Striking While the Iron is Hot

11:33 P.M.  -  I attended a lecture by Mark Powell, who wrote Blood Kin, a year or two back.  One of the things that stuck out was Powell’s reference to a Faulkner quote.  Powell says, that Faulkner said “I only write when the spirit moves me, and it just so happens that the Spirit always moves me between 11:00 and 1:00”.  (If Powell, or some other greater Faulkner para-phraser than I cares to quibble over the details then they can have at it in the comments section.

11:36 P.M.  - Why then, does my muse to write come after my bed time, which at the moment, is quite early-  In the neighborhood of 10:00 or 11:00 P.M.  If it’s not dark outside, I can’t write.  Sure, I can write, but it lacks what little amount of panache I can get across when I write by moonlight.
11:39 P.M.  - So, It’s Friday night.  I’ve got a ton of assignments due this week.  So,dear reader, in the spirit of striking while the iron is hot.  I’m going to go crank out copy.

A Foucauldian Analysis of Surveillance in “Chat Roulette”

I was working on an assignment the other night, that required that I write a response to some reading.  In this instance I was reading from Sturken and Cartwright about modernity and spectatorship.  Much of the work in the chapter dealt with Foucault’s notions of power and knowledge and surveillance.  I’m not gonna be pretentious here- Foucault usually makes about as much sense to me as…well, not much sense.   So I jumped on the oppurtunity to work with an authors summarization of Foucault… So here it is.

Sturken and Cartwright say that gaze establishes “relationships of power”.  Basically, there is a valence of power in regards to whom is looking at whom.  Foucault certainly recognizes the power of surveillance as he discusses the notion of the “Panopticon Penitentiary”, a prison based on the model where the prisoners live under perceived surveillance at all times.   Conceived in the 19th century before the availability of electronic surveillance, the panopticon creates the phenomenon of surveillance by placing a guard tower in the middle of a room into which those under surveillance cannot see.  Therefore the prisoners, whether the guards are present, or in fact looking, operate as a subject under surveillance.  This clearly puts the guards in the position of power.

Though it hasn’t gotten a lot of coverage lately, “Chat Roulette” swept across the ‘net not too long ago, bringing up (in my opinion) a lot of questions about surveillance, behavior, power, and ultimately privacy.  Chat Roulette is a web based program with the premise that a person with a web-cam logs in and is put into a chat room with one other user, also with a web camera.  The participants presumably chat either using microphones or a text chat interface, or they can opt to immediately leave the chat with one person and be placed immediately into another chat room with another random person.

Chat Roulette (or any other social media for that matter) is the perfect springboard for discussions of surveillance.  But, I find Chat Roulette particularly intriguing because I don’t see any clear cut answers.  Foucault introduces a few concepts with which to think about surveillance: panopticism, power/knowledge, and bio-power.  Let’s see how these concepts apply to Chat Roulette.

The notion of the panopticon is about how a subject self-regulates when under surveillance or perceived surveillance.   Given the presumed anonymity of users in Chat Roulette I suggest that the presence of surveillance (in some instances of Chat Roulette) instead of causing the user to self-regulate as Foucault suggests of his subjects, would encourage deviant behavior.  I suspect that this is due almost entirely to the perceived anonymity that each user feels, the discourse would likely be much different if too people that knew each other in a face-to-face setting, would up in a chat roulette chat room.

Sturken and Cartwright say that Foucault says “modern societies are structured on a basic relationship of power/knowledge”.   In the case of Chat Roulette each user has power, the power to skip over to a new conversation leaving the former conversation behind, or the power to continue on with the conversation.  A subject can then continue to sway the balance of power and knowledge by self disclosing if they so desire.

The notion of Biopower deals with exerting power directly onto or through a body.  While I find this somewhat confusing based on what the book says, I deduce from further work that Foucault is referring to a larger body of people rather than the human body.  With regards to Chat Roulette a person can exert power on the person they are conversing with only if that person is willing to continue the conversation.  A person can then sway the likelihood of continuing the conversation, or perhaps influencing their partner, by saying or doing something interesting or perhaps more likely just by being visually stimulating.

Foucault’s notions of surveillance are very relevant to all of the world right now.  Electronic technology such as video surveillance and in many cases digital surveillance such as interception of email and keystrokes.   And while Chat Roulette is a trifling application, I find it interesting.  Generally, I wrestle very much with Foucault’s work trying to figure it out, so it was a breath of fresh air to have Sturken and Cartwright do much of the interpretive heavy lifting and allow me to simply apply the interesting (if sometimes overly complicated) ideas of Foucault.

A Response to ProfHacker’s Open Letter to New Graduate Students

In response to Brian Croxall’s letter to new graduate students on the Profhacker blog.

Expect to feel lost and out of place for a bit.   I did feel lost, and still do at times, but It’s okay.  The people are top notch.  Having made a lot of friends with my class mates has been a major blessing.  I suggest that others do the same.

Recognize that graduate school is a job.

Maybe the pay isn’t the best; but it’s steady (at least in my case).  The tuition reduction doesn’t hurt anything either.  Fortunately, I enjoy the work I am doing.  I would encourage people to try to enjoy their graduate work by not getting stuck (at least for too long) in something you despise.

“Networking” is not just a word for MBAs.
Networking isn’t something you do; it’s a way of life.  You never know who you will meet next.  Be kind to everyone, it pays off.

Recognize that graduate school should not be your entire life.
I’m not sure I’ve found a good balance here yet.  I used to read quite a lot, but it’s not quite as fun when I spend most of my time reading (or needing to read).

Understand that you’re not locked into a particular field, project, or personality.
Being fresh into graduate school I’m still not sure exactly what field I want to go into, but I have it narrowed down nicely.  I’m in an excellent program and I’m hoping to work on a thesis that is interesting as well.

Plan ahead for more than one job.
I’m not quite sure I’m at this stage.  The alumni network for the program I am in seems pretty tight.  I keep my eyes open for the next good thing.

Build an online profile.
I’m working on this.  While my blog took a major hit while I was cooking, and now that I am studying a lot- I am trying to get back into it.

Build a personal research library.
I’m working on this.  I’m looking at RefWorks.  It has potential, but I haven’t figured it out all the way.  I have a great set up with notebooks for different articles (these articles are quickly multiplying).  For easy access,  I have uploaded most of the articles that are available to me to Google Documents.

Meet your subject librarian.
I did.  Excellent suggestion.  These librarian types know a lot of stuff that students (and faculty?) need to know.

Use Dropbox.
I’ve been hearing this a lot.  I use GoogleDocs for almost everything.  I often use computers that are not my own, so this might not be the best choice for me.

Share what you know with others.

I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance. -Socrates

Lance is soo 5 years ago. I’m going for Schleck.

Lance Armstrong is done with the Tour de France.  The mountains proved it.  A try for a stage win proved it.  Granted, lady luck was not with Armstrong as she seemed to be during his seven consecutive wins of the Tour de France.  Maybe he can Mountain Bike if he can’t ride the Tourmalet. 

Though Armstrong earned a convincing third place last year, Andy Schleck took second place.  Not to mention Shleck earned an impressive second place this year as well.  I say “impressive” because his riding  was– I think he would have won…if it weren’t for the chain slip (and somehow, I really am convinced– at least this year– that Alberto Contador is the best cyclist in the world).

Next year, with Frank Schleck in Tow, I say Andy Schleck will be wearing the Maillot Jaune in Paris.   Now, only time will tell.   What’s up for Armstrong? –Even though Contador and Schleck dominated– Lance won the tour.

An update from Walden Pond…

Thoreau Remix…you know…public domain…

 In most blogs, the I, or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

WHEN I WROTE the following words, I lived with my excellent parents-in-law, in the country, a few hundred feet from any neighbor, in a house that someone built, on the side of the road, in Travelers Rest, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.  I lived here two times through the years and months.

—–

Whereas before, when I wrote, I often had in mind pedagogy, and my experiences as a substitute teacher, now I am a cook.  My hands are uglier than the other guys and I can flip a saute pan with deadly accuracy.   I have been cooking (Not baking) on and off since about 2003. 

A year after I graduated with my baccealaureate degree, I am heading to Grad School.  It will come as a surprise to many that I am going to live in Clemson, the orange capital of the world (well…I guess).   Yes, I am a Gamecock, but I shall try (perhaps reluctantly)  to be a decent “Tiger” (So long as no one calls me that…). 

 So that, dear reader, is a hyper condensed version of what I have been up to.  Now, I’m off to continue coverage of the most pertinent of topics, The Tour de France!

View of Walden Pond

Ode to ipad

I’m sold on the iPad.  I want one.  Despite my disdain towards buying the latest and greatest, is anyone interested in buying a lightly used kidney?  All of my households laptops are dependent upon their lifegiving power cables, or for whatever reason disfunctional.

 

CC/Flickr User tehboris

One possibility about the ipad is setting up a VPN with a desktop computer (Grand central station)- which would be super necessary with the 16 gig model.  Admittedly, I don’t know anything about using a VPN, but I’m sure I could figure it out.  I’ve never needed to transfer data between devices because even my dino-laptop has 60 gigs of storage. 

 

The ability of the ipad to function as an e-reader appeals to me very much.  While I have never been a fan of the kindle or the nook, the sony pocket e-reader is pretty cool.  But, if I’m goign to drop $100 to buy an e-reader, I might as well save up to get the super cool pdf shuffing ipad.  The ability to view, mark, and use pdf’s in an e-reader format is ultimately what sells me on the ipad.  I printed off hundreds and hundreds of pages of stuff for my undergraduate research project, all of which is still sitting on my very overloaded booksehelves.

Computing in the Clouds

The other day, my desktop PC caught one of those nasty viruses.  Not the easy ones…but the grand mal virus.  This might have been disastruous but for cloud computing.  Basically, I don’t store anything on a hard drive without having it floating in a cloud somewhere.  The reality of that is all of my data is sitting in one of Google’s giant storage rooms.  So, here’s to cloud computing.  (Side note:  Reformatting my computer did not cause me to have to reload my documents or programs as I expected it would.  So, cloud computing wasn’t exactly necessary.)

CC/Flickr user KevinDooley

For storage I use Gmail.  This system, if inelegant, is very effective.  I am also very keen on Google Docs, this blog post was typed into Google Docs.  I still use Word for all of my major stuff, but my blogs don’t involve much in the way of complicated formatting. 

 

What’s a better way to cloud compute?  What do you use, I’d like to know.

Favorite Authors

I’m always looking for the next book that I will enjoy. Generally if I like one book by an author, I will like a few of them. I like what I like, there is not much pattern. For every reason that I enjoy a book, I will dislike another. Alexandre Dumas- Until I read “The Three Musketeers”, “The Count of Monte Cristo” was the book that I called my favorite. I enjoyed all of the books in the D’artagnan cycle, except, “The Man in the Iron Mask” lacked most of the romance era qualities of the rest of his works.

Tom Clancy-Let’s face it the Ryan-Verse is awesome. “The Hunt for Red October” starts everything off and “The Teeth of the Tiger” finish the dish. Other highlights include “Rainbow Six” and “Executive Orders”. With a new book in the Ryan Cycle coming out in 2010, I will be rehashing a few favorites.

Bill Bryson – This author provides a laugh but not at the expense of thought. Bryson researches heavily and writes comedically, it’s a great mix. “A Walk In the Woods” provides all the hillarity of two fat-50-something’s hiking the Appalachian trail. “A Short History of Nearly Everything” details the history of science. “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” offers the reader a nostaligic look at Americana from a New Hampshire Ex-pat, living in Great Britiain.

Pat Conroy- is a South Carolinian and a decidedly Southern Writer. “The Lords of Discipline” is a favorite of mine that I can read over and over, also “The Water Is Wide” made a mark in my educational philosophy.

Anthony Bourdain- dishes up the truth (laced with good story telling and bravado) about restaurant culture in “Kitchen Confidential” and groups some of his magazine writing into “The Nasty Bits”.   Bourdain is especially interesting to me because his writing voice is the same as his narrative voice to his television program.  His travel books, while excellent, do not delve so much into the kitchen culture that attracts me, but into foreign culture, which is also interesting.

Anne Rice – “The Vampire Lesat” is a favorite of mine, I can’t read much Vampire fiction at one time because the never-ending existentialist drivel can be slightly mind numbing. I’ve been delving into her Christian Literature, but I will not pass judgement on it yet.

Walden II:  I’m not crazy about B.F. Skinner, but I could read Walden II over and over again.

Ritualized Writing

Ritualized writing.

I feel studious.  I’m sitting at my clean desk. (It’s as clean as it’s gonna get)  I’m wanting to write and read and wrangle information from multiple sources.  But, I need a pot of tea, peppermint for those who are exacting.  I’m not going to get to this paper I’m trying to get published without the tea.  The tea is coming.  I thought I’d tell you, reader, all about it.  If ever on a midnght dreary you find yourself ponderous and on the verge of writing great stuff, but just need that cup of tea.  Go ahead and make it.  Maybe next time go ahead and put the kettle on before you sit down!

Nice teapot eh?

Analysis of Search Terms used to Find Onlineandloggedin

Apparently Google must have sent some bots creeping in this direction because search hits have been piling up.  In keeping this blog vanilla, most of my posts are about something mainstream or about one of my more dorky esoteric interests.  It’s plain to me that the web, and blogs in particular, serve to demassify mass media.  All of that fancy journalism/college talk just means that people are reading about/searching for/finding whatever they are interested in.  Demassification, dear readers, is not about people searching for “cooking”.  This is about people searching for “how to use ingredients local to Irmo, SC”, or other highly specialized areas.  Apparently, my humble blog has managed to find its way into a ton of searches regarding “Joe Walther” and “The Social Information Processing Theory” .   When I wrote about those things, they were the last topics that I thought anyone would find interesting.  This is great, the most uninteresting topic, that I’m glad to talk about, is the one that draws them in.

Closing thoughts:  Market to your niche.  Say your piece.