Untitled

7 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About Accessibility is a great insightful passage that promotes and encourages website and digital developers to design their products to be more adaptable or “accessible” so that they may be used efficiently by all sorts of people, including those that struggle with various physical and mental disabilities. The first of seven guidelines that the author lists so that a web and digital designer may follow in order to produce an effective product revolves around “Accessibility”.  A product should be fluid, geared and comfortably accessible for people who may have physical disabilities such as: vision, hearing, mobility and cognitive Impairments. In addition, the products should also be designed with diversity in mind so that people ranging from young to old age, people who are novices in the use of technology, and those who are experienced and familiar in their operational use, all interact and navigate the software/hardware proficiently.   The second and third guidelines suggests the use of color to highlight, promote, and attract users visually towards an area of the website that needs attention. An example provided is the use of red borders around insert fields to indicate that there is an error. In addition, a combination of colors should also be used alongside icons and other text modifications such as text size, titles, bold headings, underlining, italics and etc. in order to stand out in the eyes of the user. With these implications, people with vision impairments may be able to read and navigate the designer’s product without issue and with assistance. The fourth-seventh guidelines focus on the developer creating software that will have a symbiotic relationship with the hardware it is being built for. Such an example is being able to navigate a website while only using a keyboard and building certain functions and shortcuts that will allow a user to easily navigate throughout a website or program. Along with this development, information on how to properly use the software should be given and readily available to be accessed by the user. There should be borders implicated and built within the design of the product so that the user understands the limits and boundaries that they are able to navigate within the software. Details on all icons, symbols, actions and links should be properly displayed and described to provide as much information as possible so that the user has a better understanding on the program’s properties. All of these factors and important in the creation of assistive technology that makes a huge impact and difference in the daily lives of people who may have physical and cognitive disabilities. These guidelines are further supported by the user experience/user interface article, Accessibility Guidelines for UX Designers, which reviews the same concepts as the previous reading. Content and structure should have meaningful links that pertain to whatever a user is searching for. By avoiding links that will lead to unrelated content and to limit the addition of unnecessary keyboard inputs, this will aid users that may have motor impairments, cognitive limitations or visual disabilities. A combination of color, text, font and graphical objects, will create a helpful product that will be user friendly for people with partial sight, limited color vision, color blindness. Patterns of navigation should also be consistent so that repeated components occurring in the same order within different pages of the website/software, reflect user friendly components and teach its users, especially those that may have intellectual disabilities, that the website is predictable and therefore understood. There should always be different options and choices that give the user the ability to return to any desired location, page, tab, or settings within the program. The design of the software should always be linear and consistent with the aid of various multi-modal components such as visual, aural, and text so that the user can read and comprehend the layout and design of the product. As a current medical worker, I personally love the critical importance of developing software and hardware that will have a positive Impact in the lives of patients who are suffering from physical and mental disabilities. It will aid health care workers to provided a better form of care and one in which patients can properly voice their concerns in regards to their health. I hope to one day help to promote exquisite health care for patients within the rehabilitation department with the assistance of devices that will provide the support needed to assure the safety and well being of my patients.

Sustaining Critical Literacies in the Digital Information Age: The Rhetoric of Sharing, Prosumerism, and Digital Algorithmic Surveillance written by Estee Beck explores the developmental process of prosumerism that began in the 1980’s and its transformative influence that exists in modern times. Prosumerism is a form of “hacking” process that was developed by major and powerful corporations in order to monitor, track, record and gather information of online users. By doing so, these companies would create a massive database that through the use of strategical algorithms would exploit a consumer, customer, everyday online users’ desires, wants and needs.

Alvin Toffler, who is the American author that Beck references in the article as the developer of Prosumerism, describes the formation of Prosumerism in three waves of hierarchy that progress throughout a civilization’s development. Each wave represents a forward movement in society that seeks to establish social order and is influenced based on the political, economic and social (ideological) apparatuses of the time. The first wave begins with what is called the agricultural revolution that took place after hunter-gatherers settled and thus “land” became the basis for economy, life, culture, the opportunity to start a family, and politics. The second wave further expands on the previous wave once the foundation of the common public becomes the ruling domain and is then heavily influenced by mass industrialization and consumption. Centralizing governments arise in conjunction with the economy and the introduction of skilled laborers paves the wave for the third step. The third wave combines the labor practices of the first and second waves with the notion that people should have a “do-it-yourself” mindset and could perform specialized labor tasks on their own. This feeling of empowerment that the population would develop, brings to life the concept of the “prosumer” which is a person who produces labor to consume goods and services that are also available in the marketplace.

What has become of this in modern times is that as technology advanced and so did its popularity in usage synthesized with everyday life, corporations collected data and information from social media sites through legal monitoring efforts in order to market their products to consumers (the people, us). Beck’s whole purpose of addressing the information in this article is so that civilians and the people of society be educated about these exploits. That teachers, professors, scholars and educators throughout the United States as well as globally, begin to teach students the awareness and importance in how they are monitored by corporations and businesses that only seek to manipulate their desires and interests. Privacy is no longer relevant as the everyday usage of social platforms increases and thus allows the collection of personal data.

To further support the urgency for people to “wake up” and to understand what is really occurring when someone is using an online social space, the researcher Danah Boyd in her interview on the spread of conspiracy theories and hate online, discusses how digital media amplifies and spreads false information. Media manipulators can twist the truth of events occurring by simply making something popular and believable. Manipulating a story through the use of multimedia modes such as photoshopping or grouping texts with certain visual effects, can cause a person to believe false information.

My personal take with this article and in already acknowledging that this exists and is a real thing, is to become motivated to look and seek out physical information that has not been tampered as easily as information originating from a digital source. While there is truth online and valuable information, search engines are designed to find what appeals to me the most and in that sense, I may not be receiving the full picture of the subject I am researching. Overall, people need to be aware and have some desire to research any information of what is occurring politically on the surface and perhaps in the underground of the United States and in the rest of the world.

What is Rhetorical about Digital Rhetoric? Perspectives and Definitions of Digital Rhetoric is an article published in 2015 by Justin Hodgson and Scot Barnett about their experience hosting a Symposium at the University of Indiana on Digital Rhetoric. While the panel brought upon many interesting and creative ways on viewing digital rhetoric, there seemed to be no clear definition on the term. I found this to be quite interesting as the article later on explained that this is due to “digital rhetoric” being evolutionary and adapting alongside digital life and the everchanging dynamics within those fields. I was quite taken away by the video in the article in which many experts and scholars were puzzled and unresponsive when asked to define “digital rhetoric.”  

As the authors and other scholars at the Symposium gained insight and learned much more about digital rhetoric and its transformative meaning over time, there were still many questions left to answer. Ultimately, digital rhetoric can be defined in one way, as an art that is rooted in contingent matters and states of affairs and thus will be ever changing. The authors reflect and conclude that like its ancient origin, to study digital rhetoric is to understand rhetoric and how it is a strategic way of expression in which a “rhetorician” addresses specific concepts and delivers impressive persuasion over the matters and topics being discussed.

The article was published in 2015 but just three years prior in 2012, digital rhetoric was defined or labeled as “multimodal composing”, “digital writing”, “new media studies”, “digital media”, “digital humanities”, “computers and composition”, and “computers and writing.” The word and term “digital rhetoric” has many vocabulary boundaries and multimodal divisions that when brought together, paint an overall picture and give purpose to its meaning.

It is now 2019 and social media platforms and digital media as a whole, rule and influence everyday life. This advanced composition class for example, relies on our ability as students to express ourselves through multi-modal digital means on a social media platform. Tumblr is just one example of how rhetoric has been applied over the creation of software and how computers are algorithmically developed to translate code into meaning, persuasion, and expression. Ironically, all of those programs are created for its organic users to express themselves and to persuade others. As technology advances and continues to develop, so will the meaning of digital rhetoric and thus continue the never-ending study and research of its definition.

The assigned reading for this Tumblr post was titled: Rhetoric, Knowledge, and “The Brute Facts of Nature” In Science Research. It is Chapter 9 of the overall article: Writing in Knowledge Societies and discusses the important relationship between rhetoric and reality and how it influences the creation of scientific knowledge. Rhetoric is an art of expression in which an individual uses compositional techniques to effectively persuade a target audience through speech or writing. The author of the chapter, Heather Gross takes a positive stand on the use of rhetoric within scientific communities and its influential importance in the development of knowledge. Scientific discoveries are based on evidence that has been acquired from experiments and studies conducted in which that evidence supports a claim and thus becomes a fact.  However, scientists and researchers acknowledge “conventional wisdom” as discussed within Rhetoric, Knowledge, and “The Brute Facts of Nature” In Scientific Research. Conventional wisdom defines that a theory, belief, opinion, judgement or prediction about a particular matter may be generally accepted as truth due to the support of related ideas and explanations. Conventional wisdom is not necessarily true, but is applied towards the introduction of new theories and explanations and thus a process of acceptance for newly acquired information.

The article also starts off by focusing on the word “metonymy” which is defined as the substitution of the name of an attribute or adjunct for that of the thing meant. A perfect example of metonymy is “the pen is mightier than the sword” in which “the pen” is substituted for meaning thought and reason, while “the sword” is a reflection of physical warfare. Thus, that phrase states that knowledge and critical thinking is advantageous compare to a reaction of brute physical strength.

Metonymy is further discussed and studied in the reading within the realm of physics and how that word relates to science and the influence of the facts of nature. However, with that comes the danger of accepting something as truth without having the proper evidence to support it. This is due to that subject being compared to a similar theme that is less complex in order to prove its meaning. In this case, the article mentions how other scientists within communities use metonymy as more of a metaphor and tool that can assist a scientist in research, but must be used wisely and properly.

I enjoyed reading Rhetoric, Knowledge and “The Brute Facts of Nature” In Scientific Research due to acknowledging that rhetoric is important within the realm of science and research. It is essential that scientists become curious and eager to explore new and untouched fields of study with support from past similar evidence. That being said, new research must then be conducted in order to prove the factual claim of any new discovery, theory or idea. Rhetoric plays a major role as factual information and supported theories become very persuasive and effective in establishing truth.

As discussed in a previous reading: Multimodal Composing and Woman, Rhetoric, and Politics on Pinterest, humans compose ideas, thoughts, and emotions through the influence of their individual life experiences. Scientific discoveries are constantly being updated as they are challenged by the progression of time. New ideas, thoughts, and theories adapt as scientists from all walks of life bring forth their own opinions and conduct their own studies on previous information that was considered factual. I believe this to be an extremely important opportunity for revealing new discoveries that will help mankind increase the understanding and reality of our world.

The human mind is a complicated network composed of a vast collection of information ranging from thoughts, ideas, and emotions varying in theme all determined from wisdom gained throughout the lifetime of each individual. As such the statement made within On Multimodal Composing in which “composing is tied to the human experience of time” holds true and strong.  To compose any work of art, music, or form poetry, a person relates and reflects on their life experiences and prior occurrences to constructively display meaning and expression. Along with mental and cognitive expressions, the mind is also able to manipulate and influence the human body into reflecting a visual interpretation of the thoughts residing within each individual. “Composing is inherently multimodal” that sentence within On Multimodal Composing is accurate in that the formation of composing for each human has a personal value and develops throughout a lifetime from experiences influenced by family, associations like friendships and partnerships, influential teachings, and knowledge exchanges. Every human being has their own physical, digital, spiritual, and mental way of processing and composing their writings.

That brings me to discuss the second reading, Multimodal Composing and Woman, Rhetoric, and Politics on Pinterest in which Pinterest was studied as an online space mainly directed for women and in which they express themselves freely. Pinterest is multimodal and all of its users use visual, linguistic, aural and text to convey thoughts and feelings. As the title suggests, Multimodal Composing and Woman, Rhetoric, and Politics discovered that although the target audience of Pinterest mainly being women and geared towards discussing more feminine topics, politics were discussed within the boards of its users and many pros and cons rose from these debates. It was incredible reading that although some women wanted to exclude politics from Pinterest to avoid online conflict or confrontation, many women freely expressed themselves and were vigilant in stressing how important it is to have a voice and to use it.  

I will personally state that Pinterest is not solely a social media platform for only women to use (I use it moderately to look for tattoo ideas, arts relating to specific things I like such as movies, video games and tv shows, future house design and arrangement ideas, love quotes to share with my girl, and for various other reasons). I use Pinterest in aiding certain agendas of mine and thus without even realizing it, I indirectly expand my insights on the way I personally compose.

I truly enjoyed reading these two articles and happy to say that I Love to express myself through visual modes, such as the influential GIF below and through text so that I can properly describe in words, the information I am trying to relay upon others. 

While reading Multiliteracies for a Digital Age, I recognized a familiar topic of discussion that has never truly been addressed within modern society. As technology advanced throughout the millennia, it is evident that it currently plays a major role throughout our education systems today. Computers are commonly used throughout different educational levels ranging from college courses all the way down to kindergarten. The problem is that, although these institutions utilize technology by having students use computers and other technical devices to accomplish class assignments, there is no true guide to which students can refer so that they can efficiently accomplish their tasks. This hinders education as students struggle with initiating assignments while attempting to learn a technological process due to not having the proper training or in-depth experience in navigating certain computer interfaces.

Although the majority of people in a first world country are accustomed with using technology on a daily basis, it is not always the case and there are many people who may not be fortunate to experience such a luxury. People who have grown up in Urban areas here within the United States, people from foreign or third world countries, national and international people who are less than fortunate, people who have grown up in cultures where they do not use technology or have been denied the use of technology are such an example. One thing that really stood out for me from the text was the passage in which it addresses that there is a significant technological gap between people of different races and ethnic backgrounds as well as genders within the United States.

I personally believe that the overall goal in education is to gain knowledge by pursuing a passion and becoming proficient in it. Humans from all walks of life attend colleges, universities, and educational institutions to gain knowledge through critical thinking and to better themselves by excelling within their chosen fields of study. Multiliteracies for a Digital Age stresses the importance of educating students in computer literacy so that they may excel with the technology present in today’s modern world and thus expand their intelligence. By developing an understanding in computer literacy, students, teachers, and people within a society, can learn to express themselves in their own unique ways and thus widen the spectrum of learning.

Technology will continue to evolve as humanity becomes more advanced, thus it is essential that people strive to gain knowledge independently and willingly. Having the confidence to interact with their peers and to develop a unified understanding of the evolving technology around them, are the proper steps towards seeing an improvement in our education system. As Multiliteracies for a Digital Age states, this change will not occur in an instant and will always be continuous. However, the focus should begin by integrating over time the importance of learning and growing with technology so that humans as a whole evolve and adapt alongside it.

On an ending note, Multiliteracies for a Digital Age has motivated me to address the lacking computer literacy within my own University. Although ESU is a relatively smaller institution than most, I urge that they redirect their resources towards developing proper computer literacy and technology education overall. Starting with developing a friendlier user interference so that its current and future students have access to the necessary tools to excel within their academics. A plan in which all teachers engage and demonstrate how to simply use D2L and what will be demanded of students within this interface, is just one step towards becoming technologically well versed.

For this post I used visual and text to provide the imagery that came to mind when writing this post and relating to the topic at hand. I used text to explain my thoughts and understandings of the assigned reading. 

The Primary Care Clinic as Writing Space is a medical research paper that states the critical importance for Health Providers to adapt their writing abilities in the medical setting so that the expression of care for a patient improves throughout the nation. As a person who has worked as a medical receptionist, volunteer EMT, Pharmacy Technician and Rehabilitation Aid, I believe this to be an accurate statement of a problem that needs to be addressed.  As The Primary Care Clinic as Writing Space concluded, Patient care is negatively affected by the backlog of writing work (19).

As a pharmacy technician currently working for St Luke’s Bethlehem, I see this on a daily basis. I would argue that it is critical for Providers, Nurses, Patient Care Assistants, Insurance Counselors, Pharmacists and other health care providers to not only improve their writing, but to also verbally express the importance of any decision made that corresponds to the care of a patient. When it comes to the care of a patient, all health care staff need to effectively communicate.

My job consists of the careful handling of drugs, delivering narcotics, packaging oral drugs, mixing IVs, prepping code trays and other critical kits that can be used in an emergency. The Pharmacist’s job is to be in constant contact between providers, nurses and patients. Technicians are crucial in relaying information to the pharmacy department and to the clinical staff located throughout the other units of the hospital. We are the eyes and ears of a pharmacist and thus we are always problem solving together and looking for solutions when there are discoordinations, contradictions and breakdowns (as the article names them). Clinical and staff pharmacists provide the drugs needed for treatment, drug information such as IV compatibility along with drug interactions, patient education in using drug delivery devices and as well as general medication counseling.

That being said, as The Primary Clinic as Writing Space explains, providers spend less time researching text corpus and providing care and more time charting and documenting medical insurance codes. This is all for insurance purposes and is a consistent occurrence throughout the nation. One part of the reading that stood out for me was how the doctor that was shadowed and studied throughout The Primary Care Clinic as Writing Space simply handed discharged instructions to a medical assistant to hand to a patient who no longer needed care. The Dr. stated that she herself did not have the time to do it personally. In my understanding, that is unprofessional and further proves how documentation and charting has taken away valuable time in which a provider actually provides care and engages in patient interaction.

When it comes to the insurance aspect, this is another constantly confusing and recurring problem. Patients consist of a wide variety of people with different upbringings and education levels. In other words, normal every day people do not speak in medical terminologies and thus may not be able to comprehend nor understand their insurance coverage and overall health care options. Most people do not know what their deductibles are, whether they have to receive prior authorizations in receiving certain types of drugs or undergoing procedures, diagnostic tests and even lab work. I have been a firsthand witness of this while working as a medical receptionist at an endosurgical and pain management center in New Jersey. I agree with The Primary Care Clinic as Writing Space in which providers, overall health staff including counselors and other care assistants, need to be educated in becoming adept in writing so that they can properly communicate with one another and thus clearly explain treatment/procedure plans, insurance policies, discharge instructions such as home education, to a patient.  

A modern problem and something that is currently seen in my network and nationally as a whole, is the continuing readmission for chronic illnesses such as copd (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and heart failure patients. Furthermore, post-operative readmissions have risen due to a patient’s lack of health literacy. Providers and health staff need to get down to the same level of their patients and shift their focus in improving patient care by expanding their writing formats and verbal vocabulary and interacting more with patients to develop true and honest relationships.

In creating this post, I found myself referring to the guidelines and concepts addressed in Spaces for Writing. Just as it is stated by authors Liz and Jonathan within the passage, I began my writing process by being overwhelmed by too many thoughts and ideas. This led to a period in which I could not begin addressing nor expressing what I wanted to talk about in a clear and concise manner. With my first draft of this post, I found that I had not answered the questions for this assignment. After taking a step back and focusing on organizing the points I wanted to make, I came to the realization that I was ironically the target audience for the authors. Through the portability of the author’s visual text, this informative comic book assisted me with organizing my thought process and analyzing the way in which I express myself on a daily basis.

We currently live in a society in which the main way of expressing ourselves is via social media platforms. The most common modes of rhetoric used on social media platforms are visual, consisting of gifs, memes, photos, illustrations, and videos and aural, including songs, sound effects, and sound clips. Personally, I am accustomed to expressing myself on social media via visual rhetoric (I love those memes). Subconsciously, I have become fluent in interpreting visual literacy, while simultaneously forgoing my ability to express myself in a narrative manner. Spaces for Writing has given me the insight to sharpen my writing skills, constructively relay my thoughts, and improve upon my narrative literacy.

One thing that stood out for me within Spaces for Writing is that the notions of ethos, pathos and logos are key for anyone to effectively communicate. Through the use and application of these ancient concepts, a person such as myself can effectively express and relay the information they are thoughtfully thinking about. I was able to build up the emotional basis and logically conclude the direction of which I wanted to take within this post. That being said, here is a gif that perfectly depicted how I felt at the start of my writing process…

Hey everyone, my name is Rony Villeda and I am an Exercise Science Undergraduate. I previously attended ESU six years ago, but had to put a hold on my education to help my family through financial trouble. After six long years of working odd jobs, moving around, and saving money, I have finally returned to continue my education and accomplish my dream of being a Physical Therapist and Physical Trainer.

I currently live in Easton with my amazing girlfriend (she is the love of my life) Lauren and our adorable little Shitzu named Ozzy. Lauren and I both work for the St. Luke’s Network as a Pharmacist and Pharmacy technician respectively.

I also work per-Diem as a Physical Rehab Aide for St. Luke’s and have an undying passion for health and fitness. I believe that not only is it important to train your body physically and functionally, but it is critical that you train your mental and spiritual aspects to their full capacities. With that saying, I quote one of my favorite fantasy stories ever written and portrayed on screen (despite the last season being terribly atrocious):