Browse Exhibits (104 total)
Student Life at Zoom University
As of March 2020, the life of students all across the globe has changed. No longer were students allowed to congregate in the classroom, now the age of the Zoom meeting had begun. Almost overnight all teachers and students had to adjust to online learning. Some challenges that arose from Zoom learning were: screen sharing, test proctoring, attendance, and student retention. As the Spring semester came to an end, learning through Zoom was now seen as normal. Well into the Fall teachers were running Zoom lectures as if they were just another class. While on the other hand, students had begun feeling fatigued and naming this learning method "Zoom University."
Quickly students across the nation had picked up this moniker. They poked fun at the fact that no matter the school they attended they were all now enrolled in Zoom University. As this form of teaching became the standard, students shared their individual experiences or relatable content on social media sites such as Twitter.
Everyday writing in the college dorm
The college dormitory environment is one where hundreds of different people walk through the same halls. Their many different voices, perspectives, and experiences can be seen in their everyday writing.
The presence of everyday writing is expressed in widely different ways, but despite how it is expressed, there is a commonality of collaboration and socialness that goes hand in hand with everyday writing in the college dorms.
I want this exhibit to highlight the way in which students will communicate with each other through everyday writing in different contexts, such as formal and informal. I also want to examine the connections that everyday writing in the dorm fosters between students and students with their R.A., and how these interactions differ due to the contextual differences.
Sports through writing
Sport is always played out on the field. The field is where everyone focuses, but much of sports happens off the field and through writing. Writing in sports can help us to think through situations. As Heidi Estrem writes, "We don’t simply think first and then write. We write to think" (Estrem p.19).
If you miss a game, you go to the internet or to a newspaper to get a recap of a game. I'm a sports writer and much of my time is taken up by watching games and writing stories on them. People read stories about sports to learn about certain teams in players. I feel that many of these writings through sports are good examples of using things to solve real Issues. "Instead, teachers should be encouraging students to learn ways to use existing information to solve real, concrete issues' (Johnson-Eilola).
Another way writing is important in sports is through lineups. Everyday a manager or head coach puts together a lineup on paper and throughout games, that lineup is changed to dictate how that game will go. It's also important for other teams to set their matchups and know how they want to play the game out.
Writing in sports also has to do with stats and setting the narative of the game. Many times this comes through game notes and where players or teams stand in the nation or their conference by statistics. You're able to read a matchup and preview a matchup through these statistics. Writing lets us explore different ways of doing things. "Literacy is never one thing, with one pre-identifiable set of consequences for individuals or groups. We cannot taking 'writing' - what it is and what it means to do writing - as a given" (Lillis P. 79).
Lastly, and maybe most importantly, scouting is often done through notes. Scouts sit and take their notes down and teams make decisions off those notes. Notes during a game or a practice are highly important to remember what you saw, especially if video isn't available. The legibility of the notes is important and the most thorough notes are usually the ones that lead to the best moves. Through these scouting notes, we are able to go back and make educated decisions through reformed arguments. "The experienced writers describe their primary objective when revising as finding the form or shape of their argument" (384, Sommers).
If Stalls Could Talk
This exhibit brings together the different forms of graffiti displayed across bathroom stalls all over town bars. Graffiti is often compared to vandalism as it is usually illegal and involves unauthorized marking on public spaces. But graffiti isn't always offensive, and it doesn't always have to be an antisocial behavior. Graffiti can also be understood as an expressive art form that is used to share different thoughts and opinions. Throughout this exhibit, we may recognize how graffiti can be controversial and purposeful.
As I came across these artifacts, I began to question the motives behind writing on bathroom stalls and what makes bathroom graffiti so popular. Is it the thrill of breaking a taboo in a private space knowing it may never catch up to you? Some may argue that the best inspiration in life comes from sitting on a toilet, as it could be the only place where aspiring artists will find an audience. However, these artists fail to consider that they are creating an unwanted eyesore for others as their graffiti wreaks havoc on another's business. Writing on bathroom stalls is like a war between right or wrong. Is the defacing of these walls decoration and expression, or is it as simple as delinquency?
Public bathrooms are weird places, especially in college towns, so you have to be a particular type of person to have the insatiable desire to find a canvas in these spaces. For some, this art form may just be a way to rebel against authorities and establishments. But graffiti can also be as innocent as creating a demonstration that represents love amongst friends or a group of people. As humans, it is natural to want to express yourself and communicate with others. If you frequently visit the same stalls, you can recognize how your expression and communication efforts have been responded to or received. Writing on bathroom walls is never done for critical acclaim or a financial reward; it may genuinely be the purest form of art that encourages discussion.
My exhibit focuses on graffiti that expresses controversial statements, comedy, inspiration, and love.
While it may stink, doesn't it make you think or smile sometimes?
If yes, then mission accomplished.
A Women's Place Is in the Revolution(ary Words)
Taking place the day after Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017, the Women's March is the largest single-day protest in history. Over 1 million people marched on January 21, 2017, to protect women's rights to equality. However, this protest turned into a movement. Taking place every year, the Women's March still draws big crowds and creates a lot of noise. The Women's March has had a lasting impact on American politics; more women have run for office (and won!) than ever before. The protest signs present at the protests were a fantastic example of everyday writing used in a political way. The signs utilized a variety of languages, tones, comedy, statistics, and more. Combined altogether, these signs made you chuckle, had you learn something new, or pulled at your heartstrings. In such a political time, women often find themselves at the intersection of it all, with their rights consistently being put on the chopping block. But in 2017, women all across the globe decided to put pen to a piece of cardboard and make their voice heard. They utilized writing to get their message across – our rights are no longer up for deliberation. Taking to the streets, women all across the globe showed solidarity through words and messages. The language did not matter. It was the message that brought every type of person out into the streets to make sure everyone knew that women were not going to be silenced.
Online Investing Discussion via Forums
This exhibit was created to capture the discussion around investing through online forums both public and private. Discussion topics include hand-drawn technical analysis over trading charts, a method of sharing opinion or advice through visual means. Chats of users typing to each other in public spaces, communication to work through ideas with peers which is open to viewing and archived on the forum. Other chats include users reacting to public news, discerning amongst others their potential economic impact in real-time. There's also use of the forum to share in-depth and highly thought out research with large audiences, sharing the author's findings and opinions with everyone.
These discussions are important. Discussion around investing has historically been performed behind closed doors, using club lunches and private meetings to communicate privately on finances. This separates sources of knowledge from public audiences, gate-keeping lots of worthwhile financial discussion from open audiences. Technology has opened this discussion up to retail traders, the every-day investor. Advents in technology, chat forums such as Reddit and Discord, have led to the meteoric rise of stocks and options discussion online. This has been healthy for finance, the public setting of online forums means discussion can be seen by strangers across the globe and everyday people who take interest in trading can post their financial opinions for anyone to see. This threatens conventional financial advisors, and while many of them have openly condemned these online forums as "irresponsible" others have learned from the open discussion. Cathie Wood, founder of recent top-performing fund ARK Invest, opts in for transparent communication in contrast to her peers. Weekly emails disclose their trades and strategy for anyone interested, making them vulnerable to competition. Her exchange funds are grossly outperforming the market, utilizing the same growth stocks that are popularly discussed on chat forums. Transparent communication is healthy for the financial sector, the discussion that takes place publically online is done by individuals but managed funds are starting to follow suit. It's important to capture some of this every-day discussion that rages on. I'm archiving a sample so the audience of this exhibit can see an unadulterated view of how every-day users discuss investing.
The online forums of discussion, most commonly Reddit, also open up the types of discussion around investing. Memes and trolls proliferate in every corner of the internet, and investing forums are no different. An example is of user-generated content of a cat making financial decisions, posted by the cat's owner. Obviously it's intended as a joke, and most users react to it as such but within the comment section of every investing joke and meme there's serious investing discussion going on. On the other side of this, people use anonymity and ease of access to mislead others for personal gain. Lying is a common tool used to trick the public, but more crafty and nefarious forces use bots to hype up false sentiment. It's hard for one user to lie and trick the world, but it's easy for one user to be tricked by fake accounts pretending to be the opinions of the world. Moderators and users try to stop it and raise awareness, but it will take time for technology to find an answer to this new form of market manipulation.
We'll analyze the types of content and communication that's on a public investing forum and private investing forum. All artifacts will be examples that can be viewed by every member of the group to ensure this is an exhibit of open investing discussion.
A Glimpse into the Queer Mind
Queer individuals have historically been dubbed as disgraceful heretics who have strayed from the word of God. As a result of this hatred, people within the LGBTQ community are continually discriminated against and killed in modern civilizations for nothing more than their deviance in sexual orientation from heterosexuality. It would be an understatement to say that the anachronistic word of Abrahamic religions has tarnished the global perception of queer people, and has reduced their appearance to one of inferiority and inhumanity.
Diaries and journals are items that people hold very close to themselves, as they provide a personal first-hand account of one's most inner thoughts and desires. Not only are they a form of everyday writing that can be extremely personal, but they can be further shown to be a time-lapse on paper. As one continually makes entries within their diary or journal, the act of journal writing is thus imprinting one's experiences, tribulations, and life philosophies that may have been brought about as a result. People have kept diaries and journals all over the world for centuries, which indicates that they can vary in time period, location, and even the design of the book itself. These collections of personal history are generative of new and thoughtful ideas, though, as they establish a sense of connectedness with oneself and may influence one's decision-making by challenging their morals that one had written in the very same work. Furthermore, they are works that can influence others by passing on one's story and recounting their successes, failures, and how they dealt with such matters.
Diaries and journals have the potential to open many people's eyes when it comes to LGBTQ issues. For too long have thousands of people been dubbed as abominations and perceived as dehumanized beyond redemption. With millions of people writing diaries every day, observing the writings of queer individuals offers a glimpse into the queer mind, thus exposing the oxymoronic normalcy of queer people. In this exhibit, journals and diaries of queer individuals from various backgrounds and areas of expertise will be put on display in order to emphasize that people who identify with the LGBTQ community are productive and influential members of society.
Passports: Stories Written in Stamps
This is an exhibit of passport stamps. These little bits of exigence are seldom thought of. Let alone considered for insight into a stranger's life like one would from a poem or passage. But within each passport the pressance, absence, frequency, location, and date of stamps tell stories of cirumstance. These stamps come into existance as a biproduct of a person's choice to travel out of the boarders of the nation which they reside.
The following collections of passports will be connected based on the quantity and diversity of stamps within a passport going from high to low, to connect people of similar financial means. Each of these passports will tell us about the circumstances of their owners to varying degrees and hopefully we can learn something about these people from the writing trails they've left behind in their travels.
Google Restaurant Reviews: Building Trust With Strangers
This exhibit is composed of several pictures of different Google Reviews of restaurants throughout all of Florida, from Key West all the way up to Tallahassee. This exhibit has been designed to reflect the way in which absolute strangers can influence each other online in making decisions about where to dine out. More specifically, it explores the way in which people transfer trust to each other, and how that trust can completely alter action in the physical present space. This framework establishes composition and its relationship to something else—in this instance, dining experiences—which lies at the heart of everyday writing (Yancey, et al 9).
Message Boards: Facilitating Conversation
Three roommates. Three distinct lives. Three different schedules. One message board to keep them connected.
What might sound like a failed reboot of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants actually offers an interesting viewpoint of the subject of everyday writing and how it can facilitate conversation.
In college, everyone has their own class schedule, homework, internships, jobs, etc. So much of a college student's life revolves around their schedule, and no one's is exactly the same. For me and my two roommates, this means that we are very rarely all together in the townhouse we share. Despite having been friends since freshman year, our separate lives often pull us in different directions, making it difficult to really connect with each other like we once did.
Enter a message board from Target. At first it was merely decoration, but as time went on, we began to use it for a lot more than that. Now we use it to communicate plans to one another, to congratulate each other on our various accomplishments, and to offer messages we might not be able to give in person. This simple act of everyday writing doesn't make us necessarily closer, but, it does keep us communicating in a way that feels personal.
This exhibit depicts our messages to one another, more than that though, it demonstrates how everyday writing is used to facilitate conversations between people. Having been to many a college party in my day, I've seen these message boards in a lot of other apartments, so I'd only assume some of them might be similar to our own.
In the busy lives we lead as college students, something like a message board can help us slow down and actually put some thought into what we'd like to say to those who view it. It is a form of everyday writing that demonstrates a way for people to communicate without direct contact. A way to join people into conversation in unconventional ways.
When we engage with a message board, or really, with any form of everyday writing, we are really engaging in a greater conversation. This conversation can be with the creator, with those who have added to the original idea, or with the many others who view the everyday writing over time. It is this factor that makes a message board important in the grand scheme of everyday writing as a whole.
A message board isn't only important for college students though. Any sort of message board where people can not only put their own ideas, but can respond to other people's ideas is a great tool for communication in the world beyond my personal small scope of life as a college student.
Within the scope of everyday writing, message boards, dry erase boards, chalk boards; they all accomplish the same thing. Unlike when people write their ideas on walls, or etch them into public surfaces, a board allows for easier communication to flow between contributors. Although, it is also not without certain constraints that don't affect other mediums of everyday writing. For example, with a chalk or dry erase board, messages can be erased, never to be written the exact same way again. This isn't something that would be a problem with more permanent forms of everyday writing.
Even with this constraint though, I think the ease of use for the aforementioned boards make it easy to express one's opinions at the liberty of erasing or rearranging letters. This flexibility allows for more honest, open conversation because the creator might feel free to say what they need to say without fear of having to keep their message there forever.
In our internet age, if we post something on the internet, it stays there forever. Even if we delete it, there is an archive of our word somewhere. I think the simplicity of a message board in our day and age is important. By using something that can be altered with the flow of time and the changing of ideas, it is easier for us to express ourselves. And with the nature of message boards allowing contributors to openly interact with one another, they provide a way to communicate that is much different from other modes of everyday writing we might encounter more often.