Blog reflection

I think the class blog was a fantastic idea, and I probably could have done a better job taking advantage of it. My favorite posts were the stand-alone posts where a lot of latitude was given--such as the song analysis, or the ethics of writing post. The organizational posts for the issues paper were easy enough to do, but not as interesting. If you have to do assignments like that, though, the blog was a good way to do it.

I didn't feel any different writing in a group setting--I always assume at least someone is going to read what I write--but it may have encouraged me to be more concise. I don't see any real disadvantages to blog assignments for a class like this. Some assignments felt like busy work, but that's inevitable I think, and has more to do with the subjective curriculum of an English class than with blogging.

YEEEEEHAAAAAAAA!!!!

Well to be completely honest... I very much dislike English, and at the start of class when we were doing the blogging stuff I was annoyed by the technicality of the class.... BUT I have had a change of heart! I must admit that I enjoyed the blogging a lot. I agree with others, that it does have its negatives like when some of the post were merely brainstorming ideas... it was easy and we would end up throwing down whatever came to our minds, but even though they were SUPER easy post, I found them to be VERY helpful with the comments back from peers on ways I could tweak an idea to make it better, or by simply reading others ideas, it helped me find some of my own and for me enhanced me writing on those bigger projects.

So I would have to say that I found the blog post to be very great in that they were well rounded! The post where we analyzed something like a picture or a unacceptable claim, they made me learn to think about things in a manner where I personally had never really done before. The post where we would put down parts of our papers and assignments were great because of the feed back we were able to get back from peers. And as I stated before even the easy brainstorming post I found to be very helpful! Over all I found the blogging to be a great tool for us students to collaborate a help one another. If the blogs were to become more complex in terms of difficulty of assignment, I think that it would loose much of what it offers.

Last One...

So this is weird. This is the last (official) blog post for this class. Overall my experience with this class blog has been great. Throughout the semester I have been able to post thoughts, ideas and opinions and have people actually read them and comment on them. I like that people actually read my posts because sometimes I feel like I rant, so I feel like it's uninteresting; however, we all have to read each other's posts so we have no choice not to (well we do, but none of us want to have our grade docked for not commenting on posts). I think that the peer review of my writing has drastically helped me grow in my writing ability. I believe that blogging is a good way to write, to express myself and get my words and thoughts flowing in a creative and semi-organized way.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

Overall, I would have to rate my experience with the blog as well, interesting. There were times when I found it to be fun, while other times it felt useless and boring. I most enjoyed the collaboration that blogs allowed. Perhaps the biggest help to me was the ability to post parts of my assignments for the class to analyze and critique. This helped me see the strengths and weaknesses of my arguments and assignments and gave me ideas about how fix them. I also really enjoyed analyzing the images and seeing just what everybody else came up with.

But, as I said earlier, blogging was not all kitty cats and roses. I may just be a sucker for self-punishment but I absolutely love long writing assignments. I love researching a question and forming a solution to it. I love having ten or more pages to adequately answer the question with my argument. I do not feel like blogging helped me in that manner. I recognize that new media is becoming more acceptable in scholarly settings but I do not think that blogging personally helped me to be a better scholar. I sometimes felt restricted; like the blogs did not help me to seriously think about something but merely type out the first thing that came to mind. As others have mentioned, I did not enjoy most of the blogs that required us to go out searching for claims, sites, or whatever else to examine their claims.

I do not mean to demean blogging or those who have learned from them. That's great if it has helped people. I just know personally that because of my writing style and preferences, blogging did not help me very much.

That's all folks

I am so happy that i switched out of my previous class. the blog is a lot more versatile and interesting then doing daily writing assignments. I liked the blog posts that were more general, ones where we had to interpret something, like the image analysis or the initially unacceptable claim. i did not like writing the ones were we had to brainstorm ideas. It was way too easy to just through down a brainless post because it was completely open to interpretation.

I loved being able to comment on post. In my mind that is what makes the blog posts so effective. Also the separation of comments on the blog into comments and comments responses. i think that helped prevent repeating comments without any originality.

my favorite was when i was able to copy Ty's post about plagiarism and post it before him. Making it look he plagiarized me. i got a kick out of that.

Godzilla was a libertarian.

Blog writing has been a mildly pleasant experience, however I can't feel too good about endorsing assigned writing topics. It's just something I've never particularly enjoyed. However, there were a few topics that I was able to convert into something I was thinking about lately. I enjoyed the song analysis, sentence style, cool writings, and the power of the image blog posts. These all had very open topics. I did not enjoy the ones with specific writing instruction, like finding to persuasive websites, the initially unacceptable claim, and this blog reflection. I felt restricted, unoriginal, and commenting was painful because everyone's post looked almost exactly the same.

Mandatory commenting: understandably necessary in a classroom setting, but the product ends up forced, insincere, and useless to the author. If there was a specific post that I enjoyed, I commented on meaningfully without first thinking, "ok, now only one left."

Despite my annoyances, the format itself is 1000 times more useful to me than a traditional assignment. I like people to read what I write.

The End.

Using a blog this semester was an interesting experience for me. At first I really hated the fact that everyone else was reading what I wrote. After a few posts though, I got used to the fact that my peers were going to read my writing. This is definitely a positive aspect of using blogs in English classrooms, it forces students to read the work of their peers and to be comfortable with their peers reading what they have written. But even with these positive benefits, my overall feeling about the blog was ehhhh...okay. Since blogging for class is such a new concept for me, I would often forget that I had an assignment due and then end up rushing to write something down. Writing my actual posts was not enjoyable for me, but I did enjoy reading what others had written. Basically, I don't enjoy writing in any form, whether it be blogging or on paper. In some cases, I think I would have preferred to just do traditional writing assignments, but blogging required my classmates to give feedback on my writing which was beneficial in the end.

Title exploitation time - "Starman" by David Bowie. Listen to it. Do it now.

I did enjoy the blogging that we had to do, even if only to fulfill my craving to feel at least somewhat productive sometimes. I'm a sucker for instant gratification, and along with fast food and Mine Sweeper, blogging provides just that: work that doesn't come with ridiculous length requirements or too much brain straining. Even so, I often found myself to be better off having written and read blogs on this website than not - like Mikhaela said, the post about the outline in particular was very useful. I probably wouldn't have spent so much thought on it (or perhaps more truthfully, even bothered with it) if left to my own devices, which most likely would have come back to haunt me. The commenting aspect of this experience was an interesting touch, but in my opinion, was just a tad lacking. On one hand, it served to really connect me with the rest of the class - I was more conscientious of my content (hopefully, none of my opinions or little sparks of insight seemed drab or laughable)than if I didn't have to worry about someone calling me out on my potential lameness. That said, the sheer lack of "calling out" proved to be slightly more disappointing than one would imagine. Comments in general generally turn out as genial agreements more often than they do actual criticism (yes, I'm guilty of this as well), and that's based on the assumption that one even gets any. Sometimes posts go without any comments, essentially depriving the writer of possible thoughts or criticism of his or her work. Overall however, my experience with the class blog has been a positive one. I enjoyed working with you all through it. (And as for my highly irrelevant title - I already know he was calling himself "Ziggy Stardust" at the time. How dare you try to correct me, future corrector. How dare.)

here comes goodbye

Wow, my final blog post! It is crazy how fast this semester has gone by. I can still remember our first blog posts where we blogged about issues in our lives! Ah the memories. But seriously the blog posts have been an annoying requirement that does help our writing. It is said you cannot become a good write unless you write. And our blogs gave us that chance. They also gave us almost daily peer evaluation and help for our topics and papers. Good ideas praised and not so good ones honestly criticized. Also the fun posts let you get to know your classmates better and who doesn't want more friends? I really didn't like having to fnd websites and articles to analyze, but instead liked the ones where we could vent and share our writing and ideas. But really most of the comments and the posts themselves were done, just to get a good grade. If you notice with my trend of posts, most of them happen late at night or early in the morning, but at least I got them done. (like this one for instance) I think that overall the blog posts helped our writing and gave us somewhere to vent and run new ideas past our peers, despite their tendency to get annoying.

thanks class for a great semester!

Farewell Post

My overall experience with blogs has been rather good. I have enjoyed writing everyday or some days to help with my writing. I have enjoyed analyzing things like the songs or things like that. I enjoy picking things apart like that. I really didn't have a problem with any of the blog post. None of them were required to be excessively long or time consuming which makes them all enjoyable. The posts that involved moving our papers along were pretty helpful. The outline for example, I wouldn't have made such a detailed one on my own. I feel that peers only give some valuable insights. Knowing that they will read it shortly does make a huge difference though. I feel that it makes a difference using a blog versus traditional assignments. It fosters new writing styles. It allows for different ideas to be explored and we still get the benefit of academic papers from other papers. I really enjoyed the blogging.

The fat lady is singing....yay for last blog! :)

This year has been a good experience with using the blog. I think that the use of the blog can be really beneficial in many ways. It is easy and does not seem as overwhelming as a traditional assignment because the internet is something with which most students are comfortable. It has been useful to see other's comments and to read the blogs of others to get ideas and to learn. Also it was helpful to know that there were people there that could help you improve your writing with their suggestions. Yet the thing I didn't like about comments was how they seemed pointless sometimes. I mean it was a good way to get us to read what others wrote, but sometimes I felt that I didn't have much constructive criticism. Nothing useful needed to be said I felt. Quite a few times I would laugh to myself because there wasn't much to respond to from other's comments either. We just put stuff to get the grade. It was frustrating when we were required to respond to comments on our blog and no one had written anything. I don't blame them, it was just hard because then you could not do that part of the assignment....although I don't think we were eventually penalized for that.

Knowing that people were going to read what I wrote did make me want to make sure that it sounded better than if I had just been writing it to write it probably. Also it made me have to defend my writing or realize that I did need to improve it a lot. For example one time I felt I was kindof attacked on what I had written and it made me step back and I think I learned from that.
One thing that I don't think was good about the blog is that it was almost too informal. For example, my title. It really is hard not to add some lols and hahas in sometimes because the blog has a facebook feel. So I noticed that sometimes our blogs seemed really unacademic. If we had turned them in like a regular paper than those things might not have been as tolerated I'm pretty sure.

Blogging About Blogging

At the beginning of the semester I really liked the blogs and thought it was very creative. But as the semester went on, I was fine writing them but a lot of the time I thought it was annoying to have to go back and comment on others' blogs. But I think commenting was important so I do understand. Having other people comment on my blogs made me realize I should probably write descent since people will have to analyze my blog so that they can make their comment. So that was a little motivation to write better. But their comments usually were always helpful and it was nice to get other people's point of view, or advice. My favorite blog was probably the analysis of the song. I thought it was fun, and also fun to see everyone's songs and what they thought of them. I can't think of my least favorite blog post, probably because I blocked it out of my memory. I thought the blogs were very helpful when we were doing blogs concerning our papers. It made me be more organized and helped me progress through my paper faster, instead of waiting till the last minute. It was also helpful because others would have comments of advice. I like this type of assignment other than the traditional assignment because the blog posts seem to take less time, and you are also able to get other people's advice quicker and easier. Overall I thought the blog posts were good.

One chicken at a time....

Well this whole blog thing has been a joy and a little bit of an adventure.

It really has been entertaining to read and comment on everyone's blogs. The funny thing was near the beginning of the semester when no one really knew each other so you didn't really know who the person was commenting on your blog. But as we got to know each other, our personalities really began to show in our blogs and in our comments. That was an interesting development to watch. I really liked watching how our titles to our blogs started out about all the same basic titles related to our topics but then slowly turned into random things. Basically, it was entertaining to watch us go from more formal to informal as we got more comfortable with each other and as we got more lazy (or when we stopped caring).

At first I didnt really care about people reading my blog (or at least I didn't really think about it) until that one time when I got a surprise comment. I had been in a bad mood that day when we had to analyze a book and I decided to be rude about a certain book, and then the author decided to comment on my blog post. Yup that was a humbling moment. I felt really stupid. It was a bit of a slap in the face, reminding me that all of this stuff is open to the public to read and I should probably watch what I write.

Overall I think this blog posting thing was a good idea. It made me think about certain things that I hadn't ever put for conscious thought about. It was espcially helpful for the rhetorical analysis unit when we had to analyze a lot of different mediums of stuff (music, books, ect) to prep us for our rhetorical anylsis papers. And then it was also helpful to have to post our outlines and topic ideas for other papers to help with the writing process for the issues paper. It forced us (or at least a little bit) to not completely write our whole paper and do all of the research for the paper in one night.

As much as I enjoyed writing these blogs, I am not entirely sure how it improved our writing. I think it just aloud us to become very informal and even casual in our writing (like ignoring some grammar and spelling). Because I dont know about anyone else, but I never reread my blog posts before I posted them. But then again if we had to do daily hard writen assignments I think the same situation would occur. So yeah at least these were sometimes fun to do. I would much rather have done blog posts then daily written assignments.

for the record, I am listening to the climb. right now. coincidence.

What has been your overall experience with the blog?
My first time having a class blog and I LIKED it!
What have been your favorite blogs posts?
Talking about our favorite things (start for our issues paper ideas), and talking about a good book we've read lately. I also like the post analyzing pictures. The main reasons I liked these kind of posts was because they were fun and creative, and entertaining to read each others. OH and I like the sentence style blog.
What have been your least favorite blogs posts?
Completely honest, I kind of don't like finding an article or website and writing about all of the rhetorical tools they used. Like finding an argumentative website. I think those are more fun and effective to do with the whole class where you can have discussion.
Have certain types of posts really helped you with your writing?
Uh... I guess the ones I didn't like the most helped me.. the most. Oh embarrassing. To be specific, the website one, the "power of the word" one, and "evaluating sources."
Has the discussion through blog comments helped your learning?
Yeah I think so. Kind of. It's nice to read somene else's comment and analyze what they are saying. Brings new perspective.
Do you feel like you’ve participated in true discourse with your peers?
Yes? It was an entertaining activity to comment each others' blog posts. And now we're all friends :)
To you, what are the advantages and disadvantages of a blog over traditional assignments of the same size?
Advantages of the blog: convenient assignments. Students don't mind so much to write a quick paragraph or two in front of their computer at home as compared to writing up a hard-copy. Plus they've been easily accessible to look over and to comment on other peoples'. Is that right grammer? or spelling? whatever, you get what I'm sayin'.
Disadvantages... Can't think of any right now.
Does the fact that all of your peers are going to read what you write change how/what you write?
Well, automatically I say no, but really, probably. But I don't know why..

Analyzing Persuasive Websites

Probably the most important part of online rhetoric is ethos. Because the internet makes it easy to post almost anything on the internet, and almost as easy to direct the reader to one's sources, consumers of online content expect to know where you got your information before they can trust it.

The texting website relies heavily on logos--their advice is mostly common sense, so there isn't much need to cite a source, but they could use more figures to define texting as a social issue worthy of notice.

The social networking website makes good use of its sources and hyperlinks, but could probably be formatted better. I had no desire to read all three essay-style paragraphs on each web page.

http://ornery.org/

This is Orson Scott Card's political blog. He is extremely opinionated, and his arguments could almost be a case study in rhetorical fallacies. He fulminates constantly against what he considers to be a monolithic, insidious cabal of left-wing media outlets, politicians, and academic institutions. His site's formatting could use some work, but his writing is generally entertaining enough to keep you reading.

Opening Paragraph (super late)

Video games are unique as a mode of creative expression, with immense potential to engage the consumer, to portray an artist’s views, and, as technology improves, to be purely, deliciously aesthetic. The medium is still in its infancy, however, and game designers have yet to find good solutions to the medium’s unique artistic challenges, or to effectively mine its rich creative potential.

In my defense I pulled my second all nighter this week so I forgot.... Oops

The problem with a lot of websites it the frist appearence. If the first appearance is good then the internet surfer will stay on your website and read what you got to say. If your appearance is lacking then all the shallow people in the world will move on to the next big and great thing that hte internet has to offer. In the students websites what I really like was the one that had the youtube video before you entered the actual website. It got you interested and helped you to immediately understand what issue they are/were addressing. Sometimes videos and images can work really well and can compliment your arguement, but when used too much or at the wrong places it can ruin it all. There was one student web site on their home page had a whole bunch of images, and that just ruined it for me. It looked messy and out of place.

For the web site I chose a wikipedia page. Almost every Wikipedia webpage is trying to teach your or coninvce you about something. In this one it is about social networking. The layout of Wikipedia has obviously been successful because it is still being used with little complaints. It is clean and un cluttered and organized. These things are what can make or break a webpage.

So fun stuff.

Health care and Virtual Reality

So the non-student website i decided to look at was health care. which seems like a pretty easy one for right now. the website i used was http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/health-care which the white house website that talks about the health care agenda. being a government website the presentation looks very neat and straight forward. all the most important points are in bold so as to bring out their meaning. this also has video links, which is like the student essay is which i saw about virtual living. they both have video that try and expound on the topic and they are a lot both haveof hyper links. how ever the white house website has more of an ethos appeal, because it is after all the president. they don't put any effort into citing sources because they are the experts on the issue. i also think the color layout, basic blue and white of the government website gives it a more authoritative feel then the student website. Also the calligraphy of the white house has is more formal.

Its snowing :(.....

The website I found was arguing the issue of gun control. Their mission is to basically fight against the movement of putting a tighter hold on gun control. They believe it is a violation of the second amendment and are voicing their opinion. I found their website to be very well put together and user friendly. Which is a huge plus in my book, because if I click on a web site and get lost just trying to figure out how to use it, I find myself quickly using the previous page button on my browser and going back to google. I actually did this for a while when doing this blog post assignment till I found this one. Something that I actually really enjoyed on this website was something that I usually don't, the advertisements on the right hand side of the page. Because they were relevant to the pages context and also I found them to be entertaining I kept reading on. One other thing they did really well was on their opening page, it was just a list of current events on police reports of gun owners using them "for the right cause". I found these to be very interesting and it kept me interested.

Now although I found the website I found to be more professional and more informational. I must admit that I much more enjoyed looking at the students web pages. I loved the texting one and all the new media they uses to keep you reading on. Well I'll be honest some of the media was more entertaining than relevant in some cases, but it kept me there and interested none the less.

Weight

The two websites I looked at are both very good websites. The student website is a little bit less information heavy whereas the official website I found had a better layout. The student website was very interesting, as the photos used made me want to read the website to see if there were more photos. I wish that they had actually directly quoted some of the sources more, but the information that they presented was great. The other website I found is even more interesting: it is a webpage by vegetarians for vegetarians and there just happens to be a story about obesity in America. The article is thought provoking, formatted well, and includes some cool photos. It also has hyperlinks to other articles on the same website, like the student website; however, the other articles have more information and more photos. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses, so it would be hard to say that one is better than the other.

I like Jenni's title.

The website I choose to analyze is found here.

The title of the website is Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. I found it by typing, "campaign against smoking," on google and it was the first link that popped up. Before I clicked on it, I thought that it would be a website tailored towards children, with bright colors, large writing, and lots of cartoon pictures. However, I was wrong. Instead it is a very business looking website with a professional layout and pictures that are very real. I realized that this website it geared toward the smoking parents of children--not the children themselves. And the more professional you get the website to look, the more authority you seem to have. The home page of the website provides a link to several news stories and reports about current events that have to do with smoking/tobacco/experiments/their effects.
Some tools that make it particularly persuasive, other than the organization and clear cut arguments, are the pictures. A lot of the pictures are of children with sad or gloomy faces, and you get the impression they are suffering. Also the side bar has a list of links that support their argument, such as "federal initiatives," "state initiatives," "internation center," "research and facts," "press office," and "special gallery."

P.S. I really like that the texting website starts with a little video, that is pretty funny. It automatically engages the reader? website browser?

debe deba debe dodo deba deba diddi do

When looking through websites the first thing that catches my eye are the graphics on the website. For me when I'm looking at a website quickly it's that the physical appearance that catches my eye and makes me what to read all the words that people write. Honestly call me childish but i prefer pictures to words and I believe that the right picture leaves a far more lasting impression than words.

At prolife.come on the homepage it is the pictures that catch your heart and immediately agree with their side. I think the spring break example did a good job of that too. Testimonials are the next best thing to persuade people about your argument. When pictures, testimonials and few but profound words are used, then you have a very persuasive article.

Drunk Driving

For the texting site I think they did a good job. They had a lot of information and I loved all the youtube videos. They were funny yet made you realize how much texting is controling people's lives. The video of the kid who killed two guys by texting also added a lot to the argument. It was a real life experience. Also in the social networking site they had a youtube video how social networking had effected a girl. These videos make the argument more real and life like. For the spring break website they address the arguments of why BYU says we don't have a spring break. I think that is a strong point for them because they address the issues but then agrue why that really isn't a good reason. In the virtual living, they don't really explain what they are saying. For example they talk about the negative effects, saying that it will lead to physical, social and emotional problems for the user. Whether this is true or not they have no references showing that it is true and not jsut somehting they made up and they don't go on to explain why users would have these problems. So it makes the site seem less reliable.
A website I found that was against drunk driving is http://www.madd.org. MADD stands for mothers against drunk driving. I think it is a very good persuasive website trying to get people involved and to stop people driving under the influence. They have a place were it talks about there campaign. They have a simple version and then when you press on it they go into full detail about it and sometimes even have a video showing or explaining what they mean. This helps a lot because people can get an idea just by their first look, but once you press on it, they are able to understand more for what they are fighting for. One thing they have that really hits you is they have this cute picture of a little girl with things going past her saying 2006: first day of kindergarten 2007: Grandpa teaches her to ride her bike 2008: stars in her first school play. Then it goes back through those dates and crosses them out and puts instead 2005: hit and killed by a drunk driver. They have three more people who have had life changing experiences like their death or being paralyzed. This helps you see the reality of it all. They have a place for research done and a place that lists all the statistics found concerning drunk driving. They just have a lot of information in all aspects from statistics to how to get involved. It is a very persuasive website because they are reliable and they have a lot of information proving and trying to get you involved.

Pro abortionists are Pro life too??

I was trying to decide on what would be a good persuasive website. I wasn't sure what to look for then I thought, "hey, what about a controversial issue? There are tons of sites about them". SO...I looked up abortion sites and found this one. It is definitely a persuasive site. http://www.abortionisprolife.com/ Well first off one of the biggest things about it was the first quote. It is from Ayn Rand, who is a pretty controversial book writer. I've read one of her books. Well it trashes the other side, and makes you think about your stance on the issue. "Abortion is a moral right—which should be left to the sole discretion of the woman involved; morally, nothing other than her wish in the matter is to be considered. Who can conceivably have the right to dictate to her what disposition she is to make of the functions of her body? " Ok and the quote from Ayn Rand changes every time you go to the home page, so this may not be the exact quote you see. Then the next is a link to a doctor who has the best 10 minute argument for abortion. It then proceeds to gives links to sites that will give you all of the latest arguments for it, all of the frequently asked questions AND the student resource section. All a student could ever need or want to know to write a paper. The papers themselves really dig hard at people against abortion. "Abortion-rights advocates should not cede the terms "pro-life" and "right to life" to the anti-abortionists. It is a woman's right to her life that gives her the right to terminate her pregnancy.The weakness is the site itself isn't very aesthetic. It isn't really convincing itself.
The other websites on the blog post page were ok. The one that was the most convincing was the one on social networking. It combines the text with other types of media such as videos or pictures. The negative link that showed the negative effects like split personalities...sounds horrid.

On the Web

Well the first thing you notice when you enter a site is it's appearance. The site should look easy to use and have nice graphics, but nothing too overwhelming. For example the virtual reality site had some text that was hard to read because of how it blended in with the background. This is frustrating and somewhat of a distraction so I think it may not appeal to people. Also on that website there was a video that was cut off. Maybe it was just a problem that the group couldn't fix, but nonetheless it is distracting. Also the website about weight had problems with the text and pictures overlapping which is not a positive thing. The site should be interesting, yet also look proper as appropriate.
The social networking site did pretty well with this. I thought the use of so many links was a little too much. I think it was cool to have the link to the Universe article about spring break on that site. Also just simple things like the text and making sure there are no grammatical mistakes would help the sites be persuasive. I think it is a good thing that some of the sites put search boxes in. I'm not sure how often people would use them, but they are nice to have just in case.

The site I chose was one about quitting smoking. I think that it looks appealing and draws you in just from the cheerful homepage. It is easy to use and has lots of helpful links and such. I think it is persuasive in its use of short and powerful testimonials. At the bottom of each page there is a different person with just a one line phrase that is uplifting. I think this makes it more personal which is persuasive.

Is this the last blog post?

Persuasive writing is all around us today, on billboards, ads and of course, on the internet. Persuasive websites know their audience and use different techniques to target that audience. For example, the student created texting website was created with teenagers and early young adults in mind. This website is interesting and engaging, with different links and videos. The videos are targeted towards teens and show different instances in which texting is used positively and negatively. Persuasive websites also explore both sides of the issue. As in the social networking website, it not only talks about the potential dangers of social networking, but also the benefits of this type of internet interaction. This allows the reader to see both sides of the issue and determine for themselves what their position is on the issue. Another website that I found to be very persuasive was Dove's website (http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/). This site is targeted towards young girls with the specific intent to increase the self-esteem of girls. The website has many interactive features that allow the reader to become involved in the website. Yet, one of the weaknesses of this website is that the self-esteem aspect of the website is very minimal, most of the site seems to be about Dove's products. Although when you do get into the self-esteem part it has a lot of information (which is still comparatively small compared to the rest of the website).

intro...eh, what?

What happens to a culture or a cultural tradition when new media like the internet, popular cinema, and alternative recording techniques are woven into the society? In many cases the society weaves this new information and lifestyle into the culture; they acculturate the information into a new idea, into a culturally-acceptable idea that then spreads throughout the entire nation. In some nations, many believe that the modernizing world is a detriment to the cultural history; however, modern media influences have helped to preserve and protect the national culture and the cultural history in India through the Bollywood traditions. Not only do they make them more readily accessible, but they aid in guarding the greater and older traditions of dance, music and oration. This is, overall, a major benefit to culture and proves to benefit the culture by preserving, respecting and honoring it, rather than destroying or hindering it.

Calcium is bad for you.

From the day Neolithic man discovered pitch, music has been evolving for thousands of years. One would think that at the dawn of the 20th century, music would have reached perfection. Enter Stravinsky, the eccentric Russian composer whose two ballets, The Firebird and Petroushka, had achieved great popularity. In the spring of 1913, Stravinsky and the avant-garde choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky thought of something completely new. They dug down deep into Russian's pre-Christian, Slavic roots and designed a performance featuring ritual, tribal sacrifice. Stravinsky's rhythmic, percussive strings combined with completely atonal chords and eerie melodies; a style never before experience. The piece has been called the most important piece of music written in the 20th century. Its initial reception, however, was horrendous. Booing cries of disgust appeared just after the first movement. Enthusiasts willing to give the music a chance invited arguments. Fighting ensued. Stravinsky's premiere of his epic work representing a life of study and millenniums of musical evolution was met with a riot. How could The Rite of Spring be condoned by musicians and musicologists as a wonder yet receive one of the most ill-met premieres in history? It all comes down to the public’s understanding and ability to appreciate musical complexity. Through the natural selection of popular music, the common man’s aloofness to musical intricacies prevents musical genres from becoming too complex and alienating the populace.

Relying on Technology

In today’s day and age, technology is everywhere around us. We use technology in almost everything now. We have our cell phones, laptop computers, portable music players, even electronic cash registers. We as a people have come to rely on this technology for some of the most mundane tasks. One of these things we don’t do for ourselves anymore is in getting directions and traveling. No longer do people get directions from actual other people, or from a map. Now, we just punch an address into our navigation systems we have installed in our cars. Once we have done that, we just blindly follow where it tells us to go. It's my belief that this is having a negative effect on our society.

So Much Cooler Online Intro

Three million people use the internet each day, of those three million about seven hundred and fifty thousand of them are using social networking sites (citation i forgot which one it is from when i wrote it down but will find it). Social networks provide constant connections to friends, family members, classmates and even strangers. The constant contact these sites provide with others, can affect the relationships of the users in positive and negative ways. Catching up after lost time, or suffocating one another with too much information. These sites can help and or hurt you and your relationships with others. Some of these sites are designed to help you find your true love or soul mate. While others are used to post information about everything in your life from pictures, messages, new statuses and more. Whatever the design of the site, caution needs to be taken to ensure safety and also to establish healthy relationships with others. Social networking sites can be used for many different purposes. One of the major attractions of social networking sites is the ability to reconnect with people from your past or that are not nearby. Another major appeal of social networking sites is the opportunity it provides for you to not to be alone or lonely. This lack of loneliness and constant connection to others, can sometimes lead to an illusion of popularity through a popular cyber social life. But is a cyber life a good replacement for reality? What kind of effects are social networking sites having on our relationships with others? The increase in usage of social networking sites causes fake confidence given to the users and affects their relationships with their peers.

Trade: The Free and the Fair

The world is out to get us. Give them an inch and they will walk all over you. In 2002 President Bush passed a steel tariff called the steel tariff act of 2002. (cleverly named) it was meant to save our domestic steel industry from the “unfair” trade of the world. Other nations were undercutting our prices and selling consumers steel that was 30% cheaper. The audacity! Unfortunately for the steel industry the tariff lasted for less then a year because the world trade organization took disciplinary measures. What were they thinking? Don’t they care about our struggling nation? Surly all they were worried about was helping other people and leaving us to hang.

Free trade is one of those things that everybody has an opinion on but no one fully understands. Whether you’re listening to Glenn Beck or Ben Bernanke you’ll find ideas are across the board. What is the big deal with free trade in the first place? Is it damnation or salvation… or maybe a little of both.

hmmmm how to start?

Do you remember the good old days when you worked really hard on your homework, finished it, then your mom gave you the ok, and you ran to the TV…. Grabbed your favorite video game… but before putting it in…. you blew in it so that it would work. When the most violent game was either Duck Hunt or Lemmings (poor little green guys…) or Super Mario where you unmercifully killed walking mushrooms! Back when you turned off the game that was it… the only big effect it had on your life was those really obnoxious Tetris dreams you would have flipping blocks all night? Video games have come a LONG way sense then, the change is almost night and day! Now days you will find some games with such great dept to the game play that you could spend hours, days, even years and never beat it. Games that you end up doing double take to figure out if its real or not because of its quality of graphics. And instead of playing with one other choice friend in your families TV room, now from your bedroom you can play with nearly 12 million people. Online gaming has become a huge part of today’s culture and society. The question though is proposed, are all these advances in video gaming affecting our society for the better or were we better off with Mario?

Introduction

For 8-18 year olds, an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes is taken up daily by entertainment media, such as TV and DVD watching, computer and video games, surfing the web, texting and listening to music, reports the Kaiser Family Foundation. They go on to say that during this 7 1/2 hour time, children are actually fitting in a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media usage because they are using more than one media activity at a time, they are multitasking with media. Every single day is consumed by that much media for children and that adds up to over 53 hours a week! Thats a full time job, except they are not doing anything productive. What are children spending their time doing? As shown they are wasting their time with plenty of media. With school being part of their day and sleeping part of the day that doesn't leave much time for homework, family time or even exercising. With all this usage of media are children taking care of their bodies? In today's world children's time is being consumed by media which in turn is affecting their health. Parents need to realize what their children are spending their time doing. Not only what children are doing, but what their child is missing and what all this time spent on media is replacing. Physical activity is being cut out of children's lives because children can no longer find time to do it. This media usage is taking so much time out of their lives that they feel the least important thing to squeeze in there is exercising, so they don't. The increase of media usage is replacing some of the time that could be spent in physical activity which in turn is effecting children's health, for the bad.

In the Beginning...

Yes...I know it's two paragraphs...but this is my entire intro and the first paragraph doesn't make sense without the second.

A salty sea breeze blew in from the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina. The waves, gently rolling in, beckoned all around to come and cool off from what had been a warm July day.Suddenly a high whistle pierced the calm summer’s evening followed by a large explosion and the cries of men struck by hot pieces of shrapnel. Orders were shouted up and down the lines as explosions occurred at an ever increasing rate. Miraculously reaching the earthen embankment leading to Fort Wagner an impressive figure stood boldly atop it, waving his sword, beckoning his men onward. With a sudden crack and cloud of smoke this man crumpled in a heap, the victim of enemy musket fire. The sounds of battle reached alarming levels when suddenly a lone voice in the distance cried out, “Cut!”
In 1989, a movie was released which told the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, one of the first official colored regiments in the Union Army during the Civil War. It was the movie “Glory” directed by Edward Zwick. “Glory” and other dramatic historical films have been heralded both as important pieces of historical teaching and as historically heretical. The genre of historical film has been belittled and attacked by numerous historians. They claim that the films revise history or do not show an accurate portrayal of historical events, do not allow people to think critically, and create a historically numb society. To take this stance on this genre of popular film is detrimental to historical learning. Dramatic historical films are an important part of historical understanding and when created and viewed correctly, they can have great influence in society.

Introducing...

The Role of Documentaris in the Changing History Classroom

Memorizing imporant dates, reciting the Preamble to the Constitution and copying facts off of teh blackboard; each of these activities have been used by history teachers to convey the most important facts of history. These methods have been tested and proven to be effective, yet with our changing technological world, the way in which we teach must also change. By incorporating specific mediums of technology into the classroom, namely documentaries made by professionals and students, history teachers can more effectively teach their students the required material and create interest in a potentially boring subject. Professional documentaries allow students to explore biases and viewpoints in history and student-created documentaries allow students to research and compile their findings in a meaningful way.

intro

The practices of midwifery have fluctuated in the years, growing in and out of popularity. Why has this occurred? Midwifery is no longer the most common method of childbirth. Society now considers is most logical to deliver babies in hospitals, with the help of doctors. It is also viewed that midwives are not fully equipped with the knowledge or technology to safely deliver babies in a home environment. What most women in America don’t realize is that midwives are usually just as trained in delivering babies as any doctor, and most of the time they have safer and more logical methods. The fact of the matter is that many of the protocol methods in hospitals actually infringe upon the rights of the mother in making decisions about her childbirth. This essay will analyze the many different ways that hospital protocol is actually harmful and unnecessary while midwifery practices more perfectly attend to each individual mother and child’s needs. It will also explore where these new traditional practices come from and how they have been led astray.

Body Image and the Internet

“Karen: God. My hips are huge! Gretchen: Oh please. I hate my calves. Regina: At least you guys can wear halters. I've got man shoulders. Gretchen: My hairline is so weird. Regina: My pores are huge. Karen: My nail beds suck.” Truthfully speaking, there is about a 95% chance that if you’re female you can name this movie. Mean Girls is a movie about a girl, Cady, from Africa conforming to the social “norms” of high school. The leader of a notorious band of popular girls, the plastics, is the character Regina. She is the embodiment of the perfect female with her flawless skin, thin body, and shiny teeth. She and her and her band of girls are all the envy of the school as everyone, but the “dorks” try to change their fashions to become like her. They not only change their own reflections, but their sense of self as they needlessly try to morph into someone they are not. Mean Girls is just one of many examples that houses an underlying theme or a general theme that revolves on the principle that happiness is dependent on beauty, thinness and perfection. There are more documented cases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa than ever before. Women are constantly in pursuit of that ideal, and are losing themselves and their self confidence when they cannot reach this staggering goal. The media is constantly producing films, advertisements, television shows, internet and magazine ads that depict young women with the ideal body weight and it has a strong effect on the psyches of young women today. The overexposure of negative images to young women through the media, more specifically the internet, creates a negative self image which manifests itself in destructive ways. This paper defines the terms: negative body image as being low self perception, demeaning or destructive thoughts regarding the body; negative images as advertisements, circulated propaganda, videos portraying, or computer generated women who are ideally thin; ideally thin as having a BMI of around 18.5 or lower; normal or average weight or body as a BMI of 20 or higher.

Intro Revision

For several years suicide has been a tragedy. Yet something that has just begun to emerge in the previous decades is the internet. These two topics may seem unconnected but in reality the internet is making an impact on suicide. In fact there is now even a term cybersuicide because of the issue it has become. “Cybersuicide is a term used in reference to suicide and its ideations on the Internet. Cybersuicide is associated with websites that lure vulnerable members of society and empower them with various methods and approaches to deliberate self-harm.” (R, Birbal)

According to an article in the British Medical Journal, “More than 100000 sites about suicide now appear on the world wide web. Many of these seem to condone suicide and forbid entry to anyone offering to dissuade users from taking their own lives”. With all this information on the web it is important to learn more about the impact of cybersuicide. Although the internet can be a beneficial source in helping those struggling with suicidal thoughts, it can also be a negative influence. The internet may go as far as to encourage people to commit suicide. People need to be aware and cautious of the harmful interactions and information about suicide that the internet provides.

Electronic Babysitters Intro. Awesome.

There exists today a rift in consensus concerning the effectiveness of educational media in babies’ and toddlers’ intellectual growth. Although the products that are being churned out in vast quantites claim to improve vocabulary, one is led to wonder whether these are truly grounded facts. Parents concerned with whether to trust education media such as Baby Einstein and Dora the Explorer or not often suggest manually working with their children as a viable alternative. One must look into scientific research on the matter to truly assuage one’s curiosity about the subject, especially in the light of the fact that these claims are offset by accusations that it is media itself that is harming children’s educational and academic potential. As it were, statistical data is readily available on a number of these products, comparing their expected performance to their actual. The results serve to suggest at what the overall effect of such dependency on child-rearing media can be. Media is no stranger to the public eye – it has been repeatedly attacked and defended by various groups in the past. In the field of academics in particular, media tends to play a large, and wholly diverse role. In order to better comprehend the nature of media schooling for babies and toddlers, one can look at the media related to the lives and study habits of older children. Media plays a number of roles in this regard – first, there is media used by teachers in a classroom setting, breaking the expected norm of the conventional teaching methods of lectures and hands-on demonstrations. The other type of media is the face that the general public has come more to know – recreational pastimes such as television, internet, and video gaming. These outlets are notably reviled by extreme activists; it shouldn't be too far from the truth to assert that in today's society, most people are familiar with the claim that media is in a sense education's bane, regularly being the cause of lacklustre performances and scores in the academic setting. Although any widespread argument possesses its share of overarching and, at times, blatantly untruthful claims, it nevertheless cannot be denied that with a campaign so well-known, the argument that media is an educational deterrent must have its strands of veracity in it. In fact, when all things are considered, it is a veritable opinion to have that educational media probably has fewer benefits than it claims to have, and quite possibly a number of negative side effects, specifically when exposed to those of a young age.

Intro: Online Gaming Addictions

Online Gaming Addiction – Hurting you and me

The internet could be hailed as one of the most influential and effecting programs that the world has ever been exposed to. It has helped hundreds of millions of people to connect with each other. It has provided ways of sending information instantly, allowing for technology and sciences to advance rapidly because of the instant communication. It has helped people gain access to trillions upon trillions amounts of information. It has provided ways for people, who would not have been able to do so otherwise, to go to school and learn. It has opened up the opportunity to increase the economic status of people everywhere. It has also provided more jobs which employs more people and more people employed produces a better economy. It has even provided means of entertainment ranging from videos and movies to games to chat rooms to blogs and forums. But along with this great mount of good that the internet has provided, it has also provided a great deal of heart ache and misery.
Like most anything else, the internet can be abused and cause a catastrophic destruction. It can ruin one person’s life, it can tear apart families, and it can destroy a nation because of what we can do with it. Viruses, illegal down-loadings, fraud, identity theft, pornography, sexual abuse, and more have risen as a result of the internet. And just like most anything else, it can also become addictive. Because of the wide range of uses that the internet provides there is a wide range of factors that influence becoming addicted, and there is a wide range of aspects to become addicted to – chat rooms, online shopping, Facebook and Myspace, email, internet surfing, pornography. Of all of the internet addictions, addictions to online gaming or MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role playing games) caused by excessive play time of can deteriorate family and social relationships.

Issues Paper Outline

Thesis: Like novels in the 18th century or film in the early 20th century, video games are still in their infancy; still "multimedia", a mixture of other artistic forms. However, if the medium can attract enough gifted artists, it has great potential to become "high art".

Body:

1) Other forms of media and their history

--disparaging quotes about film and novels from previous eras, compared to disparaging comments made about video games.

2) Challenges of the medium, and how to overcome them

--interactivity vs. narrative; cheap thrills vs. artistic merit; high production costs of combining film, literature, and visual design elements

3) Strengths of the medium

--immersive experience, user accountability, interactivity, realism

Conclusion: While a number of difficulties remain before video games can earn the same esteem as older forms and attract a higher caliber of artists and consumers, the medium is full of potential to move and inspire.

The Outline

Yes, this is kind of general and not finished; in my defense (i.e. lame excuse) I had a busy weekend and forgot all about this.

Historical Film

Intro
The genre of historical film has been attacked and belittled. I will briefly describe some of the antagonistic views of this genre.
Thesis: Historical films, when used properly, can bolster society’s historical understanding as well as have a positive influence for change.

Body
Bolstering society’s historical understanding

• Presents differing viewpoints
• Movies allow un-told stories to be told

Gives an audience a glimpse into the past in a vivid, evocative way

• Sets, props, costumes, etc.

Another point that I haven’t quite settled on yet

Positive influence for change

• Movies often portray the “controversial” events in history and entertain while allowing people to take home a message

• Example of the movie “Glory”:Taught about the effects of stereotypes, racism, determination, courage, power of ideas, etc. Generated a lot of interest in the topic
  

Conclusion
Draw everything together to discuss that historical movies can be effective at teaching history under certain circumstances

The Social Effect of Online Gaming

Social Effects of Online Gaming

1) Introduction

a) The social effects that online gaming is having on society

i) Massive online gaming is effecting society mentally and morally is it a positive effect or negative

2) What online gaming is and the social structure with in it

a) World of Warcraft

i) The recent trends and news coverage with this game

ii) Testimonials

3) The Addiction

a) Why its addictive

b) Immediate effects of addiction

4) The mental effects

a) Aggression

b) The effects on the individual and Society

i) Lack of social skill in personal life and business world

5) The Moral Effects

a) Lacking sense of reality

i) Being able to start over theory

ii) “life is a game”

b) Churches stance

6) The Conclusion

State my theses for the first time with a short recap of the points I have brought up

Outline for Mapping Technology

Introduction:
*People are becoming extrememly dependent on thier techology
*This is extrmemely evident in the use of Navigation systems
*People are blindly following technology and then sometimes blame the technology for thier problems
*Thesis

Body:
*Why invent navigation systems
*the effect they have had on society
pros
cons
*Why people blame others when they get lost
*What happens when people get lost
*How can we as a society fight this issue of ignorance when it comes to following navigation systems.

Conclusion:
*Summarize my main points from every paragraph
*Repeat the thesis from the beginning.

Outline

This is my basic outline...hopefully it makes some sort of sense to someone other than me.

Introduction

This is the portion of my paper where I will cover my thesis and the main point of my argument as well as lay out the form of the rest of my paper.

Part 1-Modernization and how it affects the world, both new and ancient cultures.

Industries

New Media

New Arts

Part 2-Cultural history and the traditions of India and the affect of new media (modernization).

Dance

Language

Music

Part 3-Bollywood and how it has affected the culture of India (and how it is affected by the modernizing world).

Films

Traditions it points to...

Industry

What is protected and how.

Conclusion

This will be the culminating thoughts and ideas of the paper. I will be arguing the point further by asking questions about the topic that push everything further.

Protectionism

Introduction – popular protectionism

Pre-war protectionism

- Mercantilism- the theory of running a trade surplus and the implications

- Retaliation tariffs – mercantilism proves to be counter productive as more nations retaliate against those who impose restrictions on them

- The Great depression – trade barriers lead to no demand for additional production.

- World war I

o Tariff wars - loss of the gains from specialization

- World war II

o Japanese oil – trade barriers lead to attack on pearl harbor

Post-war revolution

- Breton wood conference – reform of world trade policy

o GATT – General agreement on tariffs and trade

- 7 conferences – progressive trade liberalization

- GDP and trade – strong correlation between a nations wealth and the level of trade it has.

- 1970s protectionist pressures

o Countervailing duties’ and Anti-dumping provisions- despite GATT rules lobbies find innovative ways around them

§ Abuse of GATT rules

o Voluntary export restraints (VER) – “voluntarily” imposing a tariff on the side of the exporter

§ Japanese automakers

General principle of exchange – achieve goods of the greatest value

- Comparative advantage - you don’t need to be better you just need to be different

- Gains from Specialization – resources devoted to the most efficient producer

Exchange of currencies: where value lies

- money has no value unless it is used. And it has to be used in the native economy

Iowa car crop – you can either make cars in Detroit or grow them in Iowa

Exchange through digital mediums (New media application)

- how do you restrict a public good

What is happening in the United States: Running trade deficit

Conclusion