Carl Jewell
English 103-56
April 16, 2009
In the multimedia project there may not have been a single thing that the group did not all work together on at some point. I have never been in such a productive and willing to work group. Personally, I took a lot of the initiative in the group. I would start something and the group would expand and put the finishing touches on whatever was at hand. The first thing I did was I started the Facebook group. I went online found a nice picture and set all the settings to make the group, including a privacy setting to keep out unwanted classmates looking for ideas. Then I went and requested everyone to join the group, making them administrators so that they had the same control over the group page as I did. I posted wall posts on ideas for a media source including a website, and topics on which we could do our project. Ideas that I came up with included obesity in America, the effects of coffee on society, President Obama’s success or lack thereof since he has been in office, what type of materials should be allowed to air on television channels and in movies, and renewable energy source, which ended up being the topic we decided to use. Next I checked out the websites for making your own website. Several of these proved to be harder to use, and I decided Yola.com would be the best and easiest way to create our website. I searched the internet for some basic, yet captivating, pictures for headers of the site, found some good ones, and after some formatting added them to the site. Then when we met in class again, we decided on who would do what research for what topics. I was designated fossil fuels, targeting particularly on some of the flaws that fossil fuels have in comparison to renewable energy sources. Once our site was up, one of the headings I added was the Clemson tab, which integrated our project with the personal experience our college campus is taking part in renewable energy sources. We decided to make a home video to put on this page of the site and I volunteered to use my camera that had video capabilities. I also did research and helped make the script that would be used for the movie clip. I recorded and had the idea of using the computer screen as a teleprompter for Claire and myself to read off of. As a group we sat down at the library and we each put our own ideas for the outline and beginning of the group paper. Overall we really worked together very well for the completion of the project.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Multimedia Brainstorming
In brainstorming for the multimedia project my group and I came up with several promising ideas. First we started with what type of multimedia area we wanted to do our project in. The ideas for a movie or a website were our biggest, and I even suggested putting a small video on the website. Ultimately the website idea prevailed. The first of the ideas for a topic was renewable energy, the promotion of new ideas of energy and moving away from fossil fuels would be the central idea for this website. Then ideas for the film and TV industry were discussed in which what should be allowed in the media and the technologies emerging in today’s society for the films, movies, and television. Next, the idea of critic and analysis of how President Obama is holding up so far in his efforts of what he said he would do and plans to still do. Is he living up to the high seat he put himself in? Coffee was also an idea that came up. Is coffee good or bad for society? What effects does it have in health and other key areas like social interactions and the economy? The health issue idea that coffee represented triggered the idea for doing obesity in America. Ideas like how bad it is for your health, how it is looked down upon in society were key ideas in this matter. With so many good ideas, our team should have no problem in finding and deciding on what to do for the project.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
A Resonponse to "Gorgias"
Though this is a highly well written persuasive argument, its classic level of language and different sentence structures, for effect, make it difficult to read. One spends more time trying to figure out what is actually being said than thinking about the points and analysis of what is being said. In today’s time, it would be illogical to present this to people and expect them to understand completely what is being conveyed. Chapter 7 in the Envision in Depth textbook opens with the idea of decorum. This work was clearly not meant for the average person of our time. The intended audience is from a different time, where speaking in this manner was more common. I had a difficult time reading it, and I am a well educated college student and know a little about Greek history. Ultimately it was effective in its purpose of arguing to prove Helen’s point but it was not efficient in its delivery for this era, and being engineering major, I strive for efficiency.
The argument made in this text is that Helen has been represented as a horrible person in history, guilty of deceit and treason, and that this is just a misconception. The arguments for Helen’s actions include falling in love, the power of persuasive speech, being taken in an unwilling manner, or being forced by the gods. Helen was a beautiful woman, who was said to be the daughter of Zeus. Many men desired for her love, and this brought great men together to achieve great goals. It was not her fault she was thrown into this position.
One of the arguments was that humans were forced to do the gods bidding. The gods are stronger, smarter, and superior to humans, allowing them to rule over humans. So the blame should be placed on Fate and the gods and not the person that was forced by the gods to do their bidding.
The next argument was that Helen was taken away from her homeland, friends, and family should not have the blame placed on her, but on the person who took her, Paris. This point is assuming that Paris forced her to leave, which would have been considered rape and kidnapping, or he used rhetoric and persuasion to lure her away. The idea is that Helen was a victim and should be pitied for her loss
The idea of persuasion leads to the next argument in which the power of persuasion is to intense for humans to resist. Speech, particularly persuasion is very powerful and it is a tool used by Helen’s taker. Because humans cannot see into the future or easily recall the past, they take opinion, formed by persuasion, into their decisions and make it part of them. Persuasion can be bending facts and lies; this would lead humans to make “slippery and insecure” decisions. A powerful line in the argument was “The effect of speech upon the condition of the soul is comparable to the power of drugs on the nature of bodies.” Some drugs are good and can be used to help people; others are bad and can harm people, just as persuasion can do the same. Furthermore the idea that persuasion can have a type of witchcraft in it, and that it was used in persuading Helen to leave her home is addressed. It was not Helen’s fault that persuasion made her believe what was said and the justification for the actions she took.
The argument that followed this last one on the persuasion of speech, was about the persuasion of sight. The sense of sight has a powerful effect on humans and spurs them to make decisions based on what they see. Visions that are pleasing can urge the mind for desire and love. Thus, it was not Helen’s fault but human nature’s fault. Love is a power of the god’s; a lesser being could not refuse such a persuasive power.
Whether Helen’s actions were caused by falling in love, the power of persuasive speech, being taken in an unwilling manner, or being forced by the gods, it was undoubtedly not her fault. Greater forces than her own were at work, and she was no match for them.
The argument made in this text is that Helen has been represented as a horrible person in history, guilty of deceit and treason, and that this is just a misconception. The arguments for Helen’s actions include falling in love, the power of persuasive speech, being taken in an unwilling manner, or being forced by the gods. Helen was a beautiful woman, who was said to be the daughter of Zeus. Many men desired for her love, and this brought great men together to achieve great goals. It was not her fault she was thrown into this position.
One of the arguments was that humans were forced to do the gods bidding. The gods are stronger, smarter, and superior to humans, allowing them to rule over humans. So the blame should be placed on Fate and the gods and not the person that was forced by the gods to do their bidding.
The next argument was that Helen was taken away from her homeland, friends, and family should not have the blame placed on her, but on the person who took her, Paris. This point is assuming that Paris forced her to leave, which would have been considered rape and kidnapping, or he used rhetoric and persuasion to lure her away. The idea is that Helen was a victim and should be pitied for her loss
The idea of persuasion leads to the next argument in which the power of persuasion is to intense for humans to resist. Speech, particularly persuasion is very powerful and it is a tool used by Helen’s taker. Because humans cannot see into the future or easily recall the past, they take opinion, formed by persuasion, into their decisions and make it part of them. Persuasion can be bending facts and lies; this would lead humans to make “slippery and insecure” decisions. A powerful line in the argument was “The effect of speech upon the condition of the soul is comparable to the power of drugs on the nature of bodies.” Some drugs are good and can be used to help people; others are bad and can harm people, just as persuasion can do the same. Furthermore the idea that persuasion can have a type of witchcraft in it, and that it was used in persuading Helen to leave her home is addressed. It was not Helen’s fault that persuasion made her believe what was said and the justification for the actions she took.
The argument that followed this last one on the persuasion of speech, was about the persuasion of sight. The sense of sight has a powerful effect on humans and spurs them to make decisions based on what they see. Visions that are pleasing can urge the mind for desire and love. Thus, it was not Helen’s fault but human nature’s fault. Love is a power of the god’s; a lesser being could not refuse such a persuasive power.
Whether Helen’s actions were caused by falling in love, the power of persuasive speech, being taken in an unwilling manner, or being forced by the gods, it was undoubtedly not her fault. Greater forces than her own were at work, and she was no match for them.
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