Texts Without Context Questions

1. The main point of the article "Texts Without Context" is how the technological world is replacing many of the pillars of society. Kakutani, the author of the article, discusses many ways in which technology has replaced the human mind in recent years. One of the major points she makes relates to the increase in the use of e-books and the creation of machines that use e-books. She says that the internet has increased the ability for people to plagerize, and items such as the Kindle have replaced the enjoyment of curling up with a good book and good old fashioned reading in general. Now with the new technology we have millions of ways to acquire books, and other information with a click of a button. These new forms of technology are replacing items such as books, and eventually they will replace human conversation all together. Another point the author makes is that "technology and the mechanisms of the Web have been accelerating certain trends already percolating through our culture- including the blurring of news and entertainment, a growing polarization in national politics, a deconstructionist view of literature...the prominence of postmodernism in the form of mash-ups and bricolage, and a growing cultural relativism." These are many of the major issues the author has with technology and what it is doing to today's society. She continues to talk about Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and text messaging and their impact on society and human communication.

2. The meaning of cyberbalkanization in this article comes from the term balkanization which is the formation of groups of people who share similar thoughts and beliefs. These groups were sometimes hostile to opposing groups, but this is not the case in cyberbalkanization. What cyberalkanization means in this article is that the internet has become a global community where people post and share their ideas with one another. It also has become a place where people can get to know each other through their beliefs and thoughts. I have definitely noticed the trend of cyberbalkanization in my every day interent browsing experience. No matter what I look up, or where I look it is easy for me to find out about other people who looked up similar things. I can go on Facebook and become a fan of almost anything, then discuss on the wall of the fan page why I'm a fan, and find out why others are fans. This is a way of building relationships with people. If I am not a fan of something, I still see which of my friends became a fan of what on my news feed. Facebook, in my opinion, is one of the most evident forms of cyberbalkinazation found in society today. People join groups, meet others, discuss beliefs with others, and sometimes even fight with others based on their beliefs.

3. I think that the future of authors, composers, and filmmakers is looking very dim in the shadow of the Internet. People that create original works will suffer in today's society due to the endless information one can gain on the internet. Before the internet composers, authors, and filmmakers made their profit and success off of the fact that people paid to get their works. Now, with the internet in full swing, people can go online and get all of the songs a band has ever written in a matter of minutes. This most definitely takes away from the success of these authors, composers, and filmmakers, and will probably be the downfall of them in the future. The only way that this rare breed can survive is if they find a way to stop people from stealing music and movies on the internet. This is a lost cause because no matter how many torrent sites they shut down, more will spring up, because now the people have control of the internet.

4. The meaning of "appropriation art" is the use of "borrowed" elements in order to create a new piece/work. Meaning people create their own writings, drawings, music, etc, based off of something that has already been created by someone else. This is due to the internet and information that is easily accesible through the internet. I feel that this is very legitimate because it is showing that people no longer think and create for themselves, from their own minds, but they create based on the thoughts of others. This is sad to me that we are losing our minds, literally, to the internet, and that the internet is causing us to replace our own thoughts and ideas with the thoughts and ideas of others.

5. I agree and disagree with the opinion that the audience is archaic. In some senses the idea of the audience is archaic because as long as there are people there will still be an audience, and although that audience has changed over the years, there is still an audience. To say the audience is archaic would not necessarily be true in today's society because the audience has changed a lot since the audience before technology. I feel that there is still an audience but that audience is in a smaller proportion. For example, when the radio first came out it had a huge audience, many people tunned in to nightly shows, and many people listened to the same shows/broadcasts, as seen by the pandomonium that occured in Orwells "War of the Worlds" broadcast. Today, the audience still exists but it is more specific. Now people know what they like and don't like, they know what they listen to, watch, and think, based on what they like. People go to concerts for bands that they like, or see a movie because it is a genre they like, but through the new use of the internet and technological advances the concept of mass audience has become archaic.