Winter Term 2010

DebtBu$tersPoster

The photo I chose for this header assignment was of a number of energy drinks lined up next to each other. The reason why I picked this picture as the header is because I found it to be very visually stimulating and also because of the fact that it had man different colors from the cans which added to the visually stimulating characteristics of the picture. I also liked the picture due to the fact that all of the cans are seemingly cut in half. The reason why I liked it is because it makes you look onto the next ...

I believe that the header for our “Debt Busters” page has qualities that are both good and bad. While some of my observations and opinions are made from a professional standpoint, I admit that many are also rooted simply in personal artistic preference. Still, my critique is intended to be professional above all else.

There were many aspects of the header that I felt were very good. For instance, showing the faces of actual students who are suffering from debt directly caused by taking student loans in order to pay for college. Without actually showing the faces of people who are ...

I designed the header of our group blog and I will explain the design concept from the aspects of form, typography, color, line, shape, and texture.

Form: I took the eye image with a covering hand to express the person who is snooping someone’s privacy. This image explains that people, especially on the web social media such as facebook, are easy to be known their individual information to strangers. They are impaired attention to their personal information but showing their profiles and even their face pictures on Internet. The eye is a strong image to express that your information are always ...

The idea for this header was inspired by another site actually; this particular site featured a multimedia video with pictures of the subjects holding up the amount of student debt they had. I made this my own by finding students at the U of O and taking their picture in front of the University of Oregon sign. I thought this was a good representation of the problem and the focus on the University of Oregon. I tried to get a younger looking student the girl and an older looking student the boy . Although we’re focusing on the fact that the ...

I found my image on a royalty-free stock photo website. What first drew me to it was the clean lighting that already existed in the photograph–it was obviously a bright sunny day when it was shot, and that means that little light editing would be needed. I know that if you start with an image that already has good contrast and color saturation, your work is that much easier. In addition, I liked the content of the image. It is clear, crisp, and shows the typical skateboard and shoes of a boarder in an urban area. It is easy to relate ...

CONTENT: Around Eugene is a personal blog written by Sebastian Foltz, a U of O journalism graduate student whose life and career involves the Oregon outdoors. His love for travel and sports is evident in his writings, which are mainly about local outdoor hotspots, such as the Willamette Pass. Although his articles have personal touches and opinions such as his thoughts on politics and local news they are well-researched and always provide a solid variety of hyperlinks. Some examples of his topics include the UO Outdoor Program, kayaking on the MacKenzie River, and the newly-proposed Jefferson Bridge skate park. His commentary ...

United for Peace and Justice is a coalition of more than 1400 local and national groups throughout the United States who have joined together to protest the immoral and disastrous Iraq War. Founded in 2002, United for Peace and Justice has spurred hundreds of protests and rallies across the country, and organized the two of the largest demonstrations against the Iraq war. Having so much in common with our Gateway 3 topic, how two wars affect Eugene, I contacted a member of United for Peace and Justice to see what their approach was to such a controversial issue. United for Peace ...

J207 – Run Faster! Study Longer!

Blog Analysis

Athletes Against Steroids

The Athletes Against Steroids website is an organization that was created to combat the usage of steroids in athletes by; informing them on the real dangers of the drug, providing safe anonymous support, alternative workout models, and scientific research. As an organization, they do not feel that the use of steroid drugs across the country, which is predominate, is being taken seriously. Athletes Against Steroids is concerned with the growing number of young athletes who are turning to the drug hoping to make it big in professional sports, without realizing ...

The Project on Student debt website was created to convey all things related to student debt, from news and initiatives to available petitions to sign and opportunities for students to tell their own stories about encountering debt. The site overall seeks to inform mostly students but also the public about the growing importance of student debt and its effect on attaining higher education.

In my opinion, the website design for the Project on Student Debt appears to be one of the more user-friendly websites regarding student debt. On the front page, there is an immediate list of current news stories relating ...

For our subject, our group is focusing on the topic of “Performance Enhancers.” The topic is a bit of a vast one, but we are focusing on caffeine, energy drinks, and adderall. Energy drinks have been one of the fastest growing over the last 5 years with companies such as Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar reaping the benefits of the growing need for instant energy.

One blog that I found very interesting and helpful on our topic was “Energy Drink Rankings” energy-drink-ratings.blogspot.com/ . The blog is set up with three different vertical columns. The left column has a list of places ...

Amaris.arts is a public blog created by Marissa Laubscher that organizes and displays information about art around Portland, Oregon. Marissa started the blog when she moved to Portland as a way to promote her work. But she also wanted ”motivation to get out there and familiarize [herself] with the local art community.” She remarks, ”I found if I treated each event I heard about as a blog assignment, I was more likely to be motivated to attend and participate more fully.” The blog’s purpose is to provide a distilled discussion about all types of visual art, from community to professional, and ...

The Pacifica Forum website was created by the controversial group that had the intention of providing information for people in the community in Eugene about various issues surrounding war, militarism, and violence. The group provides different perspectives on the issue to allow viewers to form their own opinions. The Pacifica Forum’s mission isn’t to persuade people one way or the other, but it believes the community should know the information they provide on the issues.

The content Pacifica Forum provides on its website comes from its belief of freedom of speech, specifically the freedom of expression and opinion. The group exercises ...

Socialmediaexplorer.com is a blog created by industry professional Jason Falls. Jason has amassed a great deal of respect from those in the social media and PR industry for his innovative work, this blog even held down the number one spot on Advertising Age Power 150 blogs for a few weeks in 2009. He also holds conferences and seminars where he speaks about how brands can implement social media and make it a powerful tool.

The blog’s content is entirely devoted to social media. It posts news on the medium as a whole as well as articles in the field of public ...

The Domestic Fuel blog is a blog created by Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman. It provides multiple posts a day from either Chuck or Cindy, or their three freelance writers. The blog is about the domestic fuel industry and also includes fuel options that are developing and being used internationally. The main intent listed on their website is to ‘provide consumers with interesting and useful information about the primary domestic fuel alternatives. Scrolling through the blog and looking through the archives, I can say that their purpose has thoroughly been achieved. Their entries include breaking news stories such as UPS trucks adding ...

StudentLoanJustice.org, a grassroots organization, has been one of the leading student debt activist groups since it’s creation in 2005. Beyond just providing ways to avoid debt, the group is devoted to bringing about reform on a massive scale in the current system. They have been featured in several major news sources, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Chicago Sun Times, as well as on programs like 20/20. Founder Alan Collinge is an expert on the subject of student debt and has published a book on the subject. He was named one of seven financial heroes for ...

Analysis of Blog

Proskauer’s Privacy Law Blog is made by an international law firm. The law firm has many lawyers for businesses, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, real estate transactions, bankruptcy and reorganizations, taxation, litigation, trusts and estates, intellectual property, and employment law.

Design: The design of Privacy Law Blog is simple. This webpage has three separate parts; the header, article posts, and information about bloggers. The blog chooses a white color as its background so that the audience may have an impression of justice. The header shows a lock and chain, which implies that justice and law are strictly connected. ...

The US Sports Plex is a sports training complex & fitness center right here in Eugene, Oregon. It includes a full gym, amenities such as a jacuzzi and sauna, a basketball court, a skate rink and last but not least an indoor skate park! The idea of this complex was to hopefully attract families that like to stay fit and don’t want to leave their kids at home when they want to get a workout in. The skate park has obviously been a big hit with the whole facility being indoors to protect from harsh winters all the activities are accessible ...

Collegescholarships.org is a complete website that is filled with helpful legitimate information on applying to college and what the options are. They offer scholarships and they also reveal scholarships given out by other companies and people. The website also has a blog focused around financial aid and the options surrounding that topic.

The blog is filled with information from experts, educational consultants, officers and college students. They manage their blog with WordPress. They got started by, “creating a database of scholarships, and then expanded out to grants as well, also explaining student loan options & costs.” Some of the topics they ...

I’ve had some great chances in the past several months to get different perspectives on how and why people become interested and educated in urban agriculture. A new found friend and neighbor, Dave Stucky has been more than accomadating as far as helping me get involved in my own projects, as well as numerous families in his neighborhood.

After spending a great deal of time watching, listening, and conversing with Dave, I felt it appropriate to document just a small segment of his past fronts with farming, as well as new feelings on urban growing.

One of my major questions when ...

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/energy-drinks/AN01303

This site brings up the question about “If energy drinks can really boost a person’s energy?”

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080427231604AAwrTQ8

This is just a quick blog post about what the best energy drink there is to help them study.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1891350,00.html

This site is from Time and goes into the idea that energy drinks boost the brain, but aren’t necessarily the best for physical activity.

http://stress.about.com/od/studentstress/a/finals_stressor.htm

This site talks about the effects of for studying for finals and midterms.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090415075142.htm

This site talks about how energy drinks work. They speak that a lot of people use energy drinks, but don’t really know how they ...

http://www.skateeugene.org/: A website dedicated to the building of a big skate park right here in Eugene.

http://www.skateoregon.com/Eugene/Eugene.html: Some good pictures and info on skate parks that already exist in the Eugene area.

http://www.sk8parklist.com/or_eug.html: A good site that gives a mass list of all skate parks in the region and beyond.

http://www.ussportsplex.net/: A local sports complex that house an indoor skate park.

http://www.skateoregon.com/: A site dedicated to the skate scene in Oregon.

http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=221&PageID=0: Eugene’s city recreation site.

http://www.lcmba.org/: Lane County mountain bike association site.

http://skateportland.org/: A site that covers everything skate related in Portland.

http://twitter.com/EugRec: Eugene recreation twitter site with helpful updates. ...

There are so many resources available in this vast world we have for almost any project. The hard part however comes from how, and what to use. Much like the Vertical Garden Project I’d posted about previously, Brita Riley, a New York resident has taken it upon herself to use recycled materials to create an alternative, for what typically is just another mass of concrete and glass flooding the streets of New York. Like I’d mentioned before, residents living in apartment buildings still want to get there hands dirty, but often times have trouble finding a way to do so in ...

When Barack Obama was elected to be our 44th president, an excitement was felt throughout much of the country as people eagerly awaited the changes he promised to deliver. America’s vibrant Latino community was no exception to this, an unsurprising fact considering that 67% of them voted for Obama. Within a year of his inauguration, however, Latino sentiments on immigration reform changed from hopeful to critical. Even though he had stated that immigration reform would be a priority, issues like healthcare were being given the attention that would have otherwise gone towards the immigration problem. Although President Obama has numerous issues ...

Between 1992 and 1994, less people were in support of immigration. Currently, the same situation is happening again. Since our economy is not doing so well, less people are supportive of immigration. There are two opposing sides to this issue and there will never be a resolution that everyone is in agreement with. So the best way to go about this is to be educated on both sides of the topic and then make a decision based off our research.

In short, the answer to my question is no—undocumented immigrants should not have the same rights as an American citizen, especially ...