Three Mediums
This assignment really had so many aspects to it. There were so many decisions to be made and the number of questions surrounding each decision was endless. This assignment was designed to get us using everything that we have learned and executing all the techniques for effective communication. It did just that. Every decision was to include a lot of rhetorical involvement and deep thought.
The most important thing that this assignment dealt with was the different forms of media. There are multiple mediums that can be manipulated in order to communicate your message to people. Often times, the different media specialize at reaching a certain audience and often times have their own rule books and etiquette. For instance, you wouldn’t create a Facebook page using the same language you would if you were writing a scholarly brochure. So for this assignment it is important to use different mediums so that you cover all your bases and can most effectively reach your audience.
The reason media is so important is because in order to most effectively reach an audience that would take an interest in your message, you need to find where they are and appeal to them. So there is this whole audience thing. For my topic of Christian themes in the Harry Potter series, I defined my audience as being Christian parents of school age children, and teachers; especially teachers in private schools where religious education is a larger concern. This leaves me with a pretty specific audience that I can use specific media to reach and connect with.
The first form of media is digital. Digital media can take on any number of forms. It is an electronic media, so it can include video, audio, art, or even text. For my digital media requirement I chose to create a blog. This blog was designed to present my argument and what I had to say. Because I am not very familiar with blogging and what is expected of bloggers, I kind of just did my best. I used my own voice and really tried to just appeal to my audience. My inexperience was certainly a barrier for me in this medium though.
The second form of media is social. Social media is meant to connect people with each other. There is a relatively lax set of guidelines for this medium. The language is very informal and there is something said about being short and to the point with this medium. There are a lot of options for the social media. There is Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Because of my audience, I chose to create a Facebook page. I figured that my audience would be most present in this venue. Through my Facebook page I hoped to get my audience talking. I wanted them to create conversation and debate regarding the presence of Christian values in Harry Potter. Here, my writing style was concise and I tried to appeal to the young adult audience I have defined. I attempted to interest them and spark conversation amongst them through picture, videos, questions, and other posts.
The final media that I manipulated was the physical one. A physical medium includes posters, brochures, flier, and t-shirts. The goal of the physical medium is to circulate your message. It’s almost a form of advertisement. You really want to spread your message to as many people in your audience as possible through this medium. I was really torn between choosing a flier or a brochure. I ended up creating a flier and posting it in locations that targeted my audience the best. These locations included schools and churches. I knew that this is where I would reach my audience of parents of young children and teachers. With this medium my language really was just aimed at sparking an interest in my audience so that they would visit my other media and get more involved there. There were a number of barriers with this medium. The first was that we had limited time to circulate. I wish that I could have circulated my fliers earlier in order to get people participating. Secondly, my college budget limits the amount of fliers that I could put out there.
This assignment was a lot different than the research paper. It was much more creativity oriented. You were trying to spark an interest in your audience, so you had to find ways to appeal to them. You’re goals weren’t the same as in a research paper and neither was your audience. For one it was so much more relaxed. There was a lot of personal input and opinion with this assignment, whereas with the research paper everything was pretty much coming from my research and had a source that needed to be cited. Ultimately the goal of this assignment is to interest your audience and provide them with only the information they need to be able to participate in the discussion. This is a lot different than the research paper. In the research paper the goal is to inform and persuade. While this assignment is still definitely hoping to persuade, it takes a much different approach.
If I could do this assignment over again, I would have gone into more depth with my blog posts and also created more of them. I would have taking my Facebook page and conversation there much slower. I would have circulated well in advance in order to have an audience already present there and then I would have spaced out posts and been able to interact more with those of my audience who participated on the Facebook page. I also just would have done a whole lot more with the page; asked further questions etc. Lastly, I would have circulated my flier on a much grander scale. I would have liked to have been able to go to a lot more locations and circulated a lot more fliers.
The most important thing that this assignment dealt with was the different forms of media. There are multiple mediums that can be manipulated in order to communicate your message to people. Often times, the different media specialize at reaching a certain audience and often times have their own rule books and etiquette. For instance, you wouldn’t create a Facebook page using the same language you would if you were writing a scholarly brochure. So for this assignment it is important to use different mediums so that you cover all your bases and can most effectively reach your audience.
The reason media is so important is because in order to most effectively reach an audience that would take an interest in your message, you need to find where they are and appeal to them. So there is this whole audience thing. For my topic of Christian themes in the Harry Potter series, I defined my audience as being Christian parents of school age children, and teachers; especially teachers in private schools where religious education is a larger concern. This leaves me with a pretty specific audience that I can use specific media to reach and connect with.
The first form of media is digital. Digital media can take on any number of forms. It is an electronic media, so it can include video, audio, art, or even text. For my digital media requirement I chose to create a blog. This blog was designed to present my argument and what I had to say. Because I am not very familiar with blogging and what is expected of bloggers, I kind of just did my best. I used my own voice and really tried to just appeal to my audience. My inexperience was certainly a barrier for me in this medium though.
The second form of media is social. Social media is meant to connect people with each other. There is a relatively lax set of guidelines for this medium. The language is very informal and there is something said about being short and to the point with this medium. There are a lot of options for the social media. There is Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest. Because of my audience, I chose to create a Facebook page. I figured that my audience would be most present in this venue. Through my Facebook page I hoped to get my audience talking. I wanted them to create conversation and debate regarding the presence of Christian values in Harry Potter. Here, my writing style was concise and I tried to appeal to the young adult audience I have defined. I attempted to interest them and spark conversation amongst them through picture, videos, questions, and other posts.
The final media that I manipulated was the physical one. A physical medium includes posters, brochures, flier, and t-shirts. The goal of the physical medium is to circulate your message. It’s almost a form of advertisement. You really want to spread your message to as many people in your audience as possible through this medium. I was really torn between choosing a flier or a brochure. I ended up creating a flier and posting it in locations that targeted my audience the best. These locations included schools and churches. I knew that this is where I would reach my audience of parents of young children and teachers. With this medium my language really was just aimed at sparking an interest in my audience so that they would visit my other media and get more involved there. There were a number of barriers with this medium. The first was that we had limited time to circulate. I wish that I could have circulated my fliers earlier in order to get people participating. Secondly, my college budget limits the amount of fliers that I could put out there.
This assignment was a lot different than the research paper. It was much more creativity oriented. You were trying to spark an interest in your audience, so you had to find ways to appeal to them. You’re goals weren’t the same as in a research paper and neither was your audience. For one it was so much more relaxed. There was a lot of personal input and opinion with this assignment, whereas with the research paper everything was pretty much coming from my research and had a source that needed to be cited. Ultimately the goal of this assignment is to interest your audience and provide them with only the information they need to be able to participate in the discussion. This is a lot different than the research paper. In the research paper the goal is to inform and persuade. While this assignment is still definitely hoping to persuade, it takes a much different approach.
If I could do this assignment over again, I would have gone into more depth with my blog posts and also created more of them. I would have taking my Facebook page and conversation there much slower. I would have circulated well in advance in order to have an audience already present there and then I would have spaced out posts and been able to interact more with those of my audience who participated on the Facebook page. I also just would have done a whole lot more with the page; asked further questions etc. Lastly, I would have circulated my flier on a much grander scale. I would have liked to have been able to go to a lot more locations and circulated a lot more fliers.