Gareth’s use of logical appeal is abundant throughout his portfolio. Key rhetorical strategies are aimed more towards informing rather than persuading. He does not beg the question; links are available at every turn to back up his claims. He stays on target throughout his portfolio, without going off on tangents or getting carried away with rhetorical strategies. We believe his use of information is his most effective tactic in the portfolio, as it’s hard to dispute his claims when his evidence link is hovering ominously in the margin. Gareth addresses his audience in a very objective way, without skewing things or appealing to bias. He puts his claim on the table along with his evidence in a ‘take it or leave it’ mentality, which we find to be particularly effective. In instances like this, the audience is more inclined to accept his claim when he’s not attempting to force it upon them. Site design is basic but well organized; it gets the job done and is very user friendly.

Soundscript

My newly proposed soundscript for the “Stranger Than Fiction” clip will feature the watch as the narrator.  From the opening scene where the watch is sitting on the nightstand, the watch will introduce itself to the audience.  As Crick, the main character, begins to go about his daily business, the watch will be heard (only by the audience) commanding Crick to do things in an orderly way.  In the instance of Crick brushing his teeth and tying his tie, his wristwatch’s voice will be heard commanding his actions.

Research Question

How does our dependency on discipline affect our society?  To what extend are we controlled by orders and the demands of others?  How does the role of power factor into the workplace and the development of “super-scheduling devices”?

My Claim

Our dependency on discipline has led to new developments that take advantage of this dependency.  New watches and cell phones are emerging in the marketplace; these new devices are geared towards commanding us to perform actions, albeit preprogrammed by the user.  Such devices are designed to verbally announce the user’s upcoming schedule, important reminders, and other notifications.  While this may seem an innocent development, it is a very real possibility that this technology will someday enslave us: our tasks preprogrammed and assigned to us, and our lives carefully structured to increase efficiency.

Stakes

The stakes pertain to all societies as technology continues to develop and current trends of the workplace (power ladders, subjugation, etc) continue.  To what extent are we really dependent on such disciplines?  These are important to us because we would all like to think that we have control over our own lives and the way we do things.  The claim should be a step towards investigating this issue.

New Versus Old: The Soundscript

With the narrator now being the wristwatch, how will the connotations from Stranger Than Fiction be different than when the narrator was an author writing a book?  With the new narrator we will see the transformation of a previously implied dependency on the wristwatch to an immediately literal example of dependency on the device.

Support

I’d like to include articles and quotes from site such as Gizmodo.com, where information on upcoming and futuristic new designs for ipods, cell phones, and watches are emerging, such as the type of technology that would be necessary to (eventually) turn the ‘talking wristwatch’ idea into a reality.

Questions

I think I’ve settled on a better soudscript than I’d originally planned, but it’s been somewhat slow-going, trying to further develop the idea.  I wonder if I’ll be able to incorporate movies such as Office Space and Falling Down in the whole scheme of dependency on discipline, and the development of anxiety in the workplace as a sort of relationship between dependency on orders and the stress associated with low-lever worker roles.

After reading Alcoff’s novel on speaking for and about others who are considered oppressed, my first question was something along the lines of “why did it take 25 pages to say this?” Really I didn’t see the need for the superfluous use of jargon and fancy writing to get across her point. Also, in this excerpt: “And this effect will continue until the U.S. government admits its history of international mass murder and radically alters it foreign policy” I found that it was out of the blue, and very abstract to the purpose of the essay, and she had a typo! should’ve been “It’s foreign policy.” Well, I thought that was funny. ^^

The things that weren’t clear to me were most often drowning in an ocean of unnecessary details and artful writing. Seemed to me like the Alcoff was trying to appear unquestionably intelligent or an expert on the subject, though I do recognize her relationship to her subject; she is a minority, and she is asking a question pertaining to how to speak for or about, or even if it’s acceptable to speak for or about a minority.

This article is useful to us as service-learning volunteers because it addresses the political correctness of speaking for a group, which is what we will be doing for our papers in due time. She tackles the different methods of avoiding speaking for a specific group, as well as the downsides to those evasive techniques. She asks the very questions that we, as representatives of the kids at the Boys and Girls club, should be considering.

As far as intertextualizing with service learning, Alcoff looks at the effects of speaking for someone else, and how one’s position as a member of a different class, race, or sex can affect their biases or credibility in certain situations.

Ivan Illich: To Hell With Good Intentions, Page 314 [bottom of the 1^st page]

“You [volunteers] close your eyes because you want to go ahead and could not do so if you looked at some facts.”

The quote is taken from a speech delivered at a large gathering of dedicated volunteers who are about to embark on a good-will trip to Mexican villages. This quote functions as an accusation against the volunteers. Illich’s claim is that they have not stopped to consider or process the consequences of their actions. It points out the naivety of their belief that they are helping a lesser people to rise up and break the chains of poverty.

Colleen & Ryan

For the first audio clip, we got the feeling that it was a trailer for some happy feely, make-you-feel-good-inside movie.  The music was directed towards heavily influencing the feelings of the audience, for example: the music (keynote sound) in the beginning was melodramatic, while it transitioned later into a more upbeat, exciting theme.  In addition narrator was upbeat the entire time, which limited the way we could perceive the film (without the narrator we would have thought it a depressing film at first).

The second audio clip immediately gave us a creepy, cold feeling.  The constant buildup of intensity and suspense kept us waiting for a climax or sudden break in the suspense.  It started getting a little crazy towards the end but our impression was that it was definitely a horror film trailer.