Final Project

Remediations of
Study goals and procrastination tendencies at different stages of the undergraduate degree

1. Screencast




2. Infographic

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Bryce
Emily

Augmented Reality in Pokemon Go

Pokémon Go is an augmented reality app that has became a very popular game over the past year. This app allows people to catch and train characters that are known as Pokémon. You are able to catch these characters by using Pokeballs. You are then able to use the characters you have captured to fight other Pokémon Go players in gyms. Depending on how well you do will determine how many experience points and rewards you receive. This game is an augmented reality app because it uses maps to track your locations which leads you to Pokémon as you travel around cities and other areas.

            Pokémon Go is able to use rhetoric in a few different ways. One way the app is able to use rhetoric is by the use of GPS. With the use of GPS technology, the Pokémon Go app is able to generate a map of your surroundings.  The app can entice you to go outside and catch the Pokémon by putting certain creatures in your geographical area.   This increases your rewards and experience points.

In his online paper, John Tinnell, describes the users of the Pokémon Go app perfectly with one of his quotes, he says: “The user [of virtual reality] is completely immersed in an artificial world and becomes divorced from the real environment. The visual, and in some systems aural and proprioceptive, senses are under control of the system. In contrast, an augmented reality system is augmenting the real world scene necessitating that the user maintains a sense of presence in that world. The virtual images are merged with the real view to create the augmented display. Augmented reality lies near the real world end of the line with the predominate perception being the real world augmented by computer generated data”. 

I believe this to be true because I remember when the app first hit the market and literally everyone in a certain age demographic had downloaded the app and seemed to forget about the real world.  There were various news stories about people getting injured or got in trouble trespassing while using the app because they temporarily lost touch with reality.

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Bryce

Emily

Digital Humanities in Rhetoric

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Jessica
Sam
Cody

Social Media Plan for Successful Work Teams

Social Media Plan

Understanding the Many Factors that Affect the Success of Organizational Work Teams

This is an article written by Robert J. Trent, a professor of Management at Lehigh University

Include link to article on every post http://www.journalofbusiness.us/index.php/site/article/view/40/17

Definitions and Strategies are taken from Nahon and Hemsleys What Virality is: I Know it When I See it.

1.     Main Goal: Reach out to as many people in the business community as possible. We will complete this by using various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Nahon and Hemsley define this as viral reach. We then hope that this article will be shared through word of mouth to others in the community

2.     Focus: The main points of the academic article.  If the article is broken down to just the main points you should be able to reach every age demographic out there in the workforce. I would say ages 18- 65 would be reached.

The main point of this academic article is to tell people how to work well in teams and it gives you ideas on how to help your co-workers work better as a group. Some of the things brought up in the article that can complete this are:

·      Challenging and Meaningful Task Assignment

·      Subtle rather than blatant management control

·      Effective Feedback

·      Member Role Understanding

·      Proper Team Design

This article will also tell you what makes teamwork in the workplace ineffective.   Some of these things are:

·      Ineffective Leadership

·      Lack of Authority

·      Challenging Team Model

·      Lack of Executive Support

3.     Social Media Posts

·      Twitter: The main goal of our first tweet will be meant to get us out there and talked about. In order to do this, we will talk to a few major business magazines such as Forbes and Bloomberg Business Week.

The first tweet will be geared towards business owners and will read like this:

Ever wonder how to have great employee. THE WAIT IS OVER #business #teamworkpays (add link to article here) and an image of a good working team

·      Facebook: Our Facebook page is where we will find certain pages that have something to do with business. These pages will include popular business magazines, university business schools, and all other business related pages.

On the Facebook pages we will use a very relatable image to the middle-aged demographic.  We will use a little bit of comedic aspect to grab their interest and lead people to want to share the post with their friends. We would use the same post as we did on Twitter.

·      Instagram: will allow us to create a funny meme to share with the article

A meme is a piece of information that is spread from person to person through copying or imitation. We will take the picture and use it as a funny way to represent our cause. An example:

  

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Bryce

Emily 

A Rhetorical Argument using Sampling and Remixing

Uploaded Video to Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRu38rU1wO4

1. Identification of Producers/Creators

a. Where did your samples (images, video, audio) come from?

The images/videos mainly came from the movie called “Up”. Audio came from variety of sources such as the Jim Carey, Simpsons, TEDxBend, and The Office. All of our samples were found using YouTube.

b. Who has taken part in the creation of these samples?

i. Individuals?

TED

Speaker: Sarah Red-Laird

Movie “UP”

Directors: Pete Docter and Bob Peterson

Producers: John Lasseter, Kori Rae, Denise Ream, Jonas Rivera, Andrew Stanton

The Office

Creators: Greg Daniels, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant

Executive Producers: Howard Klein, Ben Silverman, Paul Lieberstein, Jennifer Celotta,    B.J. Novak, Mindy Kaling, Brent Forrester, and Dan Sterling

The Simpsons

Creators: Matt Groening, Sam Simon, James L. Brooks

ii. A community? Film industry, television industry,  global (speakers from across the world)

iii. A company or other organization?

Disney: Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Records, Skywalker Sound, Eastwood Scoring Stage, Walt Disney Negative Cutting, Solano County Sheriff’s Office, Entertainment Clearances, Intelligence Media, Klass Security and Investigations, etc

The Office: Reveille Productions, NBC Universal Television, 3 Arts Entertainment, Deedle-Dee Productions, Universal Media Studios, Universal Media Studios, Universal Television, etc

The Simpsons: Gracie Films, 20th Century Fox Television, Curiosity Company, Film Roman Productions, Fox Television Animation, Klasky-Csupo, Akom Production Company, Anivision, Central Casting, Laser Edit, Skywalker Sound, Sony Pictures Studio, Glenwood Editorial, etc

TED: TED and TEDxBend (non-profit organizations), Waywire.com

c. Do you have a connection to any of these individuals or groups?

i. Is this connection close, or does it resemble seven steps to Kevin Bacon?

It resembles like the seven steps to Kevin Bacon because we have no direct connections to those individuals or companies listed above. One could argue that there is an emotional connection with Disney and Pixar. Most of us grew up watching Disney movies during our childhoods and for some it helped shape their identities.

d. Do you think your relation (or lack of relation) to these individuals or groups gives you more or l less constraints to sample and remix their creative work?

The lack of relation to these individuals or groups make us less constrained to sample and remix their creative work because we don’t feel the obligation nor loyalty to them. Also it is easier to remix without guilt because usually there are no major consequences. On the other hand, if it was created by one of our close friends or family member then we’ll be more constrained. This is caused by fear of offending them or interfering with the relationship of that individual.

e. If you do not know where your samples come from originally, how do you think you might discover this information? (Once you have done more research, go back and answer the previous questions.)

The research can easily be done for some but others might be hard. It was easier to find the original sources for the movie “Up” because it was produced by a well-known company Disney. The information could be found on several websites like Wikipedia, IMDb, etc. On the contrary,  it was harder to find the original sources for Ted because many of their events are independently held and the hosts don’t necessarily list who exactly was involved in the production like Disney.

2. Identification of Caring/Wounding

a. To the best of your ability, please research the groups and/or individuals from whom you have sampled. According to your sources (scholarly, popular, friends, etc.), what are some of the cultural values of these people and their communities? Provide some evidence for your claims. If you identify as a member of one of these communities, explain how you have come to understand the community’s values and how your own understanding of these values might differ from others in the community.

TED is a non-profit organization and its mission is to spread great ideas in the best way possible. It brings in people from different cultures and discipline for a greater understanding of the world, and they strongly believe that ideas can change things as simple as altitudes and even lives. Disney believes in differentiating their entertainment services from others to be the most profitable and go beyond just entertaining. They want to inspire people, strengthen communities, and conserve the entertainment.

b. Identify 3-5 of your acts of sampling in relation to the individuals and/or groups you identified above as either acts of caring or wounding or both. Address the following questions in this identification:

i. In your sampling and remixing, are you potentially contradicting, subverting, changing, or even violating some of the values you researched above? Imagine someone sampling your work (something to which you have dedicated your life) and remixing it into a new work that actually violates the values expressed in your original work or that seems to take credit for authorship without acknowledging you. How do you think the “original” authors would react, should they witness your remix? How might it affect them?

In the movie, Carl changes from being this isolated and self-absorbed person to reorganizing his priorities and saving the people that he cares for.  After sampling, Disney’s overall message changed into something completely different. Now it only portrays Carl as someone hard-hearted and doesn’t care about the welfare of bees at all. Although bees play a small but significant role.However, we are still arguing for the bees. The video may seem like it contradicts with Disney’s views but they’re all about promoting good and inspiration. So we believe it is still aligned with Disney views. The original authors may or may not exactly appreciate what we have done. If it goes viral for not good reasons then they may not appreciate it and take legal action. In my opinion, if one of my works was remixed by someone and I came across the remix of it, and didn’t acknowledge my work, I don’t think I would be very happy because I had put so much time and effort into my original work.  

ii. Are you appealing to their values? In other words, do you think the artists you sampled from would endorse how and what you sampled and remixed?

Yes, I think the people who are part of the groups that are trying to save the bees would find our work very comedic.

iii. Under what conditions might your act of caring be an act of wounding (and vice versa)?

I don’t think there is a way that something like this could be an act of wounding, unless some people disagree with the point we are trying to get across.

c. How might your caring and/or wounding change your relationship to those individuals or groups? Has your opinion of the different individuals and/or groups changed? Why or why not? How?

No, my opinion hasn’t changed, I think what they are trying to do in these groups is great and really helps the environment.

3 Identification of Ethicality

a. After completing and reflecting upon the previous sections, ask yourself the following questions:

i. Do you consider your acts of wounding and/or caring to be ethical?

I consider my acts to be ethical.

1. Why or why not? Can you justify your acts of wounding? How?

I am not trying to ruin the image of Disney or harm them in anyway. My argument is how people feel indifferent toward this huge issue and they’re not willing to take action. I’m trying to spread this awareness in hopes of people changing for the welfare of the bees.

2. If you decide to distribute your remix, do you think it would be legal?

Yes, if it stays on the Internet through social media like Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc. However, I would still give credit to Disney and my other samples b

3. If not (see #2), what would you need to do to make the distribution of your remix ethical as well as legal?

N/A.

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Jessica http://rhetoricalfun.blogspot.com

Cody http://rhetoriciansnow.blogspot.com

Sam https://sickrhetoric.wordpress.com

Visual Analysis of Watchman

Here  is my analysis of Watchman


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Emily  emibluerhetoric.blogspot.com

Bryce Bryce: pwrbb.blogspot.com

Rhetorical analysis of The Game of Life

(The picture shown above shows a scene in the Game of Life.)

We used the Game of Life as an example to illustrate Bogost’s procedural rhetoric and its principles. Traditionally, people like to use the actual game board edition but we used the kindle version of the Game of Life instead. It is a semi-realistic game about walking through life events and the purpose of the game is to accumulate the most wealth.

The main argument of the game is that the choices made in the early stages of one’s life will have a ripple effect throughout the remainder of their journey. This will determine what choices are available to them  and how one will lead his or her life until the end. One example of early choices affecting the rest of your life is the game’s opening decision to either go to college or start a career. Starting a career allows you to make money early on and avoid having to pay large amounts of student debt. However, choosing to go to college presents higher paying jobs with more perks.

Further, the main argument of the game is life has many unpredictable ups and downs. The Game of Life does an excellent job of showing how unpredictable events can really affect your course of existence. For example, the event of having a child (or twins) comes at random and can then make the rest of the game very expensive. Other events such as having a midlife crisis, having your house flood, or alternatively getting a promotion at your job all cause disruption, frustration, and surprise to players. One can also say that some aspects of life is based purely on chance because of it. There is just no way to expect what events will interfere or benefit in our lives.

The elements of procedurality in the game helps one understand the process of life. The Game of Life helps by laying out the general route a person can take. It begins with the choice of attending college/university or pursuing a career, getting married, buying a house, starting a family, and other achievements until retirement. Nevertheless, in between these events there are unexpected misfortunes. In the game, the players must use the spinner and this really aids with the randomness of when these unforeseen events can happen in real life. This helps the game to be more realistic. In addition, if it is combined with the best interactivity possible then it moves even closer to real experience. It is important to mention that the interactivity element must be relevant to the goals of the game, or it will dilute the effectiveness of the persuasion. As Bogost argues, “the closer we get to real experience, the better.” He is directly referring to the vivid spectrum. However, he doesn’t mean it has to be virtual or to completely recreate the world to be persuasive; he’s implying that the steps involved in the games is what actually makes it rhetorically influential.

Another element is the idea that early choices affect the rest of one’s life is reinforced by the player’s freedom within the parameters of the game. There are decisions that present players with very specific choices; those choices then define how later events are carried out. Players are forced to deal with what happens, just like people in the real world are forced to deal with real situations.

Overall, we believe there is procedural rhetoric in the Game of Life because there is some seriousness in the nature of life, but it’s not clear to us if it’s strong enough to “support or challenge our understanding of the way things in the world do or should work” as Bogost might say to be effective.


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http://rhetoricalfun.blogspot.com/

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https://sickrhetoric.wordpress.com/