The Carré Post

David Carré || ENC2135

[carrepost-blog]

Presentation Reflection

Let’s kickoff with a “job well done” pat on the back. It is more than clear that we each worked incredibly hard to pull together our three genres. Not to mention our other projects and assignments throughout the year. Picking just one successful project was a difficult decision to make, but in the end, I decided that Morgan’s ( @mmmorganrook ) was exceptionally well executed.

Talk about popular... Her Twitter genre was a runaway success, a follow from her favorite author, some from others in the book field (is that an accepted term?) along with lots of other interested parties all tuned in to her tweets. Some part of me envies just how successful the page was with followers numbering in the hundreds. With a topic so specific it was almost surprising to find that the public was so engaged, I suppose the novelty of the subject matter accounts for the interest generated. 

Using a Twitter account to promote a PSA and a Wattpad site was a tactical strategy that I myself tried to employ, but it seems to have worked to an unmatched extent in her work. Memes, a hilarious twitcon, an inarguably creative short story, and successful marketing came together to make Morgan’s campaign a highly commendable whole.

Congrats #ENC26ers #WeMadeIt

[cali2135-blog]

CH 10 BBG

[cameron-dingee]

It was really helpful that the information was so concise and I loved how short it was.  The information was fairly relevant but the checklists were less relevant to our projects.

[mckenzieelizabeththings-deactiv]

I also loved how short this chapter was and how well it was laid out. I agree with you that my worries were put a little at bay by this chapter! 

[wgh420]

I don’t know how you do it, but your words are always bolded in your posts by just a small margin, it sets you out from all the other posts and I guess I just didn’t really notice until just now, neat.

[carrepost-blog]

Probably one of the quickest reads we’ve been assigned, I agree...Definitely another relevant one also... I was thinking how this book really is made “For Florida State University.”

[mckenzieelizabeththings-deactiv]

Chapter 10 BBG Reflection

Once again the day was upon me to crack open the book that torments almost all of us. Chapter 10 while interesting and helpful still had start with repeating the general information that we all have permanently engrained in our brains by now. So after I got through the page and a half of discussing our rhetorical situation information, we got down to the nitty gritty. I liked that this chapter was organized into steps as it made it a clear and concise way that I could absorb it but also keep it easily organized so that I could refer back to it fairly easily as well. The checklist was especially helpful for this but the examples were by far the most beneficial section of this chapter for me. The examples helped me to grasp the modes and media and genres that I could potentially use throughout my project 3. I think that this chapter was quite helpful for me as I am in the midst of working on creating a narrative and persuasive piece on my topic. The examples helped me see that I am headed in the right direction which helped ease my mind a little but not enough to keep me from remaining in my freak out over this project.

[wgh420]

I’m feeling the freak out right now, the time closing in on all of us as it gets closer and closer to the final days and presentations of class…

[carrepost-blog]

Headed in the right direction is where I’m at as well, I just feel that I’m not walking fast enough lolol... The pressure is on!

[carrepost-blog]

Assembling a Multigenre Project Reflection

Multigenre projects can be used to further your purpose, reaching an audience not tapped into by one genre or another, leveraging rhetorical appeals to your marketing advantage, or to steer away from the mundane. ‘Genre conventions’ of the ‘multigenre’ genre are essentially nonexistant; it is more so a matter of focusing in on the standards associated with the individual genres that you combine to make your final composition. To reach a finished product, as we will need to in Project 3, we must identify what we are presenting, then exhibit them in the most logical order. Thinking back to previous readings, timing and environment are important contextual considerations as well. We can tie one genre into the next to create one super-marketing monster. Our monstrous concoctions should not remain nameless though, a title is key, it makes talking about our compositions easier and hints at what the work centers on. Every last detail means nothing without the proper packaging and execution. In Project 3, our thousand word writing assignment serves as a great spot to include an artist’s statement. We can provide explanations and a brief run down about what our projects are, should be, and how they reared.

[chesleew-blog]

11/16

Analyzing Visual Rhetoric

The first part of the selection “Analyzing Visual Rhetoric” is very similar to what we have been doing all along in this course. You determine who the audience is, what the purpose is, what the genre is, and what the medium is. All along, we have been determining these genre conventions. However, this selection adds more. This calls you to look more at the structure, organization, and layout of a design. These are things we have never considered in detail. While this stuff makes sense, seeing it on paper is new to me. This reading tells you to look at margins, headers, lists, colors, and fonts. It reminds you to consider if some information would read more efficient in a list, graph, or table. When I read over this short section, it reminded me of Ms. B suggesting we do an infographic (I think that’s what it is called). All of these things would be very important if you were doing one of these for Project 3. After giving it more thought, I kind of regret not doing an infographic. I think this reading assignment would have helped, but I think it will still help with my blog.

SFH Layout and Pages

What I immediately noticed about these readings is that they would really be helpful for advertisements, infographics, resumes, and brochures. Luckily, the genres I chose for Project 3 are mostly already laid out and I don’t have much control over it, especially my Instagram. My blog post also has a predetermined layout, but I have options to change my text, add colors, and add specific features too. Blogs already have headings too, so it isn’t necessary for me to worry about those here either. I will definitely refer back to these when I am finalizing my blog and spending a lot of time on it. As of right now, I am focusing on getting my information out there. As I am forming my posts, I need to pay more attention to my fonts! My third genre is a collage. I don’t see how this chapter really relates to that genre because there isn’t any text that needs to be formatted, blocked, or rearranged. Overall, I think this reading would be very helpful if I would have chosen to do a brochure or advertisement like I had originally planned. Is it too late to change?

SDH Images and Photos

All of my genres incorporate pictures. My blog posts haven’t seen any pictures yet, but I plan on posting some. Every Instagram post is built around a picture. My collage is solely images. The reading states, “Photos and illustrations let you show readers – at a glance—aspects of your subject that would otherwise need lengthy description.” This is a big part of my Instagram genre. If I upload a picture of myself in a yoga position, it is so much easier to see and understand the position than trying to picture it in your head based of a text description. I am still deciding if I want to gather pictures for my collage from parenting magazines or from the internet. It will probably be from the internet since it is so easy to gather and so easy to edit to conform to the idea in my head.

[tld15-blog]

Your genres sound really fun! It is interesting how templates affect our abilities to apply this information as, whether for better or for worse, most of the format is already decided for us.

[carrepost-blog]

I think we can all relate to the applicability of the information in this week’s readings to Project 3. They provide a really good framework to base our work off of in these next few weeks.

[cali2135-blog]

Nov 17th Readings

[rachelshattler-blog]

The layout of the readings themselves was really nice and understandable, and the information they gave on layouts for different genres will be very helpful for our project. This project isn’t just a writing assignment, and we all be unique in what we choose to do for our genres.

[mckenzieelizabeththings-deactiv]

I, like you, found these readings to be super helpful for project three and found the layout to be easy to read and understandable. Overall not too bad of readings.

[cameron-dingee]

This was a much better read.  There was a lot of information that I think we can all apply to our upcoming projects, I just need to get started at this point.  This project gives us so much freedom and it’s helpful to have these readings point us in the right direction.

[carrepost-blog]

I agree that most of the information was relevant to Project 3, it is about more than just putting a work out to an audience. Technicalities to consider are relevant every step of the way.

[carrepost-blog]

November 17 Reflections

Many parts of the design process often feel intuitive; we make style choices based on what we know will appeal to the masses or what we know has worked on ourselves before. For me, the readings added an extra dimension to this second-nature approach.

What would make this piece of text stand out? Which fonts and colors would make bold statement pieces out of my titles and significant tidbits of text? Usually, the answer to this would arise via gut-feeling, but this week’s texts made the process much more formulaic. In the way Purdue OWL acts a style guide for citation, “SFH Layout and Pages,”  “SFH Images and Photos,” and “Analyzing Visual Rhetoric” each act as blueprints for the design and composition of documents. Size, orientation, segmentation, placement, images, graphical models, demarcations, logical order, flow, minimalism, readability, font, and the list goes on are all primary considerations. The main point is that there is a load of facets to fine-tune in the procedural endeavor, and with a guide on your side, working on the likes of Project 3 is made much more easy. 

I am well aware that, despite the effort exerted thus far, I have barely scratched the surface or made it to the meat of the work.One major purpose of design that will help me reach my audience is to “enliven” my work. Audiences will not stick around unless the producer gives them a reason to. Photographs and illustrations will do well on my twitter fact page and are what the political imagery will center around. It is also critical to avoid including superfluous information and pictures or parts of pictures, but not to cut out so much as to change the message intended. Color, like images, add an element of moodiness to work, and can easily be used to manipulate context, or set a tone. One may even rely on color as a means for organization.

As the Bedford Book of Genres has taught us time and time again, “Analyzing Visual Rhetoric” spells out that composition at large all circles back to conscious recognition of your audience, purpose, genre, medium, and relevance of design choices to the former factors. Effectivity is the chief concern.

[kelsvoll-deactivated20160914]

Viral Marketing Reflection

What is viral marketing? Viral marketing as Wikipedia describes it are “marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to try to produce increases in brand awareness”. Or more simply it’s putting an advertisement out into the world and allowing people to promote it and share it with each other.

What does it do? Viral marketing makes spreading information easier. It decreases the work load of businesses and advertisers by allowing people to share information and market their projects for them. The term “virus” is used to describe the scenario because as the campaign increases with popularity among the masses, the information is shared like a virus.

How does it work? It works when people pick up on an idea and use the readily available tools to share it. Social media has greatly increased this trend for advertisers to utilize viral marketing strategies. One of the reads included the Old Spice commercial from a few years ago, which most of us all remember and maybe even quote still. Another one that recently came out it the gum wrapper commercial that follows the couple throughout their relationship. I first saw it shared on Facebook and Twitter before I saw it on TV. I bet that company has more sales now that it’s had in a long time because everyone has now seen that one ad.

When does it work? Viral marketing generally works if it identifies with its target audience or makes them feel some sort of emotion. Whether that emotion is happy and evokes a smile or is more somber and makes someone feel sentimental, the ad has to reach people on some level. Boring ads or poorly timed ones that don’t reach the audience in the right way will never be candidates for successful viral marketing.

[carrepost-blog]

This was a really good summary of what we needed to soak in from the readings and part of me wishes I had read this instead! When viral marketing actually works is, in my opinion, what is most important here, I’ll be thinking about this a lot moving into project 3.

[kylecontrast-deactivated202-blog]

Assignment 3 Reflection

What is Viral Marketing? In short, it’s a form of advertising that focuses on mass distribution and appeal to a large audience.  In the 21st century it is one of the most essential tools to make establish a brand or business. Usually viral marketing takes the form of digital media through video or audio commercials.  

In order to accomplish this, the commercial must have several requirements.  It must catch the audience’s attention, be original, have it be free, and make sure it is easy to spread throughout the world to name a few characteristics.  With these factors in sync, people will enjoy watching the commercial and will want to show their friends.  As this goes on, a large web of people will now be exposed to the brand or product.

There are also particular times when viral marketing will work.  One of these times is when a business establishes itself before marketing. This will allow the initial audience to be a large enough size for the message to be spread far and wide.  An example from class about this is Humans of New York. By first establishing itself as a blog and gaining popularity, it was able to launch a book of the same content that will already have an audience that will buy it.

These articles were definitely helpful in context of Project 3, as it gives me some ideas on how to spread the genre

[across2135-blog]

I agree that Viral Marketing has become an essential part of establishing a business or a brand in the 21st century. Products and ideas are spread so fast, and with the right authoritative backing as well as creative buzz, viral marketing can spread just about anything.

[deliahel-blog]

I almost forgot about Humans of New York. That’s a pretty good example. And yeah, these articles did have some good information that could help useful regarding project three–but I don’t think we’ll be spreading our genres on such a large scale. But I suppose anything could happen.

[hunterenc2135-blog]

Human of New York is amazing! Im so happy we went over it in class, Brandon Stanton is one of my favorite photographers. I agree this did help me prepare a little bit for project 3

[carrepost-blog]

I’m such a big Humans of New York fan! I’ve been moved to tears on multiple occasions lol... Anyway, looking back to real world examples I agree that Viral Marketing is a sensitive process that only works in the right context, but when it does, it is great!

[carrepost-blog]

11/12/15

Viral Marketing Wikipedia Viral Marketing is a phrase synonymous with Viral Advertising and Marketing Buzz; the promotion style is a technique common in modern society that makes use of established tools and technologies to accomplish an end goal of marketing. The method relies on the “viral” spread of information, much in the same way a human virus spreads by contact of various sorts, and like viruses, individuals are not always aware that they are exposed to them. For this reason, this vehicle of advertisement is, at times, seen as deserving of chide; a widely held position is that the stealthy nature of Viral Marketing makes it almost inflammatory in nature. Three major methods are common to VRL Marketing: messenger, message, and environment. The first relies heavily on experts, social hubs, and sales agents. Experts are sensitive to nuances in trends and are aware of the latest crazes, they are the initial source of information. Their counterparts, salespeople, maintain and utilize connections to large networks of people crucial to the campaign process. None of the formers’ work matters though if the contextual situation is not in order, and thus Viral Marketing, as a whole, is a very frangible endeavor.

Viral Marketing 101 As expressed in the former article, context is important. If your marketing campaign is not launched in the right timeframe, you have failed; if your marketing campaign is not executed in the right environment, you have failed. Viral Marketing is all about manipulating the situation at hand and the tools already available to your best advantage, milking the most of what you’ve got. The process of disseminating creations while considering environment is called seeding. Maximized exposure is important, but so is content, you want to gain the attention of your audience and keep them interested. The primary goal here is to get people to share with their friends. In sharing with friends, people change their reputations and social personas. Sharing content like a viral campaign’s makes one seem more credible and well-versed in a subject area, but also tightens bonds within communities. It is best to keep this idea in mind when working on a viral campaign for the best results. To optimize one’s promotion, sticking to the general structure layed out for VRL Marketing and bending it slightly to match one’s situation is the way to go. Remember though, viral marketing is calculated and should be factored in to a more grandiose plan of action to properly send a message.

15 of the Best Viral Marketing Campaigns Turn to the Old Spice guy if you need an example of successful viral marketing, there are arguably few more notable instances of runaway hits of this sort in the advertising field. This campaign tapped heavily into surreality as a mechanism for expressing humor. Funny, innovative, hip was the way to go. Perhaps this is not best for my own Project 3 endeavors, but comedy couldn’t hurt if injected into my political cartoon and hints of exaggeration may also cross over. Virgin Blue’s campaign used Twitter as a means of marketing and the whole scheme rested on the audience’s willingness to share and communicate with their networks. They needed to make a lasting impression as I will if I hope to raise awareness through the Twitter fact page. By contrast, the Obama campaign, behind the scenes, likely involved a lot of formality to rally support as my letter to the Secretary General will need to. In short, there are a great many mediums that we as marketers can operate through. Depending on what we hope to achieve— raise awareness, gain support, make a difference, or attract customers— we can always see similarities in VRL Marketing; the same stealthy core is common to all Viral Ad campaigns. The minor differences in constituent parts are what make the major differences though, and I will need to consider this moving on into Project 3.

ANYWAY I realized based on other students’ work that all we need to do is one reflection that answers the questions asked. I think through these first three I have done so, so I won’t try to stretch out some more fluff for the other articles we read (especially given my time constraints). LOL! :-) Sometimes getting a head-start bites back…

[jhm14-blog]

Writing into the day

Household pets are a common aspect of many American homes and choosing this animal companion is difficult . With all the options available, the process of acquiring a friendly, scaly, furry, or feathery friend can be intimidating and confusing. However, there are essential characteristic to consider that can make the process easier. The first step to choosing a pet is to determine that puppies are the best and here is why! (I did not get far)

[carrepost-blog]

This appears to be a persuasive intro. This far in, it seems as though the document will try to convince a broad audience that puppies, at large, are the best sort of pet. There are a few hints of pathos in the paragraph; words like “companion”, “friend”, and “puppies” as opposed to “dogs” are great for setting up to build a connection with readers, inhabitants of “American homes”. The use of an exclamation point in the final sentence shows conviction, that the speaker is firm in their standings. The style and tone are casual, while the voice sounds more so like that of someone well-versed in the matter, an authority. For the rest of the piece, I would tap more into the authoritative voice to help back your argument.

[carrepost-blog]

11/10/15

Jack, a 14 year old miniature schnauzer, has been my best friend since 2002. The old geezer, still young at heart and in soul, is the most loving individual that I have ever encountered in my lifetime. He has acted as a brother, a guardian, and a reinforcer of my personhood over the years that we have spent together. Growing up and bonding with Jack, was like perfecting fine wine, both inwardly and outwardly. I had learned to live symbiotically with him back home, and now, in college, the thought of him motivates me through my newfound independence. If and when I felt low, as though he could smell the pheromones emanating from my skin, Jack was there to nuzzle me. The German pup would shoot his puppy-dog glance my way as though to let me know with those big glossy eyes, and his understanding way that all was going to be okay; in some way, he knew where I was coming from and where I would end up. The reverse always felt true as well; if Jack seemed down and out, a scratch on the hand told me he needed some massage, belly-rub encouragement. ‘Fingers like magic,’ he must have thought.

SORRY I DID NOT FINISH WAAHHHH

[chesleew-blog]

Chapter 9:Revising and Remixing Your Work

Revising is something we are all very familiar with at this point. Especially since we have been writing 3-4 drafts for every paper. The reason we revise is because in the first draft, we are generally just getting our ideas out of our head and onto paper. I was very surprised in project 1 when I tracked my changes from my first draft to my second because I had never used that feature in my word processor before. I was slightly shocked at how much my paper changed after just one session of revising. I prefer to revise based off peer review since other readers don’t experience as much bias, can offer different perspectives, and may find flaws you wouldn’t normally see. However, like in the first project, we didn’t have much time to peer review, therefore didn’t get much feedback from our peers. For my second draft, I was mostly revising based on my own observations.

Remixing is what mainly draws this chapter into our current project, project 3. We are remixing our research paper from project 2 into different genres for project 3. This is much harder than revising if you ask me. However, remixing allows you to explore other genres outside of your boring, informative research paper and allows you to be creative.

[carrepost-blog]

I had the same sentiments as you! It all felt very familiar in the first portion of the chapter, and the latter half was definitely relevant to the work we are doing now! I am definitely less comfortable remixing than revising, but am nonetheless excited! :-)

[rachelshattler-blog]

Ch. 9 Reflection

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the BBG had a short-ish chapter that we were finally able to read. Chapter 9 was all about revising your work and the importance of revising and editing a piece that you have worked on after peer review and observations have been done. I feel that revising after peer review is one of the most important steps of the writing process because it allows a set of new ideas and a brain full of new ideas to look over your paper and comment on ways to improve it. Revisions after this stage can make or break a paper because it’s when the writer learns if his or paper makes sense. If his or her paper gets the point across. If the reader can tell it’s written in the correct genre. College English classes have shown me the importance of having another person read over my paper and edit it before I write and turn in my final draft. This chapter was a good reminder of that, and it also gave several examples of great questions to ask the person who is peer reviewing your paper. I don’t think peer review will be used very much in project 3 because it’s more of a working project unlike a research paper, but I still enjoyed reading this chapter.

[chesleew-blog]

I also love having my compositions peer reviewed! It provides a whole new, unbiased perspective. It makes it much easier to revise since I would probably reach the point of “Wow, my paper sounds great to me!” if I were to review my own work all of the time! 

[cameron-dingee]

I strongly agree that the revision process is key to the success of any paper.  Nobody writes a perfect paper on their first go, heck it takes me like three tries to get an adequate paper.  I also couldn’t agree more with your beliefs about peer review, however I think it will have an important role in our next project.

[carrepost-blog]

I don’t think anyone is ever able to do that sort of thing in just one shot, so I definitely agree with you on the importance of revision. I can’t think of a single written work that has achieved perfection, and conceivably, none ever will... There is always room for improvement!

[carrepost-blog]

Bedford Book of Genres Ch. 9 Reflection

The Bedford Book of Genres “Revising & Remixing Your Work” was another relevant checkpoint on the seemingly endless list of readings. Pertinent? Perhaps. Necessary? Not necessarily. Arguably, I could have done without it given that I have already gathered all of its core information naturally over the years by simply being in English composition classes. Although a lesson about working through the peer review process is relevant it is not necessary. I think, for the most part, we all know how to give and take constructive criticism, and this far into the semester, it seems like common sense. Where the ninth chapter takes a turn for the better is with the “Remixing Your Work Into Different Genres” section; it covers exactly the waters that I have never before treaded. Even after developing by Project Three proposal, it seemed that the waters were unnavigable and too murky to muddle through sans past experience to use as a guide. Luckily, the latter half of Chapter Nine comes in to save the day, it covers exactly what we are tasked with doing— maybe not in the greatest detail, but with just enough content to make me more comfortable than before. I learned it was done before by the likes of Martha Stewart, and it could be done again by me.

[brooke2135-blog]

Understanding Media Studies and Media Industries

Media studies?

*the little wannabe film-maker inside me begins cheering*

So you’re saying I could make my project three into a movie?

Yeah… scratch that… I’m not that talented (no matter how much I wish I were).

However, I can see why Ms. Bradley assigned this reading to us, regardless of our film-making capacities. The basic structure of the film-making process is similar to the process we will have to go through in creating new genres for our project and distributing it.

The structural organization includes production, distribution, exhibition and retail, and promotion and protection. Since I don’t think my project will be distributed for sale (though one can dream), I don’t think the last two out of this list will apply to my Project three. 

However, I definitely see some parallels between Project three and “production” and “distribution”. We will have to produce three pieces for our third project, which involves “getting the green light” from Ms. Bradley; a key principle of production in the film industry.

We will also have to distribute our project, an element of Project three that terrifies me to no end. I am hoping we will get a little more information on this in coming classes, but until then I will just try to focus on what my project will entail in the first place!

The second reading was about Media Industries.

I found it interesting how this reading opened. And no I didn’t mean the South Park reference.

I unfortunately cannot answer this.

However, the interesting point made was that the entertainment that the media industry produces is not a necessity in the least… aka media has a “nonutilitarian” feature. So how is it such a profitable industry?

To answer this question it seems we need to first ask why media is created; for example, movies. By attempting to understand the media industries themselves we attempt to understand this process before it begins.

This reading also made the point that media is important because it is more than just a commodity you can buy; it distributes ideas and information to society.

I think this links to Project three in a few important ways. The reading addresses culture and how it influences what the media creates. Culture will also influence what we will create in our third Project because we have to think about our audience and how they will receive our work.

It also seems that we will need to be focusing on our project’s “mandate”, which differs from the media’s general mandate of making profit (aka the commercial mandate). Additionally we will need to consider our project’s conditions like our technology limitations (do you have a video camera to record that music video you want to make?) and regulations (this is still a school project guys).

Finally, this reading showed me that for my project I will have to learn the ways of creative and distribution practices, while keeping auxiliary practices in mind.

[cali2135-blog]

I didn’t see how either of these could at all be useful for project three until reading this post, so thank you! You definitely helped explain the readings in broader terms, and in terms of the third project. That just made my life much better.

[across2135-blog]

I totally agree with what you said about the process of film-making strongly correlating to the process we are going through in creating Project 3. These readings were very helpful in giving a guide of what to consider when choosing a media/ genre, and how you plan on reaching your audience with it.

[if-only-youknew-me-deactivated2]

You made these articles so much more relatable. THANK YOU. I actually feel a little bit better after reading this post. Still not excited, but feeling a little better thanks to this. The gifs always help too haha

[carrepost-blog]

I like the notion you covered about media being a commodity you can buy. The use of media at large, in that sense, seems to be a somewhat manipulative process based around milking the target audience and those who can help you reach them. It very much so relates to what we are tasked with in Project 3.

[cali2135-blog]

Media Studies Article

[mak15k-blog]

I am stressing, too, as I imagine many other people are. So at least we’re all in the same boat. I agree that the readings were mostly helpful, if not slightly repetitive.

[catthinksinenglish-blog]

I agree that I enjoyed reading this text much more than the readings in the Bedford Book of Genres and McGraw Hill Handbook. While some of the information was pretty simple, I think the fact that it was put into the context of a real-world industry (as opposed to theoretical situations) made it more interesting and understandable. But maybe that’s because I like the film industry…

[across2135-blog]

I like how you made the point that media isn’t just created for fun, but that it does serve a greater purpose and goal through distribution. I think that you’re right when saying the distribution aspect of the project is key.

[if-only-youknew-me-deactivated2]

I’m stressing right there with you. I mean yeah, the readings were somewhat useful but I still have no idea what I am doing. At least none of us are alone. 

[carrepost-blog]

The readings were definitely useful, in some way, as you suggested, but, more so with the industry studies one, it is all easier said than done. The conceptual does not always align with reality, and I have no idea how I’ll handle that when I put my money where my mouth is.