Web Critique and Notes

Aldo: Great layout and background design, it really seems to match with your topic. The headings, and links are also set up nicely. However, to get to the deeper web pages, you're forced to only click on links in the text it seems. Perhaps you could set up a side bar with related links to that page.

Max: I really enjoyed your navigation system. The main topic links on the top as well as links to related subjects for each page on the side really worked well. The pictures and information match nicely too. However, sometimes many of the links on the side of the page were the same as the links on the top. So it seemed a bit repetitive. But I guess it seems like our teacher likes more links and thus easier navigation so perhaps it's fine.

Andy: Great navigation! Loved the many different navigation bars and picture links. Also a very interesting topic and well written. Your web page in my opinion seems to be based off of that alternative energy site you linked to, which is very cool. The only thing is that your site seems very big in my window browser. I have to scroll to the side a lot to see the rest of your page. Maybe you could lower the pixel count or something to make it smaller and fit better.

NOTES
Liu:
More time keyword scanning
People like browing, but browsing website not as effective as browing library
67% increase in reading, due to work or family, usually on the web
Many people will only read a document once and never again

Nielson:
People don't read on web, they scan
Concise text, scannable layout, and objective language increase webpage usability
Highlighted keywords, half the world count, lists
People look at a web page in an F shape. As in they look at whats at top, and then stop looking more as they go down
First 2 paragraphs must be most important
Subheads or paragraphs should be information carrying-words

Jerz:
Links are very important
Link to related page
Group similar pages together
When on home page, link to home should be different color or unclickable

Websites that suck:
Website doesn't make you look like credible professionals
Doesn't eliminate unnecessary design items and don't know which design items are not necessary
Site doesn't look the same in major browsers
Site uses centered text on more than just headlines
Doesn't use logo on top of every page
Site navigation should tell you where you are, where you're going to go and how to get back to home page
Navigation not in top screen

Webpage Notes

Lui:

Investigate reading behaviors in digital world by survey and analysis-how it reading patterns have changed
Screen based reading-browsing, skimming, scanning, selectively
Moving toward lessfocused and more fragmented reading
End of literacy of print
Each have own pros/cons depending on what you are doing the reading for
Intensively vs. Extensively
Keyword spotting
One time reading
Non-linear reading and less attention; less in-depth reading


Nielsen:

People don't read, they scan-look for headings
Credibility is important
Trying to find mathematical formula to quantify how much people read online
Back button used very often
Eye-tracking heat map
F-pattern for reading: horizontal then down and horizontal then vertically down-won't be read thoroughly, first two paragraphs must state what is contained in the rest of the reading, headers and bullet points need to contain important info


Jerz:

Navigation is important...non-linear allows to be read in any order
Meaningful titles for links
Consistent, persistent navigation bars
Place holder text in menus
Multiple navigation bars for large sites
No "back" and "forward" bars
Hierarchical navigation
Grouping similar pages together

Peer Observations

Dylan: I like how the layout with the black background and white/green headings was consistent throughout the site. I would make the splash page the same color scheme/layout. The myths vs. facts page was very easy read and understand..they layout of two columns worked well.

Mikey: I like the use of quotes at the beginning of your linked pages. I liked how you used the images as links as well as the words. The pictures added to the impact of the webpages, especially on the "Victims" page. I liked how the layout was consistent from page to page.

Rusty: The background of your site is obviously very fitting and gives the reader a visual preview as to what your site is about. I like how once you clicked on the "21" link, the sidebar menu had more links sharing the various views on opposing and supporting the drinking age. I would maybe put a link or two at the bottom of the pages since some of them are so long.

Website Observations

As I browsed through the webpages from last year, I noticed a wide variety of styles and themes. One of the pages that stuck out to me had a fairly plain background, but the layout of the text was very creative and grabbed my interest. I liked how she made the text the main focus of the webpage. On the next site, I really how the person used personal pictures and stories. He linked his pages to numerous first person accounts, which made the topic a lot more real and personal. It inspired me to get first hand feedback from people in my own life to include on my hypertext. The last hypertext I looked at linked to outside websites. The websites that she linked to expanded on her topic and gave the information that she was writing about more authority. These webpages all gave me ideas as to how I want my final webpage to look.

Website suggestions and notes

Andy:
First of all, I love the name of your hypertext. I like how you provided a lot of external links that were relevant to your topic and that you included graphs and videos in your websites. I also liked how the visual of the headings fit the link's topic very well. Some suggestions that I have are that the headings should probably be always be in the middle and that the hyperlinks to the other internal websites should be made easier to find.

Max:
Great topic! I was really intrigued with your website's content and I couldn't help but read every single page. The content was written very well and I could tell that you felt very strongly about the issue. As for recommendations, I suggest that you keep the links to the sidebar constant because it can get quite confusing. You should also consider including hyperlinks within the text of your websites. The font should also made bigger because you used a light color with your font.

Molly:






Liu:
- people read differently if it's screen based
- more time spent on browsing and scanning
- less time on in-depth and concentrated reading
- electronic media: better for searching
- paper based media: actual consumption of

information

Nielson
- People don't read when they go online: they

just SCAN, picking out individual words and

sentences
- websites must have SCANNABLE text by

highlighting, sub-headings, bulleted lists, half

the word count than conventional writing
- credibility can be increased by hq graphics,

good writing and outbound hypertext links
- promotional writing, concise text, scannable

layout (bulletpoints), objective language

(neutral tone) ... the best is using all three

together
- Back button is the 3rd most used feature on

the web.

Jerz (navigation)
-web design conventions of internet navigation
- there is no single "right" way to read a

webpage
- collection of units that are strung together

like beads, read upon the path that the visitor

wishes
- 1. use a consistent design scheme
- 2. do not use a "click here to continue"

method
- 3. provide a home link on the upper left

corner of every page but don't call it home
- Readers typically look directly at the middle

of the page
- 4. Group similar pages together
- 5. Use consistent navigation bars
- 6.Use placeholders to create a structure in

the navigation bars

Webpages that suck:
-We don't know which design items are not

necessary.
-Our site's TITLE tag is something like "New

Document", "Index" and not the name of your

company or other search-engine friendly terms.

Not something meaningless like "Home."
-Our site doesn't use black text.
-Our site uses Frames.

Peer Suggestions & Notes

Katy Wendland:

The home page's layout is a lot better then any works I've seen so far within the last 2 projects. The entire website is neat and clean and the content is extremely clear. The LOVE page is my favorite because the use of pictures and graphics are used well.

Charlotte West:

Your topic matches your website layout. It feels like a mature topic and a mature historical feel to the website with the colors and all the graphics. Only suggestion would be possibly make the headers transparent to match the background.

Sean Young:

The layout is fantastic. Gives a huge video game and technological feel to your website. Only suggestion would be to have borders between the headers so you can tell which are headers and which are not. The boxes on the left and right side seem somewhat confusing.

Liu

the idea of expression and idea are virtually one.

shift from print to technology. amount of time spent reading and understanding are completely different.

some people dont necessarily pick up on what exactly they are reading.

Nielsen:

Using a lot of bullets and visuals gives readers better ability to understand

subheadings, bulleted words, and highlighted keywords

must catch attention, people spend little time on pages

Jerz:

Block off navigation from site when on site

Breadcrumb trails

Left Menu Bar

Top Navigation

Right and Middle Marketing

Peer Review

Liu
More browsing and eyword spotting
change from intesive to extensive reading
hypertext is a good way of giving a brief description of a topic
Neilson
the majority of people scan rather than read word for word on webpages
generally one idea per paragraph with and F shape
to help read faster.
Subtitles and keywords used often
Jerz
Put similar ideas together
Have a link to the home page on each page
Navagation at the bottom of the page
Websites that Suck
Keep layout somewhat simple
dont have a brightbackground
no flashing titles or text
Mike
I like the pictures in the navagation bar and the consistency throught the website. Good use of embedded links on each page makes it easy to navigate. I also like the quotes and brief paragraphs that focus on one idea at a time.

Rusty
Very simple outline that needs some work. The navagation could be used on the top or bottom or spread out more so you don't have to scroll up after reading one of the longer paragraphs. Only a few embedded links makes the website hard to navagate.

Matt
I like the spread of navagation bars on the top and side but you should try using some embedded links so the reader can jump from different ideas quicker. Nice consistency with the background and layout.

3 peer suggestions and notes

Rusty:

Has a good consistent, simple outline. Maybe too much white space? I like how the titles are set apart but changing the color and the font size. The links to the satellite pages are hard to find so it really forces you to read which is good. I’m digging the background.

Matt:

I really like your navigation it gives you a lot of different ways to browse the site. You did I really good job of picking your topic. You can tell that you care a lot about the topic. I like the black, white, and blue color scheme. Your design is consistent and clean. You use up the space well. I think your site is really good dude.

Judith:

I really like the layout that you chose. It really makes your site stand out. I like how you incorporated outside sites into your site. Your topic is relevant to every college student. The color scheme is really good and I like how you made it look like facebook.

Liu

People scan

80 percent of ontime is spent browseing not reading

hyper text is a good way to present information

if people want to read indepth then they will print it out (80 percent)

browsing and keyword spotting

Neilson

people do not read they pay attention to keywords (bolded) sub headings, pictures

ways to make the site better

concise text

scannable layout

Good internet writing: concise scannable and objective

its harder for you eyes to read computer screens than paper

Jerz

put a home link on every page

use a consistend design scheme for every page

group similar ideas

forget about back and next

place navigation at the top and the bottom of each page

navigation looks best when it is consistent

hierarchical navigation

big> smaller> smaller> specific topic

Linear Essay

Michael Creswell

Linear Essay

10/23/10

The United States imprisons more citizens, both in number and percentage, than any other country in the world. Nearly one in every one hundred adults is in prison, but this is largely due to parole violations rather than an increased crime rate. This extremely high number of people in prison is a problem in itself, but even worse than the United States' drastically high incarceration rate is the treatment that people receive while in prison. Prisoners’ rights are being violated by an unjust prison system. Prisoners are commonly abused, beaten, and taken advantage of both sexually and monetarily. Studies show that an inmate has a 50 percent chance of being physically abused and a 40 percent chance of being sexually assaulted while in prison. In addition to this, many rapes and sexual assaults are not reported because the guards turn a blind eye, in fact, it is estimated that only half of the sexual assaults that occur in prison are reported to prison guards. Prison systems should serve as correctional facilities; they should be a place where people pay retribution for their wrongdoings, but this does not mean that prisoners should have to endure further consequences and unjust punishments.

While many prisons are just, civil, and decent, there are exceptions. While in a corrupt, worst situation prison, inmates are exposed to an animalistic world where prisoner abuse is regular. Abuse covers a large array of injustices, from assault to rape. Power hungry prison guards act at puppeteers who control the inmates every move, beating them, harassing them, and causing fights between other inmates. Prisoners lose all freedoms when locked behind bars. They lose their rights to ensure the safety of other inmates and of guards. The problem in prison lies with an unavoidable uneven distribution of power, where guards hold most of the power and inmates hold close to none. The guards receive too much power and take advantage of it. Sex scandals, drug scandals and cruel punishments are occurring within prison walls and are ignored, belittled, underreported, and under-prosecuted. Prisoners are physically abused using electroshock weapons, toxic chemicals, and blunt objects such as baton. Electroshock weapons subdue a prisoner by contracting all superficial muscles, leaving the inmate burned and in pain. Toxic chemicals such mace are often shot into the facial area of an inmate causing chemical burns and leaving the victim unable to breathe. Blunt object are used to simply beat a prisoner, guards also use their fists. Besides the physical abuse, prisoners are commonly sexually abused. Prisoners can be raped by both other prisoners or by staff; statistics show that prison officials overlook this once out of every two occurrences. According to Human Rights Watch, a non-government corporation that advocates for human rights, corrupt guards have inappropriately touched, sexually assaulted, and raped inmates with no consequences. In addition to physical and sexual abuse, prisoners can also be abused economically. Essentially the prisoners are being scammed by guards in their illegal dealings. For instance, a guard will force a prisoner to pay way too much for a pack of cigarettes which guards should not even be distributing to prisoners in the first place. The guards form a strict code of silence that leads toward unreported mistreatment of inmates, lack of justice, and overall public ignorance. Prisoners suffer through their incarceration time and are unable to pay retribution for their wrongdoing due to the abuse that is covered up behind prison walls. Guards constantly overstep their boundaries and never suffer consequences for it.

Although a small percentage of prison guards do abuse their power, a lot do not.The prison guards’ job is to oversee those who have been arrested, waiting to be tried, or sentenced to either jail or prison. The flow of prisoners is constantly changing; the guards see new faces everyday due to new criminals and the transfer of criminals. Guards are unable to form relationships with the inmates and must be on their toes at all times. Prisoners often are violent towards guards because they are already in prison they have nothing to lose. In jail the number one priority is for security to be maintained. The inmates are watched carefully in order to prevent violence, rapes, and escape. Correctional officers are given power to maintain order; they often settle arguments between inmates and randomly search the inmates living quarters for banned items to prevent any surprises. Prison guards have a difficult job; they must take extreme precautions to be able to protect themselves and other prisoners. This danger is made apparent when guards randomly search the cells for banned items such as weapons. Prison is a very rough world and inmates often kill or attempt to kill guards. The constant struggle for control and power fuels the disputes between guards and inmates. The majority of abuse is in fact inflicted on the guards not by the guards, but the small number of corrupt guards gives the rest of the guards a poor reputation. Prison guards are just trying to do their jobs and stay safe. Guards form a strict code of silence that allows guards to do their job easier, however, this also allows the guards to abuse their power. An example of the code of silence being wrongfully used is in the gladiator style fights during 1989-1995 in Corcoran Prison's High Security Unit. Guards would set up fights between rival gangs and then when the two rival gang members were trying to kill each other the guards would shoot at them. This led to 33 inmates being shot and 7 of those shot were killed. The guards involved were put on trial. No guard would rat out another guard. In this case, the code of silence had allowed the guards to murder 7 prisoners, treat them like animals, play god, and take shots at a human being without any consequences. These are the types of guards that give all prison guards a bad name. These corrupt guards have been able to stay under the radar of policy makers. Policy makers’ constituencies generally focus their attention on the abused prisoners rather than the corrupt guards.

Policy makers are not able to make and implement effective policies. There have been Acts in the past that have tried to eliminate the mistreatment of prisoners, yet, even with sufficient funding they fail. For instance, in 2003, Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which deals with the sexual assault of prisoners. However, this act is being violated in numerous correctional facilities in the United States. The Act does not tolerate a culture of sexual violence and misconduct against offenders through education, screening, assessment, classification, monitoring, counseling, and investigation. Nevertheless, the prison guards are infringing on these policies. For example, a seventeen year old Texas prisoner reported to the prison authorities that he was raped and beaten and was not taken seriously. He had injuries and reported to be raped eight times by the same man. The authorities interviewed both men and they decided that it was nothing but a “lovers’ quarrel.” They sent both men back to their cells where rape took place again. The victim was raped and beaten even more severely. The victim’s father pleaded that he be granted protective custody, but this request was denied. Unable to take the abuse any longer, the prisoner committed suicide. If enforced, the Prison Elimination Act should have prevented this situation from happening. Policy makers do a good job of creating a policy that has potential to be effective however; they do not see the implementation of the policy and therefore it fails although it has ample funding. Policy makers seem to care not about preventing injustice in prisons but more about getting re-elected through keeping their constituency happy.

In the United States Prison system, there have been numerous budget cuts. For example, in Michigan, there was a budget cut of five hundred million dollars from correctional facilities. This means that there are one thousand fewer correction officers within the facilities and the same amount of inmates, causing an increase in violence. Despite the budget cuts, the overall spending of the prison system has increased over the years. It has increased 570% over the last twenty years and the spending of education has only increased 33%. So while the amount of money spent per inmate has gone down, the overall spending on the prison system has gone up to keep up with the swollen prison population. The money that is spent on prisons is not used in an effective way. Ultimately, the spending has increased but the quality has decreased. In the 2007 -08 year, prisons were locked down 148 times due to violence, which is an eighty percent increase. Assaults by inmates on other inmates rose 19.5 percent and assaults on staff rose 11 percent. Although there have been numerous budget cuts to the prison systems in America, millions of dollars have been appropriated from policies that ultimately fail, essentially wasting the taxpayers money. For example, in 2004 the Prison rape elimination act appropriated 25 million dollars to various states; Iowa, Michigan, New York, Texas, and Washington all received the maximum grant of 1 million dollars. In 2005 20 million dollars were given out in grants. This money has not increased or decreased the number of prison rapes, instead it has uncovered a more accurate number of how many inmates are actually raped, at least 13% or 200,000 prisoners. Failed policies and overcrowded prisons are wasting taxpayers’ money. Although the total amount of money has gone up dramatically the quality of life of a prison inmates has decreased.

The focus of a crime is on the offender, the offender of a serious violent crime, such as rape, could get life in prison. Once the offender has been tried and convicted the government has done their job and they move on to another crime. What about the victim? Victims are left alone to lick their wounds. Victims are often overlooked. Underprepared and feeling vulnerable victim’s lives can be forever ruined from a crime. I personally care about prison conditions after one of my closest family friends told me that her mother was the victim of attempted murder. To protect her and her family I have removed all names and locations. I care about prison conditions after hearing this story. Imagine an average American family. Not poor but not rich. Generally happy with a couple of speed bumps along the way. Unsuspecting. Suddenly the father comes home with a shotgun, with hopes to kill the entire family. In an attempt to save her children the mother is shot and killed. The kids run from the house, one has sustained major injuries, all are in shock. They have been ripped out of their secure suburban world that they grew up in and now have a father who will be in prison for life without parole and a mother who has just made the ultimate sacrifice in front of all their eyes. Alone, vulnerable, confused, and heartbroken they are not given a change to digest what they have just saw, they instead are questioned by numerous officers and detectives focusing on putting the beast behind bars. Each question twists the knife that has been thrust into them by this crime. Living with extended family is the only form of comfort these kids have. Once their father is behind bars the questions stop and all attention on them fades away. The extended family takes care of the wounded sister who is the oldest and the middle sister steps into the role of mother. The middle sister fights back tears in the attempt to be strong and create security of her struggling sisters. The tears build up over the years and she snaps and becomes angry. Life goes on yet the haunting past continues to become unburied. The eldest sister is now homeless and psychotic; the middle sister is lives her life looking forward and making the most of every situation, and the youngest sister is timid and untrusting. While this happened to my friends mother, if her grandfather is released from prison he made it clear that he would “finish what he started”, affecting her entire family. The view of the family is that he should serve his time in prison and die in there, however he should absolutely not be exposed to abuse or corruption. I find this extremely interesting that he ruined their lives and forever changed them for the worse and yet they do not want to see their father and grandfather endure the worst situation prison. This changed my perspective on those in prison. The majority are, maybe not great people, but decent people, and humans nevertheless. No human no matter what circumstance should play god.

Something must be done to stop the unjust treatment of prisoners and to correct the corruption in the United States prison system. In order to stop the corruption, money that is spent on the prison system must be used more effectively, and altered legislation must be enacted. Not only should previous legislation such as the Prison Rape Elimination Act be more strictly regulated and enforced, but also the consequences for committing crimes that violate these acts should be more severe. Legislation that exists now varies from state to state, and if the Government came up with one all encompassing legislation regarding prisoner treatment, it would be much easier to enforce than it is now. This federal legislation would not only expand on the states' laws, but would also be stricter and more specific. For instance, it would make corporal punishment unconstitutional under any circumstances and the rape and abuse of prisoners by guards would result in a more severe sentencing than a misdemeanor. These changes in the legislation would make the laws easier to enforce, make them more clear and consistent, and would ultimately deter inmates and prison guards from committing the crime in the first place due to the consequences. The code of silence must be broken and the prisoner’s inalienable rights as human beings must be respected.

Website Observations and Notes

The three websites that I looked at all contained good features. One sight had some very insightful background information that helped understand a view point better. Another website had a very good cosmetic design, and incorporated features such as picture links that were helpful in navigating the site. A website also listed out many different viewpoints and used several of the tecniques such as pathos and background that Schlosser used in Fast Food Nation to give good insight into the perspective. The websites did a good job of writing about the standpoints and keeping their personal opinions out of it. I saw several features in the website that I plan on incorporating in mine.
Liu
People scan for keywords
People like to browse and find things by accident.
People prefer printing things out and reading them
They like printing because they can annotate
People don’t like to read linear text on the web

Nielsen
People look for bulleted lists
They also like one idea per paragraph
Knowing how credible the information is is important to people
Less words are better
People don’t like to read
People read in an F shaped pattern: Most stuff on the right gets ignored

Jerz
Putting the author and date is important so people can know how recent and credible the information is
Putting navigation at the top and bottom of the page is important because readers can move on after they’ve read, and browsers can skip stuff they don’t want to read
Having a link to home is good

Websites that Suck
Don’t have unnecessary design
Don’t make the background to vivid
Don’t make the background a bright color

The three hypertexts that I looked at were all slightly different from each other, but they shared some common aspects. They all had anecdotal usage, and this made the standpoints in their analytical hypertexts stand out. One site that really stood out made good use of youtube videos, and I plan on including some youtube videos in my own website. The fact that they all used anecdotal information connected them to the way that Schlosser writes in Fast Food Nation. The hypertexts I looked had were able to keep their own personal opinion out of their writing, but I fear that I may have to much emphasis on my own personal opinion.

Website Strategies

When I looked through the websites that were made in the other class, I found some cool things that I wanted to do with my site! I really liked the first person accounts because they made the issues seem more real. That realness made the whole website more effective as a whole. I also thought statistics contributed to this same thing. The statistics that were put up seemed to enhance the entire website and made it a lot more effective. I thought it was cool to see so many similarities to Scholosser, and I realized I should probably put more of that into my site. After doing this assignment, I've realized how ineffective my website seems to be. I hope there will be a redesign period like with our personal hypertext in which I can make mine better!

Figuring it out

While searching for inspiration in the hypertexts of Marc's past students, I noticed a few standout ideas. In both the personal and analytical hype texts, the most successful texts used personal anecdotes as a method to convey their point. For the analytical hypertexts this could be very poignant because it draws attention to the fact that the issue you're addressing is personal and the reader can connect more easily. By combing the anecdotes with facts and numbers, they were able to create a solid argument that no reader could deny. This method mirrors Schlosser's in that he combines the use of poignant anecdotes from first person sources with an astounding amount of facts and figures to back him up. All together, Schlosser creates an unbeatable argument. As far as layouts go, I looked at the sites from the previous year and was able to decipher what not to do and what to do. I got some good ideas into the clear and concise nature of the analytical hypertext.

Strategies for Website

It seems like that the most successful analytical hypertexts were those that used personal experiences and the experiences from others. Good sites used information from blogs or other places where "real" people gave their input on a situation. By using real experiences, either from yourself, your friends and family, or other people found through the web, the site was able to flourish because each perspective seemed more genuine and not influenced by the writer's standpoint. They also used some facts rather than opinion, when giving the conflicts and solutions to said conflicts. With a little factual evidence to back up people's personal experiences, the websites could mimic Fast Food Nation in small ways. You could see how other people thought differently on the matter, yet see how their opinion still complied with the facts that you already knew. I hope that my analytical web page will be able to deliver different perspectives from different people as well as have some factual evidence to back it all up.

Website Strategies

After viewing the work of previous classes, it can be concluded there are various differences between an analytical hypertext and a personal one. Where the latter consists of personal voice and presence, the former deals with challenging the audience to create their own conclusions leading to their own opinions based on the information provided. Successful strategies I felt truly got the point across in an anlytical hypertext were the usage of facts and supporting information. Accomplished through the usage of videos, pictures, statistics, and quotes that explicitly conveyed the standpoint for the reader to view, analyze, and come to conclusions about on their own, such strategies made the analytical hypertext not only interesting, but worth analyzing to begin with. Some sites also paralleled the strategies of Schlosser by giving personal accounts and imposing the same pathos Schlosser provides in Fast Food Nation. In creating this hypertext, it is important to remember the audience, the facts, and the standpoints presented – all of which are crucial in any successful analytical hypertext.

The strategies used in analytical hypertexts are different than those used in personal hypertexts. In personal hypertext you do not need to worry about things like biases and voice but in an analytical hypertext the read should be the one forming their own opinion bases on the facts you present. You should not tell the reader what to think. It’s very hard to completely hide your bias but the more hidden it is the better the hypertext will be. Good strategies that the previous classes used were quotes from blogs and other controversial or “not reliable” informational sources, links to other websites that have similar views on an issue. Although you should try your best to do a reporter style of writing to curb all biases you have, you can still get your point across by bolding certain words or using a different font or font color. If you want a point to get across bold that word and make it a different color. To be successful on this hypertext I must remember to curb my bias and present information factually.

Website Strategy

I noticed a difference between a lot of students analytical websites versus their personal hypertexts. The analytical hypertexts seemed to have a more consistent feel whereas the personal hypertexts were kind of all over the place. The background was the same on every page and the links were also in the same general area. This consistent layout seems to help with the analytical aspect of the project of keeping yourself or your own creativity out of the project and just stating the facts and standpoints of different stakholders. I hope to make a consistent website that clearly displays the sitaution without giving off too much of my own personal opinion.

Fishing for Strategies

Looking back on the research hypertexts made by last year’s class there are many strategies which I could implement. One that I saw in use was the use of pathos to make a certain party seem more sympathetic to a reader, just like Schlosser does in Fast Food Nation. I also saw a few websites that did a good job with maintaining perspective while fairly exploring an issue, and there were some very good “my story” pages. On a more technical note, there were some interesting website design features I saw, such as the use of mixed media and outside links, and also interesting design and typography. I also saw website designs that I want to stay away from because they cluttered up the site, or they used fonts or colors which made the content of the website way too hard to read.

Website Strategies

Because of this assignment my strategy for this project has definitely been made more clear and concise. The difference between a standpoint and opinion has been cleared up as well. The one thing I definitely noticed within the other websites was the uses of other media such as videos and other pictures. I also looked at differences between their first hypertexts compared to their second hypertexts and they were huge improvements. The publishers of the hypertexts definitely put themselves into their work because it seemed extremely personal even if the main topic did not necessarily have to involve them. A lot of their facts and evidence were backed up by statistics and although they were facts, the commentary afterwards by the publisher helped prove the point exactly. This assignment definitely provided inspiration for our projects.

Website Observations

After reading through previous classes analytical hypertexts, I learned a little more about how to convey standpoints better. Several hypertexts I view incorporated videos and pictures into the texts that aided in understanding a view point better. Also, some viewpoints were accompanied by first person experiences that gave further insight to standpoints. One text contrasted a low wage life with life in a different standpoint to show the extreme differences. Another site also gave some background on an issue similar to what Schlosser does. Similar to Schlosser as well, one student made a person in a standpoint look pathetic. Creating an emotional connection is important and helps create better insight into a standpoint because the reader can somewhat sympathize with the person in the standpoint and know where they are coming from. Schlosser also includes a significant amount statistics to help set up a background for the standpoint. Many of the students used statistics to help set up background. Having statistics also makes the author’s depiction of the standpoint more believable, and transforms the text from an author’s opinion into an actual standpoint.

Website Strategies

Browsing through the different websites of the previous class, I was definitely able to pick up some strategies that I could use in creating my analytical hypertext. First of all, the analytical hypertexts had a greater sense of interactivity in them. For example, some websites had photos that would change once you hover on them while some websites have cursors and buttons with effects once you hover and click on them. These graphical nuances may seem meager, but it helps in engaging the reader to the website. The second strategy that I noticed was the greater use of anecdotal accounts in the websites. The first person accounts were effective because not only did they give a “face” to the topic being discussed, but they also helped create a more empathetic and emotional connection from the reader to the topic. This strategy was familiar to me as this tactic is also employed in Schalusser’s inclusion of Elisa’s story in chapter 3 of his book. Finally, another strategy that I noticed was the variety of research material that the websites had. While some took a very formalist approach to finding data (in this scenario, hard facts from scholarly research and articles from professional journals), some websites took material from comedic acts, pop culture and even spoof videos from Youtube. I find this strategy particularly effective because various dimensions and standpoints of the topic are shown. Additionally, while still sticking to the topic and remaining relevant, humor is inserted into the websites. Like the other 2 strategies, this helps engage the user into the website, urging him or her to further peruse the multiple pages of the analytical hypertext.

Website Observations

Here are some of the properties of previous websites that were used in past websites that I thought were very effective in making the pages productive. One of the authors makes her readings come to life by using a variety of fonts and colors which make certain words pop at at the viewer. Aside from visual stuff, she emphasizes questions as ways of posing certain standpoints. The second person’s site I came across uses statistics as one of the pages to her website to add credibility; to let the reader know that the content of her pages are legitimate and full of facts rather than all opinion. The last characteristic I noticed is that several people used appeals to pathos so that the reader sympathizes with the characters targeted in the hypertext. Putting emotion in readings allows the readers to feel connected to the subject of the text, therefore helping them reach a better understanding as well as getting more out of the reading.

Health Insurance Coverage

I believe that health insurance companies should cover the cost of psychological and psychiatric care of the family members of cancer patients. Cancer has been an all too prevalent topic in my life, and I have seen first hand the effects that it can have on the sons, daughters, wives, husbands, sisters, and brothers of the patient. It hurts my heart to see how people have so drastically changed their life goals and beliefs due to their experiences with cancer and I believe that if they had had some sort of professional counseling that was covered by insurance, their beliefs would not have been so negatively influenced by cancer.

Doctors of the cancer patients would argue that it is beneficial to the patient because when the patient knows that his or her family is doing as well as they can emotionally, the cancer patient will be less stressed and worried.

Cancer patients themselves would argue for it because they want to know that their family is healthy and doing well even while they are not. Knowing that the people who love them are receiving the proper care is just as important to their own well-being.

Family members might argue against insurance covering these services. Maybe they are embarrassed to be receiving medical care when they are not the real victims of cancer. If insurance did not cover these services, they might not go out of their way to pay for them. However, if they were covered, family members might be angry that they no longer have a valid reason to hide their psychological needs.

Insurance companies would be against coverage because it would cost them more money to provide doctors for their clients. This would damage the company and drain funds.

Friends of cancer patients would be in favor of coverage because they would not have to bear the burden of listening to and supporting the family members all by themselves. They would now be an additional and essential resource to the family members, but they would be less stressed about whether or not they were giving the right advice.

The Social Network: Irk or Perk?

“You don’t get to five-hundred million friends without making a few enemies.”

The tagline of Sony Pictures’ new box office hit, The Social Network, the quote above describes a commonality found amongst millions of people today. With movies such as The Social Network hitting the big screens, racking in almost fifty million dollars opening weekend, it is safe to say social networking has come to take precedence in today’s society.

Socializing has taken on a new form in the midst of the twenty-first century. It no longer consists of weekly ” hops” down at the local ice cream parlor. No need for mixers and special occasions to meet a new batch of potential friends. No, no need for that…at least not with sites such as Facebook, MySpace, or Friendster around. But are these new forms of intrapersonal contact banes or boons to modern day society? It is clear technological advances have become the cornerstone to daily living; however, have we come to intermittently intertwine technological advancement with social development?

With such a question in mind, it is necessary to also realize the varying groups that are affected by social networking. Unbiased as to weight, height, sex, ethnicity, interests, and marital status, the social networking realm consists of at least five essential groups:

1. Those who use social networking as strictly that

2. Those who utilize social networking as a means to an end – entrepreneurial efforts

3. Those who exploit social networks, using them as modes of illicitly or explicitly posting, sending, or commenting brash remarks to friend or foe

4. Those who use social networking as imperative, personal connections to an otherwise very wide world

5. Those who make use of social networking’s capability to re-connect long lost relationships, or better yet, create new ones.

It is clear the functionality, capacity, and accessibility of social networking. However, with every pivotal entity such as that of the social networking phenomenon comes an inevitable reciprocity.

Within the hypertext to follow, I will delve into the varying standpoints of the social networking realm, as well as sharing narratives of personal experiences regarding the topics at hand.

Irresponsible Fathers Topic Proposal:

I chose to write about irresponsible fathers because there’s so many children in the U.S deprived of having a fatherly figure due to the negligence of their fathers. Fathers can be irresponsible in many different ways. The most common way a father is irresponsible is the act of leaving the mother with the duty to take care of the baby by herself as a single mother. Because men don’t carry the baby within their womb, it is easy for them to simply leave with no attachments or commitments. They can just tell women, it’s not my problem, you deal with it or get rid of it. Another way men can be irresponsible fathers is if although they do take up the responsibility of responding to the mother, they neglect their child by going out with friends and leaving the mom at home all day. Now and days, many young adults are having children and since they are on the beginning of their adulthood, they tend to want to continue a normal life by going out with friends and partying without taking the responsibility of taking care of their children. Also, fathers can be irresponsible by being drug addicts. They may be there with the mother, and be at home all the time, but under the influence of drugs, is not the way someone should take care of their children. In this situation, the children are exposed to many horrific things. They have to see their father act crazy, say crazy things, yell out of the nowhere, argue with their mother and sometimes even use physical violence against their mother. This is can definitely write a lot about because although I didn’t experience it personally, my niece and nephew did experience it and under my own home. I have been the witness of the actions that the worst irresponsible father can do.

Traditional College Experience

When examining the traditional college experience, a major conflict arises between groups concerning whether or not college education holds students to a high enough standard to achieve success in the “real world” after they graduate. The major stakeholders involved in this conflict are the students, parents, and employers. The students of course are affected because they are the ones whose workload and experience stand to be changed depending on which view is adopted. The parents are also involved because they are usually paying for the education, and want to see their child succeed. Parents also want their child to remain happy and stress free. Employers also are affected because the students will some day be working for them, and employers will want the most qualified to fill positions at their companies.
When it comes to raising the standard at which students are held, students and parents may object. Students of course may feel that they are already overworked, and value their free time. Increasing the workload might also negatively affect those who are already struggling. Parents may object because they have concern for their child’s mental health. Also, considering the size of the monetary investment that they are paying, parents may worry that their child wont be able to manage, and the money will have been wasted.
Employers on the other hand are looking for students to be experts in their field, and want characteristics such as leadership and work ethic in job candidates. Increasing the workload may produce more qualified candidates and would be better for business. Some parents may also take this view because they know that hard work will pay off in the long run, and that while it may not be fun to study, its what is best for the future.
As a student currently living in the traditional college experience, I plan on providing personal narrative about how my life is affected by my coursework, and how I feel about increasing it. Also, required classes and university curriculum might be something to consider, along with the advantages and disadvantages of a liberal arts education.

hypertext proposal

Sports labor issues are the sports fan’s worst nightmare. They can result in lost games or even entire seasons of a professional sport. However, the labor discussions in sports are also quite interesting because of the number of different invested parties involved. Right now in the NFL there is a dispute between players and owners which some fear will result in the owners locking out the players for the 2011 season. However, it is important to look at all sides of this issue, because only by compromise will the season be saved.
Players
The players and their union are fighting to keep their jobs and salaries. The players are satisfied with the current collective bargaining agreement, and simply want to maintain the status quo.
Owners
NFL owners are known for collaborating with each other, giving them ultimate leverage over the players: if the players union does not submit to the demands of the owners, than the owners could force a lockout of the entire league, making it so that the players have nowhere to turn. However, doing this would bad for their own businesses.
Fans
The majority of fans do not care whether the players or the owners win out. All fans want to see is football, and if the league cancels the 2011 season some fans might be disillusioned enough to not watch the league when it does return. This happened in the mid-1990’s in baseball, which took several years to recover from its players’ strike due to a decrease in ticket sales.
TV Networks
TV networks have signed deals with the NFL in the hundreds of millions of dollars for the broadcasting rights. The problem for the networks is that the money is guaranteed: the owners get it regardless of whether there is an actual game to broadcast or not.
Agents
Agents will side with the players on any labor issue as they receive a percentage of the salary. However, agents have also been trying to plan around a possible lockout for a while.

Bye Bye Baby Boomers by Andrew Azzarello

A single war shaped and changed the future of the United States in a single boom. I am not talking about a nuclear explosion or the bombing over Pearl Harbor. I am talking about the baby boomer generation that caused the United States population to fluctuate instantly. The numbers of the baby boomer generation are said to have remolded the structure of society. As a whole the generation was said to be the wealthiest, healthiest and generation with the brightest future to come.

The key word in that paragraph above about the baby boomer generation is “was”. Baby boomers were said to be the generation with the brightest future but it’s time for them to let go of the past and move over for the next generation with a bright future to step in. It is generation Y’s term to take the lead and fix the problems that the baby boomers and generation x have created that are present to our future today. Many people ask how that is possible and I am here to say that regardless if you want it or not, technology is going to make the future brighter. I am not saying that the world will be run by robots; I am saying generation y will develop new technological devices that will aid in making a better life for all people around the world.

In the past ten years the technological advances have been astronomical. We as a society no longer have to wait to get home to make a phone call, surf the web, or speak face to face with another person. It is technological advances like the cell phone that will better the future of the world. Therefore the baby boomers just need to accept the fact that their time as the generation of the future is over and it is now our time to shine and our time to create a better world for mankind.

Women and Stereotypes

Though equal rights were extended to women in the early 20^th century, it is going to take a long time before things are truly equal. Thousands of years of women being held as lesser beings cannot be undone by one century of equal rights in America. Because women have been thought of as less for so long, stereotypes have become a real problem today. Not only do many people assume validity in stereotypes, but because of their existence, women unknowingly play into the stereotypes. I resign from these stereotypical women and in retaliation, I will be creating an analytical hypertext that delves into the perpetuation of female stereotypes from the perspectives of two groups of women, two groups of men, and two examples of professionals.

My own experience to this issue involves my personal observations throughout my life thus far. I often witness girls I know play perfectly into the female stereotype. I see women play dumb in an effort to gain attention or to receive help with a task. I see women girls excuse bad behavior; they see themselves as privileged in a sense. They can be catty and crude and abusive, all without repercussions. I witness this and deplore it, as I am sure many other groups of people do as well.

The two main groups of conflict I will be looking at are women who perpetuate the stereotypes and those who attempt to defy them, but get stuck in them anyway. The subgroups that I find to be the biggest participants in the conflict are, to put colloquially, “douchy” guys, nice guys, professors and teachers, and employers. The first group can be defined as men who wish to exploit the stereotypes. They may think of women who play into the roles as gifts. Nice guys fall under several categories; either men who want to treat women right within the context of dating or men who believe everyone deserves to be treated well. Professors and teachers look at the situation as deplorable and probably do their best to remedy the issue. Employers on the other hand seem to perpetuate the problem by continually, maybe subconsciously, holding women to lower standards than men.

For my analytical hypertext I will take apart this issue and divide the website into sections based off of different groups’ opinions and based off of different personal experiences.

Lies

Everyday people have ample opportunity to either lie or tell the truth. We continually report our lives to our friends, colleagues and employees and it is vital for us to be honest. Being honest is simple, however, lying is a very dynamic concept because while lying is ethically and morally wrong in all conceivable cases, we continue to tell lies everyday.

My splash page will have different links linking to different examples of lying scenarios and the unsuccessful attempts of justifying the lies. One of my pages will discuss how the concept of cheating is ubiquitous in our moral lives. People cheat in everything ranging from businesses, sports, education, marriage, and politics. Another one of my links will be for stealing. This page will discuss how some people steal because of need but will mainly focus on how people steal for greed. Another page will focus on white lies and why people need to tell small lies. This page will have examples of white lies and discuss how people decide when to tell white lies and how they believe a white lie is justified. Lastly I will focus on different forms of lying and different types of syndromes associated with lying.