Response to pgs. 168-189

This chapter (chapter 8) talked about designing a visual argument, which is essentially what our multimodal assignment is. At the beginning of the chapter, they specifically talked about how to combine visual and verbal design elements and designing arguments for public audiences. Later in the chapter they talked about opinion advertisements, photo essays, website building, and creating a multimedia montage. All these topics are related to our assignment because they are all components of a multimodal assignment. I think the most important part of this chapter in relation to our project is the part about making a multimedia montage. This is what is going to be the main component of our final project. These montages combine many different types of media, including sound, writing, digital elements and more. They often do not progress in a linear fashion to make their argument, but present the argument throughout the project as a whole. When creating a multimedia project, you must consider the audience, argument, medium, form and purpose for your project. This chapter also talked about levels of decorum, or appropriateness. I feel like our multimedia assignments would mostly be presented in a middle style because I feel like they should be a little more formal than if they were in plain or low style, but not be as dry as a grand or high style level of decorum. Another section of the chapter talked about designing arguments for public audiences. I think that this is also an important part of the chapter because our final project will be designed for a public audience. You have to keep your audience in mind when putting together your project because it has to be audience friendly. You have to make it interesting while still making your argument very clear to the audience. This chapter also talked about opinion advertising, and I a way our project is an advertisement of our group’s opinion on our topic. Also, the chapter mentions photo essays, which could also be a potential way for us to present our project to our audience. A photo essay uses pictures to convey the central argument rather than words. The chapter concludes by detailing the creation of a webpage, which is also a component of our project, making this section of the chapter very important. The talk about how to effectively layout a webpage and talk about different “Levels” of a webpage that combine to make it interesting for the audience to view.

Response to pg. 500 - 524

Your position in the world can shape how you feel about identity, society and culture. One "position" that can be looked at is your geographic position. If you are an American, you will identify with people who share your American identity, the same societal beliefs and similar cultural backgrounds. If you grew up in the south, you will identify with those who also grew up there and share the same set of beliefs as you do. Another position that can affect how you feel about these factors is your social position. If you are a lower-class citizen, you will identify with those who share your same situation, whereas if you are an upper class citizen you will identify with those in your own socio-economic class.

In these readings, they discussed how pictures can shape the way you feel about certain situations. They also discussed the morality of printing pictures of suffering and disasters on the front pages of newspapers and magazines. These stories were from the point of view of reporters, survivors, and witnesses of major disasters such as the Haiti earthquake, the London bombings, the Oklahoma City bombings, and the War in Afghanistan. All of the people who were involved in these disasters were from different backgrounds, giving them all different opinions on the subject. Some people who worked for or read the newspapers or magazines who posted horrific pictures from these disasters were outraged by their decisions to print such images because they felt as if it was unnecessary and wrong. Others believed that the images spoke the truth and showed people what these disasters were like, and felt that it was not wrong to post them in their media.

Annotated Bibliography

Henrique, Neiva, João Paulo Vilas-Boas, Tiago Barbosa, António Silva, and Daniel Marinho. "13th FINA World Championships: Analysis of swimsuits used by elite male swimmers." Journal Of Human Sport & Exercise. 6.1 (2011): 87-93. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/16867/1/JHSE_6_1_10.pdf>.

This study looks into the brands of swimsuit models worn my male athletes in the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome in relation to overall performance.  They statistically analyze the materials and methods of composition for each brand of swimsuit and then look to see what percent of the male competitors at the 2009 World Championship wore these different brands of swimsuits.

Wood, Jonathan. "Record breaking or rule breaking?" Materials Today. 11.6 (2009): 1. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702108701019>.

This article poses the question of whether or not the number of records broken since the onset swimsuits such as the LZR Racer and Tracer Light are abnormally high.  It also talks about how other swimsuit manufactures are protesting these new suits to FINA due to their composition and possible buoyancy aid, which is strictly prohibited by the current FINA standards.  It describes what sets these suits apart from others in terms of what they are made of and how they are made.

Berthelot, Geoffroy, Stéphane Len, Philippe Hellard, Muriel Tafflet, Nour El Helou, Sylvie Escolano, Marion Guillaume, Karine Schaal, Hala Nassif, François Denis Desgorces, and Jean- François Toussaint. "Technology & swimming: 3 steps beyond physiology." Materials Today. 13.11 (2010): 46-51. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369702110702030>.

This article focuses on how the changes in materials used to make swimsuits over the past thirty years have led to an increase in performance in the swimming community.  They pose the question of how will the new regulations affect swimmers psychologically since records will not be as easily broken and there will be an overall drop in performance among elite swimmers.  They also discuss how companies are introducing more elaborate suits within the new restrictions put in place by FINA and there have also been advancements in the design of starting blocks, which may compensate for the drop in performance following the ban of polyurethane swimsuits.

Rebolloso McCullough, Sarah. "Body Like a Rocket: Performing Technologies of Naturalization." thirdspace: a journal of feminist theory & culture. 9.2 (2010): n. page. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.thirdspace.ca/journal/article/viewArticle/mccullough/318>.

This article discussed how these suits could be considered a high tech form of cheating.  They refer to this as “technology doping.”  They talk about how you go about defining the limits of the human body.  They call this process, “technologies of naturalization.”  The author also takes a feministic approach when analyzing how these suits can androgenize women and cause them to feel self-conscious about their bodies.

Craik, Jennifer. "The Fastskin Revolution: From Human Fish to Swimming Androids." Culture Unbound. 3. (2011): 70-82. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/v3/cu11v3-fashion_market_materialtiy.pdf

This article argues that the new fastskin swimsuits have transformed swimming and created a new era of swimmer whose accomplishments are not as respected as before.  This article included quotes from interviews with many well-known Olympic swimmers about their opinions on the introduction of polyurethane and neoprene suits into the world of swimming.  This article looks at the evolution of the fastsuit, from its introduction at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona until FINA banned them in 2010.

Crouse, Karen. "Swimming Bans High-Tech Suits, Ending an Era." New York Times. 24 07 2009: Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/sports/25swim.html>.

This was an article published in the New York Times shortly after FINA’s vote to ban polyurethane-based high-tech swimsuits from competition.  This article says that the integrity of swimming has been challenged ever since the introduction of full-body suits at the 2000 Olympics.  It also says that these suits have devalued athleticism because someone who is not in good shape can become streamlined and faster just by wearing these suits.  The ban on high-tech suits has Olympic swimmers mentally preparing themselves to go slower than they have in the past few years while under the influence of the fastskin technology.

Crouse, Karen. "Phelps Rebounds Amid Boycott Threat ." New York Times. 29 07 2009: Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/sports/30swim.html?pagewanted=print>.

This article talks about how Michael Phelps has stuck with his sponsor Speedo’s suit even though it is not the fastest suit on the market.  The 2009 World Championships took the swimming world by storm.  Swimmers who came to the meet without the new high-tech suits were frantically trying to get their hands on one.  Swimmers were dropping time across the board and numerous records were being shattered.  In the men’s 100 freestyle preliminaries, the 16^th time, which is the final semifinal qualifying time, would have tied for gold at the 2007 World Championships.

Tucker PhD., Ross, and Jonathan Dugan PhD. "Swimming's credibility crisis: How FINA's blind eye is affecting the purity of the sport." The Science of Sport. Blogger, 25 11 2008. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/11/swimsuit-controversy.html>.

This article focuses on just how many Olympic and World Records were broken at the 2008 Olympics.  Only one Olympic record was not broken at the 200 games.  There were some races where the top five finishers bettered the old world record.  The author contributes this re-writing of the record book not to improved athletes but improved technology.  This article included a surprising statistic: going into the Beijing games, the average age of a swimming world record was 680 days, but after the conclusion of the games it dropped to 382 days.  There is now only one record older than two years, when their used to be records that were 6, 7, and even 19 years old. The author blames FINA for not taking initiative earlier on in the evolution of the high-tech suit development. 

Barra, Allen. "The Suit's the Thing: FINA Rules to Ban Polyurethane-Based Materials in Swimsuits." Wall Street Journal. 03 08 2009: n. page. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204313604574328372762265260.html>.

This is another article talking about FINA banning what this article calls PES (performance enhancing suits), or supersuits.  This is one of the first articles that mentioned the suit length in addition to the suit composition.  The new rules only allow for men to wear suits that do not go below the knee or above the navel and women can only wear suits that do not go above the shoulder or below the knee.  Manufactures of these suits say that this ban could set the sport back two decades.

Jiang, Kenan. "M. Swimming: Suit technology causes collegiate controversies." Stanford Daily. 15 01 2009. n. page. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://www.stanforddaily.com/2009/01/15/m-swimming-suit-technology-causes-collegiate-controversies/>.

This is an article from early 2009 was printed in the Stanford University newspaper.  Stanford has always been at the top of the collegiate swimming world.  This article discusses how at the time, Speedo’s LZRRacer has been banned from NCAA competition, but many other brands of high-tech suits have not. The NCAA makes their decisions independently of FINA, but they are waiting to see what FINA rules before the make changes to their policy.  This article states that Speedo introduced their LZR suit in early 2008, in anticipation of the summer Olympics in Beijing.  The article includes an interview by a swimmer who swam at the 2008 Olympics who did not benefit from the supersuits because they did not fit him well.  I thought this was an interesting perspective.

"World Swimming Championships End In Rome With Swimming Suits Still Causing Controversy." Sky News. 03 08 2009: n. page. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://news.sky.com/home/article/15352537>.

This is a much shorter article from Sky News during the 2009 World Championships in Rome.  It talks about how these suits increase buoyancy and change the swimmers position in the water while decrease drag.  This was the last world competition where the high-tech suits would be able to be worn. This article also says that it could be years until the records that were posted over the last few years could take years to be broken or even challenged.

"If The Suit Fits... Technology vs. Athleticism At Heart of Bodysuit Debate." CNN Sports Illustrated. 02 07 2000: n. page. Web. 10 Oct. 2011. <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/news/2000/07/02/bodysuit_craze_ap/>.

This is an article from the Sydney Olympics in 2000.  This s when the first bodysuits were introduced.  They take a comical approach towards this change in the style of swimsuits, which are now a lot more modest that the stereotypical “speedo.”  This article talks about how swimmers are finding out that the more skin they cover, the faster they swim.  At this time, swimmers were not sure whether the suits’ effect on their times was mental or physical, but they all agree they have allowed them to go faster.  This article poses the question, is swimming becoming more about technology than athleticism?  They compare the effect of bodysuits on swimming to “clap skates” in the speedskating community, which are now an accepted, necessary part of that sport.

Free Writing

Most of America’s infrastructure was build in response to the Great Depression under president Roosevelt’s New Deal programs such as the Works Progress Association.  Since then, we have continued to expand our infrastructure, but have done little to maintain that which already exists.  I plan to discuss the problems with America’s infrastructure and why they need to be addressed.  I also plan to research ways in which they can be fixed even with the tight budget constraints of our time. 

I have found many sources that discuss the problems with our infrastructure.  A lot of these sources contain very shocking statistics that I think will help to make my paper more interesting to the reader.  Many of the sources I have found have estimated how much it would cost to fix our entire infrastructure, and offered suggestions on how the government should fund the necessary improvements.  I expect I will need a lot more sources to write this research paper, including some more scholarly sources. 

I do not think I will have enough information to meet the page requirement.  I expect to have to expand my research from types of infrastructure like roads, bridges, and dams, to other things such as transportation, power grids, water supplies and water treatment, etc.  I will have to research these other types of infrastructure and see if they are in need of repair or updating.