Eight Artifacts

Blog Post #5:

As someone who has always believed that hand written notes are superior to notes taken on
computers, the main rhetoric is this article is something that I agree with. Personally I have
always felt that handwriting notes is the best way to commit something to memory. In this
article Konnikova advances my argument with the use of credible facts and statistics. She
writes about a 2012 study in where children who had not yet learned how to read or write
were given an index card with a letter or shape on it, and were asked to recreate the image
in one of three ways; trace the image on a page with a dotted line, draw it on a blank white
sheet or type it on a computer. The researchers noticed that the children who had chose to
draw the image had activated areas of the brain that were activated in adults when they
read and write. This study was something that made me believe that handwriting notes were
far superior to taking notes on a computer.
What Dr. James is saying is that by simply producing an outline of the shape the final
product could vary and the result is that only producing an outline does not activate the
same parts of the brain. James later says that when a kid writes a messy letter that it may
help them learn it. She believes that despite the fact the the child may have not written the
letter to perfection that their failure can serve as a solid learning experience. She believes
that by trial and error most children will eventually be able to reach the point where they
can activate the pieces of the brain that were activated when the kids who chose to draw
the image. In other words messiness does play a key role.

I chose to write about this blog post because it was written in response to an article thats main
rhetoric was something that I completely agreed with. I have always felt that taking handwritten
notes is a much better way to commit your notes to memory as opposed to taking notes on your
computer. The author did a good job back backing up her main rhetorical argument with
valuable information from studies and statistics.

ILA #5:

The main goal of the original article written by Carlos Marin is to figure out whether or not
meritocracy is defined by socio economic status. In the bibliography Marin cites an incredibly
informative interactive article from the New York Times. The article he sites is titled "Class
Matters" and it provides a series of easy to read bar graphs and pie charts that shows valuable
statistical information about the correlation between social class and financial success. The
article also provides a slideshow of four different American citizens and it provides a short
biography about their current socio economic status. For example, it tells the story of Maurice
Mitchell, a 37 year old who owns his family septic tank company, has a high school education, a
mortgage on his home, and is the single parent of two children. It is clear that Marin uses the
information he found in the New York Times article to come closer to answering the question as
to whether or not meritocracy is defined by socio economic status. The difference between
Marin's article and the article in the New York Times is that he considers both sides of the
argument while the other article is dead set on the idea that social class does matter when it come
to experiencing financial success in the United States.
I chose to write about this ILA because it taught me the process that it takes
to thoroughly analyze the credibility of a source that I am considering to use
in my final paper. After completing this ILA I know that there are many things
to consider when choosing a source to use in your paper in college. Aspects
such as the bias, authority, content, and the date are all things that must be
considered before choosing a particular source for your paper.

Blog Post #2:

The weird chart from 2015 that caught my eye was the one the shows the way you really
should dance to the song shout compared to the way the person conducting the experiment
actually dances to the song. The chart contains two lines; a dotted line representing the perfect
way to dance to the song and a straight line representing the way the person conducting the
experiment danced to the song. The Y-axis shows the contains the mans height in inches and
the X-axis maps out 5 second increments of the song starting at the 2:55 mark. The chart is also
split into two parts. The 2:55 mark to the 3:25 mark is colored with a litter shade of blue which
represents the portion of the song when The Isley Brothers sing "a little bit softer now". The 3:25
mark all the way to the 3:45 mark is colored with a darker shade of blue and represents the
portion of the song when they sing "a little bit louder now" The main point that this chart is trying
to convey is that the average joe is not dancing to the song correctly. The song is known for the
sounds quiet descent and the famous dance that goes along with it. The chart shows the way
you can dance to the song with perfection. It shows that the best way to dance to the song is to
start your descent at around the 2:55 mark when the Isley brothers first utter the lyrics "a little bit
softer now". The person conducting this experiment is about 72 inches. If he were to dance to
the song to perfection, he would be squatting to 40 inches at around the 3:25 mark and then
slowly make his way back up to his normal height at the 3:45 mark. The portion of the graph
depicting the way he actually dances shows that he reaches his lowest point (40 inches) at the
3:15 mark and remains there until the 3:25 mark leaving him at his lowest point for an awkward
10 seconds until The Isley Brothers begin to pick up the pace and start to sing "a little bit louder
now". The main message that this line graph is trying to convey is that it is pretty difficult for the
average joe to perfectly time out the descent and rise of the pace of the song. The song "shout"
is a timeless classic and has been playing at parties for people to dance to ever since its release
in 1959. In this chart we do see the use of pathos. The song "shout" appeals to our emotions
because it is such a timeless hit that spreads across many generations. When I looked at this
chart I thought about times that I have danced to this song. I could relate to the person who
made this chart, as someone who has probably made my descent in that song a little too fast as
well. Overall I think this is a funny, relatable chart, that is easy to read and I do not believe any
amount of bias directed towards the audience.

I chose to write about this blog post because this exercise taught me how to
property analyze the credibility of visual data. I learned that just because
data that may be presented in a way that is easy to read and aesthetically
pleasing does not necessarily mean that it is credible. After this exercise I
learned that the information that a graph or a data table presents is not
always accurate because of disproportionate intervals.

Blog Post #8:

The point Carr is trying to make in this piece is that with the advancement in
technology over the past decade, some of our basic skills as humans are
being diminished. He is saying that humans are slowly becoming less
capable of of completing simple tasks they may have been able to complete
as we become more reliant on technology. He is saying that the use of
automatic technology is separating us from reality and because of the recent
advancements in automatic technology our, it harms our ability to commit
simple mental and physical tasks. He also talks about how advancements in
automatic technology can lead to consequential mistakes in both medicine
and aviation because of the heavy reliance on automatic technology in those
fields. I believe that the points being made in this piece are definitional. Carr
first discusses the nature of the problem and then becomes more and more
specific when identifying the issue. He talks about the kind of problem it is
and also breaks down the issue into parts and questions how they are
related. He talks about how on the surface, the advancements in automatic
technology may seem helpful, but in reality, they are a problem in our
society today.

Carr uses several different ways to advance his rhetoric. Most notably, he
begins with a study talking about the use of electronic medical records. He
says that the use of electronic medical records can save the medical industry
billions of dollars and advance the quality of care. But he does say that
despite all that it can cause a lot of problems. He argues, with the help of a
study, that checking medical records and drug interactions on a computer
are not good and that that type of interaction should be one that is face to
face.

I chose to write about this blog post because it was an interesting article that
pointed out an important issue in our society as we become heavily reliant
on the use of technology. The main rhetoric in this piece was basic human
skills are being diminished because of our recent advancements in
technology over the past decade. My opinion on this topic has not changed. I
still completely agree with the author and think that as we invent more
technology we need to become mindful of the fact that our basic skills are
slowly diminishing.
ILA #2:

This data table is trying to figure out the relationship between boys and girls,
ages 13-14, and how many of them have smartphones and how many of
them use Facebook and Twitter. What this chart is saying is that if you are a
13-14-year-old boy or girl who has a smartphone, it is likely that you will
have a Facebook account. The chart also says that those same boys and girls
who have a smartphone are also more likely to have a Facebook account
than a Twitter account. The number of boys and girls who had Facebook
accounts exceeded the number of boys and girls who had a twitter account.

13-14 Year Old Social Media and Smartphone Usage

Agree % Disagree %

I chose to write about this ILA because it gave me the opportunity to create
a visual data graph out of a set of statistics I found online. I was able to
create this graph my own without any bias which allowed to interpret the
statistics that the graph was depicting fairly.

Blog Post #6:

This article starts off by running through the life of a college student at Harvard named Alex
who has an incredibly busy schedule and also tries to balance his workload with his active
social life on the weekends. The article then goes on to talk abut Alex's use of Adderall which
he obtains from his brother who is prescribed. The article then goes on to outline the side
affects of adderall and the toll it takes on students in their everyday life. It also talks about
what makes students want to take adderall and why they feel that it helps them. The main
rhetoric in this article is that being a college student can be really tough sometimes and
causes students to work on a very hectic 24 hour schedule. This hectic schedule causes
students to resort to stimulants to help get them through the week. It also talks about how
despite there being may positive affects to adderall, like most stimulants, there are many
negative affects. A lot of time students find themselves focusing their attention on tasks
aside from their papers.
When it comes to my research paper I plan to talk about whether the American dream of
social mobility is still relevant today in the United States. The main claim that I will be
making in this paper is that many people have different definitions of the American Dream
and many people still believe that their definition of the American Dream is still alive. I also
plan to talk about some of the statistics pertaining to social mobility in the United States and
talk about the fact that as years go by less and less people are making more money then
their parents. I would consider my topic to be one of cause and effect. Many people believe
in the American Dream but some people have a hard time pursuing it.

I chose to write about this blog because it was about the side effects of adderall which is
something that I can relate to because I am prescribed adderall. In this blog, I was also able to
evaluate the type of stasis claim that I would be using in my research paper. By the end of this
blog I realized the stasis claim that I would be using in my research paper is definitional.
Finding out the type of stasis claim I was making in research paper made it far easier to write.

ILA #3:

This set of data was collected by the United States census and it shows that
for the most part, in these categories, the statistics among people living in
urban and rural areas are very similar. The biggest gap in this set of data is
the difference between the percentage of people who live in the state that
they were born in. The data table shows that people who live in rural states
are far more likely to live in the state that they were born in. There is also a
significant gap in the percentage of people who have earned a bachelors
degree of higher. The table shows that people living in urban areas are more
likely to have earned a higher degree of education than those living in rural
areas. This set of data is relevant to my research paper because it gives a
glimpse into the type of lifestyles people in rural and urban areas are living.
 Statistic Among Adults In Urban and Rural Areas

Urban Column1

I chose to write about this ILA because I was able to create my own graph
based off of a set of statistics gathered by the United States census. I
enjoyed this ILA because I was able to analyze an interesting set of data that
compared the lifestyles of people living in rural and urban areas. It also gave
me a better understanding of how to analyze visual data sets that I use in
my research paper.

Blog Post #4:

The general argument McGonigal is trying to make with this piece is that while video games
may seem like a waste of time, to a lot of people it is the opportunity for them to be apart of
something bigger than themselves. In this particular instance McGonigal is referring to Halo.
In 2009 Halo players collectively reached the milestone of 10 billion kills against the virtual
enemy. Most Halo players know that there is no real significance towards whether they kill
the virtual enemy or not, but this task does serve a purpose. McGonigal writes "Just because
the kills have no value does not mean that they don't have meaning". A lot of gamers
believe that each time they kill the virtual enemy, they are contributing to something bigger
than themselves. 10 billion kills is a crazy statistic and the players of the game believe that
each kill gets them that much closer to a bigger and crazier statistic. Mcgonigal is under the
impression that each player feels a sense of purpose whenever they kill the virtual enemy.
The point she is trying to make is that there is a lot of value in the ability to be apart of
something bigger than yourself. It gives people a purpose and begs them reach limits they
couldn't have before. When McGonigal writes "it took Bungie three years to craft this
gaming cathedral, with a team of more than 250 artists, designers, writers, programmers,
and engineers collaborating together". At this point in the article she is talking about the
creators of the game contributing to something bigger than themselves. They are creating
something that will have a large impact on the people who play it. They have created
something that gives it players a sense of purpose and gives them the feeling that they are
apart of something bigger.
I chose to write about this blog because it gave me a different perspective that I had never really
considered before. Prior to reading this article I had never considered the idea that video games
allow some people to feel that they are apart of something bigger. This article made me realize
that you must consider certain things through a different perspective.