Unit Three Reflection 4/28/2016

For my Unit Three project, I chose to use PowerPoint as my medium. I felt that this would be the most effective way to present my material because it had a lot of block information that could easily be broken up into slides. I also chose to narrate my PowerPoint through an online recording program to help accompany and explain my thought process through my slides. My discussion revolved around internet privacy and how the rapidly changing modern world is changing how the public's personal information is kept and used. I felt that this medium was appropriate for my audience due to the fact that it could easily be posted throughout the internet whether it be on blogger or even Reddit. With my voice being recorded as well, it allowed for more depth to the slides as well as my own perspective on the information presented.

One comment that really influenced my writing came from my classmate Justine Hayes. She wrote on my Unit Two portfolio that "You really supported your thesis thoroughly with many sources. Only thing I would say is maybe focus in more on specific sources. It's easy to find a bunch of sources that agree with what you're saying, but it's better to really nitpick at fewer sources and analyze them deeper". I agreed with what she had to say regarding how just because I have many sources that support my claim, it does not necessarily strengthen the claim. For this Unit I focused on more direct sources that allowed for more in depth discussion and dissection. Many of my sources tend to be from direct privacy policies. These policies from many major internet corporations allowed for a further look at the details usually skimmed over by the public and even myself. It was interesting to compare and contrast these policies from site to site. 

My target audience focused mainly on the public who use the internet along with many of these big name corporations involved in processing our personal information. I reached out to Apple regarding how they interact with the government requests for personal information but failed to receive a response back. I also reached out to the users of Reddit to help get a better idea of how the public views modern privacy and if they are informed about the current situation. This was very successful and allowed me to get a contrast between how users felt there is a very fine balance between security and privacy in the digital age. It helped to raise points such that information being collected can be used in the interest's of national security but at the same time there is too much information being collected just for the sake of it. My pitch at first was a really anti-establishment presentation on how the government is collecting all of this data without any warrant to it. However as I learned more about the subject, I felt it loosened from that grip and focused more on how the everyday user can be better informed about their personal information over the internet and how to better protect it. 

Ideally I would have liked my audience to take a proactive approach that would lead to more open dialogue between companies, the public and even the government. However, the situation is much more complicated than I anticipated. This makes it very hard for an everyday user of the internet to form a solid opinion and argument as to how their privacy should be handled. 

Unit 3 Portfolio 4/28/2016

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By1Kzz8H6GrUVUNlbWtacHVlbzQ/view?usp=sharing

Unit Three Presentation as a PDF

http://vocaroo.com/i/s0F1238ooDvw

Audio recording to accompany Presenation

4/14/2016 Graphic Novel Reflection

During my time at the library, I choose to pick a graphic novel titled "Horror Comics The Illustrated History". While this may not have been a typical graphic novel, it appealed to me due to the colorful and rich graphics contained within the book. The book looked at different horror comics and how they evolved through time. One thing I found very interesting was the color design of older comics versus newer generation comics. Also another interesting point of discussion was the change in content as the years progressed. As time grew, the villains and the perception of what is scary changed as well. Reading my graphic novel was much easier than a standard novel. One thing I liked about it was the fact that the graphics contained helped to advance the argument of the book while at the same time breaking up the large amount of information presented at the same time. I would have liked to have seen the novel incorporate more sources of information and go into more detail regarding the comics presented. Overall, the graphic novel was a fun piece of literature to read. This helped to spark an interest in continuing the book outside of class purposes.

4/7 Reflection on movie review

In the documentary "Sur le chemin de l'ecole" also known as "On the Way to School", the director Pascal Plisson explores the journey of three differing adolescents have to make in order to get an education. The film explores unique cultures and locations that include Kenya, Morocco, and India in order to gain a better understanding and perspective on everyday life for these children. In a film review by Maria Hengeveld on a popular site africasacountry.com, she argues the theme of "the value of education and raise questions about the roots of inequality and justice." Throughout her review, she keeps a positive image of the movie and its themes. During her discussion, she emphasizes the audience she believes this movie was targeted to. Middle class and western students are the main target audience she believes and states "the documentary prompts Western children to reflect on two types of relationships: between luck and misfortune, and between school and knowledge. What they’re expected to take away from the film, or so it seems, is a heightened awareness of their own entitlements and mentalities, and to juxtapose these against the tribulations, obstacles and values of the protagonists". One thing the review failed to mention were the issues the movie had. One of the main problems with the documentary was the obvious staging of some of the events. This drew away from the legitimacy of the film. By staging certain events, it leads the viewer to doubt some points of the message. An important aspect of a film review is an unbiased approach to looking at the movie's positive and negative portions.

http://africasacountry.com/2015/02/film-review-on-the-way-to-school/