The blog I have selected draws on the representation of women in popular advertising ads, particularly with food ads. The blog can be found at http://jezebel.com/5726834/six-overly-popular-lady+images-and-what-they-mean. Please copy and paste this to your browser. The blog overall focuses on a variety of topics ranging from popular music, culture, entertainment, news, etc. The intended audience seems to be for young adults looking to check up on the latest celebrity gossip, stories around the world, and popular culture. This article talks about the ways in which people learn to associate women as being healthy, eating less than men, and as generally happy people because they buy the products that are being aimed at them. This blog discusses how certain foods (salads, nutrition bars, etc) are aimed at women and how as a society we tend to naturally think that women gravitate towards these products. As we previously discussed, the women that we see in popular media are typically young and attractive (meaning that the elderly are often excluded, or when they are included it's to sell us medication).
Conversation starters:
What kind of impression do you receive from these ads about women? In other words, what is the representation of femininity here (how is it being manufactured –can we buy our femaleness)? What are women being led to believe about themselves? And how are men in turn taught to think about women?
How do food advertisers attempt to induce a ‘feeling’ in their audience (how is happiness/satisfaction tied to their product)?
What do people commenting on this blog agree/disagree on? What kinds of things do they pay attention to? Can you expand on any of their ideas?
Can you think of other ways in which these images repeat in advertising? How does this connect to food/drinks targeted towards men (like the craze over Red Bull and Rockstar sports drinks)? What foods are specifically ‘male’ centered?
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
How to Respond to a Blog
Suggested Prompts for Respondents:
As a respondent, you want to provide an insightful, engaging analysis of the featured blog. Approaching the role of respondent without some specific analytic lenses will not provide material that your classmates will want to discuss. Below is a set of prompts that will serve as analytic lenses as you consider the blog that is under consideration in a given week. You only need to choose one of these prompts each week. You’ll find that some will work well for some blogs and not for others. You might find it interesting to use the same prompt more than one week, which will allow you to reflect back on past blogs and draw comparisons. As the quarter progresses, you may want to suggest new prompts to your instructor and your classmates.
1. Analyze the interface of the featured blog. Focusing on visual elements on the home page, make an argument in your comment on the class blog about what the interface implicitly suggests about the blog's central theme(s), values, or identity (see Writing Analytically on how to make the implicit explicit). Make an inference that could be a topic for class discussion and debate.
2. Look for an argument or disagreement occurring in the comments on a particular post on the featured blog. In your comment on the class blog, analyze the key issues and points of contention in the comments. Based on your observations, develop a theory about what blog’s readers value as a community. Use the following questions to get you started:
•What issues or ideas do people seem to agree upon despite the larger disagreement?
•Do people on the blog think some comments are rude or inappropriate, and if so why do you think this is?
•What rhetorical strategies do commenters use to construct their arguments?
•How do commenters reference other comments, and what does that suggest about the nature of interaction within the community?
3. Look for an argument or disagreement occurring in the comments on a particular post on the featured blog. Respond to that argument with a comment of your own on the featured blog. Explain your comment on our class blog and ask our class how they might respond. If you receive a response to your comment on the blog we're analyzing, post an update about how readers responded to your presence or ideas.
4. Look through several posts for any claims about a writer's or several writers' ethos on the featured blog. In your comment, develop an analytical theory about how ethos is working on the blog. Here are some questions to get you started:
•How do writer(s) invoke their education, status, experiences, beliefs, or identity? Do these methods ever backfire (do readers ever respond negatively to a writer's identity, education, etc.?)
•If there are multiple writers contributing to the blog, do you see any similarities or differences in appeals to ethos across posts? What assumptions can you make about the community based on what appeals to ethos bloggers seem to rely upon most? (For example, is education seen as particularly important? Political beliefs? Gender? Anything else?)
5. Look through several posts for any direct references or appeals to the audience on the featured blog (you might look for the use of the pronoun "you"/"we" or for more subtle techniques, such as posing a question to the audience or inviting the audience to respond). Write a comment on our class blog that states your theory about what those appeals to the audience suggest about who the writer believes the audience is, what they believe the audience values, or what the relationship between the writer/audience seems to be (for example, does the writer ask for the audience's opinion or position herself as an authority, or something else entirely?).
6. Look for one instance or several instances in which an author of a post makes a claim or introduces a new idea on the featured blog. In your comment on the class blog, write an interesting analysis of the rhetorical techniques the author uses to make this argument. You might consider the following questions:
•Are any of the ideas particularly controversial, and if so, how does the author attempt to persuade the audience or account for the controversy in advance?
•Look for whether readers generally agree or disagree. Formulate a theory about what the trends you notice suggest about the nature of the community, their values, the purpose of the blog, etc.
•Does the author cite any evidence or an authority on the subject, and if so, who or what is considered persuasive? Do the readers agree? What kind of knowledge does the community seem to value or disagree upon?
•Does the author introduce a new idea by referencing or attempting to improve upon someone else's idea? What might we learn as writer's about how arguments can be built off of or proceed from other arguments? (What's effective and what's not effective?)
7. Read through several posts and comments and formulate a claim about whether or not you think the featured blog actually does anything. In other words, does the blog seem to have any effect on people's knowledge, values, ideas, etc? Provide evidence for your claim in your comment on the class blog.
As a respondent, you want to provide an insightful, engaging analysis of the featured blog. Approaching the role of respondent without some specific analytic lenses will not provide material that your classmates will want to discuss. Below is a set of prompts that will serve as analytic lenses as you consider the blog that is under consideration in a given week. You only need to choose one of these prompts each week. You’ll find that some will work well for some blogs and not for others. You might find it interesting to use the same prompt more than one week, which will allow you to reflect back on past blogs and draw comparisons. As the quarter progresses, you may want to suggest new prompts to your instructor and your classmates.
1. Analyze the interface of the featured blog. Focusing on visual elements on the home page, make an argument in your comment on the class blog about what the interface implicitly suggests about the blog's central theme(s), values, or identity (see Writing Analytically on how to make the implicit explicit). Make an inference that could be a topic for class discussion and debate.
2. Look for an argument or disagreement occurring in the comments on a particular post on the featured blog. In your comment on the class blog, analyze the key issues and points of contention in the comments. Based on your observations, develop a theory about what blog’s readers value as a community. Use the following questions to get you started:
•What issues or ideas do people seem to agree upon despite the larger disagreement?
•Do people on the blog think some comments are rude or inappropriate, and if so why do you think this is?
•What rhetorical strategies do commenters use to construct their arguments?
•How do commenters reference other comments, and what does that suggest about the nature of interaction within the community?
3. Look for an argument or disagreement occurring in the comments on a particular post on the featured blog. Respond to that argument with a comment of your own on the featured blog. Explain your comment on our class blog and ask our class how they might respond. If you receive a response to your comment on the blog we're analyzing, post an update about how readers responded to your presence or ideas.
4. Look through several posts for any claims about a writer's or several writers' ethos on the featured blog. In your comment, develop an analytical theory about how ethos is working on the blog. Here are some questions to get you started:
•How do writer(s) invoke their education, status, experiences, beliefs, or identity? Do these methods ever backfire (do readers ever respond negatively to a writer's identity, education, etc.?)
•If there are multiple writers contributing to the blog, do you see any similarities or differences in appeals to ethos across posts? What assumptions can you make about the community based on what appeals to ethos bloggers seem to rely upon most? (For example, is education seen as particularly important? Political beliefs? Gender? Anything else?)
5. Look through several posts for any direct references or appeals to the audience on the featured blog (you might look for the use of the pronoun "you"/"we" or for more subtle techniques, such as posing a question to the audience or inviting the audience to respond). Write a comment on our class blog that states your theory about what those appeals to the audience suggest about who the writer believes the audience is, what they believe the audience values, or what the relationship between the writer/audience seems to be (for example, does the writer ask for the audience's opinion or position herself as an authority, or something else entirely?).
6. Look for one instance or several instances in which an author of a post makes a claim or introduces a new idea on the featured blog. In your comment on the class blog, write an interesting analysis of the rhetorical techniques the author uses to make this argument. You might consider the following questions:
•Are any of the ideas particularly controversial, and if so, how does the author attempt to persuade the audience or account for the controversy in advance?
•Look for whether readers generally agree or disagree. Formulate a theory about what the trends you notice suggest about the nature of the community, their values, the purpose of the blog, etc.
•Does the author cite any evidence or an authority on the subject, and if so, who or what is considered persuasive? Do the readers agree? What kind of knowledge does the community seem to value or disagree upon?
•Does the author introduce a new idea by referencing or attempting to improve upon someone else's idea? What might we learn as writer's about how arguments can be built off of or proceed from other arguments? (What's effective and what's not effective?)
7. Read through several posts and comments and formulate a claim about whether or not you think the featured blog actually does anything. In other words, does the blog seem to have any effect on people's knowledge, values, ideas, etc? Provide evidence for your claim in your comment on the class blog.
Blog Project Overview
Hi, Students.
At this point you have been assigned to a group and you are starting to become familiar with the blog project objectives.
When it is your groups turn to facilitate a blog, make sure that you include:
1. The title of the blog and its URL
2. A brief description of the blog
3. How this blog is relevant to the course theme.
4. A few conversation starters
Now, step one is fairly simple, just make sure to put the title in quotation marks. In step 2 you should include a description on the nature of the blog (maybe something on the visual elements of the blog or perhaps what seems to be the intended audience, etc). Step 3 is where you should include a brief paragraph (3-5 sentences) on how this particular blog we are reading is connected to our class discussion on gender in the music industry. The site as a whole might not always be relevant, but a specific article in it could be, but you need to explain why. In any case, you should always be able to relate the blog you have selected back to the thematic concerns of the course.
It is also important to note that facilitators will not just simply be posting a blog for everybody else to see, but actually leading and keeping track of the online discussion and making sure that the conversation keeps moving. Essentially, this means that all group members are responsible for reading the featured blog in order to create proper discussion.
In addition to your group collaborating and posting a blog for the week, you will comment on featured blogs by all other groups (so you will also be a respondent).
After a blog is posted, you will need to answer the question "What's going on here?" and using one of the suggested prompts (see blog project handout), provide insight as to how this blog functions and what it is trying to achieve.
If you ever have questions concerning the class blog, including instructions on how to be a facilitator when your turn comes and/or responding to a blog, you can always refer back to the "Blog Project" handout on Carmen, e-mail me at meza.7@osu.edu, ask me at the beginning of class (I will try to have at least 5 minutes open at the start of each class meeting to take questions about anything), or see me during office hours.
At this point you have been assigned to a group and you are starting to become familiar with the blog project objectives.
When it is your groups turn to facilitate a blog, make sure that you include:
1. The title of the blog and its URL
2. A brief description of the blog
3. How this blog is relevant to the course theme.
4. A few conversation starters
Now, step one is fairly simple, just make sure to put the title in quotation marks. In step 2 you should include a description on the nature of the blog (maybe something on the visual elements of the blog or perhaps what seems to be the intended audience, etc). Step 3 is where you should include a brief paragraph (3-5 sentences) on how this particular blog we are reading is connected to our class discussion on gender in the music industry. The site as a whole might not always be relevant, but a specific article in it could be, but you need to explain why. In any case, you should always be able to relate the blog you have selected back to the thematic concerns of the course.
It is also important to note that facilitators will not just simply be posting a blog for everybody else to see, but actually leading and keeping track of the online discussion and making sure that the conversation keeps moving. Essentially, this means that all group members are responsible for reading the featured blog in order to create proper discussion.
In addition to your group collaborating and posting a blog for the week, you will comment on featured blogs by all other groups (so you will also be a respondent).
After a blog is posted, you will need to answer the question "What's going on here?" and using one of the suggested prompts (see blog project handout), provide insight as to how this blog functions and what it is trying to achieve.
If you ever have questions concerning the class blog, including instructions on how to be a facilitator when your turn comes and/or responding to a blog, you can always refer back to the "Blog Project" handout on Carmen, e-mail me at meza.7@osu.edu, ask me at the beginning of class (I will try to have at least 5 minutes open at the start of each class meeting to take questions about anything), or see me during office hours.
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