Write Stripes

For the stem-cell group--here might be one of those things you'd like to know about re: each of your candidates:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/science/12CELL.html

(It's the New York Times website. You'll probably have to sign up, but it's free.)

Whew. A lot of posting today.

Here's what I was thinking about at the end of class. What would you all think about putting together a "strange but true" kind of page that would have odd/interesting facts about the candidates and the election that don't really fit into your pages or the main page. It could work as a teaser--something else we could advertise to help bring readers to the site. I bring it up now because it would be good if you would start collecting those things as you come across them while doing your research. What do you think?

"Side" conversation re: 3-5 parallel points
CSugarbee135: This is the homosexual marriage group
TEDDIFISH: Hello

CSugarbee135: 1)Personal opinions 2) states choice vs. amendment 3)how they have voted on the issue before 4)past experience with it 5)quotes they have made about the issue
TEDDIFISH: Those are good organizers for pages--but I was wanting to focus (this time) on things that are central to this particular issue. For Gay marriage, I would think it would include things like state vs. federally controlled, same designation as hetero marriage or differnt designation etc.
CSugarbee135: ok
TEDDIFISH: For each candidate, then, you would be sure to include the things you identify (probably within those pages you just typed to me.)
TEDDIFISH: :-)
TEDDIFISH: Who is sugarbee?
TEDDIFISH: (Just curious)
CSugarbee135: this is ashley carson
CSugarbee135: its easier to type from my computer than get up :)
TEDDIFISH: Hi Ashley :-)
TEDDIFISH: That's fine. --whatever is good for you.
CSugarbee135: alot of the canidates are hazy about their exact views
CSugarbee135: they will say most of the time if they are for or against homosexual marriage
CSugarbee135: but they dont come straight out and say their exact views
TEDDIFISH: Yes--that's one of the challenges. Have you guys tried finding a good person to write to at each place?
CSugarbee135: yes
CSugarbee135: we have written to each canidate
TEDDIFISH: Right. They are trying not to offend people.
CSugarbee135: and have received preliminary emails
TEDDIFISH: Good. Keep after them, and if one conctact doesn't seem to work, see if you can find another.
CSugarbee135: ok
TEDDIFISH: If you tell them you are Clemson students working on a project, sometimes you have better luck.
CSugarbee135: we actually did tell them that
CSugarbee135: we told them about the project
TEDDIFISH: Good. I would expect someone in the Edwards camp (because he is trying to court Southerners) to respond.
CSugarbee135: right
TEDDIFISH: And Dean . . . you should tell him that if he really wants to extend his party to include rebel flag wearing pickup truck drivers, Clemson's a good place to start LOL
CSugarbee135: haha
CSugarbee135: um since erin and i are supposed to do our presentation on tuesday are we really going next thursday?
TEDDIFISH: Yes--I wanted to let you all know so you don't have to be ready on tuesday.
CSugarbee135: ok
TEDDIFISH: :-)
CSugarbee135: thank you
TEDDIFISH: You're quite welcome :-)
CSugarbee135 signed off at 11:55 AM

Transcript of Thursday's class:
BranTrax: are we virtual today?

TEDDIFISH: Are folks trickling in yet?
BranTrax: yep
BranTrax: almost all here
TEDDIFISH: Excellent. I have a question I'd like you all to discuss and then (later) you can tell me what you've decided: I thought (when all of this started) that this (virtual class sessions) would be easier on and better for you--so you didn't have to deal with two teacher's sets of expectations, conflicting directions etc. It's gone on longer than I anticipated, though, and I want to know if you all would prefer if I arranged for a substitute when I can't be there.
TEDDIFISH: Just talk about it among yourselves and then I'll ask you about it later.
TEDDIFISH: OK on to class. I thought that you guys could take about the first 15 minutes or so and see what the liaisons have come up with for the group memo. (
TEDDIFISH: It counts for everyone, so it's important that you all review it and give feedback before the final draft is written and turned in on Tuesday.
TEDDIFISH: If you would like me to see parts of it, you can e-mail them to me (tfishma@clemson.edu)
BranTrax: it's unanimous that NO SUB! it can get confusing with two professors, plus we're getting a lot of work done on these projects. People say it's hard to meet outside of class, so this is great that we can work in groups. We're get a lot more done this way.
TEDDIFISH: Ok. (I'm glad to hear that, actually.) I just don't want you to feel abandoned. :-)
BranTrax: nope, not abandoned
BranTrax: we're looking at the proposal
TEDDIFISH: OK. I'll wait to hear back from you (12 or so minutes.)
TEDDIFISH: Are you all still working together on the proposal?
BranTrax: yes, people are still going over it
BranTrax: couple more minutes
TEDDIFISH: OK
BranTrax: ok, we're good
TEDDIFISH: OK. I'm assumig the liaisons will want to work on revisions and finishing this document for at least a little while. For the rest of the groups, what I'd like you to work on is identifying 3-5 key points that people should know about concerning the candidate and your particular issue.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: sounds like a plan to us
TEDDIFISH: For example, if (and I'm so glad this is not the case) one of the groups was working on abortion, you might want to make sure that everyone knew what each candidate said about the legality of it, federal funding of it, any regulations relating to it, and personal feelings about it.
TEDDIFISH: (It's a way of insuring parallelism within and between each group.)
TEDDIFISH: Questions?
BranTrax: should groups include Clark?
BranTrax: they're thinking not to include him
TEDDIFISH: You can decide that for yourselves,
BranTrax: 1) legality of it
BranTrax: oops, sorry hit "enter" by accident
TEDDIFISH: Each group will need to decide their 3 - 5 most important points for itself. ( They will vary.)
BranTrax: ok, each group separately

BranTrax: we were doing it as a whole, but it's better to do as a group
TEDDIFISH: Yes--smaller groups.
TEDDIFISH: (The parallelism will come with noting a similar number of key points.)
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: we've split into groups
BranTrax: do we need to post these or just know them within each group?
TEDDIFISH: They are just things to include and use as you work on your site.
BranTrax: ok, but you don't want them put on the blog?
TEDDIFISH: nope.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: back to work...
TEDDIFISH: I probably should have said this before: the purpose of the parallelism is to make comparisons easier. (If you say how one person feels about legal abortions and then only say what the other candidate feels about abortion personally, you can't make a good comparison.)
BranTrax: makes sense
TEDDIFISH: :-)
BranTrax: ok, some groups are still working on that and some are just researching in general
BranTrax: anything else specific today or just continue what we're doing?
TEDDIFISH: Just continue. (I think I told you you'd have time today to work--the stuff I gave you was just to focus that work.)
BranTrax: ok, good deal
TEDDIFISH: Did everyone get the message about presentations? The ones from this week will be on Tuesday, then the ones scheduled for next week will happen Thursday.
BranTrax: what message? none of us have received an email from you
BranTrax: so don't try to email us, just post on the blog
TEDDIFISH: Really!
TEDDIFISH: that's bad.
BranTrax: yep
TEDDIFISH: But I will post on the blog.
BranTrax: ok, b/c we never get the emails
BranTrax: none of us
TEDDIFISH: OK. I'll just use the blog.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: people want to know if you'll post our grades from the papers on the CLE or something
TEDDIFISH: Next week's first prompt is up there.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: If I don't make it in on Tuesday, I will find a way to get your grades to you. The papers looked good.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: that's good news
TEDDIFISH: I told you all (in the message that you didn't get--about today's class) that I'm having steroid shots today, so not only should I be better by Tuesday, I'll be all muscular too. :-)
BranTrax: haha
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: good luck with that
TEDDIFISH: So many pre-meds in there--You all probably know a lot more about all of this than I do.
BranTrax: no, you win the prize on this one
BranTrax: ok, people are starting to trickle out
BranTrax: I'll post to the blog again
TEDDIFISH: I have one more thing that I'd like to suggest--mainly for liaisons.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: I'll post to the blog for those who are leaving, but I think it might be a good idea to have some kind of "did you know" page
TEDDIFISH: so you can publish some interesting facts as teasers
TEDDIFISH: as part of our ongoing task of attracting and keeping readers
TEDDIFISH: So start collecting them, ok, and we'll think about how to include them.
BranTrax: wouldn't the main page contain that? that's the ssort of thing we were planning on putting on the intro (main) page
TEDDIFISH: I meant about the election/candidates in general (things that *won't* work in your individual pages but that are really interesting.)
BranTrax: right, well, we're planning on having a main page linking the 4 issues pages
BranTrax: so we had planned to put things like that there
TEDDIFISH: OK--we can talk about this more later. (the end of class isn't a good time :-)
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: Thanks again, all of you.
TEDDIFISH: Any last questions?
BranTrax: so you're gonna post to the blog?
BranTrax: nope
TEDDIFISH: Yes. I will. And then we can talk about it next week.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: bye!
TEDDIFISH: Bye--take care!
TEDDIFISH: Will you post this again?
BranTrax: oops, I just deleted it
BranTrax: I thought you were going to post it
TEDDIFISH: OK. I'll get it this time :-)
BranTrax: thanks :)
TEDDIFISH: :-)

Here's the text of the e-mail that you didn't get. I'm sorry about that.

Greetings,

I just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow will be another virtual class. (Sorry.) The people who were scheduled to present this week will all be moved to next Tuesday; Next week's presenters will present on Thursday. You will have nearly all of the hour to do your group work and to finalize your collective memo. If you would like me to look at part (or all) of it, you can e-mail it to me before or during tomorrow's class so you can get some feedback.

I am going for some steroid shots tomorrow, so not only do I expect to be back next week, I expect to be much more muscular. :-) I am hopeful that things will be back to normal next week.

Again, thank you for your patience. I'll "see" you tomorrow.

T. F.

For next week's first post, I'd like each of you to do an informal poll of about 10 -15 of your acquaintances (Clemson students only) and ask them to name the three most important issues to them in deciding for whom they will vote. Try not to lead them at all, but try to get good answers--if they say they are just going to vote along party lines, for instance, ask them what about their party's platform makes it the one that they support. Then for the post, just list the top 5 or so things that were identified.

One's view on which social security candidate is the best to vote for depends on how you view social security. If you feel that social security is a bloated and doomed system then the libertarian party, who feels that social security needs to be drastically cut if not destroyed altogether, is the choice for you. If you rather feel that social security can and should be reformed then you are left with the rest of the candidates - Edwards, Bush, Kerry, and Clark. Bush feels that social security needs to be privatized in order to streamline it -- however his reforms to date for social services have only increased spending. Edwards, Clark, and Kerry both oppose privatization but both are dedicated to its perpetuation and for some sort of vague reform.
- Adam, Adam, and Stephanie

In light of our topic being the war on Iraq and foreign policy and such, it's really hard to put the candidates on a scale of "friendliness" towards the issue. Our topic is not black and white, it's not a matter of choosing a side. We are in Iraq, so whether or not the candidates were for or against the war in Iraq in the first place isn't really an issue anymore. The real issue is what measures each candidate plans to take if elected into office concerning our situation overseas. None of the candidates are going to pull out of Iraq now. They all realize that we must finish what President Bush started. What constitutes "finishing" the situation is another question that must be considered. The views and opinions regarding Iraq are largely separated, not among candidates, but rather among parties. A big fact that the democratic candidates all stress is the importance of revitalizing and repairing our relationships with allies and bringing in NATO and other resources to lessen the burden on us. All of the candidates acknowledge the need to reconstruct Iraq, and they all agree that the Iraqi people should be the ones that ultimately gain control. Of course there are factors that differ among candidates regarding the exact measures they would take to achieve that goal and the timetable that they would operate off of. It is really hard to say that a certain candidate is good to vote for if you are against the war in Iraq and that another candidate is bad to vote for. From researching the candidate's positions and foreign policy strategies, I guess I would have to say that one that is more opposed to the war should lean toward the democratic candidates, just because it seems to me that they will get troops out of Iraq sooner that Bush would. Bush is not just going to finish what he started in Iraq, but he is also going to continue searching for the terrorists. An excerpt from his speech at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center in Roswell, New Mexico on January 22nd gives a picture of what he is ultimately after:
"People say, what are you doing in the long-term? We know what you're doing in the short-term, we can hear you and see you -- you're sending troops after the killers. What about the long-term plan against terrorists? Free societies do not breed terrorism. Free societies are peaceful nations. What we're doing for the long-term, we're promoting freedom." Personally, this topic is so complicated and unstable that this is a really hard question to try to answer. Something could happen tomorrow that could change all of the candidate's opinions on things.
~Amy, Suzy, Cortney, Sarah, Andrew

Sorry, the stem cell blog was for:
Mary, Kim, Brannon, Lauren, and Johnathan

Our topic is stem cell research. Bush is obviously the Republican candidate and he is less "friendly" to the support of stem cell research. Then some of the Democratic candidates we are looking at include Howard Dean, John Edwards, and John Kerry. John Edwards stated he "supports the bipartisan Human Cloning Ban and Stem Cell Research Protection Act of 2003 (S.303), which was introduced to prohibit human reproductive cloning while allowing for stem cell research to continue under strict ethical regulations." Howard Dean is also in favor of stem cell research and comments that he would provide funding growth for the NIH in terms of stem cell research. John Kerry comments that "I will ensure we unleash all of our technology and scientific potential to use stem cell research to develop cures. We owe our country no less."

Our issue is homosexual marriage. If someone felt really strongly about homosexual rights they would want to vote for Howard Dean, John Kerry or had he not dropped out, Wesley Clark. Howard Dean is for homosexual marriages. On NBC's "Meet the Press" last weekend, he said he would press every state to recognize homosexual marriages. He signed a law recognizing the civil unions of homosexual couples in Vermont. John Kerry has also noted that he is for homosexual marriage's, as well as all the benefits which marriage implies. Wesley Clark has also commented that equal rights are deserved by homosexuals and their partners. The only democratic candidate against homosexual marriage is John Edwards. He says that he is personally opposed to same-sex marriage, but that he would not back a constitutional amendment that would ban it, rather the individual states should decide. Someone who opposed homosexual marriage would want to vote for Edwards or Bush. Bush noted, in his state of the union address and subsequent press releases, that he is against homosexual marriages and would back an amendment to end them.
-Ashley Carson, Brian Church, Lindsay Green-Barber, Leslie Horn, Erin Pardue

Your second post this week should be collaborative: Rate the various candidates as to their "friendliness" on your issue. In other words, identify which ones would be good to vote for (or bad to vote for) if [fill in your issue here] is something you strongly support.

Here are two other conversations that were going on simultaneously (at different computers) that might also be helpful:

#1
TgrSteph7: this is stephanie...my group is wondering what else we should do today...we've finished our research and can't start designing the webpage until the liasons design the main webpage (so that it will be consistent) ??
TEDDIFISH: How about working on navigation/accessing issues. In other words, think about how you will group and label the info that you've come up with.
TEDDIFISH: Often once you start doing that, you find you need a bit more info (for parallelism.)
TEDDIFISH: Tell me how you're thinking about chunking things up.
TgrSteph7: ok...we basically have 4 parts...the history of social security, the candidates' positions, current financial status and future
TEDDIFISH: Ok, that sounds good. How might you label or index the history/current/future stuff?
TgrSteph7: the history is split up into years and will have a link on each year, with more information...
TEDDIFISH: (That will be important because there are "landmark" things that are most important but also trends that help aid understanding of the way things are moving.
TgrSteph7: kind of a timeline
TEDDIFISH: OK, will it be all on one page?
TEDDIFISH: You may want to think about having roll-overs or pop-ups that provide more detailed information . . .
TgrSteph7: all the years will be on one page and the links to each year at the top of the page, that way they only have to look at the years they want to
TEDDIFISH: Do you think people will know what years they need to look at or will they be more likely to be looking for events? (These are the kinds of issues that it sounds like your group is ready to concentrate on.)
TgrSteph7: each year will have a topic next to it and the link will go to an in-depth paragraph
TEDDIFISH: OK--so a year with a caption?
TgrSteph7: ye
TEDDIFISH: So how many pages?
TgrSteph7: all the history will be one long page...one page for the candidates...one page with the financial status and future status
TEDDIFISH: I think you may not want to do *every* year--perhaps just the landmark ones.
TgrSteph7: right
TEDDIFISH: So does that give you guys some things to work on now?
TgrSteph7: hmmm
TgrSteph7: we're still not real sure
TEDDIFISH: Just one sec. (Writing to another student)
TEDDIFISH: Ok. I guess what I'd say is for you to do a good outline that specifies pages and links and see what you come up with.
TgrSteph7: ok
TgrSteph7: thanks..we'll work on that for a little while
TEDDIFISH: OK great. :-)
TgrSteph7 signed off at 11:52 AM

#2

CSugarbee135: This is the group doing homosexual marriages we have two aspects to capture the attention of the students. First we will have flyers that will include humorous images and bright colors. We also plan to send mass emails with the link to our website. We plan to do this through sending emails to our people in our classes using MyClE. On our website we will also try to capture student's attention. We will use pictures such as a wedding cake that has two men on it. Things like this will create a shock factor. The organization of the website will also be important.
The main page will be consise but will havemore indepth links. We will include statrling statistics. We will also include personalized quotes from the candidates.
TEDDIFISH: Sounds good. (I wasn't really asking about your flyers, but those are really good ideas.) Will you be using humor on the site as well?
CSugarbee135 signed off at 11:34 AM
CSugarbee135 signed on at 11:43 AM
TEDDIFISH: Hello again.
CSugarbee135: hey sorry my computer messed up
CSugarbee135: we will employ some humor in our website
CSugarbee135: but not too much because we want it to be somewhat serious, we do not want to belittle the topic
TEDDIFISH: Right. You have the difficult task of (maybe) using humor to attract interest but not making it silly or offending people.
TEDDIFISH: Maybe think about how headlines work==both in print sources and online.
TEDDIFISH: They often do a good job with funny, controversial "teasers" as intros for serious topics.
CSugarbee135: that is what we were thinking
CSugarbee135: we think on the flyers we will use more humor just to spark interest but not use much humor on the actual webpage
TEDDIFISH: So perhaps you would want a teaser for each of your main topics?
TEDDIFISH: Good idea (about the flyers.) You'll need something pretty funny to get folks to go there.
CSugarbee135: well our main topics are just preexisiting laws and canidates views so we probally wont use teasers for those
CSugarbee135: on the website we will probally use startling statistics to capture peoples attention
TEDDIFISH: For each of the main topics?
CSugarbee135: yes
TEDDIFISH: Like what . . .
CSugarbee135: like the current acceptance of gay marriage in states, number of homosexuals in states, and things like that
TEDDIFISH: Will you have some financial figures as well?
CSugarbee135: yes
TEDDIFISH: Your group is going to have to be especially careful with statistics. There is a lot of bogus research on your topic
CSugarbee135: ok
TEDDIFISH: (It's so controversial that special interest groups do "research" that really isn't, and it, of course, shows up on the web just like real research.
CSugarbee135: ok
CSugarbee135: well hope you feel better
CSugarbee135: see you on thursday
TEDDIFISH: Thank you! Have a good week.!

BranTrax: several of us want to know when we're going to get our individual projects back (and ethics project if we've done it)
TEDDIFISH: I am hoping to have those individual projects) for you on Thurday.
TEDDIFISH: You don't get anything for the ethics projects--just a grade
BranTrax: ok, cool
BranTrax: right, well, I guess when do we get that grade
TEDDIFISH: I have the notes on those at school but I can tell you that every group that has gone so far has gotten 90% or above.
BranTrax: ok
BranTrax:
TEDDIFISH: Hi Kim
BranTrax: hey ~ are you feeling okay?
TEDDIFISH: As long as I don't have to walk
BranTrax: well thats good
BranTrax: we're doing the stem cell research part
TEDDIFISH: Thank you
BranTrax: we decided for the navigation part that we wanted to put links to other government or reputable websties, such as the National Institute of Health (NIH), stemcellfunding.gov, cordblood.com, and American Association of Advancement for Science
BranTrax: appeal wise - we're going to put lots of picutres on teh website, make it a simple layout, colorful, and inlaid with lots of facts and statistics
TEDDIFISH: I think those are good ideas for establishing credibility, but maybe not so much for navigation.
TEDDIFISH: Or maybe I'm not understanding how those links would help navigate. What will be your major headings?
BranTrax: we were thinking on the main webpage for the whole group to have the MTV slogan where it says 18 million 18-30 voted in teh last election adn teh two candidates were separated by 500,000 votes, imagine if 20 million had voted...
BranTrax: our major headings are going to be 1)Background on Stem Cells 2)Future Uses 3)Case Studies 4)Conservative 5)Liberal
BranTrax: the links will serve as more information
BranTrax: like you said...it will serve as further reference material, stuff the viewers will be able to use in the "here and now"
TEDDIFISH: Hmmm. I wonder about the labels of conservative and liberal. What would you think about giving some different viewpoints perhaps based on occupation (researcher, doctor, patient,)
TEDDIFISH: I am afraid you might not be able to entice readers with the political labels. What do you think?
BranTrax: i think we can incorporate that in the "liberal" and "conservative" views - but were focusing on the election and on candidates
BranTrax: i mean we can put "republican" and "democrat"
TEDDIFISH: It's not that I don't think you can get it in there--it's that I'm not sure you're going to get your readers to read it if that's what you call it.
BranTrax: Do you think republican and democrat is better?
TEDDIFISH: Sadly, people already (often) think that they know what people in those groups (all 4 of them) will say.
BranTrax: i just think that is the point of our website - getting the viewers to identify themselves with a specific candidate
TEDDIFISH: On the other hand, they might be enticed into reading what a sufferer of a disease has to say about stem cell.
TEDDIFISH: *Then* you can link those perspectives to those of the candidates.
BranTrax: thats included in the other sections...
TEDDIFISH: (Understand that these are just my suggestions--there are lots of ways to do it, but getting students to read it is one of the hardest parts.)
BranTrax: we are most defintely covering all of the background information - dont worry about that
BranTrax: i think that we all feel this is supposed to be educating the community about what the candidates think
TEDDIFISH: No, I'm not worried about coverage (yet at least ).
BranTrax: beause i personally do not know what each one says about stem cell research and it is an important issue for me
BranTrax: maybe candidates views are a better way to say it
TEDDIFISH: Yes, it is. But remember how we talked about writing (once you get out of school) including the hard work of getting your audience interested.
BranTrax: because not every democrat is liberal and not every republican is conservative
TEDDIFISH: Candidates' views would probably work too.
TEDDIFISH: Right. (And college students often don't know who is who, especially this early.)
BranTrax: and thats why this section of our webpage is important
TEDDIFISH: Exactly! (and why we're spending so much time talkiing about it!) Just think about how many texts you encounter in a day that you decide *not* to read.) I still think you may want to include some "professional" or "interested" points of view
BranTrax: we can state conflicting opinion from doctors and sufferers...but i dont think that those people are going to influence the legislation written to change stem cell research
TEDDIFISH: Yes. I would be interested to know, for instance, how Dean (a Dr.) stacks up with other doctors or researchers.
BranTrax: well take this into consideration - but the other groups have to go
BranTrax: thank you for your advice
TEDDIFISH: You're very welcome!
BranTrax: Hey, this is the War on Terror group
TEDDIFISH: War for short?
TEDDIFISH: Hello.
BranTrax: We actually have our website started...here's the link...www.clemson.edu/~speck/votersWOT
TEDDIFISH: Excellent. Let me go look.
BranTrax: www.clemson.edu/~speck/votersWOT.html
BranTrax: We're basically going to keep the titles short and to the point, speaking in "less formal" language that students can relate to
BranTrax: We've got some pictures up already, and we'll probably use some more...what we have so far is just the template.
TEDDIFISH: I think that is the right idea.
BranTrax: We've got a background section on the website. This will be helpful for students who don't know much about the issue and they might not feel intimidated to learn
TEDDIFISH: I like the pictures. It would be great if you could have an "essential quote" along with each--to capture each one's perspective on the war on terror
BranTrax: Great minds think alike
BranTrax: That was actually our plan
TEDDIFISH:
BranTrax: We had one question about references. Should we cite the sources of the pictures?
TEDDIFISH: Yes, you really should. You can have a page where you tell where you got the visuals if it makes it easier.
BranTrax: Ok, we'll make sure to do that.
TEDDIFISH: then will each candidate's picture be clickable?
BranTrax: Yes, they should be already.
TEDDIFISH: Excellent. (I didn't try.)
BranTrax: On the main page they will link to individual pages. The pictures on the indiv pages won't link anywhere though, they're just for show.
TEDDIFISH: That sounds fine.
BranTrax: So now we're just working on getting our reserach together to put up on the individual pages. Do you have any other questions for us?
TEDDIFISH: Not right now. It sounds like you're doing fine.
BranTrax: Ok, thanks. Feel better and see you Thursday!
TEDDIFISH: Thanks! Have a good week.
BranTrax: ok, Brannon back
TEDDIFISH: Hi Brannon.
BranTrax: we're all set to go
TEDDIFISH: Excellent.
BranTrax: we're going to head out
TEDDIFISH: OK. Could you save and post this like you did last time?
TEDDIFISH: I'll save the other two conversations I've had.

# posted by Anonymous @ 8:51 AM

TEDDIFISH: For Liaisons:

Your main task today is to come up with one coherent document and timeline. (This is very much like what representatives from different teams or sub-committees do in organizations when they come together to piece together a larger project.) I would encourage you to start by looking at what each group produced separately and then discussing which organizational schema will be easiest to modify to suit this new purpose.



TEDDIFISH: (You may want to copy these into a word doc or something.)
TEDDIFISH: Still for the liaisons: You may then want to split into two smaller groups-one to work on drafting text and another to work on the timeline. Before you actually submit these plans to me, you need to share them with the class (especially with respect to the timeline because those are dates that I will be holding you to) so if you have time, you may want to start that today.


TEDDIFISH: Questions?
BranTrax: when is it due?
TEDDIFISH: Next Tuesday.
BranTrax: so we can share it with them Thurs
TEDDIFISH: (I'm not sure if I changed the schedule yet but I will if I haven't)
BranTrax: work on it today, share thurs, make changes and turn in Tues
TEDDIFISH: Yes.
TEDDIFISH: Other questions?
BranTrax: ok, liaisons are good
BranTrax: nope
BranTrax: not from us
BranTrax: wait
BranTrax: ~10 pages or can it be longer since there were 4 groups, each ~4 pages
BranTrax: ?
TEDDIFISH: No, you really want to keep it to 10--that is part of the work--to condense and modify so that only the essentials are there.

BranTrax: ok
BranTrax: we're good
TEDDIFISH: Ok, For the rest of the group:

You have a couple of tasks to attend to today. One that we haven't said much about yet is navigation. You should think about the work you are doing in terms of the way it will function-remember that the stuff you are putting together is what we talked about as being "present-oriented" which means that it needs to be able to be *used* in the here-and-now.
TEDDIFISH: The kind of work you are doing is really reference material-almost like a phone directory. Think about this kind of scenario: a student is interested in voting but she doesn't know which one of the candidates represents her views. What you want to be providing is not just the information that will help her decide, but also the navigation that will allow her to access the things that are most important to her.


TEDDIFISH: Things like keywords, titles, bulleted lists--those are the kinds of things that make a text easy to skim through.
BranTrax: ok
TEDDIFISH: It is best to begin thinking about those issues while you are still researching--it helps frame your information.
TEDDIFISH: So that's one thing.Another thing to work on is what we've been talking about on the blog-how to make what you are presenting appeal to your audience. In a little while, I'm going to ask the different groups to tell me what you are thinking about in terms of appealing to your audience.
TEDDIFISH: Any questions about those two tasks?
BranTrax: a little while today in class or a little while later on the blog?
TEDDIFISH: Toward the end of this class. (Just so I get an idea of how it's going.)
BranTrax: question: how are sources supposed to be cited on the website?
TEDDIFISH: If I were there, I'd be listening to you, but a disadvantage to this method is that I can't evesdrop.
BranTrax: right, ok
TEDDIFISH: Good question. You have a couple of options. One is that you can do a references list for each issue
BranTrax: well, I was thinking that it might be better for each group to put it on the blog b/c then we can read each other's and get ideas
TEDDIFISH: those would be there own pages and you'd make links to them in the text.
TEDDIFISH: That would be fine. I am flexible.
TEDDIFISH: If you would jot them down while you're working, I can see them. (It will be *almost* like eavesdropping.)
TEDDIFISH: Another way to handle references is to cite them in text, making links to the sources when they are online.
TEDDIFISH: there are even other ways, but those are the two most often used. I would suggest that the class decides how to handle them (so that they are uniform.)
BranTrax: we'll come up here one group at a time to tell you how we're going to appeal to students
TEDDIFISH: OK. That's fine
TEDDIFISH: Tell me who is speaking, ok?
BranTrax: the class says we'll do a link page of references
TEDDIFISH: OK.
BranTrax: ok, liaisons are going to go work and groups will come tell you about appealing to students
BranTrax: so I'm going away, people can come up here as they choose
TEDDIFISH: Sounds good. I'll be here for that or any other questions
TEDDIFISH: It's so nice to work with students with self-direction!

I had to schedule some television time specifically for this assignment, as otherwise the TV would just be left on (commercial-free) C-SPAN. I realized every time the commercial breaks ended, that my mind had done an excellent job of filtering out that which I had not already heard about, or was already interested in.

I snapped to attention everytime a commercial for Mountain Dew, Final Fantasy or Prince of Persia came on. I seemed to drift away at other times. However, these commercials may have a common thread other than my already vested interest. They were all marketed towards the young-male demographic, I would assume. They all had catchy music, flashy graphics, and incrediable stunts. However, none of these styles would be appropriate for this project.

While reading the New York Times, I noticed there was a political ad on the same page as an article about the primaries. I thought to myself, "would as many people pay attention to this ad block if it was for something unrelated?" Relavence to the material the advertising is placed within would seem to be beneficial to gathering attention.

Many of the advertisements that catch my attention are the ones that draw upon the audience's proclivity towards suspense and unbelievable situations. Two commercials presented first during the Super Bowl are the Chevy-soap commercial and the Cadillac-sound commercial. In the Chevy commercial, the audience saw numerous children suffering with bars of soap in the mouths. It wasn't until the very end of the commercial that Chevy explained that the marvel of their cars triggered the children to utter a profanity. The audience was attracted to this commercial because of they didn't initially know why the children were all being punished. The Cadillac commercial was completely silent and that alone attracted attention. The audience was further compelled to watch the commercial to search for an explanation to the lack of sound. In the end, Cadillac suggested that their new cars traveled faster than the speed of sound. Unbelievable situations also become memorable commercials. Even though the advertising companies do not expect the audience to believe the commercial, they at least get the audience talking about them. For example, Mountain Dew has for years aired commercials in which people sky dive and somehow catch a Mountain Dew mid flight. An ad campaign that everyone probably remembers from the 90s was the McDonald's "Nothing but Net" commercial. Larry Bird and Michael Jordan were going head to head in a shooting competition making ridiculous shots through windows and over bleachers. Though the two athletes probably wouldn't have made these shots in real life, the situation of the commercial made the ad memorable even though it was initially aired almost a decade ago. Suspense and unbelievable situations can draw attention and create memorable commercials.

One of the themes in many of the commercials that I liked was the songs that they chose to play in the background. Most car commercials have a song that tends to be catchy and when the song gets into your head it makes you think about the car later. The Mitsubishi Gallant has the song, “Do You Realize” that always gets stuck in my head. Another commonality among most ads is an appealing catch phrase that is often clever. We can work these things into our project by making sure that our advertisement is attention-worthy. If the ad is clever or funny then hopefully people will stop and pay attention to it.

When it comes to super bowl ads, I think that the humorous commercials were the ones that caught people’s attention and stayed with people the longest. Most companies decided to broadcast during the super bowl because they were taking advantage of the fact that the commercial would be seen by millions of people. One approach is to keep your audience in mind and air your company’s commercial on a channel that targets your audience. For example if you product is a sports magazine, then the commercial should show on ESPN. Some of the approaches that didn’t work were the longer ones. Most people will lose their interest in an advertisement that is not straightforward. Basically, a commercial that is humorous, to the point, and has a catchy song will probably be successful.

The advertisements that catch my attention are the ones that are funny. One of my favorite commercials right now is the potato chips commercial that has two old people who fight over the potato chips. They knock each other and take each other's dentures. It is commercials like this that employ humor as well as the element of shock that capture the attention of our age group. I think in order to actually get students interested in our project, we have to include humor in our advertisements. I also agree with Lindsay’s idea that bright colors are a good idea. Bright colors capture people’s attention. Bright colors would also be easy to incorporate into our website and our flyers.

I think that simplicity is definitely important. Some commercials just seem to try to hard, if I remember them, it is not in a positive way. Also, I don't know if any of you have seen the Quizno's commercial with the singing hamsters. It is hilarious and really weird. It is kind of like Mary was saying about the strange stuff standing out. The hamsters in the commercial look distorted and they have to use speech bubbles in order for the audience to understand what they are saying. This also brings up the idea of pulling out the important things off to the side. I think the idea of summarizing or simplifying is good. People are more likely to pay attention and remember if the important stuff is obvious. Also, I think that humor is always an important thing to incorporate when trying to effect people our age. I know that I tend to remember the funny stuff.

Most of the advertisements that seem to catch my attention are the ones that seem the "strangest". For example, a commercial will get your attention if it is a little odd and not exactly what you are used to seeing. These days, advertising is everywhere, and in order to grab someone's attention, the ad must be different from the rest. This is why I think one idea for grabbing attention is shock value. Maybe by giving alarming statistics, this will shock the audience into paying attention to the message. Also, people pay attention when they see someone on ads that they recognize. THis is why famous people make millions every year on advertising. Overall, the main idea of advertising is capturing the attention of the audience. Flashy, out of the ordinary ads are the best way of doing this in my opinion. Once you have their attention, you have more of a chance that your message will then be heard.

I agree with what everyone else has been saying...in order to get people's attention (especally students, who've got so much going on in their minds already) you have to be memorable. You have to jar them, suprise them into paying attention to what you have to say. Bright colors are defintely a good way to do that, just like humor, or surprising/controversial/catchy sayings, or pictures. If you're looking around while you're walking across campus, we all see the same buildings, the same sights everyday. If something is out of the ordinary, you notice it right away. Which is why, like Brian said, the sidewalk chalk works so well.

And definetly simplicity is the key. I was on a robotics team in high school (yeah, nerd) and when we were designing our robot we always kept KISS in mind. I'm sure you've all heard that before, it stands for keep it simple, stupid. It's easier that way for us, as the producers of the product, to make; and it's easier for the students, the "consumers" of our product, to read it, get the information we want them to get from it, and make sense of it all.

The ads that catch my attention are different. These ads do not try to sell a product at first, but always have a unique quality that causes people to stop what they are doing to pay attention. Several of these advertisements start their commercial with a pause. This silence causes people to look up because usually sound is constantly being emmitted from the set. This quiet technique is effective for tv or even radio advertisements. The fliers that manage to catch my eye are those that are located where I am looking. I have seen fliers that have been duct taped to the ground where people will have to see them. This approach may not be smiled upon by the university, but a key concept is still useful. Put the ads where people are already looking. One way that we could advertise that is free is chalk writing on the sidewalks. This technique is not damaging to the campus and will last only a short time. Other organizations use this all the time all over campus and I do not see why we could not use this tool as well.

Hey everyone-

MTV has put together a website called "Choose or Lose" that targets young people and getting them involved in the election process. I just saw it on tv when they did a story about the MTV Rock the Vote recently. Part of their website includes info on each candidate and issues. The site is: http://www.mtv.com/chooseorlose/partners/votesmart/
You can follow this site back to the main page www.chooseorlose.com
Hope this helps with issues/ candidates and with giving us ideas for our website!

Brannon :)

The thing that always get me most about ads, especially those being put out now in anticipation of spring, are bright colors. Anything that has bright, happy colors makes me look twice. This should be easy enough to incorporate in our advertising as we could print flyers on brightly colored paper advertising our website. I also think ads with questions are appealing as they draw me into the context of whatever it is advertising... something like, "What if you can't retire until you're 85?" Something shocking that would be relevant to our audience would make them stop and look and hopefully instill enough interest to get them to go even further and look at our webpage.

A few things stand out to me when I think about advertising. Using media outlets and posting flyers require very different strategies to get people's attention. Some of the commonalities among the advertisements I remembered this weekend were celebrity endorsements and ads that posed a question (to which the answer is always the product that they are selling). Getting a celebrity is probably out of our reach, but using questions in ads or flyers to get people interested enough to walk over and read the flyer might be effective. Also, when I think about advertising on campus, I have to think sidewalk chalk. How many of us would know about tigermealplan.com without it? And how often do we notice someone's 21st birthday as it is scratched out on the library bridge? If we can manage a web address that is easily memorable I think that using that method might well be the most effective way we can get a student's attention.

Some of the ads that seem to catch my attention are ones for body lotions and food. I think this is because these commercials get the attention of my senses. They usually have pretty colors (mainly pastels) and foods that you are familiar with (such as fruits) to get you to where you almost feel as though you can taste them by just watching the ad. The other reason these ads catch my attention is probably because I am a girl. This is a good reason to incorporate this theme of "alluring to the senses," since many voters will be girls. Usually, political information is brought about so that only those who know a lot about it can understand it. And not to be sexist or anything, but in my opinion, most girls that I know don't know as much political mumbo jumbo as the guys do. So, I think it is very important that we should include things that will interest the girls in our website.

Not to sound redundant, but I definitely agree with everyone that less is better- especially since our main method of advertising is flyers. No one wants to read a lot on a flyer- we are lazy and usually in a hurry when we're walking around campus. A one line controversial phrase or sentence pertaining to the candidates or a specific party with simply our web address below would get me wondering what in the world is going on. I don't know that after the first time of seeing one of those flyers I would go check out the site, but if we do a good job of putting the flyers everywhere it will help. Also, putting the flyers near all the computers in the labs and in places like Brackett atrium will help because people won't have to remember our flyer long before checking out the site.

I'd have to go with everyone else by saying that less is definitely better. Nobody has time to read a lot of information, especially since the times that the flyers will most likely be seen is when people are walking to and from class. We should put our definitions of technical writing into effect when planning our flyers. They should be direct and to the point, simple and concise, provide all the information needed to direct the readers to our website. They should also be attention grabbing. Big font, bold lettering, bright colors, pictures, catchy phrases, etc. Drawing off of successful advertising campaigns that are in the media today, most of the successful ones have simple, one line, catchy phrases that people remember. "Just do it." "Got milk?" "M&Ms, melt in your mouth, not in your hand." If we could think of something catchy, something that will stick in people's heads, I think it would be a good attention grabber. It would also help to tie together all of the individual flyers if all of the flyers had a uniting phrase.

Our main method of advertising, aside from links and plugs from professors, is flyers, so looks is most important. There is no audio or vocal message, as well as no action. I have been looking at flyers around campus this morning, in Long and Brackett. The ones that catch my attention the most are simple but "loud." They may or may not be on color paper, but they have a picture or large wording that catches the eye and attention. The ones cluttered with a lot of information are generally less attracting because nothing stands out and people don't want to read a lot. The flyers should catch a person's attention as they glance at it- they should not have to make a point of reading it in order to notice it. This can be achieved with a large, not-too-detailed picture or graphic or with large bold word(s). Generally, less is better, at least for me, with the flyers.

Considering our main means of advertising, which I gathered from the class, is flyers. This is distinct from say TV or radio ads in that the audience for them has sought them out voluntarily -- you have to walk over and read the flyers yourself rather than having them shown to you. From this perspective, I think our problem is not so much getting the attention of viewers, but rather communicating what we want them to know effectively and in such a way that they will remember it. Thus I think we should boil down all the information that we want to communicate and decide the best means to have people to remember it. I think forthrightness is something we should definatley consider -- if we were to put foward a clear information without cheesy lines or catch-phrases we might get more notice for our simplicity than just another goofy ad that you see everywhere.

Depending on the monetary allotment for ads, many portray famous people, capturing quotes, flashy backgrounds, and comical relief. Such beer commercials as Budweiser, with their salute to "The Man who Invented...." are enjoyed and talked about in many facets of our daily lives. I find it hard to incorporate comical relief and famous people into our projects, because a) it is an election, politics, something that requires serious intent and attention and b) a majority of us are on a restricted income. I really believe that "catching the eye" of our peers will require invested flashy, but simple webpages with links prompted by the University. Flyers with catchy logos and sayings that do not pertain to the election might help, if distributed among the campus. The hard thing to accomplish is to hook the audience - once they view our webpage the information supplied will naturally alter or improve their efficiency in the political issues of 2004.