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.

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”. I 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 

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.