Morgan Rook

[mmmorganrook-blog]

The Warehouse 12/1

First let me say it was more like the Where house? I had no idea where this place was or that it was even here, thank goodness Thomas drove.

Please excuse poor photo quality!

The atmosphere. You guys this place is the bee’s knees. Sure it kind of looks like a hole in the wall but I’ll tell you what, this place is the hipster dream hideaway. The lights were probably my favorite part. There were christmas/string lights hung all around and the tables had little tea candles. It gave the room such a neat ambiance. It was rustic romantic. You felt connected to the speaker. It made the experience magical. They should have a bonfire sometime and have everyone read outside.

THE POET - MARK GIBBONS

So here is what I thought. 

First of all the woman that introduced him put my project narratives to shame! I’m serious. She was one of is students and she was just as good as he was. I wouldn’t mind if she spoke at my funeral. It just shows what an impact he made on these aspiring writers. 

Then there was him. The poet. I have to admit I did not understand a lot of what was being said. I think maybe if I had written copies of the poems i would have been able to decipher their meanings better but I just was not having it. 

What I took away. He was a very liberal and sexual poet. He cursed and talked about sexual things in almost every piece. I appreciated that he did not need to censor himself. He is an artist. 

And though I must admit some things were lost in translation I really appreciated his sense of humor. He was a genuinely funny guy and he was humble which I appreciated. He did not take himself to seriously, he was just here to read us what he had written. The man does not even read his own reviews and he was touched by his introduction.

After the show, Thomas and I were really tempted to walk up and talk to him but we chickened out.

I think my favorite poems were Ruin - about a drag queen that died young - and A Small Gesture of Gratitude - which had a more political message. 

I wish I had brought a notebook to take notes or something more to remember this night more clearly instead of taking notes on my phone in between poems (I was trying not to appear as if I was texting). 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

The 2016 Donut Debate

With things heating up in the polls and the elections drawing closer it is time for the debate.

I am actually not talking about politics. It is a topic that is arguably more important than who will take over the reigns as the leader of the free world (and no, I do not mean Beyonce or Betty White) I am talking about donuts. Not just any donuts but the best donuts. For me really there is no debate, when seeking the best there is only: Krispy Kreme!

1. The Hot Light

The Hot Light? You mean the bat signal, the beacon of hope, the pull over immediately sign? For those of you who don’t know this is like the ringing of a dinner bell or the chumming of the water. When this light goes on they are letting everyone know that there are fresh donuts being made right then and there.

There is some sentimental value for this one. You see my grandparents are from Tampa and my family lives in Orlando. On special occasions, we would meet at the Macaroni Grill in Kissimmee. We would eat dinner and then after we would come out the hot light was always on. The whole family would walk across the parking lot and go into Krispy Kreme where my siblings and sometimes cousins and I would watch the donuts being made on the conveyer belt. Then we would order fresh donuts and drink coffee. It was one of my favorite things growing up; still is. 

Why would you go anywhere else? Krispy has fresh donuts all day long where as other donut chains make their’s in the morning and either run out or sell gross donuts.

2. Have you ever wondered what Heaven tasted like..?

Every donut is delicious but their glazed donuts are legendary, they can’t be beat. They are the perfect amount of flaky and sweet. They simply melt in your mouth. It is like eating a cloud. 

I ate them in the car with my mom after I got my cast off. It almost made breaking my arm worth it.

3. The 8 Second Rule

Tell me you’ve heard of the 8 second rule. This the time you reheat your donut in the microwave the next day. It has been perfected, it is a science. You put the donut in the microwave for 8 seconds and it is like it just came right off the conveyor belt. Who doesn’t want fresh donuts for breakfast?

4. The Atmosphere

The theme of Krispy Kreme is a classic 1950′s donut joint. It is adorable. And if you are like me and somewhat convinced the 1950′s were a better time (minus all the wars) then it really just feels like home.

You have all had tried Krispy Kreme now so I know you must agree. If you have Krispy Kreme you are simply living the dream.

[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

[mmmorganrook-blog]

You are my favorite! Thank you so much!

[chrarmes-blog]

Presentation Reflection

All the presentations have been so fantastic! It’s been so great to see everyone’s individuality and unique interests displayed in their research choices and presentation. It’s really hard to pick a favorite, but I will mention a few that I really liked. 

I really like Zoe’s topic because, as a member of the Doctor Who fandom, I thought her research and remediations and genuine interest in the community is awesome. Zoe, I really hope that you start watching Doctor Who. It’s so great and one thing you probably learned about the community is that we LOVE to see it grow. 

I also really liked Kyle’s presentation because I think he really made his Project 2 into an easily digestible form for broader audiences. His buzzfeed article was hilarious and I already shared it on my facebook. 

I think Molly did a good job on being effective and innovative with her genres. Let’s be honest, we all didn’t think that Project 3 was doable until we saw how Molly did her Project 3.

I’m going to miss these classmates and everyone’s tweets! Have a great holiday, ENCers! #staystrong #ENClove 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Agree! Snaps to Molly the class Trailblazer. 

And I think that as a total outsider it is really interesting to see you and Zoe interact. We came into these communities as strangers wanting to know more and the more we learned the more involved we felt. By the end we were one of them. Zoe is practically a Whovian now (sorry if that was in anyway misspelt, don't get the community together to lynch me). I felt this with the YA author community. The more strongly against Piracy I became the more responses I got. They were so open, I got some many DM’s and followers. I’m not a blogger or an author but I felt included and it was crazy that this project had the power to do that. It is also has the power to change one’s perception like Brooke said.

I just think there was confusion for the people who presented in the beginning as to what we were supposed to be presenting. I wish we had more time to see everyone’s presentations. I felt like we had gotten to see Molly’s twice but I wish we could go through again in-depth. I wish we could sit there and just got through everyones buzz feeds word for word. I wish I could have shown you every single one of my tweets. I wish we could have read Allison’s story and listened to Kyle’s podcast. It is not fair. I wish we could have gotten to see all of what Thomas had in store for us. :( 

But everyone did a really fantastic job and it was so hard to go through and define the “most effective presentation”. I’m not sure we can even say for sure yet, I think that maybe these projects are getting started and they might take off now that they are out in the void. Like you just shared Kyle’s project and I mean I’ve gotten 40 new followers in the last day and I did not do anything to my twitter.

It was a little sad that no one went viral but maybe it is not over yet. Let’s hope we can still break the internet.

[tld15-blog]

Presentation Reflection

It’s difficult to decide which presentation was the most effective because I feel like I’m judging based on the project’s success more than the presentation itself. Understanding that, I think that Kyle Compare gave the best presentation, in addition to having one of the more successful projects.

Kyle’s project discussed the problem of climate change through a satirical Buzzfeed article, fire-side podcast, and photographic essay/survey.

However, regardless of the size of his audience, I liked the way he set up his slides in the prezi. Instead of just offering a link to the page or a basic description of the genre, he had direct quotations from people’s reactions. These comments gave today’s audience a better understanding of the material in each genre, as we didn’t have the experience of seeing (all of) them ourselves. I also thought he effectively showed us his genres without spending too much time on the details. He started with the most comedic piece, drawing us into a controversial topic with humor, and ended with the most emotional, closing on a note of pathos. While we could laugh about flooding streets, emaciated polar bears and dehydrated elephants were much harder to shrug off. I also liked that the entire project was in the shape of an ice berg.

That being said, the presentations about actor’s guilds and museums were both interesting because they were topics I would never have thought of otherwise.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

I totally agree with you. I was so conflicted about who gave could presentation in class, who had the best projects, and then who was the best at marketing their projects. I felt that we needed to look at each category individually.  

I LOVED that he used comments from his project especially since he was pretty much the only one to do face to face. I felt that the survey did not really reflect people’s opinions because he only asked three questions about their knowledge of global warming but when he included the comments it did not matter as much. The comments let us see how people were really reacting to the photos and I think they might have been more valuable than the survey itself.

As for topics I have never thought of I have got to give some credit to “TV or Not TV” “Wild People” “Anthropology” and “Actuaries”.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Most Effective Presentation

This is difficult to decide. Are we talking the best in class presentation, the person who was best able to explain their projects and the responses? The person who was best able to incorporate pieces of their review/reflection into their presentation? Or was this about who picked the best mediums for the projects and got the best responses.

The first one would be difficult to judge, as there was really no guidelines on how or what we were presenting. I would say the people that best followed the review format/structure were Brooke and Kyle. They made prezi’s and powerpoint presentations which walked us through each project and then went ahead and addressed the questions BB asked us after the presentations. I think their class presentations were really effective because they were so structured. Mine was all over the place, blame the sugar high.

As for the most effective strategies, I think you have to look at these separately. These are types of projects that were effective and out of these categories these are the people I believe did them best.

Buzzfeed -  Hands down, Cheslee Williamson

 http://www.buzzfeed.com/chesleew/10-signs-you-need-yoga-in-your-life-206xw

Her Buzzed about Yoga is hilarious and it is an excellent example of how gifs should be utilized. I’d also like to mention that she had over 110 views, she had more Buzzed response than anyone. 

Twitter - Sorry, I am going to be a little biased here. Molly Kitchen and Morgan Rook. 

https://twitter.com/whatsinyourbody

https://twitter.com/piracyanonymous

Here is why: Molly was the pioneer behind the whole idea of Twitter as a project and not just a promotional tool. None of us would have been able to use Twitter if it were not for Molly. We all used her as an example so we cannot even talk about Twitter without mentioning Molly. You also have to appreciate her stats. She had 74 tweets, which is incredible for such a short period of time, and her follower ratio. Molly had more followers than people she followed which meant she did not have to rely on the strategy of following people to get their attention, her tweets did that on their own.

Mine - successful in the sense of my follower count. Last time I checked, I had 246 followers, some of those were achieved by following 1,000 people but some were not. I also got retweeted and followed by some really big authors and publishers. I think maybe the people who did not have the best success with their twitter were the ones that did not go out and follow a lot of people. Guys, 50 is not a lot of people. I followed so many people Twitter told me I had reached my follow for the limit. Because we had such a short amount of time to get things up and running you needed to market really aggressively. 

Photo Essay with Survey - Kyle Compare

The possibilities with this one were endless. Survey’s were a great way to track feedback. The pictures were interesting to look at and helped to demonstrate the issue to people. It was indeed pathos and it brought people out of their little bubbles. They capitalized on the visual aspect and I just felt like the questions he asked could have been different. They did not really tell us a lot. But I understand it can be hard to come up with Yes or No questions. I did like that he included the comments such as: “It’s finals week.” And “Poor Polar Bear!”

Podcast - Kyle Compare

I have to admit, I originally did not think that the Podcast could be successful for project 3 but through his humor and his originality Kyle proved me wrong. He took an important and serious topic and he made it funny. He and his sister made the conversation interesting and by letting people see (hear) their personality it made the issue feel real and relatable. In a way they gave a face to the issue. If they care, we should care. Real people are talking about this now, not just politicians. 

Facebook - Rachel

This was probably the only Facebook that got a response (I might be wrong on that, it is just the most memorable, so sorry, please don’t be offended if your was successful too). Everyone else’s Facebook pretty much flopped and I think that might be for the same reasons that their Twitter’s failed. However, Rachel’s was definitely a success. I feel that she actually did something bigger. She not only shared tips and information, she connected a community and might have even created a support system. This page could live on without her. The mom’s might take over and make it their own community.

Pinterest - Rachel

I don’t remember how successful it was now but it was really well done and if you give it a few months it will be blowing up. My college dorm room Pinterest board gets like 30 re-pins a day and I have not touched it since August.

What was not effective -

PSA’s and Infographics - they were time consuming and hard to disseminate. Also there was no way to track the response. I mean we all know mine looks like it was drawn by an 8 year old.

Websites/Tumblrs/Blogs - this one is kind of iffy but I just felt like most people were not able track feedback and they were not able to attract people to their websites. Tumblr is difficult for obvious reasons. Blogs were the in-between. As for the websites how do you promote them without finding the community first? How do you track the success? I also felt that most people really did not have enough information to fill a website. 

Narratives - time intensive and very little feedback given. However, I’d like to point out that Allison’s children book was phenomenal. It is one of the coolest things I’ve seen and it has the potential to have a life after this project. The only issue is that it did not receive the marketing it needed and deserved. If she can get this book in the hands of a major Gorilla organization or maybe a Publishing house, the book has the potential to go viral, to mean something.

[across2135-blog]

BBG Chapter 10 11.18.15

The time has finally come. The last required reading in the infamous Bedford Book of Genres. I have to say I’m not even mad about it. When it comes to creating a Mulitgenre project, there are so many options when it comes to the execution and I think that is what excites me. Knowing that all of us are creating something unique will make the presentations interesting. While reading through Chapter 10, one thing that I found interesting was the idea of creating an author’s or artist’s statement. An introduction to our work is important considering that we want to provide clarity through our presentations, but I never really thought about calling it a ‘statement.’ But truth be told whatever we are presenting we want to make a statement with, or at least we are hoping to make a statement. In the end, the goal for all of us is to reach our target audience. In every step of creating our Mulitgenre project it has been important to keep our target audience in mind. The chapter as a whole just really wrapped up project 3 in a clear manner. Simply put in my own words: Create something interesting, stick to your plan, appeal to your audience, and execute your campaign on the right platform. We are coming down to the wire but success can be achieved!

[chesleew-blog]

Thank you for letting me know this is the last reflection from the BBG. That is honestly the best news I have gotten today. Granted, I haven’t gotten that much great news… Still. However, that does mean class is nearing the end and deadlines are also creeping up. Also, good realization. We are all trying to make a statement with our genres. Good luck with project 3! 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

OMG. Sorry this last reflecting thing just sent me back into 7th grade Jonas Brother level excitement. I’ve been having the worst day you have no idea how much this means to me!

Audience, Audience, Audience. I am beginning to think that maybe this class should be something less about research and genres and more about audience. Audience is the name of the game, because what is the point if there is no one to read your work or buy your project.

These last chapters have been saying a lot of the same thing to me. The difference is this is specifically about using multiple genres together and the other chapters were instructing on genres alone.

[kylecontrast-deactivated202-blog]

BBG Chapter 10

Ah yes, another reading in the dreaded Bedford Book of Genres.  It seems like is has been so long since we’ve had a reading in that I wasn’t ready for the accustomed long and drawn out chapters.  However, this chapter surprised m, not only in its length but also in it actually being a good read.

I think that the list of genres and how the y can be utilized is one of the most important things I’ve read from the BBG and I will gladly use the information presented for Project 3.  I hadn’t really thought that certain genres have an innate purpose for the audience, but with this in mind changing my audience and purpose for my genres will definitely strengthen their arguments.  

On top of this, the examples were very interesting to read about.  Being an outdoorsy person, nature deficit disorder is something I’ve researched and discussed to people so this caught my eye.  This was a good example for me to understand how the remediation of genres can be effective in order to accomplish different goals that are set forth by the genre.

After reading this, although I will still probably freak out about Project 3 being due soon, I feel a little bit better about getting it done.

[tld15-blog]

The nature deficit article was particularly interesting. I’d heard about it before, but didn’t realize the list of horrible effects it has

[chesleew-blog]

It is neat that you were able to find something you could relate to in this chapter (the example with Nature Deficit Disorder) and learn from it. I thought that his project was really interesting, especially the presentation of his poster! So thoughtful… 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

So hate me, but I did not really relate to the nature article. It was interesting but just not my thing. 

I however dig the checklists. That is right up my ally. I wish every one of our projects came with a checklist!

I also found it that there are no genre conventions for multigenre projects. Wut?

Jk, use the genre conventions for the genres you choose to use. 

I also like how the BBG (big book of godawfulness) said that every multigenre project will be different.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Assembling the MultiGrain Project

This project is going to be the coolest thing since sliced bread.

The Nutritional Facts of a Multigrain Bread:

1. Kneading the dough to further your purpose - each project should build off the previous one and contribute to a central purpose. 

2. Buttering up your Audience - provide different perspectives. Addressing different points of views for each different piece. Use a different type of bread for each audience.

3. Rising to the occasion with Rhetorical Appeals - season your bread with rhetorical appeals. Diversify and use ethos, pathos, and logos for each different genre.

4. Choosing your bread and butter - find the best combinations of mode and media. Find the mode that works best for your audience and find the best media for that mode.

Your Bread Menu:

Informative - annotations, research papers, 

Persuasive -  author’s or artist’s statement, photo essays, slide shows.

Narrative - stories

The end of the chapter ties in nicely with the articles we read on monday night about visual design. The chapter talks about packaging your project creatively. Make your writing easy to read and attractive to look at. That’s half the battle. You are selling bread here, filling the bread box and trying to make dough. 

Luckily this chapter had many examples to act as bread crumbs for us, such as Dawson Swan’s project on Nature Deficit Disorder. I plan to use this to guide me on my project three.

[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.

[sheltonlily-blog]

I agree that imagery is an excellent way to send messages to your audience. I really liked your last sentence and I found it extremely true.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

I agree to the point about this being second nature! I was going through and reading the chapters and just kind of thinking how I already do a lot of this stuff or how I would do this stuff anyways. It just gives you an extra thought. Remember your audience. Instead of doing the stuff you would do, the things that appeal to you, step back and think, how can I reach my audience? What would my audience connect to here?

Am I the only one that feels like as soon as I start trying to focus on the rhetorical situation my writing gets worse. Like my paper is good and aimed at the right audience but then I try to decide who my audience is, choose wrong, and screw up the whole thing.

[sheltonlily-blog]

November 17th Readings

Well I can honestly say that I got more out of these three readings than I ever did out of the chapters in Bedford Book of Genres. Also, they were substantially more enjoyable to read, and they were easier on the eyes. So, ranked in order of preference of all the readings we have had to do this semester, I would rank these articles first, then the McGraw Hill Handbook, and finally the Bedford Book of Genres. I think what made these articles so helpful was the fact that they were extremely relevant to Project Three. Lately, I have been feeling like I can’t grasp Project Three fully or what the expectations for Project Three are, but these articles helped illustrate what we should be aiming for. The articles displayed how documents and medias are designed to attract specific audiences. It never really occurred to me that we all have our own unique audiences for this project, and that I need to focus mainly on my specific audience. This article showed me that in order to be successful in Project Three, I need to fully understand the best media that will impact my audience the most. These articles were exactly what I needed moving forward with Project Three, and I now feel confidence in my project’s future.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Le sigh. Once again I realize I mostly just took notes on the chapters instead of reflecting. I have no emotions, I am a robot.

I like how you mentioned audience. This is going to sound kind of backwards but I’ve been trying to pick the media/genre that is most related to my topic and then attract audience from there. I guess its because I still don't have a real clear idea of who my audience is. 

The articles have helped a lot in the sense that I now have a lot of knowledge on different types of media, knowledge I surprisingly already had stored in the back of my mind. However I wish I could see like a rubric or an example of this project. I am a very visual learner and I am very black and white. I like clear goals and objectives that I can just check off one by one. 

Ugh why are you all so motivated? I’m just laying here, waiting until I succumb to my premature death. 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Blueprints and Design are Black and White

This was painful. Not the text but the design. Why would you do this to me? I have 30/20 vision but literally do not recognize my roommates when I see them out in public and I can’t talk to you if you have sunglasses on.

This was clearly an example of what not to do. Yet it actually wasn’t. The design of the page was actually quite clever. It was teaching about design while being written on a blue print (I believe the printer/scanner screwed us up here). 

As usual, the most important element is the audience. In my theatre class, we say that the audience is ultimately who gets to decide the meaning of a show, they are the ones that walk away with the message. 

An example: at first I was confused about the design choices of this article and was immediately negative. I assumed it was showing us an example of what not to of when in reality, this was just a creative take on the subject.

I do find it ironic that the article mentions readability. In their case, they mean is there any information such as data which would be more easily interpreted in some type of chart. I also take it to mean, how well organized is the piece and is it easily read by the audience. This piece was hard to read because of the small font and black background. Most audiences will not put in the effort. 

As i later realized, the layout is clever. The graphics enhance the theme and the message of design. It loses out in organization. The graphics (the black background) make it hard to find the main points. However, the subtitles and the boxes manage to save the article and give it an interesting, effective  lay out. 

I actually like the way the writing it broken up. Everything is quick and to the point. It is easy to find and it is practically bullet pointed. This is right up my ally.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

SMH for more SFH

Mah thoughts! Well I was wrong. The last piece was more about crafting an article for a magazine or a blog and this article is actually more geared towards my PSA/meme idea. 

Looking at a picture to read an article about pictures. Pic-Ception?

Pictures should be used when the alternative would take longer to explain. A picture is used to show emotions and explain ideas. I think the best idea of a time when a picture explains something better is a diagram (remember I am a biology major, if you show me a picture of “happy” I am not going to get it.)  Humans of New York is able to tell the stories of their subjects in under 100 words because the picture tells a lot of the story for them.This is a great example of this concept.

Pictures are also unique because the message is up to the audience. Many pictures are very abstract or have multiple meanings. The beauty of art is that it is open to interpretation. That being said, I feel pictures would also be appropriate in more thoughtful pieces that are meant to evoke discussion and controversy. 

One thing to keep in mind: a picture is worth 1,000 words so does it still count as plagarism if you steal it? Pictures just like texts have owners so one has to remember to cite the picture properly if it does not belong to them. To acquire these images, one can search the internet (as long as they don’t make a profit from the image) or they can buy the rights to pictures from anywhere. 

For a meme I would have to play around with the picture. A meme is like 1,005 words. I am a big fan of using iPhoto to edit photos and iMovie for videos. I am also the queen of editing my instagram pictures so that they are always on point. My instagram does not have a theme, but my sorority sister has one. Her theme is that she only posts pictures with dark backgrounds. This is an example of setting a mood with color. It provides uniformity and is very elegant. 

[mmmorganrook-blog]

SFH Lay Out and Other 3 letter words

** Disclaimer: I’m super sick, I did not go to any classes all day. I’ve never wanted to go home so bad in my life.**

That being said I did have a lot of time to sit here and think about project three. What I’ve decided so far is that this article is going to be super helpful for my meme/psa idea and my article which are very much about aesthetics. Let’s be honest, I’m a biology major. I’m not really that creative and I basically operate in the black and white. Give me a rubric and some benchmarks, I’ll scratch those off like a checklist. This, however is different. I can’t get by on just meeting the specific requirements. I have got to get creative. Luckily for me, this chapter gave me a checklist on how to pretend like I’m a creative person. 

For my PSA/meme, it suggested using editors like iPhoto, a program which I am already very familiar with. It also suggested putting some thought into picture placement on the space and the orientation of the paper. How big a space am I trying to cover? Am I going to do this with one or multiple pictures? Landscape or portrait?

Some important tips I took away for my informal informative genre piece were: line text up on the left margin and play pictures either in the center or on the right margin because that is the most effective lay out and that is how readers are used to seeing it. Would this be considered a genre convention? And do I technically need pictures because I am writing a blog, not a magazine article? The answer is also yes. If anything one should include pictures just to keep the readers interested or to draw them to the piece. Also change up the font and come up with an eye catching color scheme. Like tumblr but even more custom.

Also the use of term ding bat made me laugh for various reasons. 

A) that’s the word my parents use to describe ditzy people. Or my dog, especially my dog. But apparently it comes from a show!

B) It just sounds funny.

C) I get this picture of a cartoonish bat in my head.

[allison295-blog]

Viral Marketing

When I looked at the assignment, I was quite confused, because I had never really heard the term “viral marketing” used before. However, as soon as I clicked on the Wikipedia website, I made the connection. I was quite happy that all of my genres for project three were all used as examples for viral marketing! 

This reading assignment was by far my favorite! Soooo many funny videos, my favorite definitely beign the sheep art and also the one with the german guy, “What are you s’inking?” I laughed probably too hard when I watched that

Anyways, on to the questions! Viral Marketing are campaigns posted on the internet and are then passed through social media. After reading all of the articles, and watching the videos, it is easy to say that the best way to capture an audience’s attention is by short but funny videos. This way, it makes the viewer want to share the video with others, and therefore the campaign gets more attention. To first attract attention, though, the company/person who made the advertisement needs to publish the ad where it pertains to an appropriate audience. If there was an ad for car insurance, the company will get more results if they first publish where they know adults with cars would see it. They would receive no luck by trying to advertise a car insurance campaign at a high school, because  teenagers don’t care about that. However, if the ad is humorous or even heart-breaking, it makes people interested, no matter the company producing the ad. 

These articles have given me plenty of ideas for my video that I want to produce to advertise my topic for project 3!

[rachelshattler-blog]

I think that short videos are the most appealing form of video marketing like you said. For project 3 I feel that a video might take a lot of time but who knows. I like how you imply the importance of appealing to the correct audience for your product.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Viral - as in a virus (negative connotation)

Marketing - as in making something appealing (positive connotation)

Is it just me or are these words a juicy contradiction like starbursts? 

I totally agree with the comment about short and funny being the way to go. People are busy and lazy. If things are kept short they are more likely to watch it and if the video is funny the chance are even higher. I mean be honest I wouldn't watch a 10 minute sap-fest, I would probably scroll right on by.

Anyways I think that these campaigns are most successful when they are able to establish pathos, and for me it is humor. Think about the Super Bowl commercials, they're hilarious. So I’m rooting for a funny video!

[chesleew-blog]

Viral Marketing

What is Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing is basically advertising in a way that appeals to a large audience. It can be spread easily, and that is the goal. For a company, this is one of the most important marketing components that need to be considered.

What does it do?

These ads have to catch the viewer’s attention and promote their product, service, or brand. These ads are put out, on the internet, social media, or wherever. Then, the goal is to have it spread so it is seen by as many people as possible.

How does it work?

Viral marketing can be spread through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, or word of mouth, just to mention a few. If you post something on the internet, there is the possibility for it to be seen by thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or more people.

When does it work?

Viral marketing works when it appeals to the consumers’ pathos, making them mad, making them happy, making them mad, or even surprising them. Then, people will want to spread the campaign. If you think about it, when you see a funny ad, you may share it with your roommate, your sister, your boyfriend, etc. That means it was successful and will continue to spread. The video that comes to my mind is the ad for Always. They focus on girls’ self esteems, entertain the idea of the phrase “like a girl”, and it definitely appeals to my pathos, enough for me to share it on my Facebook. That is successful viral marketing.

[mmmorganrook-blog]

It is a virus - one person infects another and it spreads from there!

You're post is way better organized than mine. I swear I answered these questions somewhere within the meme minefield.

I just have a weird idea to bounce off of you. Their goal is to have as many people as possible see the ad but don’t they only have a small target audience. How are these ads so successful? I thought the days of blanket advertising were over, is it not more common to do niche targeting?

Are these companies special outliers, like the Coca Cola superpower or are there just exceptions to the rule if a campaign is smart enough?

[mmmorganrook-blog]

Social Media and Word of Mouth

The origin of viral marketing is word of mouth. Word of mouth just means you get people talking about your product. The more people who talk about the project the further it will spread. Interestingly enough, this is also successful because once the idea is seeded properly people are hearing about the idea from their friends. The Virgin $9 ticket twitter campaign proved that people are more likely to listen to something that comes from a friend or someone they trust. 

Word of mouth now takes on a new meaning with social media. Instead of just telling their friends people are posting about it and from there they are able to reach more people, from there complete strangers can share their posts.

I am going to try to create this same buzz for my book in project three by getting some people to read the story early and then have them tell their friends about it. This way I may be able to reach more than just classmates. I have 1000 Facebook friends, if I could get just 50 of them talking about my story I would reach their friends and easily reach 2500 people. 2.5x more than I could have reach by myself. My story campaign is going to include a twitter page and a hashtag.