The Way People Think: Mindsets in Modern Society: Nick Meyer

http://imgur.com/A1dDZ

Couldn't get iWeb working to host the site, so a screen capture of it will have to do...

Psych of Self

Sarah-

Fred - http://prezi.com/hj7d5fiyrnhd/present/?auth_key=x2jdzvi&follow=jhul9qye5n88

Metamorphosis of Cultures: It's Very Kafkaesque

Alex- My project discusses how duck decoys have altered throughout the evolution of waterfowl hunting. I have created a slideshow presentation to further demonstrate and explain these changes.

Caitlin- My presentation will be based on the topic of historic American mansions, and how historic preservation has impacted them. I hope to provide valuable insight on these pieces of the past and how they influence the present.
 http://cdashiell104.weebly.com/

Andrea- This is a podcast about Japanese loanwords (called gairaigo) and how they work in modern society. The podcast itself is hosted on mediafire and for the sake of the presentation on Wednesday, I created a little slideshow to accompany it.

Educational Videos - Final

Rebecca Penn  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QSeMh3TxFg

Aaron Wagner  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8S7SVt65EQ

Xiaosiqi Yang  - https://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/xyang/BSU_SHARED/done_video/

Modern Day Brain Child Final

Christine- I have finished my video. I will bring it to class on a CD and show it to the class. If you want to look at my actual blog that I used as a base for this project, here is the link, Cookies of My Brain

Sam- I have finished my website and I will present it to the class for everyone to see. Here is my link.

http://sngrayson.iweb.bsu.edu/eng104/styled-10/index.html

The Way People Think: Mindsets in Modern Society

Myriah: My project is a site for anyone who wants to learn more about foster care and some of the changes in the system that need to be made. it has info about foster care and myself and why i believe this is an important issue and about the changes and long term effects of foster care. http://infoforfostercarechanges.weebly.com/

Mary: My projects it a website that offers information to the everyday person without using the medical wording that confuses many people. It is for a wide range of people, those who have a mental illness, those who know someone with a mental illness as well as those who fear that they are at risk of having a disorder. http://psychinfo965.weebly.com/index.html

Nick: My project is a website that is directed towards anybody. It doesnt have a direct audience.

Psychology of Self

My name is Michael Shipman.  So far with my multi-modal project I have explained a little bit about what it is like to have PTSD.  I have also put a video up that explains some of the symptoms shown of a person who has Post traumatic stress disorder. 

My name is Fred Robinson. For my final project I am going to have a short game show explaining the difference between sex and gender. So far I have began learning how to use Prezi and I have set up a layout for my content. I also have started creating questions and information to plug into the presentation.

Sarah- i've started my painting with the differnt sections of addictions and and beginning to work on a powerpoint or paper on what i am going ot say. i'm not sure how i'm going to say the information yet.

Educational Videos

Rebecca - So far I have written the lyrics and Aaron has written the music on guitar for our educational video on Gay Rights entitled "Who's To Say." It is coming along great and I have filmed short clips of couples holding hands, expressing their love, etc to dub over the music video to interest my audience even moreso. Today, Aaron, Xiaosiqi, and I collaborated to help each other on our projects and we starting filming us singing the song in a music room. We will have to meet again to get a cleaner version of it, but some of the clips are very usable.

Aaron - Aaron has been researching his topic more in depth to find facts on the history of blues to present in a video fashion. He will be playing clips from original blues songs and will show pictures of blues artists. His voice will dub over it as he explains his topic more thoroughly. It is coming along well but much research is needed.

Xiaosiqi - His video, on second language learners, will film American speakers attempting to speak and understand a unique paragraph in several different languages. We started working on this after class on Thursday and were able to get a few students to read the paragraph aloud. This demonstrates the difficulty in speaking a language not native to your own, while creating a comedic relief to the film. The video clip will end featuring Xiaosiqi explaining why is it so difficult for foreigners to speak english (i.e. syntax, grammar, symbols..) and will give a summary of his findings in the research he did. It is coming along well.

All videos will be recorded using iMovie on Macs to ensure only the best of quality.

project

we've been working on finding videos to use for the project and finding hte right one. I have started sketching the painting i'm going to do.

Metamorphosis of Cultures: It's Very Kafkaesque

Alex- Right now I am putting together the presentation structure and organization. I will gather personal photos and videos this weekend in order to avoid any copyright issues. Overall, I should have it ready for class time next Tuesday.

Caitlin- At this time, I'm working on my website which is set up similar to a magazine and will have 3-4 articles with pictures and possibly a short video about historic American mansions and the importance of preservation. Currently, I'm working on my second piece and gathering all my pictures up, taking copyright issues and fair use into consideration.

Andrea: I finally came to a solution regarding the medium for my project. I have decided to mainly appeal to the audience via audio with a podcast. It may or may not be accompanied with a video with images and/or text. As I have already completed the bulk of the work required for it, I should be finished by next week.

Government restrictions and Music

Dillon's assignment is about Government restrictions within society. The purpose is to tell people about the crazy restrictions that the government is putting on society and how it is affecting society. He is using a powerpoint to help display his topic more effectively. He is going to use a video in his powerpoint that explains restrictions on society. He meets all the necessary criteria that is needed to have this video within his powerpoint.

Clint's multimodal project is about drums and their impact on music. The purpose is to tell people about drums and their ability to transform music and any given song. He is using a website named Vimeo to show to the class a pre-recorded video of him talking about the instrument. He is going to use the video to effectively explain how drums work and their impacts on the music industry and music throughout history. He meets all the requirements for the project and his video is going to be nice and professional quality.

Raising Awareness on Societal Issues

Kate's Project:

Kate's website focuses on how to spot cults and if cults are trying to recruit you or your family. Because of this, it has a targeted audience or a general audience as well and is made available to all people. Her images are not copy righted. She is still working on the look of the website and deleting some of the text because there is a lot. 

Nicole's Project: 

Nicole's brochure focuses on getting the word out or persuading readers of the brochure to donate money to help find a cure for ALS. The design of the brochure is coming along, but still not fully done. She is not found all the photos she wants to use because copyrighted photos are causing problems, but she does have one picture and it is attributed correctly and she could use it. She has never made a brochure before so she is still trying to figure out the whole format aspect. Other than that she has a good start on it. 

Tyler's Project:

Tyler is planning on doing a Pecha Kucha presentation. For now, he plans on introducing his theme and then showing the class the Pecha Kucha which will identify obesity as a problem in America. He said the greatest difficulty with this project is going to be finding photos he can use for the Pecha Kucha without interfering with Copy Right rules.

The Way People Think: Mindsets in Modern Society

Mary-I have done a lot of work on my project. I decided to do a website, and I’m really liking how it’s turning out. I have pictures already on there, all of which are my own so I don’t have to worry about copyright issues. I have also added lots information that will be good for my site. The only thing I have left to do is make a couple links.

Nick-I have an outline of my project done as well as most of the information done. I am doing a hand illustrated magazine/publication of sorts. I still have to add some detail to the final project and make sure everything is working properly. 

Myriah-I have made my website and have started adding information. I’m still working on it, adding pictures and checking the grammar and everything like that. My goal is to make it a very informative website, so I’m spending a lot of time making sure everything is correct and accurate.

The Modern Day Brain Child

Christine-I have set up my own blog on Wordpress.com called Cookies of My Brain and I have posted about three times to get used to the format. I have added links to my sidebar and my next couple of posts will be about those links and how they are important to me. At the end of this project I will make a five minute video explaining how to set up and maintain a blog and also how to add links to your favorite pages.
Samantha-I have started my website and am currently looking for links to add. I have two pages currently and may add more. I am having trouble finding pictures of children due to the parental consent.

The Challenges of Today's Youth

Cory- My presentation is a movie maker about Internet Addiction Awareness. It is almost ment to be humorous but it is a serious topic. My audience is whoever wants to watch it and learn a small piece of information about Internet Addiction. I took all the pictures in it myself. Hope you enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vms4TrAgIhk
Kyle- I have my website up and editting it now. I am adding nutrional facts and going to add more recipes and ideas for parents to help fight childhood obesity. My pictures have come from flickr and using webs.com to create my website.
Brook- I have finished my video and credits. I did some minor editing to make things run more smoothly. My main concern right was cutting out all the small things that contribute to the length of the video that I can go without.
http://youtu.be/zOY10h_OD4E

First Peer Review on Multimodal Project

Today during class, your peer review group will meet to determine where everyone is so far on their project and to commit to a title for your panel presentation. Each group should respond to this post with the title of its panel, along with one sentence for each individual student's presentation that describes its focus and its format.

Multimodal Project: What is your tentative plan?

In 250 words, write what you are thinking about doing for your multimodal project. You might want to mention your topic, what aspect of your previous research you will focus on, what the purpose of your message will be, who you see as your audience, the types of platforms that you are considering using and why, and what ideas you have for creating in that platform. This is just a starting point for discussion and planning. If you have questions or concerns--and probably everyone does at this stage--include them in your post.

For Thursday, March 1: Write a Brief Abstract

Write 100-125 words that sum up the scope of your research project.

For Tuesday, February 28: Sorting Through Public Archives (Box 31)

For this activity you'll need to find a public archive, where you can view public and private records, historical documents, and/or artifacts. If you don't have time to access a site in person, try one of the online archives mentioned in Chapter Seven in FieldWorking, or do an online search using key terms about your topic plus "online archive." Or try one of these sites: The National Archives, Indiana State Archives, or the Ball State Archives and Special Interest Collections.

For Thursday, February 23: Finding a Focal Point (Box 19)

For this activity, you need to review all the data you have collected and find the clusters of themes and patterns in your field site or topic (instructions on p. 193 in your text). By the way, did you know that the word "topic" comes from the Greek word topos, which means "place"? Now you know. So whether your "place" is geographical or metaphorical, this activity still works.

For Tuesday, February 21: Writing a Verbal Snapshot (Box 18)

Write a couple paragraphs describing a place, using the example presented in Box 18 of your textbook and on the FieldWorking Web site. If you can, describe a place that relates to your research project.

For Tuesday, February 14: Locating Online Cultures (Box 15)

Choose a Web site related to your research focus to analyze for this activity, which appears on page 158 in FieldWorking. Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater argue that some Web sites are online communities, with gatekeepers, rituals, and rules of behavior. Other sites might seem merely to provide information, but pay attention to how language is used. For example, a Web site devoted to an Art History academic community might use language differently from one devoted to Computer Science: They might use specialized terminology; they might limit the site's discussions to certain topics; or they might present information in a way that assumes that all visitors to the site are members of that academic discipline.

Read through Box 15 to get a fuller idea of how to analyze and evaluate potential Web sites. In addition, notice whether the site is a .edu, .com, .org, .mil., .gov, or .net. Who is the author of the site? How credible is this person or organization?  Has the site been updated recently? How does the arrangement and design affect the usability and overall experience of the site?

For Thursday, February 9: Positioning Yourself (Box 10)

Read the instructions and the example for "Positioning Yourself" on page 113 in your FieldWorking textbook. The purpose of this activity is to "help you uncover the assumptions, preconceptions, personal experiences, and feelings that influence you...throughout your research process" (113). In other words, consider how your own experiences and biases might influence how you select, read, interpret, and interact with your sources. Note that the authors refer to a "fieldsite," but the same approach is useful for thinking about the kinds of books and articles you will encounter on your topic: After all, real people are behind those texts.

For Tuesday, February 7: Find two books on your topic

It's time to look for sources on your research topic, so that you can start getting an idea of the conversations taking place: Go to Bracken Library's site, click on the "books" link, and then log into CardCat. Play around with possible key search terms until you find a couple books that look promising. Next, go to the library to find those books. You should also look at the books shelved in the same area to see if you can find anything else interesting that didn't show up on your CardCat search.

Check out the books you want (yes, more than two, if you find good ones), and then reply below, creating a bibliographic entry in MLA format to list the books. You might also want to explain what interested you about the books you chose. Finally, bring those books to class on Thursday--and remember, your First Major Writing Project is also due that day.

Exploratory Writing (Box 4)

At this point, you have conducted two interviews and written your first draft of an essay synthesizing the information you learned from those primary sources. You may have decided to explore the topic that has emerged from your interviews, or you may want to embark on an entirely new inquiry. Whatever choice you have made, start writing about where you want to go next. Use the questions on page 62 of your textbook to prompt your writing activity: Just get some ideas down and post them here.

Establishing Rapport (Box 21)

My dad claimed he had no stories, but I really wasn't expecting him to tell me stories, just supply a few clues here and there about what life was like in his family and our neighborhood during the '30s, '40s, and '50s. It was kind of funny at times because I'd ask him a question, and he'd look at me like I was crazy and say something like, "We didn't have things like that back then!" or "That place wasn't even built yet!" and I had to keep reminding him that I wasn't around in those days.

My dad has a tendency to be suspicious of school assignments, especially when he's being interrogated about himself. He's not a big conversationalist, either. I did my best to reassure him by clearly explaining what I was doing. Another thing I noticed was that he seemed reluctant to answer some questions with my mom sitting right there: in particular, when I asked about his high school years and whether he had a girlfriend. It suddenly hit me that I probably should have found a time to talk to him when nobody else was around.

My aunt, on the other hand, was completely open about talking to me, and we spent more than three hours talking and reminiscing. We both like to talk, so we didn't have any lulls in the conversation. Each question seemed to trigger multiple memories that she was eager to share. A few times my aunt did get frustrated with herself because she couldn't remember certain names or facts. She said there were things she always meant to write down and figured she would get around to it, but didn't realize how much she would forget. Some of her recollections differed from what my dad told me, but that didn't surprise me because my dad admits that he wasn't always paying attention.

After my interviews with my dad and aunt, I realized there were questions I had meant to ask and forgot, questions I didn't think to ask until later, and information I needed to clarify. Still, I also learned a few things I never would have thought to ask about, just through the course of our conversations.

A verbal portrait (Box 25)

Below is a verbal portrait I wrote on February 18, 2007:

When Feedback is a Bad Thing: Verbal Portrait of a 12-year-old Halo 2 Informant

            I took advantage of a snow day to interview my son about video games. I’m taking a class in ethnography, which is the study of groups, and I’m studying a group I don’t belong to: Halo 2 players.

            At first, Daniel was an eager informant, but he became resistant when he saw there were sixty-five questions on my list. I bribed him with a cheeseburger and a mug of hot chocolate, but that wasn’t enough to keep him from fidgeting.

“Come on, Mom, it’s a snow day. I was in the middle of game.” 

I resorted to parental authority. He continued to exhibit symptoms of withdrawal, his excessive thumb twitching evidence of my contention that his gaming is obsessive.

            The interview provided useful background information for someone who has little knowledge of and even less interest in video games. The very first question provided insight: “Why do you like video games?”

“’Cause they’re fun! Interactive!”

He actually said the word “interactive.” Ah, so this is not a passive medium, and it even has the potential to improve vocabulary.

Daniel’s favorite game is Halo 2. It takes a lot of practice to get good at the game, and yet Daniel insists that age and skill don’t matter so much among Halo 2 players.

 “What matters is how you act. How you treat people. That you’re a good sport.” An ethical code of conduct among group members!

Daniel gets angry at “modders,” people who modify the game to take unfair advantage of other players. Modders can be reported by providing “feedback” online to the “Bungee people” who represent the manufacturer.

“Another player gave feedback on me ‘cause I beat him.”

My poor, innocent—wait a second. I remember seeing a copy of Halo 2 Hacks in Daniel’s book bag. Ambiguity here.

Daniel has X-Box Live, which provides audio so players can talk to each other.

“Is there is anything people say that makes you laugh?”

“Yeah, people acting like they’re constipated.” So potty humor is accepted and appreciated by group members.

            I asked about team etiquette on Halo 2.

“Huh?”

I rephrased my question: “Is there any particular behavior that is not tolerated among teammates?”

“What?”

I rephrased again: “What makes people think you’re a jerk?”

Instant recognition.

 “Running over your teammates with the wart-hog,” he said. Apparently a

wart-hog is a type of transport vehicle.

My husband, Brad, sometimes plays, but Daniel said he’d rather play with other kids: “Dad’s not that good at Halo.”

 Daniel said that once when they were playing Halo 2 together on X-Box Live, Brad could hear their teammates saying that he “sucked.” So Brad blew up the teammates and logged off. Apparently Dad’s not a very good sport.

           

           

           

Listening for Words: Creating a Glossary (Box 27)

Sunstein and Chiseri-Strater argue that, "Special words, jargon, slang, and the unique uses of everyday language are important clues to understanding a culture or subculture. Knowing what terms insiders use will help you step away from your outsider status, and analyzing the words--and their uses--will assist you in seeing what's important to insiders" (279).  If you are already an insider, you need to try to imagine what aspects of the group's language you take for granted that others might not understand. For example, I used to work in advertising. In my dissertation proposal for a study about the evolution of advertising agency rhetoric, I had to consider that my committee members have not worked in advertising and may not be familiar with certain terms or define them the same way that I do.

Definition of Terms

Advertisement: A persuasive message created with text and/or images and used to sell products and services.

Advertiser: This term is used interchangeably to refer both to companies that produce products and services and the advertising agencies that create and place advertisements for those companies.

Advertising Agency: A business organization, working on behalf of itself or another organization, that both creates persuasive advertising and purchases media space in which those advertisements appear.

Advertising Publications: Refers to Advertising Publications archive housed in the Emergence of Advertising in America Online Database. These publications cover a variety of topics, including why manufacturers should advertise, how to advertise, descriptions of publications in which advertising was sold, and rates and data for newspapers and magazines around the nation.

Advertising Space: Space purchased within a print medium for the placement of advertisements.

Consumer: Although, technically, the JWT House Ads are directed to “consumers” of advertising services, they were placed in publications considered to be trade, rather than consumer. Consumer, in the sense that I use it, refers to the end-user of products and services purchased for personal use.

House Ads: For the purposes of this study, the J. Walter Thompson House Advertisements archive in the Emergence of Advertising in America Online Database. These advertisements appeared primarily in the trade publication Printer’s Ink, and were used to promote the advertising agency services of J. Walter Thompson.

Media: The plural form of what refers to any medium, primarily print, during the era discussed, that supports editorial and/or advertisements in text, and/or images.

Work Cited

Sunstein, Bonnie Stone, and Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater. FieldWorking: Reading and Writing Research, 4th. ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. Print.

Silent-film Stunt Man

I've asked all of you to come up with a family story, so I'll share one of my own. You can post your stories as a response to this post.

Today I found a photo of my great-grandfather's burial site at www.findagrave.com, which I located after a short Google search.  I knew he died as a young man, but I wasn't sure of the exact years of his birth and death.

Alonzo Winfield Allen was a stunt man in the silent movies. He died in 1918 at age 29 or 30, when my grandmother, Luella Allen Lindquist, was about five years old. The only thing she knew about his passing was that he had died of kidney failure. That was the story I heard as a kid, and, of course, I felt sad for my grandma that she didn't have her father around when she was growing up.

It wasn't until somewhat recently that my mom learned that the kidney failure was the result of an accident that occurred during one of his stunts. The injury he received, although not fatal at the time it happened, damaged his kidneys. I don't know how the accident happened.

My mom learned this only because a relative on the Allen side of the family was doing genealogical research and had contacted my mom. Apparently, the marriage between my great-grandmother, Katherine Matilda Coorough, and my great-grandfather was a scandal, and it's possible they may have eloped. "Tillie" and Alonzo were married in 1911, and it is possible that Tillie's family was scandalized because Alonzo was in show business. At that time, people in show business were considered to be low class. In fact, a very brief Google search on stunt work in silent films led me to an article called "Stunt Man," where I learned that many stunts at that time were done by people who were desperate for work. 

The film industry provided little to no safety precautions. Many stuntmen--and women--died doing stunts. Now I'm more curious about the history of silent films, which might help me understand more about Alonzo in an indirect way. Since stuntmen rarely got credit for their work, chances are I could watch a silent film featuring Alonzo Allen, but I would have no way to prove it. I have never seen a photo of him.