"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.