Review

In the first few weeks of the class I have had to do more writing than I can remember, most of it has generated a new sense of being able to write more than three paragraphs but mostly the content and the style of writing has had the most impact.

The most striking aspect from the first session of the semester is the rhetorical triangle, the Idea of being able to look into and article, post, advert or picture and analyze it from the authors and the audience perspective makes me almost judgmental or be able to critique most of the media that I have rarely paid much attention to. The use of rhetorical triangle was great, I got to learn quite a few things to do with analysis.

In addition having to read through and determine the differences in articles and how each of the relates to it intended audiences gave me a different perspective on how writers relay their intended information.

Peer Review

The peer review was a good exercise, it was able to shade some light on where I needed to improve or expound more on my ideas. My paper apparently needed a whole lot of tweaking judging from the amount of writing made by classmates. Non the less I did follow up with suggestions and did come up with a more palatable final draft though it still needed more work.

I try not to criticize too much or over-correct, it always seems someone has a good idea unless they have a difficult expressing it or presenting in a concise manner. Its sometimes hard to actually figure out what is good or bad criticism, I would probably consider criticism with suggestion on what needs to be changed and how to change it to be a good criticism. However sometimes it may feel less help full if it puts someone in a defensive mode. Sometimes it’s easy to make constructive criticism based on the subject matter and the critics understanding on the topic.

The review gave me a new sense of achievement; most of the criticisms that I received were very good it’s almost hard to pick and choose bit’s of the ideas that were given to me because most of them were geared towards my presentation and organization of the paper and it also came with how to expand the paragraph and explain more ore the main points, which seems to have been the resounding theme on the review. Most people did like my presentation, some how validating my choice of work and analysis to it.

Rhetorical analysis

I must admit rhetorical analysis has not been for me to understand at first, now I have an idea. From my understanding rhetorical analysis is an essay that tries to explain different ways in which an author is trying to convey a message by generating reaction from the audience while trying to draw out different appeals. Appeals are characterized by three forms namely pathos, ethos and logos. It would seem easier to have these in the form of pathetic, ethical and logical, in this context it’s easy to see the three concepts for what they represent.

The main goal in a rhetorical analysis is to understand how the author makes their arguments through and how effective it can be. While writing rhetorical analysis information, portrayed by the author will help to understand whether the article or approach the author took was the best possible one.

Information to include in the analysis are: what the author is trying to present, what’s the purpose of the presentation and what the author is trying to achieve, who is the intended audience and what are used techniques.

While writing rhetorical analysis it’s in opinion that its importance look at the strong points then finally the weak points.

Controversial ad

The ad was not only distasteful but moronic, there are a few things that can be noted here is perhaps that the ad creator was clearly in out of touch with sensitivity or trying to generate some discussions on the natural and un-natural world events.

To give a point of view about a major event its more easily done if you are directly or indirectly involved. I can imagine a writer in a third world country writing about an event in that country to which would be of no significance to anyone else but the natives. I few years ago I was directly affected by a terrorist attack in the city of Nairobi and that was one of the most pain times in my life, I lost a friend and did so many other people but its my feeling that not everyone will take more personal than the people who were affected but that does not give anyone a free pass to be insensitive about it.

In general the ad would generate more reaction in America more than any other country, therefore regardless of its insensitivity it serves to show the demographics of who understands the implication of it and those who do not take a second look at it judge by it graphics. The writer would be served best if both points of view were considered and determine why the designer opted for the more controversial route. The ad seemed to have mainly invoked pathos judging by the writer emotional attachment to the event that transpired at 9/11. From a different view I am sure there are people who would also feel differently about the ad designer talking about tsunami in a light note. It would then seem appropriate when writing my paper to be wary of the sensitivity nature of the material to be written.

"I" without personalizing

Using “I” has been demonized a lot however the writer shades some light on ways it can be used without sounding too egotistic. The is always tendencies to refer to one self especially when presenting an opinion or merely presenting a factual statement like biography, perhaps this is one of this times when we do understand why so many people who have had their biographies published or written by independent writers.

Personally, I have been left in a state of extreme self-awareness when writing a report or any other document that involves my own description of an event or statements.

According to the writer and in my opinion too if the statement “I” is not closely monitored in use it might create a sense of redundancy and self centered approach which can make ones arguments not carry much weight. It is also noted that by using “I” its easy to exhaust all your points in one or two sentence, rather it would help to use other descriptive words which can also provide more insight to ones opinions or what you are trying to communicate to you audience.

Its noted that some of the negative impacts of using “I” is situation whereby I reader may feel alienated by you insight or feel compelled to defend themselves from a onslaught of you perspective. There are however instances where its appropriate to use “I” especially when you find the outcome of the sentence would result in a rhetoric question while the statement was meant to generate a direct opinion.

While trying to understand more about how and when to use “I”, the website below provided a good insight on when to individualize a statement.

http://www.communicationandconflict.com/i-statements.html

Like most people my self-awareness of using “I” came from high school so the article helped in researching more on the topic but still the awareness is imminent.

Keep it simple

At first glance reading the first paragraph of the article one would think that the author is a disgruntled women fighting for women rights, then it dawned on me that she might not be the only one with varied opinions on the several confusing bathroom signs.

It has never occurred to me though that the signs are portraying individual status, if it was so then perhaps the writer has a point and we may need to standardize bathroom signs.  Bathrooms should be a place where less thinking and more action is needed and understanding sign should be the least of it, unless you are in a foreign country, imagine asking for a restroom in Europe were the standardized names are toilets or should you be in a French city where it almost sounds the same, not to mention the signs at the door.

The article suggest that women are looked at as the lesser being because of the signs, if bathroom signs were to be changed to cater for all genders to which in the article gender being mostly about men then we might end up with more than two bathrooms or just enough signs for everyone to be confused.

It seems like most of the bathrooms sign did not take much thought or at least by just looking at some art work they are a mere representation of what was perceived or known to be the norm, women are universally known to wear dresses and men trousers or pants depending on the continent, hence gender identity. The Scottish should maybe be at the forefront on this argument on misrepresentation, considering they wear a kilt and I am almost certain there are no bathroom signs that cater for them. A restaurant in Tampa caused an embarrassing moment while trying to use their restroom, I had to get clarification on the right bathroom since they had decided on having their bathroom indicated using Cuba words and so I wonder what would have happened to me if I went to the wrong titled bathroom will it make me lesser gender or just a case of mistaken identity or perhaps standardizing bathroom signs might be helpful here.

 Even though most bathroom signs are not well thought of a bathroom sign in an office complex or government facility may have to adhere to some principle, one would be hard press to find a penis and vagina sign on a public office or depending on the country the signs used would be on that can be easily understood by the native to some extent

Just E-mail it

The post is an Australian postal service provider with an eye to attract and expand its market. The advertisement however as much as it is eye catching the demographics that will actually use the postal service to send letters might be skewed. The ad does not appeal a lot to logos, the picture can be interpreted to show people who like to read or in love or perhaps in a design industry a simple form to this could have included an envelope, which could have invoked the idea of using the postal service.

There are probably so many ways to convey a message and most often than not is the email. The pathos appeal is weak, depending on the audience the ad might just appeal to the younger population because of the intimacy displayed and if the take more time on it may actually read the statement below the picture however the post could have just take a different approach in portraying there services which brings us to the ethos of the ad. To an audience it would be easy to take the ad at face value without much consideration of the message it portrays.

To have an effective ad considering the many other service provided by the post it could maybe have served them best if the products be on display than a picture left for interpretation.