The Grind

I'm getting into the grind on this Reform TCU site. I was excited about my proposal and my ideas for the site, but after seeing many of my classmates' pages in class, I'm suffering from a major self-confidence crisis. On the bright side, props to my classmates for an awesome job!

I am not too worried about content; I have a lot of faith in the relevance of my topic and the supporting information I have found. I am worried about my page itself and its design. My biggest fear is that it will seem amateur, but truth be told it is. I have no idea what I'm doing in Dreamweaver. The closest sensation I can associate it with is groping around in the dark, and after a lot of frustrating time I might eventually find an answer.

How do you stay motivated in piecing together large projects? Do you have any tips for helpful information or insight in web design?

Stay posted for updates! (and perhaps a brighter outlook)

Below are some photographs from TCU's image database that are serving as inspiration as I draft photos for my upcoming website, which will advocate a specific reform at TCU.

As we discussed in class today, photographs should have rhetorical meaning, and in the context of my prospective reform, images similar to those above will carry meaning relevant to my ideas. My topic, increased tuition rates and possible buffers for TCU families, is not very conducive to images of people. However, several of my original concepts for photos included elements utilized by those above. Such images will reinforce the fact that such issues and their reform affect the campus as a whole.

On a lighter note, after today's class I am feeling much, much better about my website. It still has very little on it, but many of the technical issues I was having have been explained, and I am finally able to go about modifying the site's elements.

"Personality in Design" & Dreamweaver

Aaron Walters posted an interesting article, an excerpt from his book titled Designing for Emotion, about always remembering the "human element" necessary in design. This connection is required in order for any sort of image, argument, or other persuasion attempt to hope to successfully reach an audience.

I am hoping to integrate this concept in every level of my website's design. Walters examines specialists in human-computer interaction, and he refutes the application of their approach. Instead, he advocates for human-human interaction, if you will.

If we’re doing our job well, the computer recedes into the background, and personalities rise to the surface. To achieve this goal, we must consider how we interact with one another in real life. (para. 4)

 Keeping these principles in mind will perhaps make my arguments for reform in TCU's tuition policies stronger and more effective, and perhaps in turn, persuasive.

And for those of you interested in my progress on my latest project, the aforementioned site advocating for my proposed reform at TCU, I have the basic site set up! Not a big step or accomplishment (well, it is for me), but certainly the first and most critical step!

Affordability and Tuition Reform

If you would like to read the original research on which I am reflecting, please read this article.

Three researchers, Catharine Hill, Gordon Winston, and Stephanie Boyd, evaluated the financial records for twenty-eight highly selective private universities to evaluate financial aid policies. Specifically, they focused on the records, prices, and costs for the 2001-2002 school year. They found that price as a fraction of family income is higher for lower-income students. They concluded that a school’s wealth heavily influences its pricing policy and the equality it is capable of extending to students across all socio-economic statuses.

This article will prove very beneficial to the reform I would like to suggest at TCU. The researchers of this study were very thorough in presenting their information and informing their readers about the considerations and practical knowledge that influence pricing policy at universities. This quasi-introduction to this area of study is necessary for my own examination of TCU’s current policies. Furthermore, this article expanded my understanding both of TCU’s present practices and of those exercised by other universities around the nation.

I find it interesting, though not necessarily surprising, to see that “the lowest income students pay the largest share of family income” (Hill, Winston, & Boyd 778). Though these students may receive the most aid, this aid does not necessarily lighten the burden on their families to finance the expenses of college. This truth is a key concept that, I believe, many colleges must not fail to recognize and integrate into their policy decisions. Universities must realize that the total cost alone or the total percentage covered by the college alone is not the issue; families must be able to fit such an expense into their budgets. Even if they have received a sizeable percentage off of the sticker price, the final price may still be near impossible for them to responsibly manage. 

Hill, Winston, and Boyd also examine the influence of schools’ wealth on their pricing policies, declaring that “more wealth supports larger general student subsidies and those subsidies act, in turn, much like a wage payment to students for peer quality” (780). The problem, however, is that such policies can, and do, easily perpetuate inequality in the opportunities presented to lower-income students, because a well-known positive correlation exists between academic quality and family income. 

Though I could easily argue fervently in favor of financial reform without objectively examining such policy decisions, for my argument to be effective I have to understand all of the considerations influencing TCU’s financial policymakers, not just those that I, as a student, witness and have experienced.

The Razzies and Oscars: The Worst and the Best in Web Design

The worst of the worst and the best of the best... At least relatively speaking.

As I would hope is evident, the above two sites are two examples, I think, of well put together websites. I find both of them visually appealing as well as easily navigable, two qualities difficult to balance in web design. Ads, if present, are minimally intrusive and blend well, and the layout is clean with unique touches. 

The above two sites are my examples of weak or otherwise ineffective web pages. Many may be surprised at my choice of Amazon. I can explain! While I definitely give props to all that the company does behind the monitor, I've always found the website cluttered and distracting. It lacks any sort of balance between text and image, so there's too much of all of it. The TCU Bookstore page, which then goes on to link to the other TCU Bookstore page (?!), is almost too simple. Its navigation seems simple, yet the categories are not always relevant, and the content of the page is scarce.

Agitation and Reformation

In preparation for our latest project, I'm beginning to mull over reforms that I would suggest (and be able to build a case for) at TCU. My favored idea at this moment is a proposal to grandfather students' tuition rates to those contemporary with their initial enrollment, essentially locking students into the tuition rate at which they begin full-time, undergraduate study.

A small handful of schools currently have policies set that allow such tuition freezes, but they come with a fee. Would such a measure be so drastic for universities?

This question will guide my ensuing preliminary research. Before I can build my case or present reformation measures, I have to determine its viability. I'll also have to discover the advantages presented by such changes. Administrators won't just change the status quo without compelling arguments and perceived advantage.

I have faced such tuition increases two years (2010-2011, 2011-2012 ) in a row, and I fully anticipate another increase. The difficult aspect to swallow is that the rate of increase is not even steady; this, too, has increased each subsequent year.

Confessions of an AD/PR Major

I'm beginning to face a dilemma; I would call it a duality of perception. (Note: I have yet to decide if it is an acceptable or negative thing.)

As a human being, I am becoming increasingly aware of the lack of privacy in society, with digital technology increasingly infringing on my personal information and doings. On the other hand, as a student of advertising and public relations, I spend my free time learning more and more about cutting-edge technology and the hottest trends in the online realm. I find these advances fascinating, yet on a personal level this genius seems to step into an eery light.

Perhaps as a society we've become alienated from ourselves and our abilities to connect with others, so these online forums for networking, sharing, and expressing are an appealing channel for such activity. Activity that I would argue is a common and essential form of relating to others - a vital dimension of human development.

But this leads me to another question, how did we first become so disconnected? Many argue that technology and the rise of the digital realm is to blame. Wouldn't the conjunction of the latter observation to the former create a contradiction?

What do you think? Why has the digital revolution been so revolutionary to culture? What element of the  human experience did it introduce or alter, and why is that element so necessary?

And for you infographic lovers like me, check this out!

Oooooh Check it Out!

With the smart phone I'm sure that you have within six inches of your keyboard, scan this QR code to see what I'm up to and how you can make the cliche-but-nevertheless-true difference in the global community of which you are a part. 

If you've seen any of my earlier posts, I am trying to raise money for famine relief in East Africa through Operation USA. Operation USA is a non-profit agency with a unique advantage. They have their own planes which they can load with aid (like food) and drop into countries in which on-the-ground efforts are prohibited. I am participating in this fundraising attempt with my fellow TCU classmates in Multimedia Authoring, a course focusing on the rhetoric of image. 

In case you need more background, East Africa is suffering from a severe drought, and its resulting famine, which is compounded with civil strife and warfare. Many refugees are trying to flee, with opposition, from Somalia into nearby Kenya. Both countries, along with their neighbors, need help in supporting and maintaing their refugee camps of hundreds of thousands. 

Even if you aren't sure that you have anything to give, check the page out and find out more about what we're doing. 

Generations of Web Pages

Unlike people, a web page's generation is no indicator of its age. Rather, generations describe the attributes and general design of the site -- its purpose, intentions, and values as indicated by its overall composition. Below, I display examples of varying generations of websites and my brief thoughts on their design as it relates to their classification.

First Generation:

I categorized this website as a first-generation website because of its reliance on basic headlines and edge-to-edge text. The page utilizes few images and linked icons. The text on this page was moderately long by web standards. Basically, this site is text-heavy with little use of graphics, videos, and other types of multimedia. The page simply relies on basic web page coding.

Second Generation:

I consider this page a second-generation site because it closely resembles Siegal’s description. The page is in many ways similar to the first page, but it does integrate more images, some of which are internal links, and the button-function of certain graphics is displayed. This page also attempts to use lists and bullets to organize its points as well as navigation menus.

Third Generation:

TCU 360 is a third-generation website because its objective as a source of news to its audience is clear in its design. Emphasis on the site’s design to promote usability and understandability is clear. The design is appealing so as to draw in the viewer, and the “who,” “what,” and “why” of the site is also evident. The navigation of the site, an important component of usability, and its structure are also simply and elegantly designed.

Fourth Generation:

This site immediately came to mind for a fourth-generation web page, particularly its inclusion of “all the bells and whistles.” The icons on the screen move around and music plays in the background. This site offers its visitors the opportunity to shop for products, schedule appointments, and find particular locations. The purpose of the site, like the third-generation site, is evident, as the company’s purpose is very much evident in the site’s design.