TOW #13 Settlers of Catan Family Edition Game Directions

My family loves the Settlers of Catan board game and we play it a lot. This week I examined the directions for the family edition, which is slightly different than the normal version in its directions and game components. The obvious purpose of the game rules is to explain to the users how to play the game. In order to achieve this, the directions have to be straightforward, helpful, and easy to read, so delivery is very important. They also cannot be to long and complicated as this version of the game is targeted at families. The rules are organized under headings such as "Setting Up the Game", "The Turn in Detail", and "Ending the Game". These are presented in chronological order of how they occur during game play. This is the clearest way to explain the game. Important notes are in blue italics, contrasting to the black normal type, to get the reader's attention. Bullets are used to make lists to organize information more clearly for the reader. Included among the written directions are lots of pictures of the game board, all its components, and possible scenarios. These help visually illustrate how the game is played and allow the players to understand what pieces correspond with the descriptions in the written directions. Though perhaps not the primary purpose, the pictures add color and make the instructions more visually interesting, keeping the players attention and motivating them to read the directions to reach the point of understanding the game. The written directions also include possible scenarios. For example, under the heading "The Turn in Detail", the instructions state "Example: Loren rolls a '4'. Her blue city 'A' borders a fields hex marked with the number '4', so she takes two grain cards." The instructions are not just laid out but a potential scenario applying those instructions is given to help the reader understand how he or she will use the instructions to play the game. Ultimately, through strategic delivery, these game board instructions effectively achieve the goal of explaining verbally and visually how to play the game. 

TOW #12 Frozen Movie Poster Visual

Here is a movie poster for the Disney movie Frozen which came into theaters on Thanksgiving a little over a week ago. The obvious purpose of this (and any) movie poster is to get the audience to come see the movie. However, in this particular case, Disney and the designers of this poster face a challenge in that it should ideally appeal to both the audience of young children to which Disney movies are traditionally aimed, as well an older audience of teenagers and adults who also the quality of an animated Disney movie. Being the insanely successful and world famous company that it is, Disney, brings an established credibility to the advertisement, and the movie, just by having its logo on the poster. The logo is noticeably placed front and center above the title of the film where no viewer can possibly miss it. The poster also increases it's ethos by including text at the top which states "from the creators of 'Tangled' and 'Wreck-It Ralph'". This poster implicitly argues that the movie "Frozen" will be just as good as Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph because it is made by the same people. This automatically piques the interest of an audience of people who did like these two previous movies. In my own case, this is what convinces me that I want to see the movie. Because I loved the movie Tangled, I am eager to go see this movie if there is any chance that it will be as good. Also, the positioning of the characters attempts to convince the audience to come see the movie. The four human characters are up to their heads in snow, but the poster doesn't give us really any clues to why or how or really what is going on in the movie at all, so that could potentially inspire an interest to find out what happens. Then, of course, there is the snowman in the middle, holding his own head. Such prominent placement of such a goofy, unrealistic character lets the audience know right away that this is going to be a family-friendly, happy, funny movie. 

TOW #11 IRB Post

In the opening chapters of his book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell introduces the idea that when it comes to the human subconscious, a little information can go a long way. According to Gladwell, our brains use a process called "thin-slicing", in which they use limited information received over a short period of time to make judgments about a situation. These judgments, as demonstrated by the examples and studies Gladwell includes, are often remarkably accurate. The ideas Gladwell presents are interesting and supported by a variety of anecdotes and statistics. One section describes how by witnessing and analyzing samples of one conversation of a married couple, a man named John Gottman can predict whether or not their relationship will end in divorce. Then an experiment is explained in which people were able to determine certain aspects of a college student's personality simply by observing his or her dorm room. In further explaining the same idea, Gladwell writes about research that showed a doctor's likeliness to be sued could be judged based on something as simple as his or her tone of voice when talking to a patient. However, not only does Gladwell write about how unconscious judgments can help people make accurate conclusions but also how they can cause people to make mistakes. Gladwell cites examples of unconscious associations people make base on race or visual appearance that stereotype individuals. The array of stories and studies that Gladwell describes not only maintain the interest of the reader, but strengthen his idea by showing how the importance of unconscious thinking is observable and applicable in real life. They show the reader that this is not a wild idea pulled out of nowhere but a theory that has demonstrated to be be true in a variety of situations. The reader can see how these ideas make sense, and perhaps even recognize the role unconscious thinking plays in their own reactions.

TOW #10 "Give the kid a holiday break"

This article is from the opinion section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer and is written by Nicolaus Mills, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College. He argues, convincingly, in my opinion, that professors should be lenient in allowing college students to miss class during Thanksgiving week. Among his reasons he explains that travel home the day before Thanksgiving is very expensive for college students and that the amount of time that they are getting to spend with their parents is decreasing. This argument may resonate with me because I am a student with a sibling in college who has taken off school to visit family in the past. I think Mills's argument is valid and convincing to those who may come from a different situation, though he does base his argument on the assumption that his audience accepts that family is one of the most important things in life. Mill's comes to the piece with an established ethos as a college professor, and he reminds his audience of his experience in the first sentence by writing "Years ago, when I began college teaching," (Mills par. 1). Then he goes on to explain how he began by expecting his students to be in class the days before the holiday, but has changed his mind because of two major reasons: the expense students must cover to travel home and the decreasing amount of time they are able to spend with their parents. This, he believes, is due to the increasing amount of education costs students are required to pay and the their need to work to pay these off and get ahead. Mills cites statistics of the cost of college to impress upon his audience with how big a task the paying off college tuition actually is. He also makes a comparison between current college conditions and the ones he encountered as a college student. In the sixties "when I was in college and grad school, my friends and I came home most summers. We got jobs, lived with our parents, and used the money we saved to help pay for our educations. We entered the job market debt-free," (Mills par. 4). Mills compares this to the situation of college students today, who may not find a job at home and must live elsewhere to work, who need to take internships to get ahead, and who finish college with thousands of dollars in debt that they must pay off. Thus Mills concludes that college students should be allowed and enabled to spend time with their parents while they can, because the demands of entering the work force and paying of education debts may inhibit that valuable time in the future.

TOW #9 "Is it right to waste helium on party balloons?" by Tim Bowler

This is an article from the BBC News Magazine by Tim Bowler. It describes the increasingly limited source of helium and presents the potential issue of one day completely running out of helium. Ultimately, Bowler asks if we should be wasting this finite resource on such trivial things as balloons when it is highly valued for such uses as superconducting magnets in MRI scanners. Bowler writes that it is important to conserve and value rare finite resources but his purpose is more to inform the audience of the issue and open up further discussion on the question. The article sites quotes from several scientists on the issue. For example Bowler quotes "'We're going to be looking back and thinking, I can't believe people just used to fill up their balloons with it, when it's so precious and unique,' says Cambridge University chemist Peter Wothers" (par. 7). By including the insight of a scientist, Bowler shows that he has examined the viewpoints of experts working with the issue and knows his topic. He also presents a factual background on the nature of helium, that it is one of the most common elements in the universe but is quite rare on earth, and that it has the lowest boiling point, which makes it a key part of superconducting magnets. Bowler also appeals to pathos in his article by presenting a rather alarming situation. He quotes chemist Andrea Sella as saying "'But helium is unique. When it's gone it is lost to us forever'" (Bowler par. 4). By presenting a potentially scary situation, the complete elimination of a valuable, finite resource, in a dramatic way, Bowler captures the attention of the audience. Finally, defining the issue in terms of a commonly known product allows the audience to understand the connection of the issue to their own lives. Most people have seen those brightly colored helium balloons floating at parties and for sale in grocery stores. By showing the importance of helium for other uses, it's scarcity, and how it is "wasted" for trivial party balloons, the issue can resonate stronger with the audience.

Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24903034

IRB Intro Post: Second Marking Period

The IRB I have chosen for this marking period is Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. Currently a huge name in nonfiction, Malcolm Gladwell has written several other books including The Tipping Point, Outliers, and most recently released this fall, David and Goliath. He is also a writer for the New Yorker, just like the author of my last IRB. Blink is about the quick thinking our brains do without our realization of it. In the first two seconds of reaction to a new subject, our brains draw conclusions and make decisions, and as Malcom Gladwell writes in the introduction "Blink is a book about those first two seconds" (8). I heard about Blink a couple years ago and have been meaning to read it. Last year I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and really liked it, and I expect that I will enjoy Blink just as much.

TOW #8 "Malala and Nabila: worlds apart"

"Malala and Nabila: worlds apart" is an article from Al Jazeera by Murtaza Hussain. It describes the struggles a young Pakistani girl named Nabila has faced with her family. She and her siblings were injured and her grandmother was killed by a drone US drone strike on her family. When she and her family came to Washington D.C. to find out why this had happened, hardly anyone showed up to the hearing, and no one could answer why an innocent family had been attacked. Hussain then contrasts this action and response of the US government to its reaction to the struggles of Malala Yousafazai. He contends that the US and other powers praise and sympathize with Malala because she can be used as a symbol for the justness of their cause in fighting in the Middle East. However, they ignore those such as Nabila who they themselves are harming. This article greatly appears to pathos by describing the plight of Nabila and her family and how they were ignored by the US government. He writes of the tradegy "Seven children were wounded, and Nabila's grandmother was killed before her eyes, an act for which no apology, explanation or justification has ever been given," (Hussain par. 1). This image intends to make the audience sympathize with Nabila and to evoke emotions of sadness and horror. The further explanation of how this was annoyed by the government is also intended to evoke anger at the injustice and cruelty of the situation. However, this article is not only based on pathos, it also appeals to logos through a logical comparison of the reactions to Nabila and Malala. It also appeals to ethos, because of the presentation of shared values between the audience and the author, that the killing of innocents is wrong and that the government's response was unjust. Thus this article mainly appeals to pathos, but is built on a foundation of ethos and logos. Its appeals effectively target the audience to achieve its purpose of showing how the US has unjustly and immorally harmed millions of innocents in its operations.