Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Final Class Reflection



Final Class Reflection

Before starting this course I was afraid of writing, I was under the impression that writing had to be perfect and the grammar impeccable. However I realized that writing, about anything, relaxed me, I think I feel comfortable now writing and when I do write  I try to write about anything that I have in mind  and for some reason when I go back and read, it makes sense now. Taking this class it changed my perspective about writing, I don’t think that any particular assignment made me change my perspective, it was the class in general because in each assignment we had to write a lot and give our opinion , so I learn to give my opinion not only to write what the assignment asked. It is very nice to be able to freely write and let other people know how I fell and what my opinion on certain topics.


My favorite assignment for this class was making of the documentary film because it was fun to integrate different types of media and putting all the information together. It was nice because most of the research was done so it was no stress in that part, and it was just about to put it all together.  However the least preferable assignment was the literature review, I had a hard time going through all these 15-20 journals and reading all of these, which the information was great by the way but, it was very difficult to me to integrate all of them into one piece.


This semester I learned about different social issues that are happening all around us and I was now aware of it. For example the DREAM Act which was my semester topic, I’m glad that I choose that because I learn what I can do to help. In addition I learn about the community need for help in several aspects. I had the opportunity to help the community by volunteering at a church helping others to learn the questions for their citizenship. The classes are free and anyone can attend. By helping others, I learn and made me grew as a better person.


What I learn in this class, about citizen journalism, DREAM Act, Volunteering, these are experiences that I would keep with me forever, I learn that volunteers are needed in the community and I will continue to help others by volunteering to different organizations in need.
I don’t have any suggestions to better this class for future semesters, I think out instructor did an excellent job in communicating and in the time given to us to turn in the assignments. The class material was very well organized. This is one of the best classes I have ever taken. 

Thank you professor Carl for the experience. 

Citizen Journalism Reflection and Response - Part B






If you are not able too see the video above click to see the documentary ...    Invisible Children 



This documentary is amazing, it is about three young men that decided to travel to Sudan and make a documentary about what was happening in that country. It caught my attention what one of them said, bobby mentioned that “ media is what defines our lives” , I think that is very true, media is all around us and pretty much that is what we do and participate every day in. Anyhow, they had heard that the boys as young as 8 year old were used as slaves and were used to fight in the war and these three young men wanted to go and witness that and gather information so they can bring to the U.S. so they started their journey.

 First they traveled to Kenya and had a welcome gathering there so they can be introduced to the community which is a tradition in Kenya. Later they traveled to Sudan to see if they find what they were looking for, the children and the war. At this point in the video they were showing footage about them vomiting, killing a snake and cutting a chicken head, it make me want to stop the video!! Only by seen this, I know that is no way for me to have the strength to ever do something like this brave men did. Yes I understand now that media is all around us, however, it is definitely not for all of us.

The young men found what they were looking for with the aid of one of the Uganda residents Jolly who took them to the town of Gulu  where they found the refugee camps and the kids that go to sleep outside their home so they can be protected from kidnapping and they go to the bushes to sleep on the grass. One of the journalists was following a couple of boys to where they sleep; these boys go away from the rest of the crowd and sleep hiding in the dark. But, what is amazing is that two of them were doing homework and studying!! I think that is amazing that after all the things they go throughout the day, at night they still have the strength to study!! Wow, that is a motivation right there for me!


The journalist interviewed several kids and learned that the kids become immune to what is happening there and are not able to cry because crying mean weakness and they can’t be weak. Once the kids are abducted they are so afraid of escaping that they become killers. Is very sad to see that this kids the only thing they can think of and draw is pictures about killing.
I love what this three young men, excellent journalist did at the end, they didn’t put any credits and instead persuaded by asking people for support for this invisible children. Great job!
As far as the Ethos, Ethical appeal. The authors presented themselves at the beginning of the film and they established a common ground by explaining the reason why they wanted to do this documentary which was to find out if it was true that the children were abducted and used to participate in the war.


Pathos was all over, by the journalist traveling to Uganda and personally living there and interviewing the kids and being there showing footage of the daily living of these kids, they created emotion, and emotion was all over the film! It is a topic that yes, is interesting to the audience and the emotional appeal was very effective.
The Logos was all the evidence used to support their thesis, they actually went to the camps were the kids were hiding and that is more enough support of the evidence. Overall, this film was amazing source of information.


This film relates to my semester topic, citizen journalism because we talked and learned that all of us are journalist because we experience and live around media. We talked about being actively involved by recording and letting others know what is going on around us. In this care these three young men are being actively involved by personally going to the place were bad things are happening and letting the rest of the world know and asking for help for these site. An excellent documentary.

Opinion Piece




The DREAM Act
-by Claudia Teruel.

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act) is a  policy that if passed, will give legal status to millions of illegal students that in the present have no access to government aid. According to an Article posted in El Paso Times, “15,000 undocumented immigrants in El Paso area can apply for deferred deportation,” all of which are illegal students who would not be able to go to college unless they gather the requisites required to participate under the deferred program.  Therefore, it is important to implement measures that would allow for a policy chance that would permit students to pursue their education once they collect all the requisites to apply for the deferred program. Such policy change, will allow undocumented students to receive student loans to be paid back when they graduate from their four year college degree.

One of the provisions to be able to receive the student loan will be to gather all the requisites needed and apply to the Deferred Program. According to the U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services you may request consideration of deferred action for childhood arrivals if you:


  • Were under the age of 31 as of June 15, 2012;
  •  Came to the United States before reaching your sixteenth birthday;
  •  Have continuously resided in the United States since June 15, 2007, up to the present time; 
  •  Were physically present in the United States on June 15, 2012, and at the time of making your request for consideration of deferred action with USCIS;
  •  Entered without inspection before June 15, 2012, or your lawful immigration status expired as of June 15, 2012;
  •  Are currently in school, have graduated or obtained a certificate of completion from high school, have obtained a general education development (GED) certificate, or are an honorably discharged veteran of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States;
  •  Have not been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more other misdemeanors, and do not otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety.


The reason why illegal students should be able to receive the student loan is because first, it is required that they maintain a good moral character, so we know they will pay back. Second, because it is required of them that they complete a two or four year college, so finishing their career will be their goal.
According to the Institute Policy Center (IPC), another 6,210 young undocumented immigrants, who are between the ages of 5 and 14 years, could benefit in the future if they graduate from high school, obtain their GED or serve in the country's armed forces. What that means, is that here in El Paso alone, there will be thousands of illegal students that, if able to obtain student loans, will be able to graduate from college, obtain a legal status and therefore contribute to America’s economy.


IPC estimates there are about 1.3 million immediate and future potential beneficiaries in the country. Some 226,700 live in Texas, the second state with the most potential beneficiaries in the country after California. If these students gain legal status, they will be able to contribute nearly $3.6 trillion dollars in tax dollars to the economy over the course of their lifetimes.
By having a legal status and finishing their two or four year college that is required, these students will be able to make much more than minimum wage and will be able to pay back their student loan.
So far only a few details about the application are known, other than the program's launch date and the filing cost. Applicants will need to pay $465, which includes $380 for the employment authorization and $85 for a biometric background check, according to USCIS's website.
Illegal students can obtain information about the application process locally by going to the church in El Paso, Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services, or DMRS, located at 2400 E. Yandell, El Paso TX.
Applicants will need to prove their age and the amount of time they've been in the country, so birth certificates, school transcripts, medical records, rent agreements, and letters from teachers and church pastors might be useful documents to fetch.


References
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service





Sunday, May 5, 2013

Citizen Journalism Reflection and Response - Part A



A. Watch the link for History of Citizen Jornalist and Context for Contemporary Bloggers  and answer the questions.

Citizen Journalism Reflection and Response


  1. The video first start by different people describing what Citizen Journalism is to them. It caught my attention one person who mentioned that “you don’t need to go to college to be a citizen journalist, just be in front of a search box”, that was very well said and I agree with his comment. Another person described Citizen Journalism as being “journalism done by non journalist”, I think that by not having the education needed to be a journalist probably will not give us the same pay, but I think the material provided will be the same. The video is a documentary that was done to show different opinions of what citizen journalism is, and also talk about how journalism has change with technology by starting only with newspapers for example the newspaper who reached people houses and was read by people during breakfast to now days people being able to see the same information and obtain information in the computer from any place that is convenient for them. Another person started creating a blog and he started to network with journalist and explaining to them that it would be more beneficial if he created a video blog and that way he was going to be able to be more specific and people will be able to see who he really was following his blog, and he did create a blog and people like it.
  1. Blogging and citizenship journalism are connected because by a person having a blog and giving information to be viewed by citizens or having a public, they are participating by being citizen journalist.  They both reproduce information, the blogs being more personalized to different communities being more specific and I think that is why citizens like that more. The blog that I follow this semester, Immigration Impact, has helped me realize that there is many people in this country that it has no support not just from the government, but from the rest of the citizens. By reading their weekly topics and following their blog, I decided to do my research on DREAM Act which was the topic that caught my attention and I begin to write and research that topic. I created a blog about the same topic to provide information about the DREAM Act and let other people know what is available to them and how to get more information about how their path for citizenship. I have learned a lot with the blog myself because by having the blog and express myself I c can help others.
  1. The distinction between a focus on news and a focus on community in citizen journalism. By being a citizen journalist, people raises concerns that are related to the community we live in, it can be narrow or can be broad. Narrow if talking about for example on a problem concerning the city and can be broad if the issue concerns the whole country. In this case the news could be a national interest and community in citizen journalism can be problems that affect the community we live in. Journalist in general would focus on news, general news that many time citizens are not interested in. In the other hand, citizen journalism would raise topics of concern to other citizens in the community.  That relates to my research because DREAM Act even though it is of national concern, it is important for the community we live in, we live in a border town therefore,  important for the people in this community, for the same reason it relates to my research and advocacy for the DREAM act in this border town community.

Deconstructing Citizen Journalism


 Week 13  Discussion board

This reading explained how he terms of Citizen Journalist and Citizen Journalism were produced. The article talks about five participant groups and details on what they each did to advance their position. Explains how citizen journalist started by providing publishers with information that they were not available to collect, by being present for example on fires, crushes and floods. Soon enough there were many journalist providing tons of information and is when the competition began. 

Many social media websites emerged and are taking over media by exploding websites with information and acquiring millions and millions of subscribers. After the evolution of mass media 5 groups were formed and are the key participants, 1) the journalist who is the one who puts the information available for the public on social media sites like blogs for example 3) the citizen that accept and read and follow the information 4) academic who research and critique the information provided 5) free speech advocates.

These five key participants also have evolutioned and the discourse was viewed, as well as myths associated with it. The myths discussed here are for example the myth of the Robinson Crusoe citizen, which talks about the idea of the journalist being independent offering an independent “voice of the people”, also debating if the journalist is truly independent or if is working because is his job so therefore, citizens can perceive the information in different ways depending in who is the journalist. Next, The myth of the noble citizen, which talks about how the journalist has been working and now citizens are aware and know the difference between news and opinion. 

The Myth of perfect plurality, which talks about journalism being more representative, or open to ‘everyone voices’, or telling ‘the whole story’. The article also talks about some implications that are related to these myths but in particular to one, the audience. Therefore, the participants were showed and the implications with it, the information provided by the journalist will be assumed in a different point of view depending the group that is receiving and perceiving the information. As citizen journalism has evolved, we still making changes by networking and the web growing, the citizen journalist and journalism in general will continue to evolve.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Group Opinion about TED video on group topic


Group 2:
Andrea De La Fuente
Paola Villareal
Claudia Teruel

As a group we are doing our video based on the DREAM Act where it is an act to fight for Mexican immigration children who lived here their whole lives to have an education. We could not find a specific TED video that demonstrates exactly what our documentary is about, however, we have found a video where First Lady Michelle Obama discusses about how much education is important in the world. This relates to our documentary project because that is something that the DREAM Act is fighting for; an education to all who truly want it. Watching this video has impacted our project presentation by knowing that we should present all possible information and as well discuss about how other people struggle their wholes lives by not being allowed to get the education that they wished for. The DREAM Act is something that can fight for all those immigration children who lived here their whole lives and want to continue living here to get the education they want. The TED video where First Lady Michelle Obama speaks is where she fights for the same thing of education for all. She talks about how she had struggled her whole life as a child younger and loved going to education and hopes, fights, that no other child should have to go through this struggle of getting the education needed.






Thursday, May 2, 2013

Blog Followed this semester: Immigration Impact






This semester i decided to follow a blog related to my semester topic. The blog that I'm following is Immigration Impact Blog , it is a blog from the Immigration Policy Center website. I subscribed to receive weekly email with their topic and I enjoy reading about the Immigration reform.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013



Documentary Film from group #2 
Claudia Teruel 
Paola Villanueva
Andrea De La Fuente

The DREAM Act




If you have any problems accessing the video... use this link to the DREAM Act Video on Vimeo


Service Learning Reflection


Reflection for Center for Civic Engagement

This semester was my first time volunteering for the Center for Civic Engagement and I volunteered to help at the church Desert View located at 11160 Montwood. Desert View is a church that is very engaged in the community by helping families of low income with groceries, clothing and now offering Citizenship classes among other things.

I volunteer at Desert View to give Citizenship Classes because is a topic that caught my attention since I went through the same process a few years back and that is also why I choose an Immigration topic for my semester topic. 
I integrated research from class into my volunteer experience by reading more from the website of U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services, even though my class topic is  about The DREAM Act and I’m volunteering for Citizenship classes, they both have to do with Immigration Reform and that is a topic that I like so I shared information and websites with my students. 

By volunteering this semester, I learned that the need in the community is much more than I ever thought of, and it help me realize that if we can share an hour or two a week from our time, that will make a big difference to the community needs and people who participate and attend to the classes really appreciate our work. 

This experience did change my perspective and because of that  I will keep volunteering to this organization and after finishing this eleven week course that we are currently on, we are going to start the next course of eleven weeks all over again.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Discussion Board 12: New York Times Op-ed



For this week i needed to Choose an op-ed from the website http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html related to my
semester topic which is The DREAM Act and post the link on my website.
Summarize the op-ed and write a 200-300 word response concerning what was done well and how that
impacts the way you will approach your own op-ed that you are writing. Post your analysis of the op-ed
on your website as well.

The op-ed that i choose was A Dream Act Without the Dream

This opinion piece was published on the New York Times on March 27, 2012 and it talks about the Republican politicians who were trying to obtain votes from the Hispanic voters and decided to come up with a version of the DREAM Act that was like a dead end. The Republicans proposed to give a legal status to the illegal students but without opportunity for them to eventually become U.S Citizens and without being able to sponsor their families to become Citizens as well.

The proposal was for the students to become "legal", but just in name, they would become legal but without any other rights or benefits and the only reason the Republican party wanted to do that was "Not-American", because if the students had to participate in the military like any other American, they should have the same rights as any other American.

Even though they were making revisions to the different proposals of the DREAM Act to be presented, still. it was the same outcome, legal, but no legal. Another change made was that once the student participated in the military or earned a four year college degree, he or she needed to wait for 10 years to be able to adjust their status! that is insane. The good part is that this op-ed was an opinion given since 2012 and many changes have been made already to the DREAM Act guidelines, i think they are more structured now, however still up in the air and if passed we still don't know if these "legal " students will be able to apply for their relatives.

At the end, the author encouraged illegal students to continue doing what their doing and to participate in the military or pursue college education , hoping that things change for the best or people will eventually see the mentality of republicans and detect that their actions related to the DREAM Act are not-American. Now days, the DREAM Act has not passed yet but the illegal students are gathering in big broups and let the government know the need to a immigration reform that can help them get legal. More and more it seems like the government is really trying to help this population and i hope that soon the government pass the DREAM Act.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Week 11 Discussion Board




1. Read all the attached articles and choose three of the articles to write a short summary about (100-
200 words) and answer if you thought the writers made good arguments and whether or not you agree with the writer’s opinion. Post the three summaries, 100-200 words each, on the discussion board.

·         How MIT Can Honor Aaron Swartz
Fight to make academic journals open to everyone. By Farhad Manjoo.

I do agree with the author on his argument about making the scholarly journals free to public and continue with the work that Mr. Swartz didn’t finish. What caught my attention and made me think about it is what the author mentioned about how the students finish work is taken and published for free then publisher company turns around and sell it to the schools and makes a profit on it!! I agree that something needs to be done about that. Another thing that I realized by reading this article is that is only us, the students who are paying to the university, the people who only have access to the work well done. That means that if a person gets a great article published, the majority of the persons would not have access to it because they are not currently students! I think that all these journals should be available to all public and if someone is to make a profit like the author mentioned should be the person who made the article and the school. I also agree with the idea of creating a fund where the school and future authors can benefit from to keep producing fabulous journals.



  • What Is a Hacktivist? By Peter Ludlow

First of all, I like to start with the definition that Mr. Ludlow used, “In the simplest and broadest sense, a hacktivist is someone who uses technology hacking to effect social change”. agree with his statement because I think is important to define if the person hacking the information is doing it for a good cause like Mr. Swartz or if the person or organization is doing it with malicious intentions. Mr. Ludlow  mentioned about Mr. Swartz’s death and the question was if his activities were “Unfairly defined as malicious or criminal”. I do agree with his argument, I think that because a word can have different meanings, the person should be given a chance to express themselves until is fully understood what the intentions are. Mr Ludlow gave  examples about how different media have cited a Verizon report and how information is seen from a different perspectives, but mostly seen on a perspective that mostly benefit them, thus putting the meaning that they like the most for their benefit. Overall, I do agree with his argument and think that the public should be aware of how we interpret language.


·         Aaron Swartz and Prosecutorial Discretion. By LINCOLN CAPLAN

I didn’t know the story Aaron Swartz until now and after reading how drastic the United States Attorney Mr. Ortiz acted against him, in this area I do not agree with Mr. Caplan and I think they should press charges on her!!. She was so drastic with him letting him know that the consequence of what he did was going to be going to jail for 35 years and that drove him to take his life away. I think that on a way she regrets what happened because if she is saying now that she was eventually going to tell him that the sentence was going to be months in jail or house arrest or probation, well, too late! He is dead; I hope she change her way of being and act different with every case now. Yes, he was at fault by retrieving all these thousands of journals but they should see the whole picture and punish him with the lowest charges, then work their way up in case that he continued to do it or agree to something else. I think he was a young activist who was trying to do something good not only for the students but also for the school as a whole because the school was not going to pay for the journals either.  Obviously he had a passion for what he was doing and should be recognized by keeping with his beliefs and if possible have all these journals for free. I do agree with the author when he mentioned that this case should be single out because it had a tragic ending but also because it could be used as an example from now on.




2. Answer these questions on the discussion board after completing question 1.
What did Aaron Swartz do with JSTOR articles that led him to being prosecuted by the U.S. government?
After reading every single article listed, I did not find specifics on what Aaron Swartz did with the 5 million articles retrieved. The closest thing I found was in the first article How MIT can Honor Aaron Swartz where it mentioned “Last summer, after he agreed to return the articles he’d downloaded, JSTOR dropped its civil case against Swartz”, so I think he returned the files to JSTOR but I didn’t find anything stating that in fact he did so.

What is your opinion on Aaron’s actions? Do you think what he did was wrong? Why or why not?
I agree with his actions, he was being very active in what he believed. Aaron was downloading the articles to make them free to public. I think that the general public should have them available not just the students. The students who make them publish work very hard to get to that point and I think that instead of have them locked these articles should be available to everyone, something that Aaron was trying to accomplish. So, no I dint think what he did was wrong, he was acting in what he believed was the right thing to do.


How do the above articles relate to our semester topic of citizen research and citizen journalism?
The articles listed have to do with our semester topic Citizen Journalism  because they all talk about Aaron Swartz and how he took dearly his activism, he wanted all these journals to be free to the public, he was actively involved in trying to do it, he was not just reading and writing about it, but he took actions for that to happen.

Is limited public access to academic journals and research something to be concerned about? Make sure to explain why or why not.
I think access to academic journals should be something to be concerned about because if the students are working  hard to have them published. They do it for free, then the school turns around and pay for it, well, I think the money and the credit is staying in the wrong hands! I think that if the student is doing it for free, then the articles should be free for the general public.

Week 10 Discussion



This week we need to evaluate and give a grade to two videos.
 Click on the link to be watch the first video Homeless Youth

·     

Category
Letter Given
Reason
Purpose
35 pts,
A
Establishes an effective persuasive and Advocacy.
This video shows purpose very well, by putting it all together pictures, narrative, interviews, the audience will know exactly what the purpose of the video is. To let people know that youth homeless exist and to persuade the public to help these kids.

Use Research: Quality, Integration, Revelance
25 pts.
A
Research makes an effective contribution to the advocacy.
The video showed different types of research. Primary research was showed at the end credits. The group performing the video actively participating doing interviews. The different types of research were relevant to the topic and also integrated very well.
Ethos
30 pts.
A
Documentary uses effective evidence, and introduces sources to demonstrate credibility for the audience.
Evidence was established not only by the pictures presented, but also by the authors going, and in person interviewing the homeless youth. Credibility established all around.
Phatos
30 pts.
A
Documentary uses effective strategies to appeal to the audiences’ values and beliefs.
By showing the pictures created emotion and the audience can be persuades that way to help. I like the strategy used, by interviewing the homeless boy that mentioned that he was 10 years old and he didn’t know how to read and write.
Logos
30 pts.
A
Documentary’s argumentative and organizational structure effectively supports the advocacy.
The video was well organized and to the point. It showed pictures, facts, quotations, interviews  with the homeless youth and also interviews with the social worker, Very organized, it went from the description of what homeless is to give facts of the homeless kids and how many kids become homeless per day, then described the need for help and give specifics on why these kids become homeless. Very organized.
Use of multimedia
25 pts
A
Effective and appropriate use of both original and existing film, narration, images, sound.
The authors used all kids of media. Original media by them filming interviews, existing by posting pictures of homeless youth, they had a song  in the background appropriate for the topic.
Scripting, Editing & Timing
15 pts.
A
Effective scripting and has the right amount of detail throughout. It does not drag or speed by. It meets the time guidelines.
The video has the right amount of information, it gives the description, facts and way to help. Adequate song and does meet the time guidelines. Had 15 sec left
Credits
10 pts.
A
Documentary includes fair use statement and complete citation of all contributors and sources.
Video had credits with all the references, and includes the fair use statement, credits run a little fast.


Done well:
  1. The first thing I like the most is that the authors actually went to the home and make the interviews there.
  2. The authors did a very good job in the transition of the slides, the slides were well organized and the speed was great, good transition from topics.
  3. The use of Ethos, Pathos, Logos was well defined by this video showing pictures that cough people attention, the sources were credible and the material was well organized.

Could have improved:
  1. I think that the authors should  had used the 15 seconds left to slow down the credits at the end,
  2. Maybe, include another interview of another homeless kid instead  of using the time for the bloopers.
  3. When interviewing the youth about the reason they become homeless it would help if they were closer to them so the voice was more clear,.


Click on the link to watch the second video High School Stereotypes





Category
Letter Given
Reason
Purpose
A
Establishes an effective persuasive purpose and advocacy.
I think the authors did a good job, by watching the video I know exactly what the purpose of the topic is: to stop stereotyping and get to know the person before judging.

Use Research: Quality, Integration, Revelance
B
Research makes a sufficient contribution to the advocacy.
Towards the middle of the video is when I saw some quotations and research information, I think the authors could use more information directly from their primary search.
Ethos
B
Documentary uses sufficient arguments, provides sufficient evidence and introduces most sources to demonstrate to display credibility.
The documentary shows the different consequences of stereotyping like cutting to the body or suicide as some of the consequences. However, it was mostly pictures and a video from a teen movie, not very credible. Should use more from primary research or credible websites quotations.
Phatos
A
Documentary uses effective strategies to appeal to the audiences’ values and beliefs.
I think the authors did a great job in selecting the movie clips they did because it is perfect for the topic. The audience is teens and it would catch their attention keeping them engaged in the video. Also by watching the pictures of cutting the wrist I think it creates emotion and awareness to the teens. The other strategy used and effective is the interview of teen, very well introduced.
Logos
A
Documentary’s argumentative and organizational structure effectively supports the advocacy.
I think that logos was accomplished by using the mean girls video clips also by showing the pictures of teens cutting as well as the interviews from other teens saying that they do stereotype others. The information was well organized and easy to follow.
Use of multimedia
A
Effective and appropriate use of both original and existing film, narration, images, sound.
I think the authors did a great job in integrating all forms of multimedia, they used original film by interviewing others, existing video from mean girls, pictures and slides  as well as background music appropriate for their documentary.
Scripting, Editing & Timing
B
Sufficient scripting and documentary’s timing is mostly good, seems to drag somewhat OR need slightly more detail in one or two sections. It
The time spent was 5min and 17 seconds. I think the authors had the extra time to add more to any of their parts, ethos logos , pathos to persuade readers. Other than that. Good video.
Credits
B
Documentary includes fair use statement and citation of most contributors and sources.
I give it a B because in the credits I didn’t see the names of the students that were interviewed.

Done well:
  1. I think the authors did good overall, the video has a purpose and different media was used.
  2. I think the video clip from mean girls was very successful in describing the topic of the video: stereotyping.
  3. I think authors did very well as far as organization of content, very easy to follow and keep audience engaged in the topic.


Could have improved:
  1. First I think the authors should use all the 7 min allowed for the video and they didn’t.
  2. I think I would like to see more citations and more information coming also from the first research.
  3. I think that that if they had interviewed someone that had gone through stereotyping or cutting it would add credibility to the video 


Monday, April 1, 2013

Week 9 Discussion



Week 9 Discussion Board was regarding answering questions about the video:  "Peter Gabriel Fights Injustice with Video"



  1. Who is Peter Gabriel and why is he famous (besides the TED video)?
He is a musician and an activist. In addition he founded WITNESS in 1992.
  1. What is Peter Gabriel primary purpose and argument?
Peter Gabriel argument was that if the people around the world, all have a camera, they could use to record and show the rest of the world the conditions they live in. By showing these pictures or videos they would create awareness to the rest of the world and maybe could help to change the way they live in, some of them in extreme poverty.
  1. What is WITNESS and how does it go about accomplishing its goals?
WITNESS is an organization that Peter Gabriel created. They give out cameras to activist in different countries so they can engage in journalism. By using this cameras and taking videos to show the rest of the world could create awareness and maybe change the way they live in.

  1. What are some techniques that Peter Gabriel uses to engage his audience?
Peter Gabriel uses Pathos which is emotional appeals to engage the audience, by showing video of extreme poverty it causes emotion and keep the audience engaged in the video. Also his tone of voice while describing what could be done by using the cameras and create awareness.

  1. How does Peter Gabriel incorporate visuals into his argument? Do you feel it is effective?
Peter Gabriel showed images of extreme poverty as I mentioned earlier and impacts the audience and it creates awareness which is his goal. I think that by showing pictures/video is very effective. As we have talked in class, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. We can be reading an article and have a sense of what the article is about and create a mental image, but if we see an image is more powerful. In this case seen a video I think that is way far more effective in creating awareness.

6. There are two documentary film clips that Peter Gabriel shows in this video? What are they and how
does each clip use ethos, logos, and pathos?
     The first video shows the situation in Uganda and the second one is about his program WITNESS and how the organization is committed to citizen journalism since it grows with people  contributions. 
They use ethos which could be establishing common ground with the reader and if it is trustworthy. So he is trustworthy because he shows in his video interview to people in the village and they translate but he is people from the village where the problem is, he is not just talking about, he is showing proof.
  Pathos is used because the audience as I mentioned earlier gets emotional by hearing the story and seen the video.
  Logos is achieved in these videos because the author uses enough evidence to support his thesis. The videos, the voice, the cameras, the interviews all are proof that the organization is being successful in achieving their goal in creating awareness around the world.

7. Another important aspect of the documentary film assignment is advocacy in addition to
argumentation. What is the difference between advocacy and argumentation? How does Peter Gabriel
advocate in this video?
Advocacy according to Wikipedia  “is a political process by an individual or group which aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions. Advocacy can include many activities that a person or organization undertakes including media campaigns, public speaking”.
In Addition, Wikipedia describes argumentation as “the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be reached through logical reasoning….Argumentation includes debate and negotiation which are concerned with reaching mutually acceptable conclusions. …Argumentation is used in law, for example in trials”.
After reading the two definitions, I think that Peter Gabriel uses advocacy because by showing he videos he is trying to persuade other people around the world.
8. How does this video relate to our semester topic of citizen journalism? In what ways is what Peter
Gabriel advocating for action based research? Does this give you any ideas for how you want to
approach your topic research and filmmaking?
Well, we talk about citizen journalism and it was said that to be a citizen journalist one has to actively participate in what is going on by using media and let others know about a certain problem. In this case Peter Gabriel is being a citizen journalist by  giving cameras to a  different groups  so they can video tape and or take pictures to raise awareness of things that happen like poverty.  It relates to the topic in our ENGL 1312 class because now we are going to make a video of a topic that concern us, whatever the topic we choose within our group members  like for example Immigration or teen obesity. Both are topics that concern the society we live in and we are going to actively participate by doing a video an reporting about the topic.