Frank Hruska's Trivial Information

Introduction

This semester in digital writing I learned a lot of terms and jargon which I found helpful.  I never knew the term digital writing applied to what I do.  I just wrote SEO and assumed that was just how things worked.  I did not know there was a whole market out there for different kinds of digital writing.  Digital writing is simply writing for a digital medium usually for the internet.  Taking this class led me to do more searching to see what other types of writing jobs are there for digital writers.  Digital writing is a great place to start looking for a job if you are a professional writer the only problem is most writing companies only hire college graduates for full time positions.

Eleven Characteristics

Play — the capacity to experiment with one’s surroundings as a form of problem-solving

http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=138 was a read and respond we were assigned.  We had to contact our peers and provide them with feedback.  From our feedback the person could improve their own work.  This is an interesting concept in which the ability for someone to affect your surrounding also triggers problem solving.  Play is experienced anytime there is a peer review.  The group is experimenting with their ability to collectively pull information from their surroundings to come to a decision to solve a problem.  For an incredibly simplistic overview you and two friends are arguing over what toppings to get.  Regardless of what you inevitably choose someone experimented with their surroundings to present an argument that was superior to the others hence solving a problem.

Performance — the ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=219065570&locale=en_US&trk=prof-0-ovw-view-secondary is my LinkedIn account.  LinkedIn is  a professional business based social network.  It differs from my Facebook which I can post about what I am doing.  I also have a WordPress for the sake of this class which provides little to no information about myself.

Simulation — the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes

http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=94 is the rhetoric on the town I did for balance. I used a wet floor sign and how so many design elements are applied to it.  Real-world processes is a term applying to design that affects how someone will react when they see it.  Dynamic is a little stretching as nothing we did took a physical form.  Digital writing is about making these real-world processes applicable online.  SEO is a great example of simulation.  I am constructing a model that will alter the real searches on Google by real people.

Appropriation — the ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content

http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=159 was project 2 its requirements were the exact definition of appropriation as we were told to select and edit an image then add audio to said image.  This was a good starting place to practice appropriation.

Multitasking — the ability to scan one’s environment and shift focus as needed to salient details.

http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=172 was the rhetoric on the town to analyze a website.  This is multitasking on the web designer’s end.  They need everything to be perfect as people do not return to web sites that look unprofessional or don’t work.  They are constantly multitasking to make sure their websites stay up.

Distributed Cognition — the ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities

http://fhrus001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=73 was the response to C.R.A.P design in which we learned how to use design elements to improve our digital writing.  Some tools are as basic as knowing what you are doing in word or open office.  Sometimes learning to edit images and audio are new software tools not a lot of people are familiar with.  I had heard of audacity before and used it but could never get the static out of my voice.  I later found out while making a video resume for this class the default windows movie maker audio recording software works great at eliminating background noise.

Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal

https://sites.google.com/site/odu307fall2012/home This is the link to our class wiki project.  It could have gone better but in theory collective intelligence is how sites like Wikipedia exist.

Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information sources

http://instructions.wikihow.com/Find-if-a-Website-Is-Legitimate Is the Wikihow link from Diggo  which discusses the steps to evaluating if a website can be trusted.

Transmedia Navigation — the ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities

http://engl307f12.courses.digitalodu.com/ If you go to our class portal and scroll down to contributors you could go through everyone’s blog for the same class but none of them would be the same.  Being able to tell what ones were good and what ones were bad would probably be quite easy.  Hence the flow of information would be set at an average that the person would absorb from these different models built off of the same information.

Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information

Diggo would be a great example of networking.  When we hear networking we immediately think social networking.  Truth is networking started the second the internet was developed.  The idea of computers being able to share information over each other was the first instance of networking.  Diggo is a creative way for a website to act as a networking tool through shared searches for relatable information.

Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms.

I will once again reference the wiki project in which negotiation was key to success.  Our lack of time caused our negotiation process to fall through leaving many unsatisfied which led to our project lacking in quality.

Section Review

I engaged entirely with simulation.  As simulation is a term of jargon I use regularly now.  I feel a class is worth it if I leave with some jargon and I definitely picked upped my fair share in digital writing.  I like the idea of being able to manipulate an idea so that it works a different way.  SEO is unique in the sense of it is the first time a rumor can be made true.  By this I mean I can make something that one person said look like a hundred or thousand people said it.  This is an interesting concept the internet is dealing with as everyone knows you can’t believe everything you read online.  A site like The Onion a parody news source with enough altered feedback online could potentially be altered to be considered a reliable news source.

Collective intelligence is something I wish we spent more time on.  I like the idea of people working together to complete a common goal by contributing their skills to a bigger project.  Collective intelligence allows for us to use our strengths to help the group while others hopefully excel where you are weak.  The ability for collective intelligence to balance out its strengths and weaknesses allows for an incredible finished project as anyone can see from visiting www.wikipedia.com. If we spent more time on collective intelligence I would like to have seen that expand over to negotiation.  The thing that makes collective intelligence work is for the group to be able to negotiate how the finished project should look.  Negotiation is not necessarily a huge part of digital writing but it is a real world skill needed for anyone looking to be successful at writing.

The main thing I learned in this class was what digital writing was and the areas it stretched out to.  I am happy to know I can say I am a digital writer rather than I write online.  Digital writer just sounds much more professional.  The thing I learned most from digital writing was when we did the resume project and found out how many jobs there are for digital writers with college degrees.  I was unaware of how many opportunities there were for digital writing.  I was aware of SEO and article writing but I did not know how many English majors are hired to be marketing people.  I am definitely more educated about the field and what I need to succeed in this field.  Being able to put on a resume I have taken a digital writing class will look great to a potential employer.

Here is my Linkedin account url: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=219065570&locale=en_US&trk=prof-0-ovw-view-secondary

How am I suppose to comment on the design elements when Linkedin does not provide much of an option in this area.  Linkedin uses contrast, balance, alignment, font, and repetition to make their website highly professional.  The contrasting colors make the website easy to use and navigate.  The balance is simple black, white, and blue nothing to over power another area.  Everything is neatly aligned to make finding what you want easy along with making sections easy to read.  Like I’ve stressed before 12 point times new romans font is all professionals need and they use it with a slight variation for emphasis.  Finally every section is the same allowing for great usage of repetition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnP810zsCh4&feature=youtu.be

I hate my voice let’s get that out of the way first.  I decided to use this as an opportunity to practice being in front of a camera.  I do not plan on using this video resume for actual employment.  I do not like being recorded so I picked a comfortable setting and clothes then talked off of a loose script.  I do not like video resumes as I do not like my voice and I feel they can actually hurt your chance of being hired.  I say this as when an employer watches a video resume they are getting an idea of what the interview will be like.  If in your video they do not like your appearance, voice, or feel you covered too little or too much your resume maybe floored.  With a paper resume there is an incentive to give you an interview.  I focused on balance, repetition, and contrast in my speech as they audio visual as well.  I wanted to demonstrate I am a rounded person willing to learn and used contrast to show why I should be hired over other applicants.

Here is the link to my timeline http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/475385.

I will be completely honest and say I do not see a timeline replacing resumes any time soon.  I had a hard time incorporating balance, alignment, and font into my timeline.  The blocks don’t line up and the overlapping I feel is distracting.  The font options are basic at best which I prefer so that was a plus.  I decided to do the minimal amount of nodes stating with time frames my employment and the skills I gained in bullet format.  The timeline was more depressing than anything since I am young my timeline for my professional self is quite limited.  I can see timelines being used by businesses to express information but not as a valid form of a resume.

Here is the link to my scannable resume.

Rhetorical Analysis:  I used the same balance, alignment, and font decisions I did with my traditional resume.  The only difference was content in which I cut out unnecessary words and made my information more concise.  I did this to make this easy for a computer to pick out key words.  These choices are important as most computer programs will not pick up more complicated design elements.  Simplistic and minimalist shows you are focused on the job not making pretty pictures.  There are still a lot of employers who do like the standard paper resume but with the economy so many people are applying it is important for a scannable resume to express why you should be hired as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Here is the link out to my traditional resume.

Rhetorical analysis:  I decided to use the concepts of balance, alignment, and font for this resume.  It is balanced as no part is particularly eye catching hence the reader will hopefully read the whole thing rather than have their eyes pulled to a particular part.  Alignment is key as if the words do not line up or are hard to read it seems unprofessional.  Font is simple 12-16 point times new romans with some bolding for emphasis.  I kept my resume incredible standard and basic as I feel this is what employers are looking for.  There are some highly creative resumes how there but I feel these exist because people want to gloss over their short comings with creativity which does not work.  My biggest design idea was to be simplistic and provide exactly what an employer expects to see.

Here is the link to the pdf of my CurrentWebPresence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

Rhetorical Analysis:  The Washington Post website is a great example of a website designed with their audience and design elements in mind.  Their audience is everyone as they provide stories on every topic.  When trying to reach everyone it is important to have an easy to navigate website and search functions.  If you look at the black bar at the top it breaks the web site down to categories along with a search function.  Their home page is obviously targeting the younger generation who gets their news online or business men as the advertisements are clearly set for that purpose.  Even more likely though is those advertisements change based on who logs on.  I tested this theory by using my girlfriend’s laptop and sure enough the advertisement changed to Victoria Secret.  I have been looking into buying a chromebook so Washington Post some how got that info and showed it to me.  Websites have the ability to change to anticipate their user’s wants.  The simplistic style is intended so anyone can sign on and find the articles they want to read.  The Washington Post has created unintentionally the best way to target a market by allowing the audience to target themselves.

Design Analysis:

Repetition is minimal as there is no need to show the same idea over and over.  The only real repetition is the selection panes are uniformed to allow for easy navigation.  The balance is key here as they do not want to over power your attention allowing for the website to blend together easily.  The contrast is obvious with the black to white allowing for a minimalistic design which I personally prefer.  Most importantly the website flows as everything is logically placed with balance and contrast being used to differentiate areas.  The font choice is exactly what you would expect from a news website. Minus the logo it is boring sans serif font which I also believe is the only font choice needed.  They did not overlook alignment like a lot of people do as everything on the site is properly aligned along a grid.

R and D Analysis:

The goal is to be bland and efficient.  They keep a professional image letting you know this is where you come for news.  If you want a visually striking news source check out a blog if you want facts you come to the Washington Post.  Their audience expects the same thing hence their design element is what their audience wants.

Copyright:

They are a news website so the author is mentioned and images are properly cited.  News websites have entire departments dedicated to legal aspects such as copyright.

The good:  A video resume is simple to make and a highly effective way to grasp a potential employers attention.  They also allow for certain elements to be incorporated that do not have a place in standard resumes.  They also allow for linking out to other content which is a huge selling factor.  I have seen interactive ones that have the references hyper-linked to the email of said reference.

The bad:  The video resume is a new concept and some employers will not even consider them.  Also, it takes multiple takes to get a video resume perfect this can become frustrating and show in the presentation.  Possibly providing too little or too much information and striking the balance perfectly is key to success.

The ugly:  As stated in previous post I hate my voice and this will bug me the whole way through this project.  Also, the idea that some employers will not call you for an interview as they feel the video resume told them all they needed to know.  A paper resume is for securing an interview a video resume has the drawback of possibly eliminating the need for an interview.

Response:

http://mblac018.students.digitalodu.com/?p=176#comment-347

I like the idea of a video resume as it will allow me to explain somethings more thoroughly.  I prefer presentations to writing papers as I  fell information is portrayed better when more stimuli can be incorporated.  A typical resume only shows what is on the sheet.  A video resume gives a potential an employer an idea of who you are.  It is important to be properly dressed, choose a setting with nothing that you would not want your employer to see behind you, and demonstrates you are capable of public speaking.  I am going with the typical white wall behind me and speaking to a camera.  I have stated before I am a minimalist. I have seen some video resumes that were serious but come off as an infomercial as the person creates a tv like ad for their video resume.  I think a video resume should be short and to the point while you use the ability to speak to better explain somethings that might come up during the interview.  The video resume also acts as a preliminary interview as a potential employer gets an idea as to how you will respond to questions.  I want my audience to know I write a lot of freelance and would like a full time position as a writer.  I also need to stress that I will be getting my degree in the near future as a lot of employers will not hire an undergraduate student.  By focusing on these two issues I should be able to create a great and effective video resume.  I think the content I should add is finally get around to making an online writing portfolio rather than emailing potential employers the samples they ask for.  By having a link to my previous work employers would be able to browse at their leisure rather than quickly reading samples they ask for.