Choose Your Topic

Each of you will be responsible for assigning questions or problems to solve for an upcoming topic on our schedule. Look at our schedule on the calendar on Blackboard and choose the topic you'd like to be responsible for. Your post here must be up *prior* to class time that day and deal with the topic in some broad sense. You may want to connect it to our reading for that day as well as link it to previous discussions we have had.

Select your day (and a second choice as well) and post it in the comments here, no later than Friday at noon. Check the comments before adding your own. The sooner you post, the greater the likelihood of getting the day and topic you would prefer. All dates after spring break are available. Once you've all posted, I will add your names to the calender so you have an extra reminder.

What Makes for an Effective Blog?

DUE: Friday by 5pm

Link to the blog you brought to class today and explain in detail why you chose it. Does it have one author or a team? Is it commercial or personal? Who is the audience? How can you tell? What's appealing about the visual layout? What about color choices? What sort of links do they offer? What brings people back?

Be persuasive.

The Rhetoric of Social Justice

I'd hoped to talk about the "look" of social justice sites in class, because here on the blog I'd like you to focus on the rhetoric of social justice. If you recall from our first day of class, rhetoric can be described as "the art or science of using words effectively to influence or persuade." Comparing the site you chose with EFF, how do they convey the importance of their missions in words? What key phrases can you identify as working to persuade the reader -- and how? Explain the effect of specific terms or phrases on the reader. What sort of emotions or realisation are they meant to provoke? What is particularly effective (and what is not)? How do the visual elements (color, images, spacing, relative size, etc.) enhance the message?

Once you're done -- enjoy your spring break!

Social Justice

As young adults that are constantly exposed to Commercial Websites, we are all familiar with what these sites have to offer. Whether it is the latest social networking page or search engine website, most likely everyone knows the main goal the site is trying to portray. What about Social Justice Websites though? Have you ever taken the time to check out the latest news on PETA or the HRC? Have you ever personally contributed to a Social Justice website? Before this assignment, I never have but I am happy that I finally did. After taking the time to check a few out, I discovered the ways that these websites keep in contact with their contributors; add new volunteers and how they do it without seeming like a cheesy advertisement. First off, they are very clear about their organization and how to get involved. These sites all offer information about the social issues the group is fighting against or for, the community they have built throughout the years, how you personally can get involved and updates on the latest news to keep you informed. The site that I took most interest in is the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) website. Not only does the page have informative articles, tools and videos that make you want to get involved but it also gives you ways to stay involved. By adding hyperlinks like their Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube and even a Blog page, this Social Justice Site knows how to keep people’s attention through the media which is important when targeting people via the internet. After looking through a Social Justice Site of your own, how do you feel its importance is shown through a world full of commercialized sites? How do these sites try to differentiate themselves from a Commercialized Web page? Do you think that these sites should be publicized more than a commercialized site or do you think that they already are?

-Caroline

Facebook

Facebook is something we all know quite a bit about. Most of us have one ourselves. It has become such a huge part of our culture and a major part of the internet. Just a few years ago, no one had heard of such a place. Now it's even talked about in everyday life to the point where it's unavoidable.
After reading the articles about founder Mark Zuckerberg, I began to think and reflect a little bit more about Facebook. What do we really know about this site where we spend so much time and share so much with the world? After all, what do we really know about this mysterious computer "genius" who started it all?
Think about what you currently share on your Facebook (if you don't have one, think about what you would put out there if you did). Think of how your Facebook represents you as a person. What would you think if your parents saw your information, photos, etc.? How about a potential employer? Do you represent yourself in a way that is professional? Do you care what your Facebook says about you to those who view it? Are you worried at all about the security of your information?

Sign up for Blog Posts

The topics (though not all the questions pertaining to them) are up for the rest of the semester. Choose the day you want to be responsible for posting a blog entry here. This will require talking a little bit about the topic as well as posing questions for the class to answer prior to class time. Look over the calendar on Blackboard and choose a topic that you find of particular interest. First come, first served.


UPDATE: For Monday blog posts, you will have until midday Tuesday to respond. For Wed blog posts, you have until midday Friday. You do need to post a follow-up to your own post; feel free also to comment as the discussion unfolds.

Non-Profit Blogs

[Yes, your instructor is still ill -- there is a second blog post that will appear at the end of class time: be sure to do both assignments]

For today's assignment, you needed to choose a non-profit site. List your choice and discuss their founding, mission, and give examples of the ways that they engage followers and solicit new ones. How do they seek to appeal to new followers? How is the site different from the commercial sites and news media sites we have looked at? How do they convey their status is verbal and non-verbal ways? What do they have in common with commercial sites, i.e. what do they need to do the same as commercial sites?

BoingBoing and Google

Respond to your group's questions in the comments here: be sure to include links in your response to the relevant information. Write out your question(s) before you answer, so others will know to what you're responding. Also make sure that YOUR NAMES are included at the end of the comment, as only one person can be tagged as author of the comment.

How Can You Be an Effective Blogger?

This week we have been reading blogs at ProBlogger. Our topic has been how to be an effective blogger. What did we discover about being effective as a blogger?

What makes an effective blog?

DUE: Friday by 5pm

Link to the blog you brought to class today and explain in detail why you chose it. Does it have one author or a team? Is it commercial or personal? Who is the audience? How can you tell? What's appealing about the visual layout? What about color choices? What sort of links do they offer? What brings people back?

Be persuasive.