Final Portfolio Reflection

The final reflection is located here:
http://students.english.ilstu.edu/mdwendl/Twitter%20Site%20Alpha/reflection.html

Project Proposal

Please download the project proposal here:

Project Proposal

Final Project URL

Our final project, YTwitter?, can be found at the following URL:

http://students.english.ilstu.edu/mdwendl/Twitter%20Site%20Alpha/eng.html

Revisions…

The project is more complete than I had imagined a week ago. Check it out here:

http://www.tinyurl.com/eng239twitter

There are some things I know we need to revise on this project. Cleaning up the actual content and continuing to work towards a more “dialog based” format will be a constant struggle. The information in some areas is relatively thin so adding to this will be a future revision. As it stands, the project is definitely presentable but not yet fully realized in this aspect. Because of this, I have left open another required revision. For each post, there will be an accompanying profile picture. Furthermore, each picture will be separated visually. Unfortunately, until the textual component is complete, putting the images into DreamWeaver CS4 is nearly out of the question.

Status Update

It’s almost time to unveil the project. It’s been absolutely daunting. Kate and Adam have been working on compiling the research and I’ve been nearly entirely focused on the presentation of the piece. Dreamweaver is more complicated than I would’ve imagined. I’ve been busting my butt figuring this program out but I think I’ve finally got it down. It won’t be miraculous or great but I hope that our reviewers would afford me the same leniency that I have not traditionally afforded to similar beginner-level projects.

On a more serious note, this semester and this project have been an extremely daunting process for me. Less guidance because of my course repetition has been a test of my self-discipline. I think I’ve done a good job but that isn’t for me to decide in the end. I feel as though working on this project and working as someone who’s “been there done that” in terms of the class was a responsibility that was truly testing – the hallmark of a good course. I’ve LEARNED this semester just as I did last semester. That’s not something I can say about every course I’ve taken here at ISU. In fact, this is one of the few classes that I’ve found myself growing as a scholar and an individual within.

Revisions

Based on the readings of the editorial for the RiceBall piece, I would only make several revisions. The content issues noted by both reviewers seemed on track but my revisions would mostly revolve around the form of the piece as a whole. Firstly, I would not have entertained the suggestion of turning the form and presentation of the piece into a “DVD w/ extras.” To me, this is a backwards digression; gimmicky and smoozing in and of itself. I would have instead opted for a more easily navigation format (because the first version appeared to be straight-forward and the second appeared to be overdone). However, then one must take into account audience – maybe the DVD format would appeal more to a crowd who was familiar with that aspect of technological innovation. I’m not sure what avenue I would pursue for revision. Though not available at the time, YouTube’s current “annotation” feature would’ve been something appealing for the content attached to the video. On the topic of the presentation of the content, I was at first confused by the “and/or” and “but” sections. However, after their purpose became clear, I really thought those could be expanded on and made to be a more central part of the piece’s argument.

Assignment

Read peer reviews

ceball > schedule > additional readings > click image > special features > reviews

What would I choose to revise based on feedback?

Letter: 1 to 2 pages single spaced

Check out blog assignment page for letter info!

Meeting!

FIVE ON TUESDAY!

Status Report 3-18-2009

We’ve all researched the topic and brought together a vast array of resources that we are going to pan through using the following criteria for our project! As of now, we’ve narrowed down the presentation format and solidified an argument which may or may not be narrow ENOUGH to present. The goal for next week is to comb through the research using this stuff as a guideline.

For Tuesday Evening Meeting (5PM at Library):
Go through articles
Pull out quotes
Cite all the sources in MLA

Presenting:

Essay as Twitter
- 140 characters per burst
- In a style characteristic of Twitter
Videos
- 3 or 4 small videos to clarify points
- Final video documenting process

Content:

Education
- Teaching microblogging as a form of communication
Business
- Advertising
- Interaction with consumers

Thesis:

Using Twitter in the classroom and teaching it as a legitimate form of communication will better prepare students for future real-world encounters including interactions with business and advertising. Therefore, such communication must be integrated into composition courses.

CFP Results…

I posted my CFP on Facebook using the Notes feature and, unfortunately, despite my badgering and constant status updates begging for help, I only got five responses, one of them being “I can’t see it.” Oh well. I’ll work from there.

Here are the four comments:

“Don’t really know what to say. It was pretty good, and certainly seems to acknowledge that things are different today than they were several years ago.”
- Undergraduate Sophomore AROTC Cadet at ISU Friend

“It’s cute. I don’t know what the point of it is supposed to be (What’s CFP?) I really like the music increase right as you get to (what I’m assuming is) the pinnacle of technological updating.”
- Undergraduate Junior English Publishing Major at ISU Friend

“first off, i’m offended that i wasn’t tagged in this. WHAT THE HELL, BIG SISTER. WHAT THE HELL.

anyway, i thought it was pretty good. it’s simple, yet effective- there’s lots of different ways to communicate now as opposed to the past.”
- Undergraduate Sophomore Broadcast Communications Major at ISU Friend

“cool in acknowledging some of the new and different technological ways people are communicating. i enjoy the fact that my distaste for people who don’t understand homographs is highlighted haha”
- Graduated (U. of Minn.) Cousin

“I really like it. It’s interesting! Very creative “
- Undergraduate Senior English Major at U. of Iowa Cousin

Doing this really opened my eyes even more to issues of audience awareness. On one level, I succeeded – I was targeting a very, very specific audience (undergraduate educators w/ students) and the rest was lost on my average peer viewer. I also realized that while “CFP” has become common vocab for us in class, most people aren’t familiar with the term at all.

Rhetorically, it looks like I achieved my desired effects. Everyone picked up on the differences between new forms of composing and “older” (because using MS Word is “older”) ones. Also, one picked up on the crescendo of the music corresponding with the zooming in on the Kairos logo. Actually, the audience was very perceptive of my blatant attempt to combine the elements into a cohesive message.

If I were to tailor this to my peers rather than to educators, I would be much less ambiguous about what is being asked. I would explain more clearly what is being looked for and asked of the viewer. In fact, the entire nature of the video would change based on the need to add much more information than is already assumed by my primary audience. Explaining that this was a call for papers for publication would eliminate confusion about the intent, for instance. I might have chosen a different method of creating the video – a more obvious one – were my audience a general undergraduate one.