Zerofsky - Blog Post #4

1.       1.  Gymkhana Two Project the infomercial.

2.       2.  This video is an ad promoting DC Shoes clothing and shoes. Throughout the course of the video Ken Block the main character performs drifting stunts with his car.  Before and after the car stunts which is the main portion of the video DC Shoes displays images of their products. 

3.       3.  The ad gains the attention of the viewer through the stunts performed in the main section of the commercial. When Ken Block is drifting his car around the course, it gives the viewer a bit of an adrenalin rush, because these are hard stunts being performed with ease. 

4.       4.  The rhetorical appeal in this viral ad is pathos.  I say this because when watching the advertisement I was struck by the intensity of the ad and the crazy stunts.  It made me think how awesome it was and how awesome it would be to be able to do those stunts. Since the stunts depicted in the ad were so awesome it immediately makes the viewer think how awesome the products that DC Shoes sells are.  

5.            5.  The audience in this ad is adrenaline seekers.  Since DC Shoes started out as a skateboard company and has grown the products they sell appeal to skateboarders and many other extreme sports.  Also the ad is directed mostly to the male population, because the majority of people who participate in extreme sports are male. Also the ad depicts car drifting and again mostly the male populations are interested in fast cars.

6.       6.  The creators assume that you know who Ken Block is and what he does. Also it assumes that you have previous knowledge of the company DC Shoes.

7.       7.  The stunts performed in the ad could be seen as reckless and living on edge.  When Ken Block drifts under the tractor trailer and it blows up definitely embodies recklessness and on edge.  This connects to the product because the products they sell are geared towards people who participate in extreme sports and they too are reckless and on edge. 

8.       8.  This ad is a video on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7R_buZPSo  This is by far the best choice because there really is no other way to display recklessness and living on edge other than through a video. Also since this is such an awesome video by using YouTube it is able to become viral and obtain maximum viewing potential.  This way it can been seen by the most people possible.  By the way it has 28,964,873 views. 

In Class Writing #4 - Zerofsky

Analysis of the Virginia Tech Homepage

          The images on the homepage are all about academics.  They display the hardworking students of Virginia Tech and how much everyone cares about their school.  The colors are basic, maroon and orange since they are the school colors, and then blue and green are also used.  I think the blue and green used is effective because it provides contrast to the page.  The navigation of the homepage is an easy task with links on the left side of the page to take you to more specific categories of information.  In the upper left hand corner the school’s name is displayed with a motto of “invent the future”.  This is simple yet effective because it represents what the goal of Virginia Tech.  The people that would access this page are prospective students along with anyone already affiliated with the university such as students, faculty and alumni.  Overall the homepage displays the academic side of Virginia Tech and conveys information about the programs and opportunities at the school. 

Zerofsky - Blog Post #3

On Google, I searched the phrase “fly fishing”.  The first three websites that popped up were a Wikipedia article on fly fishing, flyfisherman.com, and flyshop.com.  Surprisingly, upon inspection of each of the sites they all offered different information about fly fishing.  The first site, Wikipedia, gave a basic overview of the history of fly fishing along with general information on casting and tying you own flies.  The second website, flyfisherman.com, was a magazine.  This magazine was, you guessed it, about fly fishing.  Some of the articles included destinations for fly fishing along with advice on gear selection and technique.  The final link, flyshop.com, was shopping website.  They had an online catalog with equipment you could buy along with a section were you could sign up for fly fishing trips and seminars.  

On Google, my neighbor in the dorm next to me, Nat, searched the same phrase “fly fishing”.  From his search on Google he got two of the same three search results.  Instead of getting flyfisherman.com, he got an article on about.com about how to fly fish.  Other than that he had the same results in the top three on Google.  

                I am surprised by the results, because “fly fishing” is a very broad topic yet also can be very specific to certain groups of people at the same time.  And to be honest, I wasn’t quite convinced that Google personalized search based upon previous searches.  I have watched videos about fly fishing on YouTube before and shopped for equipment online.  Whereas my next door neighbor has probably never encountered anything close to fly fishing or even fishing on the Internet.  To me it is a good thing that Google personalizes searches.  This is because my neighbor when searching fly fishing would have received results that were too advanced for him per say.  Whereas I being a fly fishermen already know the basics and therefore articles on how to fly fish are not pertinent to me.  Although this is good for some instances, many opponents to personalized Internet searching would say that Google is shielding them from information such ideas of people that are not the same as them.  But I think that people unknowingly agree with personalized Internet search because for instance when you are searching for a store location, the tackle shop in California doesn’t help me if I’m in Blacksburg, VA.  But then there are topics such as politics that are very opinionated where the computer doesn’t know what you want.  Your view point, or insight on the opposite viewpoint based on your previous searches.  Therefore I believe that personalized search is a good thing that is being implemented into the Internet, and the responsibility is on the user of the internet to make sure they see what they want to. 

In Class Writing #3 - Zerofsky

Image/text:   The image in this ad is of two people a man and a women eating lunch together.  The words are simple and easy to read.  It is casual.

Purpose:  The purpose of this ad is to recognize women’s roles in World War II.  It was not just the men who helped win, but it was the women as well.  They were able to do a “mans” job thoroughly. 

Audience: People in America and especially the men of America. This is because the ad is showing how women stepped up to the task and were able to pull through with what looks like working in factories during World War II.

Creator: The creator of this ad was most likely done by a women’s rights organization of some sort.  This is because the goal of this ad is to show how women are equal to men because they can do the same jobs as them.

Rhetorical Appeals: Ethos – women can do the same work as men.  Therefore they are equal. Logos- if women can do the same work as men, and help support the winning of the war efforts. It is only logical for them to be equal.

Cultural context/Assumptions:  From the picture the viewer can conclude that the time period for the ad was during World War II.  Also the V in the background signifies victory.  And the man in the picture is talking to the women.  This also looks like they have been working in a factory. 

Zerofsky-Blog Post #2

     In my opinion schools need to change their curriculum to accommodate the digital native more fully.  This is because as a digital native we are honed in one using specific technologies in our everyday lives.  So we go from using digital technologies to express ourselves and communicate with others, but then when we go to school everything changes and we are forced to learn in a more traditional way.  If we are going to school to better ourselves and learn why should we have to take a step back every time we enter a classroom in order to learn?   The learning we do today should reflect the times of today.  And in today’s world technology is how things get done.  So learning should be the same way.  Teachers have started to implement technologies into the classroom, but not to their full advantage.  For instance, the use of word processing has been very influential to learning, but it could be taken a step further.  Instead of only using word processing to write papers and the like, use word processing for note taking and collaborating between students and the teacher.  Force the student to use their machine to its full potential.  Use the internet to turn in assignments, share class notes through email, and ask professors questions on homework through messaging services.  In my opinion the use of paper is outdated, that is why I like my tablet computer.  It enables me to take notes in classes where normally the only way to record the information such as math equations was on paper with pen.  But my tablet enables be to do all this and keep the file stored on my computer so I have it wherever I go without the bulk of a normal notebook.  In Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?,” he mentions the fact that attention spans are shortening.  As this may be true, you need to take what seems to be a negative and turn it into a positive.  For instance, if everyone has a short attention span, than we need to work in small increments.  So if teachers at school had assignments on the computer we could skip between subjects of homework being more efficient in our efforts.  This would cause us to waste less time setting up for the next task, because everything would be on your computer. Technology needs to be more widely used and taught in the classroom, because it is essential to our success later in life.  Technology is how things get done in the real world.  How come that can’t be the same for learning?