(3 p.m.) Blogging to Learn and Share : November 2014

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Comments for Hans and Grant: Battle of Gettysburg

For your comments on Presentations:

Write about something well done. What did you learn from this group? What part of the Presentation seemed the best?

Is there constructive criticism that would help this group? What might have been more clear? What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?

Post comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for Luke and Brandon: Thurgood Marshall

Comments for Hailey J. and Shelby: Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 (event)

Monday, November 17, 2014

Comments for Andrew, Cody and Haley M.: Bonnie and Clyde

Comments for Lili and Shavran: Woodstock

Comments for Dillon and Jorden: Louis Armstrong (Jazz)

Comments for Jacob and Sandeep: Richard Feyman

Comments for Lorenzo and Preston: Video game crash of 1983 (event)

Comments for Katie and Haley BC: Blizzard of 1978 (event)

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Presentation groups and order from Mike

uMonday, Nov. 17 (6 groups)

uKatie and Haley BC: Blizzard of 1978 (event)

uLorenzo and Preston: Video game crash of 1983 (event)

uJacob and Sandeep: Richard Feyman

uDillon and Jorden: Louis Armstrong (Jazz)

uLili and Shavran: Woodstock

uAndrew, Cody and Haley M.: Bonnie and Clyde

uWednesday, Nov. 19 (3 groups)

uHailey J. and Shelby: Shirt Waist Fire of 1911 (event)

uLuke and Brandon: Thurgood Marshall

uHans and Grant: Battle of Gettysburg

Reading/Viewing Homework TED Talks from Mike Lohre

Here is a link to the TED presentation we watched in class:

http://www.ted.com/talks/myriam_sidibe_the_simple_power_of_hand_washing

Here is a link to the list of TED talks so you can find one that you are interested in to watch/read this weekend.

http://www.ted.com/talks

Here's the prompt from your assignmetns for Monday:

•Watch and actively listen to a Ted Talk presentation of your choice. See links above. In the Comments section, write a response:

•First, summarize the main ideas and purpose in this talk so we know what it was about.

•Then analyze: how does the speaker use PowerPoint or other media? What does this speaker do well to convince you? What might have been better?

Hey,
this is my poem down below.But first, i thought i would

It was a day like any other day,
But I felt a world away.
And standing nearly 1,400 feet in the sky,
Out above, a quarter mile high.
Everywhere, as open as a sea,
And yet still it says ‘impossible to me’.
And as I decide whether I can avoid,
I look out into this ‘devouring void’.

I’m running late to work,
But on this morning, everyone is going berserk.
So I turn my head up to see this thing that is catching fire,
As I squint my eyes and in disbelief I see in the clouds, A man up on a wire.
We all look on;
He seems to have no fear,
And soon there begins to spawn,
Thousands of rising voices gifting cheer.

I observe is actions now, some 40 years later,
And I see a man, who became to his own fears, a dictator.
His actions, which had us all lost as he had whirled,
From the time when, he had walked on ‘top of the world’.

Exploration 7: Lilyan Eldadah

PART ONE:

We read through the Manifestos and the Petitions sections of this chapter. One thing from my reading that I noticed as crucial or very important in Chapter 6 was one important role of manifestos is to show new identities.

PART TWO:

First Things First 2000 Manifesto

Purpose: The purpose of this Manifesto was bring back the first manifesto and recreate its purpose, only in the First Things First Manifesto the writing was well-written and more effective to the readers

Effects: I thought that this manifesto was effective in the way that it used ethos, especially in the last paragraphs, but it was not as effective to me because it didn’t really touch my heart in the way they used ethos.

Evidence: Not a lot of evidence was used in this manifesto but referring to the first manifesto and the personal descriptions of the graphic designers and the way they felt during and after the situation.

Writing at Best: Like I previously said before the best part was the last paragraph because there was strong emotional appeal throughout those paragraphs. Also the part where it states, “Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development and supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-customers speak, think, feel, respond and interact” was another place the writing was at its best because it used ethos appeals well and helped the readers see what the graphic designers had to go through and feel their sympathy.

Exploration 7

1. Something that I found interesting in chapter 6 was the talk about mission statements. Often, we see these things without really looking at them. They are designed to be a brief written statement, usually just one to two paragraphs long, summarizing the idea of a business or organization. This statement is a brief yet concise explanation of the groups’ purpose.

2. I decided to dive into the “Petition to President Obama: Be a leader on Global Warming”. The purpose of this was to emphasis that changing the world to address global warming will take more than political parties. I believe this manifesto is effective at describing the points the author wished to make. The evidence used is statistics. The manifesto states multiple stats about countries around the world and their policy on global warming and its importance in the future. The quote I liked the most from this piece is, “We cannot put off for tomorrow what science tells us we need to do today.” I believe this is the tone that must be carried for people to do something, crossing borders of political parties and geographical boundaries, because this is a global problem, not an individual countries’ problem.

Exploration 7-Haley Miner

1. One thing I found important was the fact that public documents are used to certify beliefs in different cultures and religions and gives people a base to what they believe in. It is important because if you don't have a reason for what you believe in or what you are doing there is no real reason to feel strongly about it.

2.I chose First Things First 2000 Manifesto. The purpose of this manifesto is to bring back the original paper and add more people and bring people's attention to reexamine a graphic designer's role in commercial culture. I feel it is effective because they bring back a document and show that more people care and want views to change. Bringing the original back shows that it was a problem at one point and still is a problem that graphic designers want changed. Evidence is used by comparing how the world perceives graphic designers and how graphic designers really work. It talks about how they want to reverse people's thoughts and views of graphic designers and how they hope that their words will be taken to heart. Where I feel the writing is at it's best is "In 1964, 22 visual communicators signed the original call for our skills to be put to worthwhile use. With the explosive growth of global commercial culture, their message has only grown more urgent. Today, we renew their manifesto in expectations that no more decades will pass before it is taken to heart." I see this as the best because it sums up everything and shows that this was the problem in 1964 and it has only grown since then and they want it to change as soon as possible.

Exploration 7 - Lorenzo Palma

Part One:
The one thing that I realized was that, regarding the mission statements, it is very important that you state the purpose of whatever the mission statement is for. No matter, how long your mission statement is, (although suggested that it be 1-3 paragraphs long) the message that the statement is trying to deliver is the pinnacle of the statement. It is the most important part, and it is what makes a mission statement what it is.

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Part Two: First things first 2000 Manifesto
Purpose: The purpose was to vocalize how the commercial industry was undermining the capabilities of graphic designers, limiting it only to careers which were mainly consisted of advertisements and commercial work for big corporations.

Effectiveness: The paper itself was re-iterating the first manifesto created for the same purpose, but the writing is much better, yet the effectiveness for me wasn't as strong as they might've wanted it to be. The most effective part probably was the last paragraph, signifying their purpose for writing this manifesto.

Evidence: Not much evidence is used, it is all based on common knowledge (In terms of, the people who applied into this situation). The only real piece of evidence I saw was the reference to the old, similar manifest to.

Where is the writing at its best? The writing was at its best at the 3rd to last paragraph when the author starts naming off the capabilities of these graphic designers. I thought this part was very strong, "The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running contested; It must be challenged by other perspectives, in part, Through the visual languages and resources of design."

Exploration 7

Something from the active reading that I noticed was a very important part of this chapter was how Thomas Jefferson set up the Declaration of Independence to make the people of the United States aware of the importance of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The piece of writing that I have chosen to respond to would be the First Things First 2000 Manifesto. The purpose of this writing is to describe how in todays world, people view graphic designers as people who just have a career to design and then commercialize to sell, and this manifesto describes how it makes the graphic designers feel to be viewed that way. Yes, I think this manifesto was very effective because I have thought of graphic design before and thought that was what a job was like . . . but the graphic designees who signed this, steered me in the other direction in a good way. What is used as evidence is going back to the year 1964, to share that this has been going on for awhile and that they want there skills as designers to be put to good use. The writing is at its best in this quote, "Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design." This shows what they are truly trying to share here in this manifesto.

Exploration Seven ~ Haley ClevelandBull

One thing from my active reading that stood out to me was the main topic throughout the entire chapter, which was the idea that public documents can connect the reader with the culture that we live in today. This can be accomplished through many types of documents with a public focus, because it “links individual to social institutions”, which in turn connects the entire society through public documents.

Response To First Things First 2000 Manifesto:

1. The purpose of the First Things First 2000 Manifesto is to declare a new identity for graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators. Within this public document, graphic designers, art directors and visual communicators are trying to voice their opinion on their commercial marketing work, which essentially is that they believe their designing talents could be put to more worthy causes, such as educational advertising, as opposed to marketing useless things such as cigarettes.

2. Personally I felt that the writing was effective, because it argues the graphic designers point of putting their talents towards more socially useful forms of marketing. Whether their document’s argument stands to make its point well or not, at the very least it definitely gets their opinion out into the public.

3. This document does not reference any outside sources as evidence, but it does reference that the belief that graphing designs have taken on a new meaning that is not what graphic designing teachers and mentors intended it to be.

4. It’s difficult to decide where this document's writing is at its best. However, I find that the writing in paragraph five was arguably my favorite throughout the document because it states exactly what the graphic designers believe that their talents should be put towards and why, and it proposes how they will accomplish this. A quote showing this is, "We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication- a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning"(The Call to Write, 178).

Exploration 7 Dillon Quigley

In chapter 6 i noted on page 179 that they stated that one key rhetorical actions that manifestos perform is to declare new identities. That is true in the First things first 2000 manifesto. The main purpose of the manifesto is to declare their new identities that they will no longer waste their skills on only commercial and advertisements. They do not want to be part of the molding of people on how they think, speak, feel, respond and interact. The evidence of this is they state " to some extent we are all helping draft a reductive and immeasurably harmful code of public discourse". That quote is also the manifestos best writing it states the point in a way that even if you have no idea what they are talking about with design you can understand what they feel they are doing and what is wrong with it.

Exploration 7: Hans Hartle

One of the conclusions that I came to through my previous knowledge and active reading is that without hard evidence, quotes or personal experience, public documents can fall short of their intended meaning. Although some documents may be able to stand alone without evidence, for people to believe it is a credible source without it.

The document that I chose to read was the First Things First 2000. The purpose of the document was to renew an earlier manifesto of 1964 where 22 visual designers and communicators called for the skills of visual designers be put to good use and not advertise/ convince customers to purchase unnecessary products. What I found effective about the document was it's use of ethos and emotional appeal. I found this in the lines "Many of us have grown increasingly uncomfortable with this view of design. Designers who devote their efforts primarily to advertising, marketing and brand development and supporting, and implicitly endorsing, a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-customers speak, think, feel, respond and interact." The reason why this is effective because it makes us rethink what we have seen and feel for the designers as no one wants big brother constantly watching and controlling our lives. The evidence that they use to support this claim is the first hand accounts of graphic designers and how they personally feel about the situation they are in. The writing is at the best at the end of the second paragraph which basically summarizes the work as a whole. "The profession's time and energy is used up manufacturing demand for things that are inessential at best."

Exploration 7: Shelby Wade

One thing that I noticed throughout this chapter was the way all the pieces of writing had a set purpose. The purpose or goal of each piece was then elaborated on until the writer point was made. There was no use of fillers or fancy terms. Each piece was very straight to the point and gave great explanations of why the writer felt the way that they did.

I choose the Call on Kenya to Ease the Suffering of Nairobi's 2 Million Slum Dwellers petition. The purpose of this petition was to get the Kenyan president to step in and stop the forced eviction of slum dwellers by government officials. I believe the petition was effective because it stated what the writer wanted done to help the people and wrote an example letter to the president. For evidence, the writer actually visited Nairobi. She also used exact locations throughout her petition. For example, "Residents of the Deep Sea settlement have suffered waves of forced eviction by government authorites" (189). The writing was at its best on page 190, "These people live in squalor and under the constant threat of evictions." The writing is best here because it is so direct and makes a clear point.

Grant Trainer - Exploration 7

1. One thing I noticed that is very important is how all of these letters are written to someone well known that has the ability to influence a certain area or subject more than others due to the fact that more people know of them and respect their opinions. So the person to whom these petitions are written is very important to whether or not the actions asked to be taken will be effective.

2. Greenpeace Response to President Obama's Award of the Nobel Peace Prize
Purpose: to explain how important it is for Obama to now use his Nobel Peace Prize for good. Now that he has been honored with this award he needs to use it to create changes needed to protect and preserve the environment.
Effective: I do not find this to be to effective because the author does no state what Obama must do now. They only state that he must do something and not let this new found fame or credibility go to waste.
Evidence: No evidence provided - another reason why i believe that this writing is not too effective
Writing At it's Best: "... In the next 2 months, President Obama must commit to ambitious action if he is to be the climate leader the world is waiting for." I believe this is when the writing is at it's best due to the fact that is mot clearly describes or states the main point and intention of the article; no that Obama has received the Nobel Peace Prize, he must act and begin making changes.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Exploration 7

1. Something from my active reading that I thought was important in this chapter is with the First things first 2000 manifesto. In the analysis it says that one of the key rhetorical actions that manifestos perform is to declare new identities. I think that this is important because it explains why manifests have had large influences on politics in the past.
2. In the manifesto The First Things First 2000 it talks about graphic designer, art director and visual communicator who were trying to bring to question what the world believes designer do. I believe that this manifesto was effective due to it bringing this question forward and it being published in multiple magazine and books and brought alone with it the welcomed debate that it is trying to bring forward. Some evidence to this how designers do there work today. I believe that the writing is at its best in the second paragraph. The manifesto says "Commercial work has always paid the bills, but many graphic designers have now let it become, in large measure, what graphic designers do". This line helps to explain what they are trying to bring to question within the manifesto.

Exploration 7

The public document that I enjoyed the most was the on page 192 about inequality in membership at the Augusta National Golf Club. I was aware of the male only membership policy and that it had always been that way, and I really never really thought it would change. They letter was written in 2003 and in 2012 the first two female members were admitted, one of them was Condoleezza Rice I believe. For a very long time golf was a Male sport, like alot of things that has slowly changed in the last few decades and its nice to see that the relics of past generations are slowly but surely changing for the good.

Augusta National has a long history as one of the premier golf destinations in America and people come from across the country to watch the Masters Tournament every year. I like how Jason Pierce brought up the bit about setting in a bad example for the younger golfers with their sexism. As I mentioned earlier, golf was for most of its history played by men and the traditions of the game are very deeply ingrained in the players who love it.But not all traditions are relevant anymore, and I am glad that Augusta is finally breaking the tradition and moving forward. Mr Pierce's letter may not have affected swift change like he was hoping, but it may well have been helpful in pressuring the eventual change in 2012.