Write New Media

I'm late...

2009-12-03T18:06:00.002-07:00

and I probably won't get credit for this, but I don't care. Actually, I highly doubt that most of the class will even read this because it's posted past the due date for comments on posts.

I'm only posting because blogging was my favorite part of this English class. It was just so fun expressing myself and interacting with the class in a way that I otherwise couldn't. I really feel like my writing reflects my personality, in case you guys couldn't tell.

It's probably due to the generation that I'm a part of, but sadly my best mode of communication is online. When I talk online, my Asian accent does not get in the way of my communicating.

Okay this will probably be the last thing people will read because this post is way too long. But I thought this was a really fun experience!

Although blogging is pretty fun (at least in the confines of this classroom setting), it really wasn't that productive in terms of improving my writing. I say this in part because my favorite blog post was when we made a song analysis post. They only turned out successful because it was about songs that each person was interested. I didn't really post any meaningful revision plans. I only posted them because they were required. However it was still slightly helpful because I basically got to pick everyones brain regarding writing habits and tips.

Sometimes when I had to post comment responses most of the times I just agreed and reiterated a previously made comment just to get one out of the way.

The thing that I hated about blogs was the fact that it was just so easy to put off that sometimes I posted blogs and comments too late (just like now), or I never got around to doing them.

Blogging is a cool way to have class interaction, but if you really wanted people to learn from others through blogs maybe you could have different blog assignments. I can't think of any off the top of my head but I never really cared for the revision plan blog posts.

Using the blog

2009-12-02T14:46:00.003-07:00

I really enjoyed using the blog because it allowed me to connect my ideas with other classmates. It was a way to get great feedback and stay connected with the class. If I could improve one thing about the blog I would make the assignment of blogging feel more natural rather than an assignment to take care of. Overall I thought it was a success that provided me with helpful feedback from my peers.

blogging on blogger

2009-12-02T08:14:00.001-07:00

I had never blogged before the beginning of this class and I see what I missed out on. It worked because it was an outlet for ideas, a place where I can see what my ideas are. However, the comments given by other people were subpar. I found that people just commented just to say something, rather than give help or reasoning to what I was writing on. I found that I did the same thing when I was lazy. It was an effective way of learning because it was a reflection technique it makes me think about what I am doing or just did. However, in the end, the blog was a glorified assignment. If the blog had more feedback, or more constructive feedback, it would have been better.

Using the Blog

2009-12-02T08:02:00.002-07:00

It was interesting for me this year to use this blog. What I liked about it was that I felt more tied in to the class, when I was outside of class. It was cool to talk about things related to the class, when we were in a non-classroom setting. It was interesting to see what others in the class had to say about my work, and also to see the comments on the comments. I felt like I could express what was on my mind concerning my work.
Something that I didn't like about this was that I felt that sometimes I was writing on the blog just because I was assigned to. Some of the assignments, to me, were not neccesary and I felt that the blog was pushed too much.

Blog over view

2009-12-02T07:48:00.004-07:00

I like the blogs because it was easier to give other classmates feedback and do assignments. I like my peers looking over my posts because they gave me many new ideas that I could incorporate in my papers and brought up some counterarguments to address in my papers to make them better. I would have that my favorite post was the song post because it was interesting to see the perspectives at which other people made their analysis. I also really enjoyed reading the discoveries in research post because I found out new information.

When posting, the fact that my peers were going to read what I wrote did influence my writing and making sure that it looked good. Another good aspect about the blog is that it helped me pick topics for writing that were going to be interesting to other students because of the responses and suggestions to the blog post.

Blogging

2009-12-02T06:15:00.003-07:00

Having a blog for an English class is different and for that reason my interest was peeked in the beginning. Most of the assignments were relevant and helped in brainstorming ideas, outlining papers, and learning the interests of classmates. There is this odd sense of bonding and friendship with classmates by using a blog and having to post comments.

Two blog posts that stand out to me as the most interesting included the music post and ideas for our first paper. When people voiced their personal opinion, commenting was a lot easier. The longer the posts, the less I read. The shorter-the better. I felt like this addition to the class added another outlet for writing. It didn't replace the papers, but it allowed us to write to a different audience. While I found myself hurrying to comment on others posts and, like others have said, the comments were a little forced, the outcome of the blog was still beneficial.

I feel a sense of camaraderie with my English 150 classmates that only comes from using the blog together - not because we've seen each other in class 3 days a week for the last few months.

Blog Evaluation from my point of view

2009-12-02T02:35:00.002-07:00

When I first found out we had to blog, I had no idea how that was going to turn out. I haven't posted a blog before, and I didn't understand the grading part at first. I was thinking how am I going to get 3 comments from people? They might not even not like what I wrote, after speaking to Sister Cowley of course she explained that I had to write comments, I felt kinda dumb afterward, but got my work done and enjoyed reading what people had to say.
The blogs really helped me stay focused on my papers, and the revision plans helped as well. Although the blog posts for the revision plans did seem repetitive, it helped me to have it written down, because I would actually have to do what I said I was going to do. Another thing I enjoy about our classroom blogging is that I got to see what other people were thinking and their opinions; it made me know the person a little better in a way. I also like reading my comments.

What I didn't like about blogging, is that sometimes I would forget that we had a blog assignment that day. Or some assignments weren't as clear to me, and sometimes I just didn't want to blog. Comment responses, are they really sincere? I didn't want to hurt anyone feelings, so I wouldn't comment what I originally was thinking or I had to find ways to word my comment(s) so I don't offend anyone.

Overall I like the blog, it was something easy to do, not that much stress. I wouldn't make my own blog, because I'm not sure if I could keep up with it or even want my personal information out there on the internet.

thoughts on the BLOG

2009-12-02T00:27:00.003-07:00

THE BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!

In general, I really don't like blogs, but this class has helped me learn how to use them and understand them.

Using this blog was a cool new way to learn and I don't think that there is really an aspect of it that didn't help my learning.

I like being able to turn something in that is not on paper, I mean I think it helps me to use this online tool because I'm used to working with things on the internet. I like how flexible the blog is. We can get on anytime and add whatever we want to it. I am new to college and I'm trying to get better at time management but when I slip up, I'm glad my blog homework doesn't have to be in a certain place on paper by a certain time. I can add to the blog from the comfort of my own home. I really like the revision plan blog posts. I think it's interesting to look at all the different ways people respond. Some are very detail oriented and some are quite concise.

A problem for me with the blog is that I do not check it everyday. I rarely go back to my own posts to see what other people have said about them. I feel like although it is cool to be able to see what other people say, I usually pick the shortest looking posts to comment on. I just really don't read the blog very much, so I don't feel like I have true discourse with my peers.

The end. The blog was a pretty fun way to do homework. yay!

How was the blog?

2009-12-02T00:17:00.001-07:00

I was a little skeptical at first. Wasn't sure how it was going to work. But overall I thought it was fun. Made the class different from just the normal english class that we're all used to. It helped me realize that the things we learn in english apply to more than just academic papers.
One thing that I didn't like too much about it was the required number of comments. I understand why it has to be that way (I can't honestly say that I would have commented, or read other posts for that matter, if I wasn't required to). But a lot of the time they seemed empty of any real meaning. Too formulaic "I agree with _____" etc. If the posts were on things that everyone would be curious what the other person would say, then they would read and comment easily, but that's the hard part I guess.
Maybe if we had been given an assignment now and then to just write on anything we wanted, it would have made the blog more personal and fun.

Blog Evaluation

2009-12-02T00:16:00.002-07:00

I wasn't a big fan of the blog. I didn't feel like it improved my writing. The blog seemed more like busy work that actual earning. I felt that the comments and comment responses were particularly unhelpful. People were mostly trying to get the required number of comments in and didn't care about what they were saying. If it was more convenient to agree with the blog, then they would agree. I don't think the fact that other students read my writing had a big effect on what I wrote. All of had to write the same thing, so when I was reading it, I looked at what other people wrote as an assignemt rather than what they had to say.

The blog did help me with time frames for my papers. Having to have certain things on the blog at certain times made me get my papers done in a timely maner. I also learned how to use blogger. It is a lot easier than I thought it would be. Additionally, the blog was good for small assignments because it saved paper, when we only writing a paragraph or so.

Yay!

2009-12-01T22:47:00.004-07:00

I must say, at the beginning of the semester I was not too hip on this idea of blog posting. I saw it as busy work, something I wouldn't have time for. But as we started to post things, I really started to like it. It helped me to more effectively communicate the thoughts that were going through my head about the papers we had to write. I'm the kind of person who likes to think about what to write for a while, then sit down and just crank it out. And, I hate outlining, so this was a great way for me to get my arguments down without really making a formal outline, but still help to organize what I was going to write. I also really liked that the blog posts were usually things that would help us to get our papers done, like when we would have to post our intro or a paragraph or two of our papers, then have people comment on them.
Speaking of comments, I didn't really see their usefulness. Personally, I just did them because I was getting points to write things, so I don't think I put as much thought into it as I probably should have... and usually none of the comments I received on my posts were very helpful in the writing process. I mean, I can see how they COULD be really helpful, if people were actually writing whole-heartedly, but otherwise it was just something else we had to do. I don't know, maybe I'm weird and I was the only one, but that's just my take on it.
Overall, blogs are awesome! I liked it a lot! :)

Blog

2009-12-01T22:42:00.003-07:00

This blog has helped tremendously in my writing. It forced me to actually start writing my paper before the day it was due. I am a big procrastinator. This blog has forced me to at least think about writing almost everyday. It also gave me an opportunity to have other opinions on my writing. I usually don't ask people to read my paper but having a second opinion opened my eyes to flaws i didn't see myself. I also seemed to write better when I knew that other people would actually be reading it.

My favorite posts have been the drafts of my papers. That way I could get opinions before actually turning it in for a grade. This way a lot of my problems were fixed before my review with Sistrer Cowley. My least favorite posts have been the revision plans. It always felt like I was saying the same thing over and over. I always needed to work on the same things. I think the blog is better then handing in paper assignments because it saves trees and allows the entire class to be involved in helping everyone else with their papers. This way there is lots of differing opinions instead of just a few opinions. It is like a better way to peer review. And you can do it on your own time instead of having to wait for someone else to have time to read your paper.

Blog Evaluation

2009-12-01T21:50:00.002-07:00

Upon the completion of this semester, I found the class blog to be a very helpful and fun to use tool. It allowed me to post my own opinions on how to write and revise the papers that we have written as well as receive feedback from others. Through the blog, I was able to understand people's opinions better. By reading other's posts, I received advice on how to go about writing or revising my papers. I also was enlightened by different ideas that I would have never thought of myself. I enjoyed how easy the blog works--the format, the user-friendliness, and for the New Media Classroom link to help us understand what we needed to do. I liked the comment system and how others could comment on your own posts. However, I feel that some posts were not really that important or relevant, such as the song lyrics. Besides this, the blog was a great tool. It was especially helpful to submit some of our drafts and paragraphs of our writing onto the blog in order to get peer feedback as well as to help discipline me to get parts done at a time. While it was a bit impersonal to communicate through comments, it was still an efficient and simple way to do so. Publicizing my thoughts to the class helped me with refining my writing. Overall, I enjoyed the blog and would encourage that it be continued for future classes.

Blogs :)

2009-12-01T16:52:00.002-07:00

I liked the blog. It was a fun tool to use in a classroom setting. The blog posts were especially good at the beginning of the semester when we were able to use it to facilitate discussions on the different topics. It was great to be able to have discussion outside of the classroom. It was helpful in writing our first paper, especially, when it was very important to understand the counterargument. After that, though, I didn't find the blogs as useful. The comments and responses became very hard to do. Whenever I was working on my post there were little to no other posts I could respond to. In addition to this, some posts were difficult to even post anything on at all because of the subject matter.

Blog Evaluation

2009-12-01T14:58:00.002-07:00

I really enjoyed the blog posts that we were supposed to write. I liked how we could do it whenever and wherever we wanted to. It was on our time but there were still deadlines that we needed to meet. I thought it was really important that we needed to comment on other classmates posts so that we felt there was actually a reason to writing the posts and getting feedback.
Some of the problems I saw were also about the comments and comment responses. Many people only wrote comments that were not helpful at all but were only written to fulfill the requirements. The comments responses also made you have to rely on the other students in the class to comment on your post or one of your comments. I found that sometimes people had not responded to my blog or my other comments.
I really found myself hesitant to say what I was actually thinking because I did not want to hurt any ones feelings in any way. I see myself as very opinionated and felt that I could easily hurt others feelings who are prone to taking constructive criticism the wrong way, even if no offense was meant. So many times I did not really write down what I thought because I did not know how the person would react.

Blog Analysis

2009-12-01T12:44:00.002-07:00

I have really enjoyed using the blog. I like it better than traditional assignments because of the freedom of it. I am able to log on where ever and start typing, rather than have it in print form due a certain time. I like being able to work on it whenever I have time. I also like that we have the opportunity to comment on each other's blogs. What I do not like about the comments is that our grade is somewhat dependent upon the other students. Sometimes I have had to wait for the other students to post something before I can make a 4-5 required comments. And a lot of the time, the comments would be pointless, saying something obvious just so that they commented and got the grade.

My favorite assignment was doing a small rhetorical analysis on a song. Doing that small assignment made me think of what my music is trying to say, so now I listen more intently to the lyrics and the message of the music. So that was a cool assignment that I enjoyed, but some of the assignments seemed pointless. They felt like busy work, which no one likes. So maybe if the assignments were more legit - NOT HARDER, just with a greater purpose :)

Overall, I enjoyed the blog and hope that it is continued because of convenience and freedom of it.

Revision plan

2009-11-18T08:22:00.002-07:00

I will sort out my thoughts, split them into their own paragraphs, shorten the paragraphs I already have, get things condensed into the more important aspects.

Revisions...

2009-11-18T06:52:00.003-07:00

1. Reorganize my paper to help the flow of ideas and paragraphs

2. Talk to high school students (sisters and their friends) to see how their teachers use new media and use those examples in my paper

3. Find stronger quotations from articles to help my argument

4. re-write and take it back to Sister Cowley by Friday

5. Read out loud to somebody to fix errors and make sure my ideas flow and everything leads back to my thesis

Issues paper revision plan

2009-11-18T06:36:00.004-07:00

This that I plan on doing-from top to bottom of the list.

1. Fix minor errors on puncuation and grammar

2.Develop and add information needed to what I have on multi-tasking.

3. Add new information to develop new areas of my topic.

4. Make sure that I have good transitional sentences and that my thesis is connected to throughout my paper.

5. Make sure that I get to the pages requirement.

6. Try to have all the above done before friday to show to Sister Cowley one last time

Revising my Issues Paper

2009-11-18T01:36:00.002-07:00

I am pretty pleased with where I am on my paper right now. I need to go to the writing center to get help with citing my sources. I've already started working on the things Sister Cowley and I talked about (procratinating starting my American Heritage paper). I am worried about length. My paper is already a full 11 pages and there is still another section that Sister Cowley and I agree needs more information. I may actually have to cut some information from my paper. I think I picked too broad a subject.

I'm going to revise sooo much you have no idea

2009-11-18T00:13:00.002-07:00

Well, after conferencing with Sister Cowley, I've decided on the main things that I need to work on. My first two paragraphs are apparently really terrible, so I'm going to need to change them completely. I was told, by more than one person, that my introduction was too lengthy. So, I'm going to shorten my introduction, making my main points clear and concise. All of my paragraphs are really long too (I think each paragraph is around one page), so I'm goingg have to reconstruct my paragraphs. I've also come across new sources that I would like to include in my paper. I'm really excited to revise my paper!

Plan for the paper for the rest of the week

2009-11-17T23:47:00.003-07:00

Regarding my paper,

I will change the main source that I use to introduce my topic to something more scholarly than Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia is an interesting and often informative source, my paper is severely discredited by having it so abundantly cited in the beginning. I plan to spend a portion of my Wednesday evening working on this.

I need to incorporate and "deal with" the counter argument more. This shouldn't be too difficult because there is a lot of great evidence for the other side, I just need to spend time collecting it. This will happen on Thursday around 3 or 4 pm.

I need to edit grammar and I would like to vary sentences and make sure that things flow nicely with transitions but these changes can be made later, after content is adjusted. After I make these changes I will maybe take my paper to the writing center... after class on Friday around 9 am. I like to take things there so I can get a second opinion and see if my paper makes sense to someone who has not been a part of the major drafting process.

That's the plan.

censor new media, or censor my paper?

2009-11-17T23:14:00.001-07:00

For my revision plan I am hoping to:
1. Double check my resources, make sure they are relevant and flow within my paper
2. Work on citations
3. Check the flow of my paper, make it flow better
4. Address any counter arguments
5. Meet with the writing center
6. work on connecting my thoughts and the sources back to my thesis and support my argument better

Basically, I need to make my paper rockin...

Revising revising revising

2009-11-17T23:03:00.003-07:00

I am going to have to do a lot of work on my paper. I have to find better statistics. Then I have to go through and make sure my argument makes sense. Then I have to go into more detail with some of my arguments. Then I am going to visit the writing center on Friday because i haven't done that yet this semester and this is basically the last paper. Hopefully they will be able to help me perfect my paper. or at least get close to perfect.

Issues Paper Revision Plans

2009-11-17T21:44:00.002-07:00

1. Get to minimum page limit, add more content, there are still examples that haven't been put in.

2. Answer the question, 'so what?' I made points and examples, but try to give reasons why they relate to the thesis statement.

3. Add sentences that connect the paper.

4. Answer the thesis statement after every paragraph, to try and guide the reader to my main point. Focus your main point, that video games are not as detrimental as they are seen.

5. Change the footnotes to actual citations.

6. The 'Social Rules' section needs to be fixed up to fix with the context of the paper or cut out or replaced

7. Improper quoting! Get thereal meaning from the quote

8. Back up the claims made

9. Make sure that the reader know what you are arguing, focus the reader to the pros and cons of social computer gaming.

Revision Plan

2009-11-17T20:09:00.002-07:00

I am going to tie my paper together in a way that represents my argument.
I am going to deal with the counterarguments.
I am going to develop my thesis in a scholarly manner.

Revision Plan

2009-11-17T18:50:00.002-07:00

My main points of revision are:
1. Refocus my audience so that it doesn't start out so narrow.
2. To get some more sources to help it all have more of a credited paper.
3. To work on making my paper have more of a scholarly feel rather than an opinion editorial feel.
I really think that with the revisions that I make, especially with the redirecting of my audience and making it more scholarly, this paper is going to get the point that I want across. I want to try and have all of my revisions done by this weekend so that I can just read over it and make minor changes as I find need for them.

Issues Paper Revision Plan

2009-11-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

Most of my revision will be focused around my thesis, or maybe it's better to say that lack of a thesis. My thesis isn't very supported by the data I have. And after thinking about it, I will probably change the focus of my thesis. After doing that I will have to go through my paper and find ways to link all my data back to the new thesis. I also think I will need a couple more facts from studies instead of mostly examples. So basically I'm rewriting my entire paper. How's that for revision...
I have already gone to the writing center and they agree with my ideas for revision. I will have a couple friends read over my new paper before I turn it in.

Katie's Revision Plan

2009-11-17T14:48:00.002-07:00

Write a plan for how you are going to revise your issues paper. This can include steps like visiting the writing center and peer conferencing. This can also include when you plan to work on it, and what aspects you will revise when. You probably also want to reflect on the 2 or 3 biggest, overall revisions you are going to work on in the paper and how you plan to do so.

I went to multiple sources for advice on how to improve my paper. First, I have started to make the changes that Sister Cowley suggested in our meeting, and then I'm going to start fixing the little things that were pointed out by a couple people who have read through. They are just minor grammatical or structuring errors.
The last major improvement that I have to make is the addition of a counterargument following the introduction. This will help me to answer some of the questions that a reader may have in reading my paper.
Otherwise, I'm very close to having my final product ready.

Revision Plan

2009-11-16T23:07:00.003-07:00

After conferring with Sister Cowley, I have a few things to revise on my paper.

1) Fix a few wording issues to avoid confusion and strengthen my argument.

2) Make my paper a point last paper. Move my thesis to the end of my paper.

3) Name a solution or two to the issue of file sharing to clear up further confusion.

4) Lengthen my paper a little bit more.

With these revisions, my paper can be made stronger, more clear, more stylistic, and more organized. With the point last approach, my argument could work more effectively towards those who have a strong stance against file sharing.

Revision Plan Issues Paper

2009-11-16T20:57:00.002-07:00

The biggest issue (hehe no pun intended....) I have with my paper is the organization of it. The flow of it doesn't really make sense. Following Sister Cowley's advice, I'm going to re-organize my paper. Some of the paragraphs don't really make sense where they are right now. But instead of getting rid of those paragraphs, I'm just going to put them in a different spot in my paper that will make better sense. Also, there is a paragraph where I compare tobacco ads to "getting active" ads. It isn't clear to my readers why I'm writing about tobacco. (I'm writing about obesity and new media) so I want to clarify my thinking behind that one.

Another problem right now is that I'm relying too heavily on one source. That source is from the Los Angeles Times, not the best source in an academic paper. However, it's good information. So I'm going to turn to other things the author references and see if I can get information from them instead of just from this article.

Revision Plan

2009-11-16T18:16:00.002-07:00

Here is my revision plan for my issue paper:

1. Fix the minor grammar and word problem

2. Find some more legitimate sources instead of many quotes from one source.

3. Change some of my personal experiences to more analysis instead of story tone

Those are the the main things I am going to work on. Having peer reviews by two people and meeting with Sister Cowley really helped! I am definitely going to go to the writing center... definitely :) I am going to read my paper out loud. I am going to read it backwards too. Anything that helps me see my writing in a new light helps me better it.

That's my plan. :) I am hoping to get a little bit done each day, instead of all at one time.

Revision plan Issues paper

2009-11-16T16:18:00.003-07:00

For my revision plan I am going to do three main things.
1. Go through and correct all of my cited works to right formant.
2. Make my argument more clear at the beginning and end of paper.
3. Make sure I am using the right tone and feeling of paper.

I will be rearanging around some of my paragraphs and adding titles to all of my main points. I really need to add signs posts to show where I am going and why I am going there. This will be done at the beginning of every paragraph.
Make sure that the whole paper makes sense to my audience and let them know the point of the paper and what they should do after reading it.

Revision Plan #3

2009-11-14T14:11:00.002-07:00

In this revision plan, I plan to do these things:
- I have to add more ethos, so my paper can be more creditable
- By adding more ethos, I mean the sources I found for my topic
- My paragraphs are too long, so I'm going to separate the long paragraphs and make them short paragraphs ( it will be more manageable for my readers)
- Have people read my paper, and evaluate it
- Also plan to meet up with Sister Cowley to make some last changes.
- I really want to finish everything before Friday!

This is good stuff you have to read it!

2009-11-13T08:16:00.004-07:00

Well I have a lot to get off my chest, and since all of my roommates were gaming I didn't get a chance to really share my thoughts with anyone.

The other day while I was on the bus, I had the fortunate experience of sitting next to a rather large man. This grand guy had the courtesy to rock out to his heavy metal music blasting at full volume. Not only that, but he was air drumming too! AND, as we left the bus, he started singing some of the lyrics! I think it went something along the lines of, DEATH DEATH DEATH... BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD, EAT RAW GOATS. Idk it was weird.

I'm not sure if it's unhealthy or not but I'm slowly getting into the habit of only sleeping every other day. Maybe if I wasn't such a deep sleeper and English didn't start at 8 I wouldn't be afraid to go to sleep at 3/4.

I started a blog of my own!! I have one post on it and it doesn't look so hot, but I think I'll work on it. It's called the Billy Zane Chronicles. Ever since that one line from Zoolander I've fallen in love with Billy Zane. It's such a cool name!

I got a haircut yesterday... I don't like it! It's too short and it exposes the recent acne on my forehead and makes it easier to notice how bushy my eyebrows are.

Last night I watched all my shows. It was wonderful. It's always Sunny, Top Chef, the League, Glee. WHOAAA GLEE WAS SO GOOD THIS WEEK AM I RIGHT?! Maybe I should have gone to see Wicked with my family when I had the chance...

Oh Oh, tomorrow I'm going to be tearin it up at the DanceSport competition. If you're taking 180 and you're going too, don't bother showing up.

I was supposed to do an interpretive dance for my ward's talent show with my roommate today. We were going to dance to a remix for the Dayman song from it's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. (Fun show but it's inappropriate. Don't watch it! But now he bailed because we didn't get the appropriate outfits. Soooo is anyone doing anything cool today?!?! 201 321 7829!!!

Introduction

2009-11-09T00:07:00.003-07:00

Since the creation of the World Wide Web in 1989, the online “door” has been opened to vast amounts of information, new and improved technologies, and enhanced international communications. Today, approximately 104 million American adults have access to the Internet, (Eastin, Matthew S.) which has now become a source from which almost an infinite amount of knowledge can be gained. Along with these advances, however, have come consequences. For example, the availability of various forms of media (sound bites, videos, visuals, etc.) has paved the way for an unprecedented exchange of pornographic materials, and the expansion of communications has opened new avenues for underground criminal activities. Similarly, the accessibility of low or no cost online health care information has had its benefits, but has also proven to account for many overlooked consequences. One of the factors that make these effects so drastic is its unusually high frequency of usage. In fact, a 2006 survey found that around seven percent of Internet users would employ a health-related search on any given day, ranking the search for and access of online medical information equally with online bill-payment, blog-reading, and the acquisition of phone numbers or addresses (Fox, Susannah). This drastically extensive use of internet-based medical information and services has attributed to a rise in the misinformation of consumers, altered the patient-physician relationship, and negatively impacted clinical business due to its ease of accessibility and common lack of credibility.

Source Map (first half)

2009-11-06T09:23:00.003-07:00

Thesis: (needs revising) A combination of unnecessary spending and bad investing has put our economy in a recessive and high debt situation that is not well represented by the media.

I. Introduction
1. Our government has spent our tax dollars carelessly and put us in debt
a. Comptroller General says, "were spending more than we make.... Were charging it to the credit card... and expecting our grandchildren to pay for it. And thats absolutelty outrageous.
2. Our government makes bad investments that has, economically speaking, put us in a recession.
a. Marcia clement, "In Oct. [2008] the deficit reached 455 billion dollars, up from the previous record of 413 billion in 2004....it came before the economy nose dived , prompting congress to approve a $700 billion bailout"
3. Thesis

II. The cause of debt
1. Spending
a. The government spends tax money on...........
-block quote from Government spending article
b. It is estimated that if we continue to spend money at the same rate as today that by 2010 we will be in 10 trillion dollars of debt
2. Bad investments
a. The government invests its money in many different markets such as.......
-Explain markets and how much of the debt they are responsible for
b. The debt we have with other countries doesnt have the same effect as does debt within the country. The debt outside of the country doesnt pay intrest to us rather we pay intrest to those we are in debt of.
3. Negative effects of Bailouts
a. Bailouts financially hurt us as a nation as they just inflate the dollar and raise the deficit.
- If we are in debt 2 trillion dollars how can we sign a bailout for $600 Billion

Source Map

2009-11-06T07:13:00.001-07:00

Revised Thesis: With the introduction of the internet, education has taken a turn for the best and is now available to a more diverse amount of people.

I. Introduction
A. Imagine a world without the internet. This is how the world was twenty years ago.
B. new opportunities are opening for employees, who work at the offices in geographically
dispersed locations, such as possibility to communicate, share and collaborate in order to
achieve common business goals.
C. thesis
II. The effect of the internet on higher education
A. The announcement of the internet was translated by some education authorities to be a
signal that libraries-and even classrooms were dead. Nothing couls be further from the
truth.
B.This study suggests that both transformational and transactional leadership styles are
equally effective across communication media in teams completing short-term, problem
solving tasks. Furthermore, this research provides additional confirmation that the
communication media through which teams communicate influence certain aspects of their
interactions and cohesiveness.
III. The effect of the internet on lower education
A. The case of a legitimate classroom task turning up an unsuitable web page. This could
happen despite the best of intentions, although it is more likely to be mischievous behavior
by a student. You would immediately deal with it as you would any incident in the
classroom.
i. this introduces a topic of moral and ethical responsibility
IV. How the internet has made education available to more people
V. Conclusion
A. Education has failed to take in account of how much the world has changed during the
information technology revolution. It proceeds as though thw world is the same as before-
just more technologized.
B. The invention and popular use of micro- computers, the global communications system
enabled by satellite and fiber optic cables the transmission of television programs around
and across the world, the process of digitalization of data, the portability of communications
devices-these are all part of our present and almost bound to be part of the future in which
the effects of global communications will be felt in our everyday lives.

A framework

2009-11-06T07:11:00.004-07:00

Intro=personal anecdote that was published online, or "its not right to have gays in the military, brings down morale and brings unwanted tension...the last thing i need is a gay by my side in iraq" (Avelli)

Thesis: Although the new media has become the primary medium for expressing ideas about social issues such as gays in the military, it is not the most effective in terms of change resulting.

Fact --
-This issue still needs background information to be understood in order to create a valid opinion about it...
"Blogs provide another vehicle for political expression. In that sense, they increase political participation. But if political participation is defined more broadly, blogs potentially fall short" (Jost 21).
-Where did it come from?

people are trying to express themselves and the Internet is the easiest place to go... quote from a blog "instead of unequivocally stating that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is bad policy, hurts our Armed Forces, and discriminates against gays and lesbians, Gen. Jones answered that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be dealt with "at the right time," and that a repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be teed up appropriately. *Yawn* That's not bold leadership; that's preserving the status quo" (Jones).

Definition--
-from an online source, so the rhetoric has this tone, word choice like "mere" in the following "The "don't ask" part of the policy indicates that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation in the absence of disallowed behaviors, though mere suspicion of homosexual behavior can cause an investigation" (Wikipedia, 1)
-everything is biased!

Quality--
`this issue is serious! "The Internet has given hate groups ample reason to feel young again. In the United States, online bigots enjoy full protection under the First Amendment and have access to a potentially limitless audience. Webmasters are anonymous and difficult to silence; leaders suffer few consequences for their followers' actions. And their strategies for organizational growth are beginning to look more corporate than cross-lit" (Brown, 1)

-is it good or bad?
-?"The new internet subculture that has erupted around ‘blogging’ is particularly deserving of analysis here, as bloggers have demonstrated themselves as technoactivists favoring not only democratic self-expression and networking, but also global media critique and journalistic sociopolitical intervention " (Kahn, 91)

-bad = "Online and offline communities are often posited in opposition to each other in a zero sum game. Those taking this view warn that people are more and more seduced from their geographically placed lives to the Internet (Lockhard, 1997)--a trend they call the ‘virtualization of everyday life’ (Doheny-Farina, 1996: xiii). They argue the solitary mode of online access encourages people to focus more completely on their private interests"(Nip, 4)

-"For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult"(Newman).

Issues Paper Source Outline

2009-11-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is a serious condition that does not receive enough attention from the community. It is an addiction of almost the same magnitude as drug abuse or alcoholism and can be just as detrimental to a person’s social and mental health.

I. Intro

a. Story

“I’m ready to divorce John,” Marsha announced. I was taken aback. Marsha and John had been together for five years and had what I assumed was a stable marriage. I asked her what had gone wrong: Did John have a drinking problem? Was he having an affair? Had he been abusing her? “No,” she replied. “He’s addicted to the Internet.” Between sobs, she filled me in on the problem. Every night, he’d come home from work at 6 p.m. and head straight for the computer. No kiss hello, no help with dinner, or the dishes, or the laundry. At 10 p.m., he’d still be on-line when she’d call him to come to bed. “Be right there,” he’d say. Four or five hours later, he’d finally log off and stumble into bed. (Young 1)

b. Thesis

II. More than just a bad habit

a. Internet use skyrocketing in past years

The average time users spent online grew in double digit rates in six countries between May and October this year, and even in the U.S., which ranks second in amount of time consumers spend online, the average time online grew 7.7%, according to a new report from Nielsen/NetRatings.

The largest growth in time online was registered by German and Swedish consumers, who increased their use of the web by 21.6% between May and October. Germans were online an average of 10 hours, 32 minutes online in October vs. 8 hours, 39 minutes in May. Swedes were online 8 hours, 2 minutes in October vs. 6 hours, 36 minutes in May. (InternetRetailer)

i. But not everyone has IAD

ii. Internet has become a necessity of communication, business, education, etc.

iii. Not all of the increase is due to productive use

b. Increase in number of people who suffer from IAD

i. Story

ii. Percentage of students with IAD

c. At what point does it become IAD?

III. IAD is a psychological addiction that has similar symptoms to those of alcoholism/pornography addiction/drug abuse

a. Brief history of IAD

b. Symptoms

i. Fatigue

ii. Muscular dystrophy

iii. Depression

iv. Anxiety

v. Aggressive behavioc.

C. How similar to other addictions

“While most people associate addiction with substances, such as drugs or alcohol, doctors recognize addictive behaviors as well. In a WebMD feature on the definition of addiction, psychiatrist Michael Bordy, MD, set forth the following criteria: 1. The person needs more and more of a substance or behavior to keep him going. 2. If the person does not get more of the substance or behavior, he becomes irritable and miserable.” (Clark)

i. Used as an escape from stress but only strengthens the deeper issues

“Kids with depression, anger issues, or social problems also turn to the Internet as therapy, adds Gilbert, who was not involved in the study. ‘they can take on an avatar or a different identity, and can contact other kids with the same problems and social inadequacies; they don’t have to function in conventional social ways.’” (MacMillan)

ii. Addict pulls away from social interaction

d. How different

i. Does not receive attention

“IAD was originally proposed as a disorder in a satirical hoax by Ivan Goldberg, M.D., in 1995. He took pathological gambling as diagnosed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as his model for the description of IAD.” (Internet Addiction Disorder)

ii. Not as many help groups

iii. Almost impossible to entirely quit using the internet, so a recovery has a different definition

IV. IAD destroys face-to-face social skills

It was found that the more time people spend using the Internet, the more they lose contact with their social environment. Figure 1 shows that this effect is noticeable even with just 2-5 Internet hours per week; and it rises substantially for those spending more than 10 hours per week, of whom up to 15 percent report a decrease in social activities. Even more striking is the fact that Internet users spend much less time talking on the phone to friends and family: the percentage reporting a decrease exceeds 25 percent—although it is unclear to what extent this represents a shift to email even in communicating with friends and family or a technical bottleneck due to a single phone line being preempted by Internet use. (Erbring)

a. Increased aggression

“Adolescents with aggressive behavior in the past year were more likely to have Internet addiction, use the Internet every day, use the Internet more than 20 hours/week, and participate in oline gaming, chatting, gambling, adult sex Web, and BBS. Also they were less likely to participate in online research or studying activities.” (Ko)

b. Loneliness

c. Lack of intimacy

d. Fake sense of relationship

VI. Inhibits the development of social skills in children and adolescents.

a. Kids are more at risk

a. “It has been hypothesized that, because adolescence and young adulthood is a time of identity and relationship exploration, those who have trouble navigating through these developmental challenges are particularly vulnerable to using the Internet as a coping mechanism. Current research does indicate that ego-identity achievement in middle school students is negatively related to pathological and extreme Internet use.” (Guan)

b. Sense of identity blurred

VII. IAD is a serious and very real disorder that needs more attention. The negative effects on social skills and mental health, the easy access, and especially the susceptibility of young people to the addiction make this a dangerous addiction that, if unchecked, will continue to become more and more common.

Source outline

2009-11-06T06:37:00.001-07:00

Intro (background)
• In the 21st century, literacy is more likely to mean writing blogs and instant messages as well as skimming video and audio, along with text, to gather information.(2)
• "Checking Facebook is routine," she said. "When they first get on the computer, they check their e-mail. They log on to instant messaging. They check their Facebook."
  The importance of reading
• “ Reading for pleasure correlates with academic achievement.”(6)
• “Children and teenagers who read for pleasure on a daily or weekly basis score better on reading tests than infrequent readers.”(6)
• Good readers generally have more financially rewarding jobs (6)

The doors that the internet opens- the internet is great
• Today's definition of literacy is being broadened to include "literacy skills necessary for individuals, groups, and societies to access the best information in the shortest time to identify and solve the most important problems and then communicate this information"(9)
•
21st reading patterns (leisure reading)
• “A British Survey finds that people actually believe that they are reading more. Despite competition from new media, and increasing pressure on people’s leisure time, relatively few people think they are reading less now than five years ago.”(5)
• Most (80%) claim to be reading about the same or more
• Even when reading does occur, it competes with other media. This multi-tasking suggests less focused engagement with a text.(6)
• Teens and young adults spend less time reading than people of other age groups.(6)

Reading patterns back in the day
• more time for leisure time reading(4)
• Parents spent more money on books(4)

Statistics of what people mostly spend their time doing online
Social networking-new media and time spent on that
• “The proliferation of electronic media that swallow students’ time could prevent some of them from developing valuable thinking skills fostered by fluent reading, according to some experts(2)”
• Percentage of time spent reading while using other media 35%
• when we are online we tend to spend more time on sites that are worthy of our attention. (17)

The consequences on homework, learning and reading
• “Some Researchers support the concern that online reading encourages quick, surface skimming over sustained concentration of learning.”(2)

The positive things or tools that you gain because of social networking and new media
• “Computers enable opportunities for adolescents to develop literacy skills through collaborative work and social interactions with each other.(7)”
• “Computer-based communication, such as email or chat room, places expectations on participants to respond in written formats to convey meaning accurately and effectively(7)”
• “Adolescents participation in these online activities develops communication skills and literacy skills that may not always be recognized in more formal educational settings.”

However, statistics of reading scores, because of networking and other new media tools
• Teenagers percentage of reading time has decreased the greatest and it is believed to be directly connected with new media and time spent online.(4)
•
Future of books
• They will more likely to be in a digital form rather than a printed form.(1)

Thesis: New media has given society new tools and innovations, but because of them, people have begun to change their reading patterns.

Revised Thesis and Outline!

2009-11-06T05:39:00.002-07:00

Thesis: Despite the apparent loss of revenue generated from movies due to piracy and illegal downloading, the benefits of new media on Hollywood outweigh the costs.

1. What most people know
a. The Film Industry has suffered from the Internet
b. Box-office success has gone done – Statistics (Smith, Michael)
c. Movies can be viewed online now
Hulu is the second-most viewed video site (to YouTube)
d. Piracy and illegal downloading has been a huge issue for a couple years now, and it still hasn’t really gone away. (Wray)

2. Hollywood would be wise to take more advantage of the internet and the file sharing it offers
a. There are long term benefits to shifting the market from out of theater movie purchasing from DVD’s to the internet
b. Netflix is one example of success of viewing films through a new medium
(Currah)

3. Critics
a. The Internet brings everyone together
As a result communication goes up
Peer reviews become more relevant
b. Sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic has become the focus of film criticism
Rotten Tomatos even works in conjunction with Twitter for movie reviews. (Cieply)

4. Marketing
a. The Internet has revolutionized advertising
Facebook, Hulu, Twitter

- Twitter has shown some correlation between twitter activity and box office success (Hampp)
- Although one might argue that online feedback is more reflective on the quality of the movie rather than influential, that is most likely not the case.
- In fact, Twitter activity was used by some firms to predict opening weekend movie sales. (Hampp)

b. Hulu has become one of the most visited sites on the net
Provides a bunch of movies and trailers to every upcoming film

c. The producers of Paranormal Activity launched a web campaign to get people interested in the movie (Labrecque)
It worked! (Warren)
5. Conclusion
Hollywood is already adapting to find new ways to take advantage of the Internet (Wood, Laura)
The Internet is not a hinderance to Hollywood, it can be utilized to make the industry even stronger.

BTW did anyone watch V for Vendetta yesterday? It was the Fifth of November, after all. And if you did, what did you think of the bald Natalie Portman? I think she might even look more appealing bald. Idk. If you look good bald, you'll look good no matter what. I think that should be like a true test of beauty. I keep telling every girl this but they still aren't willing to test it out.

Outline and Sources

2009-11-06T01:37:00.000-07:00

So my internet got REALLY slow all of a sudden and it isn't as finished as I would like. But it is late and I can't fix my internet, so bear with me. The formating is weird on mine, too, so I apologise to whoever reads this.

Thesis: Media censorship as been an issue for hundreds of years; now new media censorship is stepping into the spotlight. Ultimately, however, the responsibility of new media censorship rests on the shoulders of each individual—not on the government.

I. Introduction
A. Censorship in traditional media
1. historical background-context of issue
- Belsie , Laurent . "The Dark Side of Cyberspace."
-history up to 1994
- Communications Textbook (not in bibliography)
2. need more information
3. Clark, Charles S. "Regulating the Internet."
B. Thesis
II. Types of regulation considered in regards to new media censorship
A. Restrict the “advertising” of the site
-physical layer
B. remove objectionable content directly from the hosting ISP so that it is not “in cyberspace” anymore
-content layer
C. arrange filtering or zoning of content
-seems the most logical
-application or logical layer
- Harris, Candida, Judith Rowbotham, and Kim Stevenson. "Truth, Law and Hate in the Virtual Marketplace of Ideas: Perspectives on the Regulation of Internet Content."
D. destroy the wires connecting to the Internet
-not entirely reasonable to American minds, but practiced in other cultures.
-physical layer
E. Timofeeva, Yulia. Censorship in Cyberspace : New Regulatory Strategies in the Digital Age on the Example of Freedom of Expression.
F. Does the government punish the viewer or creator?
G. 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act
- McCabe. "Users' Perceptions of Internet Regulation - An Exploratory Study."
III. Would regulation work?
A. “That it is hard to censor the internet does not mean we should not seek to do so” (Butt)
B. “Even allowing for the extreme problems surrounding freedom of speech, internet censorship would be more or less impossible. Governments can attempt to regulate what is produced in their own country but it would be impossible to regulate material from abroad.” (Butt)
C. Butt, Matt. "Internet Censorship:Pros and Cons."
IV. If not the government, who?
A. Why not government?
- Landier, Michael . "Internet Censorship is Absurd and Unconstitutional."
-phone company analogy
B. Individual web sites and groups
- Chua, Cecil Eng Huang. "Why Do Virtual Communities Regulate Speech?."
C. Companies
D. Search Engines
E. Internet providers
- “Internet Service Providers are certainly the wrong people to decide what can and can not be placed on the internet.” (Butt)
F. Dann, Gary Elijah, and Neil Haddow. "Just Doing Business or Doing Just Business: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and the Business of Censoring China’s Internet ."
V. Conclusion
A. People have many different opinions on why or why not the Internet should be regulated. However, from a purely practical standpoint, there is no institution that can properly regulate the internet. This is a job for the “every day Joe”—to regulate his own internet.

Re-thinking My Issues Paper Topic

2009-11-06T00:47:00.002-07:00

Upon writing an outline for my previously chosen topic, I found I was writing more of a research paper rather than an argument based on research. This being said, I have decided to take a new route and when I have the sources and outline figured out, I will post it on this blog.

Source Map

2009-11-05T23:35:00.003-07:00

Thesis: High School students can become successful writers with the use of new media.

Source Map:

1. Counterpoint: Many people look back at their English classes from high school with fear and dislike, because of the way teachers asked them to write about topics they weren't interested in and write in a way that was difficult for them.

*"Ask an English teacher, and they’ll tell you good writing is grammatically correct. They’ll tell you it makes a point and supports it with evidence. Maybe, if they’re really honest, they’ll admit it has a scholarly tone — prose that sounds like Jane Austen earns an A, while a paper that could’ve been written by Willie Nelson scores a B (or worse)." (copyblogger.com)

*Effects texting has on grammar. (netlingo)

A. Point: While writing academically does have benefits, more and more teachers are incorporating new media to help their students enjoy the writing process. This is allowing students to write about what they want to write about, but still go through the growth and learning process of writing.

*Alvermann

*"Public schools typically place heavy restrictions on the use of the Internet. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube are often blocked in libraries and computer

labs. The result is a failure to build a bridge between the technological world Millennials live in and the classrooms we expect them to learn in. Such restrictions are almost always justified by claiming that they are intended to protect students. Such protection, however well-intentioned, actually fails to prepare young people by not providing the adult supervision and guidance that many of them would benefit from during their online encounters. If there is a crisis in today's schools, it probably has more to do with students' perceptions that school is boring and largely irrelevant to preparation for life outside school." (Considine, 473)

2. Counterpoint: Students spend too much of their time with social networking and not enough time focusing on their studies.

*Study showing the time spent teenagers are using some form of new media. (Bower)

*Study showing the time spent on the internet. (DiMaggio)

*"There are changes in how parents nag. In what they nag about. In frequency. Parents know more about flubbed tests and skipped homework because of online grading systems. They know more about social lives because of Facebook and MySpace pages.

"The fact that you have more nagging options is what's good about it--The plethora of nagging options," says Martha McGrath." (St. George, 1)

"Reginald Black, 46, a Woodbridge father of three sons, checks online grade reports every morning during this school year. "That's the first thing I do when I turn he computer on," he says. "Some days it can make you feel good. Some days it can wreck your whole day." (St. George, 2)

A. Point: The internet, specifically social networking, can improve students ability to express themselves through writing.

*"Give a middle school child from a low-income house-hold a home computer with free Internet access and watch that child become a better reader. That's the conclusion of a new study that highlights potential academic consequences ofthe so-called digital divide separating poor kids from their better-off peers.

A team led by psychologist Linda A. Jackson of Michigan State University in East Lansing gave computers, Internet access, and in-home technical support to 140 children. The mostly 12-to-14-year-old, African-American boys and girls lived in single-parent families with incomes no higher than $15,000 a year. The

researchers recorded each child's Internet use from December 2000 through June 2002.

Before entering the study, these children generally did poorly in school and on academic-achievement tests. However, overall grades and reading achievement scores-but not math-achievement scores-began to climb after 6 months of home Internet use. These measures had ascended farther by the end ofthe study,

especially among the kids who spent the most time online." (Bower, 377)

3. Counterpoint: The ability to access so much on the internet allows teenagers to plagiarize and cheat their way through school.

*"The Internet is a vast, rapidly growing network of over a billion electronic pages that are fully accessible to our students. It is an incredible resource for young, bright minds. However, not all aspects of this resource are positive. One of the primary concerns facing teachers is that millions of computer-savvy students find it easy to use this massive library of information to plagiarize material, to use someone else's intellectual property as their own without citations or credit. High school students need to understand the ethics of paper writing.

At our last count, there were about 200 "cheat sites" with names like School Sucks and Evil House of Cheat. Each month 2.6 million students access these sites. These 200 sites list tens of thousands of free and purchased papers that students with computers hooked to the Internet can download in seconds, reformat, then turn in as their own work." (Owen, 1)

*Testimonials from current high school students.

A. Point: Students will find ways to cheat regardless and the use of new media allows children the opportunity to learn things they normally wouldn't have the chance to learn.

*"Even as globalization has fed worries about whether U.S. students can keep up with the rest of the world, it also has spawned classroom connections across oceans. Teachers, driven by a desire to help students navigate a world made smaller by e-mail, wikis and teleconferences, say lessons once pulled mainly from textbooks can come to life through real-world interactions." (Glod, 1)

*Testimonials of students learning through new media and connecting with students worldwide. (Glod)

Conclusion: Even with the added dilemmas new media brings to a students education, with the added support from parents and teachers new media can and is making American students better writers.

Source Map

2009-11-05T21:50:00.002-07:00

I had no idea how to format this outline on the blog! :( Sorry for how jumbled it is!

Outline: Dangers of Internet-based Health Searches
I. Introduction:
A. When, how it started
1. rise of new media and the “internet age”
-“The World Wide Web was developed in 1989 by English computer scientist Timothy Berners-Lee for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).” (Ament, Phil)
-“According to the Pew Research Center (2001), approximately 104 million American adults have access to the Internet.” (Eastin, Matthew S)
B. Along with advancements came consequences.
1. Increased availability of various forms of media (soundbites, videos, visuals), but also increased circulation of pornography
2. Expansion of communications, but also opened new avenues for the exchange of information between criminals that aren’t as noticeable or easily tracked
3. Much like these, the beginnings of online health information provided significant benefits, but has also proven to account for many overlooked consequences.
C. New demand for health information on the internet—stats
1. High cost and low availability of professional health care information
-“One of the primary uses of the Internet by consumers is to obtain information about health and health care.” (Bundorf, M) This is driven by the high cost and overall low availability of health care.
2. Seven percent of health seekers, or about 8 million American adults, searched for information on at least one health topic on a typical day in August 2006. This places health searches at about the same level of popularity on a typical day as paying bills online, reading blogs, or using the internet to look up a phone number or address. (Fox, Susannah)
3.
D. The use of internet-based medical information and services has attributed to a rise in the misinformation of consumers, altered the patient-physician relationship, and negatively impacted clinical business due to its ease of accessibility and common lack of credibility.
I. Misinformation of Consumers
A. Greatest problems with online health information—inaccuracy
1. Disparity between clinical and online information
-“Research indicates that medical professionals do not author an extensive amount of health information available on the Internet. This creates a possibility for false information, thereby potentially leading ill people away from proper care.” (Eastin, Matthew S)
-“the Internet's free and unregulated flow of information and information providers creates many possible hazards to those who seek and trust online information. In many instances those accessing information are unaware of: (1) who authored the material, (2) when the information was last updated, and (3)whether the information is accurate.” (Eastin, Matthew S)
-In 2006, about 113 million American adults used the Internet to find health information (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2006). More than any other source, the Internet provides instant access to tremendous amounts of health-related information that may affect "personal perceptions of health and illness, patients’ compliance to treatment protocols and ultimately, overall health" (Taha, Jessica, and Joseph Sharit)
-“There is an increasing concern, for instance, that some health information disseminated via the internet is “inaccurate, erroneous, misleading, or fraudulent and actually poses a threat to public health in general” (Weaver, James B)
-Three-quarters of health seekers do not consistently check the source and date of the health information they find online. Just 15% of health seekers say they “always” check the source and date of the health information they find online, while another 10% say they do so “most of the time.” Fully three-quarters of health seekers say they check the source and date “only sometimes,” “hardly ever,” or “never,” which translates to about 85 million Americans gathering health advice online without consistently examining the quality indicators of the information they find. (Fox, Susannah)

B. Conflicting Sources à find specific examples
C. Leads to:
1. Mistreatment of illness or ailment
2. Wasted money on products or medicines that won’t help, and sometimes will make consumer’s problem worse
3. Hesitancy to accept a physician’s diagnosis and method of treatment.
-“emerging evidence that a significant proportion of internet health information consumers are self-diagnosing health conditions, seeking information about alternative treatments or medicine, and engaging healthcare strategies inconsistent with medical recommendations.” (Weaver, James B)

II. Patient/Physician Relationship
A. Misinformation leads to greater gap between patient and health professionals
1. Mistrust
-“Methods: An observational study was carried out of office visits by 732 patients of 45 physicians (16 family physicians, 18 general internists and 11 cardiologists), within two managed care settings. Participants were consecutive, English-speaking patients, age 18 and older who had a significant health concern. Visit questionnaires were completed by 68% of patients known to be eligible. Post-visit measures included services requested (information, examination, prescription, test or referral); services provided; and requested or needed services not provided during the visit. Measures at 2-week follow-up included patient satisfaction, intended adherence to advice, interval contacts with the health system and symptom improvement.
-Results: After adjustment for patient and physician characteristics, patient trust in the physician was not associated with the likelihood that a service was requested or provided during the visit, with the exception that prescription of a new medication was more frequent among patients with higher trust. In contrast, patients with low trust prior to the visit consistently were more likely to report that a needed or requested service was not provided (P < 0.001 for all services).
-Requests for services (and their fulfilment or lack of fulfilment) occur in the context of the doctor–patient relationship and, in turn, play an important role in defining the quality of the relationship. From the patient’s view, whether or not they receive the services they request or feel they need often defines the success of the visit.” (Thom, DH)
-low trust might prompt patients to make requests because they do not trust the doctor to provide what they need, while patients with high levels of trust might feel more comfortable asking for what they want. (Thom, DH)
2. Failure to Comply with Treatment (12,
-Patients with a low level of trust were less satisfied with their care (Thom, DH)
3. Disadvantages the patientà easier to take advantage of (4)
a. Of the consumers surveyed:
25% say they felt overwhelmed by the amount of information they found online.
22% say they felt frustrated by a lack of information or an inability to find what they were looking for online.
18% say they felt confused by the information they found online.
10% say they felt frightened by the serious or graphic nature of the information they found online. (Fox, Susannah)
b. This confusion, frustration, and fear can increase a patients ignorance of their own condition, heightening the doctor’s ability to take advantage of just how much they don’t know. This may lead to spending large amounts of money on harmless but unnecessary treatments or multiple, unneeded doctor’s visits because questions weren’t asked or answered the first time around.
B. Because patients mistrust professional help...
1. -“Consumers may forego contacts with physicians in response to the availability of information from alternative sources depending on the caule they place on these alternative sources. (Bundorf, M)
2. Because there is a significant asymmetry in the knowledge-base of patients and physicians, patients often look for information “…to evaluate the quality of either the information or the services they receiver from a physician…” (Bundorf, M) The problem with this is that the online sources they consult often contain flawed instruction, which creates distrust between patient and health professional.
C.
III. Negative Impacts to Clinical Business
A. Because information is provided without charge on the internet, those who seek it most (those with low income and poor health) (9), who also happen to be those who provide clinical businesses with the most income, will go to the internet rather than a professional source.
1. -“the challenges users face in acquiring and using information are a defining feature of health care markets.”
2. -“…the distribution of free health information increased demand for self-care resources and reduced the demand for information from health professionals.”
3. - “…the availability of health information on the Internet may have major implications for consumer behavior and market efficiency.”
4. -“…consistent with the underlying economic theory of demand for information, those who potentially benefit the most from health information and those who face higher costs of obtaining information from other sources are more likely to turn to the Internet as a source of health information.”
5. - “…traditionally physicians and health care professionals have been the primary source for consumers. Physicians have superior information about the production of health due to both their extensive training and their experience in treating patients. Because health production is highly customized based on the characteristics of individual patients, both sources of information create a gap between physicians and patients in their ability to obtain, understand, and make recommendations based on heath information. This asymmetry in information between physicians and consumers creates a market for health information from physicians.” (Bundorf, M)à online health information takes this market away! They can no longer market the skills and information they have obtained because of its costless availability online.
B. The Former two arguments contribute to this loss of business
1. Misinformation – more likely to drive patients away from clinical visits because the information they find from online sources differs from what they hear from a health professional (4)
-consumers fall into a false sense of security, thinking that they don’t need clinical advice and that the Internet can give them everything they need.
2. Patient/Physician Relationships
-mistrust of physicians will discourage doctor’s visits
-also discourage adherence to a doctor’s counsel, which means that a patient will be less likely to pay the health provider for the prescribed treatment (4)
IV. Conclusion
A. The use of online medical information needs to be heavily discouraged and perhaps even prohibited.
1. Internet-based health information may have its uses, and is not always detrimental to the consumer, but its negative consequences are too great
2. Misdiagnosis due to misinformation
3. Takes away business from the professionals, who ironically have the most valuable knowledge

Thesis and Source Map

2009-11-05T21:49:00.003-07:00

Part I:
Thesis: In today's world, file sharing and the digital downloading of music via the Internet is rapidly growing and becoming more widely accepted. According to some, this practice weakens the record industries and breaks copyright laws because these downloads are free and able to be shared among different Internet users. However, file sharing should be acceptable because of its undeniable popularity and extreme convenience.

Part II:
Source Map:

I. Background Information on File Sharing and Record Industries
A) how file sharing networks operate and how they are organized (Ripeanu, Matei)
B) history of record industries, their properties, goals, laws, etc (Hurst, Walter E.)
C) record industries and their struggles during lawsuits (Cooper, Charles)

II. Background Information on Copyright Laws
A) copyright infringement and file sharing (Sharma, Amol)
B) actual judicial reference on the penalties of copyright inringement (United States.Congress)

III. File Sharing Users' Views
A) justifications of participating in downloading free music (MarkJ)
B) how file sharing users' behavior impacts CD sales (Grossman, Lev)
C) how file sharing users affect record companies (news.bbc.co.uk)

IV. Issue of File Sharing in Conjunction with CD Sales
A) how record companies can fight against rampant online downloading (Greenblatt, Alan)
B) ratio of people who download free music vs. those who buy CDs (Oberholzer, Felix)
1. Give reference to statistics behind this issue

V. Illegality of Certain File Sharing and Online Piracy
A) lagging efforts to stop popular online piracy (Alan, Smith D.)
B) government intervention to help stop online piracy (Sandoval, Greg)

VII. Legal File Sharing
A) how file sharing networks can refrain from copyright infringement (Von Lohmann, Fred)
1. purchasing music via the Internet (i.e: iTunes)

VIII. Conclusion
A) future of the record industry (Greenblatt, Alan)
B) population of those who participate in file sharing-growing or decreasing?
C) whether or not the government can stop illegal file sharing
D) whether or not to allow for downloading free music or not

Issues Paper

2009-11-05T20:14:00.005-07:00

Stem cell research, both adult and embryonic, has more potential benefits outweighing the controversies it faces.

new media:
Provides easy ways to explore and learn about the world of science.
-Wikipedia: the idea in general
Learning basic facts vs. learning in depth.
-"Development of Online... Example From China"
-comparison[scrip]
stem cells:
The basic facts.
-Stem Cells [Langwith]
-"Stem Cell Basics"
-What stem cells are
-Types of stem cells
-The process
The risks, the problems.
The controversy.
-"The Great Debate.."
-The Human Embyonic Stem Cell Debate...
-embyonic stem cells
-the question of when human life begins
How the controversies are not all that controversial when you look at it in perspective.
new media:
Effectiveness in learning, good or bad?
-"Teaching and Learning Resources From Federal Agencies"
-How new media is helpful to learning the basics, which is preparation for understanding the concept fully and in-depth.
-Preparation to "join the conversation"
stem cells:
Application
-Stem Cells [Wobus]

Issue Paper - Texting

2009-11-05T18:14:00.004-07:00

Thesis: Texting has both positive and negatives effects on the individual, their relationships, and society as a whole; therefore it must be carefully balanced to ensure quality of being.

Outline:

1. Intro: Texting has both positive and negative effects on the individual, their relationships, and society.

2. The individual

a. Positive – Hand-eye coordination, ability to be brief and efficient in communication, increases self confidence

i. Generation Text: Teens' IM Lingo Evolving into a Hybrid Language "They are altering language to suit the technology," said David Silver, a University of Washington professor of communication who studies new media. Teens have also incorporated IM the same as teens have always used slang, as a way to separate themselves as a group, he said."

ii. Cell Phone Use in Social Settings: Preliminary Results from a Study in the United States and France "mobile phones allow individuals to maintain connectedness and expand the scope of their activities beyond what was achievable without the technology."

iii. Generation Text: Teens' IM Lingo Evolving into a Hybrid Language "Boys find they can chat with girls without blushing"

b. Negative – more difficult ability to spell, decreased linguistic ability, decreased ability to talk with someone face to face, wasting time, addiction to phone, decreases self confidence

i. Communication Technology and their Influence on Language: Reshuffling Tenses in Croatian SMS Text Messaging "One of the considerations one has to keep in mind constantly when dealing with SMS text messages are the limitations that this communication technology imposes on linguistic and communicative possibilities."

3. Relationships

a. Positive – Convenient! Easy access to information, getting help if needed, just talking to someone, quick and efficient way to communicate, keep in contact with family and friends, addressing a tough situation in an informal method,

i. Text Appeal: The Psychology of SMS Texting and its IMplications for the Design of the Mobile Phone Interfaces "For some, this provides greater freedom of self-expression, and leads to online relationships that are stronger and more enduring than those in the real world (Parks and Floyd, 1996)."

ii. Generation Text: Teens' IM Lingo Evolving into a Hybrid Language "She sends instant messages every day and also checks them on her cell phone. She chats with friends from summer camp who live in other cities and even taught her 70-year-old grandmother in Olympia, Wash., how to IM. Often she talks with kids from school that she doesn't see in class, friends of friends she wouldn't call on the phone."

b. Negative – Disapproval of texting from elderly people, rude to text if you’re with other people, awkward in person if only source of communication is through text, unable to distinguish real emotion, bullying, not getting to know the real person, disconnection between teens and adults.

i. Generation Text: Teens' IM Lingo Evolving into a Hybrid Language "Also, at some point IM can become a social crutch. "Teens need to learn to relate one-on-one while speaking in full sentences in English," Kastner said. "Looking someone in the eye while talking about feelings is a necessary skill. IM can produce a false intimacy that teens don't know how to re-create in real life."

ii. Generation Text: Teens' IM Lingo Evolving into a Hybrid Language "For teens, instant messaging is a real-time way to chat with several friends via the computer (or mobile phone, in some cases) in a shorthand, abbreviated language that puzzles most adults.

4. Society

a. Positive – increased marketing (this could also be a negative), easy way to communicate to a lot of people in a short amount of time, new method of communication known to everyone

i. Article: Use of SMS Text Messaging to Improve Outpatient Attendance "Of the 2276 patients with a sched- uled outpatient appointment in August 2004, 1482 (65.1%) gave a mobile tele- phone contact number; of these, 1135 attended the appointment (FTA rate, 23.4%)."

ii. Generation Txt? The Sociolinguistics of Young People's Text-Messaging "While adult exaggerations about the significance of technology in the lives of young people may be questionable, the fact remains that, in many countries, the mobile phone is an altogether far more popular, pervasive communication technology than in others (Katz & Aakhus, 2002a)."

b. Negative – increased marketing, increased automobile accidents, unable to pay attention to real live events including paying attention to one person at a time, focusing on school, church, work, etc.

i. Driving While Distracted "A 2007 Harris Interactive poll found that 91 percent of Americans think that driving while texting is as dangerous as drunk driving, and 89 percent of Americans support prohibitions on driving while texting."

ii. Students Crave a Break on Cellphone Ban "At Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, employees confiscate eight to 10 cellphones a week, said Jim Fernandez, the principal. Serious transgressions, such as using cellphones to cheat during tests or forwarding sexually explicit photos, have not been reported.

5. Conclusion: Readers can now make their own educated opinion about what they think of texting.

Issues Paper

2009-11-05T16:58:00.002-07:00

Ok just a heads up: I can't for the life of me ever post anything on this blog that is formatted correctly. For some reason it always changes and my blog post looks awful. So when you're reading this one, take note that Roman numeral III (my rebuttal) is actually the letter E and roman numeral 6 is just I again. And yet another I where it is supposed to be II..... so my apologies and good luck reading this! :)

Thesis: Although there are many resources for getting in better shape offered by new media, our world (particularly America) is still facing an obesity epidemic. However, new media is sucking some of the fat out of the world-wide weight issue. Here’s how.

Obesity Statistics

http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html

Include tables and charts

What New Media can do to help those numbers

Article “Branding Campaign Exceeds Initial Goals For New Hampshire Fitness Site”. Gym got 1,600 people to sign up even before it opened just by using TV and radio ads.
Website changingshape.com-- A website that creates a personal trainer for its users. Research has showed that online trainers can be just as effective as actual trainers.
Website newmediafitness.com-- Another website that creates workout plans for its users. This also implements goals and healthy eating habits.
Website http://www.flat-stomach-exercises.com/love-handles.html. This website, like the name suggests, offers work outs for flatter stomachs. This is not the only one of its kind.
Rebuttal
Website http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html. This website offers great statistics concerning TV (how much time Americans spend watching it, etc.). I will use it to actually say that new media is a bad influence as far as physical fitness, but then back it up with the following evidence.

IV. What new media has done to help people get in better shape

Article “Using Media Messaging to Promote Healthful Eating and Physical Activity among Urban Youth.” Explains the project conducted in three major US cities called “8 Habits of Healthy Kids” in which a certain number of children ages 9-12 were surveyed as to what kinds of things were available to them to keep them healthy. They were also taught how to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Article “Evaluation Of The National 'Push Play' Campaign In New Zealand--Creating Population Awareness Of Physical Activity.” A campaign was done in New Zealand to get people moving. There are charts and tables in this article that will be helpful in illustrating how new media helped New Zealanders adopt healthier lifestyles.
Article “Nationwide Fitness Developed Together With Olympic Games--Inspirations From The Experiences Of "Go Olympic Games!" On Hunan Satellite TV” During the Olympic games in China there was a push to get the citizens involved in the games. This article not only got the Chinese involved in their games, but it helped fitness nationwide as well.

What can be done about this problem

The only source that can actually fix the problem of obesity is going to be the individual themselves. This means that people need to decide on their own that they are going to live a healthier life and be more active. New media can offer any solution in the world, but whether or not the person uses that as a source is up to them.

Conclusion

A. My advice is to stop reading this (but remember the things discussed and proven!) and go out and exercise! But it doesn't stop there-- eat healthy foods and spend little to no time in front of the TV or at the computer.

Issues Paper

2009-11-04T22:01:00.002-07:00

Thesis: On balance, Social Networking Websites have a positive influence on our society today. This paper will list and analyze the arguments made for, and against theses sites.

Defenition:

• We define social network sites as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site. (Boyd, 2007)

• A "social network site" is a category of websites with profiles, semi-persistent public commentary on the profile, and a traversable publicly articulated social network displayed in relation to the profile. (Apophenia, 2006)

Argument for SNS :

• Social networks and the need to communicate are universal human
conditions. A general assumption is that communication technologies help to
increase and strengthen social ties. The Internet provides many social
networking opportunities. (Coyle, 2008)

• Outside the UK, organsations are actively leveraging the power of social networks to find new business opportunities, new groups of like-minded individuals and companies, and new sources of industry-specific wisdom, advice and expertise. Many companies are also investigating social networking sites’ potential to recruit new employees, including the UK Secret Intelligence Service. (Wilson, 2009)

• The friends that you can make are just one of the many benefits to social networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although you are in the United States, you could develop an online friendship with someone in Denmark. Not only will you make new friends, but you just might learn a thing or two about new cultures or new languages and learning is always a good thing. (Brown, 2009)

Arguments against SNS:

• One of the biggest changes in the report was the increase in harassment online from off line acquaintances. Harassment could take several forms, from sending threatening or sexually explicit emails to the dissemination of erroneous information on websites such as MySpace. This supports the idea that cyber bullying is playing a larger role in the youth culture. (Gerber, 2007)

• One of the more interesting statistics taken from the 2007 Internet safety statistics for children report was the very slight increase (1 percent) in the number of online solicitations leading to meetings in person with children. One would expect due to media reports that online predators were making more headway than cyber bullies were in online harassment. (Gerber 2007)

• BUT there is another side of the coin that some people unfortunately tend to forget. That these sites are in the Internet and everything one posts on these sites can be viewed by anybody, especially one's employer, past, current or future. Some (or a lot) of employers have taken to “googling” the names of their employees or prospective employees to find out if there’s anything they need to know about their current, past or prospective employees. And there have been cases of employees getting fired because of what they put on these sites. There have also been cases when the applicant was not accepted. All because these employers saw some things in the employee’s / applicant’s social networking site that they did not like. It is on these cases when we can honestly say that the social networking sites actually became a bane for these (poor?) employees. (10 Ways, 2009)

• 28% of online teens say they use code words on a daily basis to hide online conversations from their parents (Teen Research Unlimited, "Topline Findings from Omnibuzz Research." October 2005.)

More than one fourth (27%) of teens report that they have talked online about sex with someone they have never met in person (Teen Research Unlimited, "Topline Findings from Omnibuzz Research." October 2005). (Children Online, 2009)

Wrap Up:

• One way to prevent problems in social networking is simply not to have your own page. If you do have one, take steps to ensure that your information remains private. Boyadjian uses privacy settings so her students can't see her Facebook profile. "It's not that I have anything to hide," she says, but that "it's unprofessional to have a socialnetworking relationship with my students in the same place that I communicate with my peers." (Teacher Federation, 2008)

Discoveries in Research

2009-11-02T13:08:00.003-07:00

Part 1. I was surprised to find that the US has more than 2 trillion dollars of debt. I was also surprised that Japan holds most of the loans made to the US.

Part 2. The three main arguments of my topic have to do with the procedure part of the stasis. First the sources argue that the United States will reach a threshold value of debt before we begin to fill the deficit. Secondly, they argue that the government needs to stop unnecessary spending. Thirdly they blame the debt on Americans lack of education.

Part 3. Division of Whole into Parts- I would use this in my paper because government is such a broad topic that if I didn't divide it into parts organizationally it would be messy.

Division of Essence and Accidents- I would incorporate this into my paper by focusing on the main and large arguments for my topic. I wouldn't waste my time addressing the small and minor things adding to our nations debt.

Either-Or Contradictions- I would use this contradiction to express that we can either be satisfied with the budget deficit or we can change it. I would use it as a way to develop my main argument.

Witness and Testimonial- I am going to use quotations and testimonial stories to help add strength to my points. A point made by a well respected, educated professional is more credible than the same argument drafted by me.

Discovery Research

2009-10-30T16:40:00.003-06:00

Part 1: Something in my research that surprised me or was a "discovery" for me is that, about cyber bullying, girls are mostly affected by it, kids starting from sixth and grade up have been victims of cyber bullying, or they were the bully.

Part 2: New media gives the chance for anyone to get on the internet and harass someone through the internet. They can do it through major social websites, or chat rooms. Anyone can become a victim of cyber bullying. It may not seem like a big deal to people, but when you see on the news that someone commits suicide, because of cyber bullying it becomes an issue. Also want to write about how it usually effects people in all ages, but mostly focus on the affects it has on teens and teenagers.

Part three:
Cause/effect: Harassment, humiliation, embarrassment causes teens and teenagers to want to remove themselves from that place or situation. It will make someone not enjoy life, and possibly kill themselves.
Statistics: Teens and teenagers are more likely to become victims of cyber bullying and new media is what influences it.
Authority: I want to find something from the psychology department, that explains how bullies get to the person in psychological way.
Testimonial: I have found that parents really want to do something about this, because it starts off as a small problem and if not stopped can lead to something terrible.

So far..

2009-10-30T07:55:00.001-06:00

Part one: On e of the things that surprised me on my research so far is that people that watch less T.V. are more likely to read a book than those that watch more T.V. Another thing that surprised me was that people who have books displayed or around are more likely than those that don’t to read.
Part two: New media gives students tools for them to learn, and they develop other skills that they might not have developed. New media on the other hand, is has created for more leisure activities. Now as students enter their teenager years, they are more likely to substantially reduce reading activities and spend their time on blogs, networking, and playing video games.
Part three:
Cause/effect: Because students are reading less, this is going to impact many sectors of life. Reading scores will decrease and so will literacy.
Statistics: Younger students are more likely to read than teenagers and new media is a big portion of that gap.
Authority: I want to find something for the department of Education that states the importance of reading and what difference it can and will make in the future.
Testimonial: I have been reading from and CQ Research article that teachers need new media because that is what the modern world is dependent on and it is a form of literacy.

What I've found

2009-10-30T06:36:00.001-06:00

I was surprised to learn about the DADT (Dont ask, don't tell) policy regarding gays in the military, and how an investigation can occur just based on a suspicion that someone is gay.

Some major perspectives: Gays should be allowed in the military. Gays should not be allowed to serve in the Military. New media includes useful tools for expressing opinions about gays in the military. New media is not helpful for activism regarding gay rights. i think I might make an argument about how new media includes useful tools that show how gays should be allowed to serve in the military.

Opposing Viewpoints--- In order to really understand how I feel about this topic, I will research the opposing viewpoints by dividing this whole big complex issue into parts and developing my thoughts about them.

Testimonial--- I think that with my topic, I will be able to look at blogs and facebook groups about gays in the military and I plan to quote these types of sources directly to add a personal touch to my paper.

Authority--- I expect to find an official governmental statement about this policy that I can refer to in my paper and analyze on my own without reading other places about people's reactions to it.

Cause and Effect--- as I discuss a history of the development of civil engagement online, I can share information about what technological developments caused other means of expressing opinion online to arise.

Discoveries

2009-10-30T00:20:00.003-06:00

Part One: I am doing my research on the effects new media has on jr. high/high school students. I was surprised to find many articles on cyber bullying. There were several articles with stories about young teens committing suicide after being made fun of through the internet and texting. Sad world.

Part two: 1. Texting between parents and children strengthens relationships and diminishes parents "nagging." 2. New Media allows bullies to say harsh things without confrontation and influences students for the worse. 3. Parents are better able to help their children with school, because of online grades and email communication with their teachers. 4. New Media allows students to connect all over the world and learn more about different cultures.. From the research I've done thus far there is a lot of positive and negative effects of new media on young teenagers, but with strong family relationships and monitoring it can improve their life in aspects of writing, socializing, learning, and creating.

Part three: 1. Antecedent and consequence: One consequence of the rise of social networking is cyber bullying, where students say harsh things via the internet that they would not say face to face. 2. Division of whole into parts: New Media effects teenagers study habits, social skills and relationships, and their perception of the world. 3. Testimonials: A teenage boy committed suicide after long term bullying and rumors of his sexuality being passed through the internet. 4. Division into essence and accidents: New Media is simply the effect of increasing technology, specifically in communication, and the good/bad influence it has on teenagers is simply an unplanned consequence.

Online Medical Services

2009-10-30T00:16:00.003-06:00

Part 1. What is something in your research that has surprised you/was a “discovery” for you?
Part 2. What are 3 or 4 of the major perspectives on your topic/what main arguments are being made? What argument do you think that you might make about this topic?
Part 3. Consult with my presentation on the topics of invention (click on those words–it’s a link even though it’s hard to tell) and/or Writing and Rhetoric Chapter 6 (page 111-114). Choose 4 of the topics of invention and write 1-2 sentences for each on how you might use this topic of invention in your paper, making specific reference to your issue.

In researching background for my paper, I discovered a new term: e-patients. It is used in reference to those individuals who use online medical information for their health care needs.

Some people question the credibility of online medical information. They argue that clinical assistance is the more trustworthy source. Others express fears that a transfer to online health care will harm health care providers. Still others propose that online health care is the future of medical assistance.

Comparison by difference: I could use this topic of invention to contrast the pros and cons of online versus clinical health care information. I would then prove which is more desirable.

Division of Whole into Parts: I could use this topic of invention to explore the many ways that online medical information is used by e-patients and formulate an argument to prove its usefulness in today's society.

Authority: I could use this topic of invention to prove whether or not online medical information is credible by citing the opinions and statements of authority figures and trusted sources.

Testimonials: I could use this topic to prove whether or not online medical information is credible by relating people's first-hand experiences with it. I would need multiple stories and quotes that describe the individuals' experiences with online health care services.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-30T00:06:00.002-06:00

1. Something that has surprised me or been new to me is that some people can go extremely overboard in the priority of using their cell phone. One article I read talked about how one lady was watching a broadway music concert, and made such a huge fuss that she caused the show to stop until she was done with her call. How absolutely ridiculous and unethical!!! What is this world coming to with this new media??? On the flip side, it has been extremely beneficial to the safety of society. In the same article, it said around 100,000 calls are made daily from the cell phone to 911 in attempts to save people's lives. New media definitely has its pros and cons.

2. My topic in new media I am writing about is texting. I am going to write about how texting has influenced individuals to speak and act, how texting has effected communication between groups of people, and how texting has changed society. The arguments that are being made include that texting has changed the way individuals speak and act, and not necessarily for the better. Texting has effected communication by short, concise, vague, and incomplete. Texting has also changed society by the way people view themselves and how they act as a community and society. Some of the arguments that I am going to make is the pros versus the cons of texting and how to find a good balance between each.

3. These are the topics of invention I will use and specific examples of how that will be executed:

A. Comparison By Difference: I will use this invention by showing the pros of texting (convenient, fast) and the cons of texting (rude, incomplete).

B. Division of Whole into Parts: I will show how texting has influenced individuals to speak and act differently, has effected communication between groups of people, and has changed the way society looks at themselves and each other.

C. Contradictions: Is texting good or bad? Is it both? Is it neither? There are both pros and cons to texting. I will write about how these contradictions can be balanced for a healthy individual, relationships, and society.

D. Testimonial: CONFESSION: I have been addicted to texting at a couple points in my life (lol jk - there's my evidence). I will use my own experiences from my hard-knocks way of life to show how texting has effected me personally, my relationship with my family and friends, and how it's changed my family as a whole, my school environment and more.

I think texting has a huge impact on the individual, relationships and society. In all honestly, I am kind of looking forward to doing the research and writing about this topic. I think it is really interesting, especially since it is a big part of my life.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-29T23:28:00.000-06:00

I don't know if this is the type of 'surprise' the prompt is looking for, but I didn't know how easy it was to find scholarly articles on a subject. Being at BYU obviously helps, but even so, would have been really nice for other classes.

My topic is on the effect of internet use on social skills. One perspective is that over-use of the internet can lead to an addiction which leads to bad social skills, depression, and anxiety. Another keeps the claim that these things are connected, but argues that the bad social skills, depression, and anxiety lead to over-use of and addiction to the internet. Basically saying that people go to the internet as a crutch. A third perspective simply says that there is no causal link between the two at all. "Correlation does not mean causation" theory. I think I most agree with the first one and will most likely be the argument that I try to add to.

Division of whole into parts - I could explain what Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is and divide it into the symptoms associated and how each are influenced/caused by over-use of the internet

Antecedent and Consequence - "One consequence of the increased use of the internet is a increased occurrence of depression and lack of social skills among college aged people." Something like that.

Testimonial - I have a blog article written by a woman who claims that the internet has affected her social skills in a bad way. I could use that as an introduction.

Statistics - I have data showing the correlation of depression among young people to the amount of internet use. Mostly among college aged students.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-29T23:15:00.003-06:00

Part 1: In my research, something that was a discovery for me was that those who download free music off of the internet (ex: Limewire) are actually performing an illegal activity by breaking the copyright laws and all that good stuff. It's interesting because I'm sure a lot of us are doing just that. Why buy songs on iTunes when you can get free songs via file sharing? What also is interesting is that so many people do it that the government cannot successfully crack down on this issue.

Part 2: The main arguments on this issue of downloading music and video on the internet (without paying) consist of: 1) So many people are doing it that it should be accepted and even encouraged. 2) It breaks copyright laws and weakens the recording industry and cd/movie sales. 3) Certain file sharing websites should be banned because they are giving away music for free as well as negatively affecting the sales of cd's. I think I may side with the argument that file sharing should be allowed because of the sheer amount of people participating in it.

Part 3:
1) Comparison by Similarities-I can use this topic of invention in my paper by comparing different file sharing websites and discover how they are similar in their purposes.
2) Division of Whole into Parts-This can be applied to my paper because I can divide different arguments of the issue of downloading music into more specific, focused parts.
3) Definition by Class/Category-This can definitely be used in my paper. Some may define file sharing as a convenient way to get the music they love, but others may define it as illegal or unconstitutional.
4) The Witness Stand Testimonial-I can attribute this topic of invention to my paper by bringing up certain examples of those who are constantly participating in file sharing.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-29T22:41:00.002-06:00

Part 1:
I hadn't realized the media censorship was an issue currently happening in the world. We have talked about the theory in my comms class, but I kind of thought it was still really new as far as legislation. I probably should have guessed this, but in China, as well as in other parts of the world, there is already really strict regulations on the internet. This will be an interesting view.

Part 2:
There are really an almost infinite number of views taken on this subject because everyone thinks that it sould be regulated at a slightly different level. There are also different arguements on the way of enforcing censorship of internet--some believe it should be legislation, others believe it should be enforced by internet providers. There is also the issue of who decides the content that should be censored. I think I may need to narrow my topic in order to effectively take one side on the issue.

Part 3:
Precidents can be used in my arguement because right now we have a level of censorship that have been set as appropriate. There are arguements on both sides of this precident.
Statistics will be useful to examine the conent that people are viewing on the internet. This is also an issue about which the public has a view. There might be stats about the public opinion on this issue.
This is such a multi-sided issue that I will need to divide my issue no matter how I narrow it.
I can talk about problems and solutions or analyze just the problems or just the issues.
Antecedents and concequences are one of the main issues in my paper. There are many people worried about the effect that internet has on people.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-29T22:22:00.003-06:00

Through my research at the library, I was overwhelmed with out how much information there is on any one topic. I always thought the worst part of research papers was the research. However given the resources in the library, it was really fun jumping from one source to another, looking for good information to use.

For my research paper, some of my major points include:
1. Positive impacts on the film industry due to new media/People focus too much on the negativity from piracy
2. How Hollywood uses the internet for advertisement.
3. How movie reviews changed due to the internet.
4. How Hollywood should counter the piracy problem

Statistics: I could use statistics to compare movie attendance and sales revenue due to the new mdea.

Testimonial: People involved in the film industry possibly could leave insight on some success they've found in new media to help their movies succeed.

Precedents: The music industry had to deal with illegal downloads long before the same level of attention was given to movies. One could also make comparisons between the two situations.

Cause and Effects: Because of the scrutiny movies receive through hundreds of critics on new media and the piracy issue, Hollywood has to find new ways to draw audiences in.

2009-10-29T21:28:00.006-06:00

Part One: Something that I have found out through my research is that not all people thought switching education to the internet was a good idea. Some experts said that it was a bad idea and would never take off.They were wrong.

Part Two: i) The internet makes research easier
ii) Education is now available to more people
iii) The internet helps people communicate

I think that the internet has opened many doors in education. People can now communicate with others across the world to compare results from their research and debate topics or get a different opinion on topics. The internet has also made it possible for people to gain a higher education at a cheaper price.

Part Three: i) Division of whole into parts: I will look at how the internet has effected each level of education from elementary to graduate school. I will also look at how the internet has brought education to those who did not have access to it before.

ii) Testimonial: I will look at actual people who are first generation college graduates and see how the internet has effected their education.

iii) Authority: I will research what professors are saying about using the internet in education because they are the ones who are supposed to know the most about educating other people and hopefully they will know the best way to use the internet and all of its benefits.

iv) Statistics: I will attempt to show that there is an increase of the number college diplomas since the internet was added to education.

Research

2009-10-29T21:28:00.004-06:00

Part 1:

Something that surprised me: that people have actually done research on this subject. Video games are fairly new to the world and yet tests and social studies have been done.

Part 2:

Computer games are detrimental to a persons social health in that face to face interactions are cut off for long periods of time.

Computer games have positive effects and are just like the 'real world' in that the same rules of social activity are needed to be a functional persona who can make friends in 'social games.'

Social gaming, is a double edge sword.

I think I will take the 2nd or 3rd argument. Rather, it might have a more positive feel than a passive one.

Part 3:

1. Antecedence and consequence - People in this debate are arguing the effects of social gaming, and the only way to see the effects of social gaming are to see the consequences of playing a social computer game than living a social life.

2. Like the above, the cause and effect of video games.

3. Science lab - the use of studies on how people's social lives have actually been affected by the use of social video games.

4. Differences - how people who play social video games and people who life a social life differ in their interactions in a social event.

Research

2009-10-29T19:59:00.003-06:00

[Part One] What's surprised me while researching is how many reliable resources there are available through the internet.
[Part Two] Some believe that embryonic stem cell research is not okay because it is messing with a life, making it unethical. Others argue that it is not yet and does not ever reach the point of becoming a living being, making it an amazing opportunity in the world of science. There are others that believe that stem cell reseearch is only okay in the case of adult stem cells. I think i will be taking the first point of view for the most part.
[Part Three] Division of whole into parts: I could use this in helping me better understand my topic by understanding the issues surrounding it.
Cause and effect: With an issue like mine it is important to build up my argument, and having good "causes" will do that.
Antecedent and consequence: This goes along with the cause and effect. This will help make my argument more fullproof.
Statistics: Statistics could provide some strength to my argument. The statistics on stem cells and the uses they could provide.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-29T12:54:00.002-06:00

Part 1: One thing I have found during my research is that Country music is in the top three of music that is effecting children in a bad way. I was surprised because I never really thought it was bad, because most of it sounds good.

Part 2: Major Perspectives
1. Suggestive lyrics of popular music are harmful to children's development.
2. Much of the positive of pop music lyrics is often overshadowed by the perception of offensiveness.
3. Much of the pop music available to children is offensive, misogynistic, and vulgar.
I am taking the side that says that suggestive lyrics are harmful.

Part 3: Topics of Invention
1. Comparison by difference: I might be able to use comparison by difference by comparing music that has good lyrics and comparing it to the lyrics that are bad and influence children in a bad way.
2. Statistics: I could use lots of the statistics that have been found showing how bad lyrics are effecting youth and the things that they do.
3. Cause and effect: I can show the different examples of how bad lyrics are influencing children to do bad things, such as the two suicides that they connected back to some music that they were listening to.
4. Maxims: With the rise of bad lyrics and media in the world, there will be a rise in crime and such things.

Discoveries in Research

2009-10-28T16:46:00.003-06:00

1.It surprised me at how hard it was to find scholarly articles. I do realize that my topic of Social Networking Websites is newer so it would not have as much information on it.
2.Major arguments: 1. Social networking websites are bad for children. 2. Social networking websites are costing firms millions of dollars. 3. Social networking websites enable companies to expand. I think that I would like to focus on what the websites do to children, but I would also like to bring in how it helps companies expand.
3.Topics of Invention: 1. Definition by category: What I could do with this topic in my paper is break up the types of social networking websites into categories and then say how and why they are in these categories. I would also be able to say what purpose each category has. 2. Cause and effect: I can explain the cause and effect of social networking websites on children and how it is hurting them or as some would argue is helping them. Kids that use social networking websites are actually less social. 3. Authority: I could use articles of very qualified doctors and neuroscientists that say these social networking websites are bad for children. This would be a good authority because they are very professional sounding. 4. Statistics: I could use statistics when showing how companies benefit from social networking websites and how much money they are saving and making. On the other hand I can show with statistics how much money firms are loosing. Statistics make it seem much more real.

RA Publishing

2009-10-26T16:30:00.002-06:00

I sent my essay around my hall and told my hallmates to give it a look. My roommate said that it was a nice essay but it was boring. He said to him it was just another essay that he has read. And I will agree with him, it was just another essay. I think my strategy of telling people to read an essay they are not interested in does not work. So, I guess it was too boring in general.

RA Publishing

2009-10-26T14:48:00.002-06:00

I decided to share my analysis via Facebook. I didn't receive many comments back because I think the article was too long and not presented to the right audience. I also published my analysis on the Write New Media blog spot, it received more attention as it was presented to the correct audience. My analysis was a more mature topic and wouldn't appeal to a younger audience explaining the success of the article on Facebook, which is a younger audience. The few comments responses I had didn't talk about my analysis or the effectiveness of my paper, but rather the issue of the original author.

Rhetorical Publishing

2009-10-26T07:53:00.002-06:00

I decided to share it with my friends from out of town, and my family members. Most of my friends are girls, so they enjoyed my analysis. My parents were just proud that I was kind enough to share with them, just kidding, they enjoyed my paper. I was pretty content with my paper and I'm glad that everyone else did too, or at least my family members and friends.

Rhetorical Publishing

2009-10-26T07:45:00.003-06:00

I posted my rhetorical paper on Facebook. I did this because I have been adding more BYU students so I thought that they would comment, but they didn't. I don't think they commented because the subject of Tehran did interest them a lot.At first when I knew that we were going to publish this, I wanted to make sure that the look was appealing to the eye. This because most of the time you read what looks good.

2009-10-26T07:12:00.003-06:00

For my rhetorical analysis I published it on the class blog. I did this because I didn't really know how to publish it anywhere else. When I was writing the paper it was hard to forget that others would be reading this analysis and that they would probably not agree with my opinion. But, overall, I was confident that my writing had been done to the best of my abilities. For the comments that I received about my post, I didn't receive very many. I had only three people comment on my paper. One was a lady that I know back home and the other two where some of my close friends. To encourage people to read my analysis I posted a link on Facebook, but not many took any time to read it. But the comments that I got where encouraging. I think that my analysis what I had wanted it to do, get people to go to the site and really enjoy it, and on all of my comments they mentioned that they became more interested in visiting the site after reading my analysis. I think that I didn't reach as many of my intended audience, but I know that I tried.

R.A. Publishing

2009-10-26T02:35:00.002-06:00

I only posted my article on this blog, because I didn't really want to put it up on Facebook. I'm very self-conscience about my writing, and I don't want others to judge my intelligence through my writing because I don't think I'm very good. (I might have said the exact same thing on my previous publishing reflection post, but oh well). This time, however, I did give the link to my friends to have them read it. I always enjoyed reading my friends writing so I figured that I should return the favor. I think my friends enjoyed reading the article because I got (very) positive feedback. Most of my friends enjoy reading the Onion or have the same type of humor displayed in the Onion, so they definitely enjoyed my article. I hope you guys read it too! I tried to make it as fun and easy to read as possible by cutting up my paragraphs and having pictures throughout the entire article.

Lost in the Crowd

2009-10-26T00:42:00.003-06:00

I published a link to my analysis in a comment that I made on the original cinnamon roll recipe web page but because there are so many hundreds of comments, no one bothers to scroll down and read them all, and there was no feedback to what I had said. But I also consider that anyone that was on that web page was probably already convinced to make the cinnamon rolls and didn't need to read about why they felt inclined to do so. It's cool to think that my stuff is out there for people to see.

R. A. Publishing

2009-10-26T00:03:00.003-06:00

I posted my rhetorical analysis on this blog. It did not turn out like I had hoped simply because I had issues uploading pictures. It looks much, much better in a Word document. I haven't gotten any comments on it but I don't think it makes much difference now anyways.

I think it's somewhat intimidating to people to bring up a blog and have a lengthy body of text in front of them. Generally speaking, blog posts are usually little blurbs or a paragraph about something that happened, which makes them easy to read. An entire essay or analysis would probably be better off in a different setting that is a little more formal where a lot of text is expected.

Rhetorical Analysis Publication

2009-10-25T23:39:00.003-06:00

I recently started my own blog (thanks to this class) and I posted my analysis there. I don't get very many comments as it is so I wasn't surprised when I didn't get any. My mom did read it and said it was good - that's what moms are for right? A lot of my extended family keeps in touch with each other through blogs and my grandpa was just diagnosed with cancer. I guess writing about hope was good timing.

I think if I would have written a "please comment" comment then I would have received more response, but I also think the length made it difficult to get more readers. I felt a lot more confident with this paper than the opinion editorial, so that is a plus.

Publishing My Rhetorical Analysis

2009-10-25T23:25:00.003-06:00

I posted my rhetorical analysis on Facebook. I find that this is an efficient and simple way to publish my writing because a good amount of my friends will read it and leave feedback. I have received one comment so far and it is a positive response. Knowing that I would be publishing this affected the way I wrote it. I tried to keep it as inviting and attractive as possible. It challenged me to craft an informative yet entertaining read. My Facebook audience is a real audience, not an artificial one. The publishing of my writings helps me to consider the audience to a great extent.

Publishing My Rhetorical Analysis :)

2009-10-25T22:52:00.002-06:00

So, I published my rhetorical analysis through facebook. I posted a note that included a link to the blog. I got a lot of feedback from this. Everyone loved the topic and agreed with the claims being made. I also received some advice on how to make my article a little more reader-friendly. Publishing through facebook was quite effective.

Facebook Publishing

2009-10-25T21:54:00.002-06:00

I decided to publish my rhetorical analysis on facebook this time. I invited tons of people to comment on my blog post and even gave them the URL to get to it. Unfortunately, I only got to comments back on it. One was from Charlee. She really like that it included a video. I personally think this make the post more interactive and keeps people interested. The other comment was from my mom. She didn't realize how much thought went into advertising. She also said that using all those tools was probably the reason so many people buy things they don't really need.

Knowing I was going to publish this article, I tried to make it interesting to the audience. I tried to keep it simple and explain my reasoning throughly. I also add a video to make the post interactive. I was hoping this would entice the audience to keep reading.

Ra publishing

2009-10-25T21:27:00.002-06:00

I published my rhetorical analysis on facebook and told my friends to check it out. I didn't get a lot of comments back. I think that it was too long to appeal to people using facebook. It was an interesting topic and my friends would have enjoyed reading it, but no one wanted to spend that much time on it. The few comments I got were mostly about the issue and not my analysis.

I tried to publish on a couple of other pages that declared martinlutherking.org to be a hate site, but for most of them joining in order to leave a comment was too complicated. On the one site I did comment on, I haven't heard back.

Rhetorical Analysis Publishing

2009-10-25T20:16:00.002-06:00

The biggest and perhaps one of the only reactions I got from people who read my analysis was that they wanted to go to the site. I guess that means I did an effective job of explaining the site because after reading it, people wanted to go to the site. My roommate said that she liked my imagery, how I explained the site. I feel there isn't that much to analyze about an analysis, but that's what I got from people I shared it with.

Rhetorical Analysis Publishing

2009-10-25T17:18:00.000-06:00

So I just posted it here on this blog and told a bunch of people about it. People from home, from my sports teams from forever ago, and it got around. Sadly, most of the reaction was to the issue, and not so much to my analysis of the article. They were more interested in the the topic than what I had to say. The only thing that really got any attention that had something to do with what I wrote was that they agreed with my conclusion that if the author actually wanted something to change, he was writing to the wrong audience. Which is kind of ironic because maybe I was writing to the wrong audience as well. They didn't seem to care much about his rhetoric, just the sports he was writing about. It was probably more of an artificial audience, a real audience would have been if I had posted it on his article, could have been interesting, but at the same time, the article doesn't get hits anymore since the IOC made it's decision. So i wouldn't have had very many comments anyway i think.

A Closer Look: Audience Response

2009-10-25T12:56:00.004-06:00

I had my roommates and other students that live near me read my paper and asked them to give me their responses. I would have liked to get a wider range of audience, but was unable to for lack of time. I didn't get very much feedback, but most of the people who read my analysis agreed that the rhetorical techniques either added to or took away from the peice as a whole. Surprisingly, a lot of people weren't really concerned with the issue, which means that it has probably lost some of its kairotic value in the past few months. Either that or people just feel that whatever happens with the new health care plan will happen, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. This lack of interest also may have been attributed to the fact that I gave my analysis to all college students, who, although more involved in national goings-on than a younger audience, are still very distracted by the worlds they live in.
My audience often said that they wouldn't have noticed all of the tools that I pointed out in my analysis had they simply looked at the website by itself. In pointing out the tools that were used to help persuade the audience, I was able to help them make an even better evaluation of the situation than without an analysis of rhetorical techniques.

Publishing my article

2009-10-24T22:38:00.002-06:00

Knowing that I was going to publish my article didn't effect what I wrote. I already had that mind set, so it didn't need to be changed too much. I posted my article as a note on facebook. Only one person commented. I think the subject of the article was intimidating, because who really cares about an analysis on planning a wedding magazine? I thought more people would read and comment, but I guess not! I think the length was intimidating. Maybe if it was shorter, and on a different subject it would have been read more. I think my audience was artificial. I don't know anyone getting married, or else I think it would have been different.

Rhetorical Analysis Publishing

2009-10-24T11:53:00.002-06:00

I posted my Analysis on this blog site and also on facebook. I was not exactly sure where I was going to publish it when I was writing it, but i still had an audience that I was trying to get to. So keeping that in mind I just wrote it so that everyone would benefit from it. The reactions I got were basically what I expected, everyone on facebook was wondering why I was writing about Harry Potter, and most said that they would not be reading it if it was not me who wrote it. Getting good positive is hard and if I really wanted that I should have posted it on some kind of Harry Potter blog because those people actually care. I believe the audience I posted it to was artificial because they really wouldn't want to read it. Either way I got some good comments about the writing from other people on the facebook post.

Stardust: A Trail of Adventure, etc.

2009-10-22T13:38:00.002-06:00

Entertainment in one form or another takes up a large part of our free time. Whether we go with friends, on a date, or alone, the movie theater is a popular attraction for us. From romance to action, thought-provoking to thoughtless, comedy to drama, there are movies for everyone. Stardust falls under a variety of genres as demonstrated by the website based off of the movie. While dominantly a visual and audio-based website, word text is also incorporated in the form of excerpts of reviews from various critics which fade from one to the next on the main screen. By using entertaining and insightful elements and giving a description of the characters and places in Stardust, the creators of the website convince the audience that Stardust the movie is appealing and worth the time to watch and even the money to buy.

In creating the website, Paramount Pictures created an opportunity for fans and people who haven't seen the movie alike to discover more about most aspects of the movie with mini character biographies, cast list, synopsis, soundtrack list, videos, photo gallery, etc.

The site is aimed at movie-goers who like fantasy, a good romance, even adventure. One selected quote from a critic's review is intended to draw young single adults with the claim, "One of the best date movies of the year." The idea is to spark the interest of at least one person who will in turn convince a group of friends to watch it for a group date. Hopefully then the snowball effect will begin and those from the one group will tell friends from another group and so on. This is not only available to the U.S. either. The entire site can be viewed in a number of languages which creates an international feel and connection.

In addition to the adult movie-goers, the interactive games on the site entice an even younger crowd to become part of the movie itself. Each game depicts a scene and characters from the movie and when played they allow you to vicariously do things that were done in the movie. The game linked here is called "Push That Prince." In this game you try to sneak up on the prince standing by a precariously high window and push him out.

http://www.stardustmovie.com/assets/games/prince/

Once the intended audience is swept in, they will find desktop backgrounds and screen savers for the computer to continually remind them of the fun they had in watching Stardust. If others who haven't seen Stardust happen to see the background, their curiosity could be struck and cause them to wonder whether or not they would enjoy the movie as well. Within the site you can move from one page to another and "visit" the different locations found in the movie and learn about the characters. For those like myself who enjoy movie music there is a page that lists the soundtrack information. Overall this site has been made to be fun and enjoyable to view.

Before coming to the main page, there is an initial page with options to buy Stardust on DVD or HD DVD, or to enter the site. Upon entering the Stardust movie website, you hear a voice clip of actor Ian McKellan speaking of a philosopher's words about people and stars: "Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" He then says, "Pointless, really. Do the stars gaze back? Now that's a question!" This promotes viewers to think a little deeper about the whole context of Stardust and the concept of what a falling star really is. When the dialogue finishes, selections from the soundtrack will play and continue to do so throughout the duration of exploring the site unless you opt to turn off the sound. The music that plays gives a feel of adventure and exploring the unknown and potentially makes the viewer feel slightly adventurous and curious about what is out there in the world to see; or at least in the website. The website is very interactive and every time you place the arrow over a menu item to maneuver to a different page it makes the sound of either a bird or crickets. The cricket noises specifically add to the main page which is a view of the Village of Wall in the distance, the wall itself in the foreground, all under the cover of night while stars are continually falling in the night sky above.

Overall, the Stardust movie website is designed to convince those who view it that Stardust is a fun and enjoyable movie that can be applied to many human appeals such as adventurous, romantic, daring, fantasy. It is also designed to give an idea of who the characters are, the places in the movie, and what the premise is. Once the audience is convinced, the next step is for them to watch or ultimately buy the movie.

With a slightly juvenile tone created by the interactive games, the site loses some of the effectiveness for at least part of the adult audience. The game tasks are very simple to complete, the graphics aren't that intricate and are slow-moving. However, the juvenile aspect does not deter completely, and may even be an attraction for some because they have children or perhaps enjoy that sort of interactivity themselves.

The creators of the site show an awareness of the audience and the time frame in which the audience lives mostly through the fact that the text is a website. The audience is part of the digital and technological age when practically anything can be found on the internet. By whatever means people find this website whether it be to find out more about the movie before watching it, wanting to experience more of the fun from the movie, or being directed to it in order to write a paper on it, I personally found it quite effective in its goal of getting people to watch Stardust one way or another. Ever since I started looking at it to get a feel for it, I have wanted to watch Stardust.

It is not difficult when viewing the site to become enthralled in what it has to offer and wind up spending a good amount of time looking at what has been created to entice imagination and wonder among whoever views it. Why should you become one of many to begin the journey into the world of Stardust? Well, for one thing it would be nice to see in detail what has been described in this writing. But even more than that, it has been made for you to give you the opportunity to discover a world different from our own where a falling star means something entirely different. Go, explore, enjoy. I certainly did.

Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty

2009-10-22T00:29:00.011-06:00

Dove’s Shift of Interest

Dove is known for commercials featuring soap without residue, lotion that moisturizes for twenty-four hours, and deodorant that smooths razor bumps on the underarms. Not until recently has the Dove corporation extended

the challenge of acceptance to themselves; a large profit corporation in the beauty industry. With the idea that beauty is something acquired out of a bottle, an idea that is photographed and filmed, composed of certain textures and colors that are acceptable, and further, a number on the scale. Although the image of beauty was reaping profit for Dove, they felt a different angle of advertising was needed. What they needed was something different than all the other companies; what they found is a new image of beauty. Dove goes where all the other industries dared not, to the consumer. Rather than upholding the idea that our products will change you into someone “beautiful”, Dove says, our products will show your individual beauty. With this in mind, Dove set forward with the Campaign for Real Beauty.

Appeal to Consumers

As a consumer, one will notice the continual pressures as to what a woman should look like; thin body, long hair, short hair, curly hair, straight hair, blond hair, black hair, pale skin, tan skin, freckles, dimples, long eyelashes and on and on. I think the overall rhetorical purpose of the campaign is to readdress what constitutes beauty. The idea of beauty is in the hands of peers and dove wishes to address this subject. They hope to inspire trust and understanding of all women, which

will in turn, sway them to buy dove products. The idea that a corporation would take the time and money to defy society’s norm, in order to please the consumer is very appealing. I think that it has a great deal of kairos, especially. because of models’ thinning throughout the fashion industry. Now is a time in history where “different” is accepted and sometimes even exalted above the ordinary. No matter what the appearance, Dove extends the challenge to accept others as beautiful, and more importantly yourself.

Blue Themed Page
Blue as a background color is effective in many ways. One way is how blue signifies the openness of a mind to new ideas or freedom of thought and is also very ethos appealing due to the soft hue. Psychologically cooler hues are used to calm the viewer, due to the naturist fact that blue is in the sky and essential element water. Blue works positively to draw the audience in by showing the carefree feeling of being accepted as beautiful. Also the blue shows the cool and calm idea of truth, which they are convincing the viewers of .The white as a background is the ultimate sign of purity and peace. Purity and peace offset the overwhelming battle of beauty media versus one’s positive self-image.

Also, ethos due to the soothing aspect of the white space, which helps draw attention to main objects on the page. It helps viewers focus on the blue objects of importance. The two combined create cleanliness and an idea

of simplicity. The theory of simplicity and cleanliness is a direct contradiction with other beauty companies who show drastically complex and busy advertisements. The blue image of the world shows how universal beauty is, and that dove is accomplishing something international. This type of unity that a buyer would feel is logos; that you are participating in something greater than yourself. Not only are you contributing to yourself, but others helps the campaign philosophy to progress. A campaign such as this shows the buyer that dove is more than just beauty products and a consumer is more than what beauty products make them.

Small Text, Big Statements

The “dove self-esteem fund”, this is one of two phrases on the clean

page. The dove corporation shows that not only is the image and opinion of beauty on the brink of change, but that through changing and accepting many kinds of beauty, self esteem around the world will increase; a worthy cause for a few dollars. Dove draws a simple but profound correlation between beauty and self-esteem. With the acceptance of beauty and self-esteem being intermingled, a consumer or donor can see the importance of the campaign. The other text on the page is “campaign for real beauty worldwide”. The use of the word campaign shows that it is a cause to be fought for. Real beauty worldwide is implying that we don’t see everyone in the world as beautiful, and addresses this issue to the viewer to breakdown that bias and help others to feel beautiful by donating. Above the collage of young girls the statement “Redefining beauty in their own words” is placed. Pathos is used in the previous phrase mainly to emphasize the positive effects the dove campaign have had on young girls. True the dove campaign helps all ages of women see their beauty, but they chose the younger generation to produce a more pathetic issue.

Pictures Worth 2,000 Words
Next there are the pictures grouped in three sections. Another good use of space: threes. The first is of two women, one old one young, perhaps mother daughter. They are hugging, which assumes that if esteem and

beauty are high, positive relations will be. Another mix of pathos and logos. The next pictures are of two young girls. Both of diverse ethnicities, and in plain clothing. A viewer would recognize the ordinary clothing of the girls

because it is never seen in advertisements, this true life picture shows the ability to be yourself. The diversity of the girls depicts to the viewer the importance of helping those in need, and challenges them to see the beauty in everyone, even simple, cute girls such as are presented. Perhaps the most famous photos form the campaign are those of women in white undergarments. The simple white again is presented, as to not distract from the beauty of the models. The simple face that they are in intimate clothing sends the statement of confidence and self acceptance. The women are of all different hair colors, skin color, height and weight; further confirming that beauty is universal.

Is the Dove Campaign a Crusade?
Speculation could be brought upon the Dove Corporation. Some questions have been raised as to a campaign such as this is helpful to Dove. One would ask, Is Dove doing this for profit? What were Dove’s intentions? It is common knowledge that consumers would wish to support a cause and will buy Dove product. Is Dove simply using our emotions to sell a new company image? All of these questions are reasonable to ponder and are even necessary to wonder if one is to be a informed buyer. One is bombarded with tools of rhetoric everyday to make you think and feel certain ways, and as outlined, Dove was very successful at this. Dove has created the ultimate balance between color, picture and text to feed our persuasive minds. However effective these tools might be, the choice is still the consumers to buy. It is simply a matter of what the mind is allowed to be subjective to. In this case, one can’t assume that Dove’s art of rhetoric means trickery, neither can it assume that it is purely for women’s self-esteem increase. Whichever the choice, one must recognize the good that has come of the campaign and grant credit and gratitude. For if beauty has to start with anyone, it is those who use the word.

The Way Towards Freedom

2009-10-21T07:33:00.015-06:00

The Way towards Freedom

For a nation that is considered to be a dangerous threat to the world because of nuclear weapons democratic change is highly favored in the modern world and has no better time or place for political support. Democratic nations are seen as the leaders of humanitarian aid, capitalist economies, and natural rights advocates which gives them global influence and credibility. They are like the older brothers maintaining peace among the younger siblings. Why not try to follow in their footsteps? Fathi and Mackey address this in their September 2009 article entitled, “Students Protest at Tehran University” published by the New York Times. This article discusses the oppression of religious interpretation and censorship by the Iranian government upon their people, but more specifically towards: the study of humanities. Writing about this topic of student protests' in Tehran, are meant to show people globally that students in Iran want to bring forth political change to Iran, leaving behind a strong hold to religious context and moving towards a more free interpretation and democratic nation. Throughout the article, the authors do a very well task of informing the American audience of the injustices a world apart, through the use of diction, allusion and multimedia images. The effect that it has on the audience, is that they feel compassion for the students and see them as brave for standing up about it.

Images and Video

To make more appeal to the audience and for them to get a feel for what these protests are like, there is a video posted showing students walking around with green balloons and ribbons, holding up peace signs. The authors included this video to emphasis that it is an example of a democratic mannered protest. There are no weapons, fires, or fights with the armed forces in sight as is usually seen in most Middle Eastern images broadcasted through news networks. By adding this video, the authors make a greater connection to the audience. The audience realizes that this event is actually taking place and that there are real people involved, people like you and me. It is not a fictional novel. And a feeling of sympathy strikes the audience.

Because of the photographs shown throughout the article, the audience sees once again reinforcement of the fact that Iranians are only be ruled upon, and are being encouraged to abstain from anything that goes against the “framework of the beliefs and interests held by the rulers and the system.”These students are covered with green bandanas as if trying to cover their identity are used by the authors in creating what type of consequences can come as a result of these protests such as persecution. Students don’t want to be recognized by the authorities, but they still want to get their point across. If they do get identified, they are risking being punished for defiance. The impact that it has on the American public, is that they view the reality of Iranian government as a strict one and encourage these students to fight for what they believe in.

Diction

Throughout the article, words such as "cleanse," are used to create imagery in the text. Cleanse is typically seen as a word with positive meaning for example to make something appear fresh or new. However, in this context, it is used in connection with the Islamic government attempting to remove as a whole and discredit the field of study of humanities in universities. It is more connected with the wrong and how it only pollutes society and individuals. The authors continue with including excerpts from the rhetorical essay like “strays from the path” and “ begin the surveillance” in an attempt to make clear that the Iranian government makes it seem as if students are criminals which they have to tame early on before they go the wrong direction. By including this type of word choice in the article of different sources, Mackey and Fathi are making the audience lean to their own views and disagree with the concept that these students are the enemies in the story.

Instead of including different slogans used by protestors, the authors include “Death to dictator!” and “Shame! Shame! Representative who is against the people!” to set up contrast. They set the students and the Iranian government on opposites sides of the spectrum. The Iranian government is seen as evil; and in contrast, the students as defending their natural rights. A way that the authors do this is by incorporating an overstatement from the rhetorical essay, “teaching the theories of the humanities in Iran’s universities had been a factor leading to waste and destruction after the recent election.” In this sense, Saeed Hajjarian solemnly blames these protests on the study of humanities and no other factor. The authors do not directly state that either of them is right or wrong, but the fact that make seem through the use of diction and other sources to focus more on the students point of view. This contrast used by the authors, persuades the audience to pick up not only on the views towards the government, but more to rally in favor of the revolutionary students.

Allusion

Allusion is a tool used by the authors through the incorporation of a rhetorical essay by Abuzar, a student at Amir Kabir University in Tehran. The article is entitled "Why Is the Islamic Republic Afraid of the Humanities?" The message that the essay sends is that the government is in essence, wants students to “follow a single school of thought and a single belief.” This essay included in the article is the most credible and powerful tool that the authors included in the article. It is so because the authors aren’t just stating what they see, but it is a first had experience of someone that has lived through it. Therefore, it makes it more meaningful to the audience and strengthens the bond between audience to

Conclusion

Even though Fahiti and Mackey picked a relevant issue for our time, this article would have had a greater impact if the article would have been published internationally. Although this article was posted on the New York Times blog and Americans can read it, most people in other countries don’t have the type of easy access to computers as we do. In some countries, western internet websites are even blocked for the safety of their people. Therefore, it does have an influence of the American public, but lacks the impact in societies like Iran’s. Although, most Americans already agree with the points of views of the authors, the article does help inform Americans that even though, people may live in a country mainly dominated by religion, there are those citizens that want to bring forth change.

Typically, the main purpose of government body’s is to protect the people, and help their citizens prosper: to help them excel. With this article ironically enough, we notice that this is not the case of Iran. Instead of the government promoting more education and diversity, students are limited and denied in the choices that are available to them. The case of half of university students in Iran.

Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty

2009-10-21T07:22:00.004-06:00

Real Beauty

Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty is a campaign that helps raise money to help young girls to older women to build their self-esteem. The media presents beauty in general and has their description of what beauty is (usually extremely skinny, tall, “beautiful”) but not everyone fits that image, we all have flaws and imperfections. Dove’s Campaign lets us know that it is okay to love ourselves, and that we have true beauty. With the help of imagery and video they are able to capture how self-esteem issues are affecting girls, whether it is in a good way or bad; the purpose of the campaign is to show both sides of the affects and ways to make it better for girls all over the world.

Dove is raising this campaign for girls all over the world. As soon as you enter into their website you can choose your country and the language that is usually spoken there will be presented on the website. The other countries have different web pages once you enter onto their website. For instance in United States the first webpage has the Wall of Beauty, where you can post a picture and leave a comment of what you know beauty is and in Austria it has a video of “Evolution”, showing how we change beauty through Photoshop, and that our perception of beauty is distorted. Although Dove is advertising in different countries, they use different tactics of imagery and video to capture their audience in that area.

While the “Evolution” video is on the front page for Austria, it is also available on all the country’s web pages. This video shows what we don’t see. The actual model and what they transform her into. This video is a representative of Dove’s Campaign because it shows that even the models don’t look like what they perceive to be on a billboard, magazine, or Internet; Dove wants us to have real beauty not something that media created.

In the evolution video, you can see that the women who walked in the photo shoot is a normal lady, no make-up, and natural. As soon as the lights shine on her, you can see her blemishes and the make-up artist quickly covers it with foundation. Her hair is then curled to give it volume and more appeal. She looks great with the new make over. Her pictures are taken, and you would think that it would be enough with her picture, but it isn’t. They Photoshop her neck and make it longer, her eyes become wider, and her lips more plump. By the end the billboard ends up showing a different women, then the one who walked in for the photo shoot as their model. The video notes that our perception of beauty is distorted; we are given a false view of beauty. We are being lied to; beauty isn’t what it seems to be now. Beauty is whatever the editor wants it to be; it’s not original anymore.

The Campaign for Beauty is so essential here in the United States to little girls and adults because they go day to day, looking at what the media presents them such as magazines, billboards, and they have an 'image' of what beauty should be, and it makes girls feel pressured to look and be a certain way. According to Dove’s Beauty Campaign, 75% of teenage girls felt 'depressed, guilty and shameful' after spending just three minutes leafing through a fashion magazine (quoted in respectrx.com). This shows how imagery can affect a reader in a personal level; it makes at least ¾ of the teenage girls upset with themselves.

The ironic part to this campaign is that in many cases it shows the negative side of girl’s self-esteem. This picture shows a girl looking very upset, her eyes staring straight at you, and her lips pressed together; you can also see that in the background she has a very bright color, as if the girl who is upset usually is content. Stating how she wishes she were blonde, when she has brown hair. By the end of her experience she is able to accept her natural beauty, this picture originally comes from a video Dove made, and it shows that she is content with her natural hair color.

The campaign really appeals to Pathos (appealing to the readers emotions), it has many life changing experiences, and the give the girls chance to feel better about themselves. Girls have the opportunity to write about their feelings about what the think beauty is and what they think about themselves on Doves Real Beauty Wall. For example, Candace from New Jersey says, “ I know my smile is beautiful.” The ironic part about Candace’s smile is that she has braces, which is something people are usually uncomfortable with when they smile. With a high self-esteem, Candace is able to feel confident about her smile. Some girls even post short videos of them stating what beauty is. Angelica posted a video saying, “The way I view myself now, is as a beautiful person no matter what.” The campaign was able to help these girls, and build their self-esteem and they are able to post their newfound confidence. The Real Beauty Wall, is basically a blog for these young women, and helps them feel better by leaving a little testimony of themselves of real beauty; the wall usually has twelve spaces for twelve girls.

The campaign’s main target audience is mostly younger girls and women. The campaign really stresses how much of an affect of low self-esteem can affect a girls, it states in the website that, “75% of girls with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking when feeling badly about themselves.” Girls with low self-esteem usually tend to resort to bad habits and behavior, and Dove wants the audience to know this, so they can contribute to helping these young women, because “62% of all girls feel insecure or not sure of themselves.” These statistics can be found on the gallery section of Campaign for Real Beauty, under DOVE global studies, it’s called Real Girls, Real Pressure. They put the statistics up so you can get involved in a community near you.

Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty helps in every little way that they can to help someone’s self-esteem rise and you can tell through the tone of their videos and messages. The campaign’s website has tips and helpful advice to help you out in your self-esteem issues. Including advice for mothers to give to their daughters. Workshops that help you improve your self-esteem, online activities, and ways to help a girl in need. Doves campaign really sets the caring tone through this way; Dove mostly focuses on helping the girls out, and promoting their products comes along with it, because the campaign is in the same website as their products. Dove does a good job of separating the two, but also keeps the products available for the viewer.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is something that makes us remember that at one point in our lives we had a low self-esteem, and that we were insecure. I remember feeling the same way as these young women do in my adolescent years. It was an awkward phase for me, because I was entering into puberty. I started to have low self-esteem issues because I would always compare myself to other girls. Now, I’ve learned to accept myself for who I am, and this is why I like Dove’s Campaign, because it helps us accept ourselves for who we are.

This campaign is making a difference to young girl’s and women lives and perspective on beauty. It helps them realize what true beauty is and helps them accept their own. It helps them care less about the media and focus on what true beauty is and that is our own real beauty. This campaign will motivate you and help you feel better about yourself. The campaign is a very supporting campaign, and very positive. For us, women, we have issues with self-esteem, and Dove really encourages us to raise our self-esteem and others as well because it will make a difference in our lives.

Cake....To Eat or Not to Eat?

2009-10-21T05:50:00.009-06:00

Cake, in its deliciously baked form, is a favorite dessert for millions around the world, so why wouldn’t it be a favorite in the digital form either? Author Jen of food blog “Cake Wrecks” has discovered this same love for cake in her blog about cakes gone badly. Just like after taking your first bite of cake it’s hard to make yourself stop, this blog has attracted much of its readers by letting them take a nibble, hooking them, and watching them come back for more! Jen has an uncanny skill for using casual language and rhetorical tools in such an easy manner that many of her readers do not realize the addiction that has formed for this physical and visual desire for cakes. With her style of writing, Jen has allowed this blog to become an activity that is enjoyable for people of all ages, shapes, sizes, and situations. In searching through her blog, it is easy to see that Jen’s diction, presentation, and ultimate love and passion for what she does has created a strong dialogue between herself and her readers that keeps people coming back for more.

Just like when you’re eating cake and you couldn’t imagine it getting better, but then you taste some of that sweet icing, Jen’s wit and commentary serve as the icing to her blog by making her photos and posts that much sweeter. It seems that when pictures and comments couldn’t get any more terrifying or any funny, the author finds a way to sneak attack and get the reading rolling on the floor with laughter.

As the reader continues it is not hard to feel Jen’s lighthearted tone and good humor is what helps to solidify her use of kairos. By being aware of her readers, Jen has focused on making her blog very modern. Using this blog as a casual form of journal, the readers are able to connect with the author on a more personal level, almost as a friend. Speaking bluntly, and showing no mercy to those wrecks presented on her blog, Jen has created a tone of humor that is carried throughout her blog by treating all of the people she critiques equally. With such strong appeal to humor, Jen’s writing has created an opportunity to have readers of all ages.

Much of the success of this blog has come directly from Jen’s use of diction and her ability to interact and build relationships with her readers through her various forms of humor. One of the most evident tools in her humor is the overstatement used in introducing the topics, witty titles, commenting on pictures, or even making fun of herself the sarcastic comments define her as an author. An example of this overstating is when Jen posted a bunch of pictures of cake wrecks that were supposed to represent Texas, hoping to tip the reader as where she was; however, It wasn’t until that final picture that we experience some of Jen’s overstatements:

“What, nothing? Tch. Look, I don't see how this jumbled mass of shotgun shells and strawberries could make it any clearer. [head tilt] Well, unless maybe you held them up to a mirror. Heh. Yeeeah.” This more subtle form of humor gives Jen even more interaction with the readers because it’s not enough that she is teasing the actual person who wrecked the cake, but she goes on to make fun of the reader. The best part about it is that she has made it so that the interpreted humor isn’t offensive, it actually just makes the readers laugh harder.

Although Jen has a great knack for rhetorical tools, she also relies greatly on the visual appeal of her blog in order to intrigue the readers quickly. Having dark backgrounds with bright writing and big titles help to bring the focus of the readers to the writing and pictures, proving that fonts and images are the key elements of her blog. With easy to read fonts, tabs, organized categories, and just overall fun aspects of the site the reader is given the freedom to do whatever they want to do! Readers can find humorous cakes in almost every topic, each of them having their own witty title and pulling the reader from one section of the blog to the other. It’s amazing to see how quickly anyone could really get caught up in this blog because of all of the various things that the authors have been able to discover. It's almost like discovering there are more flavors than just plain vanilla, and you want to try them all.

Just like people want to move away from "vanilla" and into other flavors, Jen gives her audience the option to divert away from the main page and maneuver through separate sections or categories called “fan faves” and “the classics.” Jen even finds ways to interact with her readers simply through entertaining titles, for example: The Oh-So-Gross Foot Cakes, When Gangsters Go “PC,” Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys, and When Brides Have No Budget (or taste) to just name a few. How could anyone fight their temptation to taste this well used skill of connotation?

One of my favorite visual elements of this blog is the contrast of pictures. In our minds we have an image of how things should look when certain words are being said; however, through the skills of many talented "wreckers" some of these words bring in completely new meanings. In the sections about bridal cakes, Jen shows the readers how the interpretation and connotation behind words is important by showing the contrasting visuals of what brides had originally asked for, but were unfortunate enough to receive.

Once more, I don't know where this woman was able to find these unfortunate excuses for cakes, but without a doubt they are the best at contrasting what should be a good cake and what constitutes a complete "cake wreck."

Another one of those categories that may have caught the readers attention is titled “oh poop,” where the use of imagery is quite vivid. When describing what was supposed to be hamburgers cooking on a grill, but were unfortunately not so realistic in their design, Jen was quick on her feet when saying, “Let's kick things off with a zesty selection of grilling poo, shall we?” Now if that doesn’t create a mental image, or stand as a rhetorical question, I don’t know what will!

Similarly, Jen goes on to make some grammatical corrections from other bakeries that include notes on orders that weren’t supposed to be there or don’t have punctuation in proper places to give it proper emphasis(a lot like the one at the top of the page.) One of those cakes presented on this site is written “glad your ‘here’” all in sloppy cursive, and not only was the word “your” misspelled, the quotations completely changed the meaning behind the cake. Jen commented by saying, “Is this person really glad you're "here"? No, of course not. Just look at the signs!” What a nice cross between her overstatements and rhetorical questions to add to the already bad display of cake décor.

Ultimately, without Jen’s sensitivity for quality humor and keen eye for “cake wrecks” we would all be wandering around wondering why anyone could make those simple mistakes or hideous decisions when creating things that are supposed to be both physically and visually appealing. Jen has been able to use all sorts of imagery on her blog both in creative designs, but mostly in her great commentary that brings a fun and light-hearted tone for the readers to enjoy. By applying all sorts of rhetorical tools, Jen has been able to attract readers of all sorts without having to force her blog onto others. Recognized for her great skills we also see that she has received awards for the funniest blog, as well as the best food blog! Obviously this girl knows what she is doing, and what the audience wants or she wouldn’t be as successful as she is and we wouldn’t love it as much as we do. I can only look forward to future postings of “cake wrecks,” and learn those things I need to do to avoid any unfortunate “cake wrecks” of my own.

The Onion Makes Me Shed Tears... of LAUGHTER!

2009-10-21T05:20:00.015-06:00

I hate to admit it, but it’s true. I, like many others, am not a very informed person. I don’t pay much attention to current events. Thankfully, there’s a wonderful website to keep me “informed” of current events: the Onion.

The Onion is the premier web site for news satire. Satire is such a powerful genre of writing, and can get the reader to understand the writer’s message better than straightforward, non-sarcastic writing. The Onion is meant for people who are at least of 18 years older, as evidenced by the disclaimer on the bottom of the web page. This suggests that the content in the material is for people of certain intellectual and maturity levels.

In general, the Onion is also aimed at readers who are well educated, intelligent, and follow current events well enough to understand the humor behind the text. The site is also aimed at people who, like myself, know nothing about politics and current events. By reading the humorous articles, one would become curious to know the actual event and story behind each article. Therefore, the Onion sends ignorant people, after they have read an article, to look up the news in the Onion’s perspective.

Reading through one of my favorite websites, I happened upon an article absolutely oozing with rhetorical tools. The article was titled, “Heroic PETA Commandos Kill 49, Save Rabbit.”

Maybe oozing wasn't the greatest word to use...

As the title suggests, overzealous PETA members kill an exorbitant amount of people to save one measly rabbit.

So, to be a bit more specific than before, this particular article is targeting people who already think that PETA members have gone off the deep end. Those who think this will thus be able to fully appreciate the irony used in this article. On the other hand, those who support PETA will not be satisfied with the negative and extreme portrayal of PETA.

Before more analysis is done on this article I think it is important to preface it with some background information. When it comes to animal rights, the first thing that comes to mind is most likely PETA, which is short for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals; and right or wrong, PETA has connotations with an organization that is crazy, overzealous, and blinded by their goals. It takes only five minutes to find that PETA has a terrible reputation. You can click on this link, or this one, or this one, or maybe even this one. Those are but a few of the many sites that can be found online that are strongly opposed to PETA. These sites all generally call PETA and its members hypocrites and also include reasons why PETA has such negative connotations.

A quote from the second website listed effectively sums up the common perception of PETA: “Don't stick up for PETA. There are a bunch of terrorists for god's sake. They devalue human life. They think animals have more rights than humans.”

The article uses the previously mentioned negative connotations of PETA by sharing a news report that is so outrageously violent and appalling that it represents PETA’s connotations at its strongest. The Onion uses satire and the rhetorical tools that are encompassed by satire, as well as basic rhetorical tools, to convey their message to its audience. The use of satire is used to appeal to its readers and reinforces negative beliefs towards PETA. In addition, the distortion of the truth gets uninformed readers curious about PETA and the constant controversy surrounding the organization.

I suggest you read this article before you continue this blog post. Otherwise, I might spoil the article for you before you even get to experience it yourself. Trust me, you’ll want to read it first.

Now assuming, and hoping might I add, that you have read the article let’s see why this article was successful in bringing out laughter and insight.

Irony

Irony is a strong component of satire, and it is subsequently used effectively several times in this article. First, there is the irony in the article itself.

By simply reading the title, the main ironic point is understood: PETA killed 49 people to save one rabbit.

JUST ONE RABBIT!

One would argue (most correctly) that not even one human life, let alone 49, is worth the life of a single rabbit. Although PETA should value life on all fronts, PETA attempts to stick to its goals by preserving animal life at all costs! However it is ironic because humans, by definition, are also animals.

The news report also ends with an ironic twist. The animal that PETA saved with the cost of many human lives ends up getting viciously eaten by a fox the moment it is released into the wilderness! Not only is it ironic because the rabbit that PETA went out of their way to save ended up being killed, and was in fact safer in the hands of the so called barbarians than in the wilderness; but this ending was also very funny.

This ending also suggests a deeper meaning behind the article. Perhaps the author could be suggesting that maybe PETA is being counterproductive with some of their efforts. More likely, however, is this: No matter how hard we try to get something done, there are always going to be outside forces that can put a damper on your plans, whether they be altruistic or not. The author could also be suggesting that maybe PETA is being counterproductive with some of their efforts.

Tone AND Diction
Just like the Wonder Twins had to connect their rings in order to utilize their superpowers, the powers of tone and diction must be combined for these tools to work most effectively.

Form of... Great Rhetoric!

By using tone and diction, the reader can understand what the writer’s viewpoints are from a satirical standpoint. As proof, one only needs to see the diction when both the rabbit and humans are described. Whenever the rabbit is brought up, it is described very cutely. For example, it is described as being, “floppy-eared, having speckled gray longhair with an adorable pink nose.” How adorable!

Meanwhile the researchers are dubbed “filthy barbarians” and “hairless, human, animal-hating scum who so richly deserve to get their skulls smashed in with the back end of an automatic weapon.” The tone immediately shifts to a more serious and hateful one.

The article makes the contrast even more effective because the vulgar descriptions of the humans immediately follows the warmer description of the rabbit, or vise versa. In one instance, a PETA commando continues to comment on the cuteness of the precious bunny that was saved while she is, “walking past the charred and dismembered bodies of its captors.”

Imagery

The use of imagery in this article also reinforces the humor of the article. The false story goes as far as to describe the killings of the research facility workers in the most vivid and gory way possible.

As described by eyewitnesses, the victims were, “first immobilized by gunshot wounds to the knees before being shot execution-style in the back of the head.” The only thing that could possibly make it seem any worse was if the spatter of the blood and the explosion of the head were described.

Imagery is also used to convey the rabbit in the cutest way possible. For example, the writer reported that the rabbit, after being fed a carrot, had its, “adorable pink nose wiggle up and down, up and down as it chewed, making cute little chewy-faces.”

If the vivid descriptions weren’t enough, the article also came with two images to reinforce the absurdity of the article. So, let’s take a look at both of them!

As you can see from the first image, there are commandos holding guns illustrating the raid of the research facility. Now, take a look at the commando on the right. He’s holding the rabbit! By the neck! That does not look comfortable for the rabbit in any way whatsoever.

Irony is also present in this image because although PETA is an advocate of the rights and proper treatment of animals, this rabbit that is allegedly being rescued is being carried around violently. Another thing worth noting is that the commandos even have the PETA logo on their sleeves. It’s funny to actually see PETA commandos in action, because the mere existence of them is ironic (they don’t actually exist!).

The second picture is just as interesting as the first! Also, this image is actually taken from another rabbit rescue three years prior to the main event in the article. What’s so powerful about this particular image is the strong contrast between the rabbit and the burning research facility. The small rabbit is unharmed and off at the bottom corner of the picture. Meanwhile, the burning building takes up nearly all of the space in the picture. There’s debris everywhere, and it will cost a lot of money to fix the damages done for the sake of one rabbit.

Whereas the first image reinforced the irony of the article, the second picture represents the extreme beliefs of PETA as exaggerated by the author.

Here are some other thoughts on the article:

Another reason why this article is so effective in poking fun at PETA is because the story goes over the top with its already outlandish story. After the massacre at the research facility, the story gets ever more gruesome: “An attempt by the families of the Couture Cosmetics victims to bury their loved ones was met with equally savage resistance from PETA commandos, who strafed the mass funeral procession with machine-gun fire before spraying the cemetery with explosive flaming phosphorous gel, scattering the assembled mourners and killing seven.”One would expect the atrocity to end at the research facility attack, but the article surprises the reader yet again with another related shooting incident! At this point the reader is willing to accept any other outrageous actions by PETA.
The article makes PETA members seem oblivious to the fact that the costs outweighed the benefits in this “rescue.” Either that or they value animal life much, much more than human life, which has been one of the key reasons many people are against PETA.
Although news should be unbiased, based on the way the writer describes the rabbit, it is safe to say that the author is also sympathizing with the rabbit to a degree. The PETA commandos may have been very descriptive in their cute analysis of the rabbit, but the journalist also describes the rabbit cutely too. Basically, anytime the rabbit is mentioned it must be followed with words to reinforce the fact that it is precious and cute. The writer’s sympathy towards the rabbit suggests that the writer is not against ethical treatment of animals. Rather, the writer is against PETA and its practices.
I loved the line, “PETA officials assured that no animals were harmed during the destruction of the complex.” This is a very clever play on the phrase, “No animals were harmed in the production of this movie.” The Onion is just so witty! This makes it seem like the whole procession of the massacre was routine, similar to the production of a movie.

The essence behind this particular article, as is the same for everything on The Onion, is satire. The article imitates a normal news report made by the Associated Press and reports a false story. One cannot help but laugh at the absurdity of the story. The use of irony and imagery of the terrible scene is used in such a beautiful way as to make the reader cry tears of laughter and agreement - if one thinks PETA is crazy, anyway.

How to Be Interesting Using Rhetoric

2009-10-21T00:00:00.007-06:00

Interesting: adj. arousing or holding the attention; inspiring interest; absorbing. What makes something interesting? How can something interesting be more entertaining, more enjoyable? In today’s world, many people use blogs—online sources of communicating to a particular audience—in order to keep in touch with family and friends through stories, updates, news, and other forms of communication. In an article about blogs (located here: http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-be-interesting/) by Jonathan Morrow, entitled “How to Be Interesting,” Morrow gives advice and tips to his audience—bloggers—on how to be more creative at crafting blogs in order to promote an extraordinary blog for their readers to enjoy. The overall effect of this text on the blogging audience of the country is to appeal to their motivations to improve the way they construct their own blogs. This is accomplished through the use of a friendly, sarcastic tone, use of overstatements, and the use of metaphors and other forms of figurative language.

Throughout the entire article, Morrow keeps a friendly and approachable tone in order to allow his audience to become immersed in it and to hold their attention until they finish reading it. For example, Morrow says to his bloggers, “Yes, you’re the blogger…you’re the one with talent…you’re the one working your tail off.” In this case, Morrow talks his audience as if they were his friend. He employs a colloquial language to further appeal to his readers in order to give them the impression that he is not just an average, boring teacher of improving blogs. What Morrow uses is very simple, yet very effective because his readers can more easily connect with what he is telling them. Furthermore, in telling his audience to be honest in their blogs, Morrow states, “Be so honest that you’re scared to click the ‘post’ button. Be so honest that no one knows what to say in the comments section. Be so honest that your lawyer tells you to stop.” Morrow connects to his audience here because he understands how his readers feel “scared” to post extremely personal or surprising information. He also incorporates some humor concerning the readers’ lawyers which creates a more lasting impact on the reader while giving them something to laugh at. Finally, Morrow advises for his reader to “Unleash your inner dork.” Readers of this part of the text can relate to this tip because deep inside, everyone has his or her inner dork present. This approachable tone lets the reader delve into the material rather than shy away from it. In conclusion, Morrow’s use of sarcasm and an amiable tone glues the reader to his article and keeps them stuck there.

Morrow relies on his use of overstatements to amplify his rhetorical purpose as well as to reinforce the humor present in his article. For example, in encouraging his readers to “be wrong” in their blogs, Morrow says, “The world is full of people trying to do the right things. It’s become so common that many of us are bored by it.” Obviously, not everyone is indeed looking to do the right thing. What about the people who have landed in prison due to murder? Morrow uses this overstatement to add to his aim in getting his readers to be perturbed by doing what’s right, and instead, to do something wrong for a change. Furthermore, Morrow teaches his reader to “make people laugh”: “Bloggers are far too serious. We’re so busy trying to teach that we forget to entertain. As a result, large portions of our readerships fall asleep.” Virtually nobody is ever going to fall asleep due to boredom over someone’s blog post, and Morrow understands that. Not everybody is posting blogs full of boring lectures and serious content. By utilizing this certain overstatement, Morrow’s rhetorical purpose is strengthened because of his use of over-dramatic words such as “fall asleep.” Finally, Morrow uses an overstatement and imagery to enrapture his readers’ attention on how to sophisticate blogs by telling them, “Many bloggers crank out posts the way slaughterhouses crank out chickens. They’re ugly things, fit for nothing but consumption.” Morrow heavily over-states the situation of the blandness of bloggers’ posts. While this may or may not be the case in the blogging world, Morrow’s overstatement is effective because of the incorporation of figurative language, comparing posts to how “slaughterhouses crank out chickens”. This is a bold call to action that his blogging audience should strictly stay away from boring, bland posts by spicing their blogs up in some way. As evident in these examples, Morrow’s overstatements aid in his purpose to make bold assertions on blogging in order to extremely motivate his readers to improve their blogging ways.

Finally, Morrow uses figurative language to add vividness to his lessons as well as to cause a memorable impact in his readers’ minds. For example, Morrow employs the use of a metaphor stating that his bloggers should “offer [their] readers an aspirin” and also telling them, “Your reader has a headache, you have a cure, so you offer them that cure in the form of a blog post.” Here, Morrow hopes to create a vivid image in his readers’ minds which will help them to remember that blogs should be used to treat an attention-deprived mind. This particular metaphor allows for an exciting read and helps the reader to understand Morrow’s point more easily. Morrow goes on in his figurative language using a simile for his readers: “Many blog posts are like miniature textbooks; they’re instructive, well-organized, and put you to sleep with their lack of enthusiasm.” By drawing the comparison between blog posts and textbooks, Morrow hopes to instill in his readers that a boring blog is just as good as any old used Chemistry textbook. His readers can apply this in their blogging exploits and avoid writing textbooks, but rather, writing something fun, enthusiastic, and entertaining for their audiences. Also, Morrow uses a personification as well as more imagery in exhorting his blogging readers to make an impactful story which sticks, telling them, “I’m not talking about the little anecdotes that pepper the blogosphere. I’m talking about the story that haunts you on your deathbed.” By using a combination of imagery and personification, Morrow’s exhortation of bloggers telling an extremely memorable, thoughtful story sticks strongly within the minds of his audience. It is apparent that Morrow wants his fellow bloggers to craft thought-provoking stories, not just little “anecdotes that pepper the blogosphere.” By using these forms of figurative language, Morrow’s audience can become deeply enveloped in what he has to say, helping immensely with his underlying rhetorical purpose.

The article “How to be Interesting” is indeed full of many interesting rhetorical tools used to get Morrow’s aim across. Because of the large amount of people communicating through blogs today, this article is extremely kairotic and relevant. Not only is this article intended for just bloggers though; it is available for anybody who wishes to expand on their own writing and even speaking. Morrow realizes that there are many bloggers and writers out there and, in turn, develops this article to appeal to them. The audience is able to comment on this article and it is evident that the article has helped many people in their blogging lives; for example, one user states, “One of the best articles on being different and getting noticed.” It is important to recognize the rhetorical devices present in Morrow’s article in order to discover why and how they work for his intended audience. By use of an inviting, sarcastic tone, overstatement, and some forms of figurative language, Morrow successfully motivates his audience to improve their blogs in a fun, easy, yet fully developed format.