Author Archives: MAHMOUD ABUFARAH

Power Beats wireless headphones by Dr. Dre,  subsidiary of Apple Inc. this headphone is a revolution in digital audio technology, It connects by Bluetooth signal and it runs for hours before its battery run off, This headphone is wireless, so it is easy to move or run while you listening to music without any wire to interrupt your movement, Beats headphone is expensive and the price range start from 200 to 350 depends which generation you are buying, this headphone creates a privet space and it cuts all the other sounds around you, basically you won’t hear anything else except the music that you play. Beats company create this technology to make high profit from it because the internet made music free for everybody and you anyone can listen to music anytime anywhere, so Beats company made profit from the technology that help to hear music like headphones and earbuds. the advantages for this headphone are create a personal space, clear sounds without interfere with any noise, and easy to carry anywhere anytime, this device has disadvantages too such as the report issued from the world health organization to warn young people about the risk of losing hearing because using wireless headphone for so long hours could and will harm our ears.

 

Discussion question # 7

Episode 5

  1. At the beginning of this episode, Krukowski asserts, “the marginal-the rejected-the repressed-is whatever the powerful have decided is of no use at the moment.” What does he mean by this statement? He goes on to ask, “But might it [the marginal-the rejected-the repressed] not be a key to alternate approaches-to art, to society-to power itself?” (“Marginalized” is an adjective that describes a person, group, or concept that is treated as insignificant or peripheral.)                                                                                                                      Krukowski mean by his statement the old records that left and no one is looking for it, so the powerful decide to ignore and leave behind and not even mention, the powerful here is the online big company that control the market and decide which is important and interesting and which to ignore and not even mention. Marginal records or the rejected records might be from our history and its important that we go back to our history to understand our future. culture without history like a car without wheels, they might be the key of changing many  approaches such as art, society and even the power itself through lifting them up fromthe shadows to the lights and from the ground to top of the mountains so then their good effort will be seen to everyone.                                                                                            
  2. How are the music listening experiences enabled by Forced Exposure different from those that Paul Lamere is working on with platforms like Spotify?                                                                       You have to scroll through millions of songs with Forced Exposure to figure out what you want to be playing, but you just have to hit the play button at Paul Lamere ‘s platforms, like Spotify, and that’s the correct song for you, based on your contexts, your mood, where you are, or what you’re doing, without you having to think about it.                                   

3. What distinctions does Krukowski draw between being “surprised” by music and “discovering” music? What are the differences between these experiences and according to Krukowski, why are they important?

Being surprised in music means that you will hear something that you have never expect at all , but discovering in music means that you are looking for a specific type of music, and surprise is not the same as “discover.” Since a huge digital corporation, eager to engage every one of us and as much of our time as possible with their product, surprise is not really a helpful thing. Music recommendation services like

Spotify wants to give us the music we probably like. At least enough to let it keep on playing.Which is not something that sounds like nothing we’ve ever heard before. That could be the best thing we’ve ever heard. This is contradicts with Forced Exposure ,where you might have the worst experience ever in listening to music which you would click away from, before any ad tracker had the chance to tally your attention. Knowing this relation is very crucial to those music corporations in the world since they want to keep our attention — or at least, keeping us engaged inside their program, which is at the moment the goal of some of the most powerful corporations in the world. And through this goal, they are replacing the freedom and chaos of the internet at large, with the control and predictability of their programs.

Episode 6

1. According to Krukowski, what is noise? What is signal? Why are these distinctions important?

noise : it’s every-thing that you’re hearing, the background noise that you may not be paying attention to. signle is the sound that we want to hear among all other sounds which are noises.  the different between them are important to understand because In a recording studio, microphones open up a rich field of sound, just as Dr. Quesnel describes for our ears. But instead of our brain, it’s then up to an audio engineer to decide what in that is signal, and what is noise—maximizing one, and minimizing the other.

2. What central idea about noise does this episode convey? Why is it significant? 

the main idea in this episode is about signle and noise and how is important in a recording studio to maximizing the sound wich is the signle and minimizing the noise so the when we hear the music or the new record we can hear the signle clear and the sound smooth and there will be no noise.

3. How does this episode relate to other episodes?

ways oh hearing is about how digital devices and technology changed our live and change           from using analog to using digital in music industry. technlogh has made a revolution in music and made recording look very easy and way better comparing to analog ways. so noise and signle episode is related to the other episode because its the step that make sounds clear and audio engineering using technology to cut as mush noise from the signle so they make a record very clear and pure.

Ways of Hearing episode # 3 & 4

Episode 3

  1. According to Krukowski, what are the main differences between a microphone and a cellphone and why is this difference important?                                                                                    the sounds of our voices on the phones are getting worst when we switching to digital cellphones, the mini mics on the cellphone are much sensitive from the mics we used on the analog phones. cellphones don’t transmit the full range of sound picked up by their mics instead they digitally process these sounds and remove unnecessary data. so cellphones don’t transmit the feeling and the other sounds because digital machines focus on transferring the sounds, not the feeling but analog phones transmit everything and we can get closer to it or far from it to transmit feelings with our sounds.                                                                                                        
  2. What do Krukowski and Gary Tomlinson, the professor he interviews, assert about the “musical” qualities of the voice and how are these changed by digital transmission?                     the musical qualities go way back to thousands of centuries before language and these music qualities are what we need it to survive, to make social organizations, and love. these qualities are changed with digital technology, voices are being transmitted in data form without the music tune so there are no more feelings. both of them are talking about the significance of the music tune on the sounds and cellphones don’t transmit what analog phones used to transmit to make us feel one another present.                                                      
  3. What is the significance of Krukowski’s comments on the voice to ideas about community and interpersonal connection?                                                                                                                Kurkowski’s comments are important to understand how we used to communicate before digital technology especially cellphones because before the cellphones we used analog phones with mics and we used to feel each other present and feel the flirt in our voices,  cellphone carry the voices but not emotions, people used to talk hours on analog phones and that all was before the invention of the cellphones.                                                                   

    Episode 4

  4. Krukowski begins by discussing the issue of music file sharing. What is your opinion on this issue? Should music be freely available or should one have to pay?                                                  before technology bands needed to travel from one place to another to play their music and making some money and that was fun for them but nowadays things are changed and music is traveling through the internet and bands don’t need to travel from country to country to play music. musicians play music either for fun or for money. I agree that we should pay because musicians work hard to create this art and I don’t think if they share it for free they could continue producing more music because everything in our life cost money.                                                                                                                                                              
  5. How does this episode represent the relationships between music, community, and culture?                                                                                                                                                        music carries singers’ words, feelings, and messages to the community, and the community is the people who are affected and reflected by these feelings and words. so if the music were about love and feelings, it will reflect feelings on our culture but if it were sexual, it will reflect badly on our culture. so music, community, and culture are all connected.                                                                                                                                                            
  6.   does charging money for music impede the formation of communities around this music or does it help support the circulation of music?                                                                                      music is immortal because when we play it flews through the air. producing companies are profitable companies so they make music and records to make profits but it might be different to some singers who believe they shouldn’t charge for there music. financial support is important to help support the circulation of music. music logo, label, and the efforts that musicians put to create their music do cost and they do that for living. in order to keep producing music we musicians need financial support and by charging they can create more and more music and they will keep the circulation of music.

sonic example

 

digital technology changes our lives especially the hearing part of it. living in New York City is not a good choice for quite people because this city doesn’t sleep and too much noise, these people are trying everything to cut as much of the noise as they can but it’s hard to do that in New York City, there are people who use soundproof windows and walls in their apartments to minimize the noise but the minute they leave their apartments the noise comes back right away.

The technology era changed a lot and scientists create new ways for people to minimize the outside noise in the streets, the headphones invention take the people to a different world and get them so far from the noise in the street and in anywhere. when you put them on you travel to a different galaxy it takes you to another space. Headphones and earbuds are the way for New Yorkers to avoid ear contact with each other. it’s not a strange thing when you ride the subways train to see 90% or more having headphones or earbuds. for instance, Beat’s headphone is a famous brand that cuts the outside noise totally and that means when you have them on you won’t be able to hear anything that happens around you and that’s why people like to have them as a part of their lives.

Ways of hearing Episode 1&2

1. What is Krukowski’s main point about how we experience time in the “real” world versus are experiences with “digital” time? Why are these differences significant?

real-time is lived time, it is a time we experienced in the real world or it is something we record but we can’t go back to undo it. digital time is the opposite of real-time because its something we can record and come back and undo it as we like and we can fix a part of it so we don’t have to repeat it all again, and we can make speed it or slow it to serve our purpose.

What does Krukowski mean when he says that listening has a lot to do with how we navigate space?

the sounds that we hear every day is the reflection of our environment. these sounds are our space, the thing that makes us understand where we are, and where are we going.

3. In the interview at the beginning of the episode, Jeremiah Moss argues that developers in Astor Place are “privatizing public space in a very stealth way.” What does he mean by this? What does Moss say about the distinction between public and private space, and why is it important?

Astor place has changed to become a pedestrian plaza so it allowed anyone to walk and be there but there are rules to control our space there are so many signs tell you, that you can’t do this and that. so with all of these investments, they want to control our space in Astir place because investors made it privet by forcing these roles in a public place. it is like they say oh no that is a public area for everybody but they have to follow this and that.

4. What is the significance of Emily Thompson’s idea that the development of concert halls arose from desires to “control interior spaces”? How is this desire, according to Krukowski, related to earbuds and headphones?
Concert Halls:

it is important to know the development of concert halls is abut observing all the sound that around to just keep the main sound and what people pay to come and hear so it cut the sounds of the audience and keep the band sounds clear and loud so people won’t be able to hear anything else to distract them. earbuds and headphones keep the sounds inside your head and the sound bounce between your ears and isolated you from the outside space and it is the way to run from ears contact.

5. In your own opinion, what are the key ideas from this episode about the relationship between sound and space? What strikes you as interesting about the ways that sound influences our experience of space.

sounds are controlling out space, it is the way we know what is happening around us and what is going on. so if we having our headphones and we just listen to music we won’t be able to understand anything we see because we are avoiding ears contact. New Yorkers are avoiding the city noises by wearing earbuds and headphones and listing to music or anything that can make them get away from real life. sounds create our space and these sounds are our daily life.

DREAMS VS. REALITY

Question number one:

  1. According to Berger, how do “publicity”–what we would call advertising–images influence consumers and why is this significant? 

publicity proposes to each of us in consumer society to change our life by buying something more and become richer although buying stuff will make us spending money and get poorer. advertising persuaded us of this transformation by showing us people who transformed after buying more stuff. it shows how society enviable these people after that imaginary transformed buy buying more stuff. this is the fake glamour, and the publicity is the process of manufacturing glamour. and this is important because it shows how companies use advertisements to make more money, and we get poorer this is the real purpose behind any advertisement.

Question number two:

 2.  As he compares oil painting to publicity (advertising) photography, Berger argues that oil painting “showed what the owner was already enjoying among his possessions and way of life;” “it enhanced his view of himself as he already was.”  Whereas publicity pictures, “appeal to a way of life that we aspire to or think we aspire to.” Why are these differences important? What do they reveal to us about the production of images for publicity?

Oil painting represents the reality which artists lived and showed us what kind of life was it but publicity is the opposite and its something they creat to glamour and makes people think and dream to transform and become like them. its a creation some people dream about it and camera record it and with some designs, they create the perfect life. in publicity they act and manipulate the pictures to serve there purpose but in oil painting that’s their true nature no act and no darkness and what they enjoyed.

Question number three:

3.  Choose one of the “dreams” he offers or thinks of your own. How does this dream offered by advertising use imagery to manipulate consumers?

The dream of later tonight. this dream is offering the best life with all the pleasure you think about, beautiful women, fancy clothes, the perfect smile, rich people, and the best night ever not only that but this dream go to another level to show that this is not a dream, you wake up in the morning with beautiful women in a wonderful place and that is the rich life and it needs money. so they use our desire to manipulate us that these clothes and this kind of liquor if we buy them we can be like them and enjoy the night with this kind of rich people. living this kind of life is a dream to all of us but a dream will remain a dream because buying fancy clothes or drinking the most expensive liquor won’t change reality. we all work hard to achieve your goals, but spending money to imagine we belong to something far away from, will take money from our pockets and give it to the companies.

 

 

blog post # 3

QUESTION ONE:

Briefly answer these questions from Chapter 2 Prewriting in English Composition: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate:

  1. the purpose of the essay is to educate.
  2. whoever is grading my work because the essay is for me to learn or to my classmates.
  3. Me as I am learning and my professor who is teaching.
  4. the readers know a lot because we all working on the same topic in order to learn.
  5. the reader needs to understand my thesis of statement and my personal view in order to understand the essay’s points.
  6. The hook needs to be something you drag the audience’s attention to it depends on the topic of your essay, it could be a question, or by quoting an expert on the respective topic or an inspirational individual.
  7. I will use an academic standard language because it is an educational essay.
  8. the tone for my topic will be different depends on what kind of topic I am writing about. so it needs to be basic and formal.

QUESTION NUMBER TOW:

Write a draft of your opening paragraph based on Chapter 3.2 Opening Paragraphs from English Composition: Connect, Collaborate, Communicate.

an introduction should start with a hook that is devised to evoke readers’ interest.  Capturing readers’ attention motivates them to continue reading. after the hook, I will add transition sentences that should introduce the readers to the topic by stating general facts or ideas about the subject. after that I will add a strong thesis statement, a thesis statement is a promise to the reader about what the essay will be about. here I need to ask myself what I am going to write about and the answer to this question will be my thesis statement. my thesis statement must be specificity, precision, ability to be argued, ability to be demonstrated, forcefulness, confidence, and avoid weak thesis statement.and then I have to support my thesis statement with strong reasons to back my opinion so the reader can understand why I choose this side of the argument.

Ways of seeing, episode 2

Question number one :

The different between nakedness and nude as Berger discussed, naked is to be oneself and nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. this is so important its the key to understanding the European oil paintings special the nude paintings and how they looked at women back then. When a woman is naked is to be herself and she chooses to be naked, but when a woman is nude that is for someone else choice and desire. I saw images for women some are naked and it applies to what Berger mentioned in his video about nudes and nakedness. these images meant to feed men’s sexual needs and desires, so now I understand that who drew these paintings or took these pictures has a purpose to fill out spectators ‘ desire.

Question number two:

The western works of art depicted and defined different roles for men and women, Adam and Eve’s story as told in Genesis the lord God gave men to rule over women and men to be God agents, and since this story, women are to blame for anything and made subservient to men. in most of the nude paintings, we see that women are servants to men’s desire and sexual needs. today’s society is different and it shows respect to women not how it used to be before. now both are to lead in the society and both are active members of our society. before was the men only who lead and women serve men’s sexual needs.

Question number three:

a woman looked at herself in a mirror picture into herself how men see her. Berger explained how the mirror helped women to see herself first and foremost as a sight. a mirror is a subject that allowed women to see how men see them. The mirror becomes a symbol of the vanity of women and the men hypocrisy is to blame for that. Beauty is bound to become competitive and who are not judge beautiful are not beautiful, those who are, are given the prize to be owned and be available to men desire. in paintings or photographs women gaze are similar and that is the expression of responding with charm to men who are looking at them. Who drew the painting had a purpose to make the spectator think the woman in this painting or this image is looking at him and ready to serve him. Berger connects other cultures works for art with the western arts and it seems both have the same meaning when it comes to nude and nakedness and both see naked women is a sexual subjects. Berger interview a couple of women and they all agree that these nude oil paintings are fake and not real. there is no connection between the old European art and how the culture looks at women these days. it’s different because we look different to women in today’s society we see them as equal as men, and they are not men’s sexual slaves anymore.

 

the chunky Mona

An image I saw online was really funny and they used it to advertise to some spaghetti sauce.

The Mona Lisa by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. this image is what Berger spoke about in his video about manipulating arts. as we can in the image above they used the technology to advertise spaghetti sauce. This is an ad for Prince’s Spaghetti Sauce.  One half shows Mona Lisa holding a jar of the sauce and underneath reads “Original.”  The other half is a heavier version of Mona holding the same jar of sauce, but underneath it reads “Chunky.” here in this image we see how the meaning of the original painting has changed by using technology so, it fit what Berger mentioned in using arts for another purpose so the original meaning has changed and a new meaning replace it. 

I think this add worked well for the spaghetti company even though I see it so funny. This add attracts the audience to see what they have done to ous famous Mona Lisa.

The electric eye

question number one :

The process of seeing is not natural! John Berger explained that everything we see is a reflection of our habits and conventions, it could be religious or historical or it could be what we learned from our cultures. perspective centers everything on the eye of the beholder so, what we see in on our reality is the appearance that travels into the eye. the paintings are something from our life and by looking at them we can understand if they relate to religious, historical, landscape, or a picture of our culture. For instance, John Berger mentioned an icon that is holy for Christians so it is easy for them to understand it, but it is hard for me as a Muslim to figure out what is this icon is about because I am from a different religion and a different culture.

question number two:

The human eye can be in one place at a time. The camera changed not only what we see but how we see it, it made us see things that people never imagined to see. Its the electronic eye the camera, with the camera we don’t need to travel to see arts, actually it made arts travel to us. Berger explained the most important thing about paintings themselves is their images are silent, and still. when you look at any painting still and silent that’s is a striking and breathtaking moment, and you can think about the reason behind why the painter drew this painting. with the camera, things changed and the meaning of the paintings is changed. with a camera, they can manipulate paintings by adding sounds and movement to them so the meaning change if you add opera sound, an argument sound, or zooming in on part of the painting and leave the rest of it and by doing this the whole meaning of a painting will change completely.

 

question number three:

Berger describes the reproduction of paintings become a ” form of information” by explaining that using a painting to describe an action, news, or advertising will change the whole meaning of the painting. the painting will have the meaning of what we see beside it or what comes after it, or what purpose it been used for. this is the reproduction of the meaning of any painting we make new meaning for any painting to serve our new purpose.