For me, “the next big thing in electronic communications technology” will be in the area of wireless and mobile computing. Obviously, this is a means of communication that is pretty well developed already. The question, “In the future, will we do all our reading on smart phones?” isn’t something that needs too much thought. It seems as though, at least in the case of me and my friends, the main connection to the world is through smart phones. I read news articles, use Twitter (tweet), use Facebook, chat using instant messenging, and even sometimes do my homework on my smart phone. The truth is I can’t say that I enjoy it 100%. I still thoroughly enjoy picking up a print book or a newspaper. Now that I think about it, reading on a computer screen falls somewhere in the spectrum between smart phones and books. However, I would argue that smart phone use is essential and growing, especially with this generation of people who are now becoming adults. We don’t have time to sit down and read in front of the computer or to sit down to a cup of coffee in the morning while reading the paper. Maybe it’s because we’re in college, young and ambitious, energetic and still maturing. But it may actually be because we don’t like to be bored. I know I don’t. I load my plate up with as many obligations as I can find and then complain about it via Twitter until it’s all over. I think that smart phones will become another big alternative to the eBook and the Kindle very shortly. The only reason it hasn’t happened yet is because it’s not as popular, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already seen the technology—the application is sitting in my marketplace, probably for free; just the app though, not the texts. And, yes, we will undoubtedly be doing more watching than reading in the future. Again, though, that’s speaking as though it’s not already true. I’m pretty certain that non-digital literature won’t die, but it will diminish. Books will become less expensive to stay current and meet supply and demand. But a file on a smart phone or computer which is essentially free to copy will be right there with it.
Archive for the 'student posts' Category
In the future, the most fascinating developments will be in 3-D and immersion. In the future, there will be the possibility for people to enter stories, or video games and experience them first-hand. There have been some advances in this field with the goggles that allow the viewers to only view the movie that is inside the goggles. In the future, a person might be able to log into a computer and be completely immersed in whatever game they are playing, book they are reading, or movie they are watching. There are a few issues that are evident with these advances in technology. First, this could cause the literacy rate to plummet in society. If a person could simply watch a novel while being “in” the novel, why take the time to read the book? Also, the price on a project like this will likely be astronomical. Eventually, many years down the road, this technology could be available to just about everyone. But at first only the very wealthy could afford it.
Evan Clarke
With the speed technology is currently advancing, I think in the future the majority of people will actually be doing their reading online or at the very least using a digital reader like a Kindle. It probably won’t be soon, but there is a definite possibility that hundreds of years from now the physical print book may actually cease to exist, especially if you take into account how fast we cut down trees for paper and how slow it takes one tree to reach adulthood. I sincerely hope that in the future, no matter how far in the future, we don’t ever lessen our humanity by turning ourselves into cyborgs. If that ever did happen, I can at least take solace in the fact that I won’t be alive to experience it. 3-D immersion would be awesome, especially if we could step into a world like that in the movie Avatar. I don’t think social networking would ever replace literature as we know it. There are too many of us who still love to read and who will not substitute that for anything. The media that we use to do our reading may change, but not the novel will continue to exist.
Amoona Albadawi
I envision the future of technology to be sort of similar to where we are now. We are going to be using a lot of touch screen devices, such as tablets, in our everyday lives. Maybe newspapers will be e-ink—if they are still around. Even now, technology seems to be moving at a faster pace than people realize. The possibilities are becoming endless in what we can achieve using technology. Reading will still be a very large part of people’s everyday lives. I do not think that we’ll have any 3D reading, where the reader can step into a virtual world and read or write a story, but there will definitely be video games so advanced that it could seem like the virtual reality is real. Basically, I think the future of reading and writing is going to quickly make its way into flexible, portable tablets, with social networking, web 2.0, and the news being the main sources of reading. People will still read books on their tablets, but I think for the most part, tablets will be used for other purposes. However, in the future, print will not be dead, and books will remain a part of our lives for at least a few more decades.
Jordan Davis
In the ever changing world of digital literature, it seems that micro-blogging through social media outlets will be a major force in the future. With the advent of web applications such as Twitter and Facebook, a new, broader audience has been created for new pioneering authors to cater to. Micro flogs may soon become the predominant class of literature in tomorrow’s wired world. Fictional characters with fictional stories with multiple posts per day could easily captivate and enthrall millions of people. With new technological advancements such as super phones and tablets, people will have instant updates on their mobile devices. The addition of media, such as pictures and videos, these micro flogs will enhance the readers experience because they will be able to see and hear elements of the story, something which is currently not very common. In the future, people will become increasingly busy and the luxury of reading long texts will only be available to people who have time to read books and e-books.
Rishi Banerjee
Brett Cohen on “SAVIOUR”
“SAVIOUR”
MrLightening
Storymash
http://storymash.com/u/MrLightening/pubofole/
“SAVIOUR” is a short tale of how quickly life can change for even the greatest of us. In the story there is a doctor who sees himself as being smarter and better than those around him. Everywhere he goes he brings an air of pompous grandeur, the sort of guy who doesn’t think that anyone is on his level, but he counteracts this with an inner telling of how noble he is. This doctor walk around comparing the good he does for people to the good others do, especially his neighbors, and comes to the conclusion that even though he feels he is above all others, the good he does for others outweighs his arrogance. He is brought to the reality of how fragile he is when all of the sudden a tool box is dropped on his head and he is no longer able to use that big brain of his. The story has just one chapter.
The story has only one author, named MrLightening. Besides “SAVIOUR” this author has posted two other stories called “The Park” and “Portrait of the Widower.” There are two comments on “SAVIOUR”. The general drift is that it is profound and that the story is something that could happen in real life. My comment would be something like: “The story is wonderful, very easy to read and well put together. I really enjoyed it.”
The story is rated 4.1 out of 5. I would rate it as a 4. I think the story is worth continuing. I would add a story from his early child hood, what happened to make him feel as if he had to project himself above others. Afterwards, I would show how his life is after the doctor leaves the hospital, following his accident.
Brett Cohen
“A Piece of Possible Spleen”
honeygloom, dogdeity11, and writerwannabe
Storymash
http://storymash.com/u/honeygloom/hegenetu/
I only read the opening chapter, but the story as I understand it is about someone who is looking at the frozen, shattered remains of a human. This person was obviously someone that the narrator was familiar with, possibly a love interest, but that is not made clear. The shattered individual is a woman, and the narrator implies that the way in which this person became frozen was not natural. The narrator decides that he/she must try to organize the parts and eventually put her back together, and that is where this chapter ends.
This story has ten different chapters, written by several different authors that seem to be collaborating and taking turns adding chapters to the story. They are honeygloom, writerwannabe, and dogdeity11. The main author, honeygloom, was active on the site for about three years and got mostly very good ratings on what he/she wrote. The author had mentioned in one of her comments that she “loves stories with hateful characters that you still somehow root for,” which is probably a good explanation of the types of characters that she builds in her own stories. Other titles this author has worked on at Storymash are called “The Games Lucifer Plays” and “Lesson Learned.”
There are comments and reviews about “A Possible Piece of Spleen”, and the reviews and comments are almost all positive. Most of the commenters have nothing but praise for, and interest in, what the author has written. I find the work interesting personally because of the mysterious nature of the introduction to the story and how the author reveals just enough to get you interested but leaves enough unknown so that you want to keep reading. I also enjoyed how she included science and a science-fiction aspect to the story which was unexpected.
This story is rated a 4.5/5 on the site. I would rate this work similarly, with a rating of maybe slightly under 4.5. This story is definitely worth continuing, because the introduction was so mysterious and intriguing that you almost have to know more. I would probably continue it in a similar mysterious fashion for a while longer, revealing more and more facts about the situation slowly over time to draw the reader in even more before fully involving the reader in the major conflict of the work.
Bradley Cranford
“Ragnarok? Really”
Immer Schreiben
Storymash
http://storymash.com/u/Immer_Schreiben/kahanuro/
“Ragnarok? Really” is about a town bewildered and distraught by the unproven belief that the world is going to end. The main character of the novel serves as the only somewhat sane person throughout the story. Everyone panics when the horn of Thor was blown, thus signaling the world is going to end. At this point if anyone were to smile or show any sign of happiness they would be looked down upon. The main character unfortunately does this but then attempts to bring sanity back to the people by claiming that his “dance” will stop Ragnarok from happening. The story is just a single narrative on its own with no previous or subsequent chapters.
The story has only one author, named Immer Schreiben. The author has written a bunch of works. They are “Ragnarok? Really?”, “How to Keep Your Teacher from Being Sacked”, “Dear Ms. Rokes, Politician Style”, and 14 others.
There are no comments on this work. It received 2.8 stars out of 5, so it wasn’t the best story. If I were to comment I would say that the story ended rather poorly. I was disappointed about how the story suddenly just ends with the main character realizing that maybe the world is actually going to end, and pretty much figuring out that if you can’t beat them, join them.
Instead of continuing the story, I would cut out the ending and add an adventure in which the main character goes on a search for evidence that the world is going to end. This would add a lot of adventure and entertainment to the story rather than just ending it with a boring realization.
David Daniel
Drew DePoy on “The Park”
“The Park”
MrLightening
Storymash
http://storymash.com/u/MrLightening/derevavi/
“The Park” is about a man named Keith who wakes up to find his wife and daughter missing. He gets a phone call from the abductor telling Keith what he has done. Keith goes throughout the day in torture because he knows there is nothing he can do to get his family back. He is sent to a locker by the abductor where he reads an envelope saying he will get his family back in exactly one year. The story has eight separate chapters, each of which can be navigated to by the train-like graphic at the bottom of the page.
“The Park” has only one author who goes by the name of MrLightening. When I clicked on MrLightening’s profile, it did not give any background information. It says he joined the site on April 8th, 2011 so maybe he just hasn’t put up a profile yet. Besides “The Park,” this author has also posted two other stories called “Saviour” and “Portrait of the Widower.”
Most of the comments to the story were from people trying to promote their own stories on different websites, and one guy asked the author to read his story. Only one comment actually talked about the story, and they said it was good. My comment: Good idea for a story; you don’t see many stories dealing with pedophiles because it is a sensitive topic. You could have made the story more dramatic, so as to draw the reader into the story more. Also, a follow up story would be beneficial to see if the abductor actually returns his family to Keith.
“The Park” got a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars. I think this rating is a little generous. I thought the actual abduction part could have been more exciting. The story also talked about how 300 children were abducted as well, which makes it less personal, and thus takes away from the story. The ending disappointed me as well because it didn’t really solve the problem and ended abruptly. I would have given this story 3 stars. The story is definitely worth continuing because it ends on a cliff-hanger and nothing is solved at the end of the story. A follow up story would really enhance the content for the reader.
Drew DePoy
chris levy on flogs
“Horton’s Folly” follows the life of Horton Carew, who lives in Dundee, Scotland. As a work of fiction it provides short, fictional stories about Horton’s life. The stories are told in different parts so the reader must continually follow the flog in order to keep up with the story.
The flog is set up entirely like a regular blog, but instead contains fiction. The newest entry is posted at the top of the page so the viewer ends up reading the story backwards. In many entries there is a picture accompanying the text which is a benefit that you wouldn’t normally get from a fiction novel. There is also an “About Me” section and a navigation bar which is common amongst blogs. This aids the reader in continuing his or her flog experience, taking it beyond what is written on the page.
The flog is very similar to hypertext because the reader is able to navigate to different entries and create his or her own reading experience. It also contains aspects of multimedia with many pictures and images to enhance the viewing. What makes the flog unique is its ability to be interactive. Readers are able to post comments, e-mail the author, and share their thoughts on the flog. It allows for a connection between the author and his readers that most forms of fiction do not contain.
Flogs such as “Horton’s Folly” contain too much writing and would not translate over well to Facebook or Twitter. Facebook allows personal connections, but not long stories. Twitter allows writers to post their thoughts like on a flog, but with a 140 character maximum long stories are not going to work. These applications should be used to give basic information about the flog and to bring in readership onto the flog page.
Chris Levy
