Notes on Acoustic cyberspace:

 

I disagree with the generalization made by McLuhan that visual space is linear and that, in contrast, that acoustic space is simultaneous and nonlinear. There are elements of the linear, superimposed, causal, sequential, and resonance in both spaces. He emphasizes the nonlinear qualities of sound and negates its causality. I disagree with the exclusivity Davis employs. Sounds can be organized linearly and perceived in a causal format. Music theory utilizes mathematics, repetition; it is logical and organized in a linear fashion. Sound can be interpreted as a logical reaction to the movement of something and the following vibration of air molecules, adopting causal characteristics.

He claims that print culture has caused our perception and subjectivity take on a linear organization and that “acoustic space is capable of simultaneity, superimposition, and nonlinearity, but above all, it resonates”. This statement may be true but I do not think visual space can be separated from these characteristics. In a tangible, real-time conception of the visual, images can be superimposed through photography by physically placing two negatives on top of each other in the enlarger, and there are many more sophisticated methods that can be achieved using vehicles like Photoshop. Even today as I looked out the bus window I saw the image of the road and all that was beyond the reflective barrier and my own face superimposed on passing cars. In a more abstract sense, daydreaming, imagination and memories can be “seen” while the visual receptors receive external stimuli. Within the realm of thought and memories, they can be recalled by associations that are nonlinear. Also, images can have resonance in a more figurative sense. Davis says that through resonance the sound gains energy or strength. Images can augment their strength through repeated viewing (as in advertising) or if they can achieve a personal, affective impact (pictures of dead puppies).

Davis does concede that this dichotomy is a “simplified [way] of talking about the conditions for experiencing information, consciousness, conception”.

 

I would like to know more about these concepts: polycentered and non-thought.

 

I have had a similar cinematic experience in which the sound was what transported me into the movie. Through use of surround sound during the overhead arrival of a helicopter, I hit the deck, thinking there was something coming at me.

 

Regarding the question as to why acoustic spaces are so affective, I think about the emotional difference between receiving a phone call saying, “I love you,” and a text message with the same content. The acoustic version extracts a stronger reaction personally.

 

“The acoustic spaces of electronic music aren’t limited to the organization of affect and narrative that define much popular music, with is highly personalized structures of love and loss./ Rather than merely extending the language of human affect along such typical lines, electronic music opened up much less personalized soundscapes and psychic spaces. It in not just a genre or technique of music, but a much deeper phenomenon that involves mapping the electronic media spaces that humans find themselves in”

 

The quote is written employing a scholastic code or jargon, as seen in, “mapping” and “narrative”. Davis discusses abstract ideas such as, “soundscape”, “phenomenon” and“psychic spaces”. Davis is very clear and specific with his words. He uses an argumentative tone, acknowledges and addresses concepts to the claim he is making.

The importance of the quote is that it is a concrete example of Davis’ claim. Through the example of electronic music he illustrates the opportunity that exists to develop new forms of perception via electronic media and audio experiences. The virginity of electronic music is what makes it worth noting. Seeing how popular culture perceives and conceives something that has not been subjugated to an existing popular schema will draft the map of subjectivity Davis references.

 

Megan profile:

 Notes:This all seems like a lot of work. These are complex concepts. My biggest problem will be narrowing it down and focusing on a few key concepts. “In order to make my claim in Response Paper 1.3, I used evidence from both my work and Okawa’s, along with quotes from the Lord of War trailer. This is seen when I said, “By setting this background mood with the help of narration and sound, Seabiscuit starts to be transformed into a symbol for success and overcoming hardships” (3). I used this quote from my work to show that even though the contexts of Seabiscuit and Lord of War are completely different, they both use the narration of a character whose voice helps portray his personality. I also used evidence found in narration by Nicholas Cage in the Lord of War trailer to support my claim.” 

The tone is persuasive. She is justifying how her work fulfills the expectations of the syllabus for the assignment by including evidence from her own work. Her word choice is academic but more vulgar than that of Davis. She uses the first person singular often. The fact that two distinct works could be intertextualized demonstrates that there are overarching principles in the realm of sound. 

In Erik Davis’ article I was introduced to a completely new concept: acoustic space. I had never thought of sound as a dimension, but now I think it is quite fascinating. I learned that hearing and seeing are two conditions for experiencing information. The rise of acoustic media, especially from the internet, is giving people the chance to experience the world in more variety.

The first question I have about this article is about the meaning of subjectivity. The author uses this word countless times, I had to to find out what it meant. According to the Oxford Dictionary, “subjectivity” is the noun derivative of the adjective “subjective.” This means, “1 based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions. 2 dependent on the mind for existence.” So subjectivity would mean the personal feelings, tastes, or opinions that are influenced.

This is the quote I chose from Erik Davis: “I’m really talking about different dimensions of the kind of subjectivity that we produce in networked environments.” When I read this I think it sounds very abstract, there is no solidity. I can’t make a picture of the meaning in my mind. The sentence sounds complicated because there are many polysyllabic words. I like the repetition of the “d” sound in “different dimensions.” I really have trouble understanding what this phrase means.

My favorite idea in the article was that when sound surrounds you, you become immersed in it and it can be stronger than a visual experience. Sound can be all around you, but in a visual experience, you can be distanced by not being able to touch it. I agree with his statement that sound produces atmosphere and carries vectors of mood that can change the qualitative organization of space. Sounds and music can change anything that you are looking at.

Part 2: Megan Nordstom

I thought it was great to listen to her 3 podcasts about before going to the boys and girls club and during here experience there. It was powerful to hear her voice telling me about her experiences. Putting her human voice with the words made me connect to it more and sense a person, rather than if I was reading her paper.

In the podcast, she talked about the kids using the volunteer tutors to do their homework for them. That sounds like the tutors did not understand how, or were not patient enough to teach the children how to do it themselves. I hope that I be different. She also said that there wasn’t that much to do and she felt bored. This made me make a goal that I never want to be bored there. My goal is to always be engaged and interacting with the children.

One of my favorite parts of her portfolio was her third podcast. She talked about a girl teaching her to knit. I think there is a lot children can teach us.

The quote I picked came from her response paper 1.2: “When viewing the movie a second time, with no sound, the movie almost seemed pointless to me.” The word “pointless” really sticks out in the quote because it has such a negative connotation.  Therefore, I think of the quote as having an unsatisfied tone because the viewer feels empty watching the film clip without sound.  This quote relates directly to Erik Davis’ article. I think they go well together.

Acoustic Cyberspace
by Erik Davis 

“Acoustic space is the space we hear rather than the space we see, and he argued that electronic media were submerging us in this acoustic environment, with its own language of affect and subjectivity.” I am having a difficult time grasping the concept of this article.  Imagining an acoustic environment with its own language of affect and subjectivity is hard for me to accomplish.  Envisioning a crowded street corner through merely audio alone could be space that we hear instead of see.

 “‘Atmosphere’ might be a good way to describe this aspect: sound produces atmosphere, almost in the way that incense—which registers with yet another sense—can do. Sound and smell carry vectors of mood and affect which change the qualitative organization of space, unfolding a different logic with a space’s range of potentials. Ambient music, or an ambient soundscape, can change the quality of a space in subtle or dramatic ways.”  I strongly agree with this statement from Erik Davis’ article.  I always find myself thinking back on some fond memory after catching a wiff of some mysterious drifting scent.  Can you imagine screaming from a scary movie when there is Celine Dion playing in the background.  I always find myself saying, “wouldn’t this be funny if _____ (random song) was playing instead of generic creepy music.”

 After reading Megan Nordstrom’s portfolio, I am looking forward to our quarter of english 121.  The projects that she wrote about seemed very interesting.   I don’t quite understand whether or not i’m supposed to be commenting on the papers she wrote or just how her portfolio looks.  Her writing is much easier to interpret than Davis’.  Overall, I think she did a fantastic job!

Whew. Looking at the two articles, I was initially, and still am partially confused at the connection between the two. The first article, “Acoustic Cyberspace” by Erik Davis seemed to be more or less directed toward the subject matter of the class while “Land Ho!” by Megan Nordstrom was a helpful guide to what the subject content of English 121B would be. Davis really went through a lot of material I thought, but then again, English isn’t my best subject. I caught the gist that he thought sonic culture and soundscapes put people into a completely different environment than “Renaissance” perspective. It was pretty interesting how he brought in the example of radio to prove his point, but overall I found it difficult to stay on track with his argument.

In Nordstrom’s article, I thought it was a cute, carefree tone which helped keep my attention. She made a point of laying out the key information and keeping it simple- I was able to focus in more on the article than the first, but maybe that was because of the background color being bright and cheery.

The quotes from the two articles, beginning with Erik Davis’:

” Music and sound are tremendously powerful forces for organizing affect; their power to structure subjectivity, in the here and now and over time, makes them an incredibly productive language, one capable of overcoming the linear grids implied by text.”

The tone seems to be slightly more formal, using larger, more articulated word choice.  It basically says that music has more influence than text in the way that it creates an entirely different environment for the listener.  In relation to the study of sound, it really summarizes the importance of sound and its influence which makes it a key subject to study.

From Nordstrom’s article I found the following quote important:

“By serving community-based organizations, students are able to connect with the community and demonstrate the ability to put their academic studies in the context of the real-world.”

In comparison to the entire article, this quote is quite formal.  The sentence is brief but full of information about the class, providing a concise and accurate portrayal of what students can take away from the class.  So in relation to the study of sound, the article shows insight into how students will be able to incorporate what they’ve learned about sound into their service learning opportunities.

The article by Davis, Acoustic Cyberspace, seemed to me very confusing and uninformative. His style of writing and choice of vocabulary makes the context hard to understand. Most of his main points are backed by wordy examples and explanations. My Quote: “Through resonance in a physical system, a small activity or event can gain a great deal of energy; for example, if I belted out a pitch that resonated with the unique acoustic characteristics of this room, the energy of my voice would be amplified by the environment. That’s why some singers can shatter a glass with their voice: they hit the resonant frequency of the glass (which is a space and contains a space), making it vibrate to the point of shattering.” This is the most easy to understand example that Davis provides. He uses it to explain what resonance is.

Nordstrom’s introduction to the class is much easier to understand. She introduces this class with an interesting approach that makes the readers intrigued to the context. In this quote: ”
Beware matey, there is no parlay on this island if you don’t fulfill the course outcomes! As you will see below, I addressed Outcomes One and Two, which focus on context awareness and the use of evidence in the paper. In the paper I argue that the use of sound, and especially narration, is essential in portraying the mood and feeling the director intended. I demonstrated that I was aware of the viewer and provided thoughtful ideas about the importance of the voice-over in this clip” she stays in context while sticking to her theme making it interesting.

The first text I read was “Acoustic Cyberspace,” by Erik Davis. It struck me as very abstract. There were things in it I have never heard before in my life and makes it hard to grasp, like the idea of acoustic space where it is not limited only to music but can expand to other spaces. Other topics, on the other hand, are easy to comprehend and make very great points, such as resonance and how it has the ability to break glass.

Virtual reality environments seem to be something in the much distant future, but in actuality, there are many virtual reality environments that can immerse people in something different. For example, Davis wrote of his experience on 3D audio, which emphasizes more of the listening portion of our senses rather than our overrepresented visual portion. I agree that this sort of virtual reality could give a stronger visual experience than solely a picture.

In addition, the idea of atmosphere is utilized in almost every public place today. Even in private places, sound provides ambiance and mood for the situation. This is amazing and truly one of the major powers music can have on its listeners. It seems that even sound has the ability to create a utopia and perfect world. Most of all, I believe it gives hope to people. That is why I believe the author wrote that when the radio erupted as a major thing, people thought “Now we will be able to communicate across the world, now we will be able to solve conflicts, now we will have better education, now we will have more democracy.” However, the radio of today, according to Erik Davis, is too commercialized and “mapped out” to its fullest extent in most places already. Though there are still some “indie” radio stations, such as college radio or pirate radio stations, it has become a “vast depressing wasteland.” The internet seems to be the new unexplored spectrum which can and is already becoming an acoustic dimension of electronic media. It is not immune to the same fate of radio. Music, as emphasized is a great example of something which can bring people together and organize, due in majority to resonance.

This paper was very interesting and held many ideas which I have not heard before, but ultimately is true and makes a lot of sense. The idea is to continue pushing the boundaries of acoustic space where there will always be something new to “map” out. He used the word “map” a few times, which makes me think that mapping out these spaces is important. It is critical that there will always be something new to explore. For example, the radio was something new and exciting, and now the internet seems to be doing the same thing. While writing this blog, I must confess that I was listening to music which filled up my acoustic space. It really made me think that what I am listening to is much more than just music. It is an expression of emotion and almost reaches out to you. Music causes atmosphere and ambiance to shift and move to somber, happy, or even a partying mood. There are so many possibilities to sound and its entirety as a dimension sometimes alien to our own.

In Megan Nordstrom’s E-Portfolio, she seemed to follow a Pirate theme where everything referred back somehow to Pirates. It seemed pretty clear on what assignments are expected and what is due. Her response to Response Paper 1.2 and 1.3 seemed intriguing and allowed the reader, in this case myself, to have some insight to what is expected this quarter for English 121. These tasks seem to be very interesting, and dare I say, fun to do. This overview of Nordstrom’s assignments and tasks are clear and define why we are doing these things through the expected outcomes of the paper.

Two quotes, one from each reading, each have importance in the fact that they relate how sound is so important in life, which is probably one of the reasons why this class has a major focus on audio. First, from “Acoustic Cyberspace,” Davis promotes a clear idea that “It is precisely this acoustic dimension that gives us tools, not just as individuals, but particularly as collectivities as well. It enables us to modulate and re-singularize this new environment in powerful ways—ways that the visual, the graphic, and the text-based, do not.” Clearly, this shows that Davis believes acoustic space and its dimension has the ability to shift peoples’ thinking and even alter environment to a new one. Tone here is persuasive. The purpose is to persuade the reader that this idea is true. Megan Nordstrom even stated that during her Response Paper 1.3, that “…although the visuals are an important asset to the clip, it is the sound that carries the trailer and gives the movie its unique dark comedy feel.” It was the sound which altered the mood of the film, which in this case was a dark comedy feel. Think about how movies would be without sound, let alone music. It would be so much more dull! A romance movie with a final scene where two lovers finally kiss with just the sound of background noise? No! That would create no emotion and no feeling. That is why movies today create a mix of sound and vision and allow scenes like the one mentioned to actually have the possibility of producing tears in its viewers. This, too, has a persuasive tone which uses evidence of sound in trailers and movies to create an effect. Though both quotes address different topics in sound, they connect in the same way. Simply put, sound is a powerful tool!

Reading Davis’ talk was extremely hard. Very confusing and lots of re-reading passages. He says that society today, as a whole, is deviating further away from society in the Renaissance, in the sense that nowadays, society is becoming more and more based on visual cues. I agree with this statement, as you look around, at the movies and shows, everybody is trying to outdo everybody else with big explosions and lots of on screen action and whatnot. Its becoming more and more of a brute force thing, innundating you with all the visual cues. There’s none of that simple elegance of sounds. Which brings up another part of Davis’ talk about the differences between visual and acoustic space.

“Where visual space emphasizes linearity, acoustic space emphasizes simultaneity—the possibility that many events that occur in the same zone of space-time. In such a scheme, a subject—a person, maybe—organizes space by synthesizing a variety of different events, points, images, and sources of information into a kind of organic totality”

The way I see it, visual space is portrayed as this grid like structure. Rigid and non moving. That it doesn’t adjust to changes. Acoustic space, on the other hand, is viewed as this fluid ethereal…stuff. Acoustic space is something that does adapt to the changing times, and as a result, acoustic space has a good foothold of become much more than what it is today, as acoustic space tends to put you right in the middle of everything. Although it seems Davis is of the opinion that soley an acoustic world (or nearly all acoustic) is the best, I still believe that there is benefits to a visual display. I am with Davis though that in today’s society, people don’t view sounds as highly as they should. Sound is just an accompaniement to say a movie, where I believe an emphasis of sound or visuals would make it much deeper and have many more levels of emotion.

“But in an immersive acoustic environment, you might hear all the sounds you would hear on a street corner, spatially organized in real time, surrounding you. This is much, much, stronger than a visual experience, which tacitly distances you, places you in a transcendent, removed position, rather than embodying you at the center of a new context.”

 Clearly, you can see that Davis sees the acoustic space as better. You have to actively engage yourself in it, as opposed to an idle spectator on the sidelines. and with today’s machine’s having such a developed “acoustic domain”, I think Davis truely believes that future will be integrated more and more with this acoustic space. One of his final comments is this:

“As our machines become more complex, our relationships with them will become more complex, and whole new domains and dimensions will keep opening up”

While I do think that his ideas about the acoustic world are true, sound being a lot more poignant than visuals, this statement was very chilling. Just thinking about the statement conjures up images of humans eventually becoming machines. Integrating ourselves with metal and wires just to reach new dimensions of an acoustic world, or whatever it will evolve into. Maybe its just me…

 Megan Nordstrom

Going from Davis’ talk to Megans portfolio was very very different. Immediatly, you see that you can understand what she’s saying! Alas, I found her whole pirate theme annoying and distracting. I thought that took away some of the credibility of her portfolio, but I assume part of my feelings about that is due to my dislike of people acting like pirates, whether in appearance or voice; but i digress! Trying to eliminate my bias, I thought her portfolio was pretty well written and interesting, yet, i enjoyed it less than Davis’ talk. Maybe because it was easier to understand and i didn’t have to read and re-read it, and didn’t get that much accomplishment finishing it.

“‘It is not necessarily what the narrator says about the production of car, but how he says it. He uses a slow, knowledgeable approach that helps gives a feeling of ‘Old America” (2)… By unpacking the voice of the film’s narrator, I am able to show how the type and style of narration relates to the time period and social issues of that era… ‘It was obvious that the director wanted the audience’s main focus on the narrator’s voice instead of on the images’ (3). “

 I thought that this was pretty important in that different aspects of the sound changes how one percieves it differently. the choice of words, and the way that he says it all serve to help people interpret it. Then of course the images would only serve to strengthen their interpretations of the narration. The narration has many layers that you would need to consider all together to be able to grasp the full idea of what he’s narrating, much like what Davis says, about the acoustic space making one more involved, instead of the visual world where all you do is sit around detached from it.

I actually enjoyed reading this piece, because of a class I took last quarter (Digital Arts and New Media 200).  I learned about similar philosophies but on a deeper level, which I think helped me to grasp what Davis was talking about.  In my eyes, what Davis wants us to realize is that times are changing and with this comes advances in our culture.  He wants us to take hold of it and embrace it, as well as contribute and help develop it.  Sound is a unique and powerful way to view the world, and with it we can influence the lives of others–good or bad.  “Acoustic space is the space we hear rather than the space we see” (Davis).  I can easily agree with this quote, because sometimes I think that the sounds we hear are more powerful than the things we see.  This acoustic space can be used an infinite number of ways, all unique and expressive of an individuals desire. 

As far as comparing these two texts, they are dramatically different.  I think that Megan (although she seems to be a very intelligent person) is trying less to please or convince her audience, and more so just writing for the purpose of the class. Davis obviously is trying to sway his audience through out the paper, and is much more blunt and upfront about his opinions. 

Erik Davis’s “Acoustic Cyberspace” is one doozy of an article. And for, all it’s jargon and lofty concepts, it was an article I thoroughly enjoyed. This concept of sound as an amazing “place” is crazy interesting to me, which means I was willing to slow down, google words as I needed to, and try and straighten out exactly what it was Davis was trying to get across to the reader.

Firstly, I was taken aback by Davis’s dismissal of visual representation. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been taught to express myself through crayola crayons and word documents. But the longer I dwelt on this concept, the more the inadequacies of visual representational stood out to me. Anyhow, once I understood what Davis was getting at there and how profound that concept was, I was very willing to accept the arguments Davis made regarding acoustic cyberspace.

My “favorite” quote from the paper might be a little silly, but to me, it embodied a lot of what the tone and the structure of what the article was attempting to convey.

“What made early radio so exciting, in terms of
the technical, the social, and the imaginative, was its openness:
it was a space that wasn’t entirely defined, wasn’t totally
mapped.”

Essentially, I feel that once you clear out the mumbo jumbo, and get to the underlying point, the author is trying to tell you how exciting sound is. How neat it is that there is this space yet to be explored, that allows for almost unbounded self expression and exploration. And how savage it is that technology is a tool paving the way to an epic cyberspace of sound (even if that cyberspace has its own set of shortcomings). Davis is ecstatic about this new technology.. just like people were about early radio (which is why I chose this particular quote). The word choice within the paper was geared to a more educated audience than the residents of 121 B, and I feel that this quote is a boiled down version of what the paper was saying in technical terms.

Megan Nordstrom’s portfolio is stylistically the opposite of Davis’s article. Her portfolio is written in a dialect that us 121B n00bs can understand. Her writing also contains an obvious them, “Beware matey, there is no parlay on this island if you don’t fulfill the course outcomes!” Personally I found the over exaggerated use of a pirate theme to be more annoying than enjoyable, but it was none the less affective. Her word choice evoked obvious sounds and connotations, which would have been lost on the reader without the use of corny pirate metaphors. Additionally, Megan eased us into the world of acoustics nicely, taking comfortable baby steps, unlike Davis who chucked us bodily into a sea of sound.

I’m also enjoying the Marshall McLuhan recording.. “Writing was an embalmic process that froze us” is a pretty epic claim.

At first when reading the text I was in a loud room of girls and got very frustrated when trying to understand the piece. So I decided to into our sleeping porch and read. ( I also printed out the piece and wrote notes on it as I read). While reading this second time I found I understood the piece a lot better. Some of the notes I made include.

• visual space – sight and linear
• acoustic space – sound and nonlinear
• Sounds lead to imagry and sight does not really lead to anything
  • While sounds leads to thoughts, use of imagination etc. sight pretty much shows you anything you would need to imagine in otherwords does the work for you.
• While visuals have been monitored and controlled for a long time by government, parents etc.; sound and music are not as monitored and have more room to grow especially in the varying things on the internet.
• Particular sounds not can be asssociated with many different visuals again seeing something only dead ends the imagination process.
  • Ex. Hearing a song can make you picture many things- something personal, a particular occasion, or a visualization for the meaning/words. While seeing the music video of that same song would stop all of the individual thought processes.

Weird quote: (already in quotes) “Now we will be able to communicate acrossthe world, now we will be able to solve conflicts, now we will have better education , now we will have more democracy.”

                 Huh? First I don’t have a clue who is supposedly saying these things nor how it realtes to sound or sight…

Other quote (one I found I agreed with): …radio was quickly absorbed into commodity systems, and the state imposed its desire to organize the space of the spectrum, establishing the boundaries and rules that define the commercial radio that now dominates our ariwaves.

              Very true, originally the radio was not edited, monitored, subject to fines, nor restricted to particular materials. Like television and many other aspects of technology, sound has not yet been completely conquered but they sure are trying their hardest.

After looking over Megan’s portfolio again after receiving the prompt I feel more confortable about the class- requirements, expectations, goals, etc. I looked at her papers and structure of her portfolio; I feel that since Jentery felt it was a proper example, good enough to show other students, that it will be a good basis for how to conduct my pieces for the rest of the quarter. At first looking at it at the beginning of the year I didn’t really make too many connections with the papers I would be writing and the portfolio Megan made but now that we have more descriptions and actually the same prompts it was more help in preparing me for paper 1.2 and will continue to be helpful for the rest of the quarter.