Essay in french means ‘try’ – which is actually relatively fitting, corny title aside.

As I have previously noted, I find essays to be a tedious, necessary evil. Initially, I approached this essay like every other essay I’ve encountered throughout my years in the education system. Even when I found out this doesn’t necessarily have to follow a conventional essay structure, I still thought I would follow the generic guidelines for writing an essay.

However, as I actually got down to writing the essay I felt as though I wanted to mix things up a bit. I think the essay will retain the major features of a conventional essay, I just don’t want to completely follow the generic structure. I want to be able to express myself freely.

EDIT
As I progress in writing this essay it is becoming more and more conventional. As much as I’ve tried to create something different, unrestrained by the conventions of normalcy it is actually a lot more difficult than I anticipated. It feels almost wrong to write an essay in an unconventional manner. However, I am trying and I will continue to do so.

image: <http://www.hercampus.com/school/u-mass-amherst/gif-story-10-stages-writing-essay-night-it-s-due>

Today, we received feedback on our soundscapes. It was interesting and helpful to listen to the soundscapes other students had created. The brief had a certain ambiguity to it, which allowed for an extent of creative freedom that was evident in the works.

On reflection, I wish that we had been more experimental and manipulated more aspects of the soundscape. In particular, we could have utilised the voice aspect of the soundscape more. I suppose we wanted to juxtapose the monotonous voice with the locale sound. Moreover, we wanted each to hold equal ground and meaning as it is an ontography, and we believed a more monotonous voice carried this notion.

The main aspects of the feedback were the voice and the pace. The aspect we found most interesting when reviewing the feedback, was that people both liked and disliked both the tone of voice and the pace. One review mentioned that they liked the pace but then suggested that we mix up the pace. I suppose that is the nature of opinion and feedback, it is extremely subjective.

image: Jim Soliven

<http://aut.ologo.us/blog/2008/11/brooklyn-museum-of-computer-art.html>

 

What have I actually managed to achieve in relation to my participation plan for the last week?

1. I completed the soundscape
2. I did the Bogost reading
3. I highlighted the readings and wrote notes on it
4. I did not commence research for the essay
5. I wrote 4 blog posts instead of 5

Overall, despite the fact that I did not manage to complete every single one of the five tasks I allocated for the week, I am actually quite happy with what I have achieved. Last year, I could have completed one of the tasks and been ok with that. I actually did a fair majority of the work I wanted to do, and yes I would like to sit here and say that I managed to complete it all but that is sometimes just not reality. I have other work to do, other commitments and one of my greatest abilities is to procrastinate.

I would like to come to a place where I set tasks and actually complete them. Honestly, who doesn’t want to be that person? Someone who does not procrastinate, who is organised and who uses their free time to contribute to the community instead of binge watching Girls. However, at this point, I am progressively working towards trying to improve myself in those areas and that is the best I can do. While I do not want to accept the fact that I am an epic procrastinator (as in some ways my acceptance almost enables me) I still need to be honest with myself.

My mindset needs to be a combination of optimism and understanding of actuality.

In spite of the rocky start, the group managed to pull through and create a reasonably adequate soundscape in time.

I think the major problem within the group was largely organisational related. Additionally, we were initially confused by the brief. However, as soon as we were actually able to make decisions, the ball was rolling.

We used a GoPro to get some underwater sound, which actually turned out pretty cool. It was interesting to go to the locale and just notice everything. Focusing on different aspects of what the water attracted, created and facilitated.

I am relatively happy with how the soundscape turned out. However, it probably would have been better if we’d given ourselves a bit more time.

image: Trees in Water, Tony Hazel <http://subaquatic.tumblr.com/post/759686030/trees-in-water-toby-hazel>

 

I thought I would post this graph from class on Thursday. I meant to post it earlier but better late than never right?

Basically, the graph shows how I assess my abilities in the fields of sound, video and essay writing. My abilities are fairly stable across the board, although in retrospect I was probably a bit overly optimistic in regards to sound. The truth is, I find assessing my own abilities difficult. There is inherently no way to be objective and I therefore struggle.

I would say I have the most experience in essay writing comparative to video and sound. I enjoy the visual and creative aspects of video. Honestly, I do not have much experience with audio but I am extremely interested in it and I have enjoyed my small dabblings in it over the years. While I can acknowledge that I have some skill when it comes to essay writing, I have this weird feeling of dread whenever I see or hear the word essay. When I think about it, I have enjoyed some essay writing experiences over the years. Here’s to hoping I enjoy writing this essay.

 

Object Oriented Ontology or OOO is a concept that on one level makes completely valid and necessary points but on the other hand, confuses me. I feel as though the notion that humans are not the centre of the universe is extremely important. The understanding that not every revolves around humans and that we are in fact part of a much larger ecosystem of things. OOO asserts that everything exists equally, that there is no hierarchy.

Personally, I find it difficult to view the concept of OOO objectively simply because I am a human. There is a part of me that believes my species is superior. A potentially misguided, human-centric part of me. I want to believe that everything exists equally but I am struggling to.

An aspect of OOO in which I find intriguing is the power and reference it gives to things, non-living things. It is actually quite funny, the fact that I’ve never thought about the amount of power things actually hold over me. Humans have created a lot of the things we so greatly rely on ourselves. However, the fact that we have created them has no bearing on the power they still hold over us. This brings me back to the relations we have with everything that surrounds us, and takes us away from the centre of the universe and situates us as a small chain in a series of relations. It forces us to question, as Bogost so eloquently suggests, that things do not exist solely for our use.

image: https://bilaga.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/websten1.jpg

 

At the moment I don’t necessarily think that I’m doing anything wrong, however, I do have areas that could be improved on. This week I have been a bit slack on the blog post front and therefore I need to figure out a way to make sure I consistently post. In terms of the soundscape and essay, I have a tendency to leave things to the last minute. However, I am intent on actually planning for this assignment, hopefully my targets for the next week will aid with that.

What I will do within the next week:

1. Complete the soundscape
2. Do the Bogost reading
3. Highlight the readings and write notes on them
4. Commence research for the essay
5. Write 5 blog posts

The point made that resonated with me the most was the fact that students will not complain about writing essays, a skill unlikely to be carried into the workforce, yet something of actual future aid is criticised extensively. I am not going to lie, I have complained about both blogging and writing essays, but I have definitely questioned the point of blogging more.

For me, I believe that blogging will help in making me more comfortable in my writing and the content I produce. As they say, practice makes perfect. The more I blog and the more I put myself out there, the more I believe I will develop a greater ability to produce and share content I have created. Even just to develop a greater trust in my own thoughts and ideas, without second guessing any question or contention I may have.

Will I have to write in the future? Yes. Honestly, I don’t really see any way around it. Writing every day, or even every other day is of undeniable benefit to my skills as a writer. The ability to write, and write well, is an indispensable tool.

Another purpose of blogging, in this case, is to develop my ability to notice. I can sometimes have the tendency to take things at face value, and I would like to change that. I want to be able to understand content on a deeper level. One of my major goals is to have a deeper understanding of the readings, to take the time to understand what the writer is trying to articulate. Reflecting on the readings within a blog post forces me to try to comprehend the ideas within the reading and form my own opinion on them.

So I’ll blog and hopefully, I’ll continue to blog.

In Tuesday’s class, we expanded on a single link within a relationship. For this, I chose to expand on what is involved in dropping my sister off at a friend’s house. The main thing I learned in completing this exercise is not I am essentially under a misguided illusion that I have control over my actions. Objects have agency and power, relations do not happen simply because I want them to. There is so much more involved.

The three hour long class on Thursday provided a plethora of content and ideas new to me. In my opinion, the relationships exercise provided the most interesting and thought provoking concepts. The idea that my dog and I could in some senses mutually own one another was not something I had previously acknowledged. However, in retrospect, I feel as though it is simply a false sense of human superiority that has caused me to believe that there is not a mutual ownership.

In general, the way in which objects and living things relate to each other confuses me. It is complicated and it is definitely messy. In this way, I have realised that I abstract relations in order to generate a false sense of a deeper understanding. However, I may need to go back to very root of what things are in order to actually achieve a deeper understanding. Everything is multi-causal and multi-faceted but I like the idea of understanding relationships and things for what they actually are.