Roughly 25 Pieces of Literature

1. http://www.csicop.org/si/show/field_guide_to_critical_thinking

2. http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262621924chap1.pdf

3. http://www.andreknoerig.de/portfolio/03/bin/resources/manovich-langofnewmedia.pdf

4. http://imoberg.com/files/World_of_Digital_Storytelling_The_Ohler_J._.pdf

5. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/oral_tradition/v018/18.1irwin.pdf

6. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pLaMDRZwYMYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=ghost+stories&ots=Tox_9QOmd8&sig=9F47pVk13chKVwvRpZ_EJ_Em9Zk#v=onepage&q=&f=false

7. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QoBKzWjw2vYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=supernatural&ots=942oTcRl7d&sig=gBfbUOhonK_Ms10nsD1zHKGzKqg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

8. http://www.isu.edu/~holmrich/senior_symposium/seniors2007.pdf#page=7

9. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hSmW_I8nonkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP6&dq=paranormal+investigation&ots=TeE9eaJ28A&sig=n1ckwsAF5bud1CLyuvd5oWoaUTI#v=onepage&q=&f=false

10. http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=L1jfLmKDXQRKp0LF1n90bTZv0YzYQtkDj6FN1J6vx64T21nt7BwW!61581967!-797993493?docId=5000376449

11. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kWFosl5j3fIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=digital+storytelling&ots=AxhA8kuHvb&sig=uGFU2Kb7Xpbze6dwfMCmCyrdKMw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

12. http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/seminars/2003/digitalstorydec/paul-nora.pdf

13. http://www.inms.umn.edu/elements/index.php (WEBSITE)

14. http://eric.ed.gov:80/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/2a/19/38.pdf

15. http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/TPAMI.2003.1233909

16. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LbaHaN4BhEQC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=ghosts&ots=P9d4MDUSfx&sig=ijhb77b9OfriwWKVjkFWIuGuqhI#v=onepage&q=ghosts&f=false

17. http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/jbem41&div=32&id=&page=

18. http://pgabor.com/p/s/2004fall/soc4_grq.pdf

19. http://www.csicop.org/SI/show/development_of_beliefs_in_paranormal_and_supernatural_phenomena/

20. http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/cultural_indicators_of_the_paranormal/

21. http://m0134.fmg.uva.nl/psi/PAPROCS/2007procs.pdf#page=223

22. http://www.ruc.dk/cbit/Arrangementer/Afholdte/hill/?print=1

23. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=3z9EpgisKOgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA87&dq=paranormal+in+the+media&ots=3SycnU3LPr&sig=Pj2gLwG6pk-9PJbhxBHtB4ctj-k#v=onepage&q=paranormal%20in%20the%20media&f=false

24. http://library.wcsu.edu/dspace/bitstream/0/457/1/vallee.pdf

25. http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_17_4_mousseau.pdf

Project Status

I've been in contact with the Wichita Paranormal Research Society, and am planning on meeting them in Augusta, KS saturday the 20th of February. They will be investigating the Kansas Museum of Military History. I'm pretty excited; things are moving right along!

Summary #3 - "A Field Guide to Critical Thinking" James Lett

I'm not sure how "scholarly" this piece of literature is, but I found it to be very interesting and applicable to my topic. In this article, which was published in the Skeptical Inquirer in 1990, James Lett lists and elaborates on the steps necessary to thinking critically. For this, he uses the acronym FiLCHeRS.

The first step is that a claim must be Falsifiable. By this, he means that it must be possible that evidence exists that could prove a claim to be false. He indicates that if no evidence exists that could possibly disprove a claim, then the evidence that does exists supporting its validity is unimportant.

The second rule is Logic. If a claim is illogical (All dogs have fleas; Xavier has fleas; therefore Xavier is a dog), then it is not valid or sound. On the contrary, a claim can be valid but unsound: All dogs have fleas; Xavier is a dog; therefore Xavier has fleas.

The third guideline is Comprehensiveness. This is a simple rule, in that one must not only consider evidence that is supportive of a claim and discard evidence that may stand to disprove it. This would be unfair and invalid.

Fourth is Honesty. By this, Lett means not deluding one's self if evidence does not support their particular opinion. If evidence points to a claim being true, then it must be believed as such. If evidence points to a claim being false, then it must be believed as such.

Fifth is Replicability. This rule is simple, in that the results of a hypothesis must be replicable, meaning they much occur more than once. If this is not the case, then the results point to the event in question as being due to coincidence.

Finally, is Sufficiency. For this, Lett offers three sub-guidelines:

1. the burden of proof for any claim rests on the claimant,

-This means that just because a claim cannot be disproved does not me that it has been proved (UFOs)

2. extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence, and

-If you make an extraordinary claim, you must have equally extraordinary evidence. Lett uses the example: "If I claim that it rained for ten minutes on my way to work last Tuesday, you would be justified in accepting that claim as true on the basis of my report. But if I claim that I was abducted by extraterrestrial aliens who whisked me to the far side of the moon and performed bizarre medical experiments on me, you would be justified in demanding more substantial evidence. "

3. evidence based upon authority and/or testimony is always inadequate for any paranormal claim

-this simply means that people can lie. Even experts.

Summary #2 - "Theory and Practice in New Media Studies" Jay David Bolter

The second piece of literature I found was a paper by Jay David Bolter titled "Theory and Practice in New Media Studies." I found this paper to very academic in nature, and, at times, difficult to follow. However, I was able to gather the following:

In his paper, Bolter discusses in great detail the different theoretical perspectives applied when it comes to studying New Media. First, he discusses the formal theories, particularly those of Walter Ong and Marshall McLuhan. McLuhan claimed that media were "extensions of man," and Ong suggested that "writing restructures conciousness." However, these two were regarded with "suspicion." He goes on to mention the poststructuralists. Bolter states that their goal was "...to examine the formal limits of language and writing, often through close reading of the text or through a careful analysis of the practice of reading." In the 1990's hypertext critics often applied the poststructuralist perspective.

The second form of theory Bolter discusses is the Ideological Critique. These theories are often applied to "magazines, newspapers, radio, film, and television..." and "...seek to expose and explore the ideological frameworks that control media..." They believe that mass media is controlled by those most in control of the economy, and it is their job to expose that control to the public.

He also goes on to discuss the teaching of these theories as well as their practice in American Universities. Finally, he discusses the correlation between New Media and Print.

Summary #1 - "The Language of New Media" Lev Manovich

The first piece of literature I found was "The Language of New Media" by Lev Manovich. At a length of nearly 300 pages, I only read selections I felt were probably the most relevant. I read the first section, "What is New Media?" This included descriptions as to the principles of new media, and what new media is not. The five principles Manovich lists are:

1. Numerical Representation - by this, he means that New Media can be described numerically, or by using a mathematical function. Also, New Media is subject to algorithmic manipulation. He uses the examples of removing "noise" from a photo, change the contrast, etc. "In short, media becomes programable."

2. Modularity - Manovich also calls this the "fractal structure of new media." By this, he means that new media is comprised of more discrete samples, like pixels or characters or scripts. These smaller pieces are independent but are brought together to form larger-scale objects.

3. Automation - According to Manovich, the previous two principles (numerics and modularity) all for some automation on new media. "The human can be removed from the creative process, at least in part." An example of this would be filters in Photoshop, or templates in Word.

4. Variability - This means that new media is unfixed. It can be published in various formats and templates, and those can in turn be independently manipulated. In other words, it is "mutable" or "liquid."

5. Transcoding - Manovich says that new media now consists of two layers, the "computer" layer and the "cultural" layer. Examples of the computer layer would be: sorting and matching, function and variable, etc. The cultural layer could consist of: story and plot, comedy and tragedy. The computer layer is the functional layer, whereas the culture layer is more of the meaning behind the function from a human perspective.

Big Idea

Okay, so I think I've got this figured out. At least for now. I think I'm going to take a look at the digital footprints of the paranormal. Now, I'm not saying I believe in it, but it does interest me. And, according to many people, preternatural beings have left many digital footprints of their own. Youtube is full of videos claiming to have captured definite proof, there are countless television shows about the subject, and tons of websites. Perhaps, I could compile these and see if I can recreate any of them. Also, maybe I could visit a few places that are "haunted," get the story, doing some filming, etc. There is an excellent book by Lisa Hefner Heitz about many local legends all around Kansas (yes, I've actually read it!). She traveled the state and collected stories from all over. I especially appreciated her objectivity.

Let me know how you think this sounds!

Here are some videos:

This one is a spoof. Pretty funny. :D

Okay, so I'm not sure what to pursue. I just wasn't finding the things I thought I would for my original idea. Ugh, any suggestions?