Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Summarized Peer-review Comments - Week 6

After reviewing the comments of my instructor and peer reviewer, I know some of the mistakes that i need to review over to make my web-text the best that it can be. Within my web-text, i will look at my APA formatting of all my references to fix up any small problems that are missing so that i will have the proper citations. My instructor has let me know that my sources look good, so knowing i found credible, accurate sources is not a worry.

My instructor also made it clear to make sure I include such things as responses to my articles, which I do provide briefly within my web-text, but have surrounding information of facts to present my unbiased opinion. My peer reviewer ensured me that the set up of my web-text was easy to read and presented anchor texts, hyperlinks, related links, citations, and proper information that the audience will be able to follow a long with.
Feedback from several people have allowed me to look further within my web-text, replace any mistakes that have been found, and work to my ability to make it a well-rounded web-text full of information about my topic of workplace discrimination.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Conference/The Big Picture - Week 5

A.) For the most part, i believe that the class is going well for myself. The only main question that I am concerned about is if my research questions are okay to be used for my web-text about workplace discrimination. Once i have a better knowledge that I am okay to proceed with my project I will be able to work more in-depth on my web-text and outline assignment.

B.) 1. Picture One: Extreme weather hits Europe. Picture Two: Syria fighting continues.

2. I chose the "Extreme weather hits Europe" picture. http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/cold_europe_2012/bp1.jpg

3.  Colors are separated into different groups. Certain colors represent different types of feelings.
  • Red represents a hot, mad, and devilish type of feeling.
  • Yellow presents a feeling of caution. It sends off a more negative vibe.
  • Blue sends off a cool, honest feeling. It is said to correlate to those who are trustworthy and responsible.
  • Orange is a friendly, good-feeling color that sends off a positive vibe.
  • Green is also another friendly color, it corresponds to lively and freshness.
  • Purple represents a higher ranking within society, such as being wealthy or of a royal family.
  • Gray is a dull, gloomy color. It sends of a bland and neutral feeling.
  • Black is an extreme color that sends off an several unpleasant feelings such as fear, sadness, and evil feeling. It corresponds to deaths in several situations as well.
  • White is also an extreme, but is the opposite of black. It is associated with the feeling of being pure, and it corresponds in many happy occasions, such as a wedding.
  • Pink corresponds to a sweetness feeling. It is a calming color.
  • Brown relates to the earth and how it relates to the things that are made up in nature.
Different types of color schemes
  • Monochromatic is ONE color, using only one hue with all the same shades and tints.
  • Neutral colors contain primary colors, which consists of the colors like black and white.
  • Analogous colors are found to each other on the color wheel. For instance: green, blue, and purple are found to be right next to one another on the color wheel.
  • Warm colors are colors like red, orange, yellow. They resemble a fire and appear closer than other colors.
  • Cool colors are colors like blue, purple, and green. They resemble images that fall further way.
  • Complementary colors are colors that are across from one another on the color wheel. High intensity complements draw a strong feeling to the picture. Examples of complementary colors are red and green, yellow and purple, and blue and orange.

  • Primary colors- Red, Yellow Blue
  • Secondary colors- Orange, Green, Purple
  • Intermediate colors- mixed primary and secondary colors.

The Different effects to colors effect colors in different ways. By giving a specific type of effect can give off a better attention getter for the viewer of the artwork. Building emphasis builds dominance, unity gives the artwork a meaning "as a whole", which is saying that it gives the picture a meaning altogether. Movement of the picture creates a certain type of feeling. Rhythm of a picture creates an illusion with the eyes which can either be random, regular, alternating, flowing, or progressive.

4. Content Analysis- Within the image, i see a person who is surrounded by ice. The ice seems to be frozen over a window. The image is representing the extreme weather that Europe is undergoing this winter season. There is one person in the image, and they are being represented by showing that they are in pain from the freezing temperatures. This is portrayed through the person being bundled up in what appears to be a jacket and hat behind the frozen window. To me, I personally only see this picture in the way just previously described, however; other people may view the picture in other ways. I think the image sends off a strong message and really tries to show how cold the weather is this time of year within Europe and how they are going through very hard measures with the extremely cold weather.


Visual Analysis- The background of the picture is the person, with the focus of the foreground being the ice surround the person to really send off the extreme pain of the cold. The most important element of this picture is the frozen ice because it makes up the message being sent. The color being used is lighter colors, with darkness surrounding the actual person from the clothing being worn. The image may be looked at being taken place in a different location so to speak opposed to it being through a window, which is my personal opinion. The design choices bring out the harshness of the winters, it sends a very strong message to the viewer of the artwork with the sharp looking icicles surrounding most of the picture.

Contextual Information- Information that accompanies the picture is talking about how Europe is experiencing frigid temperatures that most were not expected to see. It goes more in depth about how villages are experiencing cut offs and several deaths are surrounding the incident. When reading throughout the entire text, it does give me another outlook on the picture and how possibly it could be someone actually frozen within the ice, as it puts several emphasis about how many homeless people had been found frozen outside. I believe that the image itself is viewed differently by other people but the text helps give a better focus on what the viewer should have in his or her head and how it the picture connects to the caption that is given about Europe's extreme weather conditions.


C.) Podcast: Communications is one of the most important keys to success. Several philosophers in the past gave us the factors of how we make up communication today. Aristotle's "On Rhetoric" explains the three elements of ethos, pathos, and logos.  Logos is an appeal based on logic and reason. Ethos is the persuasiveness of ones character, meaning you need to be knowledgeable and have credibility. Pathos is an appeal based on emotion, which is the surprisingly most complex of the three elements. Prepare for who is your audience, make an outline, analyze sentence structures. Practice communication by going over all parts that are to be presented.

Prompt B, Rhetorical Analysis: The purpose of this article online is to show the outcomes of what drunk driving can do not only to oneself but also to others. In the article it showed a group of pictures with captions going on about how Jacqueline Saburido was a beautiful girl and how in just one night everything was destroyed. She was in a car accident with a drunk driver and her car set fire, burning her skin and changing her life forever. This article targets anyone who currently drinks and drives, has ever thought about drinking  and driving, and even to those who drink by showing the potential outcome of another persons life by making one poor decision. The article goes on by showing a very emotional appeal by showing how it has affected Jacqueline, her family and friends, and the drunk driver. From their personal experience, it is trying to show others that similar or worse occurrences can happen if driving while intoxicated. If trying to refute this text, you could present a case where there are several people who have successfully driven while under the influence with nothing happening, however; I do not personally agree with that statement. The text is very enhanced by giving pictures to go with the story, by adding even more pictures that are up to date and show that she will never be how she used to be may send a strong impact to those who view the article. Also, by involving more similar stories of people who, unfortunately, were in car accidents from drunk drivers and died may show that alcohol can lead to a death of another person.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Credible Resources - Week 4


Parponaris, A., Teyssier, L., & Ventelou, B. (2010). Elsevier. ScienceDirect. Retrieved from   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851010001715

This specific article takes patients who had recently had the struggle of cancer and explains the hard times of the work force. The article states, "Age, education level, income at diagnosis, work contract, professional status, affective support, relative prognosis at diagnosis, tumor site and treatment have contrasting impacts upon the probability of job loss across gender. Even after having controlled for these variables, self-reported workplace discrimination increases the probability of job loss by 15%" (Parponaris, 2010) It goes on by explaining the hard times that these cancer patients had experienced when trying to reenter the workforce and how the act of workplace discrimination had taken place. This article i found was off of the Purdue University online database. I searched the database under full-online text and peer reviewed journals to ensure that the article was credible

Ragins, B. R., & Cornwell, J. M. (2012). PsychARTICLES. American Psychology Association. Retrieved  from psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2001-05650-016

An article from APA PsycNET explained how sexual orientation also came into play. It was describing how over 500 gays and lesbians had been effected in the workplace and were being treated unfairly. The article goes on to state that "perceived discrimination was associated with negative work attitudes and fewer promotions." (Ragins, 2012) This is just one of the many examples of how people take a classification such as orientation and use it against someone to discriminate against them. This type of activity is cruel and unreasonable to everyone around the world. This article was found on Google Scholars and is credible and provides accurate information.


Friday, February 3, 2012

Topic Definition Statement - Week 3

1. The key question: What is workplace discrimination and how to prove it?
Subquestions: Who does workplace discrimination affect? Under what different types of circumstances does it affect others? What laws are in act to prohibit such discrimination at a workplace?

2. (a.) Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination: Questions and Answers. (2009). US EEOC. Retrieved from http://www.eeoc.gov/facts/quanda.html

(b.) Roscigno, Vincent J. (2007). The Face of Discrimination: How race and gender impact work and home lives. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=_F6eV88Xx-4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=discrimination&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bK0mT6aaOerl0gHNk4Hc CA&ved=0CFwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=discrimination&f=false

Currency: These articles are current and resourceful, with both articles dating no farther back than 5 years before the current year of 2012.
Authority: Authority of this book is valid, with the website article chosen being a .gov and providing very detailed information, and the book also being more descriptive and not bias.
Purpose: The purpose of this article and this book is to get a better understanding of discrimination and then apply that to workplace discrimination, and better understand how different people are being affected.
Objectivity: There is a high about of objectivity because the bias within the readings are informational and not trying to persuade the reader one way or another.
Writing style: Both are informative, in the style of a book and the other in the style of a website.

Claims: Claims of fact because it is giving factual information about the subject.
Evidence: The book and article are credible, sufficient, and accurate. It provided an easy way to follow the information, the information is still not very outdated by keeping it within a 5 year range of the information originally being posted, and does not have a bias opinion stated within the article or book, but simply factual information that can be used to help reinforce workplace discrimination one way or the other.
Purpose: To better understand workplace discrimination, what can be done to stop it, and what is already in act to stop this horrible act of discrimination.
Audience: Those who are discriminated within a workplace or who are looking to put a end to workplace discrimination.
Genre: Informative Articles.

3. The topic of workplace discrimination is a very interesting topic to not only myself, but to others as well. As many know, discrimination in general is one of the leading social problems within the United States. Achieving a job to begin to work and earn a salary is an ideal goal for most citizens of the country. Achieving this goal, as well as maintaining that job, sometimes because flawed in the way of workplace discrimination. Workplace discrimination affects people of different sex by seeing a majority of only one particular sex being hired, different age requirements, and even coming around to those who practice a different religion. Whether it be trying to obtain the job or while working on the job, workplace discrimination happens in several different areas such as being hired, being fired, equal pay rights, retirement, and specific reasons for leave of absence. I believe that those who have previous interaction with discrimination in a workplace would find this topic very interesting, as well as those who have faced discrimination in other areas as well. By working together and facing off against the cruel act of workplace discrimination, people can receive the remedies of benefits that are entitled to them and look to further try to make sure that discrimination does not exploit race, gender, sex, or religious values in the future.