Finally, the end of the semester. This third semester in college, while being the hardest so far, was definitely enjoyable. In my English class, we wrote about many subjects, focusing on the technology that has crept into our lives. The first assignment was on how technology effects our lives, the second was on the cause and effects of technology, the third was on analyzing propaganda, and our last assignment was a website we created among three group members, focusing on the power of hyperlinks in crafting an ethos. To me, the best way to define ethos is not only what gives you the right to pass judgement on something, or to make an argument, but is also about your experiences and background. When I talk to someone about the University of Oklahoma for example, the fact that I have been a student for 3 semesters here, and the fact that I have been raised all my life around the Sooner culture would greatly effect the effect my opinion will have on them. Ethos is where you show someone who you are as a person, and where you try to make them step in your shoes and see the work through your eyes. They have their own personal experiences, but at the core, when you try to show someone your ethos, you are trying to show them your ethical beliefs, along with the details to show how you think and how you worked to find your idea.
In my second essay, I covered the effects of Wikileaks on the world, and as an American who feels that keeping up with trends and knowing how technology is enhancing, or even just altering our lives. I enjoyed doing this essay very much, and looked into quite a few sources, so much that I almost couldn't even fit all I wanted to say within the page limit. Reading into the childhood of Julian Assange kinda made me question his ability as a leader, as I read into detail of how he has been pitted against the government and law much of his life. "When he was 16 he started hacking, and he and 2
other friends formed a trio they called “the International Subversives”.", and eventually they were caught and charged. Afterward, "he and his ex-wife had a long custody battle in
which Assange had to fight the bureaucracy of the “Health and Community
Services”", and he could not get a settlement for seeing his son until "After more than 40 legal hearings and appeals,
starting a group to appeal for changes to Australian law, and obtaining some
internal documents, Assange finally reached a custody agreement in 1999.". From the young age of 16, the governments in his area have been set against him, in ways that could easily make him bitter. I feel that this essay was very good, and I wish I could have written more on Julian Assange's character, and how interesting it is that he is the leader of an organization based on revealing secrets of governments around the world.
On the third assignment we had to do(the propaganda one), I really enjoyed the choice to pick my commercials to compare. In my Senior year of high school, I had my AP Government class, and to this day it is one of the most informative and enjoyable classes I have had. One of our class periods we spent looking at many different ad's, including "Peace Little Girl", "Ike at Gettysburg", and many others from the Nixon and Kennedy era. Seeing the Peace Little Girl ad now without the class, I would not understand how effective it was. From the discussion I had in my class, we came upon the idea that "the 1960s seemed to be a time where there was
much to fear for the average citizen, and nuclear war was among these many
fears", and I made sure to reflect upon that for the essay. I enjoyed being able to go into detail on two ad's that I had a history with, and being able to use the propaganda devices and rhetorical analysis, made our claim in my senior year class even stronger.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Johnson
or Goldwater? Comparing Ads
In recent years
campaigning has become synonymous with the television attack ads and propaganda
pictures appearing everywhere. The 2012 election has been hailed by some, including
John Geer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt, as “likely to be one
of the most negative races since the advent of television”(Meacham). Obviously
though, the idea of the attack ad has not always existed. The first, and to
this day still one of the most infamous attack ads, was Lyndon B. Johnsons
“Peace Little Girl” ad (Meacham). It is quite possible that this ad, which ran
only once, had a huge impact on the landslide victory of Johnson over Barry
Goldwater, and changed the landscape of the campaign ad atmosphere. I believe
that Johnsons “Peace Little Girl” ad is a much more effective ad than Goldwater’s
“Ike at Gettysburg” ad because at the time, the attack ad was a new concept,
and it effectively preyed upon the public’s fear of nuclear war. To compare the
two ads, I am going to use Nancy Woods “Eight Special Features of Visual
Argument”, the seven common propaganda devices as described by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis.
Multitasking
One of the most interesting things that we talked about in class I feel, was the concept of multitasking, and how inefficient it is, even though many feel that it works. I found a PBS article online talking about studies from various universities, and opinions of various scientists. According to a study conducted by Clifford Nass, a cognitive scientist at Standford, found that multitaskers ere bad at filtering irrelevant information from relevant. Multitaskers had a lower mental organizations, and also had a hard time switching activities. One thing that multitaskers did better on, was "inattention blindness". An famous study on inattention blindness was where people are asked to pay attention to basketball players shooting baskets, and completely miss a man in a gorilla suit walking around with them. The most interesting thing about the article to me though, is the fact that high multitaskers have more social problems than people who do not multitask. Apparently, stress hormones are released when we are rapidly switching tasks, which is a pattern said to be from our ancestors avoiding predators. While multitasking is good for getting multiple things done, it also can be detrimental to our health and our happiness, so beware when becoming to immersed in everything at once.
The Internet:: A Frontier for Everyone to Conquer
When the internet was first conceptualized and created in the 1960's, I don't think that anyone could have predicted that one day, it would be so popular and widespread, that even people as prestigious as the President of the United States would use it. Originally started primarily for sharing information with other researchers, as technology allowed for more accessibility and ease of use, computers began to explode in popularity. Computers went from being machines costing in the tens of thousands of dollars to get a low end one, to being almost a household item. Recently, in the 2012 presidential election year, Barack Obama posted on popular website reddit, which I thought was a very very interesting trend. The internet has become so popular, that even campaigning for the office of president has started to take place on it. As the years have gone on, more and more people have embraced the internet, and all I can see is it becoming more and more integrated with the world, and I hope that everybody is ready.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Laptop In School: Helpful or Harmful?
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| Picture courtesy of Asus.com |
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