Entry 7

Dr. Marquardt always widens my horizon because I never know there is a big research behind typography. I just granted it and use it follow my taste. After reading the book, I know the definition of typography. It is the visual component of the written words and good typography can reinforce the meaning of the text. Typography benefits readers rather than writers. And it also a useful way to help writers catch readers’ attention. Gathering the basic information, I compare and contrast two texts in which the only discrepancy is typography.

These examples are from the book. If I only consider the aesthetics, I like the second one. The first one gives a sense of coldness and numbness. It is just like a person who only has body but soul. The second one gives me a flexible sense, like spring. It is like a person who has sufficient emotions, kindness and warm heart. However, if I consider their functions, I choose first one. The two signs exist on the highway and there function is to give information to drivers who are in high-speed cars. They must be understood in a very short time. The second one is not readable and understood by drivers in a minute maybe a second. Under that situation, the first one is more like a calm policeman who ensures the safety. The second one is like a person who wears a lot of jewelry but to fail his work. Admittedly, it is not easy to have a good typography. In later writing, I need to pay more attention to it.

Entry 6

Answers to three questions

Answer 1: There are three main differences between the video lecture and the infographic. Firstly, the infographic loses videos that the speaker uses as examples. Secondly, the infographic does not contain the explanations and examples that are told by the speaker. Thirdly, in the video lecture, the speaker and audiences have interaction. Audiences laugh when the speaker tells something interesting. However, the infographic cannot provide a platform for the speaker and readers to interact. 

Answer 2: In my opinions, the video lecture is much easier for me to understand the main idea. In the video lecture, the speaker tells the reasons or makes clear explanations about the main idea. What’s more, the videos played during the lecture, on the one hand, catch my attention; on the other hand, provide me with more vivid illustrations. However, when I look at the infographic, I can get the main idea directly, but I cannot understand why I need to do so to make the story readable. The video lecture is more complex, but it gives me more information to help me understand what the speaker says.

Answer 3: Watching the video lecture is a more enjoyable experience. People are always attracted by the video examples in the lectures. So am I. I really enjoy the video examples used by the speaker, which also makes the lecture more interesting. I also can understand the main idea easily. The infographic is colorful, but it only has small size words and pictures. I am bored to read the infographic.

Entry 5

Infographic

Directions:

1) Identify my essay

http://futureofmusic.org/article/article/music-and-how-money-flows

1)    Outline the infographic essay

Introduction: The author gives out the question to show the main idea that is about the ways of musicians and songwriters get compensations of the whole infographic article.

Body: The whole article is divided into two big aspects.

A.   For radio and radio-like services, musicians and songwriters get compensations.

B.    For digital stores and on-demand streams, musicians and songwriters get compensations. (Three different kinds)

1.     For record labels that have a direct deal with services

2.     For record labels that are represented by a digital aggregator/distributor.

3.     For artists who own their sound recording copyrights and use services like CD Baby or TuneCore.  

2) Provide the Rhetorical Situation of this essay

• Purpose: Give the audiences a big and clear picture of how and how much songwriters and musicians get compensations.
• Audience: All the NPR News audiences who are interested in this topic.
• Stance: neutral
• Genre: An introduction paper
• Media/design: Chart, picture, text

3) While you are only outlining the essay--not writing it word-for-word--you can still get a feeling for what this essay would look like. How is the infographic different from the traditional essay you outlined?

In infographic, the author uses chats to replace many of words and only uses several sentences to add more information. In other words, in the infographic, the blanks, the lines with arrows and statistics are dominant. In the essay, the author uses words to explain the main idea. There is less margin in an essay.

4) Strengths and weaknesses of the infographic: what does the infographic do better than the essay? What does the essay do better than the infographic?

Comparing the infographic with essay, it is more readable and easily for readers to understand. There are two reasons. Firstly, no matter the infographic or the essay, it is involved a lot of statistics and the distribution. The blanks and lines with arrows can clearly indicate the relationship among parties. Who get the money? How much they get? The infographic shows the direction and distribution visually. Secondly, the infographic has more space, which readers feel much confortable to read. They are not afraid of burring by tons of thousands of words. However, when the author decides to use infographic, he leaves out many things that are not considered as the main idea. Sometimes, it will cause bed impacts. As for me, I do not understand what C and SR mean by the author. Readers need more information about these technical terms. Articles can definitely make the idea more comprehensive.  

5) How does this qualify as an essay and not a series of pictures?

They are not simple pictures. There are links among them. They have introduction and body. Although this infographic does not have conclusion, it is still like an article.

Response to DJ Guest Love

Actually, I am really bored to read this article, which is not because of the content but the channel of this article. I use a Word Document to read an article from an App. In the original article, there are some interesting videos and audios. It even contains some hypertexts. When I click the button, there will be the extra information. When I use Word Document, I lose all of them even the basic function. I cannot move the scream to the left following the big yellow arrows. What I can do is sliding the pages down without any fun.

There is no doubt that Web 1.0 can show the content perfectly. More specifically, it can only keep the words perfectly. There is no video, audio and people’s comment. Web 1.0 is no longer to satisfy people’s demands including mine. If there is only Web 1.0, it is impossible for the musicians to know audiences’ tastes using the way mentioned in the article.

If I use Web 2.0 to read this article, I even cannot be satisfied. Now, I have videos, audios and hypertexts. I can easily move the scream to the left. What’s more, I can share my opinions about this article with others who read the same article as I read. Maybe I will be happy. In fact, I am not so happy. I cannot receive the feedbacks immediately. I am eager to get responses at the same time. Using Web 2.0, musicians cannot design their songs in the way mentioned in the article.

To satisfy most people including me, Social 3.0 is created. I am really happy. I get everything I want. I do not know when I will dissatisfy Social 3.0. What I believe is that our technology will more advanced in the future. 

Response to Data Miner Romance

        I am so surprised when I read this article because it is about the tips on writing perfect profiles on dating sites. Before I reading it, my thoughts are really simple. I never explore the best way to write profiles in dating sites. I know many people in China who post their profiles on dating sites lie. They may use Photoshop to edit their photos. They may make stories on their experiences. After reading it, I know it is worse for people to tell a lie, but they can edit their profiles using the right way to attract more people. For example, people in Dallas can use a photo token with pets, which is the most popular style in Dallas.

        Secondly, I think of Web 2.0. Everyone can get open access to dating sites, posting profiles and meeting their Mr. Right. Let’s go back to the time age when there is no Web 2.0. User can only read the information on the web sites but they cannot make relationships with it. How many people miss their Mr. Rights? There must be a lot of people. As for me, I do not want to use dating sites to find my Mr. Right because I still concern about the truth of the information online.

  

Response to Safety Pin as Signifier

Actually, I do not find any relationship between Social 3.0 and the punk rock when I read the article for the first time. After reading it again, I find that the word “experiment” is repeated for several times. The last sentence also takes my attention. Mr. Martin writes: “there is an unavoidable fragility to this music of our time ... What's next? We don't know (“Safety Pin as Signifier”).” Finally, I know the relationships between Social 3.0 and the punk rock.

Social 3.0 helps scholars explore the punk rock. Mr. Martin and other scholars cannot predict the future of the punk rock. They need more data and communication. Through Social 3.0, they can send surveys to collect the information about audiences’ attitudes towards the punk rock. They can also use Social 3.0 to change data with other scholars. Every scholar can express their opinions and knows others’ opinions at the same time, which is more convenient. What’s more, as for musicians, they need to know audiences’ tastes to protect the punk rock from going to death. Social 3.0 provides a good platform for both musicians and audiences. They can converse and make the punk rock better corporately.

Also, the punk rock helps Social 3.0 grow up. Users are more willing to use Social 3.0 because the punk rock becomes one of the topics. Programmers can find flaws through the actions of users and fix them. So, Social 3.0 can become better.

Entry 1

Social 3.0 is totally different from Web 2.0, which emphasizes synchronously collaboration. Two or more users can verbally communicate with others at the same time using apps or web pages no matter where they are. Referring to Social 3.0, I think TodaysMeet is a good example of it. I use TodaysMeet in my Economy class with my classmates. It is a good platform for everyone to convers. Some students who are afraid of showing their thoughts orally can express themselves verbally on TadaysMeet without concerns. Google Docs Editor is also a good example. In our ENG 3080, we use it to express and present out opinions. It saves time for us because we do not need to spend time changing our computers when we present. Social 3.0 really benefit out life.