Author: dgreen3

Questions for Brent Simoneaux

  1. Do you feel like the use of multimodal platforms could be a key to “making brand journalism slow?”
  2. What aspects of working at Red-Hat shaped you as a journalist? What did you gain from being forced to make that shift in writing style and pace?
  3. What techniques have you found in fast brand journalism and slow brand journalism that make your writing more compelling?

Reflection

One of the three videos I experienced was a classic take on great performers in L.A. Noir. This was an interactive video featuring Don Cheadle. The description read “You are the BARTENDER who sold him out.” In the video Don Cheadle appears to be looking me directly in the eye. I am positioned behind the bar where he slides me a letter to give to someone. Shortly after, two men casually walk in and shoot him in the back out of nowhere. this actually caused me to jump out of shock because I was not expecting it. I felt like I was directly in this situation. This proves that VR has the ability to evoke empathy and make an impact. I think this could really take us places and “make empathy great again” in the future. The best way to relate is to put yourself in that position, and this is the closest way we have been able to do so without literally doing it. I think this will be great for publishing in the future and will enhance the journalism experience. I look forward to seeing how this comes into play within our everyday lives, as right now it is in the beginning stages.

Who We Are

Our Mission

In 1980 Congress passed The Refugee Act— legislation which codified the U.S. commitment to protecting refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable immigrants. Over the last 30 years, new U.S. laws, policies, and practices have undermined the ability of asylum-seekers to obtain asylum protection. Asylee Women Enterprise (AWE), helps women seeking asylum to rebuild their lives and spirits by providing transitional housing, companionship, and community. Though our aim is to grow the asylees, we grow together.

Our Philosophy

“A person is a person through other people.”

From the asylees to our staff, everyone at AWE is a part of this community. We are all interconnected and we all learn from one another through this shared experience. Ubuntu is centralized around the idea that the successes and hardships of individuals within a community are shared. Collective interests within the community precede the interests of the individual in such a way that everyone is equal. Your experience is our experience.

Our Community

The seeds of AWE began in January 2011. It started as a collaboration between Catholic Sisters working together to provide housing and community to women seeking asylum. AWE is now a secular organization open to all asylum seekers and donors. We encourage you to become involved as an active participant in our community. A special thanks to the Sisters from the following communities who have been instrumental in developing AWE:

Whether you would like to donate goods, time, money, encouragement, or effort, we welcome you to become a part of our growing community. To find our more, visit our (donate link) page.

Our Services

Offices: 4500 Frankford Ave., Baltimore MD 21206

Phone: 443-850-0627

Email: info@asyleewomen.org

Media Inquiries Email: tnelms@asyleewomen.org

Don’t forget to add us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr!

Save

Annotated Bibloiography

Dabrianna Green

ENG 256 ON1

Dr. Licastro

4 April 2017

Works Cited

Flippin, Jr. Reverend William E. “Ubuntu: Applying African Philosophy in Building Community.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 5 Feb. 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/reverend-william-e-flippin-jr/ubuntu-applying-african-  p_b_1243904.html. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

The author of this article is Reverend and scholar, William E. Flippin Jr. He is a 2002          graduate of the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse School of Religion where he received his Masters of Divinity with a concentration in Church History/Reformation Studies. He furthered his education at Emory University, Candler School of Theology receiving a Masters of Theology (ThM) in 2003, as well as an additional ThM (2005) from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Currently, he   is completing his Doctor of Ministry (DMIN) in Transformational Leadership from Ashland Theological Seminary. In addition, he is a regular contributor for the Huffington Post’s “Black Voices” and guest columnist for Augsburg Press. His extra-curricular experience includes a trip to Cote d’ Ivoire, West Africa as a Mickey Leland Intern for World Hunger and Peace. In this article, he explores the concept of Ubuntu and applies it to the real-world issues of today’s society, insinuating that if we applied this concept to these current events, it would not only improve the quality of the community, but improve the quality of life. The intended audience for this article is the African-American community. Flippin uses this article as a call-to-action for the African-American youth to realize the importance of Ubuntu and incorporate it in their daily lives in order to ensure a    better future for themselves and the remainder of society.

Flippin being so emerged in the African-American culture does create a bias in this article. Though he is African-American and deems it important to reach out and improve his own community to whom he can relate to and vice versa, he is missing out on the opportunity to enlighten the remaining demographics he has unknowingly excluded. This presents a weakness. However, Flippin’s use of statistics and insightful, educational   reflection presents a strength that became useful in my research because I wanted to observe the different ways in which incorporating Ubuntu can be effective. This article     confirms that the principles of this philosophy can be effective in smaller areas such as the community and the church, as well as bigger areas such as economic and political situations.

Mangena, Fainos. “Hunhu/Ubuntu in the Traditional Thought of Southern Africa.” Internet             Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/hunhu/. Accessed 28 Mar. 2017.

Dr. Fainos Mangena is a specialist in Ethics, Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Education, and Advanced Logic and Metaphysics. He currently works in the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe. He has a Doctorates degree in Philosophy, a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy, and a B.A. Dual Honors degree in Philosophy and religious studies. He has fourteen published works in refereed journals and two articles accepted for publication by peer reviewed journals. His professional and extra-curricular experience includes being the coordinator of an HIV and AIDS seminar series. Rather than making a specific claim, this article dissects the history, principles, and components of Ubuntu in Africa. The authors intended audience is anyone who is interested in having more than a surface-level understanding of Ubuntu. Though this article does not seem to present bias, it is possible that it could be biased considering the author is African and is from Africa.

Overall, this is a very strong and informative article. The only weakness it presents is that    it doesn’t really connect Ubuntu with everyday life- which is a big part of it. The information in this article doesn’t necessarily support or counter the thesis of my project.     However, it presents very relevant material. When discussing Ubuntu as a philosophy, it is important to know more than the distinctive components. Knowing the fine details, such as the background and how it became what it is now is extremely useful because this philosophy is more than what it seems to be in its mainstream view. I will be able to use these details to give deeper insight on what Ubuntu means on the website in order to give visitors a scholarly, deeper understanding.

Msila, Vuyisile. Ubuntu: Shaping the Current Workplace with (African) Wisdom. Randburg,         South Africa, Knowres Publishing, 2015. EBSCOhost,   ezproxy.stevenson.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1124517&site=eds-live&scope=site. Accessed 28 March 2017.

Vuyisile Msila is a professor at Unisa’s Institute for African Renaissance Studies. He leads a number of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research projects. He has conducted extensive work in leadership research in educational institutions, and was also a member of the Zenex/ACE research team that worked nationally, evaluating the Advanced Certificate in Education – School Management and Leadership, a project commissioned by the Department of Basic Education. Msila’s thesis is simply that in a world filled with leadership and management issues, Ubuntu is the most effective way to enhance the overall workplace environment. He also sets out to look at Ubuntu in further detail because he believes the idea of the philosophy is so commonly used, yet many don’t know the depth of it. Msila’s intended audience is primarily people who have leadership roles and are looking to improve their workplace environment. However, it is also geared towards people who simply want to learn more about Ubuntu. This article             does have a slight bias due to the fact that Msila has a passion for both Ubuntu and leadership, particularly African models leadership. These special interests could sway his opinion on how effective Ubuntu really is. However, it doesn’t present a weakness.

Through reading this book, it is apparent the author has studied leadership extensively and is applying those principles to what he knows about Ubuntu, which ultimately becomes a seamless comparison that provokes thought because the principles and theories go hand-in-hand. This information supports the thesis of my research because it supports the claim Tiffany Nelms made about Ubuntu improving the employee experience and gives enough information and insight for me to use to support her claim. This is extremely relevant because I plan to talk about how Ubuntu impacts AWE as a whole, including the employees.

 

Book Traces

Book Traces was my favorite extra credit event for this course thus far. It was interesting to learn how books were used in such different ways; they were more than just reading tools. People bonded through books, they were gifts, and much more. I hope this movement gains even more success than it already has in such a short period of time. The more people who are aware of these hidden gems that libraries hold, the more books will be found and evaluated. It is so ironic, yet fascinating that there are real life stories embedded within the basic story (the existing book). The technology that exists today easily allows us to really find out the root of what was in the books. It’s exciting, and this could come in handy one day.

I really appreciate the fact that Stauffer took the time and visited Stevenson all the way from Virginia. I believe it would be a great idea for him to continue to travel to other universities, libraries, and etc. to educate people on this. It would be a shame for books to be overlooked and thrown away when there is so much to discover. The success he has thus far already had proves that he is onto something.

Pitch

Dabrianna Green

Professor Licastro

ENG 256 01

20 March 2017

Elevator Pitch

     Donors are the intended audience for this website. Whether they are donating their time, money, or efforts, donors are what AWE needs. Donors are what AWE wants to attract.

In order to motivate any audience to donate to a cause, they have to feel connected to it. It is important that this organization (and any organization) establishes a personality that communicates who they are and what they stand for. Currently, this website seems to be a hub for all of AWE’s most critical information. Though this is an extremely important aspect of a website for an organization, it isn’t an aspect that draws people in. Evoking a feeling and making connections with potential donors is a currently a main goal for AWE; the website is no exception.

Particularly, the “About Us” page does not give the website’s visitors a sense of who they are donating to, and it doesn’t pull any influential heart strings that will result in donations. A “Who Are We?” page, much like the one on heifer.org, would be an extremely beneficial addition to the site. This will set an overall tone for not only the website, but the organization. AWE is more than just a place that helps women seeking asylum to rebuild their lives and their spirits. AWE is a community that shapes everyone involved and so much more.

Incorporating the idea of Ubuntu within this page to effectively communicate who AWE is and what they stand for would be a unique, yet effective way of establishing a personality. No other site we have researched has done anything like this. In addition to viewing the video on Ubuntu presented in class, when I asked “What elements of the organization do your pride yourself on most, and why?” the immediate answer was Ubuntu and the sense of community that it has helped AWE establish. Tiffany even mentioned that the staff has learned and benefitted from this lifestyle as well. This can be communicated through powerful quotes, statistical data, personal stories, and a brief explanation of Ubuntu and how it applies to the organization personally.

Citation:

“Women’s Empowerment Quiz: What’s Your Most Inspiring Strength? | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger and Poverty.” Women’s Empowerment | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger and Poverty. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 March 2017.

*I tried to use a hanging indent on the citation, but it was displayed differently on the actual post.

Letterpress Demo Reflection

Dabrianna Green

The letterpress demo was quite the learning experience. Initially, I thought that we were just going to stamp letters on paper and make cool posters. However, it is definitely more of a process. I left this event with more respect for technology and the way we have advanced, as well as the people who dedicated their time to crafting each and every element involved in this evolution.

Letterpress is a skill. There is a lot of detailed work involved before getting to the prize. Seeing the end product is very rewarding. However, I could not imagine doing this by myself. Sorting out fonts, keeping them organized, adding correct spacing, cleaning the machine, and etc. is quite the task. Watching all of this come into play made me think about all of the print sources in the past and what strategies were chosen to make this process easier. To do something like this alone would take up a lot of time. When the instructor said it would probably take her a full day to press one single page of the Bible, that really made me realize that this is a respectable craft.

All in all, I am glad I attended this event. For english and communications majors like myself, I think it is important to learn about these things to educate us and give more of a respect for the craft. It is good to have insight on all aspects of your field, so I appreciate the opportunity to experience this side of it all.

5 Questions for Asylee

Dabrianna Green

  1. What emotions do you want to appeal to through your new site?
  2. What elements of the organization do your pride yourself on most? Why?
  3. Do you want to shed light on any of the women/people you help?
  4. What is the main thing you want to be communicated through the site?
  5. What is one thing that you really want people to know about your organization?

Rhetorical Analysis

Dabrianna Green   

     I chose to analyze www.refugees.org. Though there is more than one audience, the intended audience is people who are interested in supporting this particular cause. The secondary audience is anyone who is interested in learning about the cause and the organization in general. This organization is dedicated to bringing awareness to the issues involved within the refugee crisis, which corresponds with the purpose of the website. The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants intend to provide a space that informs onlookers of their mission as a committee, while simultaneously providing the resources for the public to get involved.

     These core values, intentions, and motives appear throughout the entire layout of the site. The navigation bar reflects the gradual process the average person goes through before committing to a cause. First, they become informed by exploring the issues overall, which reflects the “explore the issues tab.” Next, they look into the approaches within different organizations, which reflects the “our approach tab.” Finally, they decide where and how they will get involved, which reflects the “get involved,” “donate,” and “act” tabs.

     The context of this site is a crisp, clean layout for the web that can easily be accessed from a number of electronic devices at any location. The organization presumably chose this particular medium because in today’s society, everything is online and viewers have less patience. This also seems to be the most efficient and effective way to combine all of their efforts such as informing and collecting donations simultaneously. They do not have to worry about running out of space and they can refer anyone with questions or concerns to their website to get all of the information they need. The navigation is simple enough for all age groups and facilitates almost anyone. This medium definitely is a reflection of understanding the target.

     The genre of this site is organizations. Instead of the “.com” websites generally have when their websites are for commercial use, organizations typically use “.org” at the end of their website. Many organizations have a similar setup when it comes to their websites; it often is reminiscent of a pamphlet they would give out. All of the key information about the organizations is displayed on their website ranging from their cause to their contact information. The great thing about having this website is that the organization is able to include video and have people donate directly from the site, which this site definitely makes     

     The interface is extremely user-friendly and everything that it should be. Though some websites tend to be carried away with all of the features they can include that results in a website saturated with widgets and unnecessary features, there is a function for everything in this website; everything included enhances the experience. The colors are vibrant enough to keep the reader interested and engaged, but not so vibrant that they assert playfulness. After all, the refugee crisis is a serious matter. However, many organizations have a tendency to come off so serious and stern (often not utilizing color, playing with font choices, & etc.) to make their website aesthetically pleasing) that their website doesn’t keep the viewer’s attention.

     The font choice is extremely readable. Throughout the entire website, the organization does not go under 12-point font. They also pay specific attention to the color choice in regards to font. Some colors do not overlap well when it comes to text and background. This organization realized that and made sure that the darker backgrounds had lighter fonts and the lighter backgrounds had darker fonts.

     The website’s information architecture is extremely straightforward and helpful. Every title reflects the exact link it is connected to. If the user wants to “get involved” with the cause, they can easily click “get involved” in the dashboard and they are brought to several options that show them how to get involved in the area of their choice. No matter what option they chose, they are provided with a list of all of the resources they will need and contact information should they have any questions. There are many aspects to this site. However, it is very hard to get lost or have navigation issues. This makes for an effective user experience, which is especially important considering the type of site this is.

     The purpose for this site is to spread awareness, gain support, and collect donations. The site definitely has bias because it is targeted towards a certain cause. There are little to no counterarguments towards this cause displayed on the site because it would take away from the organization’s purpose and mission; the organization is only going to showcase that supports their cause because they have a certain point they wish to make.

     After analyzing the site and making note of everything that stood out to me, I used the screenshot feature to make my arguments about what elements enhance or takes away from the site. Along with that, I used arrows to point out each feature I wanted to highlight. I then added text boxes directly under the arrows to explain the point I was trying to make about the features in detail. This allowed me to show exactly what I was referring to directly.