Snopes

     Snopes is an interesting website that “fact checks” various rumors, articles, and stories and also reports on recent news. The fact checks tend toward issues that are not so serious, like a debunking a picture of a moose wading in a kiddie pool watching a car burn. A lot of these originate from social media and probably should not have been taken serious in the first place. But not all of their fact checking articles are that way, and their are few that are more serious. An example of this is one about the Supreme Court vacancy and a quote that had supposedly arisen from Colin Powell. In addition to fact checking, they also have a normal news section. The news here also varies widely on how serious the articles are. One of the article’s title is “The Great Toilet Paper Orientation Debate.” This article can hardly be taken serious. Another article is titled “City, State Officials Face Criminal Charges in Flint Water Crisis.” This article, on the other hand, tackles a much more serious issue. 

     As far as bias from the site’s creators and main researchers, I don’t see much evidence of it from reading their articles. In their articles, unlike those seen on many other sites such as Facebook or Twitter, there are verifiable sources usually included in their articles. They include links to sources so that you can check their facts too. Additionally, at the bottom of every article there is a description of who the writer is and their credentials. Although that does not stop bias, it does make the articles on Snopes more reliable than those found on other anonymous sites. 

     Overall, Snopes can be a good website to use if you want to check out a strange article on social media to see if it is true or not, or if you want a different take on some of your recent news. 

Concerns of the KSU Community: Topics from The Sentinel

The Sentinel, the KSU newspaper, has articles group into various categories: news, opinion, arts & living, and sports. After viewing several pages of the archives from the news and opinion sections, it seemed to me that three major topics have been talked about a lot lately. These are having guns on campus, known as campus carry, politics, and celebrating our multicultural atmosphere at KSU. Issues regarding campus carry abounded in both the news and opinion sections of The Sentinel. Articles read “KSU professor arrested for protesting campus carry” to “We are law-abiding citizens concerned with personal safety and the constitutional right to bear arms.” It seems that this issue is a vary dividing one at KSU. Politics is another hot topic, which is not surprising since the presidential election is coming up in a few months. There does not seem to be any particular stances that are held widely among KSU students from looking at the various articles. Finally, topic of the school’s multicultural atmosphere seems to be another thing popularly talked about. Some examples of articles are “Summit unites Chindian culture” and “KSU honors Black History Month with “50 Shades of Black.”

The major concerns of the KSU community, as discovered from the news and opinion section, seem similar to concerns of all university students in or near Atlanta. All Georgia universities are dealing with the new laws passed for carrying guns on campus. Pretty much all students are concerned with politics right now because of the upcoming presidential election. Celebrating diverse student populations is a topic of interest for almost all universities near or in Atlanta.

The other sections of the Sentinel, the sports and arts & living sections, talk about other concerns more specific to the KSU community. Students obviously are concerned about how KSU’s sport teams are doing and the arts & living section discusses various concerts, movies, and festivals going on in the area that KSU students could be interested in. 

Letter to the Editor - Brexit

I choose an article called “The real danger of Brexit” from The Economist printed on February 27^th, 2016. The link to the article is http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21693584-leaving-eu-would-hurt-britainand-would-also-deal-terrible-blow-west-real-danger.

The article talks about the reasons why Britain wants to leave the EU, how that could harm the global economy in addition to Britain’s economy, and how it could break up the United Kingdom itself. Some British think that the EU is holding Britain back and that a break from the EU could allow Britain to be sovereign again. One hope is that this would allow them to control their immigration. The article says that although Britain would be sovereign, it would be much less powerful without the EU. A Brexit would cause the EU to weaken as well, disrupting western powers in the global economy. Furthermore the article says that the Brexit could cause Scotland and Northern Ireland to leave the UK. It says Scotland would leave because they are looking for any reason to leave and that Northern Ireland would leave because their peace with Britain has relied heavily on their membership with the EU.

A letter to the editor was written by Alastair Cameron, the director of Scotland in Union. The link to the letter is http://www.economist.com/news/letters/21694978-letters-editor.

The letter argues that the articles comment “Scotland…is again agitating for a divorce” is untrue. Cameron states that only some people in Scotland are agitating, primarily the nationalists. Polls show that only 10% want a referendum to be a priority. Cameron argues that Scotland depends on the rest of the UK for trade much more than it depends on the EU so the Brexit would not cause them to leave. If anything it would want them to stay in UK because now they need the trade with the UK even more than before.

I think this letter to the editor was very well put together and makes a stronger argument for Scotland staying in the UK than the article makes for Scotland leaving the UK. 

Literary Analyses

Throughout my time in high school many literary analysis assignments have been given to me. Those assignments fall into two categories.  The first category is for literary analyses done on assigned books to read and the second category is for literary analyses done on books I got to choose.

I generally disliked the assignments in the first category. The books that the teachers choose tended to be American literature classics, which usually do not appeal to me. Although they lack appeal, they do not lack in the number of academic writings about them. For these assignments, I usually read the book hastily so I could be done with it. Because of this, I would rely heavily on the critiques I read to develop deeper opinions about the book. None of the books were particularly challenging for me academically but they were challenging for me in the sense that it took more effort to make myself given assignments the effort required. Some examples of books I had to read and write on are The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Scarlet Letter.

The assignments in the second category, on the other hand, I usually enjoyed. For these assignments, the teacher would either let the class choose from a long list of books or allow the class to choose any book they want, within limits, and with their approval. For these assignments, the downside was that there were usually limited amounts of academic writing about them. To combat that, because of my interest in the books, I formed more opinions and thoughts on the book by myself and used sources more sparingly. These books could be challenging if I wanted them to be.

Overall I have mixed feelings about writing literary analyses. 

My Major

I am an Information Technology major with a concentration in mobile and web development. I choose this major because of the lifestyle that comes with it, I’m naturally good at it, and the benefit of being able to take all online classes.

At first I was a biology major but decided it wasn’t the most practical major because the only part I enjoyed was research and that would require much more education that just an bachelors and many smaller cities would lack jobs in that field. When I started taking a new look at possible majors, I decided to give computer science a try. Everyone in my family does something with computers, and since it’s in my blood, I thought it would be worth a try because it comes with a very nice lifestyle. A lot of jobs can be very flexible. It’s possible to work completely remote, or some in the office and some remote. The hours that I would have to work are usually flexible in that I can come in earlier or later, and leave earlier or later, depending on what works best for my schedule. That fits in my lifestyle because I like to travel, and one day when I’m a mom, it will be nice to have that flexibility. It also in the top 15 highest paying majors.

After taking a few programming courses, I found out that I really enjoy it and have a natural ability to do it very well.  

I recently transferred to KSU because I wanted to travel while I’m still in school and taking all my classes online lets me do that. Since KSU does not offer an online computer science degree, I choose the closest thing to it which is IT concentrating in mobile and web development. That, folks, is why I'm major in it. 

A Day in My Life : Searching for Information

On an average day I will look up a lot of information. I use Google throughout the day on various devices such as my phone, laptop, and tablet.

 On my phone, most the information I’m searching is not academic. I will look up the weather in the morning, search for news articles throughout the day, find recipes for when I’m going to cook something new, and use Google Voice to find answers to all the random questions I may have during the day. Since I always have my phone on me, it is perfect for those situations since they don’t require much more than a quick glance.   

When I need to do something more substantial, like look at a map to understand where I’m at and what is around me to do, or find a more serious and lengthy article that I want to read, I’ll take out my tablet. That probably happens at least once day.

Finally, during the day, when I want to study and do school work, I’ll sit down at my laptop. In addition to taking online classes here at Kennesaw State University, I’m forcing myself to learn more by taking free online classes, or MOOCs. During those times I search for information on different programming languages to help me, such as the Java API, or search for answers to problems I’m encountering with my code. I’ll also look up what meetings are in the area that are discussing the field of programming that I should go to and at discussions going on about the latest technologies.

So, as seen, the kinds of information I’m am looking up and using depends heavily on the type of device I’m using and where I’m at during the day. When I sit down at my laptop, I prepare myself for academic work and when all I have with is my phone, I know that now is the time to look up all the silly questions I have. 

Nike's Ad Campaign: Just Do It

Nike started advertising it's brand under the "Just Do It." slogan. The slogan is used to appeal to pathos. They started using the slogan to appeal to the wider audience of the average American to work out. It appeals to their pathos by encouraging them to not procrastinate and "Just Do It".

They aired there first "Just Do It." commercial in 1988 - Click Here to Watch. This was the start to their ad campaign that continues successfully to this day.

Nike's successful ad campaign is due because of how they appeal to pathos. The author, or in this case, the brand, incorporates the ad campaign deep into the company's values and mission. This causes Nike to seem trustworthy which creates strong rapport with its customers. That taps into how the customer's feelings and so by wearing clothing by Nike, causes them to feel encouraged and ready to face the intensity of a hard work out.

Their 25th anniversary "Just Do It." ad ran in 2013 - Click Here to Watch. That ad shows how successful their campaign has been. Not many companies can keep their same ad campaign going for that long. It takes more than just a one time appeal to pathos, logos, or ethos. It has to be ingrained into the brand so deeply that customers can continue to feel the appeal throughout and over decades.

Not only does the "Just Do It" campaign transcendence time, it goes across gender and sport as shown in the ads below.

 





By creating an emotional appeal so large that it appeals to so wide an audience and by causing it to be authentic by integrating it deeply into the company, the ad campaign is bound to be successful. This is a use pathos that other companies should desire to imitate in their own ad campaigns.