Rhetoric on the Town: Emphasis

 

An advertisement showing the Toyota 4Runner

 

 

 

 

 

 

The purpose of this image is to help boost the sales and get people interested in Toyota’s 4Runner.

Target audience would be people who enjoy the outdoors, there are some woods on the bottom of the advertisement, and the more obvious audience is people who enjoy fishing because of the boat being towed by the SUV and the picture of fish on the advertisement.  There is a ‘compass symbol’ on the left side and the background resembles that of a used map which may target people who like to camp or go off road.

  • Emphasizing the words “You in?” which can be taken in two different ways:
    • The words sort of wrap around the vehicle so Toyota could be implying if you could see yourself in the new 4Runner
    • The second way it can be seen is if you were interested in participating in the activity of fishing
  • The background of the advertisement looks worn which suggests that the 4Runner can be rugged
  • The color of the 4Runner really stands out on the ‘bland’ background
  • Larger boat emphasizing the towing capacity of the 4Runner

 

Wiki Work – Individual Reflection Letter

Over the past couple weeks my class and I have been developing a wiki based on discovering what Digital Writing is and the fun things that come along with it.  We’ve all submitted several pages and helped edit or complete others pages in order to make sure all of the information is included.

  • What are you most proud of in the entire wiki?
I’m most proud of the end result basically.  It’s great to have a place to visit if I forget about one of the readings or if I’m looking for one of the videos.  I consider the wiki like a digital writing study guide.  It has a break down for all of the readings and includes discussions to help refresh or improve understanding.
  • What are you most proud of in terms of your contributions to the wiki?
I’m most proud of the outside sources I was able to include in the pages I choose to work on.  I often find that I have a hard time elaborating farther on subjects after I read them, but in the wiki I felt like I was pretty successful in finding other articles, videos, or examples that related to the original material.
  • What do you wish you had time to further expand, include, or revise in the wiki?
The only thing I can think of is that there are some places that could have more examples, discussions, or supporting material.
  • When did you get stuck while working on the wiki? How did you overcome your problem?
The hardest part for me was formatting my submission.  I’m very OCD about these kinds of things and I was worried that other submitters wouldn’t try to follow the same formatting and that it would look like unorganized chaos!  I’m very happy to say that this was not the case and once people started submitting everyone followed the same format in a way.
  • What did you learn about yourself as a collaborative writer? What collaborative skills do you want to work on in the future?
That I can do it!  When the idea of a collaborative wiki was first introduced I was worried for two reasons.  The first is the fact that it’s a ‘group’ project in college and those are always so hard to finish.  The second reason is that I was concerned that the information would end up being repeated and not organized.   In the future as a collaborative writer I feel that I need to work on actually trying ‘collaborate’ with the others a little more.
  • Discuss at least four of the course outcomes you feel you worked towards with this assignment. Provide evidence of your learning by pointing to specific aspects of the wiki or your project journal.

Collective Intelligence – The wiki project is a perfect definition of this.  In order to complete the project we were required as a class to pull together and complete it. I worked towards this outcome by doing my part on the wiki which includes the pages I contributed and helped to complete.

Judgement – Many of the sources I used when working on the wiki to back up the original material or to expand on I had to make sure were creditable before I could use them.

Multitasking – Even though it’s not the best idea I have multitasked a lot while working on the wiki.  I’ve been listening to music, watching videos, and scanning articles in order to obtain material for the wiki.  For example when I was working on the Copyright page I actually listened to the A Fair(y) Use Tale video in the background to make sure I was including all of the key terms.

Networking – In the wiki at the start when we first started working on pages I was networking, especially when it came to the reading that not everyone in the class may have been assigned.  When I completed my page it was set up in a way with enough information to give a summary of the material and then expanded farther in order to get the reader thinking and give them a better understanding of the information.

In the end the wiki was a fun way to get everyone involved in the reading and discussions and now it serves as a way for us to refer back to if we ever need a refresher.

What in the world is C.R.A.P

SUMMARY:

If the website developer follows the idea of C.R.A.P they will have an easier time guiding their user’s eyes throughout the website.  Using the idea of C.R.A.P allows the website developer to guide the user through items on the webpage without having to use boxes or arrows to point to the next element.  Contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity is also visibly appealing to the user.  Pages seem to flow and are easier to understand when buttons are the same size.

key terms:

Contrast – Use separation for unlike elements or elements that need emphasis

Examples of contrast:

  • Bold
  • Italic
  • Color of font
  • Size

Repetition – Repeating aspects of design, keeping the same customization for elements that are alike

  • Creates unity throughout the website

Alignment – Justifying to emphasize key points

  • Creates a visual flow for the user
  • Easier to connect elements visually

Proximity – Elements that are alike should be close together

  • Easier for user to spot unrelated elements

connections:

After going through a few of the resources dealing with C.R.A.P I’ve realized that it could potentially be very beneficial in the long run and can also be related to other things outside of website development.  Being an English major I can directly relate this to the same process that I go through when writing a paper.  My introduction paragraph acts as the alignment because it emphasizes main points and shows the reader the direction I’m going.  The body paragraphs are developed around the proximity feature because each paragraph only deals with one or two related elements.  Contrast is not as obvious but it is used when citing a source, quoting, and also to distinguish the title from the rest of the paper.  Repetition is not as easy to relate to, but it can be seen in the layout because each paragraph will start with an idea and then be followed by supporting details.

resources:

CRAP

A CRAP way to improve usability

Wiki Work – September 25

Edited the ‘Digital Writing and New Media’ page.  The original post listed that there were six principles for Manovich, but the article only stated there was five.  I also uploaded a video that helps explain make the idea of the principles a little easier to understand.

I also added information on the circulation page which discuses the difference between circulation and distribution.  I also included a link to the original webpage where I found the information and a video on his lecture.

Wiki Work – September 22

I added a new page dealing with copyright which talks about fair use, creative commons, and what is not protected under copyright laws.  I felt this page was appropriate since some of the articles we have read so far talk about remixing and sharing media it is important that we know what is copyrighted and how to avoid breaking these laws.

I worked on the appropriation page adding more information on Henry Jenkins article and talked about how appropriate fits into our society today.  I also briefly touched on some issues with appropriation which included copyright laws.

Blog Comments

After reading my fellow classmates blog posts on the articles and discussions in class I feel as though I’ve got a better understanding on many of the articles we were assigned to read.  I also found a few blogs that posted some awesome pictures and discussion questions which caused me to analyze the article a little farther and find a connection.

blogs visited

La bella vita

Janae Cherry

Digi Writing 307

Romanes Eunt Domus

Blogage

The Language of New Media

summary:

The article tries to establish and explain what new media is and how it differs from old media.  According to Manovich, new media is any media that is distributed and displayed using a computer.  This includes, but is not limited to, DVD, online articles, photographs, and books.  Manovich suggests that there are five main principles of new media; numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and cultural transcoding.  Along with going into greater detail with the five main principles he also talks about how new media got to where it is, and how it has evolved over the years.

key terms:

Numerical representation – new media objects are all created from digital code which consists of numbers

Modularity – the idea that new media objects have the same modular structure and are all made up of discrete samples such as pixels, polygons, or characters

Automation – numerical representation and modularity allow for the media creation, manipulation and access

Variability – the idea that new media is not fixed but can actually exist in different versions

Transcoding – translate something into another format

old media/new media:

After reading Manovich’s article it seems to me that without old media new media would have never made it’s way.  According to the five principles; numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding old media develops into new media.  These five principles seem to relate to the way that new media can be created from old media.

other information:

While I was working with the material I came across the YouTube video below which explains Manovich’s five principles in lamer terms.

Wiki Work – September 18

addition one:

Today I worked on the McLuhan Wiki page.  I added a picture of McLuhan which I found using Compfight.  The next thing I added was the YouTube video which we were required to watch when we were first introduced to McLuhan.  Following the YouTube video I was able to find an outside article which also relates to his idea of the medium is the message.  There are links to the original article about Twitter and to the McLuhan The Medium is the Message article as well.

addition two:

My second contribution was on the multitasking page.  When I began the page was completely empty but I updated it with links to the Jenkins article along with a little summary of multitasking.  I also talked about the possible negative effects of multitasking and included an article and YouTube video as supporting materials.

Wiki Work – September 11

On September 11 we broke up into groups and worked briefly on the class wiki.  My group was tasked with the McLuhan page which we wrote a brief description of his article The Medium is the Message.

The Medium is the Message

summary:

McLuhan keeps repeating and demonstrating throughout the article that “the medium is the message,” but what does that phrase actually mean.  What he’s trying to say is that the medium used to deliver a message may actually be stronger than the message it’s self.  Well now that we’ve got the main point what does it actually mean?  Basically McLuhan is trying to say that the way a person chooses to deliver a message may be more important than the message.  Or in even simpler terms he’s saying that the way we receive information could be more important than the information being received.

 connections to course outcome:

This article relates in a few ways to the course outcomes we hope to achieve in Digital Writing.  One outcome is the ability to network which means we have to be able to search for and pick out information that we are presented.  Another outcome is appropriation which is achieved when one knows how to remix content in order to develop new content.  These two outcomes relate to McLuhan because they deal with the way something is presented and being able to decipher the message being presented.

connections to other readings:

After a couple Google searches I came across an interesting article about Twitter. The article gives ten examples of Twitters that are perfect examples of McLuhan’s main message which is the medium is the message.  In order to understand this article you first need to understand that Twitter actually has two definitions.  The first definition of Twitter is that it is an application, or website, which is used to post tweets.  The second definition is that a Twitter is a collection of posts by one person.  For example Russell Brand’s Twitter is @rustyrocket.  The article’s main point is that Twitter, being used as an application, is a medium but is also a message when referring to a collection of a person’s post.  So in this case the medium is exact same thing as the message.  Even though the article was short it really brought up a good point.

works cited:

Syllabus 

McLuhan

Twitter, the Medium is the Message