Reading Response 5

http://www.sixtiespress.co.uk/

This website misguidedly uses a combination of the organizational structures illustrated in the palmquist chapter. The collage of links that make up the “home” page takes you to the content, each page being accessible from every other page. Though, no information of the site’s content is offered on the homepage so the likelihood of the reader traveling further then the initial page is slim.  In this instance use of the interlinked structure, ironically, provides no structure. This website fails to point out the important information because of the undistinguished hierarchy of content.

The site’s focus is poetry from the 1960’s, so the page containing the bulk of the poetry should highlight each specific poem, right? WRONG. Poems are placed horizontally and vertically making the page look like a giant chart fill with stanzas. The first step in cleaning up the page is separating each poem so each piece is easy to find, dedicating more room to focus on each one. The palmquist chapter urges designers to keep it simple, this site desperately needs to simplify. The only helpful navigational tools are the links at the top of the page listing the authors which direct the reader directly to their poem.

I would develop a side bar which could create a clearer way to navigate. This side bar would appear on every page to provide more of a consistency and repetition of themes throughout the site. Organization aside the design elements make reading and finding information really difficult. The color of the text almost blends in the background color, which opposes the rule of contrast. the links are spaced well, beside the header which overlaps over some of them.

CARP Analysis

http://www.sixtiespress.co.uk/

Alignment

This website actually makes my brain hurt. This site looks like they read about the CARP format and thought the directions were to do the opposite. The ideas lack any sort of separation and seem to be on top of each other. The total LACK of alignment makes me so aware of how efficiently clean and consistent alignment works to focus the content on a webpage. The HeadLine design is aligned to the left which contrasts with the rest of the website, which uses a center alignment.This  choice is weaker then left or right because the formality of symmetrical alignment  looks amateurish. The web designer’s failure to define a visual or rhetorical focal point can be attributed to the horizontal and vertical placement of links. This arrangement throws of the alignment, because the links aligned with the center are not in sync with the links or either side.

Social Media Bundle

Sakai Work 10/18

The Tollet and Williams’ chapters were really helpful and served to correct some long-standing notions I had in terms of web-organization. The main point asserted throughout both chapters was to maintain a clear focus, which allows for easy navigation. Avoiding clutter and excess space is one key in guiding the eye to what is important. Although not all the information in both chapters related to blog design or even modern web-design, the basis of the chapters provided a solid foundation for any novice designer.

Because the first chapter began with a lesson on web-alignment, this message persisted through both chapters as a key determinate of organization. Alignment is the first of a few steps in creating a page that allows skimming for important information, which is how most web-users work. Alignment in professional blogs and web sites fades into the sub-conscious, so I only ever recognize its absence. A page without proper alignment looks sloppy, unprofessional, and steers the reader away from focusing on the content.

To apply this practice to my blog, I first have to choose one alignment to use on the entire page. The authors made note that center, although a valid choice for an alignment looks amateurish as the balanced format looks a little too formal. The authors suggest choosing between flushing left or right, although they mix the two in an example. Even though I agree with the authors, and recognize that the aligned examples in the chapter showed much more organization, I am confused on how to apply this to my blog. My confusion stems from blogs that I visit and how they usually change where the place the picture in relation to the text.

A greater emphasis is placed on content in blogs then on web sites, though both require structure that leads the eye to important information. The art of grouping together relevant information or, proximity, uses empty space to actively separate sections of text. This division works in the same way paragraphs in essays divide thoughts and creating a less intimidating experience for the reader. What I though seemed like an arbitrary rule, of minimizing the space between a sub-head and the information, though the examples illustrated a clear difference.

Repetition importantly links themes between different web pages. Blogs should use repetition as well, though wordpress’s default uses the same background for each separate page. Though to create a feeling of familiarity, I could establish an icon that I use repeatedly. On my various social media accounts I set up to promote my blog, they all use the same profile picture (an old photo of Marilyn Monroe when she was still Norma Jean.) The icon on the Discerning Damsel homepage is taken from the “we can do it!” slogan from ww2 propaganda, which gives the audience an idea of what the content will be. It may be necessary to choice one icon instead of vacillating between the two to create more of a connection between the blog and the social media accounts.

The section in chapter 6 explaining contrast I found incredibly useful. The contrasting colors of font and text but mostly the contrasting size that determines the page’s focal point. Determining and making a clear focal point clearly communicates the purpose and most valuable bit of info. Professional web sites are easy to skim as opposed to amateurish efforts that look like a copy and pasted essay onto a web site.

Chapter 7 went into greater instructional detail on creating an easy to navigate web site. The authors continued to push simple and plain as the best and clearest approach to designing. Carried over from the previous section, this chapter started with choosing important information to be formed in an outline, the main points of which become heads or subheads. The goal of a site is for it to be easy to navigate through, meaning the user does not have to dig to find information and always knows where he or she is in relation to things. For smooth navigational system on each page give the user confidence in knowing where they are on the website. Bars, links and tabs visually augment a site as well as boosting organization of the content.

As it stands now Discerning Damsel has only three pages, the default page leading directly to the blog entries, so the user would have little to no trouble finding the content.  Every main item should have a different page, as a way of distinguishing different pieces of information and blocking them away from each other. The next piece of advice from the authors might not be as relevant today as it was in the 90’s; one size surfing. This formatting technique involves creating a web site that does not require re-formatting for different size monitors. Although this does not come into play as much today, they authors make a validly point out how scrolling is bad. A clear web site is complete in one visual intake.

Having visited both, I can recognize the difference between professional and amateur web pages, even if I never knew exactly what made one better then the other. These chapters helped to illustrate the simple techniques that can make or back the visual and organizational lay out of a design.

Sakai Work/ Reading Response 4

I first used Lynda to learn about utilizing Twitter and Facebook as vehicles for marketing. Anne-Marie Concepcion’s  laid out basic tools in both sites as well as insights into how to achieve a successful business presents in her series “Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter.” I have a personal Facebook which I use more than I am proud of, so I skipped the basic video’s on both sites and went directly to creating a custom background. I also skipped to this video because company’s with better aesthetics also tend to perk my interest. Concepcion did explain how on Twitter is more about the message than the “flash” of a customized background, and then next video explained the art of meaningful tweeting, which I found interesting. She blocks effective tweets into three categories, the account holder should dabble in all three, which are sales/marketing, about the company, and general info which includes questions to personal tweets.

I then browsed instructional word press video’s that taught how to create a more developed and multifunctional word press. As a new user of the website, I found this video’s interesting if not somewhat beyond my understanding. Some where to simple, demonstrating pretty self-explanatory procedurals and others leaned toward the advanced side. I enjoyed one web series called, “word press essential training” where I learned about templates and how to access them. I also learned about creating a front page for your blog. I though about creating a front page for my blog but I don’t think my 3-post blog has enough content to create more pages than what i already have. The teacher included points on managing media, including added video’s and picture which was very helpful and relevant to me.

I could have used these tutorial’s differently by stopping to experiment on my own blog, to make the knowledge more real for myself. I also think as my blogs developed the tutorials will start becoming more useful. The information is great to have now, but my blog needs a little more content for me to start applying it. These tools are most useful when you spend time trying to apply them, and thus becoming more technologically literate. If I were a teacher I would use Lynda as a means of teaching. Lynda is a helpful resource to have when you there is a specific use for it, and our use is to develop our blogs and their internet presence through social networking.

Social Bundle Memo

TO: Social Bundle

FROM: Emma Sacchetti, Blogger for Discerning Damsel

DATE: October 8^th, 2012

SUBJECT: Public Relations Plan

 

Hello, I created the activist blog, “Discerning Damsel,” which seeks to raise awareness on women’s rights issues and light-heartedly fight to kept the term “feminism” in everyone’s vocabulary.  In order to take my blog out of obscurity I plan on doing more than simply befriending like-minded organizations on various social networking sites. While I agree this tactic is a solid way to reach feminists, my plan will hopefully reach individuals in need of an eye-opening lesson about women’s issues.

As Internet literacy increases, social media becomes an increasingly relevant and efficient mode of advertising. I plan on developing multiple accounts on various sites, such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Flickr. These websites have become so ubiquitous in our lives, that having these accounts becomes the modern day equivalent to taping posters in all the popular restaurants downtown.

I admire the feminist blogger who created “Feminist Ryan Gosling” as she reached an audience with humor while simultaneously introducing core concepts of feminism.  The Facebook and Twitter account under the name “Discerning Damsel” will provide links to weekly posts as well as funny and relevant status updates, sometimes that link to other feminist and other thought provoking blogs. I want to reach a wide audience by not marketing my blog as site strictly devoted to feminism.  Befriending Facebook pages for blogs like, “Thought Catalogue” will help reach my target audience.

Thank you for considering my plans to promote “Discerning Damsel.” If you have any questions feel free to contact me via email.

 

Emma Sacchetti

Social Networking Presence

NOW-

national organization of women

YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook

After looking through the different uses for each network, it became clear to me that NOW has employed workers specifically to developing their social media accounts. Each account is up to date meaning multiple posts a day. Over 35,000 people have “liked” NOW’s page, while the organization has liked many other pages, including similar organization, women politicians, or even the feminist TV shows. Liking other pages makes you apart of an interactive swimming pool of Facebook, basically it helps to spread the word.  NOW uses Facebook to announce events like “Love your body” day, these status’ are usually accompanied by funny or attention grabbing photo or meme, such as the tumblr hit “feminist Ryan Gosling.” NOW uses the “about” function on Facebook to provide a brief history and offer links to their main website.

NOW uses to twitter to briefly announce upcoming events. During the political debate this past week they had an Terry O’Neil, a feminist activist and lawyer live tweeting from the event. The tweet account is mostly used as the organization’s promotional tool but also functions to provide some activism, using hashtags like, “#VOTINGRIGHTS or #WOMENsEQUALITY. Although these tweets aim at providing activist by giving their point of view, in my opinion, mostly 140 characters offers little room for anything of substance.

NOW also has a developed Flickr account with 22 albums that serve to virtual document organization sponsored lectures, fundraisers, protests, rallies, conferences and other group activities. Their Flickr account is almost like a still version of the groups YouTube account which offers documentation of the same events but…with sound. Both these accounts are active but the Facebook page comparatively seems like a hub of all media making sites like YouTube and Flickr seem more limited. These tools function mostly to offer awareness about the organization and what they stand for. These social media platforms aim to direct users to the NOW website which offers ways to get involved. Facebook and Twitter is a good way spread the word, especially because they can link themselves to like-minded organization through the linking function on Facebook or the hashtag-ing system on Twitter.

Rhode Island National Organization for Women

This organization offers much less activity in the social networking world, they primarily function as a blog. By much less… I mean it doesn’t have an account on ANY social networking site. This organization was, however, the most active feminist group in Rhode Island. I knew this by the descriptive calendar it has on a separate page  that provided links to events. The site had young feminist from the state blogging weekly, and a detailed news page as well. All in all the site is very developed but has no tools for publicity. It I were to improve upon this site, I first would develop a Twitter and Facebook account, develop an about me page and then start liking and communicating with similar organizations such as NOW to spread the word.

Feminist Campus

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blog (on home web-site)

This organization is aimed toward college women all around the country, though have a specific site for women in New England who are interested in women’s rights. On Facebook, the photos are of anti-violence memes but mostly of women in the organization protesting against  discrimination or promoting women’s rights. There is also a photo album of women of well dressed women of all ages speaking at and attending lectures and just generally having a grand ole’ time. The site has almost 3,000 likes, while the site itself likes other feminist pages. The Facebook page is used as a hub to announce events and provide links to other sites or to their own YouTube page.

To my surprise, their YouTube account with 52 uploaded video is extremely active. Many are low-quality video of students talking directly to the camera about their day  and the work they have done while others are of celebrities offering their support or filmed lectures from a conference. Unlike the last two sites I visited this organization, I feel like I have learned the most about this organization by watching the videos posted on YouTube.

More than the other sites their social media accounts aim to bring in students to the organization. Twitter posts announce internship positions and students praising all the group has done for them. Their posts are activist related but also aim to draw people in in or just draw in donations. Just like NOW they have an active home-website which is where in-depth information can be found, so hopefully Facebook and Twitter posts bring users back to that website. Their blog is written by different students weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, and is always accompanied by a photo or relavent video from Youtube.

Annotated bibliography

These 4 sources provide key elements and important movements in history that are vital to the study of feminism, and thus vital to creating a feminist blog. To cater to my target audience while promoting (or writing) a feminist blog means having sources that keep me up-to-date on the latest achievements or controversies relating to the movement. Knowing the proper terms and prominent figures of feminism increases blogging and promotional ethos which is why my sources include sites that carefully outline these basic principles. Maintaining a strong ethos builds a trusting relationship between both parties, and hopefully this bibliography works towards that.

My first source is an exerpt from The Gender Knot, a book commonly used as a teaching tool for sociology or women’s studies in universities. Salon is a news and blogging source with a seperate page devoted to the feminist movement. The next source comes from the Stanford University website and provides an in depth review on all aspects of feminism around the world. Lastly, I included Feminist.org which functions as a hub for all current events, jobs, internships,and  activites relating to feminism.

Johnson, Allan G. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1997. Print.

In The Gender Knot, Johnson enlightens readers about the gender specific lenses that color our world. He explains the socially constructed system of society known as patriarchy and how we inadvertently sustain it. Patriarchy is the source for gender inequality, which in turn triggers emotional dissonance and confusion. Johnson explains the importance of gender as a role in society and for an individual.

Johnson’s book teaches the essentials for understanding the roots of feminism. Perhaps because of the book’s publication 20 years after the first wave of the feminism and the fact it was written by a man, this book manages to teach the effects of male oppression in the most objective and credible way possible. One of the most common misconceptions about feminism, which Johnson makes clear, is that the feminism goal never aimed to put women in the position of power instead it aims to create positions of equality.

“SALON.” Feminism. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://www.salon.com/topic/feminism/&gt;.

Although Salon functions as a blogging website, it has more similarities to an online newspaper. Unlike the typical online feminist publication articles tend to run the length of 1000 words instead of the meager 300. Articles’ range in topic from the societal reactions of pop culture, to feminist news in foreign and national politics. The feminist posts on Salon’s site are plentiful, their vast staff of writers often live blog from events to keep Salon readers as up to date as possible.

I choose Salon, as a source because of it will keep me up to date in feminist news. The writers are credible and the site has a god reputation. There is never any shortage of information to obtain from salon. This site also does a good job of highlighting breaking news so I now what I shouldn’t skip over.

Haslanger, Sally, Tuana, Nancy and O’Connor, Peg, “Topics in Feminism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/feminism-topics/&gt;.

This website provides the basics of feminism. The broad beliefs and goals of the movement are explained before going into depth on specific issues such as human trafficking, feminism and race, and the role of sex and sexuality in feminism. To go into greater depth the site offers links that focus on the three waves of feminism and other political and social movement that have furthered the cause. The site also provides insight on feminist views from a Marxist, Materialist and Socialist stance.

Not only does this site cover basic points of the movement but travels to the depths of obscurity that help illustrate the vast impact feminism has had on the world. It is a credible source as it is a link from the Stanford University website. In addition to this the site lists an extensive bibliography to back up every claim.

Feminist Majority Foundation – Breaking News, Feminism from Affirmative Action to Sexual Harassment to Women’s Sports.” Feminist Majority Foundation – Breaking News, Feminism from Affirmative Action to Sexual Harassment to Women’s Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. <http://www.feminist.org/&gt;.

In addition to a feminist blog and other articles, this website offers more unique features than my three previous sources. This site marks a digital calendar with activist events to keep subscribers and other feminists updated. There is a “career center” where job and internships with the field of female activism are posted weekly. A digital research source enables users to find feminist books, chronicles, journals and other pieces.  The hotline links offers resources for sexual assault and harassment, and also links for domestic violence.

This source works in conjunction with “Ms.” Magazine a prominent and respected news source. The site functions as a hub of all feminist activity. Unlike other sources it is an interactive medium giving users the ability to track feminist events and activities. Other sites let you know what already happened where’s Feminist.org encourages their followers to participate. This is an important source for my activist blog because this site is in itself a form of activism.

Post Write

Blogging has taught me to consistently proof read my material. I checked multiple times over the period of a couple of days looking for errors and to my chagrin found them in a more plentiful and glaring way then before. Though this is a challenge in all process-based writing, the nature of work that has the potential for wide distribution (could you get wider then the world wide web?) makes proof reading an especially crucial step. Also, in an attempt to find the typical format and style of a blog, I looked at different blogging websites, which was maybe counter, productive. The wide range of styles and formats proved to be more overwhelming than helpful. Because I am writing this blog in an academic setting I knew the more colloquial and clearly editorial blog would be inappropriate.

 I haven’t felt paralyzed in terms of coming up with ideas for new blog entries. The topic leaves room for personal thoughts as well as reporting on legitimate events.  So far, I feel really proud with what I have come with, mostly because I love blogs and am just really proud to have created my own on a subject that matters to me. I was also proud of the background and header photo I picked out to help out the site’s aesthetics. Although, I am proud of this feature it could also be my blog’s weakness because of my lack of skill and experience in that area.

I fear that my blog entries have not included my own original thoughts and serve mostly to report or illustrate feminist activity. Since this an academic blog I feel writing my, maybe unsubstantiated opinions, would be inappropriate despite the freedom a blog grants. Also, my blog runs the risk of getting slightly off topic since I have a tendency to write about whatever pop culture interests me at the moment.

The first key into developing and improving my blog will be to vary the topics of my posts. As I said, my interests sometimes make me apt to repeat myself, though with that in mind I intend to mix things up. The next strategy involves remaining some-what objective while including my own thoughts and feelings in the posts. Then, I plan on also varying the media, (ie including my pictures, video, etc) and also mixing up the formatting of how I write the entries as well.