Don't Make Me Think! has been a very helpful source throughout this class. It's an easy read because it is so conversational and cuts out any wordiness. After skimming through it for the best section, I decided that Chapter 4: Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral? would be the most applicable.
This chapter's main point is that users want something easy to navigate. They don't want to have to think about what they're doing. As the author calls it, users want mindless choices. A web presence like this can be created by repetition. Nearly every website has a search bar at the top, additional links at the side or bottom, and ways to navigate the page across the top. Keeping this general template creates an "I've been here before" feeling for the user, thus eliminating uncertainty. In addition to easy navigation, everything you create must be easy to understand and clear to your user. No one wants to search around a page and click a thousand links because they don't understand where each one will take them. I have definitely been that user! I'm applying for study abroad and the website of the school I want to attend is very confusing. I've clicked my way between tens of hundreds of pages, not sure where each goes exactly, and never able to find my way back to the original page, or the right page once I found it. Users want mindless choices. My group and I can use this information to make a user-friendly web presence. Our audience is college students, and no student wants to spend hours trying to get more information on traveling. By making the websites simple and easy to navigate, students will find what they are looking for faster, and therefore staying interested longer.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Reading Response: Storify
For this reading response I explored Storify. Storify is basically a way to tell a story through existing social media. You can combine stories from all over the internet to create one big picture. I'm really surprised that I had never heard of this tool, considering it uses Facebook, twitter, and tumblr. Not to mention the craze to find the newest and coolest socia media tools that should've led me to this site.
One of the benefits of this tool is that it is an involved story-telling method. Because you draw in stories from all different media, this means you most likely aren't the one writing these stories. This gives you the opportunity to use a full spectrum of opinions and perspectives. This also means that the owners of the stories you incorporate can be involved in your story, or as Storify says, "part of the bigger picture." We could use this tool to show what other college students are saying about traveling.
The downfall of this tool, as I mentioned, is that you aren't writing the stories yourself. Depending on how you think of it, this might mean having less of a creative freedom. For one, you aren't creating the stories to include. However, you can still be creative in which ones you use. Additionally, since you are pulling from media to tell a story, this means the story can end up very one-sided if that's the direction you choose to go in.
One of the benefits of this tool is that it is an involved story-telling method. Because you draw in stories from all different media, this means you most likely aren't the one writing these stories. This gives you the opportunity to use a full spectrum of opinions and perspectives. This also means that the owners of the stories you incorporate can be involved in your story, or as Storify says, "part of the bigger picture." We could use this tool to show what other college students are saying about traveling.
The downfall of this tool, as I mentioned, is that you aren't writing the stories yourself. Depending on how you think of it, this might mean having less of a creative freedom. For one, you aren't creating the stories to include. However, you can still be creative in which ones you use. Additionally, since you are pulling from media to tell a story, this means the story can end up very one-sided if that's the direction you choose to go in.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Running as it is in the Media and Social Media
Articles
Why Run? The Benefits
Why Run? A Reason for the Rest of Us
Why Run? What Running Does for You
Why Run? The Running Bug
Social Media
Facebook
Running (7.4 Million likes)
This is Why I Run (2,394 likes)
Twitter
Real Runners @Running Quotes (102,430 followers)
Runner's World @runnersworld (438,696 followers)
Cool Running @Cool_Running (51,960 followers)
Why Run? The Benefits
Why Run? A Reason for the Rest of Us
Why Run? What Running Does for You
Why Run? The Running Bug
Social Media
Running (7.4 Million likes)
This is Why I Run (2,394 likes)
Real Runners @Running Quotes (102,430 followers)
Runner's World @runnersworld (438,696 followers)
Cool Running @Cool_Running (51,960 followers)
Unit 3 Tutorial
It's time for Unit 3, which means you're halfway through the semester already! For this unit production you'll put your story back on screen and give it a voice, using the narrative tool Xtranormal.
First you'll want to brainstorm ways that you can tell your story with different characters. (Here's your chance to change up your audience if you want.) Think of different situations in which your topic could be addressed effectively.
Next, familiarize yourself with Xtranormal and start writing your dialogue. Make sure to take time out to listen to what you've written. You may have to publish your work in order to do so quickly. Work with camera angles and gestures to make your presentation more interesting.
Important things to remember:
-Keep your presentation simple. Cut out "happy talk" and include only things that are vital for your audience to know.
-Some words in Xrranormal require a little tweaking. You may need to spell some out phonetically.
Good luck!
First you'll want to brainstorm ways that you can tell your story with different characters. (Here's your chance to change up your audience if you want.) Think of different situations in which your topic could be addressed effectively.
Next, familiarize yourself with Xtranormal and start writing your dialogue. Make sure to take time out to listen to what you've written. You may have to publish your work in order to do so quickly. Work with camera angles and gestures to make your presentation more interesting.
Important things to remember:
-Keep your presentation simple. Cut out "happy talk" and include only things that are vital for your audience to know.
-Some words in Xrranormal require a little tweaking. You may need to spell some out phonetically.
Good luck!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
How to Write Dialogue Response
After reading these two articles, there are a few things I learned about writing dialogue. You can make a conversation more interesting by being creative with characters. By giving characters a background story, which includes geography, age, eduction, etc., you can give a character "life." Playing around with these different characteristics will make a conversation more engaging. Next: keep it simple. Even though a simpler conversation isn't exactly what happens in real life, it is easier for an audience to read an comprehend. This also relates to the previous reading by Krug, in which he states to cut out all "happy talk." I can use this tip to cut out any details that aren't important to the story, which will keep me from babbling on in my writing as I tend to do.
In part two, a few tips changed my mind on writing dialogue. For example, the article talks about dialogue tags and interjecting them wherever necessary. This is something I can understand, however I was surprised at the tip "don't get too colorful with tags." Here, the thesaurus idea is shot down. I originally thought that using different words to spice up writing, even in something as small as the dialogue tags, would be useful, but here I see that this just distracts from the story. I will be sure to follow this guideline in my Unit 3 PWS. Additionally, I also like that this article stated that technically you can do whatever you want with your writing because it is called creative writing. I have always been hesitant about how certain things should be written and never realized until now that it's my choice-- it's my writing.
Both of these articles were helpful in pointing out the do's and dont's of dialogue. I learned tips I can use in Unit 3.
In part two, a few tips changed my mind on writing dialogue. For example, the article talks about dialogue tags and interjecting them wherever necessary. This is something I can understand, however I was surprised at the tip "don't get too colorful with tags." Here, the thesaurus idea is shot down. I originally thought that using different words to spice up writing, even in something as small as the dialogue tags, would be useful, but here I see that this just distracts from the story. I will be sure to follow this guideline in my Unit 3 PWS. Additionally, I also like that this article stated that technically you can do whatever you want with your writing because it is called creative writing. I have always been hesitant about how certain things should be written and never realized until now that it's my choice-- it's my writing.
Both of these articles were helpful in pointing out the do's and dont's of dialogue. I learned tips I can use in Unit 3.
Xtranormal
I reviewed Xtranormal as a narrative tool. To be completely honest, I am not a fan at all. I think it's painful to sit through presentations made on Xtranormal because of the monotonous dialogue. I don't think this tool gets the point across because it doesn't hold attention for more than the first few sentences. It's more like sitting in a 200-person lecture hall during a philosophy lesson than listening to an engaging speaker.
The only good thing about this presentation tool is the use of characters as narrators rather than words on a screen. This allows the writer to set up different situations in order to tell the story, and therefore can make it more relatable to a certain audience. I could use this tool to tell my story by setting it up with a variety of characters. I could use the scenario of a gym teacher and students or gym teacher and parent relationship in order to stress the importance of running as an exercise to better the students' health. I could make my characters two busy co-workers having a conversation about how they don't have time to go to the gym. One could inform the other that running is an easy way to stay in shape without having to invest in a membership or equipment. Another option would be between two busy college students that no longer have time to stay in shape because of busy class schedules and extracurriculars. I feel like this would be the easiest way to relate to my audience because this is my age group.
The benefits of this tool are that I could connect more with the audience by setting up an actual scenario rather than creating text that targets a more general audience. However, I don't feel that this new audience would understand my point because I couldn't keep anyone's attention for long due to the monotone speech.
The only good thing about this presentation tool is the use of characters as narrators rather than words on a screen. This allows the writer to set up different situations in order to tell the story, and therefore can make it more relatable to a certain audience. I could use this tool to tell my story by setting it up with a variety of characters. I could use the scenario of a gym teacher and students or gym teacher and parent relationship in order to stress the importance of running as an exercise to better the students' health. I could make my characters two busy co-workers having a conversation about how they don't have time to go to the gym. One could inform the other that running is an easy way to stay in shape without having to invest in a membership or equipment. Another option would be between two busy college students that no longer have time to stay in shape because of busy class schedules and extracurriculars. I feel like this would be the easiest way to relate to my audience because this is my age group.
The benefits of this tool are that I could connect more with the audience by setting up an actual scenario rather than creating text that targets a more general audience. However, I don't feel that this new audience would understand my point because I couldn't keep anyone's attention for long due to the monotone speech.
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