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Blog Post #11

               The discussion in today’s class consisted of audiences. To target a specific audience and learn about what they need, want or value. We have found out that sometimes what the audiences want is not necessarily what they need. This is why it is important to research your audience to find out their preferences. What they find attractive in your proposal and what information they find useless.

My group and I have targeted a specific audience. We have concluded the person we have created exists. Now we are trying to persuade this person into our proposal. But to have a successful approach we need to research the following: What they value, what they want and what they need. These aspects are important as they help you to be more successful with your audience’s attention. One great way to find out these facts is to use usability tests. These help you understand where your audience is getting stuck and what the audience finds as something they would like to know more about.

This is the last blog post, or is it? I found this video on YouTube and I couldn’t get the “awwws” coming out of my mouth. It is just adorable! Aside from all the cuteness it can also be related towards the project that we are doing. It shows audience for all the cat lovers, or maybe just for cats. Getting people to love their cats and maybe find a cat that will later replace their previous cat, which can also be a little sad. Teaching the audience what real cat food is and how it can change the cat’s life by promoting Friskies as the product. Adding a set of instructions that is teaching the little kitten to be familiar with his new surroundings.

I liked this video in many ways and how it’s a good example we can use to communicate our proposals for the project. Videos are always fun to watch, so why not. I loved the way the cat was always referring to the little kitten as “Dear kitten.” How the older cat was teaching the little kitten what to do around the house when he is gone. What to expect and how he should be aware with “vacuum.” How he shouldn’t eat the hard food but the wet food, Friskies. How Friskies are made and kept save especially for them. What got a little irritating was the voice, but maybe it was because I replayed the video.

Blog Post #10

           In today’s class we discussed about usability testing. We watched two videos according to usability testing and ways to explain what it means. During the first video I felt lost as I did not know what the video was talking about. I grasp a few concepts by the end, how usability testing is not about visual design but the design behind that. I learned that it is a process between the audience and the businesses. The video also mentioned how it is probably something that we are doing already and it is not rocket science. In the second video the explanation is more straightforward, it demonstrates the purpose of usability testing which is to find out what your audience loves, and or struggles with during the trial of the product.

Last class we went over the pitch envy website. We saw two different kinds of pitch decks where one was done correctly and where the other one was not so good. The first one that we saw was a little bit confusing for me because I wasn’t familiar with all the images and some wording that it had. It didn’t catch my attention. The second pitch desk was easier for me to read because I was able to relate with it. I love pets, dogs and cats, especially when we’re dealing with their safety, you can sign me up for that. What was quite funny was the way they changed the topic. They went from tracking your pet to their health, which was irrelevant to the first slides.

Blog Post #9

           During this past week we reviewed about the project plans. After setting up the group behavioral norms we continued with the project plans in the group. We reviewed a couple of examples in class. Although we did not get to meet for class this week, my teammates and I have been meeting up for our proposal and project plans.

Working in groups is very helpful, yet difficult. As a group we can get things done quicker because we can divide the work. If the group is larger, things can get done faster compared to a small group. The bad thing about a group is that some group members may leave one or two persons doing all the work. I am saying this because I have already dealt with these kinds of people. The thing is that I am fine with it as long as I get an A letter grade. I will have to learn to let others take part on the project and just wish for the best, but I don’t think this will be a problem this semester because my team seems like they know the stuff. And seem enthusiasm for an A letter grade.

During the weekend my group and I focused on coming up with behavior norms. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know that the group’s behavior expectations was called behavior norms. I know what kind of teachers/professors did I have? I think that setting behavior norms is important because we can see what is expected from each team member. It helps us become aware of the issues that our team members don’t want to deal with. It’s like setting goals that as a team we must follow for the sake of our group project.

Blog Post #8

             In this past week after the break we have come to talk about our last project. Since our last project involves working in a group. We have discussed in class about the distinct types of people in group projects. We talked about how there is people who depend on others to do all the work, others like to leave all the work until the end. In various groups there is different types of people, there is also people who get the job done, and other who like to be overachievers and take over all the work because they want to get most of the credit.

           We established some norms in class as to what we expect from each and every one in our group. For example in my group we talked about how we expect from every one to be on time in our meetings. This is important as nobody’s time is wasted and we all get to hear each other’s ideas on time. We also discussed to keep on task, respect each other, and encourage each other’s ideas. By establishing these behavioral norms we are all in the same page and we understand the importance of this project. We wouldn’t like to waste our time and effort on someone who is not going to willingly try their best like everyone else is doing.

Blog Post #7

         The last class before spring break we got together and talked about audiences. How to target audiences and how to “sell them a thing.” We covered how many businesses make a perspective out of their audiences to be able to sell them things. We created a person, who was going to be our target audience. This person was a millennial guy, who lived in his parent’s basement. He did not have any cable, he was only dependent on Netflix or the internet. He also was not interested in dating, and his best friends were two cats. Not only did we concluded this part we also discussed more specifically his job was YouTube, uploading videos and his income must had been from his sponsors or ads on YouTube.

           The reason for creating this person in class was for us to have an idea what kind of person he was and how we could convince this certain type of guy to buy from us. By narrowing down and creating specific types of audiences we have to think of how this audiences can be persuaded. In this case for example, we would have to come with an idea that would interest him. We would not be able to persuade him to buying anything if he is not interested nor does it benefit him in any way.

Today in class we got the chance to peer review our midterm drafts. I think that peer reviewing is important because we can make our writing better and we can successfully claim for a grade letter A. I found this time in class very useful and helpful.

The peer review questions that we had to answer, I believe, will help us write appropriate. When I was revising my peer’s draft, I was revising my own as well (in my mind) because the mistakes were now obvious to me. Like why did I even write that, type of questions came to me. Once questions are available, we can notice how we really performed in our writing and what changes we should make. The answer to the questions are important, especially, if the person that revised the paper thought that it was boring. Then we should automatically act and make the draft more entertaining. Perhaps by adding images and by providing interesting examples that students can relate to. Also, not only do we learn from our mistakes, but we also learn from the mistakes of others. Which is beneficial both ways.

It doesn’t mean that we don’t know, but it can help us write a paper well. Such as, if we are using the right words for a specific audience. Who is the audience and how can we create an argument that the audience can accept. These type of questions can be answered in a peer review and are helpful to become better writers.

Blog Post #6

           During this week we read an article called “When revision is redesign: Key questions for digital scholarship,” By Susan H. Delagrange. The article was self-explanatory, the primary claim was that format matters, text to visual and visual to text affects the understanding and interest of the audience. The secondary claim of this article was that the key to innovative thinking and problem solving is maintaining ambiguity for as long as possible. She explained how designers must preserve ambiguity so as not to exclude avenues of thought or experiment that might later prove productive.

           While reading the article I found interesting when she touched the topic of ambiguity. She mentioned the following: “learners too must preserve ambiguity, as premature certainty shuts down the process of inquiry and exploration that often leads to more sophisticated, more interesting, more generative knowledge.” I found this interesting because it is true, we just don’t realize it. It’s until someone mentions it when we become aware of this.