1. The importance of considering audience when creating text or new media – I learned this while working on the various projects for the class and while creating my blog. When working on these, I considered who my audience was and what appeals I could make in order to effectively convey my message to my audience.

2. The reflective power of the blog – When I composed my blog, I used it as much for self reflection as for informing and persuading my readers. Creating a blog post required that I analyze my own beliefs, and this self assessment allowed me to reflect on my views and beliefs and become more aware of where I actually stand on important issues such as the election.

3. The extent to which new media has spread into the everyday lives of Americans – In general, I do not notice the amount of time that I spend on facebook, youtube, and similar sites. However, through the class discussions and readings, I now realize that these sites, which have evolved into internet giants only in last several years, occupy a significant portion of my daily life. This realization has also led me to understand….

4. Internet sites such as youtube and facebook have an incredible amount of persuasive power – Youtube’s power to persuade can often be overlooked. However, the high traffic that videos receive on the site allows them to reach a mass audience. If the video is skillfully crafted and effectively articulates its point, it will reach a large audience thank to the popularity of youtube. Facebook works in a similar fashion. I never realized it before discussing it in class, but Facebook is littered with political ads as well as commercial advertisements. Also, groups, bumper stickers, and other features all for candidates and organizations to actively contact people and provide them with information.

5. The internet is vast, and it takes power, motivation, luck, or a combination of the three to get yourself noticed – This point was illustrated by the blogs and youtube videos that we created for class. All were entertaining and informative, yet virtually none of them received significant traffic from anyone outside of our class. It is hard work to get yourself noticed on the web.

For me, the biggest question that remains unanswered is how will digital media continue to progress as my generation comes into power. Currently, there is still a negative stereotype that surrounds things such as copyright infringement and illegal downloading. However, my generation has a much more lax approach. We generally do not care about copyrights, as evidenced by the copyrighted material that is available on youtube, LimeWire, torrents, and other such sources. Furthermore, we have been numbed to feeling any remorse about stealing music via the same mechanism. There is a current call for more severe crackdowns on those who infringe on copyrights, but I feel that as our generation moves into power this call will be silenced and the copyright as it exists today will become an antiquated form.

The way that I view and analyze the world around me has been altered due to this class. Previously, when I read or viewed something I did so in order to either derive information or find enjoyment. Now, I am much more attentive to the meaning that a work has. In particular, I pay attention to the way in which the author attempts to target his audience. For example, when watching a speech or a oral presentation, I pay attention for examples of emotional appeals or enthymemes. I did analyze presentations that I saw prior to this class, but I now have a whole new set of tools and terms that help me to more specifically identify how the author/speaker is attempting to convey his message and whether he is successful in this attempt.

The question of what it means to be an engaged citizen within a democracy boils down to how much a person attempts to inform himself and remain active. The issue of information is a huged one. In order for someone to act within the fabric of a democratic system, he must understand the issues on which he is acting. If everyone within a democratic system fails to seek out the neccessary information, then democratic votes become uninformed button pushing that do not really address issues but rather reflect the uninformed whims on which voters make decisions. As long as voters seek information and understand the issues, then they will be able to properly address the issues via their votes. In terms of how much activity is required to be defined as “engaged,” the process of researching an issue and casting a vote on it qualifies. By voting, a person is exercising the unique power that the democratic system bestows on them, and this qualifies as being an engaged democratic citizen.

In terms of the potential characteristics of my target audience, I would list them as follows:

• College football fan. Within this rather large grouping, I would say that my blog will be well received by a majority of college football fans since the predominant feeling seems to be in favor of a playoff. Those college football fans who support the BCS will take exception to my blog, but I hope that my blog is persuasive enough to show them that the BCS is not the proper system and needs to be reformed.
• Interested in the economy of the areas in which the bowls are being held. My blog will influence this group to not support the BCS since it often does not provide the most intriguing match ups for each bowl site. A playoff system like the one that I propose would benefit each area because it would create more entertaining and hyped match ups that would draw more people to each region, thus boosting its economy.
• Interested in Barack Obama. This characteristic stems from his recent comments about the BCS. These comments have drawn significant attention from national media outlets. I support Obama’s position that we need a playoff. However, my blog will be critical of Obama’s attempts to involve himself in college football when there are much more pressing issues that require his attention.

Since my blog served as a reflective piece and since each post was as much a stream of consciousness as it was a planned magnum opus, I cannot say that I had an overly specific intended audience for my blog. The political nature of the writing limits the appeal to those who are interested in politics (particularly on a national scale). This is really the only unifying quality that I would say that my intended audience had. However, I never intentionally took my audience into consideration when writing a blog post. My focus was on making sure that each post was intelligent, reflected my opinions, and was written in a manner that demonstrated the sarcastic wit that is so great a part of my personality.

The process of creating each post was not overly complicated. First, I would select a hot topic issue (such as Obama’s comments about putting lipstick on a pig). Next, I would spend several minutes reflecting on the issue, gathering my thoughts, and mentally composing a general outline of the points that I wanted to mention. With this mental checklist in place, I would simply sit down and start writing whatever came to my mind about each point. That is why I referred earlier to my blog posts as steams of consciousness. I had a general direction in which I wanted the post to move, but other than that, I wrote my thoughts about the issue as they arose within my head. This creative process helped to reinforce the reflective element of my blog. When my post was complete, I would read back through the post and identify areas where outside sources might substantiate my claims. I would then visit CNN and other sites to find statistics such as polling numbers that validated the point that I was making. Finally, I would give each post a quick proofread, but nothing too extensive for the nature of blogs dictates that they should have an informal quality to them.

I did not draw inspiration from any outside sources for my blog. I have read numerous political blogs and I have perused my classmates blogs throughout the semester, but I did not allow these other blogs to have an impact on mine. I wanted my blog to be unique. I left the format plain, and I wrote with white text on a black background. For me, the important thing was maintaining my voice within each post. I wanted my blog to be a reflection of me, and therefore I wanted my unique sarcastic wit and my own viewpoints to shine through in each post. The only inspiration that I could say that I drew from other blogs was the basic blog format itself.

I feel that all of the posts that I made to The Magic Bus were good, but I would say that my top 3 are as follows:

1. Some Late Night Blogging on Palin – While it was one of my earliest posts, I feel that this post reflects one of my political pet peeves quite well. I personally feel that each voter has the duty to educate themselves, and this post demonstrates just how easily that task can be achieved. Furthermore, I feel that the bulleted, streamlined nature of this post makes it easy to read and thus an effective communicator of my points.

2. Oink Oink – This post focused on the McCain campaign and its attack on Obama concerning the lipstick on a pig comments. This post was significant because it represents the first post in which I am overly critical of the Republican Party. I technically consider myself a Republican, and this post represents my ability to still be critical of my own party when I feel that they are making mistakes.

3. The Debate… well, the speech…. well, whatever that was last night – This is by far my favorite blog post. This post reflects everything that I tried to include in my posts each week. I am critical of each candidate, and the post accurately reflects my opinions on the debate and each candidate’s performance. Most importantly, in this post more than any other my sarcastic wit is present, and I feel that it adds a humorous nature to the post while not making the post so silly that it does not have any credibility.

The reason that the BCS cannot match the two best teams in a decisive game is simple: there is too much parity in collegiate football. In past decades, two or three teams dominated the college landscape each year. Now, there are often as many as eight teams who could make legitimate claims to be in the title game. In order to resolve the issue, a playoff system needs to be created that will match the best eight teams at the end of the season. The BCS formula can be used to determine the top eight teams, but it should not be used to determine the top two as it currently is.

For my blog, I will analyze the BCS in real time. Since the college football season has two weeks remaining, the controversy concerning the BCS is just beginning. I will offer my own reflections on the BCS and the current college football landscape, and I will also link to articles and videos that pertain to the controversy surrounding the BCS as the selection of the titles game participants nears.

Link: http://bcsboo.wordpress.com/

• Digital music and illegal sharing
• Copyright and its place in modern culture
• Campaign ads
• Steroid use in sports
• The BCS system in college football
• The death penalty
• Affirmative action
• The positives and negatives of Facebook

Now that I have had a couple weeks to reflect on the election, my feelings of disappointment have been tempered greatly. At the time, I was angry that the candidate that I supported did not win. In hind sight, neither candidate was anything special, and it was not worth becoming that upset over mediocre candidates. In all reality, either candidate would have been fine for the country. I say fine. Not great. Not fantastic. Just fine. Our country will not suffer under Obama, but I do not believe that it will return to past times of prosperity.

And so here is my final reflection coming out of the election: can we please nominate some good candidates next time around. Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, someone. Lets put some candidates on the ballot who actually have the potential to initiate change (and yes, that means that I do not think that Obama can). We need candidates who are about more than publicity and their celebrity status. We had a weak election this year. It was sort of like having a World Series between the two .500 teams. Next time, lets put the Yankees and Mets on the field.

The video makes use of a tranquil background beat throughout virtually all of the movie. Information is convayed via plain white text written on a black background. The majority of the visuals in the movie are still pictures, many of which are labeled in order to point out the intended points of interest. There are some video clips spliced in throughout. All of them are muted, sans one that features a newscaster discussing the collapse of the second tower. Finally, there is one animation that is featured during the movie. However, this animation is borrowed from another source.

It is important to note that this video is essentially a compilation of videos, photos, and information regarding the collapse of the towers. There is no new information that the author of the video advances. Rather, he attempts to take the findings of various studies and combine them with videos and photos in a multimedia format that is more convincing than simply reading the information. The background music also serves to keep the audiences attention focused on the video. Without the music, the video would be a slideshow and would rely solely on its content to enthrall the reader. I am not arguing that the content is not captivating; I am just saying that read text, view picture, reperat would get monotonous after two minutes, and thus the background music provides an extra layer of entertainment to hold the audiences attention. Therefore, the video is a perfect blend of pleasing audio and informational video. The combination serves to effectively communicate the videos points concerning the errant arguements of 9/11 conspiracy theorists.

The intended audience of this video is very broad. One group it is directly aimed at is the conspiracy theorists. Another target audience is those who are persuing more information conerning 9/11 conspiracy theories. This group could include researchers, students, and even those who are simply browsing through youtube videos and happen to stumble upon the videos which purport government coverups and malicious acts by the White House. The video’s purpose is clear: to relay to all those watching that the government had no involvement in the 9/11 attacks. This purpose seems to suggest that the kairos of the video was limited to a period of time immediately after 9/11, but the video actaully has a kairos that stretches even to today. The 9/11 conspiracy movement continues to churn out new material, and as long as the conspiracy theorists continue to keep their theories at the forefront of people’s attention, this movie will still have a purpose to debunk the idiodic theories that are presented.

The appeals made by the text are purely logical, and in the context of this video, that is all that is neccessary. The appeals are made mainly by citing a fact and then using a photo or video to illustrate that point. For example, text states that the support tresses in the building began to bow inward prior to the collapse. Actual photos from 9/11 are then used to show that the bowing did infact occur (these photos are even labeled for the viewers convenience). This sort of logical appeal is repeated over and over until anyone watching the movie with any common sense is forced to come to the conclussion that the towers fell as a result of the plane crashes and the fires and not as a result of some secret government bombing.

Positives:

-No more campaign adds every commercial break. I will be especially glad to never have to see another commercial for Ohio Issue 6.

-We will finally have our new leader behind whom we can unite. America will no longer have to be divided over candidates and issues. Whoever wins the election deserves Americas full support, especially considering current economic and political occurances.

-There will actually be something intertaining that preempts all television programing. Last week all major shows were repeats due to the World Series, which was boring to say the least. Plus, who doesn’t love waiting with anxious anticipation for CNN to “officially call” a state for a candidate. And then there are the exit polls, which are extremelly reliable…. or not. No matter how inaccurate or at times comical the networks full blown coverage of the election might be, it still makes for some great television watching.

-I will not have to hear the words “….and I approve this message” for a year.

There are so many more positives that could potentially be listed, but lets move to some negatives:

-House is not on FOX. For those who are fans of House, you feel my pain. For those who do not watch House, you don’t know what your missing.

-CNN, MSNBC, and FOX NEWS will quickly run out of ideas for stories without the ability to just default to discussion about the election every hour. As a result, we will get a lot more of this:

-No more campaign ads. Yes, I know I complained about some of them above, but there is the occasionalad that is so absurd that it just makes you laugh.

-And the final negative: I will most likely never see this commercial again:

This election has had a lot of peculiar events, but Barack Obama might just take the cake with his own rap mixtape. (For those who are not familiar with rap, mixtapes are huge in urban cultures, and they generally feature new tracks by an artist or a collection of new and popular tracks by many artists. Songs that are released on cds are usually released at least a month earlier on various mixtapes.) The title of the mixtape is “Yes We Can,” and the mixtape has received the official stamp of approval from Obama’s campaign. Featured are artists such as NAS, Jay-Z, David Banner, Akon, John Mayer, Russell Simmons, Busta Rhymes, and Kanye West. This is some serious firepower for Obama to roll out. All of the songs deal with Obama and politics in some way, and interlude tracks feature spoken testimonies by artists as well as snippets of Obama speaking. For those interested, the mixtape can be downloaded here (just fyi it is rap music, so for those who are easily offended consider this a warning. The songs are fairly tame by rap standards, but I am just saying.)

The creation of a rap cd about a candidate and a campaigns choice to officially supprot the cd raised numerous questions that pertain to new media and the current election. First, the availability of the mixtape for download on the internet makes it accessible to anyone with internet access. Second, the new era of mp3 audio and rapid file downloads allows a candidate like Obama to utilize these for his benefit. The most interesting aspect of the mixtape though is that it features a genre of music that is barely 20 years old. Hip hop is considered by many to be what rock and roll was in the 1950s. It viewed by many as too loud, too crude, too rebellious. However, it has a huge following among teens and twenty year olds. Also, rap music has almost monopolized the market in inner cities. And so who does this mixtape target? It targets rap fans everywhere, but specifically Obama is making one final push to secure as many young voters as he can while reinforcing his popular standing among African Americans.The star studded lineup that sings Obama’s praises does a lot to advance his standing among these groups. While celebrity endorsements are not going to win an election or even make a huge change in poll numbers, such a wide array of popular artists supporting Obama cannot be viewed as a negative.

There is a question that has to be raised about the advancement of politics into the entertainment industry. A mixtape like Yes We Can or a documentary like Fahrenheit 9/11 are fine and can be very effective political tools, but there has to be some separation between politics and entertainment. Yes, including politics within entertainment is a great way to force Americans to pay attention to issues and consider current problems. I can concede this point. However, there is a certain nature of entertainment that dies if politics and current events become too evasive. Entertainment is supposed to be a means for escaping from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It provides a distraction from stresses, a means for altering ones mood, etc. If politics become too involved in entertainment, then where does the escape come from? Besides, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CPSAN 1-100 all have already provided the opportunity for getting political news and current events 24/7. And so I leave politicians with a final plea: please leave entertainment alone and keep your campaigning out of the one form of relaxation that still remains for many Americans.

Created by Pat Vernon, Laura Iacabelli, and Kevin Warbis.

I have also inclcuded below my reflective piece on our remix and the remix process in general. Please enjoy and feel free to comment.

What Is Remix?

The composition of our political remix was a lengthy process that involved several key steps. The first major obstacle in the creation of our remix was the selection of a topic. This step was the most challenging because it directly stipulated how all other aspects of the remix would be formed. In order to compile audio and video to even begin any remix, a central theme must be created so that the theme can be sought in the audio and video that is used for the project. Therefore, a project can go nowhere without the initial brainstorming phase that yields the purpose of the project. This phase was made difficult in our project by a condition that should make it easy: an abundance of possible topics. For our group, there were four possible main characters for the remix (Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin), and potential issues about each star were countless. There was a massive pool of topics from which to choose, and our choice was crucial because it would affect every stage of our project. Ultimately, we decided to focus on John McCain and his anger for two reasons. First, there was a large collection of videos featuring an angry McCain on YouTube. In making our decision for a possible theme, our group scoured YouTube in search of issues that were featured in multiple videos. The issues/candidates that were featured the most in YouTube videos moved to the forefront of possible topics. Second, all of the members of our group were familiar with McCain and the issues surrounding him, and thus we felt confident that we could create a video that spoke intelligently about the topic of McCain’s anger.

Selecting McCain as the main character for our video was a choice made based on the political interests of our group members, but the choice to use McCain’s anger as the main topic was influenced by the purpose and intended audience of our remix. The purpose of our video was not to discredit McCain as a potential candidate for President of the United States, but rather to highlight one potential shortcoming of McCain. We chose to focus on McCain’s anger because it is an issue that has been mentioned during the election but has never been brought to the forefront. Articles in magazines such as Newsweek have discussed McCain’s anger, but they have not taken a firm stance on whether his anger is a positive or negative aspect. Our video takes a similar approach. The initial impression garnered from watching our video is that it is an attack against McCain for being a loose cannon. However, this is not the real purpose. Rather, our video merely seeks to call attention to McCain’s anger and provoke thought about whether it is an issue that should be considered prior to the election. Because our video aims to arouse thought among Americans during a time of election, our target audience is therefore American voters, especially those who are still undecided and weighing various issues prior to making a decision.

With a theme, purpose, and audience established, the creation of our remix began. Our group started the process by downloading as many YouTube videos as possible that pertained to John McCain’s anger. During the second presidential debate, there was a significant portion that focused on nuclear power, and our group decided to spin the word “nuclear” in order to describe McCain’s anger. Therefore, we downloaded videos that included McCain speaking about nuclear power and nuclear threats. These videos concerning McCain’s position on nuclear matters were then juxtaposed with the videos of McCain’s anger in order to create the intended association between the term nuclear and McCain’s anger. The final element of our video was the famous Lyndon Johnson ad “Daisy Girl.” This ad focused on the nuclear threat to America during the Cold War, but by including it at the end of our video we were able to shift the meaning from that of a warning against nuclear attacks to a warning against McCain’s nuclear anger.

The composition of our remix had many differences compared to the process normally used to draft a paper. The only similarity was that both a paper and remix rely heavily on outside sources (text, audio, or video) in order to validate their theses. However, the way in which the outside sources are utilized is entirely different. In a paper, the outside sources corroborate the arguments made by the paper’s author. In remix, the outside sources are pliable materials that actually comprise the entire piece. In manipulating the outside sources, another major difference between remix and writing arises. When composing a paper, a general outline is usually drafted and followed. This outline provides guidance in writing a paper and allows for the creation of a unified piece. The creation of remix needs no outline but instead requires only a general idea. Videos pertaining to a common theme can be added into a movie editor, and the remixers can then experiment with various arrangements of sound and video until a rough product is created. Thus, there is much more room for spontaneity and experimentation in remix than in the preplanned world of composition.

Despite its flexible nature, remix still depends heavily on some major rhetorical techniques. Enthymeme is an indispensible element of remix. Every remix has a major premise, and all of the multimedia elements that are employed during production become minor premises. The arrangement of the minor premises allows for the utilization of virtually any rhetorical technique. If the remix is cut word by word, then any technique from zeugma to chiasmus can be utilized. However, remixes are generally composed of video clips that are not cut on a word by word basis, and in this case, the rhetorical strategies available are limited. When whole sentences are lifted from speeches, the ability to use strategies such as anaphora is virtually removed unless the clip contains a preexisting instance of the rhetorical device. Despite the impossibility of utilizing a rhetorical device within a lengthy clip, it is still possible to incorporate some techniques. This is done by juxtaposing clips in a manner that utilizes such strategies as repetition, correction, or paradox.

While the nature of the clips and the precision with which they are cut affects the specific rhetorical strategies that can be employed, there are several overarching concepts of rhetoric that will always be present in any remix. These concepts are ethos, pathos, and kairos. Ethos is present in remix, but the personality of the person or persons portrayed can be manipulated by the creators. The remixers have free reign to portray a subject in whatever manner they like. For example, The Daily Show uses remix in order to create a negative ethos for President Bush. On the other hand, political ads use remixes in order to portray their candidates in a positive light. No matter how unbiased a remix might be, it will still create a unique ethos for each person portrayed. Building off of ethos is pathos. All remixes have some intended emotional response that they wish to evoke within their audiences. Comical remixes aim to elicit a positive, lighthearted response; serious attack ads play to the fear of their audiences; laudatory ads seek to arouse hope, joy, and confidence. The amount to which the remix is able to evoke its intended emotions determines how successful the remix is. However, these emotions would not be present if it were not for the kairos of the remix. Remixes are generally not intended to be lasting pieces. Instead, they focus on contemporary issues and emotions. The best example is political ads, which are based solely on the temporary kairos that is the election season. Political ads run outside of election season would not be well received or effective due to their inappropriate timing. Therefore, remixes are temporary. They thrive in the moment for which they were intended, but once the kairos shifts, the remixes lose their clout and become reminders of a past kairotic moment.

The composition of our remix was an opportunity to explore both the unlimited potential of new media and my own political beliefs. Any time that a remixer sets out to create a new piece, (s)he must first analyze his/her own beliefs. This period of reflection is important in remix, because a good remix will not be spawned from disinterest and a lack of passion. For me, I was forced to analyze my opinions about John McCain before creating a piece about him. While I support McCain, my reflection, especially on the issue of his anger, generated new concerns and viewpoints that I had not critically analyzed before. For the first time, I debated whether McCain’s anger was a potential detriment to his ability to lead. I found this internal dialogue to be interesting and worthwhile, and thus I knew that our remix would stimulate positive thought among its audience. In terms of working with the media to create an interesting remix, I discovered the unlimited potential of YouTube. In the past, I have edited and created many school videos, but they all used as their base footage that was shot with the express intent of creating a movie. Using YouTube clips is at first challenging, because the variety of clips creates a staggering number of potential topics. However, once a topic is selected, YouTube is an almost limitless source of raw materials for the creation of remix. By utilizing YouTube, a remixer can create a piece about virtually any topic of his/her choosing.