Hass "In your facebook"

I thought the reading assignment of Hass "In your facebook" was one of the most interesting readings so far in the class. It was fun to read because all of us as college students and facullty can relate to the impact of facebook on college campuses. The technology that facebook was composed of has changed the way we communicate on college campuses today. Not only can you express yourself over the web, but you can "keep tabs" on what all your friends are doing even if they are on the other end of the country. Facebook allows for a discourse communities of all natures (for example BGSU students) to come together and share ideas and personal experiences and network. While facebook has changed college life for the better, there are still some concerns involving its privacy and safety. I loved the example of how the students were having a party and posted it on facebook and then got caught; but to get back at the cops, they staged a fake party and embarrassed the cops. I loved reading about that but it draws up a good point on how what you release on facebook can be used against you whether its from cops, faculty, or even potential employees. The issue of privacy and identity rights are always a hot debate in relation to facebook. While I know I love facebook and use it all the time, I feel the author makes a good point! Mainly if you use facebook, then be smart about it. Make sure that you know whatever you put on facebook can be used against you and also that your privacy rights can be infringed upon by others so make sure to use the site wisely.

Effective Website

I feel that there are many aspects to what an effective website really is. I believe that the most important aspect of an effective website is knowing who your audience is. When you consider creating a website it is very similar to writing a paper, you think about your target audience and what you want to accomplish at the beginning will guide you in your decision making process of constructing your website. I feel that an effective website makes it obvsious to its visitors on how they might use the website. That could mean a variety of things such as visitors simply reading texts, navigating around the website, sending an e-mail etc. I feel that the best web sites show care with the small details, including careful attention to the writing. For example, I website that has unorganized text or even misspelled text turns me off from visiting the website again or finding it appealing to visit. I believe that an effective website has a consistent look and feel that makes the Web site appear unified and supports the content. You don't need a loud background or fancy images to a visual theme, instead using simple colors or text that go well together would work even better. I also feel that a website should be easy to navigate through and its really great if there are links to take you back to the top of the page or back to a prior section instead of having to scroll up and down and clicking a bunch of times to get to the specific place in the web site that you want. I also feel that a text should be readable, if its too long I along with many others don't want to take the time to read all of it and with that i'm ending my post!

Faigley "Analyze Images and Other Kinds of Visual Texts

After Reading Faigley's "Analyze Images and Other Kinds of Visual Texts" I learned the true importance of text in advertisements and what its roles can be changed too. While we all too often think of text as just words, the reading gave us an example of how a vehicle design (while it may not be in words), can still be analyzed for its meaning and rhetorical strategies. I thought it was interesting how the reading went into detail on what SUV's are manufacutred to do, while most people who own them don't even take them off road. I thought it was also interesting that they are one of the least safe vehicles you can drive, but we still buy them for their looks and the perception that they give to their owners. It was cool how the reading related a SUV's front end for a Dodge Durango to an animal with a big jaw, while the minivan who has the soccer mom image has a grill that looks like a smile. I thought it was a really good reading that showed you the importanace of using images as a form of text or "communicating" in advertisements.

Advertisement Assignment

The advertisement assignment that we have been working on in class has been very fun. I have never worked on anything in my college career that has ever been quite like this. Coming up with an advertisement with the rationale behind it is pretty cool. I personally feel that the challenges with the ad would have to be creating the actual image in photoshop, because have never actually worked with photoshop this is all new to me and it has taken some time to familarize myself with the program. The only way to tackle or overcome such problems would be to get any help in and outside of class from individuals who are knowledgeable with photoshop to assit you and educate on how to use the program efficiently. While that was the hardest part, the easiest part for me would be generating the idea for the ad. I have always felt that I am a creative individual and I feel that with this assigment my creativity allowed me to have a fun and easier time with that aspect of the assignment. I think that the assignment has impacted my understanding of visual rhetoric because it allows me to see howthe use of visual aids in advertisements can be aimed toward a specific audience with an intended message. So many factors go into creating effective ad's and visual rhetoric allows me to see the importance of communication in creating advertisements.