Citation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christian-trabold/5872037849/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Rhetorical Analysis:  Caution signs normally make me laugh as they seem like common sense but how they are designed is the epitome of balance.  I’ll be short on this and not try to drag this out to make it look like I wrote more on a wet floor sign than anyone should.  It’s a wet floor sign it conveys the floor is wet that is all there is to it.  The person who placed it doesn’t want someone to fall and sue hence there are signs like this in any place that is public and has wet floors.

Design Analysis:  As for the design of a wet floor sign there are a lot of design elements at play here.  The balance is key the words need to be pig enough to be read before someone reaches the wet floor.  The image needs to be simplistic and easily understood but not so large it takes up space needed for text.  It is also bright yellow with hard black or red text making it easy to see and read.  Also, it falls back on repetition as everyone knows what the signs says before they actually read it.  Everyone knows a propped up yellow sign in the middle of a floor means it’s wet.  These design elements were all considered when designing the perfect way to let people know the floor is a slip and fall hazard.

If anyone has any concerns about image editing check out http://www.gimp.org/ they have a forum which will help answer most image editing questions.

Brief Summary

Image editing is not that complex but plays a large role in how images are presented.  There are simple editing programs and highly complex ones depending on the level of manipulation needed.  Manipulation is an odd word to use but it makes sense as the image is being manipulated to fit the need of the editor.  An image can convey a lot more than words and takes almost no time to view.  Hence, images are starting to replace text as important.  Photography is still a relatively new concept.  We are just starting to see the power of mass medias ability to share an image.  These images need to be presented in a way that conveys information but yet does not distract from the worded message.  this is not to say some images do not stand on their own.  a lot of images are starting to convey more meaning with less words.  The cliche a picture is worth a thousand words is becoming more and more true as we see the ability of images to be used in multiple mediums to convey a greater message.

Personal Experience

A lot of companies I write for want images to be linked to their sites.  The reason for this is to increase traffic through Google image search.  Google images can also be used as a way to generate web traffic and with more people looking for images than articles it has become a key part of the business.  Linking out to a photo is a little difficult as not all companies follow the guide lines when it comes to copy right laws.  That is why it is important to make sure the image you are editing or using is legally permitted to be manipulated.  I use the term manipulate again as I like the connotation that an image can be changed to convey a different meaning.  It has become amazing to see how a simple filter or cropping can drastically alter an images meaning.   There are people who dedicate their lives to graphic design and with how fast the world of image editing is growing it seems to be a stable market.  It has been joked that with how easy image editing has become everyone with a camera phone now thinks they are a photographer.  Which is killing the professional photography field with image editing being easier than ever and high quality cameras being built into phones it will be interesting to see how professional photography competes.

Questions With Discussion

Did you find this chapter boring?

I personally did as I feel it didn’t teach much about digital writing it just gave us a brief over view of image editing.  There is more to the field than a chapter can cover.  Doing a Google search for “free image editing” brings in tons of results which can teach us more than the chapter tried to.

Images or words what works for you?

Images work better for me the term visual learner is becoming obsolete as no one is actually a visual learner we just grew up in a visual culture.  The need to read and research is becoming obsolete as there is a YouTube video on just about everything.  It will be interesting to see when textbooks are replaced by online mediums made by open source contributors.  With image editing and mass media so readily available it is amazing anything survives in print form any more.

What affect do you feel an image can create?

The answer is basic that an image can trigger any emotion.  The thing to remember is an image can be interpreted different ways by different people just as writing can.  It is important when using images to make sure the right emotion is triggered which is why images are studied thoroughly.

Link To Summarize

Here is a link for “How Far Image Editing Can Go” to get an idea on how much an image can truly be manipulated.

citation: http://www.flickr.com/photos/expressmonorail/4479913297/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Rhetorical Analysis:  These types of displays are commonly seen in stores as the repetition catches people’s eye.  The goal of these displays are to attract customers over to buy the product off of the cool looking display.  Passing by an item on a shelf is quite easy but passing buy a structure made out of a product is quite difficult.  The other purpose of these displays is for name recognition.  company’s pay a decent amount of money to put these displays up where customers will see them.  Hence they want to make sure the next time you past by their product you recognize it.  The goal of any company is name recognition once that is established the rest is quite easy.  Hence, in this case coke wants to make sure everyone knows what their logo looks like.  It is quite difficult to miss this type of display making the image stick in a person’s mind.

Design Analysis:  The key point Coke is focusing on here is repetition.  They hope by consumers seeing a lot of their product they recognize the logo.  they want it so that a customer is exposed to Coke more than any other brand.  it maybe subliminal but they have done the studies to prove simply by over saturating an image it becomes the default for a person’s mind.  Coke aim with displays like this is for when a person goes out to eat and sees Coke products they instinctively order one. Next, time you order a Coke see if you actually wanted it or did it instinctively pop into your head that they have Coke hence I’ll get Coke.  Coke does not want people rationalizing this as it accounts for a lot of their sales.  The point is Coke has over saturated their logo so everyone will know what it is and want it.  The Coke pyramid above has over a 100 bottles in it therefore when you look at it you have now been exposed to Coke at least a hundred times.  this logic prevails as competitors try to make bigger displays to make sure you see their name just one more time.  These repetition displays are nothing more than companies trying to condition consumers to buy their product by default.

Coke knows just about everyone drinks soda the problem Coke needs to solve is how to make people but Coke when they go to the store.  The image is quirky and funny.  The ad could specifically target children who will remember this ad when they go to the grocery store with their parents.  The Coke product is displayed along with their logo to attract attention to what you will be looking for on the shelves.  Also, everyone has been to a restaurant and said Coke to hear is Pepsi okay.  The point of this is Coke wants to be the default cola people ask for.  To do this they must saturate the market with images that will stick.  Coke produces tons of images similar to this as they need to make the image stick.  That when potential customers see a polar bear or penguin their mind immediately thinks Coke even if the penguin or polar bear has nothing to do with Coke.  Being able to associate a product with something that has nothing to do with said product is an advertisers dream.

For anyone unfamiliar with uask.com check out this link http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/cgdt/emphasis.htm which does an excellent job explaining what the chapter is about without being boring.

Brief Summary

With the Wikipedia project being due this week I was happy to see the homework assignment was quite easy.  The reason I say the homework was easy is it tied into C.R.AP. design which we learned about extensively last week.  The main point of this chapter was the importance of emphasis.  Emphasis is easy to explain in that it is basically drawing attention to where you want it.  Emphasis is also important to attract reader’s to what is important.  This is seen in textbooks where they bold words.  Web design and graphic design are essentially just figuring out the best way to bold an idea or concept so the reader gets the most out of it.

Personal Experience

As I have said before I write a lot for the internet.  The number one reason posts get kicked back is due to emphasis.  Emphasizing the wrong part of an otherwise good post could discourage a lot of writers.  I have had post rejected then chose to emphasize a different part to have them accepted.  This shows that it is not always what you say but rather how it is presented that matters.  Emphasis should be used to compliment an idea not sell it.  On that same note emphasis can destroy an otherwise good point if the wrong area is emphasized.  All too often I read a post that got rejected solely cause the writer did not understand emphasis.  I enjoy this class mainly due to the fact it is applicable to my life.  All too often you will hear student’s say “when will I ever use this”.  Hence, I am happy to find a class that helps me in my writing.

Questions With Discussion

What do you think the importance of emphasis is?

I would say emphasis is important as it is a simple concept that takes time to master.  The tenants of it are easy to summarize in the sense of be visually appealing and attract attention.  This is a simple idea but all too many websites fail to meet basic emphasis requirements.

Have you ever had a bad experience with emphasis?

I covered this in my personal experience but I think other’s will have similar experiences with teachers that do not know how to use black board.  I also notice a lot of professor’s power points do little to keep student’s attention.  Emphasis is critical to the learning process yet so many instructors fail to rationalize this as stated in the beginning of the chapter.

How Does This Image Reflect Good/Bad Emphasis Design?

When I started this assignment I figured I just click on the first five blogs leave some comment about how great their writing was and that I liked their format.  Then get credit for the assignment and continue on with my day.  Instead I found myself reading for hours and actually choosing what one’s to comment on.  The best part about this class is seeing how each of us interpreted the reading.  The reading is left open for a lot of discussion and seeing some people share my ideas validated my writing.  There were blogs that I disagreed with but they presented their point intelligently.  There were other post that gave me ideas I wouldn’t have thought of.  A lot of professors just lecture but this class allows us to learn from each other which I feel is where real learning happens.  Thank you for the opportunity for us to learn from each other rather than talking to us for three hours a night.

http://www.lglos001.students.digitalodu.com/?p=59#comment-14

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Immediacy, Hypermediacy, Remediation all tie into digital writing as it is a way to grade how efficient and effective a piece of writing is.  Today, speed to an audience is important this means it is more important than ever before that writers are able to have their writings accessed quickly and easily.  Remediation is key to this as it is important the reader does not lose the message due to the medium.  It is already proven that people remember less of what they read on a screen as compared to paper.  Hence, it is important that writing makes a point to stick with the reader.

The main point of McLuhan was to be careful of what medium you use that the medium can sometimes drown out your message.  It is important to keep this in mind when writing to make sure the medium is not having more of an impact than your writing.  He states the importance of ideas being presented with a medium which compliments but does not over take your ideas.

I would like to know more about how writers make their work more accessible.  How does a blog gain a following and so fourth.  My concerns are limited to just using new mediums which I am unfamiliar with.

After reading and watching videos on how copyright law works I found it surprising how easy it is to get permission to use copyrighted material.  In most cases as long as you are not making a profit off of copy righted material it is fair use as long as credit is given to the creator.  The two things I enjoyed learning about was that for teaching and parody copyright laws are relaxed.  I knew parody and homage had some lead way but after doing research if you are mocking or commenting on copyrighted material you are in the clear.  I found this funny as copyrighted material is okay with being made fun of but not okay with being duplicated.  Also, the term teaching is what I would have questions about.  The internet as I have stated before is still in the process of making rules.  Can I download a movie and say I downloaded the copyrighted material to teach me about the contents of the movie?  It is a sarcastic argument but one that has actually held up and created numerous problems for copyright holders.  My personal experience with copyrights is I write for an SEO company.  I elaborated in a previous post about how much trouble we go through to make sure everything is fair use.  I can only imagine what news rooms or bigger media companies must go through to avoid complications.  The specific example I like to use though is how many people are creating media for free.  A lot of people are creating big label quality projects on low budgets out of their houses.  They do this for the reputation then hopefully money.  Big labels fight hard to protect their copyrights as now anyone can create media.

The Medium is the Massage is the video the below notes pertain to click here to view the video.

Brief Summary

After reading McLuhan and watching the video trying to understand how he views media is difficult.  The reason he claims that illegally accessing content is because media affects us on a deeper level than we are aware of.  The repeating of the medium is the massage is important as it breaks down how media affects us today.  The mispronunciation is key as it shows us how even though the word is wrong we still get the meaning.  This is a commentary on how certain people learn and retain information based on the form of medium used.  That sometimes the medium is more important than the message.  A great modern example is Twitter started trending that Bill Nye The Science Guy is dead when he was not but due to the message being sent around so much through the medium of Twitter it was believed to be fact until an external source was checked.  We live in a day and age where anyone can go online and type anything they want.  If enough people view it and believe it to be true it does become true in a way.  The line “this is bigger than us” shows how big the digital medium has become.  He states that publication started us on the process of legality of ownership of ideas and changed how a man thought.  Now, the internet allows anyone to have an effect on someone else.  These mediums deliver powerful messages which can be misinterpreted or added to.  The danger in illegally accessing these mediums is the fact that without context these messages lose meaning.  Along with the idea of compartmentalization in which anyone can have a role in creating the medium.  It takes a minimum of three people for a message to work.  The creator must first create media, and then the media must be made accessible, so consumers can access it.  The key point McLuhan is trying to make is media is the message in which he believes the method of delivery is more important that the actual message.  This is seen more and more where internet writers get lazy due to deadlines.  Print media is failing because a newspaper is 24 hours behind at a minimum.  Whereas internet writers scramble to piece together an article as soon as an event happens.  The fact is the print writer is properly more qualified to write but the internet writer has a better medium allowing his message to be stronger.  Limited people in my generation still read the newspaper as we all have access to Google.  If news happens I want it now which is what leads to illegal downloading also.  Why drive out to the store when a person can download it go to work and have it ready when they get home all while saving money.  The problem is the internet is still relatively new and operates under a form of Marshall Law.  The federal government has been trying to regulate the internet for years and has failed at almost every attempt.  This is because the medium is stronger than the message.

Questions With Discussion 

Do you believe the medium is more important than the message?

I disagree with his McLuhan’s assertion that the medium is more important than the message.  It is about understanding your audience.  To say the medium is the message is to dismiss the power of your message.  Mediums should be used to enhance and distribute your message not be the only message.  Too often ad campaigns fail because they want to use a new medium rather than focus on their message.  You can see this where news commenters use slang that they are obviously unfamiliar with which kills their message.  I laugh every time I see a news caster in his sixties say “follow us on Twitter” as it is obvious he has no idea how important following them on Twitter actually is.  It is important to understand your message then apply the right medium.

Do you believe technological mediums are killing messages?

I do believe this to an extent.  As now it seems more important to get a short message to a bunch of people.  The reason for this is we live in a world with free information.  Media producers just need to get the word out and hope everyone jumps on their phone or pc to learn more.  The message is still there but it is changing.  Before the message was what sold your product not the medium.  Now, the medium is used to let people know about your product then use the web to make a decision.

Has Free Information Led To A No Man’s Land?

I use the term no man’s land to describe the internet as that is what it embodies.  The simple fact that I can create a virtual avatar or representation of myself online that differs from who I am has never been seen before.  Now, if someone says something and I don’t know it Google does.  The access to illegal downloading has also led to this problem.  That with illegal downloading the question of have you heard the new album, seen the newest movie, read the latest book is all minutes away online.  This access to “free” information has led to many legal battles as the ethics are argued over the benefits.  When civilization first formed a set of rules was needed to keep people in line.  The internet can be viewed as a new civilization where the laws are still being hashed out.

Experience With Discussion

I am all too familiar with copy right law due to me writing for an SEO company.  There are a lot of things which you cannot say or do due to regulations.  There is also an extensive list of rules and regulations which pertain to formatting.  The problem with this is a lot of times I will write and then have to edit or find new information because my source is copy righted.  This can get complicated and tedious.  Fair use is a word we bounce around all too much because finding reliable fair use information is critical to my job.  All it takes is one lawsuit and an SEO company can go under.

The Above Image is Only A Small Amount of the Digital Mediums Available

Works Cited

McLuhan, Marshall. “The Medium Is the Massage Part 1 – Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore & Jerome Agel 1967.” YouTube. YouTube, 31 Jan. 2010. Web. Sept. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8YYM_7KUpw>.

McLuhan, Marshall. “The Medium Is the Message.” N.p., n.d. Web. Sept. 2012. <https://www.blackboard.odu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3150326-dt-content-rid-351374_2/courses/201210_FALL_ENGL307T_22761/McLuhan-MediumMessage.pdf>.

The skills required to make the video and upload it to YouTube are all parts of new media.  Prior to new media these videos could only be made by broadcasting companies with large budgets.  Now anyone with a decent video camera which can be bought for cheap if you know where to look can make a video and upload it to the internet.  The now generation takes on a new meaning as a constant complaint about my generation is the need for instant gratification.  Ask me any question if I don’t know my smart phone certainly does.  This ability to access information has both helped and hindered my generation.  Due to information being so easily accessible we are learning more but retaining less to memory.  The need to have it now has led us to believe we won’t need it later.

Play, performance, simulation, and appropriation all tie into the video.  As the video is a great example of people working together to create media which can be viewed by a mass of people.  These people can then interpret the video much as we have in class.  My terms tie more into the discussion of the video than the actual video itself.