits. People would also take for granted that communication would and could be easily made anytime of the day, therefore there would be laziness and communication would not be done at all.
Retrieval: The content of any medium is an older medium. (I'm personally not very sure how this applies)
The telephone retrieves the ability to meet up, talk and bond.
Cars on the other hand retrieves the ability to move around and meet people at designated places.
Overall, what Mc Luhan is trying to say is that every new or old medium has its pros and cons. It's up to us to define what thoses are to come up with a suitable design solution that would properly obsolete a media, or create a new one that would benifit mankind.
source
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