#anyways i think a lot of this will eventually be adopted into standard english style guides and be considered proper grammar eventually may | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mrsrcbinscn · 4 years

Text

BDRPWriMo Task #6 - 10 Short-Short Stories

Task #6: Write ten short-short stories of no more than a paragraph long.

Franny Robinson’s musical influences; ten interview quotes about other musicians and singers that she says inspire her work

i. Jenny Lewis

“I dunno, there’s just-” Robinson paused and with her palms flat up, made claws with her hands as she searched for the words. “-something so honest about Jenny. I had the honor of performing with her once and I was just in awe. I think I have a little bit of a crush on her. I was first introduced to her work in 2001 by a great friend of mine from college, Dani Weiss [currently a member of the American-Canadian newgrass band The Weepy Willows]. We were...going on a little trip -

Q: Acid or shrooms?

“My husband is sitting right there, oh god. Acid. In moderation, I think things like that can be worthwhile experiences. In moderation. We were doing acid in her apartment and listenin’ to music and she [Weiss] put on their album Take Offs and Landings. I was real into it from Go Ahead [the first track]. Which. I always liked chill music when I dropped acid, anything too loud and busy made me anxious. And when the followup, The Execution of All Things came out, it was like - I was like - just like, ‘damn, this woman is amazing.’ Her songwriting ability is just phenomenal and her voice- I feel like I’m sittin’ across from her and she’s tellin’ me stories. There’s- again, the only thing I can think of is this honesty about her.”

ii. Hizuru

“Japan actually has a vibrant history with jazz music, so I’m familiar with a lot of Japanese jazz and have had the honor of working with many talented Japanese jazz musicians. I don’t know very much about Hizuru, actually, other than I love them. I have been experimenting with incorporating traditional Cambodian music with, you know, jazz and other western styles of music. That part of my culture is very important to me, so I want - I want to show the world how beautiful instruments like tro and chapei are. Anyway- I was struggling with a balance of sounds when in 2017 I stumbled upon a Hizuru song called - oh, god, I don’t speak Japanese, so I’ll probably butcher this. The song is called Ushiwakamaru. It is an instrumental piece, as is the entire self-titled album, and the blend of traditional Japanese music and modern jazz on that entire album is perfection. I hope they come out with more soon, I am hungry for more, truly.”

iii. Ella Fitzgerald

Q: Of the early jazz vocalists, who inspires you the most?

“Oh my god, Ella Fitzgerald. Well - mm, no, absolutely her, no question. I am by no means implying I live up to her standard, in fact I never will, but I have channeled her. Especially in my earlier work when I was a bit more concerned with going what jazz fans want, expect, and love versus taking lessons from those who came before me and building on that with my own ideas, my own voice. If that makes sense? She was classic. It’s Only A Paper Moon was, I think, the first jazz song I heard when I was little. Or, it was the first that really struck me. [laughs] My oldest brother used his birthday money to buy an Ella Fitzgerald album for me on vinyl so I would stop running around the house singing the only lyrics I remembered. I think it was like [singing]- Say, its only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea...and I forgot the rest so I could just repeat cardboard sea like three times.”

iv. Patsy Cline

“I’m from Georgia,” laughs Robinson, running a hand through her hair as she pulls her feet up under her on the chaise lounge in her Swynlake home. “Like, out in the country in Georgia. You couldn’t grow up there in the eighties and not have known who Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton were. Dolly was more, like, relevant and current, but Patsy’s a classic. And as a woman whose natural register is lower myself, I really appreciated being able to sing along decently well without much effort. We don’t - we don’t get to see alto voices in popular music a lot. Pop, even the jazz music that gets a following outside of hardcore jazz fans. Hitting the craziest high notes does seem to be a current trend across the genre spectrum.”

When asked if that was a bad thing, Robinson simply shook her head. “I don’t think it;s positive or negative one way or the other. It’s just an observation.”

v. Ahmad Jamal

“I mean, if you want to talk jazz pianists, you can’t not talk about Ahmad Jamal. On Green Dolphin Street? Autumn Rain? F---, man, leaving him out is criminal. He’s been in the game for five decades, that’s longer than I’ve been alive. I only hope to be on his level. Like, I hear words from his piano. I understand what I’m supposed to be feeling, thinking, or seeing when I listen to his work. And with instrumental music, that’s a challenge. Classical? I struggle to listen to classical music. I think it’s beautiful, and I really respect classical musicians, but unless I’m explicitly aware of what picture this piece is supposed to paint in my head, when I tell a classical expert what a piece makes me feel, they’re usually like ‘ACTUALLY...’

vi. Édith Piaf

“My father - well, he’s technically my stepfather,” Robinson said, scowling at the word like it was a swear. “But, he adopted me when he married my mother, and my biological father may as well have been a sperm donor. Anyway. My father is from Switzerland, and they have four official languages there. He speaks them all, plus English, plus he learned to speak Khmer when he married my mother. He’s so cool, my dad. He’s from a Francophone-Italophone Swiss family, so I grew up listening to a lot of old French, Italian, and some German music from him. I still don’t speak German and Italian though, [laughs] sorry Dad.”

“We listened to Édith Piaf a lot together. I was very protective of my mother as a child, you know how kids of single moms are? My mom was my superhero and I was used to American men thinking they had a right to touch her because she was just a poor foreign woman who owned a restaurant. So when my future dad started hanging around, I hated him. But he was determined to make me like him so I’d let him marry my mother, and he’d take me for ice cream and play Édith Piaf cassettes in the car. He’d tell me about what the love songs meant, and didn’t tell me about the songs that weren’t, and told me the love songs are how he felt about my mother. He was like, ‘Dara-’ my legal first name is Darareaksmey, it’s Khmer. My parents usually calls me ‘Dara.’ ‘Dara, if you let me, I’ll be good to your mother, and to you.’ I eventually got tired of him begging me to marry my mom so I let him. [laughs]

I asked if she ever regretted giving him her blessing.

“No, never. He’s my dad, and the two boys he brought into the marriage are my older brothers. I’m my Swiss grandparents’ only granddaughter, so they spoiled me even from Switzerland. No, we’re family.”

vii. Dolores O'Riordan

Interview date, 26th of January, 2018

Q: Let’s talk about something I just found out about you from your Twitter feed the other day.

A: Oh, no, should I tell my husband to cover his ears?

Q: No, it’s rated H for Husband.

A: Excellent.

Q: You’re a huge fan of Dolores O’Riordan. Which, I wouldn’t have guessed. But on the day the tragic news of her passing broke, you Tweeted out a tribute to her including ffive meet and greet pictures of the two of you together- the first, correct me if I’m wrong, is from 1994?

A: Yes, yes I had actually seen then the year prior, when I was thirteen, but ‘94 was the first time I could afford a backstage package with my babysitting money. The other four are from 1999, 2002, 2010, and 2016. I loved The Cranberries, they were the first concert I dragged my husband to when we were dating.

Q: Safe to say you’ve been a hardcore fan for-

A: Two and a half decades, yeah. Yeah, The Cranberries are one of my all time favorites. Dolores O’Riordan’s voice was...everything.

Q: You’re a jazz artist, primarily. What’s consistently drawn you to The Cranberries?

A: [laughs] Other than being a teenager in the 90′s? I mean, her voice. She changed the game for what it meant to be a female vocalist in rock music. And up until my second year at NYU, I wasn’t sure where I was going with music. I loved rock, I loved jazz, I was into R&B, I loved bluegrass. I sang in several bands in high school and college, and The Cranberries were usually on the setlist. Her voice was amazing. I idolized her as a young vocalist, even if I ended up gravitating toward a different genre.

Q: You uploaded a cover of Dreams with Irish alt-rock singer and guitarist Padraig Chen, and Irish indie musician Siobhán Walsh as well. How did that collaboration come about?

A: Padraig’s been a friend of mine for a long time; we met through a mutual friend who is also an Asian-diaspora musician in the UK and Ireland and it was a match made in music heaven. We’ve collaborated a lot. Siobhán is a friend of Pat’s, and we all looked up to Dolores, so we just got together and made our little tribute to her.

viii. Badi Assad

“I was first introduced to bossa nova...probably during my sophomore year of college. Her voice is like butter, but frankly, that’s not the most interesting thing about her. She combines traditional jazz, bossa nova, other Latin music elements, and traditional Middle Eastern sounds. Anything that is a marriage of different tastes and cultures is interesting to me, and when its done as well as she does it? Forget it. She is one of the best jazz and jazz-adjacent guitarists out there today. I really admire her. I hope to perform with her one day, it’s genuinely a dream of mine.”

ix. Ros Serey Sothea

“One of my most unexpected musical influences...well, I don’t - I don’t think she’s so much unexpected, as any of my following outside of my small Cambodian or Khmer-American following won’t have ever heard of. Ros Serey Sothea is one of the most important singer in Khmer popular music history, she’s called the Golden Voice. My mother would sing her songs to me as a child, whichever of them she could remember. Under the Khmer Rogue, which my mother survived, something like 90% of Cambodia’s artists, dancers, musicians, and singers died or were executed. She was one of them. And my mother’s favorite singer. Most of the master recordings from her and other singers like Pen Ran and Sinn Sisamouth were destroyed by the Khmer Rogue, so whatever recordings we do have of Khmer rock and roll from that era are so, so vital to preserve and keep record of. Even though I am a jazz music educator, at my lower level, more generic classes where I have the wiggle room to do so, I talk about Khmer music of the 60s and early 70s for a class because I feel so strongly about the legacy of this music.”

“I went on a tangent,” Robinson said apologetically. “Where was I? Oh, Ros Serey Sothea. Right, so her voice was just-” Robinson put her arms out to her side and swayed to the imaginary music in her head. “-you could just kind groove like this to only her voice, nothing else needed. Her voice danced on top of the backing band. My mother managed to get her hands on some records, her siblings who remained in Cambodia sent some to us and her other siblings who were resettled, in the mid-eighties. So, I was six or seven before I heard my first Khmer song from a record player or a cassette instead of my mother’s voice, even though she’d been singing to me since I was born. These songs are still incredibly important to Cambodians today, and diaspora as well.”

I asked her if that had anything to do with the semi-viral success of her recent cover of 70′s singer Sieng Vannthy’s ‘Console Me’.

“Oh, for sure.” Robinson said. "It’s the first time I professionally recorded a song in Khmer, a lot of people were surprised I spoke the language.”

x. Dolly Parton

“Okay, Dolly probably has less of an influence on my music than my persona, I’ll be honest. But her music means so much to me. At my wedding, during toasts, my mother mortified me by throwin’ in video footage of my first ever live performance from ‘89. Little nine-year-old Franny was on stage in little secondhand cowboy boots, this horribly 80s lookin’ frilly dress, my hair in little twin braids, singin’ and dancin’ to Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That. To this day, my husband still brings that up.”

Q: How do you mean Dolly Parton influenced your persona?

“Great question. So, our origins are similar. Kind of. She grew up poor one of twelve children, I grew up poor, one of three. My family eventually was lucky enough to make it out of the poverty I was born into but we were still always poor, you know? Like. I remember my mom rationing her food so I could eat enough until that stopped when I was about seven and my mom didn’t have to make a meal for herself last two meals. And we’re both from the American South.”

“I grew up on Dolly. She’s the queen of our people [laughs] and I’m not even being facetious. We love her. Can’t get enough of her. And I include myself in that; Dolly Parton is an icon. She is unashamed of who she is and where she comes from, which really struck a chord with me. As the American-born daughter of a refugee, I was always caught between two cultures. Am I Cambodian, am I American? Which can I claim? My mother taught to me my Cambodian culture, our Vietnamese friends taught me about Vietnamese culture, but my white father was from Switzerland so I didn’t learn to be American until school. That’s when I started droppin’ my G’s, sayin’ y’all and ain’t, and asking my parents to make grits for breakfast when they’d never eaten them before in their immigrant lives. I wanted so badly to just be seen as American, to be seen as just a girl from Georgia. If it weren’t for my mother refusing to let me speak English to her at home I would have lost my Khmer. She spoke English just fine, but English was for Out There.”

“My mom taught me to be proudly Cambodian, but I’m not just Cambodian, right? I mean, I’m biracial, sure. But more importantly, I’m bi-cultural. I’m not just Cambodian, I’m American - Southern, if we wanna get real specific. Both of my cultures are vibrant, and beautiful, and are equally important to me. My mom taught me not to be ashamed to be the daughter of a refugee - she didn’t get into specifics until I was older, but she was always made it clear she had Been Through Some Shit and could handle anything. Even now, when I go through something difficult I just tell myself, ‘Mom survived genocide, you can do whatever this is.’ I knew how to be proudly Cambodian, I knew how to wear traditional dress to nice events, and wear Khmer wedding clothes for my wedding instead of a white dress. But I didn’t know how to embrace this other part of myself - because wasn’t raised in the default Middle America. Even my American side is a type of odd culture, isn’t it?

Dolly Parton taught me not to be ashamed of the other half of where I came from. She is unapologetic about bein’ who she is. She is proud of where she came from. And I want to be the Dolly Parton of my rural Georgia town. My identities as Cambodian and Georgian are more important to be than my identity as, like, an American person in general. I want people to think, ‘that’s a Georgia woman’ when they think of me, just like you look at Dolly and say ‘that’s a Appalachian girl’ before you just go ‘oh, she’s American.’

#bdrpwrimomckala #bdrpwrimo #&&...hc #// some of these got long fight me #franny has feelings about music

0 notes

englishchinesetranslations · 4 years

Link

Frankfurt meets Holywood

ABSTRACT This short presentation summarises Adorno and Horkheimer’s The Culture Industry. We shall first review the key premises underlying the work, then summarise the main ideas. I shall offer some critical comments before examining historical developments since the work’s publication to determine the degree to which it remains historically relevant.

The Culture Industry is one chapter from the five-chapter book, The Dialectic of Enlightenment, Adorno and Horkheimer’s Marxist analysis of the evolution of Enlightenment thought and Western rationalism, first appearing in 1944. I shall first characterise the work in terms of it primary theoretical foundations, then summarise the central ideas within the chapter. I shall then offer some critical comments and finally bring its ideas into the modern world to see if it is still relevant and the degree to which historical developments since its publication have validated its central thesis (or otherwise).

The Culture Industry, together with the rest of The Dialectic of Enlightenment, is founded upon a number of premises. The primary premises derive from Marxism and from Horkheimer’s understanding of the import of Marxism for academic activity. The foundational premise is both metaphysical and ethical; that capitalism is a necessarily destructive force which must be resisted and (eventually) destroyed. The reason for this is that capitalism alienates people, making all humans unhappy (Sayers, 1998). This fact is of such paramount importance that everything should be oriented around it. As a result, all philosophy and all social science should concentrate on capitalist-produced human suffering to the exclusion of all else. It also follows that there is an imperative to subsume everything under the drive to produce a communist revolution. In this it respect is not possible to engage in politically neutral thought; if one is not actively supporting the revolution, one is actively supporting capitalist domination of the people (Horkheimer, 1993). A secondary foundation derives from Horkheimer’s formulation of critical theory; that the division between disciplines, and even different branches of philosophy, is limiting and destructive and they should be fused together (Berendzen 2013, Horkheimer 1993).

In tune with the anti-rationalist theme of The Dialectic of Enlightenment, and deriving more from Adorno than Horkheimer, there is the Neitzschian approach which holds that poetic and artistic styles of argument are preferable to logical ones and which makes aesthetics, rather than metaphysics, the paradigm of philosophical discourse (Zuidervaart 2011). In adopting elements of an aesthetic approach, three further premises serve as foundations to Adorno and Horkheimer’s analysis of the culture industry. The first is a fundamentally different approach to art works than that seen in English and French aesthetic philosophy, which, since the 18th century, have focused on taste and other subjective aspects of artistic expression (Morizot 2013, Shelley 2010). In contrast, the German aesthetic tradition focused on the artwork itself and its putative objective qualities. Commencing with Christian Wolff (Hammermeister 2002), there is an acceptance in the German aesthetic tradition that art can be objectively evaluated in terms of the amount of truth it contains. On this basis, whether a work of art is good art or bad art is not subjective opinion, but objective fact. Furthermore, there is a general agreement within the tradition that the experience of art can change a person, particularly on an ethical level (Hammermeister 2002). As a result, art has the capacity to challenge, or even disrupt, social structures. It follows that art therefore has the potential to serve as an emancipatory tool in service to a Marxist assault on capitalism.

It is not my intention to critique The Culture Industry on the basis of these premises. To do so is to cease engaging with The Culture Industry itself and to engage instead with those who have developed the premises it accepts. For example, if one does not accept that all humans are in a state of suffering, one is debating with Karl Marx, not Adorno or Horkheimer. I shall therefore “bracket” the Marxist and aesthetic premises. Instead I will commence with a summary of its most important arguments, then offer some comments.

The Culture Industry contains four main themes; the characteristics of the culture industry, the culture industry as domination, the culture industry’s domination of the individual’s internal landscape, and a characterisation of the products of the culture industry as “rubbish” (p.1) and “barbarity” (p.5).

Key ideas in The Culture Industry

Film, radio and print all form part of a unified industry whose aim is the psychological domination of the masses in the service of capitalist leaders (p.1). It is designed to promote submission to the existing power structures and is structured and run so as to prevent communication of alternative ideas (p.1, p.6). Anyone who does not cooperate with this program is ruthlessly kept out of the culture industry (p.2, p.7, p.16). People think they like the products of the culture industry, such as films and magazines, but they are mistaken and do not enjoy them (p.4, p.8). The fact they mistakenly believe they like these products is evidence of their total subservience to their capitalist oppressors; it is a “misplaced love of the common people for the wrong which is done” (p.8).

Every single film, magazine, radio show and popular song is exactly the same as every other one (p.1). They are all just rearrangements of meaningless clichés – “the details are interchangeable” (p.3), they are “the stone of stereotype” (p.15). The apparent differences between them are illusionary marketing techniques to which we all slavishly conform (p.3).

The culture industry does not produce anything worthwhile. All films, magazines and radio shows are “rubbish” (p.1), and intended to be rubbish:

“The truth that they are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish they deliberately produce.” (p.1)

The fact that dominant members of the culture industry are paid so much money is proof that their work has no social value:

“when their directors’ incomes are published, any doubt about the social utility of the finished products is removed.” (p. 1)

People think films show real life as it genuinely is (p.4). This is used to brainwash people by showing them the futility of resistance and the value of conformity (p.10). All the characters are the same in order to make movies easy to understand. All plots in all movies show that there is no real chance of improving one’s lot in society and that one should accept one’s place, that only blind chance offers any possibility of improvement (p.11).

The introduction of sound into movies has destroyed people’s ability to resist this brainwashing because sound in a movie overwhelms the audience and prevents them from thinking or reflecting on what they are watching (p.4, p.14). Furthermore, people have been pre-programmed to react in certain ways and so could never react genuinely anyway (p.4). Cartoons are also representative of real life (p.10). The constant extreme violence seen in cartoons is a warning to the audience that this is what will happen to them if they resist capitalism (p.10). If we closed all cinemas and radio stations, only stupid people (“the slow-witted” [p. 10]) would miss them.

People are no longer individuals, but mere “pseudo individuals” (p. 18). They are now “merely centres where the general tendencies meet” (p.18). Mass culture has made the individual “fictious” (p.18). The competitiveness in capitalist society destroys genuine human friendship and makes everyone “virtually a Nazi” (p.18). The use of first names between people is part of the destruction of the individual. The family name provides individuality by linking a person to his history. When people call each other by their first names genuine friendship becomes impossible (p.23).

The culture industry populates the inner world of people by making them believe the existing social order can satisfy all their desires and needs, by dictating what those needs are, and by terrorising people with fear of the violent consequences which would befall them, the least of which is destitution and exclusion, were they to resist (p.1, p.17). Everyone’s attitudes, interests and beliefs are all the same, all dictated to them by the culture industry and enforced through social pressure (p.16, p.17). What people take to be their characteristics of individuality are, in fact, nothing more than meaningless and minor variations overlaying and disguising complete uniformity (p.16). All this is done to keep people submissive to elite capitalist masters (p.16). People think they like this system and that they are happy, but they are wrong. In reality they dislike this system and are suffering, but have been so mentally dominated by capitalism they don’t realise their own unhappiness (p.17).

Jazz has no cultural merit, but is just “stylized barbarity” (p.5). The effect of jazz is to destroy culture (p.5, p.17). It lacks a harmonious arrangement of parts and therefore cannot contain objective truth in the manner of works by composers such as Mozart (p.17). Popular music is littered with appalling musical mistakes (“gross blunders” [p.9]) which we cannot recognise because popular music lacks any standards (p.9).

The culture industry is corrupt because it is dedicated to pleasure (p.12). All joy and value has been removed from personal leisure. Leisure is now a form of work which no one enjoys. It is instead profoundly boring. This is because the leisure industry does not allow people to make any mental effort (p.11) because “the liberation which amusement promises is freedom from thought” (p. 11). This is made worse by a focus on having fun, because laughter and fun prevent happiness. This is because “moments of happiness are without laughter” and “delight is austere” (p. 11). In the words of Adorno & Horkheimer “laughter is a disease which has attacked happiness” (p. 11) and “in the culture industry, jovial denial takes the place of the pain found in ecstasy” (p.11). As a result leisure now promotes resignation and submission to capitalist domination (p.12).

Art’s purpose, from Romanticism to Expressionism, was to rebel against existing social structures as a “vehicle of protest” (p. 3). The culture industry has destroyed this by not believing that art can convey truth (p. 6). Mechanical reproduction of art destroys its beauty because it “leaves no room for that unconscious idolatry which was once essential to beauty” (p.11). It is against the function of art to be cheaply or widely accessible. The commercial sale of art has made the commodity value of art obvious, whereas before this value was hidden. Previously, art’s main social function was to offer a counter-cultural construct. This was possible because art evolves independently of social forces. Its truths therefore represent alternatives to the truths of the dominating social structures (p.20). Cheap and affordable art destroys society because it is available to everyone (p.21). Here we see Benjamin’s concept that the hand-created artwork possesses a mystical aura which is lost when the object is mechanically reproduced (Benjamin 1936). The correspondence between Adorno and Benjamin has been described as “one of the most significant in the history of neo-Marxist literature” (Buck-Morss 1977: 139). Indeed, it was Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction which prompted the writing of The Culture Industry (Andre 1979).

When art was expensive, people took it seriously. The cost made people engage deeply with it and it exercised moral restraint on them. Making art freely available debases it and removes its truth value (p.21). This represents an “abolition of educational privilege” (p.21) However, this does not open previously exclusive spheres to the masses, it merely results in the decay of education. The masses lack the education to appreciate the genuine artistic products presented to them by modern art (p. 21).

The Culture Industry also addresses the impact of advertising and its effect on language, plus a few other points which I have ignored as they are tangential to the central themes.

Critique

As indicated, I do not intend to address its philosophical premises, such as Marxism, except to note that a Marxist perspective does not automatically lead to that expressed in The Culture Industry (Baugh 1990, Gartman 2012). I will therefore commence with analysis of the methodology, according to the standards of the Frankfurt School itself, as laid down by Horkheimer (1993).

Horkheimer and Adorno had each laid down a requirement that philosophy and social science work together (Horkheimer 1993, Muller-Doohm 2004), but there is no social science in this work. One of the central propositions in The Dialectic of Enlightenment is that quantitative research is misleading and invalid. However, there are qualitative forms of social research available such as interviews, life stories and oral histories. Any of these would have been in keeping with the methodology Horkheimer advocated.

On these grounds, on the grounds laid down by the authors themselves, the work is methodologically sub-standard.

There is a complete lack of argumentation or any effort to explain or justify the propositions of which the chapter consists. Not only is no evidence provided, no attempt is made to justify any of the propositions in the chapter (Rose 1979). As was the case with quantitative research, a traditional syllogistic argumentative structure would be against the central thrust of the work. However, some argumentation is essential to provide justification for their positions. If we do away with all argumentation, knowledge is not possible, only statements of opinion. In the absence of reasons for holding a particular proposition, no debate or understanding is possible; one either accepts the statement because they already believed it, or one doesn’t. On this basis we cannot accept The Culture Industry as a work of philosophy, but rather as nothing more than a loosely connected set of personal opinions, lacking evidence or reasoning. At best it is a political position statement. At worst it is mere intellectualisation of narrow-minded cultural prejudice.

More substantially, The Culture Industry fails to demonstrate why capitalism must produce this state of affairs, why capitalism cannot produce any other state of affairs, or how this is different from societies not dominated by capitalism. It has been argued, for example, that Adorno’s understanding of capitalism was hampered by his lack of serious investigation into non-capitalist societies (Jarvis 1998). A Marxist analysis does not have to lead to the conception of culture described in The Culture Industry. For example, Pierre Bourdieu’s analysis of culture, particularly the differences between “high art” and “popular art” is founded on a Marxist perspective, yet reaches almost diametrically opposing views (Gartman 2011).

The conception of the human is also highly problematic, and potentially contradictory. Adorno, in particular, was a Freudian (Whitebook 2004, Jarvis 1998, Witkin 2003, Zuidervaart 2011). Freud’s psychodynamics postulate a complex of processes and structures inherent within the human being through which social influences are mediated. Furthermore, the Freudian account of ego-formation gives primacy to the family environment, especially relations with the parents, while social factors come a far distant second and then only via the mediation of the family (Freud 1976). Under a Freudian account, the human is not, then, a blank and neutral space allowing capitalism free reign. Adorno and Horkheimer cannot be consistent with Freud unless they provide an account which explains how capitalist thought overwhelms and dominates these inherent dynamics.

Possibly the most important criticism lies in the aesthetic dimension. Let us leave aside the issue of whether art can be assessed according to objective criteria, or whether it is possible for a musical style to contain “mistakes.” As with Marxism, these are bracketed foundational premises. Firstly, the conception of art, especially classical music, as being revolutionary or as resisting the existing social structure, is not supported by historical evidence. For example, Mozart’s The Magic Flute was written for, and first performed in, Theater auf der Wieden, a popular, commercially-oriented, theatre in Vienna. This was not emancipatory or revolutionary art, but merely popular entertainment for the masses. Rather than rebel against the existing order, it is replete with Enlightenment philosophy popular at the time and argues in favour of monarchy (Fisher 2001). At the other end of the social spectrum, music has been known to serve as an elitist identifier which serves to reinforce the position of the dominating elite. For example, membership of The Anacreaontic Society, a popular, but private, musical club active in London in the late 1700’s, was considered a marker of social status. Members included the Prince of Wales and leading nobility and it was understood at the time that membership conveyed elevated social rank (McVeigh 2012). Whether there have been some artists who have sought to produce art which offers emancipatory functions is, for our purposes, irrelevant. What the two examples provided here demonstrate is that art cannot be said to always or necessarily serve an emancipatory role. The Culture Industry’s binary division of emancipatory historical art in opposition with imprisoning low art of today thus collapses.

Perhaps the most fundamental criticism of The Culture Industry relates to the contention that all output of the culture industry is the same, nothing more than the rearrangement of a limited set of clichés. I think, as many others do, this is simply the cultural prejudice of someone who cannot read a foreign culture. We all have to learn how to understand art. There is nothing inherent or natural about classical music, as Adorno and Horkheimer indicate when they refer to the need for education in order to understand art. Jazz is not to be judged by the standards of classical music, but by the standards of jazz. Any language, and any communicative system, works by recombining a limited set of components, in speech – syllables, in writing – letters, in both – words. Applying Adorno and Horkheimer’s “sameness” would lead to a position that all writing is the same because it is merely a rearrangement of the same old 26 letters. Unless we understand the components from which a communication is constructed, we lack the foundation necessary to understand the communicative event itself. Most art works in this way, through a combination of pre-existing elements and a reflective dialog of similarity and difference which plays against the audience’s past experiences and expectations (Lucy 2001, Silverman 1983). Film is an especially complex artistic product, and relies upon many conventions understood by the audience, which were never natural and had to be learned (Buckland 2000). When Adorno and Horkheimer contest that sound in movies makes it impossible to reflect on the content, they are not making a universally valid analysis, merely indicating they grew up on silent movies, and have not developed the skills for “talkies”. The introduction of sound into film was disruptive of cinematic understanding for many people and for many years (Perkins 1993).

An alternative interpretation is that what we have here is one cultural group (Adorno & Horkheimer’s) contesting with another for domination of the cultural field. Such contestation takes place when one cultural group seeks to disvalue or invalidate the status of the cultural practices of the other group. What is being contested is not the content of the practices, but the attributions of value and social status which society accords them. This is surely obvious when they insist the practice of calling people by their first names renders true friendship impossible. This is nothing more than the more formal German society rejecting the more informal American society.

Cultural differences may well account for many of the concerns Adorno and Horkheimer express with American culture. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory identifies six values by which to define culturally-derived personality characteristics; individualism versus collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy), task orientation versus person-orientation, long-term orientation and indulgence versus self-restraint (Hofstede 1991). By 2004 Hofstede’s work has been cited in over 20,000 works (House 2004). The dominating methodology within inter-cultural research, it has been used for many international studies. There is a consistent finding that Germany and the United States are strongly different in the dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, indulgence versus self-restraint and individualism versus collectivism (House, 2004). As high uncertainty avoidance society, Germans tend to preferences for specialist experts, the view that there is only one true interpretation of any issue, grand unifying theories, ideological intolerance, discomfort with not being productively occupied and a greater propensity to regard the average person as uninformed. By contrast, as a low uncertainty avoidance society, US citizens are more likely to tolerate multiple competing interpretations and ideologies, minimising work in favour of leisure, relativism, and a preference for generalists over experts. As a more collectivist society than the USA, Germans are more likely to see identity as deriving from family and social networks, whereas Americans are more likely to see identity as residing in one’s distinguishing personal characteristics and achievements. These characteristics are generally shared by all countries speaking the same language (Hofstede 1991, House 2004). Scope forbids more detailed exploration of the differences, but it is apparent from the above that many of Adorno and Horkheimer’s reactions to the American culture industry can potentially be attributed to nothing more than a clash of cultures.

Adorno and Horkheimer indicate that it requires education to derive moral benefit from art, but that such education cannot be given to the masses. This is the primary focus for criticism served on them from within the Marxist camp. The consequence of their position is that one needs to be a member of a limited elite in order to achieve emancipation from capitalism; that liberation is impossible for ordinary people. This requires a stratified society in which a hyper-educated elite live in liberation above an oppressed majority, exactly the sort of society Marxism is supposed to oppose (Baugh 1990)., though perhaps reminiscent of the worst aspects of Soviet socialism. Marxist philosopher, Bruce Baugh, goes so far in his paper, Left-Wing Elitism: Adorno on Popular Culture (Baugh 1990), as to suggest that the presence of such a view within Adorno and Horkheimer’s work is not emancipatory, but is rather another example of capitalist domination:

If mass consciousness is so corrupted that it is beyond the power of art to transform it, there is nothing to indicate that the corruption of consciousness is any less grave among the elite, even though it may take a different form. Indeed, there is nothing as indicative of one’s having been conditioned by late capitalist ideology as the belief that one’s intellectual knowledge of the system liberates one from the constraints of such conditioning. (Baugh 1990, p.76)

Finally, we will conclude by bringing the work into the modern context. Even if we accept it as it is, we are required to ask to what degree it is applicable today. Here the rise of the prosumer and of collaborative capitalism become problematic. A prosumer is someone who both consumes and produces (Curran 2004). Youtube videos are prosumer products, as is Wikipedia, all of Facebook, Twitter, and much of EBay. The rise of the prosumer indicates the domination of the masses by a limited capitalist elite is not the only possible form of capitalism. The popularity of Youtube, now the media of choice, a complete alternative to TV for an entire generation, is evidence that even the culture industry need not be a top-down dominating system. Prosumers are also the driving force within collaborative capitalism, a newly emerging form currently seeing accelerated growth with the rise of 3D printing (Curran 2014). Collaborative capitalism works on low-margin limited production by individuals for direct sale (or barter) to other individuals (Curran 2014). Thus history has shown there is nothing in capitalism which requires that it produce only the forms described in Adorno and Horkheimer’s The Culture Industry. Quite the reverse, the massive profits generated by Facebook and Youtube and the rise of collaborative capitalism have demonstrated through the laboratory of history that it is possible for capitalism to exist very happily in a world where the products of the Culture Industry are produced by the masses themselves and people consume products obtained outside the dominating economic institutions.

Conclusions

The positive reception to The Culture Industry amongst Marxists indicates the descriptions it offers conform with pre-existing Marxist prejudices. Since no evidence or argumentation is presented, there is no mechanism by which one who is not in agreement can be swayed. As such, the work can do little more than crystallise or confirm pre-existing perspectives and reactions to modern society. The work is therefore of interest as a summary of popular left-wing attitudes to American mid-twentieth century culture. As we have seen, there is much evidence to suggest it is not so much a Marxist analysis as a clash of cultures, and this critique is commonly made. Furthermore, where the implications of key points are investigated the work emerges as accepting both Marxist and anti-Marxist perspectives. Indeed, it is the lack of argumentation which conceals this internal inconsistency. The work is not consistent with its Freudian premises any more than it is consistent with its Marxist premises. Thus, even if we accept the premises behind the work, as we have, The Culture Industry still emerges as highly problematic. Perhaps even more tellingly, capitalist developments in the 21st century have shown that there is no inevitable necessity to the cultural forms described in The Culture Industry. For these reasons, there may be a better use for The Culture Industry than treating as a work of social or philosophical thought. Instead, the primary value lies in treating it as a work of sociological research – a qualitative account of the perceptions of, and reactions to, mid-20th Century US culture by upper-echelon German émigrés.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrae, Thomas, (1979), ‘Adorno on film and mass culture: The culture industry reconsidered’, Jumpcut (20), 34 – 37.

Baugh, Bruce, (1990) ‘Left-Wing Elitism: Adorno on Popular Culture’, Philosophy and Literature (14:1), 65 – 78.

Benjamin, Walter, (1936), ‘Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit’, Zeitschrift für Sozialforschung (V), 44 – 68.

Berendzen, J.C., (2013) ‘Horkheimer’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Online).

Bohman, James, (2005) ‘Critical Theory’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Online).

Buck-Morss, Susan. (1977). The Origin of Negative Dialectics: Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and the Frankfurt Institute. (New York: The Free Press).

Buckland, Warren, (2003), Cognitive Semiotics of Film, (New York: Cambridge University Press).

Curran, James (2004), ‘Reinterpreting the Internet’, In. Misunderstanding the Internet, by J. Curran, N. Fenton & D. Freedman, (Abingdon: Routledge)

Fisher, Burton, (2001), Mozart’s The Magic Flute, (Miami: Opera Classics Library Series).

Freud, Sigmund, (1976), The Ego and the Id, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company).

Gartman, David, (2012), ‘Bourdieu and Adorno: Converging theories of culture and inequality’, Theory and Society (41:1), 41 – 72

Hammermeister, Kai. (2002) The German Aesthetic Tradition, (London: Cambridge University Press)

Hofstede, Geert, (1991), Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, (London: McGraw-Hill)

Horkheimer, Max, (1982) Critical Theory, New York: Seabury Press.

Horkheimer, Max, (1993) ‘The Present Situation of Social Philosophy and the Tasks of an Institute for Social Research’, In Between Philosophy and Social Science: Selected Early Writings Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, translated by G. Hunter, M. Kramer & J. Torpey, (London: MIT Press)

House, R.J. et al. (eds.), (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. (Thousand Oaks: Sage).

Jarvis, Simon, (1998), Adorno, (Cambridge: Polity Press)

Lucy, Niall, (2001), Beyond Semiotics : Text, Culture and Technology, (London: Continuum International Publishing)

McMahon, Jennifer, (2013) Art & Ethics in a Material World: Kant’s Pragmatist Legacy, (London:Routledge)

McVeigh, Simon (2012), ‘Trial by Dining Club: The Instrumental Music of Hayden, Clementi and Mozart at London’s Anacreontic Society, In Music and Performance Culture in 19th Century Britain, edited by Bennett Zon, (Farnham: Ashgate Publishing)

Morizot, Jacques (2013), ‘18th Century French Aesthetics’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Online)

Müller-Doohm, Stefan, (2004), ‘The Critical Theory of Society as Reflexive Sociology’, In The Cambridge Companion to Adorno (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Ollman, Bertell, (1976) Alienation: Marx’s Conception of Man in Capitalist Society 2nd ed., (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Perkins, V.F., (1993) Film as Film, (Cambridge: Da Capo Press)

DAINOW: Frankfurt meets Holywood: Adorno and Horkheimer’s “The Culture Industry”

Rose, Gillian, (1979), The Melancholy Science: An Introduction to the Thought of Theodor W. Adorno, (New York: Columbia University Press)

Sayers, Sean, (1998), Marxism and Human Nature, (London: Routledge)

Shelley, James, (2010), ‘18th Century British Aesthetics’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Online)

Silverman, Kaja, (1983), The Subject of Semiotics, (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

Whitebook, Joel, (2004), ‘Weighty Objects: On Adorno’s Kant-Freud Interpretation’, In The Cambridge Companion to Adorno (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

Witkin, Robert W., (2003), Adorno on Popular Culture, (New York: Routledge)

Zuidervaart, Lambert, (2011) ‘Theodor W. Adorno’ in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

#adorno #horkheimer #max horkheimer #theodor adorno

0 notes

douchebagbrainwaves · 7 years

Text

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT PERSON

In fact, when we funded Airbnb, we thought it was too crazy. That's one advantage of being small: you can tell that by the number of Indians in the current Silicon Valley are all too aware of the shortcomings of the INS, but there's little they can do about this problem, without waiting for the government. So if you're going to optimize a number, the one to choose is your growth rate to compensate. This is an astounding number, because I wrote an essay then about how they were less dangerous than they seemed. Angels are individual rich people. But even factoring in their annoying eccentricities, the disobedient attitude of hackers is a net win for founders, who have nothing, would prefer a 100% chance of $1 million. If anyone could have sat back and waited for users, it was a lot of hand-wringing now about declining market share.1 If I'm right, hacker will mean something different in twenty years than it does now. Kenneth Clark is the best nonfiction writer I know of one startup that got funded this way. A lot of startups, because they seem so ridiculous by contrast. And I found the best way to do business.

Most firms also have a provisional roadmap of how to succeed. Sometimes, like a VC.2 The irony of Galileo's situation was that he did so many different styles. We take these for granted now. Inexperienced founders make the same mistake when trying to convince investors of something very uncertain—that their startup will be huge—and convincing anyone of something like that must obviously entail some wild feat of salesmanship. When I read about the harassment to which the Scientologists subject their critics, or that people in Padua were ten feet tall. But don't give them much money either. Second, I do it because it's good for the brain. Increasingly, the brains and thus the value of information, it will show up there. Facebook stopped being for Harvard students. But while Microsoft did really well and there is thus a temptation to think they would have seemed by the standards of the desktop world. There's a whole essay's worth of surprises there for sure.

Gone were the mumbling recitations of lists of features. When she turned to see what had happened, she found the steps were all different heights. Always be questioning. But in fact when you raise money you're trying to do in hardware. I wrote about what I called a huge, unexploited opportunity in startup funding: the growing disconnect between VCs, whose current business model requires them to invest large amounts, the money comes with more restrictions.3 It's hard to imagine what it would make the legislator who introduced the bill famous.4 Ironically, Microsoft unintentionally helped create Ajax.5 The second big element of Web 2. 4 million a month to the rapacious founder's $2 million. At first I tried rules. The fashion for the name Gary began when the actor Frank Cooper adopted the name of a conference yet? Startup founder is not the sort of person who gets demoralized easily.

In this case, you trade decreased financial risk for increased risk that your company won't succeed as a startup. Procrastination feeds on distractions.6 I told him not to worry about that, but probably hurts. As long as things are going smoothly, boards don't interfere much. The defining quality seems to be a board member to give. And if you want to notice things that seem wrong. In fact, Copernicus was a canon of a cathedral, and dedicated his book to the pope. No one would dispute that he's one of the preceding five sources. A lot of my friends are starting to have a low valuation. Klee and Calder.

A new concept of variables.7 The famously rigid labor laws hurt every company, but startups especially, because startups have the least time to spare for bureaucratic hassles. This is demoralizing, but it would have died anyway. Sam Altman of Loopt is one of the preceding five sources.8 When you demo, don't run through a catalog of features.9 When you see your career as a series of historical accidents the teaching of writing was inherited by English professors.10 I'd heard Steve Jobs had cancer.

Notes

Similarly, don't worry about the millions of dollars a year of focused work plus caring a lot of people we need to know how many computers the worm infected, because they can't hire highly skilled people to work on a seed investment in you, they'll have big bags of cumin for the founders chose? My guess is the kind of protection is one problem where rapid prototyping doesn't work. Some genuinely aren't. I think this is certainly part of their time and get nothing.

This technique wouldn't work for the most important information about competitors is what the startup is taking the Facebook that might be tempted, but those specific abuses. Giving away the razor and making money on the aspect they see and say that's not directly exposed to competitive pressure.

But it's a hip flask. Some of the corpora. Looking at the mercy of investors are just not super thoughtful for the coincidence that Greg Mcadoo, our sense of the fake. This kind of secret about the paperwork there, and partly because it doesn't cost anything.

If Ron Conway had angel funds starting in the startup eventually becomes. If you can base brand on anything with it, there are certain qualities that help in that so many of the bizarre consequences of this article are translated into Common Lisp seems to have discovered something intuitively without understanding all its implications. If big companies could dominate through economies of scale. One advantage startups have over established companies is that there are no misunderstandings.

But becoming a Texas oilman was not something big companies, but I couldn't believe it, this would be a win to do this all the best in the middle class first appeared in northern Italy and the first duty of the next investor. Letter to the founders' salaries to the traditional peasant's diet: they hoped they were supposed to be is represented by Milton. Many think successful startup founders tend to work late at night to make more money chasing the same energy and honesty that fifteenth century European art. As Jeremy Siegel points out, they could then tell themselves that they lived in a startup with debt is little different from technology companies.

To do this right you'd have to want them; you don't know how many computers the worm infected, because Julian got 10% of the previous round.

But the time they're fifteen the kids are probably not far from the late Latin tripalium, a market price, they sometimes describe it as a game, Spacewar, in writing, and partly simple ignorance. He adds: Paul Buchheit adds: I remember are famous flops like the outdoors?

Trevor Blackwell, who adds the cost can be more likely to coincide with other investors. But that doesn't lose our data. In practice it's more like your brother?

Later we added two more modules, an image generator and the editor, written in C and C, and a list of n things seems particularly collectible because it's a departure from the success of Skype. Ideas are one step upstream from economic power, in the classical world meant training landowners' sons to speak well enough to guarantee good effects. Hypothesis: Any plan in which you are listing in order to make the police in the median tag is just knowing the right way. I'd use to connect through any ISP, every technophobe in the case.

I never watch movies in theaters anymore.

0 notes

nihilwrites · 7 years

Text

Advanced Writing In the Technical Professions - Portfolio

This was a terribly boring class but I wrote a lot for it so I’m going to archive it on this blog anyway. These are just the final drafts.

Reflective Essay

Introduction

Throughout this term I participated in writing workshops and revision processes to produce four polished papers related to a topic in my field. In this final reflective essay, I discuss the learning goals achieved and the success of the final drafts for each paper individually. The workshops throughout the term helped me to refine my topic, practice writing conventions, and plan my work. The instructor and peer feedback helped me to improve my writing for the four main assignments with each revision. The topic I initially chose to write on was "Virtual Reality," and this topic was narrowed, refined,and refocused throughout the term, according to assignment prompts and feedback.

Discourse Analysis

For the first assignment, we had to analyze discourse in our field. I wrote about the Consumer Electronics Discourse community. I thought it would be good to write about the field I am currently working in, since that is what I know best. I wrote about popular sources, and emphasized the fact that academic discourses were outside my field and had very little bearing on my professional life. However, in future assignments I had to delve into the academic discourse anyway, because my field does not have many "scholarly sources" by English writing standards.

The feedback on this paper was mostly that it was too general. The first part of the article was an overview of the field and the genres in the field. I thought that this called for general writing on the field, since that is what an overview means to me. I also thought that I included sufficient specific examples to meet the goals of the assignment. According to the assignment document, "The idea behind this assignment is to get you thinking about how people in your field communicate in writing – a look at your profession’s discourse community." Even if my final result was still not specific enough, I believe that my overview met that core learning goal. As for the learning goal, "write both to learn and to communicate what [I] learn," I think that I achieved that with my writing process. This assignment prompted me to do a lot of research and reflection, and then convey my findings in writing.

Upon further reflection, the second part of the assignment, an in-depth analysis of a website, could have used more examples. For some assertions, I provided justification directly, as in "The website also has a collaborative aspect, as demonstrated by the sentence…" But I did not provide sufficient evidence for my analysis of the audience. And for some other things, I simply provided a description and expected the audience to draw their own conclusions, which was not what this assignment called for.

Before submitting the final draft, I read through the bulleted list at the end of the assignment to make sure I was fulfilling all the requirements. This included, among other things, "Effectively identify modes of writing in the profession," "Use sufficient examples," and "Be sufficiently developed." With the exception of the citation requirement, all of these are very subjective methods of evaluation. My definition of "sufficient" was clearly not sufficient. If I could revise this paper again, I would add specific supporting evidence for every bit of analysis, and justify every description I give. I tried to improve this in my next essays.

Public Writing

The article I chose to write for the public writing assignment directly relates to the discourse community I discussed in my first paper. With this assignment I think that I fully met the learning goals of "practice critical reading strategies" and "negotiate [my] writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and situation." I did a lot of research on the conventions of my chosen genre, building on my research that I began with the first paper. I looked at many online op-eds, explainer articles, and tech reviews to make my decisions.

This assignment also gave me the opportunity to explore my own personal learning goals. Going into this class, I wanted to practice a form of writing that would be relevant to my career. Given that this class is "Advanced Writing in the Technical Professions," I wanted to practice writing for my profession. This sort of public writing is something I could pursue further, so I was happy to have the chance to study it.

After getting some peer reviews on my first draft, I edited the content of my essay before submitting my version with formatting. Then, after reading the instructor feedback on draft 1 and peer feedback on draft 2, I made further revisions. I had some email correspondence with Professor Balestraci, and made significant efforts to revise the essay to fit those recommendations. All three drafts are included in the reflective portfolio. By taking the advice of my Instructor and peers, I think that I was able to make the most draft-to-draft improvement with this assignment. I took the learning goal of using peer and instructor advice very seriously all term, but I think I achieved it best in this assignment.

Literature Review

In my first paper, I clearly said that academic papers had nothing to do with my own field. So, for this assignment I had to step away from my own personal learning goals and look at a discourse that was of less interest to me. The technology research was still useful and relevant, but the writing styles were not something I would seek to emulate.

Again, I had the problem of not being specific enough. Again, I thought that my writing was "sufficiently" specific. However, I still received criticism that my statements were too vague. Between the first and second draft, I tried my hardest to improve the deductive organization, as was recommended. I do think that this improved for some sections, but I struggled to identify the "main point" of each paper, because each paper itself was trying to stay objective and not make any claim, assertion, or recommendation.

I also got the critique that my summaries "lean toward description rather than summary." I spent a while reflecting on why it might come across this way. I tended to phrase things as "The authors state...." or "They tested the levels…" rather than directly summarizing the information that the authors presented. This gave the impression that I was describing the paper, rather than the information in the paper. I did this because I did not wish to present the authors' statements as facts, but rather as simply statements that the author made (true or not).

The revision notes for this assignment said, "The purpose of Unit Two is to provide an overview of the discourse among professionals in your field, surrounding your specific topic or issue." I don't actually think that this is what my paper achieved. An overview is defined as "a general review or summary of a subject." This paper was more like a taster of the sort of papers you might find on this topic, but was by no means a general review of the subject. I struggled to identify a real purpose for this paper at all. The conclusion I chose for this paper was "Widespread usage and gathering of statistics, as with the "In the wild" experiment by Anthony Steed et al. [4] will yield more convincing results." It was useful to consider this idea in the context of the discourse, and strongly influenced my thesis for my next paper.

The learning goals that I focused on in this assignment were "generate and pursue lines of inquiry and search, collect, and select sources" and "effectively use and appropriately cite sources." Collecting appropriate sources was a big challenge for me with this assignment, but I eventually found some using the Northeastern Library database that proved to be useful for this assignment and the next one.

Recommendation Report

I thought that I had a good recommendation, and it is one I really believe could be effective. The learning goals I focused on were "formulate and articulate a stance through and in [my] writing" and "use multiple forms of evidence to support [my] claims, ideas, and arguments." Unlike the other assignments, this paper had the clear purpose of convincing a certain group to adopt my recommendation. I used evidence to articulate a stance and argue my point.

Despite my best efforts, I still got the feedback that I should be more thorough and detailed. I found it difficult to be thorough in such a short report. I significantly narrowed the scope of my topic between the first and the second draft, which helped a lot, but there was still a lot to work with. If I got too into detail on one pillar of evidence, then I didn't have room to address the other necessary arguments. I think that this recommendation could have been much more detailed with another 1500 words. If I continued the revision process with more drafts, I probably would have been able to refine the topic even further, creating a more focused recommendation. As stated in the instructor feedback, I could have focused just on the aspect of the legal benefits of company-funded safety research, and directed it at just one company.

Peer Reviews

One of the core learning goals for this class was to provide revision-based response to peers. I think that I fully delivered on this goal. I enjoyed reading the work of my peers and made an effort to turn in timely, thoughtful responses. I also took every opportunity to write additional reviews for extra credit. Over the course of the term, I found some student's reviews to be much more helpful than others in revising my own work, so I always strove to provide useful feedback to others. I also took inspiration from other students' writing and applied it toward my own revisions.

Conclusion

For the final learning goal, which is to reflect on writing processes and self-assess as writers, the above reflective essay is evidence of that achievement. Over the course of the term, I took peer and instructor feedback as well as general revision notes into account while gradually editing and improving each of my drafts. I learned how to refine my topic and use sources to support my arguments in writing. I now have a better understanding of the discourse and writing conventions in my professions and related professions, and I will continue to apply these learning achievements to my writing going forward.

The Consumer Electronics Discourse Community

This essay explores the topic of Discourse within the field of computer engineering and the consumer electronics industry. Computer engineering encompasses many fields and many discourse communities. The consumer product development aspect of the field is very different from the academic world. The academic side of this field involves a lot of cutting edge research, facilitated by universities, governments, and private research institutions. The goal of this research is to expand the limits of human knowledge and capability, as is the case with most scientific endeavors. This is a discourse I am engaged with as a student, especially when I am given opportunities to do research with my professors. This is not the field I plan to work in for my career, though.

My field is consumer electronics, which are any electronics that are made for personal non-commercial use. When working in the industry, research is not a goal, but a tool. The goal is to create a product, and hopefully a profit. There are of course many breakthroughs and advancements that happen within the for-profit sphere, and popular demand often motivates research. Most of the technology that goes into a smartphone would not be possible if not for the advancements made within the academic world, but without a profitable market for the end product, the technology would not be advancing as fast as it is. Computer engineers work on anything with a processor. This could mean smartphones, tablets, cameras, game consoles, or of course computers. But it could also mean toys, traffic lights, dishwashers, medical devices, or thermostats. Almost anything that lights up or goes ding needed computer engineering at some point in its development. I may work with any of these things in my career, but "Consumer electronics" refers only to the items in the first list.

It would be difficult to discuss both academic and consumer discourses as if they were one, even though they require similar educations. The most important and distinctive separator between these worlds is secrecy. Academic discourse is primarily based on publishing discoveries for general consumption. This open exchange of knowledge is crucial. Research is published in academic articles and presented to peers at academic conferences. These publications are often freely available for any interested party to read. The audience of these papers is intended to be other academics and researchers, as well as developers who may want to take those ideas and use them to create a marketable product. The progression of research, write, publish, and present defines the discourse community of academic computer engineering.

The development of products, however, calls for secrecy and extensive intellectual property clauses. Within a company, or between partner companies, knowledge is shared only as needed in order to get a product to market. There are always competitors who would use any shared knowledge to their advantage. Companies do not publish their detailed schematics and code. Instead, they publish data sheets with only the need-to-know information. If a product, like a circuit board, is intended for use within the industry, a data sheet and short user manual will likely be all of the documentation that exists on the product. This information may or may not be available to the public, depending on the goals of the company, but they will of course be trying to keep their most important information secret from their competitors. The extent of this secrecy can be seen every time Apple releases a new product. A huge number of people work on developing the product, but we do not see any immediate knockoffs on the market, because the details of the product have not been released.

The consumer electronics industry does not produce academic papers. Their discourse revolves around other written and audio-visual texts, such as data and specification sheets, developer guides, user manuals, promotional videos, advertisements, and technology reviews. Most of the things I listed are what the company who owns the product releases. They are intended to get people to buy their product and show the public what their product can do. That alone is not a discourse, though, because it would be entirely one-sided. Technology reviews and user comments are the response to products. Reviews and comments on seller websites, like Amazon, are often written both for the benefit of other potential buyers and as a direct response to the manufacturers and distributors. Finally, There are many websites that are dedicated to analyzing and reviewing the latest technology, and this makes up a large part of the discourse in this field.

One such technology review website is TechRadar. This a popular website that is often one of the first results when you search for the "best ____" in just about any consumer electronics category. They are a reliable source for all the latest news in consumer technology. This website is one of several magazines owned by the larger company, Future PLC. On their corporate website they state, "We cover everything from lifestyle gadgets to auto-tech, bringing our audience the latest developments in phones, computing, tablets, wearables and more. Our tech coverage is followed and trusted by millions globally – whether they’re visiting sites like techradar.com and T3.com for breaking stories, or enjoying in-depth insight from market-leading specialist publications such as MacFormat and Maximum PC."[1] The latter two are print magazines, and are significantly less popular than the more up-to-date online review sites.

Printed texts, as opposed to electronically published ones, are nearly obsolete in an industry like consumer electronics that moves ahead so quickly. TechRadar is able to publish an article or announcement of a product just minutes after it is announced. Tech reviews have to come out early and often in order to keep up with the release of new products. They have to publish a new top 10 list every season, at least, in addition to the individual product reviews and breaking news that they churn out constantly.

At the time of writing, doing a google search of "best tablets 2017" actually returned two separate articles from TechRadar[2] [3]. They were written by different authors several weeks apart, and have a slightly different ranking, but with mostly the same devices included. TechRadar is constantly trying to provide the most relevant and up-to-date information, in order to edge out the competition. They stop other websites from replacing them in the most relevant search results by rapidly trying to replace their own articles. This is a hallmark of discourse in the community. Releasing the next model (or product, or review) promptly is as important as the quality. The hot new thing gets old very quickly, and the analysis of the hot new thing has to keep up.

Both articles, and many other articles on the site, are written in the same formulaic style, which makes the articles easy to understand and familiar. They have multiple authors writing for the website, but they can all produce similar content. At the bottom of each article is a brief and often comical "About the Author" along with an author picture which links to a list of their previous articles for the site, and links to their public social media accounts. This shows the sort of people who are involved with the discourse. The technology industry is younger than many other fields, and so are its primary contributors. There is usually a tone of excitement and casual charm in writing for consumer electronics, as opposed to the stiff and technical language of academic papers.

The articles on TechRadar are meant to be accessible, informative, and enjoyable. The website also has a collaborative aspect, as demonstrated by the sentence "Let us know your thoughts on the top 10 (and what order you think they should go in) in the comment box below." [2] [3] which was present in both Top Tablet articles. The articles are formatted so that a quick scan of the article will give you enough information for a comparison. Each product that they list includes a photo, the name and version of the product, a short tagline, a bullet list of pros and cons, important specifications like dimensions and battery life, a link to amazon where you can buy it, a link to a full review of the product, and a few sentences discussing the above info in more detail.

The audience in this case is people who intend to possibly buy one of these products in the near future, but it is also a good indicator to developers about how their product is being received. This top ten list is not just a reflection of the popularity of the products as they are, but can also influence public opinion. The discourse is multi-directional, with all participants building on each other's opinions. TechRadar caters to a wide audience of readers. People on the level of the authors, who are already knowledgeable, can get a lot out of the detailed reviews and comparisons, and know what specifications they are looking for in those lists. People with little to no knowledge of the products can still look at the list and accept the justification for what the top choice is, even if they don't understand every factor that goes into the ranking. There isn't much reason for someone who isn't interested in purchasing a product to look at an article like this, but if they were a frequent reader of the site for other tech news, a review like this could spark their interest in it.

Technology review sites like TechRadar are central to the consumer electronics discourse community. They consolidate all the limited available information about products into an easily digested form for potential buyers to peruse. They release news about new products as fast as they possibly can, in an easily sharable format. They allow consumers to make informed buying choices, and feed back into the development process by monitoring public opinion. As a sub-industry that drives and thrives on competition in the field, they have become a primary forum for critiquing, celebrating, and discussing consumer electronics.

References

[1] Future PLC, "Home - About,". [Online]. Available: http://www.futureplc.com/. Accessed: Jan. 31, 2017.

[2] G. Beavis, "The 10 best tablets you can buy in 2017," TechRadar, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://web.archive.org/web/20170131012153/http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/10-best-tablet-pcs-in-the-world-today-1079603. Accessed: Jan. 31, 2017.

[3] M. Swider, "The 10 best tablets you can buy in 2017," TechRadar, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://web.archive.org/web/20170131012349/http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/10-best-tablet-pcs-in-the-world-today-1113985. Accessed: Jan. 31, 2017.

Virtual Reality - A New Era?

Credit: Wareable

Wearable virtual reality goggles are a Hot Topic right now. Virtual Reality - in its simplest form - is the experience of viewing and possibly interacting with a three dimensional virtual world by wearing a head-mounted display. The basic technology has been around for years, and has been used with great success in certain fields, but recently there has been a huge boom in popular culture surrounding the idea. This renewed interest has led experts in the field to think we may be entering a New Era of VR products - but what sparked it?

Once Upon a Time

Like many other great inventions, this idea began in the minds of science fiction writers long before the technology was remotely possible. The first story that really explored the idea of virtual reality goggles was published in 1935 - making the concept of virtual reality about as old as the first programmable computer. The first head-mounted display with motion tracking, the precursor to all modern virtual reality goggles, was invented in the 60's. Since then, various VR systems have been developed for specific applications, including physical therapy, flight simulators, and simple video games. But until recently, the motion tracking lagged, the images were low quality, and there were very few programs to choose from. Despite the practical success of those early applications, the reality has been falling short of the incredible experience that lives in the minds of developers and the general public alike.

So what's changed?

Big Names, Better Tech

Computers, smartphones, gaming consoles, and more have all been improving at an incredible rate in the last decade. Virtual Reality is no exception. The first VR headset to have significant commercial success is the Oculus Rift, released in March 2016. If you don't know the company name Oculus, don't worry. They were acquired by Facebook in 2014, a few years after the initial Oculus Rift prototypes were produced, but long before the public release. The investment of a big-name company like Facebook gave consumers confidence that they would be buying a product that really delivered. Some games deliver more than others, but the best of them create the full VR experience that buyers had dreamed of. The images are high quality, the motion tracking is fast, and there are several truly impressive games to choose from. So far, the reviews have been great, but at $600 per headset, this particular video game experience is still out of reach for most of us.

Changing the Game

The real revolution in Virtual Reality Technology hits a different market entirely. Google Cardboard is a cheap accessory that starts at just $7.00. The Google Cardboard itself is a simple structure made out of – yes – cardboard, with a slot for a Smartphone and lenses for you to look through. Google even provides instructions for how you can make one yourself! Higher end versions use better lenses and more comfortable materials to enhance the experience, and can cost up to $70 on the Google Cardboard website. Anyone with a Smartphone now has the ability to access the latest VR experiences.

Credit: Stonybrook Innovation Lab

Using special VR apps on your phone, you can immerse yourself in a virtual world. Oculus Rift holds the market for high-quality VR gaming, but the market for simple phone apps has long since proven itself to be an innovative and lucrative area. With Google cardboard, it is easy for developers to create and release new games, giving more and more options for users. Anyone can come up with new ideas and concepts. Smartphones are now the most practical and accessible VR devices out there, and most of us already have them in our pockets.

If you've ever dreamed of exploring a fictional world first-hand, or wanted to step into one of Facebook's new 360 degree videos: Your time has come. Developers are coming up with new games and applications all the time, and you can download them to your smartphone right now. Google Street view exploration? Audio-visual immersive horror game? VR Noir - a virtual crime thriller adventure? There's an app for that. Welcome to the new Era.

References

[1] Michael B. Horn, "Virtual Reality Disruption," Education Next, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 82–83, 2016.

[2] Jakki O. Bailey and Jeremy N. Bailenson, "Considering virtual reality in children’s lives," Journal of Children and Media, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 107–113, Jan. 2017.

[3] Stephen Palmisano, Rebecca Mursic, and Juno Kim, "Vection and cybersickness generated by head-and-display motion in the Oculus Rift," Displays, vol. 46, pp. 1–8, Jan. 2017.

[4] J. Adam Jones, David M. Krum, and Mark T. Bolas, "Vertical field-of-view extension and walking characteristics in head-worn virtual environments," ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 1–17, Oct. 2016.

[5] Anthony Steed, et al., "An ‘In the Wild’ Experiment on Presence and Embodiment using Consumer Virtual Reality Equipment," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1406–1414, Apr. 2016.

[6] B.Brown, S.Reeves, andS.Sherwood "Into the wild: challenges and opportunities for field trial methods," Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1657–1666, 2011.

[7] Kathryn Y. Segovia and Jeremy N. Bailenson, "Virtually true: Children’s acquisition of false memories in virtual reality," Media Psychology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 371–393, Nov. 2009.

[8] B. O'Boyle, "What is VR? Virtual reality explained", Pocket-lint.com, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/136540-what-is-vr-virtual-reality-explained. [Accessed: 23- Mar- 2017].

[9] "History Of Virtual Reality", Virtual Reality Society. [Online]. Available: https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/history.html. [Accessed: 23- Mar- 2017].

Literature Review Final Draft

The discourse surrounding virtual reality (VR) headsets for mass consumption is rapidly evolving and expanding. VR development is in the field of consumer electronics, which are electronic devices that are developed for use at home, as opposed to commercial use. Virtual reality development intersects with other fields that it may benefit, including education and gaming. The technology is improving from month-to-month and it is a hot topic for innovators around the world. There are a lot of discussions about whether VR will become popular enough to be considered mainstream. Despite the rapid drop in cost and the increase of significant companies investing in development, there is still the question of technical feasibility. The technology as it exists now may not be enough to meet demands of safety and realistic immersion. Current papers and articles address the technical and social concerns that may be holding virtual reality back. There are numerous online articles and opinion pieces, as well as detailed scientific studies on various aspects of VR impact and experience. The technology cannot give the experience it is promising, and it may have unforeseen consequences for the user. This literature review discusses some of those papers and the ideas and controversies they address.

There are some social and cultural issues to consider regarding the feasibility of Virtual Reality technology. The article "Virtual Reality Disruption" by Michael B. Horn has the tagline "Will 3-D technology break through to the educational mainstream?" [1]. This article addresses the potential success of 3D VR technology in the specific field of Education. This has the potential to be a huge market for VR developers. Horn points out a few reasons why VR might succeed, and why it might fail, concluding that it is uncertain, but bringing up some important points nonetheless. The article starts by describing some reasons why the time may be ripe for VR HMDs in schools. First, the author gives some statistics showing that more and more schools are updating their internet systems, which is required for most VR applications. Second, the author describes some of the new, more affordable devices that are being rapidly developed and released. Since there is now major competition between big companies (Google vs. Facebook-owned Oculus) as well as more smaller providers entering the market, it seems increasingly likely that the technology will really take off soon. Next, the author talks about how there are now companies that are dedicated to making VR experiences for the purposes of education, as opposed to just gaming. Some specific examples of programs now in use or development include Google Street View for VR headsets, virtual field trips, empathy and diversity training, vocational training, and supporting students with psychological and cognitive disorders [1]. After explaining these hopeful signs of success, the author goes on to say, "This isn’t the first time educators have speculated that virtual reality would sweep through America’s classrooms in force." [1]. Early attempts in the late 1990's and early 2000's failed, and the popularity of the online game "Second Life" petered out after its peak in 2010. Horn also says that we do not actually know the effects that the technology could have on developing brains, as pointed out by other researchers. A study in 2009 showed that children had a hard time differentiating between events that happened in real life versus in a virtual reality simulation. The article concludes that there is hope and potential for the technology, but it may very well turn out to be all hype [1].

This is a brief article that only touches on important points and questions. It is intended to be an overview of the discourse and speculation, which it is. The article makes good use of numerical statistics at several points, but does not provide a list of references to support any claims. Overall, it is informative, but each point that was addressed merits more research and discussion on its own.

It is widely acknowledged that Education is one of the fields where virtual reality has the most potential to grow. However, in the article above, it is mentioned that the effects on children's development is currently unknown. Jakki O. Bailey and Jeremy N. Bailenson speculate on the effects of VR on children's lives in their article, "Considering virtual reality in children’s lives" [2]. The authors speak positively of the medical uses and behavioral training exercises that have been successfully implements already, but also give a word of caution that the psychological effects of immersive VR are unknown. The article explains many past VR experiences for children, and explains how the unique properties of VR facilitate the learning or rehabilitations.

There is an extensive references list at the end of the article, but it includes a lot of Bailenson's own writing from the past. Self referential arguments must be observed with some skepticism. The article does give a convincing overview of the capabilities of VR, while introducing concepts like "embodiment" and "avatars" to readers who are not familiar with the technical language surrounding virtual reality [2]. The article fills the gap in the discourse between analyzing the purpose of VR, and analyzing the implementation.

There are numerous technical limitations and concerns that must be addressed before low-cost Virtual Reality Head-mounted displays (HMDs) can break into the market. One such concern is that a side effect of using HMDs is cybersickness, which is motion sickness that occurs while using the HMD [3]. The results of a scientific study of this phenomenon are detailed in "Vection and cybersickness generated by head-and-display motion in the Oculus Rift" by Stephen Palmisano, Rebecca Mursic, and Juno Kim [3]. For the purposes of this paper, vection is defined as ‘‘visually mediated self-motion perception” [3]. The main finding of this paper is that increased vection results in a better, less nauseating experience, contrary to previous hypothesis. The paper starts by introducing the prevalence and severity of the issue with some statistics from a previous study. The authors state that there have not been any conclusive studies about vection using HMDs, and go on to define vection as they used it for this particular study. Traditionally, vection has been defined as "a visual illusion of self-motion induced in a stationary observer" [3]. But since devices like the Oculus Rift allow and encourage head motion, the execution and effects of vection are different and have not been fully documented [3]. They cite several possible explanation of why this type vection may induce cybersickness, including display lag, poor or unnatural eye-movement stabilization, and poor movement projection software. All of these reasons are explained in detail, including results of previous studies, and with multiple sources for each. They tested the levels of cybersickness under three different virtual reality conditions: "compensated," "uncompensated," and "inversely compensated." This refers to how the visual display reacted to head movement. The compensated visuals moved as a result of head movement, the inversely compensated moved opposite to what would be expected, and the uncompensated visual operated by ignoring the user head movement. The results of the experiment were that vection was most successful with compensated visuals and that cybersickness was most severe in the inversely compensated condition, since that caused the most visual-inertial conflict [3].

The authors acknowledge that this finding needs more research and a larger sample size before it can be conclusive. Unfortunately, many of the other research questions were left with inconclusive answers [3].The authors are aware of the limitations of their experiment, and outline the conflicts and biases thoroughly in their discussion section. Overall, this is an interesting academic study with a well-researched background and introduction section. It gives a hopeful conclusion which suggests that cybersickness will decrease as the realism of virtual reality simulation improves, while acknowledging that there is still very little that is known for sure, and more experimentation is needed.

A common strain of conversation in the discourse surrounding virtual reality is how to make it as real as possible. This can have effects on the health of the user, as with cybersickness, the effectiveness of a teaching tool, as with vocational training, or simply on the enjoyability and desirability of the experience, as with gaming. This is discussed in "An 'In the Wild' Experiment on Presence and Embodiment using Consumer Virtual Reality Equipment" by Anthony Steed, Sebastian Friston, Maria Murcia Lopez, Jason Drummond, Ye Pan, and David Swapp [4]. The experiment in the study involved participants engaging with variations of a simulation where they are watching a singer in a bar. These variations had an effect on the participant's sense of presence and embodiment. The results showed that having an avatar of the participant in the simulation didn't result in a higher sense of presence (of "being there"). However, it did increase the intensity of the reaction to a box falling, so it did enhance the realism of the experience. When the participants were invited to tap along to the music, the program could not execute this synchronously, so it had a negative effect on presence and body ownership [4].

The study was conducted via an in-app survey, and not a lab setting, and the authors acknowledge that this could have an effect on the reliability of the results. However, this also allowed for a larger sample size than the cybersickness study, and showed some significant trends, despite the uncontrolled settings. The authors also provide extensive references and explain the limitations and constraints of the experiment. The results are sufficiently convincing for someone in the consumer industry who is thinking about how best to design their VR programs.

Another limitation is addressed in "Vertical field-of-view extension and walking characteristics in head-worn virtual environments," by J. Adam Jones, David M. Krum, and Mark T. Bolas [5]. This article describes a study that tested how extending the field of view with an HMD affected the user's experience. They found that all 3 methods of expanding the field of vision resulted a positive effect. The effects of improved distance judgement and walking posture were observed to be different for the 3 variations, thus concluding, "some configurations may be more appropriate than others when balancing performance, cost, and ergonomics" [5]. The paper starts by summarizing some important and relevant summaries that have been conducted in the past. One topic they discuss is that in the past, field of view tests have been conducted in the real world and then applied back to the virtual model. In the past, the limitations of VR goggles have necessitated this kind of round-about experimentation. In the past, the standard angle of visibility was 60 degrees, but more recent HMDs have the ability to show more than 90 degrees [5].

This experiment did a good job of building off of previous research in the field and adding new insight to an existing discourse. Their findings suggest that any expansion in the field of view is likely to improve depth perception and users' confidence while walking. This paper also mentions that head movements and visual scanning have been proven to improve judgement of distance in previous experiments, and suggest that these observations work well together [5]. This relates to the topic of vection, and how realistic movement can improve the experience of virtual reality. The paper uses convincing graphs, numbers, and statistics to convey their results, and does an excellent job of putting the experiment in a scientifically historical perspective.

All of the scientific papers agree that more research is needed in almost every area in order to conclude anything about the safety and effectiveness of virtual reality headsets. However, it is also pointed out that developers are already releasing new products on a rolling basis, as the capabilities of the technology rapidly build and the price plummets. The professional discourse is hopeful but skeptical of this exponentially growing field, but for now, results are inconclusive. The social limitations discussed in this paper are largely a function of the technical limitations of virtual reality at present. The studies discussed in this paper give excellent insight to developers as to what they should improve in their devices in order to take VR to the next level. By improving vection, adding a visible self-avatar, and adding a wider field of view, Virtual Reality could become more inviting and less unsettling. These studies are good indications of points of improvement, but small sample sizes limit their usefulness. Widespread usage and gathering of statistics, as with the "In the wild" experiment by Anthony Steed et al. [4] will yield more convincing results.

References

[1] Michael B. Horn, "Virtual Reality Disruption," Education Next, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 82–83, 2016.

[2] Jakki O. Bailey and Jeremy N. Bailenson, "Considering virtual reality in children’s lives," Journal of Children and Media, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 107–113, Jan. 2017.

[3] Stephen Palmisano, Rebecca Mursic, and Juno Kim, "Vection and cybersickness generated by head-and-display motion in the Oculus Rift," Displays, vol. 46, pp. 1–8, Jan. 2017.

[4] Anthony Steed, et al., "An ‘In the Wild’ Experiment on Presence and Embodiment using Consumer Virtual Reality Equipment," IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (TVCG), vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 1406–1414, Apr. 2016.

[5] J. Adam Jones, David M. Krum, and Mark T. Bolas, "Vertical field-of-view extension and walking characteristics in head-worn virtual environments," ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 1–17, Oct. 2016.

VR Research and Product Development

Introduction

Virtual Reality is on the rise. What was once a distant dream in science fiction is now a daily reality for many users. The high-end Oculus Rift wearable goggles made an impact in the gaming world, and Google Cardboard is offering a cheap alternative that could take Virtual Reality (VR) mainstream [1]. However, we do not yet fully understand the effects of VR on our health, or the effects of VR environment creation methods on our experiences in VR [2]. There have been numerous scientific studies, but they all have limitations. Many of them were conducted so long ago that the results no longer apply to the current generation of technology. Even for recent studies, the sample sizes were small, and thus the results could not be definitively conclusive. Developers want to release their new products, and researchers want to understand the positive and negative effects of their use. These interested parties should collaborate on an iterative development method that includes design, implementation, and in-the-field research. This will lead to a greater understanding of the technology and allow it to move forward to meet the needs of the consumers. Companies like Google and Oculus should partner with research institutions, like universities, to conduct ongoing research to improve the safety and effectiveness of virtual reality devices and programs.

Traditional Research

Traditional research methods, without the assistance of large companies, are informative, but not very helpful unless the reports are read by relevant persons and applied to the field. They address legitimate concerns, but take no action against them. In a study published in Jan. 2017 by Stephen Palmisano, Rebecca Mursic, and Juno Kim, some preliminary findings showed that a significant percentage of study participants experienced nausea or "cybersickness" while using a Head Mounted Display (HMD) [3]. On a more hopeful note, their study showed that increasing vection actually decreased cybersickness in the participants. In this study, vection refers to how the visuals in the VR experience changed based on the participant's head movement. The study showed that having the visuals change in accordance with head movement decreased cybersickness. To extend this conclusion further, increasingly realistic relationships between participant movement and visual response will result in more comfortable immersive reality experiences. Past studies have suggested the opposite of this, so it would be in a developer's best interest to find out which thesis is correct, and apply that to their game mechanics. It would be too presumptive, as a scientist, to accept these results as fact, because only 13 people participated in this study [3]. As a topic of research, they have to deem the results inconclusive, but if a company that developed VR goggles took an interest in these results, they could fund a larger study that would help them design a better product, and market a scientifically proven better method of designing VR experiences.

The insights from VR studies are valuable, if people have access to them. Another study by J. Adam Jones, David M. Krum, and Mark T. Bolas showed that expanding the field of view in a VR simulation improved user's ability to judge distance [4]. Traditionally, fields of view using VR goggles were only around 60 degrees [4]. That is much less than what can be seen naturally, and has some negative effects on perception. This study showed that increasing the field of view could dramatically increase the ability to judge distance, especially when the field of view extension allows the user to see more of the ground right in front of them. This study was more thorough than the cybersickness study, with 32 participants, but still not thorough enough to make any substantial claims. However, for both studies, developers can use these preliminary findings to focus on how they should improve their products. They could now reasonably decide to work on extending vertical field of view, rather than making more of a panorama, which might have initially sounded more appealing.

Research in the Wild

Using the publicly accessible Google Cardboard and a VR app developed with Google's open source software enables researchers to draw a much larger set of participants and produce trustworthy results. One study on presence and embodiment took an outside-the-lab approach to research. They explain their choice of an "in the wild" experiment by saying, "There are obvious challenges to conducting studies out of the lab, such as the reliability of data gathering and ensuring the control of conditions. However it is argued that the amount of data that can be gathered is larger and thus reliability can be achieved in different ways" [5]. There is strong support for the validity of "in the wild" experiments, especially in computational fields [6]. 115 people initially agreed to participate, 85 submitted full responses to all questionnaires, and 26 were rejected based on control factors [5]. This is significantly more than the studies discussed earlier. With a large corporate backing a study like this could be even more thorough and conclusive. It is an excellent example of how using commercially available products, Google Cardboard and Samsung Gear VR, can facilitate research. Users could download the application from the App store and participate at will. If more researchers and developers followed this model, a lot of information could be gathered and put to good use.

A Corporate Request

Some companies are already reaching out to see what the world of research has to offer them. In 2015, Microsoft put out a request for grant proposals to work with HoloLens, their new Augmented Reality headset [7]. They offered rewards and development kits to the best ideas. This effort was made in order to see what HoloLens was capable of. Microsoft intended to use the greater capabilities of the wider world to discover medical, educational, artistic, and entertaining uses for their new tech. They've also made their development platform open source, so that anyone can develop apps to use with the device. They are doing an admirable job of letting independent developers explore possibilities - and then using those ideas to promote HoloLens [7]. Collaborative development is the future of computing, and Microsoft is doing their best to keep up with that trend. They are still missing a piece of what could make their system truly robust, which is contracted safety research. They now have knowledge of the creative possibilities of their product, but have significantly less information about the negative (or positive) effects on the users.

Safety First

It is impossible for the slow legal system to keep up with the technology industry. When dealing with cutting edge VR tech, which is completely different from anything that has come before it, safety regulations lag behind [8]. There is simply not enough information about the cognitive effects of VR to make laws about it, but the health concerns don't go away just because the laws do not yet exist. Therefore, it is up to companies to hold themselves to a high standard and develop products that are not going to cause users an undue amount of harm. Johnson argues in his article "Legal Danger: What We Don't Know About Virtual Reality Today Might Hurt Companies Tomorrow" that if companies don't perform rigorous testing, they will be held legally responsible for it later, and suffer the consequences. It is in everyone's best interest to create a safe product in the long run.

In order to understand the potential complex relationship between VR and problems like cybersickness, PTSD, seizures, headaches, and mental development, we need to rely on the experts in those areas. By working with medical researchers, developers can avoid legal trouble and continuously improve their products to be safer and more enjoyable. They could wait for researchers to just find the results on their own, but then they are stuck on the wrong side of headlines like "Virtual reality: Are health risks being ignored?" [9]. Companies like Oculus, Google, and Microsoft have the means to get ahead of the curve and initiate the research themselves. This is the most responsible and ethical method. In order for VR to become massively popular, people have to trust it, and that trust has to be earned. Partnerships with reliable 3rd party research institutions are a good place to start.

Iteration

Unlike Microsoft's one-time creative grant offer, safety research must be ongoing. Most software companies have realized that iterative development is the best method. Circular development, then release, then more circular improvements, consistently produce the best results [10]. There are different variations for different circumstances, but the core principles could easily be applied to safety research and VR development. The process would start with identifying a problem or goal, like reducing cybersickness or improving embodiment. These research topics could come from the developers or from interested researchers. Then, they could design an experiment, using the company's VR headset and in-the-field research. This would give the researchers access to an unprecedentedly large sample size. The companies would then be the first to hear the results of the experiment, and they could apply these findings to the next iteration of their product, in hardware and software. When doing research and developing for a rapidly evolving field like VR, it is important to strike a balance between the consistency of a lab and the accuracy achieved via widespread surveying. By making this process continuous and iterative, the results are immediately evident, and keep pushing development forward.

Conclusion

It would benefit everyone if VR companies were to partner with research institutions in order to develop safety guidelines and improve play experiences. This would benefit users by providing them with safe, enjoyable experiences that they can trust. It would benefit researchers by giving them their much-needed funding, a direct purpose, and access to equipment and study participants. Most of all, it would benefit the companies that will profit from consistently releasing the best products and updates in the realm of VR. The amazing possibilities of VR are just on the horizon, and the merging of scientific research and product development will accelerate its growth.

References

[1] Michael B. Horn, "Virtual Reality Disruption," Education Next, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 82–83, 2016.

[2] Jakki O. Bailey and Jeremy N. Bailenson, "Considering virtual reality in children’s lives," Journal of Children and Media, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 107–113, Jan. 2017.

[3] Stephen Palmisano, Rebecca Mursic, and Juno Kim, "Vection and cybersickness generated by head-and-display motion in the Oculus Rift," Displays, vol. 46, pp. 1–8, Jan. 2017.

[6] B.Brown, S.Reeves, and S.Sherwood "Into the wild: challenges and opportunities for field trial methods," Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1657–1666, 2011.

[7] James Kastrenakes, "Microsoft is offering research grants to work with HoloLens", The Verge, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.theverge.com/2015/7/6/8901289. [Accessed: 19- Mar- 2017].

[8] Eric Johnson, "Legal Danger: What We Don't Know About Virtual Reality Today Might Hurt Companies Tomorrow", Recode, 2015. [Online]. Available:www.recode.net/2015/8/11/11615490. [Accessed: 19- Mar- 2017].

[9] Doug Magyari, "Virtual reality: Are health risks being ignored?", CNBC, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/08/virtual-reality-are-health-risks-being-ignored- commentary.html. [Accessed: 19- Mar- 2017].

[10] "Best Practice: Develop Iteratively", 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.upedu.org/references/bestprac/im_bp1.htm. [Accessed: 19- Mar- 2017].

#q #AWD #advanced writing #college writing #VR

0 notes