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.