Dr. James Conca is an expert on energy, nuclear and dirty bombs, a planetary geologist, and a professional speaker. Follow him on Twitter @jimconca and see his book at Amazon.com
This is an example of the gestural mode to communication. The article provides the doctor twitter and published books at amazon for people to interact with him. It provides the opportunity for the readers to connect and understand Conca beliefs/points of view and his ideals from his books and postings on Twitter.
Besides, we’ve already determined the effects of drilling into nuclear waste packages by accident, and the effects are small. The calculations, experiments, modeling and other effort to get WIPP licensed and permitted had to show that simple cuttings and cavings from drilling into nuclear waste in such an apocalyptic future caused minor effects and insignificant radiation exposures at the surface and to groundwater.
This shows the reader that even with all the facts, charts, images and information, we should just accept it and not do a thing because of the benefits, money grabbing opportunities, and minor effects of our actions. How do we solve this problem?
Recently, the Permian Basin has become the leading producer of both oil and gas (see figure) in America. At 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, the Permian exceeds even the Bakken Formation in North Dakota, and the Eagle Ford play in South Texas (NMW). The use of horizontal drilling and fracking is so efficient that the industry expects to extract over a million barrels of oil per day by 2020, just in New Mexico.
The graph they provide fit into the 3 modes linguistic, visual mode, and the spatial. It's color coded with visual, has words and titles telling us what is going on , the color lines are position that tells us which country drills the most barrel of oil. By displaying this chart , it lets the reader know the upcoming dangers to the future and are exposed what is happening to the world. The reader can correct themselves if they gotten the incorrect information from the tv or radio.
What if future humans decide that they want to dig it up to make nuclear weapons and we’ve conveniently told them where it is? I’ve seen present day hunters pass a radioactive barrier just because the hunting was better on the other side. They were not impressed by a radioactive sign, and they know what it means. You really can’t make humans not do something they shouldn’t do, not in the present and certainly not in the distant future.
There a conflict that even a person have a clear understanding of the illustration of that mode , we cannot control there actions. Is there a way to solve this crisis? For example: there are signs in the air port don't bring weapons or you will be arrested. Even through the messages in the airport are clear, we still see the tragic news about what is happening to the airport.
No culture has ever tried, self-consciously and scientifically, to design a symbol that would last 10,000 years and still be intelligible," said David B. Givens, an anthropologist who helps plan nuclear-site warnings (LATimes). "And even if we succeed, would the message be believed?"
We are not fortune tellers and predict how the future is going to be. How are we supposed to understand what is going to happen in the next 10,000 years. Also the multimodal modes can change to the point that the generation from the next 10,000 years might not understand our current modes that were are using.
In Europe, there is a strong current of thinking that future sites of waste repositories should somehow be integrated into human society so that the warnings are transmitted from generation to generation, sort of Keepers of the Sacred Fire. Instead of creating facilities that are totally cut off from society, disposal facilities could be made part of the fabric of the community, integrating its existence safely into the future.
Conca has gave a clear representation of a spatial mode and how it would help the future. This will change the way how on the web will impact on the generation because that data will remain their forever similar to social media. This will have a positive effect on the community because this idea can be passed down generation to generation if it successful. In addition, the information is easy to access since with the rise of the technology age.
There are 4 four requirements that must be met to successfully send a message to the future: • message must survive (durable) • message must be found (in plain sight) • message must be understood (build in a Rosetta stone) • message must be believed (so the message must be comprehensive enough for it to be judged as true)
Conca show us the requirements that are able to communicate. Some of the points are similar to the multi modal modes mention in the article. For example: the message must be found (in plain sight) This relates to the Visual mode.
Simply installing a red-lettered sign warning our descendants to steer clear of a deep chamber will not be enough. To those in the future, it might be taken as meaning: "Hey! Dig here! Treasure below!"
Conca is providing a example of how visual mode can be described with two different meanings.It provides a colored symbol to inform the people also the size of the sign contribute of catching the reader attention. In addition, the interpretation of one's view can be view differently such as being a danger sign or "dig here". This explains why sometime need more modes to get a clear understanding so the reader won't get confused.
Languages evolve fast - the English of the 11th century bears scant resemblance to the English of the 21st - and places of human settlement also come and go, shaped by war, climate change and other forces. Words not only change, they also die out.
Conca is referring to that we must use other modes to get a clear understanding of what we are trying to communicate. Conca address the weakness of just using linguistic mode to discern meaning because of it's constant change of language and it can die out
How will "STAY OUT!" be written 5,000 years from now? When we’ve had some kind of apocalypse, all society is gone, no one remembers America even existed, let alone how to read English. But we’re still drilling for oil.
This refers to the Linguistic mode providing a strong statement to communicate with the community. Conca starting with a strong delivery to the let the reader what are they getting into but without other context or evidence how does one interpret this message. The reader might be confused since Stay out phrase can have multiple meanings
"Yes indeed -- you are going to write about things you can drop on your foot, and people, too. Green peppers, ears of corn, windshield wipers, or a grimy mechanic changing your car's oil. No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot."
This shows follows the of haltman's ideals stating that the more self-conscious one becomes, the more complex one's relation ship to an object becomes physically and ocularly as well as psychologically. this creates relationship , experience, and ideas for the students to relate and write about
If the professional writers whom Fowler and Orwell addressed had to be warned away from over-abstraction, how much more do our students need that advice? Yet the writing textbooks on the whole say nothing about abstractitis, mentioning it at most only in passing. And instructors do not focus on over-abstraction, even though that's the major problem young writers have.
that even professional writes disapprove the idea of having too many ideas and specific objects and often teachers don't teach student's how to they because society trains the student's to follow. Korener disapprove their idea and argue that even objects can also perform what visual images can provide. This leads to saying that Haltmans ideas on visual images can also provide itself with an an interpretation and act as the best access
They don't understand why this bias toward the physical matters nor why it works.
"Description and deduction, really processes of enablement, make itpossible to defer and hence to control the interference of bias and assumption in recognizing what an object is"In Maguire article states "They don't understand why this bias toward the physical matters nor why it works." This will have an negative impact because it would affect how the reader obtain the information only seeing one side of the spectrum. This would only let the reader comprehend one side of the story.
When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing you probably hunt about until you find the exact words that seem to fit.
This supports Haltman ideas sayign "composing an objective description frees one ot move form a narrow focus on the object it self to a focus on the relationship between the object and oneself a its perceiver" that you have to find what your main point / focus that you want to point out
Student papers are often unreadable not only because their grammar is bad and their sentences incomplete, but also because they are way, way too abstract. Assigned to write about some idea, students can't think of examples easily and get caught in the sphere of ethereal ideas and stay there.
this shows that students didn't couldn't interpret and reaching importance of the object they are writing and they do not have a good rich description and a nuanced vocabulary stated in Haltman's text and next sentence explain why student keep using vague terms resulting the paper to be bad
When you boil it down, Bernadette, all abstract ideas derive from objects. You can approach them in that concrete way and teach students to do the same. I wanted to remind her what she knew but had forgotten: that abstractions are what you get when you pull back from (or abstract from) concrete reality -- from the world of things
this relates to Haltmans text becuase the teacher here stating that there ways to teach students to comprehend how to obtain ideas from object and Haltmans provides steps and methods to "gain an analytic hold and open upon interpretation"
"Ideas are what matter," Bernadette said confidently. "Getting them to define and handle ideas is what's important, not things."
This add's on to Haltmans idea saying that "without imagination or ideas nothing of the sort is possible little defeat the purpose of this exercise so well as rigor without reverie" This display that ideas are very important and without it the report is meaning less
I do, in fact, take that approach. "If you are writing about markets, recognize that market is an abstract idea, and find a bunch of objects that relate to it," I say. "Give me concrete nouns. Show me a wooden roadside stand with corn and green peppers on it, if you want. Show me a supermarket displaying six kinds of oranges under halogen lights. Show me a stock exchange floor where bids are shouted and answered."
This relates to Haltmans ideology by finding value and historical interpretations from everyday objects and in the article it said "students will find value principally in learning from the models that these reading offer of how such interpretation can be carried out".
An alternate approach might be to start the course with physical objects, training students to write with those in mind, and to understand that every abstract idea summarizes a set of physical facts.
This relates to Haltmans theory and provide a opportunity to write saying that first we must find value and understanding the object so we can create "fruitful" questions on an object.
I'm obsessed with the importance of writing with objects, and know it works, but it's hard to get the idea across
Haltman and the teacher ideas are similar because in Haltman'ts text mention" that the possibilities are limitless especially considering that no two individuals will read a given object in the same way" This means that object gives people ideas and it provides many options to work with.
JosephKoerner,inarguing,hereagaininthecaseofvisualimages,thatsuchdescriptionoffers“thebestaccess”toexperiencinganobjectwithimmediacy,notesthatevocativedescriptioncan“register”thewayanobject“functionsforoneparticularobserver.Ratherthansayingwhatavisualimagemeans,descriptiontellsushouranimagehasopeneditselfuptoaninterpretation.”Aswithimages,sotoowithobjectswhichconstitute,accordingtoPrown,thebroadercategoryintowhichvisualimagesfal
"If the professional writers whom Fowler and Orwell addressed had to be warned away from over-abstraction, how much more do our students need that advice? Yet the writing textbooks on the whole say nothing about abstractitis, mentioning it at most only in passing. And instructors do not focus on over-abstraction, even though that's the major problem young writers have." Maguire states that even professional writes disapprove the idea of having too many ideas and specific objects and often teachers don't teach student's how to they because society trains the student's to follow. Korener disapprove their idea and argue that even objects can also perform what visual images can provide.
Theseessaysshare,aswell,aspiritofimaginativeinterventioninthestudyofhistory.Theyconstituteasortofpedagogicsampler,ananthologyofessaysinthestrictlyetymologicalsense:experimentsinorelaborationsofarigorouslypractical(asopposedtopurelytheoretical)approachtounderstandingthing
"How should one train students to give good, vivid examples in their writing? Should you tell them, Be more specific? I used to do that but I don't any more, because it's too vague, not operational" This quote shows a problem of how to improve the student's and on the other hand Haltman's provides the correct terminology to aid students find the approach of understanding things.
Thekeytogooddescriptionisarich,nuancedvocabulary.Technicallyaccuratelanguage(nominative,forthemostpart)playsanimportantroleinthis,butultimatelynotthemostimportantrolewhichisreserved,perhapssomewhatcounter-intuitively,todescriptivemodifiers(adjectives)and,mostcrucially,totermsexpressiveofthedynamicsofinterrelation(verbs,adverbs,prepositions).
"From a teacher's perspective, the lovely thing about this technique of writing with things you can drop on your foot is that both the skilled and the unskilled can do it. Both kinds of students find the assignment intriguing. Students led into writing this way at the start of a course--writing about abstract ideas in terms of concrete objects--find it strange at first, but they are pleased that the task is actually doable. They start to write with good examples, though they don't think of them as examples, but as objects." what both of them are saying that as long as people think and try coming up with great description and a important vision anyone are able to create great insights
Insearchingoutanobjecttointerpret,thesearefactorstobekeptinmind.Moreover,suchpolaritiesandoppositionsoffereffectiveanalytic"hooks”ofuseinorganizinginsights.Thoroughlydescribethisobject,payingcarefulattention,asrelevant,toallofitsaspects-material,spatial,andtemporal.Beattentivetodetails(forwhichatechnicalvocabularywillalmostcertainlyproveuseful),buteverkeepaneyeonthebigpicture.Imbueyourdescriptionwiththethicktextureoftaxonomyyetuiththeflowofnarrative.
"t's a crucial question for those who want to reform the teaching of writing, because once you ask what skills are missing, you can make a list and start a counter-attack. The alternative to listing missing skills is to settle into a belief that today's kids are dumb or just not interested in ideas -- which is what usually happens these days"
It shows that students currently lack identifying insights on an object and do not have the correct and vocabulary to even describe their objects
Withoutpleasuretakenintheworkoftheimagination,nothingofthesortispossible.Indeed,littledefeatsthepurposeofthisexercisesowellasrigorwithoutreverie.
Miguire "Ideas are what matter," Bernadette said confidently. "Getting them to define and handle ideas is what's important, not things." Halman explain that without usage ot the mind on thinking and creative ideas it would be almost impossible to write a creative player relating to Migure saying that ideas are the most important.
Descriptionanddeduction,reallyprocessesofenablement,makeitpossibletodeferandhencetocontroltheinterferenceofbiasandassumptioninrecognizingwhatanobjectis.
In Maguire article states "They don't understand why this bias toward the physical matters nor why it works." This will have an negative impact because it would affect how the reader obtain the information only seeing one side of the spectrum. This would only let the reader comprehend one side of the story.
WhiletoomuchKenneth Haltman informationcanbealmostasbadastoolittle,anythingleftoutofdescriptionislosttointerpretationforever. (pg 6/7)
The students in Maguire classroom didn't do enough research such as examples and information to know more about the subjects they were assigned to which explained detailed in Haltmans quote.The reason is because students ideas are jumbled and not clear and concise to a narrow focus on the subject.
Allobjectssignify;somesignifymoreexpressivelythanothers.Asthelistofobjectsstudiedoverthecourseoftimeinasingleuniversityseminarattests,thepossibilitiesarevirtuallylimitless-especiallyconsideringthatnotwoindividualswillreadagivenobjectinthesameway
Maguire state that "Today I give students a shortcut. I say, "Write physically. Write with physical objects. Put physical objects in your essay." This shows that its crucial to express and comprehend the significance of the object because even Maguire follows Haltman's ideology when composing ideas for writing.
Themoreself-consciousonebecomes,themorecomplexone’srelationshiptoanobjectbecomes,physicallyandocularlyaswellaspsychologicallyandexperientially.Forthepurposeofanalysis,thereisvalueinisolatingdifferentrealmsofdeductiveresponsesothatthesecanbehandledmorecircumspectly
Students doesn't know how to connected with the object and using transition to provided vivid responses.The New Drop discovered the kids didn't know the answer to when she ask them "Can you explain the answer" during class discussion. This displays that students haven't utilize their ability to think critically and creatively.
Whatquestionsaremostfruitfultoaskinone'sworkwithanobjectandhowmightonebestgoaboutaskingthem?WhereasscholarswillfindValueinparticularhistoricalinterpretationsproposedbycontributorsconcerningateapot,cardtable,cigarettelighter,cellarette,telephone,quilt,moneybox,corset,parlorstove,lavalamp,footbridge,locket,foodmill,orArgandlamp,studentswillfindvalueprincipallyinlearningfromthemodelsthatthesereadingsofferofhowsuchinterpretationcanbecarriedÖut
Interpretation on objects that have historical significance to that scholar. We have to be able to identify these objects and values from the reading and the models. In addition, we have to provide interpretation why do these cultural object exist and their importance of our lives.
When you boil it down, Bernadette, all abstract ideas derive from objects. You can approach them in that concrete way and teach students to do the same. I wanted to remind her what she knew but had forgotten: that abstractions are what you get when you pull back from (or abstractfrom) concrete reality -- from the world of things