"Don't Make Me Think" Reading Response

                             "Don't Make Me Think" Chapters 1, 4, 6, & 7

“Don’t Make Me think” by Steve Krug was a great read which made me want to explore more than just Chapters 1, 4, 6, and 7 (though I guess we will get to that!). I found Chapter 7 very pertinent to where my group is at now, which is designing the home page. We definitely need to do that before we get anywhere, and Krug outlined eight aspects to keep in mind while creating out homepage. These will be useful to refer to as we build our web presence because if one element is missing, our site loses credibility. Like we discussed in class before, people will click through hazardously and lose patience easily when it comes to the Internet so we need to make it easy to understand. Chapter 1 also emphasized this fact for us, helping to further pound the concept of simplicity into our heads. It seemed like the following chapters all found a way to tie in to Chapter 1 and the concept of making the website easy to navigate. Navigation and construction are as crucial as content, according to Krug, and I definitely agree. In order for people to be able to appreciate our content, they must be able to easily access it without frustration. I don’t want the Food Fighters to bring to mind an angry flashback of being lost on the website and furiously clicking! Instead, I want them to embrace eating locally! :)

Vision Crisis in America: What is the current web presence?

        When it comes to the problem of eye care for low-income individuals in America, the American Optometric Association dominates the first results. My specific call-to-action in both of my unit productions was to donate to the AOA, so I'm glad that it is so easily found. The AOA gives reasons why people should donate, including specifics such as the fact that there are 46 million low-income individuals who cannot afford an eye exam.

       One issue that came with searching for "vision problems" was that "vision" has different meanings. A lot of unrelated websites appeared regarding the visions of political leaders, which is not the type of "vision" I was looking for. I found that interesting and had not even considered that possibility beforehand.

        So, I started refining my search to the specific word "eye". When searching "Americans who cannot afford eye exams", Google generated 3,140,000 results. Browsing through the first few pages, I found articles about how the different ways low-income citizens can obtain eye exams, whether it be through a national program or a local one. However, my audience is more geared to the middle and high class population who can donate to the AOA, rather than educating the low-income population more about assistance programs.

      There is a lot of information to sort through with my topic. The info pertaining to the AOA's "Vision Cares" program was specific and helpful, but besides that it can be overwhelming. There is less a barrage of information than a barrage of advertising about which optometrist to go to. A lot of irrelevant sites come up-- for example, an affordable eye doctor in Minnesota or Missouri is of no use to my mission. To do a search of Google images, you end up with an overload of creepy eyeballs.

   Some websites that consistently came up in my searches were the following:
   http://www.eyecareamerica.org/
   http://www.allaboutvision.com/
   http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/financialaid.asp
   http://www.aoa.org/
   
       If I were to create a web presence for my topic, I would definitely provide links to the AOA's page about the Vision Cares Program to help the audience understand what specifically their money is going towards. If people are at all unsure, they are far less likely to donate because of the mistrust some organizations have generated. As far as images, I would try to put out more graphs and charts that are easy to read instead of simple images of eyes and glasses which get repetitive.

Unit 2 Production- Final Package

Here is my final product for Unit 2. I used Powtoon to create a video about the topic of Vision Crisis in America. Hope you enjoy!

Here is the link:

http://www.powtoon.com/embed/gibNOYtGKXj/

Unit 2 Production: Rough Draft

http://www.powtoon.com/embed/gibNOYtGKXj/

My production is published on Powtoon! I am happy with the beginning, but obviously need to add more to the ending for a call to action.

Reading & Response about Screenwriting

Hannah Chenoweth

Dr. Gouge

October 2, 2014

              The assigned readings were helpful to me as I try to separate my normal everyday writing from what script writing. The first reading was very clear about the fact that in film, you don’t tell the audience the story but instead show them. I was told the same thing about creative writing once, but it can be hard to actually enforce. In my production, I will have to remember to do more showing than telling because I can get carried away. Another important point was the fact that your script seriously needs to look a certain way. The reading says that Courier 12 pitch is standard in the United States, and it’s true that everyone needs to be able to understand your script and if it looks “off” or difficult it’s not going to have a chance. It might be annoying, but if you want to be taken seriously it has to look serious. I figure that in terms of this class, it will be much easier for Dr. Gouge if we all have the same format. The reading says that a good story consists of characters you are passionate about, a conflict, and a hook, so I will keep that in mind while developing my plot. The reading about the types of scenes reminded me of how matter of fact the script needs to be, because I am the one with the vision in my head but no one else can see that. It showed me the importance of outlining “What kind of scene is this?” The list of common scenes included setting, transition, revelation, etc. The top 10 screenplay essentials was a very helpful list that was also a quick read. One thing that I didn’t know about screenplays was that one script page equals one film minute, so that’s crucial to keep in mind.

Reading Response: Digital Narrative Blog Tools

September 30th, 2014

        For my Unit 2 Production, I searched the Internet for a digital narrative tool to tell my story in a new way. I initially clicked on "Zimmer Twins" because it looked like the most simplistic tool and I am not very skilled with new technology. My first impression was that it was very "cartoony" like and might be a good choice to reach young audiences, or to explain a complex idea to older audiences but not intimidate. Zimmer Twins gives you an option at first to make a movie, watch a movie, or join. Joining required some simple and basic information that only took a minute- there was an option to be a paid member with access to bonuses as well. The only issue was that I had to download Adobe Flash Drive, which wasn't a problem. This tool gives great instructions on how to work the site if you click "How to make a movie." The whole concept of Zimmer twins is that the twins, Edgar and Eve, are twelve years old and psychic. So, the movie always starts out with the twins and allows the user to create the ending. For my story in particular, I don't think this tool is the way to go because I didn't plan on having these characters and did not realize at first that I had to include them. One cool thing about this site is you can share your movies and get ratings, and rate other people's as well so it is nice to get feedback. You can also earn points by making movies and giving feedback. The movies are supposed to last 1 minute, so this site might be a little too brief for getting my point across. Overall, exploring the Zimmer Twins site was interesting but it will not be effective for my audience. I would recommend using this tool for an audience of elementary school children and any internet user will be able to easily navigate, since it was designed for children.

Final Unit 1 Production

https://doc-0k-c8-docs.googleusercontent.com/docs/securesc/s196suh8epqbnnoe134argpm2mjf7428/cj941jus9930vc6mknr144stgamc12k7/1411660800000/06985102226499329488/06985102226499329488/0B-6j02Q4NiCWcGNHRG5EOGJkVDA?e=download&h=16653014193614665626&nonce=fq1i1nq35p1ik&user=06985102226499329488&hash=674fhvg2kcrdgj643ae80gt96lm5aq9b

Here is my final video on the Vision Crisis :) enjoy!

Unit 1 Rough Draft

 Here is a link to my presentation :)

<p  style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;">   <a title="View Blindness on Scribd" href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/240192682/Blindness"  style="text-decoration: underline;" >Blindness</a></p><iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="//www.scribd.com/embeds/240192682/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="undefined" scrolling="no" id="doc_56909" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe> Draft

Draft Notes

       The point of my Unit 1 production is to raise awareness about the inadequate eye care for the less fortunate in our country and inspire them to make a donation to the American Optometric Association.

        My audience is middle-class to upper-class adults because they have the means to donate to the AOA. They can also be younger, if they are able to show their parents that this is a problem and get them to make a donation.

        I am trying to provide my audience with the experience of having blurry, poor vision and make them realize all the horrible effects, like not being able to succeed in school or athletics. I don't want them to take their good vision or good eye care for granted anymore.

        Setting a somewhat bleak and disorienting mood will help my audience realize the feeling of not being able to see. I don't want it to be too clear or bright because that's not what the world looks like through many people's eyes, and that's the point I'm trying to make.

         I am going to use visuals but not a ton on each slide; I want to have a smaller quantity of images but have the images I do use be very powerful. The colors will probably be darker, like dark blues, grays, and black. I don't see myself using Clip Art but would rather use real photos because my theme is not playful but serious.

         In response to the audience's experience, the call to action is to make a donation to the American Optometric Association at http://www.aoafoundation.org/vision-usa/.

Response to Chapter 2, 3, & 5

Hannah Chenoweth

Reading Response

September 10^th, 2014

                After reading Chapters 2, 3, and 5, I realized that to be concise is to be efficient. I have some trouble with this; I always find myself giving unnecessary over-explaining, details, metaphors, and using dramatic language. However, Chapter 5 was pretty clear about the fact that happy talk and instructions must die. I am going to keep my call to action straightforward because it’s not difficult to understand, but my usual tendency would be to over-explain. I believe following this advice will make my audience more likely to listen. I also need to make it clear that my call to action is clickable (a hyperlink) or else my entire presentation will be useless. The main message of almost all three chapters is that people whiz through things, so everything must be clear and purposeful. I now realize I shouldn’t include so many repetitive images of glasses, which I was going to include. One image will get the point across and keep the attention. I really liked the quote in Chapter 5: “Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”  Getting rid of noise was a main point as well. I have a lot of statistics about my issue, but in reality I should just pick a few that hit hard to be most effective. The rest will become just noise, knowing what we do about how the audience uses the web. What we know is that readers muddle through, scan, satisfice, etc. I plan to take what I learned to make my presentation as successful as possible.

Playing with Prezi

I had seen fellow classmates use the presentation software Prezi before but had always stuck to PowerPoint because it was what I was most comfortable with. The coolest aspect of Prezi is that you can zoom in and out on certain texts or images, which really emphasizes your point and creates focus. It is easy enough to create an account, with the only requirements being a name and email address. The website was remarkably easy to follow, and as a rare fluke of Gen Y I am remarkably handicapped when it comes to technology, so for me to say that is worth something. There are optional videos to watch on how to operate Prezi, but I chose to just go for it. You first choose from a wide variety of fun templates, with names like ‘Fork in the Road’ and ‘Journey to the Top.’ Once you choose a design, it is almost like PowerPoint in the sense that the slides are laid out on the side in the same way. There is also a ‘Click to add Title’ just like PowerPoint. This eased any anxiety I was left feeling for betraying my beloved PowerPoint. Prezi users have the option of inserting images, text, symbols, YouTube videos, and even background music. Next to the ‘insert’ section is a ‘customize’ section which additionally adds a huge amount of variety and options to design and color. I found the ‘share’ section also very easy to operate; clicking on it presents the user with a scroll-down option of sharing on Facebook, downloading as PDF, and more. It seems simple to convert and not one of those programs that has to reformat (read: ruin) your project by messing with the pixels. One comment I do have to make is that the Prezi images are a hundred times more professional looking than PowerPoint clip-art. Upon selecting ‘image’, you have the choice to either browse or use a recommended picture from Google, which are great quality and plentiful. Adding voiceovers is also an attractive feature of Prezi. I believe I can succinctly get my point across while also holding the audience’s attention with the help of Prezi; it’s “zoom-y” quality keeps the audience more engaged than just clicking through slides. The possibility of music is also in my mind as far as my persuasive narrative. For my presentation I feel that images are very important, and Prezi will help me to find the most effective visual aid possible. Overall, my experience playing with Prezi was surprisingly easy and I feel encouraged to use the software in the future.

Persuasive Narrative

I have a confession to make. Without my contacts, I wouldn’t be “me.” I would not be a functioning member of society. It took being stranded without contacts or glasses for only a day for me to realize that the vision help I take for granted is what makes my whole life possible.

On the bleak, unfortunate day where I simultaneously stepped on my glasses and ran out of contacts, I couldn’t drive a car, leaving me stuck inside my house with not many options. My daily routine was impossible; even my yoga practice I found impossible without the visual aid of the DVD. I found myself getting increasingly frustrated at being unable to puncture the blurry, hazy bubble I was living in, no matter how hard I squinted. When they say everyone sees their own different version of reality, I had the realization that I was excluded from the real world that I knew existed, the one with crisp colors and details.

The thing is, there are people that don’t realize that they are denied the world that others take for granted being able to see. We might live in a powerful first-world country, but there are not only children but adults who have never seen an eye doctor in their lifetime. 15 of our states do not require any form of vision screenings for children prior to starting school. The National Commission on Vision and Health calls this “a public health emergency for millions of children.”

We’re all familiar with Maslow’s pyramid by now—there are essential needs that need to be taken care of before we can reach our full potential and achieve our greatest possible breadths of self-esteem, creativity, intimacy, achievement, etc.

Every time a child squints at the board, wondering why the words only reveal themselves to the rest of the class, they are left behind with the dust of cloud left by the chalkboard eraser. 80% of what a child learns in school is presented in a visual form—that leaves a child’s chance of getting an A at 20%. The frustration of not being able to see can even be misdiagnosed as a learning disability such as ADD, as well as causing wrenching headaches.

When a child can’t see the ball or the faraway motions of the opponents, their athletic performance doesn’t stand a chance against the others. When they can’t read the facial expressions of their peers, they miss out on an important part of normal socialization and can’t be the best conversant, friend, and debater that they could be.

Undetected eye problems are crippling. Not being able to see means leading half of what could be a whole life. Donate to the American Optometric Association to give a child in need the vision they desperately need to have a chance at life.