Apr. 8 Weekly Article

Project GramGram is a satirical initiative to encourage millennials to communicate more regularly with their grandparents.

I think the website and campaign are genius, funny, and creative. My only qualm with the website is that it seems a bit misleading. Watching the video leads me to believe that the service is actually available. I think that the group needs to be more explicit as to whether or not the product will actually be available, and if it will be when. Otherwise viewers will be disappointed when they find out this service is not, or not yet actually available.

Source: http://projectgramgram.com/#firstPage

Apr. 1 Application Log

This week in class we had an awesome lesson about giffs from Gabe. I thought it was very informative. One of my favorite things about this class is learning that fun and interesting things like giffs, picture quotes, and more are actually really simple to make. The more I learn, the more manageable a career in communications in this digital era seems to be. It has been empowering to see so many people my age creating fun, professional looking content with the intent of doing something good and positive for the world around them. I have seen things like giffs and picture quotes all over the place for a long time now, but after taking this class I look at them more analytically than before. It's exciting to think about the things I can create in the future.

Mar. 25 Application Log

My sister just got home from her mission on Wednesday. My brother just went through the temple last night, in preparation of going on his mission in a little over a month. We took picture and posted them on social media for both events, and they got sooo many likes and comments! This has got me thinking about why certain posts do so much better than others. The biggest thing that comes to mind is authenticity. The things we posted were truly significant moments for us. They brought us great joy. The message is simple, we love our family members and are proud of all the great things they are doing. People all want to connect with joy and love. However, I feel that sometimes people create content that can have a tendency to feel pandering or manipulative of these emotions. Nowadays, as people become more and more technologically savvy and social media literate, it can become easy to see through content that is not genuine. When it comes to the posts I most recently posted, and much of the content that I like, even if it isn’t necessarily and family member’s or friend’s achievement, authenticity is often a central part of the content.

Mar. 18 Weekly Article

An elementary school teacher has witnessed a surprised trend of hate speech among his first graders. He believes that Donald Trump’s popularity, and the culture of hate that has become associated and, sadly, popularized with it, is what cause this. He has caught his kids using the N word, and mocking kids for being Muslim. He found through some research that the parents of these trouble makers were supporters of Trump.

Sadly our group’s mission is going head-to-head with one of the most popular figures currently in the media, Donald Trump. When I say popular, I don’t mean he is praised by all, I mean that he is getting the most publicity, and occupying much of the population’s attention. We are attempting to combat the hateful culture that is being propagated by him and his speeches. I hope that our articles, and more importantly the viewpoints we are trying to popularize can disseminate into the minds of the kids of America, so we can create a better future for our kids.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisElection/videos/1128080470556775/

Mar. 18 Application Log

After discussing Narrative Theory in class I was brought again to reflect on the videos of my favorite YouTuber, Olan Rogers. He as a series of videos where we simply recounts stories from his youth. They are hilarious from a number of reasons. Even though his stories are unique to him the feelings he describes are extremely relatable. The fear, sadness, excitement, embodied in these videos have been felt by all of us in one way or another. The way he pokes fun at himself makes it even more endearing. Like we discussed in class, we love to be taken on a journey, we love when we are made to feel something. I believe that Olan Rogers’ ability to implement these things in an honest way his contributed to his success.

Mar. 11 Weekly Article

This week I will be looking over and evaluating the website of some of my classmates, Vote With Your Voice. Their campaign is targeted at millennials, a group who have traditionally been the most apathetic about voting. The goal of their campaign is to get these people out to vote. They have created entertaining videos to help people realize how important it is for us to be informed about current events. They also are keeping a blog about the history of voting, and about ways millennials, and citizens as a whole can get involved in the political process. Their website is very professionaly looking and easy to navigate.

One improvement I have for them is the addition of a ‘pledge’ section on their website. While it isn’t too difficult to use the web-traffic tools we’ve been presented with in class, a pledge section will make it even easier to measure the reach and success of their campaign. This pledge section could also prove a perfect opportunity to invite people to subscribe to receive updates on future content they release, helping them maintain a consistent audience for the media that they will continue pushing. Lastly, this pledge is a clear invitation for anyone visiting the website to act.

Source: http://votewithyourvoice.wix.com/vote

Mar. 11 Application Log

This past week in class has provided us with the opportunity to hear from many of our classmates as they have instructed us on their areas of expertise. I was especially impressed by Brad’s lesson on utilized advertising in social media. This advertising is pretty easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and can apparently play a big role in getting an individual or organization the publicity that they want. He also taught us about reddit. Sadly I was completely ignorant of this website prior to his lesson. I hope to use this new-found knowledge in my advertising class. We have a personal project we are supposed to be working on. I will be setting up a guided meditation service of sorts and hope that I can utilize these tools to get the reach that I want.

Mar. 4 Weekly Article

The International Olympic Committee has just approved a team for refugees! They are looking to help the refugees feel a sense of hope. They will be competing under the Olympic flag. They have selected 43 athletes to compete for up to ten spots in the Olympics. Hopefuls are looking to compete in events such as Tae Kwon Do, and swimming.

Videos like this are inspiring. It is great to see large organizations like reaching out and trying to make these marginalized people feel welcome, and more importantly make sure they know they are contributing members of society. I feel that articles like this are important, perhaps more important than the ones that illustrate the dire discrimination Muslims and refugees are facing. I hope that we can inspire people to see Muslims in a different light like the Olympic committee.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/vb.341163402640457/1006217476135043/?type=2&theater

Mar. 4 Application Log

This week I have noticed how important music is to watching videos. One of my favorite YouTubers, Olan Rogers, often posts life update vlogs of sorts. There is always music in the videos, though it is usually very subtle. After my class mates presentation on the importance of matching the appropriate music to your video I went back and watched his videos and really appreciated the music he chose. The music added another, reflective element to his video that was absolutely necessary. I hope that as we prepare our video for Islamophobia we will be able to find a song to match it.

Feb. 26 Weekly Article

A Syrian comedian/filmmaker named Firas Alshater is trying to use humor to communicate what life for a Syrian refugee is like in Europe. He was recently granted asylum in Germany, a country that has already accepted 1.1 million refugees so far. Alshater has been a voice against the Syrian regime. He hopes that though his videos he can bridge the gap between Germans and refugees. He even had to serve 9 years of jail time for his bold, and open critiques.

This is another powerful real life account that can only strengthen the position of our campaign. As this man strives to break down barriers in his new home of journey, we hope that this message can carry to citizens all over the globe, especially here in the United States of America. This mega public platform of YouTube is a great way for him to spread his message. I am proud that our twitter feed can be another platform sharing his story and building bridges between us and refugees from the Middle East.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/vb.341163402640457/1001533039936820/?type=2&theater

Feb. 26 Application Log

This week we continued our conversations on what creates social currency most effectively. It was interesting to me that this principle, though perhaps in different words, came up in my Comms 330 class. On Thursday we began our discussion on ambient advertising. This type of advertising strays from the classic, popular forms of advertising such as commercials, radio spots, billboards, and print ads in newspaper and magazines. Aside from this list of things that they aren’t, it is hard to perfectly describe what ambient advertising actually is. This type of advertising is, by definition, different. One great example is a large sticker of a hand placed on the ground on a parking spot, making whatever car parked there look like a toy car, done by hot wheels. The overall idea of ambient ads is to catch people by surprise, and get them talking. This type of advertising makes people want to share, and become free channels of distribution. In other words, this form of advertising is very effective at creating social currency.

Feb. 19 Weekly Article

Out the city of Raqqa, a city widely known as the strong hold of ISIS, a hero willing to stand against the terrorist organization has risen. After fleeing Syria, Abdalaziz Alhamza became founded RBSS (Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently). Dedicated to spreading awareness of ISIS’s crimes against humanity, RBSS presses forward despite the obvious dangers and having already lost 4 of its members. This group is reminiscent of another young group of rebels during World War II, who courageously spoke out against the Nazi party. While it is a sorry situation for a hero to have to rise in, it brings us great hope to recognize yet another voice against terror, another voice for peace.

I believe this story is a perfect thing to relate in out Islamophobia campaign. Every voice against radical Islam, especially one from so close to their stronghold is a realization that we can be united against terror without being united against a people or the religion as a whole. It is inspiring to see heroes speak up for what they believe, and I hope that the groups in our class can have that same courage.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/opinion/one-mans-syrian-resistance.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

Feb. 19 Application Log

Despite not having class this week, I was able to find some application to class principles previously discussed in a project I am working on in the AdLab. I am currently helping craft a launch campaign for a women’s clothing company that will help them to create their brand image and hopefully a community in the process. My group has planned to try and make the brand about empowering women. I feel that we are creating has the potential to explode in to a great social media conversation. A consistent theme in our class has been to create content you believe in and something that a lot of people can get behind. There is always more room on the internet for uplifting and empowering others, and I am excited for the opportunity to do just that through this project.

Feb. 12 Weekly Article

In this article from KUTV by Daniel Woodruff, new insight is gleaned from the troubling childhood of LDS leader Dieter F. Uchtdorf. As a child he lived through many atrocities during World War II, and was forced to flee his home multiple time. Often time he and other refugees were rejected because of fear and ignorance. However, he and his family also benefited from the kindness and generosity of friends, family, and strangers. "There were so many who were willing to help regardless of religion, of race, of background, and that's what we're trying to do now," he said. The LDS church which he serves as a leader for is donating $5 million dollars to assist the refugees in the Middle East and is encouraging it membership along with people around the world to help out in any way they can.

I was struck with by this story from President Uchtdorf, and I feel it is very relevant to our group’s campaign on Islamophobia. Those suffering from the current refugee crisis are facing discrimination similar to that which was face by Uchtdorf now based primarily on their religion and potential affiliation with radical Islamic terrorist organizations. Our group echoes Uchtdorfs call for charity and understanding when it comes to dealing with and helping these victims of terror far beyond their control.

Source: http://kutv.com/news/local/lds-leader-uchtdorf-remembers-life-as-refugee-urges-compassion-in-migrant-crisis

Feb. 12 Application Log

This week we learned about some principles of design. It is always interesting to have creative things like this spelled out for me, and presented almost formulaically. I have noticed these principles outside of class but the event that stood out the most was in my advertising class when my professor said, “I hate orphans!” When a lone word has its own line at the end of a paragraph it is called an orphan. He exclaimed this before we had this lesson so I was confused at first. These principles of design truly do apply across the different communications disciplines. It was actually humorous how adamantly opposed he was to such an innocent design flaw. It was a good lesson to not make the same mistake as that student.

Feb. 5 Weekly Review

My article review this week is another video, this time a news story from England. Apparently British protesters in Dover, a major point of entry for refugees entering England, expressed Nazi-esque enthusiasm against the refugees fleeing to Europe from the Middle East. Their angry protests eventually lead to a violent outbreak as those who disagreed with the Nazi salutes and the open opposition to refugees came out to face the protesters. The protesters were chanting Seig Heil and performing the Nazi salute to get their message across. The protesters claim their main priority is protecting England from Muslim terrorists.

This was a very useful article for our group. It perfectly exemplifies the troubling and drastic actions that can stem from Islamophobia. It was also a powerful representation of the extents people will go to defend their beliefs on either end of the spectrum. It is clear that this issue we are trying to combat is more than just an American issue, it is happening all over the world. I certainly hope that we can make a difference. We will likely share this video on our feed.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10153490927086939/?fref=nf

Feb. 5 Application Log

This week’s lesson on filming techniques, specifically on the importance of mixing up wide, tight and medium shots in videos especially resonated with me. While wasting time on YouTube as I tend to do I was surprised to notice it in many videos that I remembered as being relatively simple. I was especially shocked to notice it in the James Corden Car Karaoke with Adele. I had watched it once before the discussion and remembered the video being very simple, light-hearted and fun. However, when I reviewed it after the discussion in class I was surprised by how many cuts there were in the video. I believe that those cuts definitely contributed to the professional quality and over fun feel of the video. It was super cool to have such a big realization of applicable class content.

Jan. 29 Weekly Article

This week I opted to write about a video rather than a written article. I revisited a video I have seen from an organization that inspired me to take a class like Comms 416, Fight the New Drug. This video gives a brief summary of their origin story and it made me think of our class project. Fight the New Drug is an organization with a mission to expose the dangers of pornography in people personal lives, their relationships and the community as a whole. They, like us, started in college by finding a cause that they all felt was important, researching it, and creatively pumping out information for the benefit of any all people who are interested.

                

I feel that this story is relevant for our group and this class because I feel that it is inspiring to see other people and organizations successfully accomplish what we in this class our trying to do. It also was a useful reminder that we need to skillfully execute all of the content we put out, making sure that it is all not only accurate, but also visually appealing. It is also important to find a cause that you are passionate about. All in all, Fight the New drug is a fantastic organization to mirror if one is trying to further a social issue using the internet and social media.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHPTV1OLkss

Jan. 29 Application Log

This past week we discussed the importance of understanding our audience. Interestingly enough the same thing has been discussed quite a bit in my advertising classes. Lately there has been a big push from the advertising industry as well as outside organizations to lessen and eventually stop the objectification and sexualizing of people, mostly women in advertisements. This widespread push is forcing many companies, even been companies who have traditionally been infamous for this, to begin abandoning the practice. This understanding of societal trends and the desires of our audience is helping them connect better and create a refined, progressive brand image. Hopefully, as we work to both understand out audience, and present information according to their needs, we will be able to communicate our message in a way that resonates with them and makes a difference.

Jan. 22 Weekly Article

The size and scale of the Muslim-American population has been difficult to track because the United States does not track one’s religious affiliation, causing some estimates to vary widely. Many are first generation immigrants what the need. Though Arabs are most commonly associated with the religion, many Africans and Southeast Asians follow its teachings as well. Many Arabs are in fact Christian. They tend to follow the standard American averages and distribution with regards to education and income.

While not explicitly related to a discussion had in class as a whole, I feel that this statistical portrait of Muslim demographic in America is a crucial bit of reading to help me be a better contributor in my group. My group is targeting Islamophobia and one of the best was to counter fear is to gain a better understanding of the thing that we’re afraid of. This statistical explains many misconceptions held by many Americans today like the popular belief that almost all Muslims are Arab or even that almost all Arabs are Muslim. As my group and I better understand the true facts about Islam in America, we will be able to dispel these rumors, and hopefully help create a community where Muslims can feel more comfortable and others can feel more at ease around them as well.

Source: http://iraq.usembassy.gov/resources/information/current/american/statistical.html

Jan. 22 Application Log

I have been trying to identify successful social advocacy groups and look at what they do. One of my favorites is one that I already follow on multiple social media platforms, Fight the New Drug. I have noticed that their success lays in that they have a strong central theme and mission, exposing the proven harms of pornography, and their diverse ways of approaching and achieving this mission. AS a group we are hoping to mirror this pattern. The strong central theme gives supporters something definite to stand behind (or not), while the varied related subject matter and mediums thereof are able to attract a diverse array of people to the cause. I feel that much of our group’s success lies in our ability to do these things as well.

Jan. 15 Article Review

This week I came across a cool article from an online business that I love called Huckberry. They wrote about their origins, why they started the company, and the hard, humbling work it took to get to the point they are at today. While I know we are not trying to start a business, I think many principles of their bootstrapper’s attitude apply to what we’ll be doing in class. First and foremost, they made the decision to “go for it.” This is the hardest and most important decision a company, group or purpose driven campaign can make. And they didn’t just start because a professor told them that they had to, they went after it with a passion because it was something they believed in. After that all of the other elements followed. They worked with the resources they had. They made connections to help their business grow. They did what they had to do to make their vision a reality.

As students we’re going to have to make due with limited to no budgets. The next step networking and taking advantages of our helpful campus will be key. Hopefully we will find topics and causes we are passionate about. While not everything we create will be perfect, I believe that if we choose something that is important to us, we will be able to make this class and opportunity to be a force for good.

Source: https://huckberry.com/journal/posts/the-huckberry-story

Jan. 15 Application Log

Last week in class we discussed the color code, a survey of sorts to help people identify what personality type they have. Different personality types are assigned different colors. My results came out overwhelmingly yellow, indicating that I have a friendly, amiable personality. I also showed traces of blue, indicating introspective tendencies, and white, perhaps because I think being a peacemaker is cool. After seeing how the different color personalities compared and contrasted I thought it would be interesting to ask my girlfriend what her personality type was. Apparently she had taken the quiz before for another class. She is pretty dang blue/white.
All in all, the color code was an interesting method of self-reflection, but in my opinion it can also be somewhat limiting and dangerous. I feel that too often we find comfort in pigeon-holing ourselves. We become what people expect us to become. A test like this seems like it might encourage people to become set in their ways and think, “That’s just the way I am.” While I think it is great to find ways to identify our potential strengths, weaknesses and tendencies, it is even more important to try and grow and evolve overtime.