Kenna - Chapter 6

In terms of Davis’s chapter 6, I wanted to look into the term ‘personal computer’ and analyze some of the (now iconic) brand identity that accompanied the release of the PC. My area of study is communication and brand management so names are incredibly important to me. Davis describes the instance in 1972, when Brand first coined the term for Esquire (172). Imagining a time where communications about innovative technology regarding computers, including the simplest of categorical names we know today, were solely on paper fascinated me. The fact that you never hear ‘personal computer’ as a whole anymore fascinated me even more. It brought me back to a time when my parents had a large desktop monitor and laptops were a true commodity. We would ask our parents if we could “get on the computer” instead of “can I borrow your laptop?”. But there really is magic in a name. Alliteration and assonance are a huge help when it comes to the consumer. The soft sound of a ‘p’ is far more alluring than harder consonant sounds, and including the world ‘personal’ itself makes anything seem more exclusive. Plus, the root word ‘compute’ oozes technological advances and logistical power all in itself. The fact that a mere mention of the branding of a personal computer in a Kindle version of a 1990’s era paperback book detailing the inception of personal computers had such a visceral, nostalgic effect on me is one of the things I’ve enjoyed most about Techgnosis thus far.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Symone Williams- Davis Chapters 1 and 2

Image
*This is posted late, I am aware and will face the consequences* Chapter 1: I chose the rhetorical triangle as my artifact because it is how I learned to write persuasively in high school. I feel it symbolizes the evolution of writing and how it's come because there were many doors that writing opened. Written word cannot be fully explained through a triangle, but this shows the purpose of writing; which is a visual representation of phonetic combinations. Also writing was created to convey messages to others. It was created so many civilizations ago that we often take it for granted. We no longer appreciate writing in its simplest form because we have developed new technologies that we deem as more helpful.  Even by inventing the alphabet, societies were able to attach phonetic sounds to verbal representations. These verbal representations became essential to society and scripture. being able to convey thoughts visually was once a mysticism, and now it is a part of our daily...
Read more

Jack Trembath Davis Ch. I-II

Image
Davis begins his book, TechGnosis by looking at the beginning of technologies of information and their crossroads with the mystical and human nature’s curiosity with the unknown.  He writes about the great divide created in the west between nature and culture, characteristic of modernity, that freed the west to take technology and innovation to a new level.  He argues that because the two were not tied together for western culture, they could view them outside of each other and create technology without fully worrying about the consequences it had on culture.  Despite this supposed divide, Davis demonstrates how even early technology wired its way into the world around us and influenced the path of history and ways of thoughts in unavoidable manners.  He points out how technologies from the beginning created newer views of animism and formed liminal zones at the crossroads of innovation.  Essentially, technology allowed for more creative spaces at the price of ...
Read more