Chapter 8 will help us, great!

     The chapter mentioned many helpful ideas to be considered while making this project. It first started by simply laying the foundations of what the project is, and that is a visual representation of the thesis we are creating. After that though it actually went into some tool for our group to use whilst creating our video.
     The first tool discussed was decorum, or the way we go about presenting our ideas while keeping the time and the place in mind. The key word is "appropriateness", and in a way goes back to the lesson on keiros. We need to consider our target audience, and how they will react when putting together our project. As this is a classroom setting for instance our video cannot become to outlandish as it may then become inappropriate, but e also must keep it entertaining so no one gets bored either. A challenge we must face is to find that balance to add to our video.
     Another useful tip mentioned in the chapter was in the use of images to aid the argument. We must be careful as a group not to use frivolous photos. The images e use must in someway add to the thesis. Each photo must serve a purpose, perhaps explaining an otherwise complicated idea through visual aid, instead of just adding a picture of something because it was talked about. Each one some serve a purpose and also be placed in a good area to help as much as possible and make it easy for the audience to tell where they should be looking. It should help tell the story of your argument in order for the thesis to become as persuasive as possible.
     This idea about photographs makes it abundantly clear that organization is the most important element when we are constructing our argument. And although this has always been true, for a project almost entirely visual, there is more flexibility in the organization styles possible. The example on page 177 with the head line "you are killing us with kindness!" is perhaps the best example. It blends the uses of verbal text with perfectly chosen images to really thrust its argument at you. The main picture right beneath the giant text is a picture of a duck being hand fed bread. But the text itself has been crafted individually as the words do not even form a straight line, with certain words of it being bolded specifically.
     After this is the enormous "HOW?" followed by smaller explanations to supplement the above question, perfectly guiding the audience on the journey they are meaning to take. This is how our argument needs to be made, in a way that leads the audience exactly where we want them to go.

POV

     In this world there are many differing viewpoints on many topics. Every person has a viewpoint to share, and by sharing they could potentially alter the outlook of another thereby changing the way they look at the world. If someone for instance believes that eating meat is as bad as murder, it will certainly shape their views on many other issues as well. Ones social or economic position can greatly affect the way in which they perceive other issues, societies, and cultures.
     The ways in which people live their lives will determine their positions on certain subjects. If a person is born and raised in an upper class environment, he will certainly have differing opinions on certain subjects as one who was born and raised in a lower income bracket, and even from one who was born in one bracket and raised in another. That person may for example feel more strongly for not increasing the tax on the rich.
     But more influential on views is ones social position, something that is chosen a little after ones economic standing, although most likely influenced by. If one feels a certain way on the topic of one subject it will certainly influence them on other topics in relation to the first. A racist for instance will be against anything at all involving those he hates and members of PETA will hate everyone if they nibble on a chicken nugget.
     Opinions on broad topics greatly inform about how people feel on a lot of things. No matter how much one may aspire to keep an open mind they cannot completely. They will always bring a little of what they already think by way of their position on another adjacent topic they could already have strong feelings for. And in that way they may not be influenced at all by an opposing argument. The positions people take on a subject will directly determine how they approach a new topic of politics, culture, or social situations.

My New Paper Project

           The topic I have chosen for my research paper is on the move towards electronic reading devices such as kindle, Amazon E-reader, or the Barnes and Noble Nook. Discussion topics could be if or not society will make the transition to using them or continue to read on paper books. With all the new advances in electronic readers will this completely revolutionize the way people read, or will society continue to use printed books.

            The main sources I have gathered so far have been articles from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and various Internet articles by legitimate writers. One thing to focus on would be the environmental effect of both. Are e-readers better because they use fewer trees or does the pollution that goes into making an e-reader out way the benefits. Another topic would be the social implications. In one article the case was made that the new technology will completely change the way people read. People no longer will be without access to a new title and thus will be able to only read what they what, as well as have the ability to shares books more easily as friends can simply download the story as well immediately. Another thing to talk about would be an idea presented in an article about the new method of reading affecting the old way.  The argument was that it would push books to achieve a higher level, and perhaps become more of an art form than just a casual pickup.

            Some problems in the paper could be organizing all the different facets of the argument.  A way to solve this is by ordering them by importance and using overlapping ideas to connect them together better. Perhaps bring everything bak to an umbrella idea. Besides this I see no problem finding sources to back up my ideas, but I do need to figure out a more concise argument along with a stronger point of view for my paper.

Found 5

Making the Case for the iPad E-book-NY Times article
An article about discussing the relative costs of each book. The article goes into apple's promise of e-books being cheaper which goes against many publishers opinions of these promises being exaggerated. The article takes an in depth look at all the costs that go into making each.

How the E-book will change the way we read and write-The Wall Street Journal
This one is about all the social changes the E-book could cause. The article claims it could change the way people share books as well as how they decide what books to read. It claims the e-book could give the reader more choice in what to read.

Making Making books do things e-books can't — and vice versa-Los Angeles Times

An article which discusses the benefits of competing products styles. This includes its argument of printing books as becoming an art, with different style covers and paper types.

2050: Will Paper Based Books Still Exist?-Technorati

An online article about the future of books. About where the e-books are going, are people buying them and will they ever replace printed material.

Ebooks Vs. Paper Books: The Pros and Cons-Hubpages

Another online article simply weighing the differences and benefits of each medium. The article explains what we think of as a book and perhaps why we haven't already switched over.

Discussion Concoction

Topic 1- the move society may or may not be making towards printed books. This topic includes the idea of which is greener, which the people and what people prefer. Also important is where this movement will be in the future. Will we all be reading electronically or not. This interests me because its a question that has always been at the back of my mind but I've never actually researched.

Topic 2- the dying of scripted television. More and more shows instead of writing simply film a bunch of people carefully selected in order to create a few volatile situations. I very much prefer scripted TV and would hate for it to move to the background of television lineups.

Thesis

This ad by BUND in affiliation with Friends of the Earth works to prevent further pollution by juxtaposing the image of a Banana, a food people enjoy, onto the image of a transport ship, which is literally darkening the skies, to make it impossible to ignore the real problem causing this pollution, the massive shipping of food to other places of the world.

Trace Pictures

     "Fat is an Advertising Issue" by Susie Orbach is an article aimed to describe her experiences with working with the Dove advertising department to try to combat the negative affect images in the media are having on woman's self esteem and body-image. Her point is to further increase the campaigns success by presenting it to another audience, the one reading this article, and to gain more notice to her cause in order to further it for the betterment of woman, so that perhaps other companies will take up this endeavor of using real woman in their advertisements instead of the unrealistic models they now use by way of pathos, logos, and ethos.
     The first thing she describes in the article are her credentials and how she got this job, informing the readers that she is a licensed psychotherapist and political activist in regards with women's psychology, with extensive writing, public speaking, and research experience with thousands of women. All these qualifications add to the ethical appeal that she is a trustworthy expert on this subject.
     She also gives logical reasoning supplemented with facts and statistics to back them up in order to convince us of her argument. Sharing such startling findings as 11.9% of adolescent girls puke into the toilet-bowl, these facts not only give the audience logical cause to agree with her, but such a sad image does the fact also convey that it presents another type of appeal as well.
     By describing the sad situations these other ads that only show supermodels presents the audience with an emotional peal as well. From the image of a girl just coming into her own already face deep in a toilet refusing to eat, to the description of the fathers at the company facing their daughters telling them why they think they aren't pretty, this article is predominately using pathos as a way to convince the audience of the damaging affects these ads have been causing all these years.

Thesis, Thesis, Thesis

UFC uses the imagery of  a heavily injured sportsman who plays a respected full-contact sport to portray the toughness of its own organization.

The UFC is claiming to be a much tougher sport than people may be used to by comparing it to a popular sport that also claims to be tough.

By showing the image of an injured footballer along with the word choice of "sacked", a term almost synonymous with domination in the sport, it shows its audience that if they are looking for the toughest sport than they should be watching UFC.

"Deadlock" on Two Levels

"Deadlock" by Wildlife Photographer David Maitland

     Before examining how these rhetorical devices convey their argument it must first be explained what that argument even is. In this photograph by wildlife photographer David Maitland, he appears to be attempting to show his audience through his lens the awesome majesty of nature, and for this purpose he uses pathos, ethos, logos, and keiros.
     The logos of the photo tells us that the snake and the frog are enemies, that they are trapped in a heated battle for survival, and that against all odds the frog isn't dead yet. This gives the audience some hope that fate has not taken the life of this animal quite yet, and that he may yet make it out alive, even if his chances seem bleak.
     Snakes have since Genesis in the Bible been a symbol of bad things. In this photo the snake is trying to take the life of another creature, and so by use of ethos the audience is persuaded to identify with the creature struggling for life and not the one fighting for death.
     This striking photo depicting wild animals in a rare kind of moment widely unwitnessed by many people would be a good thing to be shown to convince people of the wonder of nature, perhaps the keiros would be best served among conservationists, or just those fascinated with nature.
     The pathos of this picture works on multiple levels. Firstly it evokes the audiences support of the plight of the underdog, the dog being the frog here, which has become a common staple in society today. Most peoples reaction towards snakes are not friendly ones so there is no conflict of interest there, and as the other animal depicted here is a small, insignificant, tiny, defenseless, and pitiful frog even those who do not like frogs could be so heartless as to not hope he makes it out okay. because most don't, and people love to witness a smaller or weaker fighter win against a stronger adversary. But I said this picture works on two levels, and the second is that by chance the animal that is fighting for its life, and is trapped in a situation clinging to life on the verge of death, is actually a Morelet's Tree Frog (An endangered species). Thus the metaphors of its situation in the photo of being in situation where one cannot improve thyself speaks loudly.

Rhetoric Where I'm Standing

After a bit of light walking and thinking, it appears to me that most rhetoric that gets thrown at me without my approval would have to advertising, specifically food advertising. From ad to even the packaging it all seems to do its best to grab your attention, and with only one mission, to sell, sell, sell.

On my way to class or just about anywhere, I always seem to glance back over my shoulder at the coke vending machines, a giant solid red box with pure white swooping letters that cause you to really have to engage in order to read the brand, and once you have its over. In all my eight-teen years I have drunken most likely hundreds of cokes, so as soon as I see giant can staring down at me, the image is immediately associated with the taste for me and I get thirsty even with a bottle already in my hand.

See if you can find the guy in regalia.

Another color jumps out at me as well, because often a bright solid color is all it takes to grab your attention. For it may be said that it’s about pride, but I think it’s just about stealing focus from those wearing another team’s colors. After all nothing really captures the eye like the solid traffic cone orange all we at Clemson are told to wear. It’s the reason we aren’t told to wear solid regalia, and people who do choose to show their school spirit by donning this, our other school color, are accused of having no spirit at all. It is all simply rhetoric, plainly shown.