Spring Break
Text message fortunes to reach Miami students
Christopher Washington, Senior Staff Writer
Issue date: 11/10/06 Section: Campus
In an effort to make students think about their lives through fortunes, a creative writing class will venture onto campus Friday with their weapon of choice - the cell phone.
This project, which sends fortunes out through text messaging to various students on Miami University's campus, is known as Projekt 4-2N and is part of a class taught by William Howe, a Miami English assistant professor.
While preparing for Projekt 4-2N, students obtained 1,621 fortunes from random proverbs found online and from various students in the class.
From Nov. 10 through Nov. 24, fortunes that integrate slang and common abbreviations will be sent via text message to students who have contributed their phone numbers to the project. The class also consulted Facebook profiles to obtain phone numbers from profiles that provided them.
According to sophomore Monica Nenni, who is part of the class, the goal is to give the ideal fortune that can impact student's lives.
"We're trying to give the fortunes we'd like to receive and see how it can affect people's lives," Nenni said. "It's our gift of language to the Miami community."
The idea for the project began when sophomore Suzanne Augsburger brought an incomplete fortune to class that read "… nothing, be nothing." This short phrase sparked the idea to experiment with how technology can influence student life.
"We're taking proverbs, making quotes and incorporating slang and seeing how technology can affect the text we use," said first-year Tyler Manley, a student in the class.
In addition to horoscope-style fortunes, which give a glimpse into the future, many of the other fortunes provide statements.
The class believes fortunes can impact an individual's life regardless of whether or not it gives a prediction or provides a statement.
Representatives from the class have created several mediums for participating students to respond to the fortunes. Junior Lucy MacDonald, another student in the class, developed a Facebook group called Projekt 4-2N, which allows students to contribute their phone number and provide feedback. An additional Web site, www.cas.muohio.edu/The42NProject, was created by sophomore student Robert Dolan which allows students to read about the project, give further input and subscribe or unsubscribe to the project. Students are also given the opportunity to respond to the text messages and post how the message impacted their life.
This project, which sends fortunes out through text messaging to various students on Miami University's campus, is known as Projekt 4-2N and is part of a class taught by William Howe, a Miami English assistant professor.
While preparing for Projekt 4-2N, students obtained 1,621 fortunes from random proverbs found online and from various students in the class.
From Nov. 10 through Nov. 24, fortunes that integrate slang and common abbreviations will be sent via text message to students who have contributed their phone numbers to the project. The class also consulted Facebook profiles to obtain phone numbers from profiles that provided them.
According to sophomore Monica Nenni, who is part of the class, the goal is to give the ideal fortune that can impact student's lives.
"We're trying to give the fortunes we'd like to receive and see how it can affect people's lives," Nenni said. "It's our gift of language to the Miami community."
The idea for the project began when sophomore Suzanne Augsburger brought an incomplete fortune to class that read "… nothing, be nothing." This short phrase sparked the idea to experiment with how technology can influence student life.
"We're taking proverbs, making quotes and incorporating slang and seeing how technology can affect the text we use," said first-year Tyler Manley, a student in the class.
In addition to horoscope-style fortunes, which give a glimpse into the future, many of the other fortunes provide statements.
The class believes fortunes can impact an individual's life regardless of whether or not it gives a prediction or provides a statement.
Representatives from the class have created several mediums for participating students to respond to the fortunes. Junior Lucy MacDonald, another student in the class, developed a Facebook group called Projekt 4-2N, which allows students to contribute their phone number and provide feedback. An additional Web site, www.cas.muohio.edu/The42NProject, was created by sophomore student Robert Dolan which allows students to read about the project, give further input and subscribe or unsubscribe to the project. Students are also given the opportunity to respond to the text messages and post how the message impacted their life.
