chandlergillette: February 2016

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Report on my Interviews

This blog post concerns my interviews.

"Interview-tips-help-you-uncover.jpg", 10/2015; wp-content; Public Domain.

In the post, provide concise but detailed answers to the following questions about what you learned from your interviews:

What are the most significant or interesting genres that you learned about from your interviewees? Please identify at least THREE specific genres from your discipline/field of study that your interview subjects discussed writing within.

(pending)

How do these genres differ from one another? Think about things like genre convention, content, purpose, audience, message, and context as you describe these differences.

(pending)

Based on the information you gathered in your interviews, what is challenging and/or difficult about writing within these genres (from a professional's point of view)?

(pending)

Based on the information you gathered in your interviews, what is exciting and/or rewarding about writing within these genres (from a professional's point of view)?

(pending)

Where in mass media - popular, academic, and/or social - can examples of this genre be found? If genre examples cannot be found within mass media easily, where can genre examples be found/located?

(pending)

Format this post with lots of white space, clear subheadings that label all the information, and short, clear sentences that communicate the information to your reader clearly, effectively and attractively.

From Academia to Social Media

In this blog post we are going to find the author of the academic journal!

"01.gif", 04/2015; wp-content; Public Domain.

Take any one author who is published within the pages of the academic journal you selected for Blog Posts 6.5 & 6.6. Now, find them on as many of the following social media networks as you can:

Provide concise but detailed answers to the following questions:

What is the name of the author (from the academic journal) that you selected and which social media networks were you able to find her/him on?

Ernest L. Hall is 75 years old. However, it was still surprising to me that he has no social media.

How would you describe the author's social media presence? What kinds of things are they talking about or sharing on social media? Write a brief description of what you learned about them through the listed social media feeds.

Since he doesn't have social media, it's hard to talk about what his social media presence is like!

Now return to the piece that this author published in the academic journal (from Blog Posts 6.5 & 6.6). How does their persona on social media differ from their persona in the pages of the academic journal? Be specific and cite details from both the journal and the social media posts you discovered.

Can't tell... not applicable!

Format this post with lots of white space, clear subheadings that label all the information, and short, clear sentences that communicate the information to your reader clearly, effectively and attractively.

Academic Discourse and Genre

This is a continuation of blog post 6.5 where I talk about the nitty-gritty of the academic journal.

"Legal-Researcher.jpg", 10/2013; wp-content; Public Domain.

How many different kinds of genres seem to be published in this particular issue of the journal you selected? (Remember, genres are usually identifiable by their form, content, techniques and/or social function.)

If you don't know the 'official' names for these different genres, come up with names for the yourself. Identify at least three different genres within the journal issue and describe the significant formal differences between the three genres (that is, what are the key differences or characteristics that seem to be unique and distinguish them from other kinds of texts?). If you made up your own name, explain why you chose the name you invented. If you'd like, provide snapshots of the different genres (clearly labelled) to help your reader see how they look different (or are organized differently, with different conventions) on the page.

This might come across as kind of stupid, but bear with me.

I'm going to make this as simple as possible.

1) The first type of genre is what I will call the "Text Wall."

We all know what this looks like. A barrage of text, usually extremely dense, full of big words, complex ideas, compound/complex sentences to go along with them.

"What is the appropriate feature to be used in scene matching, vertices or edges? For convenience of
comparison an edge segmented image and a vertex segmented image are used for correlation computation."

This is the meat and potatoes of the document. It's essential for laying the foundation so that archetypes can be made later on.

2) The second type of genre is what I will call "Pictures!".

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Instead of talking about vertices, edges, and complex 3-dimensional graphical shapes, it's much easier when you can just show a picture of a box with some angles to go along with it.

The purpose is to break down these text walls and make the document "scannable".

3) The third type of genre is what I will call "Equations".

This is genre-specific to mathematics and scientific journals, where equations are the foundation for the analyses. In order to find specific variables and their relations to other variables, we need to see the logic behind how to manipulate certain equations to isolate the variables.

This is important because it points exactly to how the outcome relates to the inputs.

Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

This blog post concerns the rhetorical analysis of an academic journal.

The levels of enthusiasm radiating from this picture are astounding!

Your image for this blog post should be a photo of you holding the latest issue of the journal in question. Take a selfie or have someone else snap your picture for the blog post. The title and date of publication for the issue should be clearly visible in the photo. [Note: You may not be able to take the journal out of the library, so try to capture this image without disturbing or disrupting other library patrons].
In the blog post, provide concise but detailed answers to the following questions:

Who are the authors/speakers published in this specific issue of the academic journal you've selected? How many different authors are published here? What do you know - or can you find out - about these people? How are the authors/speakers portrayed in the journal issue? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.

Ernest L. Hall is the primary writer in this specific issue of the academic journal "Computer Image Processing and Recognition". The author is extremely humble, which I was able to identify by looking through the "acknowledgements", where he listed a ton of people who helped him along the way, not just directly, but even people who inspired him.

"I am deeply indebted to my students and colleagues whose encouragement, discussions, inspirations, and support have contributed to the preparation of this book."

I thought that was extremely cool.

Who is the intended audience for this particular journal issue? How can you tell? Are there any secondary audiences included here? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.

The intended audience is somebody who is willing and able to learn about the introduction to computer image processing and recognition techniques. Secondary audiences might be non-engineers who want to refine their deep understanding of computer imaging in matrix systems.

What is the context surrounding this particular journal issue? How does this affect the content of the journal? (See the bulleted questions on Student's Guide page 180 for specific questions about context). Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.

One thing that is unavoidable is the time that it was published. No doubt this would have been ground-breaking news in 1979, but technology is changing at an astounding rate as to make at least some of this information not necessarily wrong, but defitely obsolete.

"Interactive and automatic measurements and quality assurance systems will play a central role in this new technology by providing greater design flexibility, consistency, and reliability."

What is the overall message of the journal issue? How did you decide this? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.

The overall message of the journal issue is that engineers are going to have to step up to fix data computational limitations in order to solve greater issues in the US/world.

"The science of measurements will be even more important during the 1980's than in the past. With the U.S. productivity increasing at only about 2% per year in 1979, and our leadership position among the industrial nations slipping, the scientific community will be called upon for innovative leadership and ingenuity to improve the productivity situation."

What purpose is the journal issue trying to achieve? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers.

The purpose of this journal is to give people a brief understanding of computer image processing and recongnition techniques.

"The purpose of this paper is to introduce current image recognition methods for location an object in an image and accurately measuring its position. This fundamental problem, which is called scene matching, has many applications to quality control and automation systems."

My Discipline

This blog post concerns major-specific questions pertaining to engineering.

"College_Textbooks-480x280.jpg", 10/2013; wp-content; Public Domain.

In the post, provide concise but detailed answers to the following questions about your discipline [Note: If you have more than one major or minor, choose one of them to focus on for this project. If you're undecided on your program of study, then select a program you're seriously considering or interested in/curious about for this project.]

What do students in your program or department learn how to do?

Students in Electrical and Computer Engineering become equipped with programming knowledge and logic to tackle real-world problems, such as poverty, sickness, and famine. People think that it's just a bunch of math, which is only PARTIALLY true. To be good at math is important because it shows that you have a)work ethic to tackle hard problems and b)a firm understanding on logic and procedural analysis.

What do people who get degrees in this field usually go on to do for work?

There are two major routes that people who get degrees pursue. Either they go to work at a major engineering firm, like Boeing or Raytheon, or even a smaller firm. The second general choice is to go to work.

What drew you to this field?

, I want to practice Intellectual Property Law, which Electrical Engineering looks great while applying to grad school. It also has rigorous yet fitting classes to ensure that I am knowledgeable about the subjects potential patent applicants discuss.

Name three of the leaders/most exciting people involved in this field right now in 2016. Why are they interesting or exciting to you? These could be individual people or specific companies, organizations, businesses or non-profits. Hyperlink us to a homepage professional website for each person, if possible.

Steve Wozniak

If Steve Jobs was the visionary of Apple, then Steve Wozniak was the brains. This man is a computer-programming prodigy, and was responsible for the primary design of the Apple 2 computer. He is wildly fascinated with not only computers, but is deeply involved with Silicon Valley's Comic Con!

Rowan Atkinson

Best known as the guy who played Mr. Bean, Rowin Atkinson is unknown by many as an electrical engineer. He attended Newcastle University, and to make money on the side during his early acting profession, drove trucks! There is not much in regards to his actual publications, but it just goes to show that many people pursue engineering who don't wear thick round glasses and polos everywhere.

Mo Ibrahim

Mo Ibrahim, whose full name is actually Mohammed Ibrahim, is a business-mind electrical engineer who is responsible for Celtel, which was a cell-phone company that accumulated over 24,000,000 mobile subscribers in the African countries (wiki). He is one of a very few number of engineering majors to be over $1,000,000,000 net worth. He is an African man who lives in Britain, called "the most powerful Black man in Britain."

What are the names of three leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? Where are they published? Give us the names and locations of at least 3. (HINT: If you have no idea what the answer to this question is, try Googling “What are the top academic journals in [insert field of study]?” and peruse the results). Make the titles of each journal into a working hyperlink to the website for that publication. (NOTE: if your links aren’t included or don’t work or if the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

Journal of Electrical Engineering

This journal is the first hit on google when you search "academic journal electrical engineering", perhaps because it is the easiest to use, plus it has the largest sheer amount of content. It is published by "Politechnica". The audience is all electrical engineers who use their degree in order to apply towards home electricity and industrial uses as well.

Springer Electrical Engineering Journal

Springer EE journal is a lot less professional than the article posted above. It's quite apparent that all the leading Electrical Engineers gravitate towards the above website based on the fanbase that it has already accumulated. Springer is a global publishing company that relies heavily on e-books, preferably peer-reviewed journals as well.

Degruyter Electrical Engineering Journal

This journal pertains more so to multimedia publications. The German-based company has hardly any publications compared to the first two, which have over 5,000,000 publications each. However the individual journals appeal to a more casual reading audience, as the technical language is held back. This is both good and bad, bad especially for those extremely knowledgeable about EE.

My Interviewees on Social Media

This blog post concerns my Interviewees and their Social Media Accounts.

"SocialMedia.jpg", 05/2015, wp-content; Public Domain.

http://www.jsums.edu/socialmedia/files/2015/05/SocialMedia.jpg

Create an organized, clean blog post that gives us the following information. Title it "My Interviewees on Social Media."

Find the two people you have scheduled interviews with on as many of the following social media networks as you can:

I was able to find Tosiron Adegbija on linkedin. His social media profile is moderately professional. First impression, he has a headshot of himself in a nice blue polo with some warm lighting.

There is a slew of background experience, dating back to 2004. starting from pre-college internships all the way to his current job. I can't see exactly what he posted because his account is on private, but it is very much in line with the formality presented in his academic journal.

I was also able to find Ali Akoglu on linkedin. His social media profile is of him in a suit and red tie. It gives off an extremely professional vibe, greeted with a mild smile.

Again, his profile was on private, but from what I can indicate, it was very much in line with the formal tone that characterized his journal.

Here is a specific quote from Tosiron's academic journal.

"The growth of the IoT and the resulting exponential increase in acquired/transmitted data poses significant bandwidth and latency challenges. These challenges are exacerbated by the intrinsic resource constraints of most embedded edge nodes, coupled with increasing consumer demand for high-performance applications, resulting in more complex data."

His presentation comes off as professional, and his writing parallels that exactly. The tone of the statement is extremely formal, despite the fact that what he is saying above is all opinion! You see him as a credible person, so you don't think twice to question what he has to say. Ethos!

Here is a specific quote from Akoglu's academic journal.

"'New packing algorithm employs average interconnection length estimation obtained through Rent's Rule in order to incorporate the wiring requirement into the cost function. This approach provides on average 28% reduction in number of nets and 26% reduction on number of tracks used compared to the state of the art approaches. Results will lead to significant amount of savings in switching complexity; hence contribute to reduction in power consumption and increase the processing speed."

Parallel structure dominates this short paragraph. By using complex yet symmetrical lingual structure, it assures the reader that Akoglu knows what he is talking about, since he is able to control complex ideas. This is exactly what you would expect after seeing his little "twitcon" on linkedin.

My Interviewees as Professional Writers

This blog post concerns each interviewee and the publications they have released.

www.everydayinterviewtips.com, "job-interview-male.jpg" 10/2014; wp-content; Public Domain

Give us the name of each interviewee and write a short summary of the kinds of professional publications they've authored (according to their website, CV and/or other easily findable online resources that list their publications). You don't need to include all the bibliographic information for their publications, just the basic facts.

Professor Adegbija specializes in phase-based tuning of embedded systems, which is basically just a fancy way to say that he makes parts in a computer that work to make the whole function better.

Professor Akoglu specializes in high-performance computing given standard computer limitations such as RAM (random access memory) and graphical processing unit limitations as well.

Track down a few of their publications online. Be sure to examine at least two different publications by each interviewee (and hyperlink us to the two examples for each). What professional genres has each interviewee written in? Explain how these genres differ from each other, according to conventions, formatting, techniques, content, and anything else that seems relevant to describe.

Tosiron 1

Tosiron 2

Akoglu 1

Akoglu 2

The context surrounding Tosiron's 1st article concerns the fact that we are now in search of low-power devices in order to power our electronics. The problem now is not the technology, it is the energy, or maybe that is a paradoxical statement.

"The (IoT) consists of embedded low-power devices that collect and transmit data to centralized head nodes that process and analyze the data, and drive actions...."

The context surrounding Tosiron's 2nd article is energy waste in computation. Computers are growing more and more efficient, but in the current state, this is because there is a lot of data leakage that goes unaddressed.

The context surrounding Akoglu's 1st article is the ever-increasing crisis involving energy inefficiency. Similar to the above articles, the crisis isn't the technology, but the energy and methods associated with it.

The context surrounding Akoglu's 1st article is the mess that concerns data flow and the inefficiency. Engineers are always looking for more ways to be efficient; Akoglu is no exception.

The overall message of Tosiron's 1st article is that there will be a data explosion caused by billions of connected devices over the internet, and that we need to perform computation on edge "in order to reduce data transmission requirements, thereby reducing latency and energy consumption".

The overall message of Tosiron's 2nd article is that phase-based methodology lowered energy consumption of apps, and overall "optimizes the data cache's miss rates and energy consumption without extensive runtime analysis."

The overall message of Akoglu's 1st article is that "results will lead to significant amount of savings in switching complexity; hence contribute to reduction in power consumption and increase the processing speed."

The overall message of Akoglu's 2nd article is that "results show that partial reconfiguration with the use of computation cores embedded in a sea of LUTs offer the potential for massive savings in gate density and switching requirements by eliminating the need for unnecessary and redundant sub-circuit pattern configurations."

The purpose of Tosiron's 1st article is to persuade people to support further research and development into edge nodes in order to delay this "data explosion".

The purpose of Tosiron's 2nd article is to highlight potential room for energy saving by switching the methods by which cache-locking is operated.

"Our phase-based cache locking methodology improved the data cache's locked contents based on the data's associated phase persistence, with minimal runtime overhead."

The purpose of Akoglu's 1st article is to persuade people to switch to this new method of packing algorithms and what not.

The purpose of Akoglu's 2nd article is to persuade programmers and designers to switch their methodology of embedding by using a new LUT based packing mechanism.

My Interview Subjects

This post concerns the people I have asked to interview for Project 2.

"Interview-Questions-to-Ask-Your-Interviewer.jpg", 10/2013, wp-content; Public Domain.

The names of the two people you're scheduled to interview for Project 2

I anticipate to interview Tosiron Adegbija and Ali Akoglu for project 2.

The names of the organization(s) your interviewees work for, as well as their job titles

Both Professor Adegbija and Professor Akoglu are Assistance Professors at the University of Arizona Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Any higher education degree that your interviewees hold and the names of the institutions that issued them

Professor Adegbija:

Ph.D.: Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, 2015.

M.S.: Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, 2011.

B.S.: Electrical Engineering, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, 2005.

Professor Akoglu:

PhD: Computer Science, Arizona State University, 2005.

BS: Computer Engineering, Purdue University, 1998.

How many years your interviewees have worked in the field professionally

Professor Adegbija has been in the field for around a year according to his graduation date, and Professor Akoglu has been in the field for 11 years now.

I haven't heard back from them yet, but the interviews will take place before next Sunday.

A list of 8 to 12 interview questions (for each interviewee) that are written to specifically reflect the interviewee's background, position and publication history

Questions for Professor Adegbija:

1. What was your primary motivation for entering Electrical and Computer engineering? Was it the passion for the field?

2. I was unable to find details surrounding your Ph.D. dissertation/thesis. What was it about?

3. Recall the most difficult experience that you have had in your profession to this point.

4. What is the most important coding language that you would recommend to the first-year programmer?

5. What is the easiest programming language to learn?

6. What is the number one challenge that you/ your team face on a day-to-day basis?

7. What, in your opinion, is the greatest issue in the field to this date?

8. Can we utilize Electrical and Computer Engineers to benefit other fields outside of simply strict computation, such as agriculture, public health, transportation, art, etc.?

Questions for Professor Akoglu:

1. Where did you receive your Master's degree from?

2. In an age with increasing types and styles of programming, what language would you suggest as your first?

3. Which programming language would be the most beneficial overall to learn given your work experience?

4. What is the number one limitation that you find while programming hardware wise? Is it the memory, the processor, etc.?

5. Upon visiting your website, I looked into one of your past programs that dealt with "Self-healing gadgets". What exactly was your motivation for this research topic?

6. Can you cite a specific time when you thought that this profession wasn't for you? How did you overcome it? Or have you been interested in the field all along?

7. Who do you cite as your primary inspiration for entering the field? Was it your family? Was it someone pertaining to the field? Or maybe was is the passion for the work?

8. What is your opinion surrounding the recent controversy surrounding drones? Do you feel that they pose and imminent threat to the general public, or is that media hype?

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Brutally Honest Self-Assessment

This blog post concerns how I feel about what I just submitted to D2L.

"Tired-Guy.jpg"; zokonline.com; 06/2014; Public Domain.

1. How are you feeling about the project you just submitted for assessment? Give me your raw, unvarnished opinion of your own project overall.

1. I feel confident about what I submitted. I was comfortable talking about the subject.

2. What are the major weaknesses of the project you submitted? Explain carefully how and why you consider these elements to be weak or under-developed.

The incident that I chose was just a guy saying something rather than someone dying/a huge turning point. Even though saying you're going to do something on the world stage is huge, it would have been "easier" to delve if there was an action... like someone throwing a punch or something.

3. What are the major strengths of the project you submitted? Explain carefully how and why you consider these elements to be strong or well-developed.

I have extremely persuasive voice and I understand that my audience may not be completely knowledgeable on the subject. I understood this ahead of time and accounted for it.

Also I did a great job taking a stance. It's my job to persuade you to feel a certain way, not just throw facts and leave you guessing. If you wanted to do that you could just read BBC,

4. What do you think of how you practiced time management for Project 1? Did you put enough time and effort into the project? Did you procrastinate and wait till the last minute to work on things? Share any major time management triumphs or fails....

My time management was not horrible but I did reserve the work for Sunday night. There were times that I didn't click the submit button even when I had the project done (peer review 2.... that sucks!). I guess I just need to double check my submissions..

It sucks doing homework in the 21st century!

Local Revision: Variety

This blog post concerns organizational variety in my essay.

"shutterstock_98686640.jpg"; 08/2012; wp-content; Public Domain.

1. How much variation is there in your sentence structures in the current draft? Can you spot any repetitive or redundant sentence patterns in your writing? Provide a cogent analysis of what the Rules for Writers reading tells you about your sentences.

There is good variation in my sentence structure. I would say that it's basically 50-50 whether I use compound sentences vs simple sentences. I also notice that I don't ramble as much as I used to in freshman and sophomore year of high school, so that's a nice change.

2. What about paragraph structures, including transitions between different paragraphs (or, for video/audio projects, different sections of the project)?

Transitions are non-existent. I don't introduce ideas that require transitions, but that may be a bad thing. I need to produce more specific details to incite the need for these transitions. For an essay format, you don't use cut-aways like in videos...

It's as simple as one sentence at the end of the first body, and one sentence at the start of the second, etc. etc.

3. What about vocabulary? Is there variety and flavor in your use of vocabulary? What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the draft's approach to vocabulary?

The main weakness is the lack of specific verbs, which was addressed in the previous blog posts. Adding more vivid actions and tapping into what people actually did or what they should "see" is extremely important in terms of interesting the reader.

Local Revision: Pronoun Usage

This blog post is a response to blog post 5.5 about pronoun usage.

"Tired-worker.jpg", previews.123rf.com; Public Domain.

Look over the list of pronouns you published in Blog Post 5.5 and provide concise but specific answers to the following questions:

1. Based on your analysis, how effective is your pronoun usage in Project 1? What does actively examining your pronoun usage tell you about your writing syle?

2. Are there any instances in your project where you speak to or refer directly to the audience? If so, how effective are these moments at creating a bond or connection between audience and author? If not, why not? Explain why you're choosing to leave your audience out of your writing. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but you should be able to give a sophisticated explanation of your choices.

I used "we" a disproportionately high number of times throughout my essay. It helps establish rapport with the reader and drive the purpose forward. However, by seeing just how many times I said "we" it became evident that there is little in the way of people actually saying things and me just summarizing.

I constantly refer to the audience, but I think the larger issue is that I need to tell them something other than my opinion. A few more facts interjected here and there would really put a tight bind on my point. That's what I need.

My Pronouns

This blog post concerns my pronoun usage in my essay draft.

"ppronoun", 01/2014; partofspeech.org; Public Domain.

Title the blog post "My Pronouns."
I want you to go through your entire draft, from start to finish, and make a chronological list of every pronoun you employ in the project. That is, your list will start with the first pronoun in your piece and end with the last pronoun in your piece.
List each instance of every pronoun (if you use 'he' 30 times in the piece, it will appear 30 times in the list). However, put the person being referred to in parantheses after each pronoun. For example, if the first time you use 'he' you're referring to Marco Rubio, then you'd put "He (Antonin Scalia)' in the list. If the next time you use 'he' you are now referring to Bernie Sanders, then you'd put "He (Bernie Sanders)" in the list. [NOTE: Do not include pronouns that come from direct quotations by a source, because you didn't 'author' those pronouns, you're just reporting them. Focus only on the pronouns that you authored].
Then, simply post the list of pronouns (with parenthetical indicators) in the blog post.

Here are the list of pronouns I used.

We (needs prior definition)
He (Zuckerberg)
He (Musk)
He (Gates)
They (superiors)
These (fear-mongering statements)
It (artificial intelligence)

Hardly any pronouns were used. Wow!

Local Revision: Passive and Active Voice

This blog concerns revisions regarding active vs. passive voice in my essay.

"running-man-silhouette", freepik.com; Public Domain.

Active(specific): (none)?

Active (general):

used
came
told
live
reaches
let
test
touch

hold

walk

place
spent
find

provide

hit

advance

Passive:
is
should not
is
let
know
is
have
use
is
is
have

I'm being harsh on myself when I say I have no active(specific) verbs, but it's to be critical. My verbs are not vivid at all, and are overly-general.

Every single action above is something we all do every single day. You can't get a vivid idea of anyone doing these actions.

Improvement is as easy as evoking emotional appeal through five senses. If you can taste the object, if you can smell it, or if you can recall the event I'm describing like it was a vivid dream, the depiction is good.

Local Revision: Tense Usage

This blog post concerns verb tense usage in my essay.

"easy-grammar-verb-21.jpg" , 05/2013; wp-content; Public Domain.

Past:

used
came
told

Present:

is
live
is
should
not
is
let
reaches
know
is
test
touch
have
let
use
place
spent
find
is
provide
is
hit
advance
have

Future:

hold

walk

Verbs repeated:

is – 6

will – 4

use – 4

let – 3

have – 2

live – 2

Look over the list of verbs you published in Blog Post 5.2. I want to now to republish that list here, but divided into three columns: a Present Tense column, a Past Tense column, and a Future Tense column. List all the present tense verbs in the Present Tense column, along with a tally of how many times each verb is used. Do the same for Past and Future.
Below the columns, provide concise but specific answers to the following questions:
1. Present tense is by far the most prevalent in my draft.

2. Present tense is extremely important in my paper to talk about how we need to change our attitudes NOW, now how we felt about artificial intelligence.

3.The predominant usage of present tense makes sense across the whole essay. No changes need to be made in terms of verb tense.

4. For the exact reasons you are trying to encourage, usage of present tense is by FAR the most common.

Commanding respect of an audience happens during the reading, not after or before. Present tense is key.

My Verbs

This blog post concerns the verbs used in my first draft of work.

"verbs-picture-dictionary.jpg", Unknown Publication Date; Public Domain.

Title the blog post "My Verbs." You're going to think I'm crazy, but just go with me here.
I want you to go through your entire draft, from start to finish, and make a chronological list of every verb you employ in the project. That is, your list will start with the first verb in your piece and end with the last verb in your piece. And I want you to include multiple instances of the same verb. So if you use the verb 'said' 35 times, then your list will have 35 instances of the verb 'said.' [NOTE: Do not include verbs that come from direct quotations by a source, because you didn't 'author' those verbs, you're just reporting them. Focus only on the verbs that you authored].
Then, simply post the list of verbs in the blog post. That's right, just a list of verbs. Isn't the word 'verb' weird? Say it aloud ten times. It's so weird!
At the bottom of the list, I want you to include a tally of any verb that was repeated more than once. Indicate how many times each verb is used, from most repeated to least repeated. Skip any verbs you only use once.

Verbs used:

is
live
is
used
came
told
should
not
is
let
reaches
know
is
test
touch
have
let
use
place
spent
find
is
provide
is
hit
advance
have
hold
walk

Verbs repeated:

is – 6

will – 4

use – 4

let – 3

have – 2

live – 2

Wordiness

This blog post concerns wordiness, and making my most verbose paragraph readable.

"wordiness1.gif", 05/2015, proofreadingpal.com; Public Domain.

Select the wordiest "paragraph" or short section of your Project 1 draft. Copy and paste it into the blog post as is (clearly mark it as an excerpt from your draft - people reading your blog post shouldn't be confused about that). If you're working in the video or audio genres, type up a short transcript of the section in question.
Now, relying on the advise given in pages 156-161 of Rules for Writers, re-write and revise that section by eliminating as many words as possible. If there are any words that don't need to be there, cut them. Try to reduce the excerpt by 25 to 30%.
Clearly mark the re-written paragraph or excerpt (so we can differentiate it from the original text - you're basically showing us 'Before' and 'After' versions of the section, like in a classic weight-loss ad).
Try to put yourself in the shoes, mind and eyes of your reader/viewer/listener by providing a short but specific answer to the following question: "How is the rewritten section different from the original, from the perspective of your audience? Is it better? In what way? Is it worse? In what way?"

Before: In order to persuade the general population about the inevitably progressive role that Artificial Intelligence will play in the future, we cannot let powerful people instill fear in our hearts for their own probable gain. These same people (Musk) who advise against the dangers of Artificial Intelligence already use it and place big money on it. Musk spent $1 billion on an AI company with another startup CEO that he says will be "usable by everyone instead of usable by, say, just Google.” Don't you find it ironic that the same person preaching to you the evils of Artificial Intelligence is the same man investing over a billion dollars in it? His investment in self-driving Teslas, coupled with his race to create the robot who could beat the masters at the ancient game of "Go" (which he did not win, google beat him to that), remember his comment about Google?) provide ample evidence that Musk is dissuading others in order to take credit for the exploration and advancement of AI.

After: Powerful people advise heavily of the dangers of Artificial Intelligence, despite their own self-interest. These same people (Musk) who advise against the dangers of Artificial Intelligence salivate at the sight of its potential. Musk spent $1 billion on an AI company with another startup CEO that he says will be "usable by everyone instead of usable by, say, just Google.” Don't you find it ironic that the same person preaching to you the evils of Artificial Intelligence is the same man investing over a billion dollars in it? His self-driving cars, not to mention his board game-playing metal friends, provide ample evidence that Musk is dissuading others in order to seize the opportunity all for himself.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Peer Review 2

I reviewed Cynthia's Essay; here is my analysis. Cynthia's Review

I also reviewed PJ's QRG; here is my analysis. PJ's Review

1. What did you learn about your own project (or the project in general) by comparing drafts of the same project in different genres?

I learned that I need to add another project, include a creative title (I didn't have one!!!), and add HYPERLINKS!!! I can't believe that I forgot those!

2. I want you to plan on doing revision between now and our next class meeting on Tuesday. Tell me the top three issues or problems with your draft in its current form and what you plan on doing over the weekend to address those issues.

Top three issues:

1) No title - how am I going to draw the reader in?

2) Not enough supporting details - lots of rhetoric, not enough facts.

3) No hyperlinks - This is probably the root of problem 2. Had I included hyperlinks, it would have made it easy to point to specific articles and factoids that would relate back to my overarching themes/thesis.

3. Tell me the top three strengths of your draft. How/why are these things strengths? How will you build on them to make the rest of the draft as strong?

1) Powerful writing... it sounds extremely persuasive!

2) Coherent... one idea flows logically from one point to the other.

3) Good diction.... "brood", "dissuading"... elegant!

Peer Review 2

This is a re-upload of the document originally submitted before the Friday deadline; not sure where the first went.

I reviewed Cynthia's Essay regarding the systematic destabilization of the middle-east.

I also reviewed PJ's QRG about the banning of gun sales via Facebook/Instagram.

1. What did you learn about your own project (or the project in general) by comparing drafts of the same project in different genres?

The overwhelming majority of people chose QRG's, so finding Cynthia's essay was damn near impossible. But once I was able to find it, it told me a lot about how both she and I ignored the principle foundations of a solid essay: having a solid title, clever hook, and a structured, meaningful thesis.

3 Things I need to Address:

1. I don't have a title

2. No hyperlinks!

3. Lots of rhetoric, and no substance regarding actual quotes.

3 Things that worked well:

1. My paper felt assertive, and could definitely sway the reader to think the way I do after reading.

2.My topic is easily reachable, because the vast majority of readers either have a Facebook, or are generally interested in learning more about robots taking over the earth.

3. My event is narrow enough to write about objectively pertaining to certain events said around it, but also broad enough to speculate and think about implications for future relations between AI and humans.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Peer Review 1

In this blog post I will discuss the peer review of the article I revised and my article as well.

peer_review1.jpg, 07/2013; Unknown Publisher. Public Domain.

Here is the completed rubric analysis I completed about Sofia's essay that pertains to doctor-enabled prescription drug abuse.

I reviewed Sofia's Essay regarding prescription drug abuse. I pulled away four things total.

First, I realized that I need to add a lot more factual basis regarding my argument and the circumstances surrounding it. Sofia's argument and opinions didn't come from nowhere; it started with the event, then led to a logical interpretation of the text. Sometimes I felt like I was just spewing rhetoric like politicians do, just saying a bunch of garbage that means nothing.

However I did notice that, like my essay, there was a lack of a strong thesis, in both organization and content. A strong thesis indicates to the reader that they should keep reading and not just skim to the end, and it also gives the essay backbone. Her and my essay both had random points where it felt like factoids and details could fit better into different paragraphs.

Another thing that I also noticed while reading her work was the extended usage of adjectives before verbs. It's important to vary vocabulary; if you are constantly barraging the reader with adjective - verb setups, it's a strong indicator that you should use more powerful verbs instead. For example, when referring to using a drug, instead of saying "conscious decision", you could say "initiative". It's more memorable.

The main thing that I noticed between Sofia's essay and mine that mine is missing is her usage of direct citations. Often times I would drop a quote summary in without ever citing it! I'll go back and add those later.

Peer Review

109H Grading Rubric

Project 1

Spring 2016

COMPLETED RUBRIC

The PDF of the rubric itself can be found on D2L. This is the scores assigned.

Who: 10 – Pretty plain and simple. Adequately explained who was involved, not much more to say here.

What: 8 – More details and quotes about what the individual was saying/trying to convey would push the score up

Where: 8 - Setting was introduced but not entirely expanded upon in terms of overall relevance to story, hence the 8 and not a 10.

When: 8 – For the same reason as setting; it was evident the physical location of the quotes and events, but to further drive home the overarching meaning, it would benefit you to explain its pertinence to the point you are trying to convey.

Why: 8 – It’s explained why pain medications are a huge deal, but lacks the emotional emphasis surrounding the severity of medicinal abuse that would push it over into the 9-10 category. Use some pathos!

The standard college essay format was extremely appropriate for such a complex matter. In order to present the task in such a way as to eliminate bias/incorporate the most facts possible, essays should be used because it introduces fact after fact after fact, THEN allows the reader to interpret what is going on as the argument develops. The ability to control/pace the reader’s thinking was extremely well-planned and executed, earning a score of 47 out of 50.

Adding up the scores together gives the essay an overall score of 89.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Draft of Project 1

This is an essay rough draft about Artificial Intelligence, and the recent controversy surrounding it.

robot.jpg, 03/2015, wp-content, Public Domain.

This is a very tentative draft; this is not a final copy by any means. Do not address formatting, arrangement of ideas, etc; this draft is purely for the content. If you must, then you can comment on the form if it is distracting. PLEASE make comments if you felt I didn't adequately explain something, or missed a point altogether. Thanks!

The 21st century is an age of exploration. We currently live in a digital age, whether you want to accept it or not; to live a life in complete isolation from technology would actually be impossible. Technology is used in the methods by which we produce food and medicine, by which we drive our cars, by which we would do it all again on a different planet. "Progress is a tide. If we stand, we will surely be drowned. To stay on the crest, we must keep moving." On January 27th 2016, Mark Zuckerberg came out and told the world that there is nothing to fear with regards to AI, which goes against everything that Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking have established. Artificial Intelligence should not be feared; should history repeat itself, technology has only been used to progress the future, not pose an eminent threat.

There is a lot we don't know about artificial intelligence, but let's start with what we know. We know that artificial intelligence reaches all aspects of life. "Diagnosing cancer, driving cars, transcribing speech, playing games and tagging photos may sound like very different tasks, but they're all examples of teaching an AI to recognize patterns by showing them many examples."(from Zuckerberg's original post). We also know that with this immense capacity to incite change, there must be limitations too. The greatest limitation that separates us from these robots is the capacity to learn. We understand our environment through trial and error everyday. We test boundaries, we touch hot stoves to know not to do it the next time. Artificial intelligence does NOT have the capacity to use common sense because it has to be instructed to recall something - evidence as for why Artificial Intelligence will not in the near future be autonomous, self-governing.

In order to persuade the general population about the inevitably progressive role that Artificial Intelligence will play in the future, we cannot let powerful people instill fear in our hearts for their own probable gain. These same people (Musk) who advise against the dangers of Artificial Intelligence already use it and place big money on it. Musk spent $1 billion on an AI company with another startup CEO that he says will be "usable by everyone instead of usable by, say, just Google.” Don't you find it ironic that the same person preaching to you the evils of Artificial Intelligence is the same man investing over a billion dollars in it? His investment in self-driving Teslas, coupled with his race to create the robot who could beat the masters at the ancient game of "Go" (which he did not win, google beat him to that), remember his comment about Google?) provide ample evidence that Musk is dissuading others in order to take credit for the exploration and advancement of AI.

Artificial intelligence is not something that we need to brood over. It's not going to magically hit us at some point - we use artificial intelligence every single day throughout or daily lives. However, piece by piece, it will advance the way by which we operate our daily lives, communicate with our loved ones, and find sustainable life for generations to come. We have a lot of problems and the population of people is only increasing. It's about time we hold hands with our robot friends and walk into the future, together.

The Time Period

This article concerns the local, national, and global context of the controversy.

Scott Douglas, black_and_white, 03/09/2012, deviantart.net; Public Domain.

LOCAL PALO ALTO LINKS:

LINK 1

LINK 2

NATIONAL LINKS:

LINK 1

LINK 2

GLOBAL LINKS:

LINK 1

LINK 2

I guess the world was really freaked out by the movie “Ex-Machina”, or it seems. The majority of these articles are fear-mongering articles who are spearheaded by Stephen Hawking, with vibrant headlines and pictures from the movie… maybe that’s just a product of a sensationalistic-seeking media. Nevertheless, there was already lots of discussion before Zuckerberg’s big announcement, and the general consensus is that there is a general unacceptance of artificial intelligence, which is weird because that’s basically saying that they are scared of progress/progress should be discouraged in this case, which will never happen when people have the chance to make money off of it.

The Setting

This blog post concerns the setting of Zuckerberg's big announcement.

Sharing-Too-Much-Information, 12/2012, wp-content; Public Domain.

In the blog post, use your own words to write a 250-300 word description of the main setting or setting(s) of your story. DO NOT quote from any news stories or use anyone's words other than your own.

After choosing from one of his 20 gray shirts to wear on the fine, blue-skied Wednesday morning, Mark Zuckerberg pecked away at his keyboard in the morning of January 27^th, 2016 from his Palo Alto estate. He was to write a Facebook post. No, not a post sharing a picture of a dog talking, or somebody jumping off of a roof into a swimming pool, and most definitely not a compilation of Donald Trump lip-syncing “Hotline Bling” by Drake. He was to write an article about Artificial Intelligence, but not just about it in general – but about his ambition to make a robot. A robot that would function as a personal servant of sorts, “like Jarvis from Ironman”. The cold, plastic-y smell of the keyboard and computer, coupled with a pointed scent of both carpet and hardwood fill his nostrils. The bright light of the computer screen radiates against his pale face, like the sun shines on the sea. However this place is not like the sea. Yes, it is beautiful. However, it’s more relentless than the pounding tides of the ominous waves. When he clicked the publish button at 9:37 AM, it was all out there. His intentions to create the robot, and his opinion that we should not fear the AI, but embrace them. Soon after, he was met by a cold sea of opposition. Huge figureheads of the tech world would soon log in to their phones and see that Zuckerberg had launched himself onto the digital battleground known as Artificial Intelligence, armed with keyboard and mouse, against the giants of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking.

Stakeholder #3

Stakeholder #3: Bill Gates.

3019834 billgates.jpg, 10/2013, fastcompany.net; Public Domain.

1. Can you describe this stakeholder in 200-250 words? If they're an individual, vividly describe how they look, what they wear, how they move. Tell us how they sound, how they talk, what their mannerisms are. Conjure them in our mind's eye, by appealing to at least THREE of our FIVE senses. If the stakeholder is an insitution or group, then describe the institution and how it appears in the world. How do people encounter this group or institution, digitally or physically? Describe their website or headquarters or something else that physically represents the group to the world at large.

Bill Gates is the familiar face that everybody meets when they are a mere child when they press the power button on their PC for the first time. When that Windows Logo pops up in a classroom, you can’t help but think about the man that helped get it here. Bill Gates is extremely involved in charities, notably his own, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, which has donated billions of dollars of charity to help get computers in classrooms for underprivileged students. Bill Gates is quite frankly an oddball. Often times his wife has to introduce him when he first greets people because he is introverted. He finds it extremely hard to sit still, presumably because his brain is firing at a million miles an hour. If I were to compare him to something familiar, I would compare him to a wet dog – unable to hold still, constantly shaking, yet at the same time bursting with freedom and emotion. It’s a weird analogy, I know, but it gets the point across. Bill’s flaws are also what links his creative capacities to what he can accomplish. The fact that he is not hardwired like you or me explains why he is unable to take “no” for an answer and constantly pushes the boundaries of technology.

2. Can you identify THREE specific claims being made by this stakeholder? The claims should be public and about the specific story you're investigating. Provide direct quotes for three different claims or ideas made in public by this stakeholder. Each quote sould be clearly hyperlinked to the original source.

Claim 1: "Humans should be worried about the threat posed by artificial Intelligence." (LINK)

Claim 2: "I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage it well." (LINK)

Claim 3: "I agree with Elon Musk and some others on this and don't understand why some people are not concerned." (LINK)

3. Can you explain how valid these claims are? Objectively, how much weight do these claims carry? How credible are they? Be specific. Think about how poorly or successfully the stakeholder cites FACTS, plays on our EMOTIONS, or presents themself as a CREDIBLE actor in the debate.

These claims are hard to evaluate in terms of precision because they regard speculation. However, Gates does indicate that he does side with Elon Musk, and he mentions "some people" are not concerned about the existential threat posed by autonomous, armed robots patrolling the streets... That some person being Mark Zuckerberg.

4. Can you explain how these claims are similar and/or different to the other stakeholders? Be clear and precise - does this stakeholder have anything in common with others involved in the debate? Who do they have the least in common with? Why?

The stakeholders (Zuckerberg, Elon/Gates) are at a general consensus that AI is extremely powerful, and if it keeps developing at the rate at which it currently is, will be more powerful than we can dream of. Now, there is a huge divide as to if we should allow the AI to reach its full capacity. Gates and Musk are attempting to halt progress, well, at least for the civilians, while possibly keeping it for their own selfish usage.

Stakeholder #2

Stakeholder #2: Elon Musk.

elon-musk.jpg, 07/2017, wp-content; Public Domain.

Elon Musk is very similar to Mark Zuckerberg in terms of his mannerisms. Both of them love to use their hands as a device to both issue dominance gently to the people interviewing them, listening to their lectures, etc. However, the body language differs when it comes to facial expressions. Elon Musk likes to smile, whereas Mark Zuckerberg is much more sparing in that department. Elon Musk feels more like your friend who is talking about his cool new invention to you. Mark Zuckerberg, however, feels more like your boss. He is constantly talking in certainties, and never addresses potential vulnerabilities in his arguments. If Elon Musk were a smell, he would be the smell of your favorite childhood blanket – familiar, warming, comforting. Elon Musk’s companies, Tesla, Space-X, and eBay, are received extremely well by users. The companies are extremely professional and especially catered to the user’s experience. Elon’s ability to listen to the customer’s demands justifies the high price points of Tesla. The ability to list your own goods on eBay gives users a little bit of cash in the pocket, but more importantly, a good experience – that little bit of pride you get when you dive in and snatch an item for a good deal, or you get some extra cash for that extra bicycle you had lying around.

2. Can you identify THREE specific claims being made by this stakeholder? The claims should be public and about the specific story you're investigating. Provide direct quotes for three different claims or ideas made in public by this stakeholder. Each quote sould be clearly hyperlinked to the original source.

Claim 1: "[My biggest mistake is probably] weighing too much on someone's talent and not someone's personality. I think it matters whether someone has a good heart." (LINK)

Claim 2: “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon. In all those stories where there’s the guy with the pentagram and the holy water, it’s like – yeah, he’s sure he can control the demon. Doesn’t work out." (LINK)

Claim 3: "Please note that I am normally super pro technology, and have never raised this issue until recent months. This is not a case of crying wolf about something I don't understand." (LINK)

3. Can you explain how valid these claims are? Objectively, how much weight do these claims carry? How credible are they? Be specific. Think about how poorly or successfully the stakeholder cites FACTS, plays on our EMOTIONS, or presents themself as a CREDIBLE actor in the debate.

Claim 1 serves to establish rapport with the reader. It basically is a good example of his character, but also his weakness. He plays to our sense of sympathy when he talks about the "personality", because we all can sympathize with feeling like the inferior man in the workforce. Claims 2 and 3 are extremely instigating. Now instead of staying in his own lane, he comes out and puts it all on the table. If we wage war with our best judgment and advance forward and create these all-powerful, autonomous robots, it's completely our fault if they go haywire.

4. Can you explain how these claims are similar and/or different to the other stakeholders? Be clear and precise - does this stakeholder have anything in common with others involved in the debate? Who do they have the least in common with? Why?

Zuckerberg is responding to what Musk and other head technology officials said across a span of about 2 months. All parties agree that AI is extremely powerful, but the huge debate that divides the community is HOW we should go about using that power. Musk is not against AI, as he is well-involved in the self-driving car world with Tesla. He, however, does believe that Zuckerberg has the wrong intentions in trying to make these AI as powerful as possible to reach the most people. It almost appears as if Musk wants to keep it for himself!