Reading Summaries – A Splash of Color

Reading Summary 6: Content Control

In the article “Better Online Living through Content, Moderation”, Melissa king, informs the reader on the issues of harassment and abuse that happens on the internet. She specifically talks about content control tools which are extremely important yet are opposed by individuals who have a misinformed opinion on the use of these tools.

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She begins the article my explaining how content control tools can block certain information from appearing on internet user’s screens. She explains how these tools ae helpful but opposed in the popular culture because those who need to use these tools are often seen as week or too sensitive. And for many victims of who need these tools it is seen that they should just deal with the problem, also that it is their fault.

She then goes on to explain Computer- Chair Psychology, where the issue of the exposure theory came up. Because of this theory those that oppose this feel like victims shouldn’t have a problem with being exposed to harassment or situations that remind them of their past harassment. This goes along with the fact that many of those that oppose content control see internet abuse as just words so it wouldn’t matter if victims were exposed to this. The author brings up how viewing things in this way are completely flawed because “long term exposure to threating situations, such as online harassment can cause PTSD.” Exposure doesn’t help but harms the victim.

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Threating legal Resources are the next things presented. An example of Content control is blacklist which are list of people or things that an internet users can be blocked from seeing. Though this tool is extremely helpful for victims many times internet users who are not harassers are placed on this list simply because of certain viewpoints that others find offensive. This may cause these individuals to disagree with the use of content control. The author urges these individuals to consider “how vicious and pervasive online harassment can be.” And to try and understand where the victim is coming from.

The author believes that content tools are helpful for those who can’t live by the saying “don’t feed the trolls.” And that people should be accepting of the psychological and sociological factors of online abuse before forming an opinion on content control.

Harassment can be detrimental to individuals.

The authors viewpoints are valid and should be considered. She presented her information is a very clear way that helped the reader fully understand the topic. The only thing that the author could have done differently was present some scientific information or a study in the writing to make it less opinionated and more factual. Other than that the article is a great that if read will open the minds of people who may have never considered this information in the past.

Reading Summary 5: Color Walk

A crowed street that has color in every aspect of it.

Color is an essential aspect of our daily lives. Though many times in life we do not pay close attention to the colors around us. If we were to pay attention to the different aspects of life were color heavily and lightly used our views of the world would vary considerably

In the article “Color Walking”, Phia Benin and Brendan McMullan, explain the concept of color walking. The pair tells the audience, of the general public, to “walk out your door, pick a color that catches your eye and to follow that color around.” They explain the amazement the reader will feel when the various colors pop out at them.

The pair then goes on to example their walk through New York City streets and the images that they saw. They utilize something that can only be done in a digital space, which was a step by step timeline with images of their adventure. This was a very helpful way of presenting the information which helped the reader understand the concept more than if they were to read in text.

A colorful NYC street. Try to focus on one color in the picture.

To wrap up the post, the authors example that after doing this experiment the different color schemes hung in their “brains and eyes”. This short walk profoundly changed their view of every other color for the rest of the day. The reader is then encouraged to try this experiment themselves and is then given tips how to do it effectively. The reader is advised that on a color walk they should give themselves an hour of uninterrupted time where they focused only on colors. The audience is then encouraged to pick one color and follow that color around. Lastly that if a person gets lost to pick another color. Moreover, if they get really lost their “on the right track”, because that means that they are focusing solely on that color.

When going color walking go before dark.

The authors did an excellent job in this article it was short and sweet yet very well researched and performed in a great way. With the mix of the previous research and the authors research the reader got two very well researched experiments on a single topic. The authors use of the digital space also furthered the readers understanding of the text. All in all, the authors did an excellent job of presenting the information on color walking.

Work Cited

Bennin, Phia, and Brendan McMullan. “Color Walking.” Radiolab Blogland. N.p., 29 June 2012. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.

Reading Summary 4: Bathroom Accommodation

Male attempting to enter female restroom.

Public restrooms are often places where we feel the most vulnerable outside the comfort of our homes, because like Bazelon explains it a place where “we undress and obey the dictates of our bodies” (1). Subsequently, if a man walks into a women restroom or vice versa it would make the dominant gender occupying the space feel uncomfortable.

Bazelon explains how this discomfort is the driving force for things like the rejection of The Broad of Equal Rights ordinance in Texas. The ordinance would have protected against discrimination based on age, race, and sexual orientation, but opponents were too scared of sharing a bathroom with the opponent sex to accept it. Many institutions are facing the same problem of deciding whether or not to allow unisex bathrooms or bathroom accommodations.

Schools face this issue with transgender individuals who want to use the bathroom and locker rooms of the gender they identify to. Bazelon uses an example of a transgender teen in Illinois to example the issue. The teen wanted to use the same facilities as all the other girls but was sent to a separate area to change and use the restroom. The case was sent to the States Department of education who decided to intervene and let her use the facilities as long as she had a privacy curtain.

In that case they did a good job at accommodating that student. Accommodation is to basically come to a middle ground and agreement on a situation that benefits everyone. Accommodation can be seen in US history from in the 60’s with accommodation for religious people at work and in the with those with disability (4).Though accommodating in restrooms is a fairly recent thing the separation of bathroom isn’t a new phenomenon it dates back to the Victorian era. But it wasn’t until the 19 century that states started to require gender exclusive water closets. They were created to give women a place to rest so they wouldn’t faint being that they were seen as weaker than men.

Women are known for travels in pairs to the bathroom, often to talk and relax.

Today women’s restrooms verse men’s are “refined and gentle” which give women a safe haven to relax and chat with friends. The author suggest that women have become attached to this comfort and this is why events like the rejection of the accommodation law in Texas happen.

Though many people fear it accommodation is a vital part of the society that we live in. What Bazelon is trying to point out is that we shouldn’t only accommodate for the easy things or more practical things we should accommodate for everyone. She says for those with disabilities it is a reasonable accommodation to put a bar next to a toilet or a button that opens a door, but for a transgender kid showering near peers in your own stall and changing behind a curtain is just as reasonable (11). When put that simply it is hard to justify the denial of accommodation transgender youth and restrooms in general.

Unisex bathroom sign, accommodating to the transgender community.

Bazelon does a wonderful job of laying out the subject of unisex bathrooms, and explaining the key issues by tying it all together with the concept of accommodation.

Bibliography

BAZELON, EMILY. “Making Bathrooms More Accommodating.” New York Times Magazine. 17 November 2015. Web. 2 January 2016.

Reading Summary 3: His & Hers

Baby boy and girl dressed in blue and pink. From the moment they exit the womb the are placed into assigned gender roles with a list of expectations.

From the moment that a person is born they are labeled by their gender and put into a societally box with expectations and limitations. In recent years this century old tradition of labeling has been tested because technological advances and varied depictions of gender in the media. These to elements created what Tick refers to as a “gender revolution”. This article does a great job of going into great detail on how this gender revolution has influences the way in which designers create different spaces.

Tick believes that it is up to designers to promote acceptance and change particularly when it comes to gender. They have to do this my putting an end to the deeply rooted landscape of Modernism, which comes from a male perspective. The reason why the modernist landscape is so vast is because men dominated industries for centuries and women only recently came in adding splashes of a feminist perspective. Thankfully “the barriers and hierarchies have started to come down as women have become more prominent” (4).

This breaking of barriers is creating what Tick refers to as the feminine wave. Designers are catching on to this and are incorporating feminine touches in their work like textures, and daylight, examples of things that are softer and more “feminine”. Designers don’t only cater to women with soft aspects they include every one by blurring the lines of gender. They are doing this by designing things like women’s clothing that looks like military clothing which is typically associated to be something that men would wear. And making a makeup kits which we associate with women in a very mescaline tone for a male buyer.

The coat (Left) is for a women but looks very masculine. The make up kit (right) generally associated with women is for men.

With designers do things like this, along with other forms of media and new advances in technology great confusion on gender roles can be created. Questions like who should wear pants, or who can wear a dress? Do only girls wear their hair long and so on can and do arise. This confusion has brought with it great change where intuitions like colleges and big name companies are dropping traditional gender roles.

This drop of gender roles is particularly important for transgender individuals and others with varied sexual identities. There are many different sexual identities and the design of clothing, exterior spaces and ecstatically interior spaces should be accepting to all of them. Tick quotes Rothblatt who says “There are five billion people in the world and five billion unique sexual identities”, this statement is very true (7). Companies like google have recognized this and started to adopt genre-neutral or unisex bathrooms to help accommodate for these identities. These bathrooms make individuals feel not only comfortable but included.

Bathrooms are only a part of a much bigger scale of inclusion and accommodation that most happen in this post gender world that we live in today. The way in which we choose to design the space around us should be a reflection of the world that we live in today. All in all, the design should respect everyone’s needs and give induvial a place to express their own individuality.

Tick did a wonderful job at not explaining the shift in gender dynamics, by going in deep and explaining why these shift occur and where we can see them in the modern world.

Bibliography

Suzanne Tick. “ His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society” Metropolismag. Web. 16 February 2016.

Reading Summary One: Tapestry of Space: Domestic Architecture and Underground Communities in Margaret Morton’s Photography of a Forgotten New York

Today’s society forces people to feel the need to define and categorize everyone into groups. The group that is discriminated against and misunderstood the most is the homeless population. In the Tapestry of Space Nersessova focuses on the homeless population and many different elements of the homelessness as a whole. She raises questions in the reader’s mind like, what is homelessness and is any one truly homeless? In her article she focuses on an array of different topics. The role of the urban photographer, the rejection of imperialism, what is public space vs city attractions, and lastly the domestic architecture. The portion of the article on Domestic Architecture is key in understanding the basis of the article, because throughout it she hones in on why people are labeled as homeless and subliminally questions the meaning of that label.

The main reason that people are labeled as homeless is because they don’t own their property. Nersessova points out that in reality “many people don’t own their own property” (37). Would a college professor who rents a thousand dollar a month apartment be considered homeless? Though these homeless individuals don’t own their own property they should be considered their homes even more so than some renting out pent houses in New York City, “because they physically create them and emotional invest in the process of the home building.” (42). The homeless individuals use other people’s trash and scrapes to create shielding pieces of architecture.

The homeless don’t only create the structures for their homes they also personalize them. Their homes have been decorated, they have pets, gardens, and do everything that they can to make them comfortable. Nersessova brings up the e bjljlll xample of Pepe from Morton’s book who is constantly renovating his home with material from his surrounds and various tools. His home becomes a “complex piece of domestic architecture.” In the end his home was demolished because of the fact that his home along with other homeless people’s homes are seen as worthless and thus get no government protection.

Nersessova establishes that the homeless homes are theirs because they make it and personalize it. Because of these deep relationships with their homes a homeless persons dwelling often resemble “its inhabitant” describing “the closeness one has to something he or she builds.” (41). She using Mr. Lee as an example of this bond between homeless person and home. Even after his death by fire in his home was still tied to his home, through the décor, and personal items that scattered about. If a structure ties to a person so deeply that it is recognizably theirs after death should that not be considered their home?

Nersessova article is highly intellectual and the different elements of it break Morton’s study, on the homeless in in The Tunnel underground, a ground breaking way. She examples how the homeless are more than just a group of roaming nomad people who are ‘the worst of life…drunks, vagrants, prostitutes, wild-eyed men with matted hair and beard who may well be insane. (31).

Bibliography

NERSESSOVA, IRINA. “Tapestry Of Space: Domestic Architecture And Underground Communities In Margaret Morton’s Photography Of A Forgotten New York.” Disclose.23 (2014): 26. Advanced Placement Source. Web. 20 Nov. 2015

Reading Summary Two:The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless Of New York

Margaret Morton’s book the Tunnel is an unconventional book that gives the everyday person firsthand accounts of the life of a homeless person living, not only underground but in NYC. She utilizes photography and the homeless individuals themselves to tell the story. She accounts for the dark side of those living down there with the stories of drug use, violence, arson and more. But hones in on the everyday normal lives of the people from them building homes, eating, and looking out for each other through the pictures that she takes. Summarizing Morton’s book must be looked upon differently than a normal book because it is an adult picture book. The best way is directly analyzing the pictures themselves.

Morton began each section or the book with a picture of the person interviewed somewhere in the tunnel. This personalized the book and gave a face to the story helping the reader fully grasp the situation. This is a picture of the first character introduced who seems to be the driving force that keep everyone is the community together. His name is Bernard. This picture alone helps to tell a story that words can’t. From Bernard’s posture you can assume that he is cool and likable but also young and strong. The back ground of a wall of graffiti show that he stays out in the NYC elements. All things that can be verified by the reading. The opening pictures of all the others in the book can be used to do the same thing.

Morton shows that though these individuals are homeless and live underground. Their underground homes are a safe haven for them, and they live like other people above ground. When initially looking at this picture you would think that this man is sitting at his table or on his couch in the dark, drinking a beer and relaxing. But in reality he is sitting underground in a make shift home. This shows how the pictures juxtapose the lives of the homeless and those who have homes showing that they obtain similar possessions and do similar activities.

The next photo doesn’t come directly from this book, but comes from another one of Morton’s pieces and illustrates exactly want many of the pictures in book The Tunnel exemplify.Throughout the book and Morton’s accounts with homeless many of them overwhelmingly feel as though the makeshift homeless that they have built are theirs with their possessions inside. This can be shown through those that leave the tunnel to later return to the same home and feel the need and obligation to fix back their home; as someone above ground would do. Along with those who set fire to other homes to get back at someone, a person would not do that if they didn’t think that that home was of value or of meaning to their enemy. The photo saying BK’s place show that BK feels an overwhelming sense of not only ownership but pride to the place he lives, as a king or queen would to a palace.

Morton’s accounts with the homeless underground in New York City shed light not only on the homeless epidemic but also one the way that we view the homeless. She did a wonderful job of portraying their lives not only through firsthand accounts but also through the pictures taken of the homeless and their dwellings.

Bibliography

MORTON, MARGARET. The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless Of New York City. n.p.: New Haven: Yale University Press, c1995., 1995.