DTC 375
Joel Cummings
John Barber
Project #13
Mood, Writing, Electronic.
In this essay, I will be looking at how Mood, Writing, and Electronic, and how they relate to the communication as well as the digital world. These three words are seemingly unrelated when you first look at them, but each have an intricate part to play in each other and in communication as a whole. I will be discussing each word separately at first so that we can have an understanding of all of the difference and similarities in each word, and what it implies. Then, I will discuss how each word changes in combination with the others. Why I chose these words is because learning how these words interact can greatly help communication in an electronic/Digital world. Also, each of these terms “Mood, Writing, and Electronic” are so simple that they are constantly overlooked as tools for digital communication and communication technology. What I will also be looking at in this paper is how each of these words interact and affect each other. First, I will discuss Mood and how it plays a role in communication, how it is used/misused and how its effects language as a whole. Second, I will discuss Writing and how the invention and implementation of it has changed our world. As well as how writing has changed and shaped communication in the past and now. Third I will look at electronic and how the invention of electricity has molded communication to what it is today. As well as discuss how electronic how integrated each of the preceding words discussed into itself. While I know there will are many more aspects that play a part in communication, it is interesting to look closer at the small pieces that make up the whole. So as to better understand how communication has changed over the years as well as to understand the boundaries that make up each piece.
Firstly Mood, when you first hear the word mood it is like any other. A word to describe an emotional state of someone else, or as described in “Digital Storytelling” (By dene Grigar) is: “the emotional-intellectual attitude of the author [re: artist] toward the subject” the mood plays a crucial part in communication by how you are to preserve the message. Without the mood there would be no life in language itself. Tone and mood can sometimes be interchanged but I would like to describe why mood it much more critical. So how does mood effect communication? While it might seem straight forward it also is quite complex. In the straight forward route mood can affect how your message is received as well as what your message meant. What I mean by that is imagine a postcard, with the words “you’ll always be mine” this statement can have a drastically different meaning, whether you are in a haunted house with a murderer. Or if it a valentine card with chocolate. If you are talking to someone and your stance is menacing the message can change. Look at this piece:
We are done here" He says as he walks down the way with the girl in hand she stops for a moment and looks at the ground she has a glint of a tear in her eye as she picks herself up and returns to his side and they go on their way.
You do not have a good idea if the little girl is crying because of sadness or joy the mood is not adequately stated so there is confusion on what is taking place. This is also true in the inverse or if you don’t intend it to be. One thing one learn in security is to look out for people’s attitudes or moods since that can tip them off to danger even before something happens. When looking at how mood is used or even misused in communication today the best example is text. When having a conversation with modern day texting it is easy to misunderstand mood and so misunderstand the message. While people have tried to minimize this with things like emojis and stating there emotional state to clarify meaning it is still easy to read a text message and to see multiple different messages because there is no mood to put the message into context.
Writing, the ability to communicate intelligently through advanced hieroglyphics and symbols. The advent of writing has been used for centuries and has changed drastically. From ancient Greek to current Japanese and English and many others there is really nothing in common except the idea of a symbol representing a verbal sound. When writing was first taking hold, many philosophers didn’t like it due to its limitations, but while it does have some flaws it has made communication a radically new thing since before you only had the option to communicate face to face. Now with writing and text we have saved manuscripts and documents from hundreds of years ago that would have been lost to time and memory if they weren’t written down. While text/writing are used in nearly every part of our daily life it is still easily overlooked a wealth of creative opportunity. I am not talking about the message, but the fonts and colors used as well as where it is implemented in your piece play a roll on how your message will come across. Look at posters and billboards they need to communicate a lot of information quite quickly and they cannot have just pictures. Some if the information is brought out by how or where the text is situated as well as typography. This also plays into how mood effects writing. The mood of the piece as a whole can make a scary poster something that every horror junky would love or show them that the film will be poorly done. When we write we must be very conscious of how our writing is influenced by our mood and if what you have written can be misunderstood due to not clearly showing or stating your mood.
Electronic, while this technology has been flipping the world on its head the past decade it also it interesting to see how it has influenced communication. The invention of electricity has sped up the world when writing was first used it was to save and archive the spoken word but after electricity you were suddenly able to communicate all around the world in real time. With the invention of electronic communication, it changed from being a recount of what happened to a viable form of communication for business and recreation. With the invention of things like Morse code or the telegraph and now to email and instant messaging the way that the electronic medium has changed communication is astounding. As well as how it has integrated all its predecessors into itself. Look at text and writing yes in todays digital age there is video and sound, but you will mostly find them paired with text and writing. Also it is interesting to note how well electronic/ the digital space has been able to make up for the mood loss in writing this is due to things like emojis or hashtags that have opened the writing world to a better form of communication. While electronic does definitely have its flaws, its strength is speed in communication as well as the ability to convey mood. Though it is not always perfect, and is not always best utilized for the electronic space for conveying mood. With things like hashtags and emojis you are better able to show emotion, but it is still up to the person to include them and to state their mood to clear up any confusion. This explains mood but there is also writing to consider. When writing was integrated into the electronic space it also drastically changed. Look at this paper I can go back and change fonts and text color after it is complete but if I was just writing it I would have to completely rewrite the page to make those adjustments. It goes ever further when it is online with putting writing with sound and moving pictures to create music videos and many other things.
Overall looking at Mood, Writing, and Electronic it is interesting to see how they have played a roll in molding each other. With mood it was clarification and not confusing one message with another. With writing it is how it was used and what could be done with it to convey your message and it also needed to take into account mood to make sure that your message was both conveyed and clear to understand. As well as with writing looking at how changing text without mood can change what you want to say. Or can make the double meaning that you might be looking for. Lastly there is Electronic the change from mail and letters to the digital age we are in today. As electronic space gained speed its ability to convey mood and tone whether that was through video or instant message or even phone-call advanced. So now we have the ability to better send a message and explain what we are feeling and for our message to be heard all around the world.
Website:
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=horror+music&view=detail&mid=9FDC752F0F48FBB8D2979FDC752F0F48FBB8D297&FORM=VIRE
Citations:
Grigar, Dene. Digital Storytelling. Nouspace.net/dene
