Chris

where will you adjust your Content Learning Reflection to strengthen your point?

what do you like the most about your CL Reflection?

what are you most proud of with your writing process?

what questions do you have about web writing that will help you after you finish this course?

One thing that I have been discussing and considering throughout most of the course is quick engagement. Catching the viewer's attention ASAP before they move on to another post. There are many ways to engage viewers. We've discussed and used a lot of multimodal elements like pictures, videos, GIFs, and other information architecture. @npfannen in your experience, what's the most effective way to grab a viewer's attention? Have you noticed GIFs or videos being more engaging than static pictures? Or perhaps there is no overall trend and it is fully dependent on the audience and discourse community? I was just wondering if there was an overall trend you've noticed over most discourse communities and audiences. Thanks for all the knowledge you've shared with us though this course!

share a section of your Design Project content. What is the work of this sample? How can we help you revise?

Below is the text for one of my example posts. This post is intended to be from TVMovieStudioCo and directed as a response toward all of the fans who are upset about the cancellation (which has already been announced). My version of Favorite Show is a competition show where strangers are put onto teams based on their generation (e.g. gen X vs gen Z) and compete in challenges created by the producers. This show has created a lot of online debates about the superiority of different generations. Some of these arguments have gotten heated therefore, TVMovieStudioCo has decided to cancel the show. This show mostly featured Gen X and Gen Z competitors so the primary audience consists of those age groups. This post is intended to address both of those groups at the same time (some of my other posts are designed to address one or the other). See the text below and please give me feedback on how I can use language to engage with the appropriate audience better. Could I change the way I am using language in order to be conducive to both generations (does my language seem to favor one generation over the other; TVMovieStudioCo is trying to remain neutral)? Thanks for the feedback!

share an example of your favorite television show or movie - how does that show/movie help you work through this project and understand angry fandom?

As I mentioned in my previous original content post, I don't watch a ton of TV. A lot of the TV shows that I watch are old ones that haven't been making new episodes for years and years before I even began watching them. Although, one show that came to my mind with the prompt was a newer one that is definitely one of my favorite shows.

I love Stranger Things. I believe that the show is written and directed incredibly well and I loved the show way more than I ever expected to. I have watched every episode that has been released up until now. They are currently in the process of making season 5 and I am very excited for it. They did announce that season 5 will be the final season of Stranger Things (they weren't even planning to make and release season 5 at first, but the fans begged for more). The show does such a great job developing the viewer's relationships with the characters, throwing in plot twists, and developing an incredible story. While I would love to have many more seasons of the show, I know that it can't be the same forever. Eventually, someone is bound to quit the cast and the show will go downhill (kind of like what happened to the Office when Steve Carrell left) or the writers will run out of unique ideas/inspiration (I feel like this happened in the later seasons the Walking Dead). Knowing that there won't be more new Stranger Things content (beyond season 5) is sad. But it's also reassuring knowing that (hopefully) all episodes of this show will remain great. While the quality of season 5 has yet to be seen, I remain optimistic that they will do a good job. I understand that the end of show like this causes anger amidst the fanbase. Shows like this develop deep relationships between the viewer and the characters. Ending the show is kind of like losing friends that you felt really connected to. You may have never met that person in real life and they're entire life may be fictional, but something about it feels real. Not only that, the characters of the show are going through their struggles while you (the viewer) is also going through personal trials of life. AJR made an entire song about how "who I am is in these episodes, so don't you tell me that it's just a show..." when looking back on the Office as a show (the song is called Netflix trip). I think these lines really show the true connection that people have with their shows.

share an example of your experience as a fan of a show that was cancelled. help us feel the feels

I don't watch a lot of TV so this one was a little hard for me. However, when I was younger I would watch a few shows. The main one that came to mind wasn't necessarily "cancelled." It was a show from the 70s that I really liked to watch (thanks to my dad introducing it to me) so my problem wasn't that they stopped making episodes (that happened long before I was born) but I do remember when they removed the show from Netflix.

The show was called Emergency! and it followed a team of firefighter paramedics and also the doctors and nurses in the emergency room at the local hospital. I really enjoyed this show as a kid because of all the cheesy action and, of course, the cool fire trucks. For a period of time this show made me want to be a firefighter. I remember spending a lot of nights watching this show with my dad. We would watch it on Netflix mostly (Netflix was the first streaming service that my family had). At some point, I remember seeing the message on the screen that Emergency! would soon be removed from Netflix. I was very upset and told my parents that they could cancel Netflix once they removed the show because "it'd no longer have any use," (we never did cancel Netflix).

I had the first season of Emergency! on DVD for a long time and, after Netflix removed the show, I would rewatch season 1 a lot. I've probably seen season 1 twenty or more times. Luckily, a holiday came up soon and my parents bought me the entire series on DVD. I'm pretty sure there were 7 full seasons. I still have these DVDs and I've actually met one of the actors who was on the show (Randolph Mantooth) and got a signed picture and had him sign my DVD case.

I'm sure that from Netflix's perspective, the show had little to no value. It's just an old show that probably very few people watched. The thing that the corporate leaders never consider is that the fans who remain of that show are likely pretty dedicated to watching it and it can be a little hurtful to see your favorite show get removed from your only streaming platform. To me, Netflix seemed like a big enough business that they should be able to keep old shows on their library but, as a kid, I didn't consider the amount of money that they likely have to pay for the licensing of the show. While I don't watch Emergency! a lot anymore, I still do watch it occasionally when I'm in the mood or whenever I find it on TV. I think there's a lot of really cool things to be discovered in watching old TV shows (I also liked CHiPs and Adam-12 for a period of time). I highly recommend checking some of these old shows out and giving them a chance. Some of them are really cool.

(actual snippet from the Emergency! show 👇)

what assignment questions do you have that will help you complete and revise successfully?

@npfannen What are some common multimodal elements that would be included in the kinds of posts we're creating for this assignment. In a real show cancellation, clips or snapshots from the show would apply but that's not an option for made up shows. Obviously getting clips or snapshots from real shows is not an option either. I could use elements like I use for these posts such as GIFs that are vaguely related to the topic or simply one that I thought was cool. What types of multimodal elements do students usually use for these posts and what do you recommend? Thanks!

write a style rule for writing a short tumblr post - based on what you know so far, what is a key rule for getting notices?