I find this piece by Erik Davis, titled “Acoustic Cyberspace”, extremely unique in that it offers both a revelation and a caveat. Its revelation is that sound helps people explore different realms and possibilities while visual things typically display what we already know. What we see is usually something definite. In contrast, what we hear is up to more interpretation, and a close listening can reveal that. The caveat given by Erik Davis is that the messages sent through sound can be distorted and even become so complex that we lose a sense of “self” and are ultimately shaped by the ‘cyberspace’. For example, “It is no accident that you find the logic of youth subculture most strongly articulated around music.” You can ask anyone in our class and he or she will have an adamant stance on the type of music he or she tends to listen to. Music shapes us now more than ever. Artists and bands have views that we share with them and we turn to them when our families or friends don’t listen or don’t understand. Our generation thinks with sarcasm and cynicism, two products of contemporary and classic rock.

Upon analyzing Megan Nordstrom’s Response Paper 1.2, I found her emphasis on audience very interesting. The point of knowing your audience is simple, they must be able to understand what you are saying. Even though her emphasis on audience was solely to fulfill one of the outcomes of the class, it also pertains to her argument. She claims in her paper that  she “showed how narration changed the feeling of the clip in the three angles I looked at”. Without the narration the message of the clip would have been vastly different, and the clip itself would seem quite empty. Nordstrom’s quote offers a different perspective that is supported by the purpose of the paper. It seems in both cases, one for the class outcomes and one for the actual argument of the paper, that tone sets the mood which in turn changes the outcome of the message.

“Acoustic Cyberspace” by Eric Davis

Notes:
I have seen the lead singer of the Flaming Lips play the theremin on TV. That’s interesting that it was meant to be a “concert hall instrument.” I want to hear this Clara Rockmore person.

“In essence, he argued that the self that comes down to us from the Renaissance—the “molar” self of the modern West, as some have called it—is a visual self.”

Davis is paraphrasing Marshall McLuhan in this quote. Davis is establishing that people think in visual terms in order to make the argument that “acoustic cyberspace” is changing this. The discussion of “Western subjectivity” shows that Davis’ talk is intended for an academic audience. Davis’ use of the word “molar,” a psychological term, also shows that this talk is intended for an academic audience.

McLuhan’s idea that Renaissance subjectivity imparted a visual and linear way of thinking to the “modern West” seems like it might be linear thinking itself. It sounds like McLuhan could be “organizing the world in a linear, atomized, and sequential fashion.” Davis might assume that his audience is familiar with McLuhan’s ideas and generally accepts them. Since I am not particularly well read on Renaissance subjectivity, I do not disagree or agree with ideas that Davis adopts from McLuhan. For the same reason, I also do not know what Davis means by the “modern West.” I am skeptical of the idea that there is a “West.” I think that I probably have just as much in common, culturally, with a Peruvian person as with an Egyptian person. Does Davis think that people in the “East” do not view the world in a visual and linear way? If so, I am curious as to how he would describe “Eastern subjectivity.”

English 121 Portfolio by Megan Nordstrom

Notes:
What exactly is a complex claim? Is there such a thing as a simple claim?
The pirate theme is funny.
It’s cool that peer feedback is emphasized so much throughout the course.
Have students ever implemented their PSA campaigns?
I am unsure of what Nordstrom means when she writes, “listening to commentary.” Did students get feedback in podcast form?

“While revising, I used comments from Jentery and my peers to help strengthen my arguments and papers. After receiving feedback from Jentery, I would listen to his comments and edit my papers in red type by adding side notes or highlighting areas I needed to revise. I would use his feedback to relook at a section of my writing that was unclear and would reread the paragraph. By having Jentery or a peer point out certain areas help me see that my writing was unclear to my audience and I needed to further explain it. When listening to commentary, I would change all of the micro-errors (MLA, semi-colons, misspelling, etc.) and then would then look back over the paper after I finished listening to change the macro-problems and would relook at the prompt and how I could add to my paper to strengthen an outcome. It helped to change major problems while the paper was still fresh in my mind and then to look at the paper again near the end of the quarter to see if other issues stood out to me that I had not seen before.”

In this quote, Nordstrom argues that she completed Outcome #4. She describes the processes she went through to revise her work as evidence that she “used comments from Jentery and my peers to help strengthen my arguments and papers.” Nordstrom’s audience is obviously the English 121 class since she assumes the reader will know who Jentery is. Her mention of “MLA” format shows that her audience is students or others in the academic world, because she assumes the reader knows what MLA is.

This quote relates to the study of sound because the revision process must be effected by our thought processes. A visual way of thinking will shape the way we revise our work. Understanding soundscapes and how sound shapes our lives might help us think in different ways that could effect our approaches to revision.

Acoustic cyberspace by Erik Davis:

“Acoustic space is capable of simultaneity, superimposition, and nonlinearity, but above all, it resonates. … 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.”

Davis’s word choice here is sophisticated and geared towards a more educated audience, using words and ideas such as “superimposition” and “space-time”. It seems as if Davis geared his talk to those already familiar with these ideas, being as those who would actually attend his talk probably already have an interest in the acoustic cyberspace world and what not. His tone implies a slight bias towards acoustics over visuals when he says, “Where visual space emphasizes linearity, acoustic space emphasizes simultaneity”. His use of the word “linearity” seems to imply that visual space is unimaginative and that it relies on the obvious (what can be seen) rather than any in-depth understanding.

Davis does not support his points with any firm evidence but his wordiness and use of language seem to be effective sources of understanding his ideas. As I read through Davis’ talk, I found myself trying to visualize what he was saying in order to get a better understanding of what he was trying to convey. However, I found myself unable to visualize his ideas and had to “listen” to what Davis was saying in order to understand his ideas. I think his wordiness, unconventional ideas and vocabulary were enough to support his point that “where visual space emphasizes linearity, acoustic space emphasizes simultaneity”. Davis forces his audience to rely on acoustic space which allows for a wider range of subjectivity and understanding. This quote is important to the study of sound and sound technologies because it implies that sound and sound technologies are the key to a broader dimension. Where visual-space is limited to what is seen, “acoustic space is capable of simultaneity, superimposition, and nonlinearity”. The use of sound further emphasizes the visual world such as the use of sound in movies (i.e. Background music). The sound emphasizes feeling and invokes the desired mindset that the movie is trying to portray.

Megan Nordstrom’s work:

“Appropriately chosen for this film, the narrator’s voice is that of an older man, who speaks with experience and knowledge of the time. His words are simple and straightforward, but his slight variance of tone captivates the audience. The narrator generates a picture of the ‘old fashion American man’ in our heads, who could possibly remind us of our grandfather or even FDR.”

Megan Nordstrom’s writing was much easier for me to understand. Nordstrom’s writing, unlike Davis’, is geared towards a general audience rather than a selected few. She avoids abstract ideas and writes in very simplistic and straightforward manner. She used evidence and examples that most people are familiar with such as her comparison of the image the narrator depicts to an “old fashioned American man” and FDR. Nordstrom’s implication that the sound of the narrators voice “generates a picture of the ‘Old fashioned American man’” supports Davis’ idea that acoustic space is capable of superimposition. She superimposes the narrator’s voice onto an image she is already familiar with. Nordstrom’s writing relates to the importance of studying sound and sound technologies because the sound fully completes the movie. In order for the producers to depict the right images in the movie, sound is added to enhance and emphasize the desired feelings and mindset of the movie.

Also per the Davis talk, Marshall McLuhan is an important name in various circles (academic and otherwise) for his work with new media, technology, society, and culture.

Below are sides A and B of the album, The Medium is the Massage. Give it a listen and notice how pastiche – a mix of different sounds and voices – functions. We hear McLuhan as our “narrator,” as other voices and sounds interject. Not dissimilar from what a DJ does or…hmmm…maybe what writers do, too? Enjoy!

 

 The Medium is the Massage, Side A: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The Medium is the Massage, Side B: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

On the evening of December 24, 1906, Reginald A. Fessenden used the alternator-transmitter to send out a short radio program from Brant Rock, Massachusetts. This broadcast is believed to be the first two-way, trans-oceanic wireless radio transmission, paving the way for a century of broadcasting to come. As people in the U.S. and elsewhere would soon realize, listening and receiving information would take on an entirely new, “disembodied” connotation in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Here’s a recreation of the broadcast for your ears. Note the voice. Sound familiar?

 

 Reginald's Radio: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Per the Davis talk, just in case you’ve never heard or seen a theremin before:

At first when reading acoustic cyberspace I find myself extremely confused and bored.  My mind seems to wander.  I guess it is because I don’t understand what he is saying.  The wording and the overall point of the text is uncomprehendable to me and hard to read and finish the point of what he is trying to get across.  I feel that if he had written it in laymens(dont know how to spell that) terms I would at least get the point of what he was saying.  Through all that I picked this quote from his text.  “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. Resonance is a very powerful analogy for understanding how various types of energies and spaces operate.” I chose this quote because it’s really the only thing I really understood and could relate to in the text I managed to read.  It seems to be saying that even small things can have a broader and greater effect.  His word choice is definately understandable to me.  This relates to how sound can be magnified even in a room.  Also how sound at a certin resonant frequency can shatter a glass simply through singing.

Ahoy, Mateys!! My name is Megan Nordstrom and welcome to the tropical oasis of my EnglishI2I Portfolio at the University of Washington. Climb aboard with the crew at our pirate EnglishI2ISLAND and feel free to browse the extraordinary cabin features you find on the port side of the page. “  I chose this quote because I think it’s a great hook, grabber, to pull you into the text that may otherwise be boring and dull.  Who wants to hear about the class in a boring way…like this is what you will be doing….and this……and this…..funstuff….I think not.  Her intro to the class just grabs you and it keeps you long enough to get to the less boring stuff and eventually the end.  The tone is upbeat and excited.  She used a cool comparison with the pirate island and the ship to introduce us.  This can relate to how sounds and the way we preceive words can change how we feel based on the tone and the words used.  Like in this quote it made me feel upbeat and happy.

     Well, i’m going to run with what Jentery said about this blog not being formal and I am just going to be honest.  That talk by Erik Davis was straight confusing and he did not make his case (or is it cases?) very well.  But here our my thoughts on what I think I was supposed to get from this reading:

• So, the Renaissance is what made us such visual people?  And because we are visual we are missing how important sound is in our lives? 
• Resonance is one of the reasons why sound is so important?  Resonance can change a small action like singing into a huge action that breaks glass.  It is not linear.  Sound waves can resonate and hit mountains and bounce back and go all over the place.
• Another reason why sound is so important is because of simultaneity?  I thought that this was very interesting (after I read his wording about a 12 times to comprehend what he was trying to get at) because it is so true.  When you think of something visually or linearly, you only get THAT visual feeling.  But when you hear a sound, maybe a certain song, you can relate it to a special event in which you remember the sounds and tastes and environment and feelings and you get all of this simultaneously. 
• Sound gives an “effect” that visuals can not achieve?  I think that this is sometimes true.  Sound can totally immerse you, when you close your eyes and can practically feel like you are “in” the music.  However, in my opinion, a painting or picture can do the same thing.  I suppose it depends on the type of person you are.

Now for my quote: “This is related to print technologies—and print culture—because, according to McLuhan, these technologies inculcate within us a habit of organizing the world in a linear, atomized, and sequential fashion. Central to this visual space is the axiom or assumption that “different” objects, vectors, or points are not and cannot be superimposed; instead, the world is perceived as a linear grid organized along strictly causal lines.”

-The way in which this quote is written is obviosly directed at a certain audience.  A very intelectual, college educated, amazingly smart person.  “Inculcate,” “Axiom,” “Vector”???  What is this guy thinking trying to use words like that to get a message across?  Anyways, I guess if I was actually spending my time listening to a speech on sound then I would be of the educated sort and actually use those sorts of words in my life too.  However, I suppose that those words do give him credibility, in rhetoric I believe Aristotle called it Ethos.  His word choice obviously shows that he is intelligent and probably knows what he’s talking about (or he has no idea what he is talking about so he is trying to confuse us by stringing together as many syllables as possible). 

-This quote relates to why studying sound is important in that it discusses something that is quite true but one does not readily think about.  We, as a human race, like to have things sequential and linear and that this idea has been brought to us by a culture that supports it.  The print media for example, visually/literally puts things in perfect lines and sequences and things don’t happen simultaneously.  

Now for my thoughts on Megan Nordstrom work:

• Honestly my first thought was: Is she an actual Nordstrom? And if so, did she dress fabulously when she came to class?
• Next I thought that her writing was obviously much easier to read and actually had coherent arguments.  Her arguments seemed to go with what Mr. Davis was trying to articulate, it just seems that she made a better arguement because we could actually understand them.

  The quote that I chose from Megan was one from her Seabiscuit paper.  “I believe that the narrator’s voice and background music are essential in bringing the writer’s intended mind-set to the audience.” 

-I thought that the way that this quote is written is perfectly worded and succinctly tells the audience her argument.  I also think that this quote expressly shows why sound is an important study.  Without the sound, the intended mind-set would not have been achieved, and without the audience in that particular mind-set the movie probably would have been a total flop, and then it wouldn’t have gotten  an academy award or whatever thus proving how important sound is. 

    As I read Erik Davis’ talk, I was initially struck by how vague and wordy he could be. For instance, his sentences and word choice often become confusing and muddled, leaving me with no choice but to guess at what he means by “zone of space-time,” “areas of the bodymind,” or “unfolding para-spaces.” Perhaps these were references to whatever text he was responding to. Anyway, I found this quote interesting:

Quote: “Resonance is just one quality of acoustic space; another one is simultaneity. 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. This isn’t true in the strictest sense, but, nonetheless, our thoughts and perceptions can tend towards this simultaneity: we sense many things at once, and combine them into a coherent if fragmentary whole.”

In this quote, Erik stays true to his style of vague word choice, yet he conveys his overall message effectively. Erik fails to provide concrete examples to support his point, but his argument that acoustic space emphasizes simultaneity is clear. I think it was redundant of him to mention that the subject is “a person, maybe,” as it is clear that his audience is human. Erik’s tone shows that he is a big fan of acoustics; he begins the quote by saying, “Resonance is just one quality of acoustic space; another one is simultaneity,” giving the impression that acoustics have many qualities and are thus vastly superior to the “linearity” of visuals. One thing I would have liked him to elaborate on is how acoustic space is used to synthesize events and images. Erik’s warrant for the simultaneity of acoustics seems to be based on the condition that the subject is hearing and processing several different sounds at once, and it isn’t clear whether the acoustics are accompanied by visuals.

Erik’s quote gives two good reasons to study sound and sound technologies. First, the subject’s perception of simultaneity through acoustics would complement a visual display quite well, and proper study and experimentation of sound and art, such as in a movie, would be great for maximizing entertainment. Second, the rapid technological advances in sound technology such as surround sound and noise-cancelling may open new doors in the perception of acoustic space; the perception of simultaneity would be exponentially greater if different sounds seemed to come from different places.

Megan Nordstrom’s E-Portfolio was easy to read and I found it easy to relate to her Response Paper 1.2 because I am familiar with the movie Seabiscuit. I particularly liked her analysis of the movie’s narrated introduction because it fit with what I had just read from Erik Davis’ paper. This is the quote I chose:

Quote: . “Opening with slow, sad sounds of violins and an orchestra, the movie displays slides of black and white photos used as a timeline of history. As the photos of early cars and assembly lines cover the screen, the narrator describes the historic background of the time period. Appropriately chosen for this film, the narrator’s voice is that of an older man, who speaks with experience and knowledge of the time. His words are simple and straightforward, but his slight variance of tone captivates the audience. The narrator generates a picture of the “old fashion American man” in our heads, who could possibly remind us of our grandfather or even FDR. His voice hints of sadness and sorrow which reminds us of the hard times in American’s past. I believe that the narrator’s voice and background music are essential in bringing the writer’s intended mind-set to the audience.”

Megan provides plenty of evidence in this quote to support her claim that the narrator’s voice and background music set the mind-set of the audience. She describes the visual display of car production first, but then she focuses on the narrator’s tone and the “slow, sad sounds of violins.” Megan also describes the narrator’s voice as that of an older man, allowing the reader to imagine the voice without hearing it. The tone used in this quote is straightforward and conversational; it seems like she is describing the movie to a friend by using descriptions such as the “old fashion American man.” Megan’s argument for how the narration and background music instill a specific mindset in the audience provides good reason to study sound and its effects on audiences. Knowledge on how certain background music or tone of voice influences a crowd’s mood would be extremely valuable when a speaker or movie is trying to convey a specific message or provoke a certain reaction.

These two quotes “intertextualize” quite well. Erik Davis’ talk on how acoustic space has a quality of simultaneity was missing evidence and examples; Megan Nordstrom’s quote about Seabiscuit’s introduction is the perfect example for Erik’s argument. As one listens to the old man talking in sad tones about the Great Depression, “simultaneity” is achieved as the listener thinks about the Depression and memories of grandfathers. The narrator’s voice provides information to the listener while setting the listener’s mindset for the rest of the movie as well as triggering memories and reflective thoughts.

Acoustic Cyberspace, Erik Davis 

Is McLuhan saying that an acoustic space can give rise to a certain subjectivity depending on the construction of that acoustic space? I think that’s what I understood from that beginning of the reading. i then follow how he traces some of the chracteristics of acoustic space’s construction such like simultaneity and resonance, and the subjectivity they each produce. However, I get lost at the point where he says that ” we hear things and we see things simultaneously – but accodring to different logics, logics that are culturally defined and change over time.”  What are these logics? From what do the arise? Soon after he mentions “the conditions for experiencing information, consciousness, conception” and I wonder if these are what he refers to when e talks about “logics”. Also, what realm of sound is he considering that lends itself to logic? I don’t think I’m thinking of sound the way he is, and I should be, yet. At this point I understand this logic as something used to perceive sound. However, later on he higlights that “sound and smel carry vectors of mood and affect which change the qualitative organization of space, unfolding a different logic with a space’s range of potentials”, and I become confused as to whether the logic he spoke of precedes the perception of sound or if it is effected and produced by sound instead.

At the middle of the reading I am intereseted to see why he thinks this is of any importance : the “larger implications of sound and acoustics”.

He parallels the “utopian imagination” produced by the invention of the radio with “the rhetoric surrounding information technology”. This “utopian energy”, that uses imagination to dream about the possibility of progress, then dwindles away as the radio spectrum becomes “commodified and consumerized” by the state (“boundaries and rules that defince the commercial radio”)

He claims that radio, and presently the acoustic dimension of electronic media, produced “a different logic”. What is this logic produced my the acoustics of electronic media?

Early on in the text he wrote that “acoustic space isn’t limited to a world of music or sound; the environment of electronic media itself engenders this way of organizing and perceiving the other spaces we intersect”, and I had no idea what he meant by this, however after reading his idea about the logic produced by the acoustic dimension of electronic media I think that it may be possible that what he was saying at first was that this logic, which I still don’t know the mechanism he proposes it is produced by, is used as a way “of organizing and perceiving the other spaces we intersect.” …???

 He proposes that acoustic space can create subjectivities that “can help us feel our way through the spaces we are opening up and moving into”, and I am lost about what spaces he is talking about: information technology, electronic media, and their repercussions? How would these subjectivities do this?

Is his example of 60s and 70s electronic music’s “emphasis on the cosmic, on spatial disorientation, on transport, on affect, on the nonhuman.”, and example of the ability of acoustic space to create modes of subjectivity? The subjectivities it opened, contrasted to pop music, are the less personalized soundscapes and the pyschic spaces (vs the organization of narrative around love and lost)

In the first paragraph of the text he notes sound’s ability to act as a map, and then towards the end he states that electronic music “involves mapping the electronic media spaces that humans find themselves in”. WHAT THE HELL?? What is this “mapping” he is talking about?

Electronic music, dub music create “environments [that] suggest a kind of cyberspace – a spacious electronic orienation of affect and quality rathaer than information and quantity…”

 When he ends with “By pushing the boundaries of electro-acoustic environements, of acoustic cyberspace, we can maintain a line into the open spaces of the unknown”, I hope it is correct that I understand this is possible through the production of subjectivities…??

 Quote:

              “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.”

• The words themselves are quite simple, however the ideas he wants to capture with phrases like “qualitative organization of space”, “space’s range of potentials”, along with the word “logic” are difficult to grasp unless one has read the entire text. His claim about the vectors of mood and affect instilled in sound and smell would have to be substantiated by some scientific data in my opinion, although personal experience may seem to support the statement. This quote is establishing the characteristic of sound that gives rise to it’s importance in producing subjectivities, and in turn the roles, he later writes, they play in human experience.
• The fact that the quote states that there are potentials in a space that can be tapped into by sound’s effects on the “qualitative organization of space” hints to the importance of studying sound because it opens new qualitative dimensions in an old space which serve as avenues to new ways of thinking, understanding, etc.

Megan Nordstrom’s Engl121 Portfolio

Well I first read Erik Davis’s text and then when I came to the portfolio I naturally found it boring, since the first reading provided ways of understanding sound to which I had never been introduced before; still, the information in the portfolio is very helpful, detailed, and well organized. It provided hints to what the instructor is looking for in a good paper.

             Quote:

                        ” ‘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’ “

• The reasoning behind the sentence is clear because of its structure, and the choice of words is appropriate for the audience. The writer shows that they have given thought to the role of sound in the context of a movie.
• The quote gives evidence to the role sound holds in the realm of people’s perception and understanding of the world around us, even when this example used film as the object of attention. This role is important if people are interested in widening human experience of the world.