Sunday, February 10, 2013
p5
My understanding of what forwarding is, is when some body takes a piece of writing that someone else wrote and they rewrite it so it has pretty much the same meaning but in a way that will make people start to talk about the topic. There's no end to the conversation, the writing has no end and the discussion should be able to keep going forever. By pushing an idea forward you get more insight into it. “… a writer forwards a text by taking words, images, or ideas from it and putting them to use in new contexts” (Harris, 37). This is like when we are typing an essay and we put a quote in it, we then offer our own insight into the topic. In forwarding things stay mostly the same but with more insight. Nothing is really lost it seems, but a lot is gained. More knowledge, more opinions. I think all of us have forwarded something in a blog post by quoting the article we're talking about.
I like gossip magazines, as embarrassing as that may be, I like reading the tabloids and a lot of it is quotes taken out of context. This can have things lost in forwarding, like the real meaning. The insight then offered to explain these quotes is totally off topic. The superbowl just happened and I think a good example of forwarding not in words but in images is a screenshot from Beyonces superbowl halftime show performance. It's a super unflattering photo that has gone viral. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9854872/Beyonces-publicist-asks-for-unflattering-Superbowl-photos-to-be-pulled.html The photos are super unflattering and taken out of context to make her look bad.
But, forwarding is usually a good thing. http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/in-new-policy-the-times-forbids-after-the-fact-quote-approval/ This is an article about the New York Times not approving quotes. There's quotes in this article that are taken from the New York Times that then describe what they are trying to do by not allowing this. Allowing readers with no inside information to try to understand what's happening.
“In forwarding a text, you extend its uses; in countering a text, you note its limits” (Harris, 38)
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I liked the examples that you used to demonstrate forwarding. While reading the book I didn't think about looking at forwarding used in media or using it in a negative matter. I was pleasantly surprised when I read your post and saw the examples you used. I also completely agree with the definition you provide when you say "There's no end to the conversation, the writing has no end and the discussion should be able to keep going forever". I like this definition because you echo what we were looking at earlier in the year of how writing is shifting to a more social practice. You use similar ideas to Sullivan when he talks about writing being like a conversation.
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