Finishing up Project #4

Even though I am on my way to completing this project, and I have learned a lot about writing for a social cause, I have run into many problems regarding the socialgo website that have really been frustrating me. The one aspect that I gained from WRT235 and had the greatest impact on me was the importance of aesthetic appeal in technology-based writing. I have not only learned what the meaning and importance of this is but I have also learned techniques to enhance aesthetic appeal and have gotten several opportunities to apply them to my work. Trying to figure out how to best use the applications of the socialgo website has been extremely frustrating. For some reason no matter what format, layout, or color scheme I use, I never quite get what I picture in my head. After several hours of playing around with the website I got it to look somewhat like what I imagined by applying the URI logo “Think Big” as my background and creating a color scheme to go with it. The design portion of this project has defiantly been the most challenging and frustrating element.

As I come close to finishing this project I can defiantly say I took a lot away from it. I learned the way in which technology-based writing acts as a powerful catalyst for social change, and the way in which to go about creating a social networking site. The aspect of this project that I took the most from was learning how to, and attempting to, write with passion and a strong voice that comes through the text in the hopes to ignites passion in an audience, enough passion to prompt action for change. 

Abolish The Dry Campus Policy

After my initial postings on my website, "Abolish The URI Dry Campus Plan," I began brainstorming ideas for my blog posts and discussion fourm. I had already decided that the purpose of my particular blog would be to persuade people to join my cause, rather then to explain or inform. So my blog posts are based more like arguments for the elimination of the dry campus policy. I wrote each blog with one main point regaurding my opinon on my cause. I also used the sources I had already found on my subject to gather facts that supported my point of view. Although my blog posts are more argumentative and persuasive, I still tried to write in a tone that woudl spark passion and possibly action in my readers.
One theme that is consistent throughout everything I wrote for my website is the fact that the only way we will see any sort of change is if we, as a student body, unite, make our opinions heard, and take action.
Throughout the writing process for this project I realized the significane of the way in which my voice came through my writing. Taking this course has taught me a lot about technology-based writing, and during this proejct I really got to apply the techiniques I have picked up during this class. This project really made me concentrate on writing in a way that would not only catch someones eye, but I was forced to try to write in a way that would actually ignite action, which was a lot tougher than I thought it woule be. I went through many revisions of my posts before I felt that they portrayed the right amount of passion to reach my readers.

Social Networking

When project #4, social networking, was assigned I had a feeling that it would be the toughest project yet. To be honest I was a little intimidated and nervous at the thought of not only creating my own website, but one that reveloved around enacting social change. It sounded like a lot of hard work and unfamilar material, and because I was unable to join a group I had to dive into this project on my own.
First I chose an issue that I not only believed in, but one that I felt I coudl really pour my writing into and relate to a local level, and the cause I settled on was to abolish the dry campus policy here at URI. I chose this topic because obvisouly it pertained to me personally, being a 21 year old and living on a dry campus, but also because I have actually spent time previous to this project disscussing this injustice with some of my friends and fell really strongly about it.
Next I attempted to explore the socialgo website. At first I thought I had a good grip on how to use it, but during the process of creating my website, I found out that I was very wrong. The first trouble I ran into was simply just trying to figure out how to best format my website. Before I even began composing text for  the website, I found myself extremely frustrated with this project, especially because I didn't have a group to navigate with. After a lab session in class I began to get a better feel for how to use the website, and I finally began writing.
I first created a mission statement and a welcome note to all of my potential members. I really tried to write with a lot of passion to grab the attention of my audience and keep thier intrest in my cause. I then write an "about me" blurb in order to make my profile more relatable to those who might read it.

Website redesign- creating a new website

After the maps were finished myself and my group turned our focus to the changes in aesthetic design and content that we felt were needed to improve our website. The first aspect of the Farsnworth Cafe website that jumped out at us was the over all theme including the color scheme, alignment, and other various poor design elements, so we started with the home page. The original site had a kind of patriotic theme with a white background, black text, and generally boring presentation that did not reflect the actual establishment in the least. After brainstorming for a little, as a group we decided that a more contemporary theme for the website with natural and soft colors would not only make the website reflect the atmosphere of this cafe, but would also be much more eye-catching and attention holding for the audience. We also completely rearranged the alignment of the text on the website by incorporating a sidebar and placing the text in a more visually appealing way. We also played around with different fonts and font sizes to highlight things like important information.
The next step we of this project that we focused on was the content. There were several pages that included text that was either irrelevant or just actually false. For example, the original menu on this site was not up to date and actually displayed things that the cafe no longer offered. Since Rachel has been to this cafe we were able to eliminate text in this section to accurately show what exactly people could find at this cafe. We made a few other small content changes to enhance the appeal of the cafe in the hopes of being able to draw in a larger audience.
Once we as a group were satisfied with our final product we drafted a proposal that explained all of the changes we made and why we felt they were an improvement on the original website. I admit that more often than not I don't really have good experiences with group projects. The main reason for this is simply that I prefer to work alone, but also because there is always that chance that every group member wont contribute equally, but that was not the case with this project. Not only did we all contribute to the final product, but we also just got along really well. We were able to openly discuses our opinions about the re-design process and incorporate each member's ideas without any conflict. I truly had a good time working with this group and I think our final product reflects what we have all learned about technology based writing.

website redesign-getting the project underway

After my group members, rachel and victoria, and I decided to do a power point presentation instead of the google site templates to display our redesign of the Farnsworth Cafe website we then talked about how to split up the work. I offered to draw up the original and post map of the website links. We all agreed that there were to completely unnecessary links, "Farnswoth Video" and "View All Jobs," both of which had nothing to do with actual cafe and would deter the audience's attention away from the intended point of the website, to advertise and inform about the establishment. While we were exploring the original website we noticed that the various links didn't connect to one another or even back to the homepage which made the site more difficult and time consuming to navigate, so we decided for our redesign we incorporate a sidebar that made all of the pages on the website link to one another. When I was drafting the two maps I began to realize just how important tools like a sidebar can be. I defiantly think that our choice to have all of the pages link to one another as well as back to the home page was a great improvement to the site.

Creating the first map proved to be quite easy because there were so few links that I needed to display in the presentation, the post re-design map didn't turn out to be quite as simple. I used the power point application on my mac to draft both of the maps using the example given by my professor as the guideline. While I was making the second map I found myself having to stop and start over several times to make sure I was making all of the correct links visible and understandable to the viewer. In the end I found a way to show all of the pages and how they link back to each other and the home page in a way that made sense and was visually easy to follow. 

website redesign

When this project was first assigned I was actually excited about it. I thought that after the previous three projects I had learned enough about online writing styles and website design to at least get a good jump start. Upon the very first meeting with my group, Rachel had already had an option for a website that was in great need of redesign, and since the website was for an establishment that Rachel has been to before we figured it was a good choice. So we all agreed upon redesigning the website for Farnsworth Cafe. We spent a good portion of a first meeting exploring this poorly done website and brainstorming ideas for how to improve it. The first thing we noticed were the questionable design elements. The color scheme, alignment, and overall theme of the website were not only boring to look at, but could actually be quite confusing to perspective audiences because it gave a completely false impression of what the cafe was and had to offer.
The next problem we noticed during the process of mapping the original websites links. The original Farnsworth cafe website had both confusing and unnecessary links. We first decided to eliminate the links "Farnsworth Video," and "View Jobs" links because they had absolutely nothing to do with the actual cafe and would be very confusing to the audience. Next we decided to have each and every link on the website not only link back to the homepage, but also link to each other by using a sidebar.
The next task we set for ourselves was to brainstorm ideas for the new look of our website, as well as content changes we wanted to make to sections such as the menu. The only problem was we could not figure out how to work with the google templates for the life of us. After speaking with our professor we decided to do a power point presentation instead.

3 potential entries for WIkitravel

As I have stated before I plan to do my Wikitravel project on my hometown, South Orange NJ. As there is already a page for this town, I am going to add entries to enhance this page.
One entry I plan to add to is the "Eat" section. There are quite a few restaurants, delis, etc. that have not been listed on this site. There are also a few new eating establishments that are important for the readers to know about. I am going to add the information for the various traditional New Jersey diners: Texas Wiener, and The Village Diner, and the new eating establishments: Tratoria, and Eden's Gourmet.
Another entry I plan to add to is the "Do" section. Although the basic information for the South Orange Performing Arts  Center (SOPAC) is listed, there is no information as to what exactly there is to do at this establishment.
One more entry I am going to do is list the local bars that South Orange offers. There is currently nothing under the "Drink" section of this page, but there are at least two bars I can think of in South Orange.