Group E blog post

After reading the article, I feel that Americans should be given more preference for jobs. I agree with Tony about what he says about the author; he writes about both sides of the story that gave me a valuable insight into the situation of both parties. I believe that the Indians are not at fault for accepting the jobs that they were offered because it is a means for their livelihood and the low wages they get are good enough to support them or their family in a low per capita income country like India.

The American government should make it their first priority that their citizens are employed rather than 'foreigners', even if they do work for lower wages or are more efficient. The government is present to serve the best interests of the people, not the best interests of the company which hires workers. Since most companies that hire outsourced workers from India are American, the government should implement a law that restricts them from outsourcing the jobs unless there are no more spaces for jobs for Americans in the states. Alternatively, the Federal government can create a quota system in which a considerable quota of jobs in the IT sector of a company cannot be outsourced. In this manner, you can increase profit by outsourcing some jobs and also provide livelihoods to Americans by keeping them employed in the company they work for. It also benefits the American government by increasing income tax revenue. The Americans need more politicians like Shirley Turner, who understand the agony of those of who lost their jobs. Even though her bill was not passed by the assembly, I believe that she should continue lobbying and garner more support and keep proposing legislation that will guarantee that American's get jobs first.

The salary for most jobs in India will always be lower than in the states. This is because of the difference in the standard of living in the two countries as well as the lack of well paid jobs in India. So at the moment it might be Information Sector jobs that are outsourced, but what about the future? Maybe jobs from other sectors might be outsourced. This is why I believe that legislation to protect the livelihood of American people is absolutely essential and for companies based in America, it is a must that they give priority to Americans while hiring employees.

Impact of Media

1. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA05/burnette/thesis/home.html
   http://www.warbirdforum.com/media.htm
   
2. The audience of the first website is a group of people who are researching about the Vietnam War in depth, such as students in college level. The website assumes the audience has a fairly good knowledge about the subject being talked about.  
   
   The .com website is a forum which is more directed towards those who want to know about the impact of media through soldier’s experience. The website provides more information in Vietnam veteran’s point of view. This is because the author’s father was a Vietnam veteran, and the author uses secondary sources to discuss about the impact of the media. Its audience is not only someone who’d like to specifically know more about the impact television had on the war and the soldiers but also someone who is a regular reader of war stories on this particular forum.

3. In the .edu website, we found that the graphics are very minimal, but we don’t think that it is necessary for this website to have many graphics. The audience of this website is mostly looking for information about the Vietnam War, not graphics. The color scheme that the website is green, white and black, and the website has a banner on the left side with pictures of helicopters. This clearly shows that the author’s main purpose is to provide a comfortable reading canvas rather than attractive graphic imagery.
   
   In the .com website, the right pane of the window is loaded with images, moving objects, etc. which are basically advertisements about similar readings. In the middle there is just plain text and that’s where all the focus goes. At the bottom, there is an organized footer which makes navigation easy. It also invites the reader to explore more sections on war stories.
4. The .edu website is a branch of university of Virginia website. The author of the article cites all credible sources. The author of the website is part of graduate program in American Studies at the University of Virginia. The author studies the cultural role of the television during the Vietnam War. His voice is quite formal and informational. There is a seperate ‘works consulted’ page written in MLA style which also adds to the credibility of this website.
   
   The .com website is using quotes and pieces of statistics. The author uses quotes from her father and narrates accounts with specific time of the year. There is a certain amount of trust involved here because she doesn’t give any credible source that her father was actually a war veteran. But she also uses other sources and cites them after the conclusion for readers who are interested in researching more about the issue.
   
5. Both the Internet sources not only combine and amalgamate various credible sources not written by the author, but also provide a personal analysis of these sources which is written by the author himself. The analysis in the .edu website is more of paraphrasing and based on statistics whereas in the .com website the analysis is a lot more personal. There is clearly a greater effort to cite the sources in proper format in the .edu website than in the .com website.

6. Although usage of rhetoric for popular and professional websites are similar, there are some significant differences. First of all, the professional website is more informative, providing mostly facts using varied sources. However, the popular website used secondary sources to make an argument about the impact of media in Vietnam War. The rhetoric skills in the professional website are an attempt to critique some of the views of other authors on the same issue.

Marsal, Jimmie,Tony, Sneha

levis-redtab-on-4-life-997.jpg

• Pale background and models to emphasize the jeans, draws attention to the product
• Sexual appeal of half naked models
• so comfortable that you don't want to take it off to dry them 
• a sense of bonding with the jeans, the jeans are more than clothing they define the model
• danger aspect, they are hanging of the side of a building
• the female model is looking at the male one, hence girls will look at you if you were them

Coke group P2

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsReV0dOZ68-Bd5wNAXcRdO6vDZSLdzYqKRLK5U0GQzfKV2i6KOIQJzXaaxmmC7dkirm5iGc2TVemE_Wr5Wz51Vm5_XyK3aud5IoV55UbE56hxJS1iIlA0p_s-j1fnYG1EwQfkVQP3SVo/s1600/coca-cola-summer-girl-1.jpg

It's made for men. It tells men that coke is relaxing and refreshing. It's very sexual. Makes it look very cool and refreshing and attractive.

Vinay, Yitian, Sebastian, Elizabeth

1. "Popular" site: http://www.coca-cola.com/en/index.html

"Professional" site: theory.eserver.org/world-of-coca-cola.html



2. The popular site(Coca Cola's home page) targets the general public and it's customers. The site contains bright colors, colorful text and the Coke logo everywhere. The professional website contains plain text and facts, and targets intellectuals and people doing studies on the subject.



3. The popular site has more of a commercial vibe to it. The graphics are colorful and in-your-face, they have the logo and company colors everywhere and they project the text in an attractive manner.



4. Our second site has information like the paper it was published in and sources.



5. The Coke website talks about it's history, sales and gives a lot of information. The other website gives us the history of the world of coke. While the Coke website is biased, the article maintains a neutral stance throughout.



6. The professional site is more formal, while the Coke site caters to it's customers and the general public and hence is more colorful.

Sina, Zhou, Jay and Catherine

This image represents many of the main themes of the film “Forrest Gump.” The statement above Forrest states that once we look at the world through his eyes, everything will change. He is looking off into the distance with his typical curious look to make people wonder what is going through his mind and what he will do next. His suitcase sitting next to him represents the fact that he is constantly traveling and moving on to his next adventure. His shoes are worn out from his travels. His posture sitting on the bench is unstable as if he is unsure of himself, and he is sitting to the side of the bench, welcoming friends with whom to share his story. A majority of the movie takes place with Forrest talking about his life on that bench.

Kourtney, Peter, Jason, Sina S.: Visual Analysis

The photo link: www.ulmhawkeyeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/soccer-vs-football.jpg

The photo shows the divide between American football and soccer, which is also known as football internationally. In the image, the football player is trying to catch the ball and the player but is about to miss. The football player is showing the aggressive nature and physicality of the sport while the soccer player is more calm. At the same time the soccer player is continuing forward without showing signs that he is going to fall. Americans tend to place our culture and ideas in the forefront, where in reality things are different. To Americans, football is a large part of the culture, where to the rest of the world football is something completely different, but American society is almost ignorant to that fact.

Robinson is gazing into the future, as if he has a vision for a world without racial divisions in baseball. He is fully focused on his goal, which is simply a catalyst for the elimination of racial differences in the world as a whole. He is pictured in his uniform to show him as an authority figure on the issue of racial integration.

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=792&bih=502&tbm=isch&tbnid=N4MyuY8kKtmhxM:&imgrefurl=http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/jrd/&docid=izo_7I01RKl8SM&imgurl=http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2007/04/11/ce5HsOlI.jpg&w=248&h=220&ei=qICxTu-QPM6atwenncCeAg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=402&sig=103585871297873022636&page=1&tbnh=129&tbnw=145&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=101&ty=32

Forrest Gump; Catherine, Jay, Sina ,Zhou

Our first website we used was;

1. http://blogs.widescreenjournal.org/?p=245

1 1) 1) It analyzes the film Forrest Gump and how the history in the movie and the innocence of the main character contribute to the meaning of it as a whole.

2. 2)The audience of the website article is people who are interested in the history of America and those who want to analyze the film Forrest Gump on a deeper level. The tone of the article would be critical, the voice would be of a experience critic. An example that contritbutes to the crtical tone of the article is, “Most importantly, we don’t see any Vietnamese people in Vietnam.” The language used by the writer is very straightforward and simple so that it is understood by a wider audience.

3. 3)There is one graphic on the webpage, but it doesn’t relate at all to the subject of the article. In our opinion, there should be a graphic of the movie being analyzed and also a graphic that would contribute to the article. Because the graphic presented doesn’t really contribute at all to the article, we cannot deduce more information from the visual aspect of the webpage.

4. 4)We looked up the organization “Wide Screen Journal”, and learned that they are a peer review and open access film and video studies journal. This would mean that this journal is probably an expert in its field and should be considered a very credible source. From the sources they use to write their critique, four out of the five are credible sources from other journals and factsheets. One source on the other hand, is Wikipedia, which is not such a good one because of its inaccuracies. The journal doesn’t have a distinct bias presented and instead just provides an objective view of the movie.

5. 5)We feel that collecting sources from Internet was very effective because of the simplicity to find these sources. These sources will be very useful to us in the long run because it is very pertaining to our argument.

6. 6)We believe that looking at sources with a critical eye definitely helps in identifying the differences between popular and professional sites.

Our second website was;

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/forrest-gump

The audience is Forrest Gump fans. Clues are the name of website. It explicitly tells us the audience is fans of Forrest Gump. It also serves as a forum for Forrest Gump fans. The assumed knowledge is that the audience has seen and is a fan of the movie. The graphics mainly consist of pictures from the film and interviews with the actors. The graphics relate to the topic because they are almost all from the movie. They help to explain the content of the movie,and mostly stand alone. They did not overuse graphics to the point of distraction. The information on the site is very biased, but it’s not a advertisement trying to sell a product. It has credibility because it uses primary sources. The site Fanpop also hosts fan sites for many other movies. The website has lots of information for other movies as well. The organization is not involved in research and does not provide documentation. The website is up-front about its purpose. We learned that the movie’s popularity extends into different forms of media, such as the internet. The fans of this movie show support in many ways. The information is useful, but not as useful as the movie itself. If you acknowledge the bias in a document, you can remove yourself from the bias and remain objective.

Marsal, Jimmie, Tony, Sneha

     1. http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/G-L/Levi-Strauss-Company.html#b

    The site is an overview of the history of Levi Strauss and Company.

    www.levistrauss.com. The website talks about their different brands such as Dockers and Levi jeans, their history, and their workers.

   2. The audience of this website is someone looking for information about businesses. The language is not too technical, so I think it is meant for a wide audience. The website is also meant to be used as an encyclopedia, so it doesn't provide an opinion just the facts.

    The audiences are people who are interesting at working at Levi, interested what the  company’s products, and interested in the company’s history and involvement in the world.

    3.   The site has very plain graphics. They have pictures that relate to the topic but the graphics do not. The site overall is very plain and boring, like an encyclopedia. The  site also has no advertisements. I think this adds to its credibility since they are not trying to attract users they are just trying to provide information. 

    It is a .com site. The background is gray/blackish with white text and sliding colored pictures with stating information about Levi and what makes the company different. The gray background coupled with white text makes information easier to read, and the sliding pictures let audiences know why Levi is good.

4.     The site is very plain and it states that its mission is just to provide information about businesses. It is meant to be used as an encyclopedia. It has no advertisements or sponsors. It seems to just be an encyclopedia on the internet. I think this adds to its credibility since it is not trying to attract attention or more users, it is simply providing information.

     The .com site is credible because the website is the company’s website, which is all the creditability needed for a project since the data and news comes from a primary source.

5.  I learned that it is important to be critical of a website. It is important to consider who wrote it, why it was written, and its sponsors. This provides an insight into wether the information is biased. Information on the web will be very important to our project since we are going to analyze advertisements. These advertisements are readily available on the web. 

6.  A professional site uses little to now rhetorical devices to attract the user, its sole purpose is to provide info. A popular site tries to attract users to gain money so it uses many rhetorical devices.

Ally, Mahdir, Wesley, Daniel

1. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/robinson/jr1957.html

http://www.jackierobinson.com/

The second website focuses exclusively on Robinson and his career with his stats. The first website focuses on Robinson’s impact on MLB as a whole, specifically in relation to the integration of players of other races.

2. For the .com site, the audience is mostly comprised on fans. The official Jackie Robinson foundation sells artifacts to fans off of the site. The site also fails to provide a lot of information about Robinson, which assumes that visitors to the site already know who Robinson is. For the .edu site, the tone and language are very formal and the information given is very detailed about how MLB was before, during and after Robinson played in it. The site is accessible through the library of congress, which adds to its credibility.

3. On the .com site, there are black and white pictures zoomed in on Robinson’s face, showing his emotion and depicting him as an idol without providing any relevant data. Other graphics include visuals of merchandise. The .edu site contains factual images with text underneath describing the relevance of the images. The site has a white background making the text easier to read. The graphics of the .edu site are made to inform while the graphics of the .com site are made to appeal to the eye.

4. The .gov site comes from the library of congress, a very credible, well-known source. The .com site gains credibility from being known as the “official Jackie Robinson site” and being owned by the company that reserves the protectable right to the Robinson estate and name.

5. The .com site provides a brief overview of Robinson’s career focusing on high points of joining teams and setting records. The .gov site provides more in depth information about the experiences he faced that were controversial or related to racial issues. The .com website, being owned by a business, is more biased and attempting to sell the brand and promote Robinson, while .gov website coming from a credible database attempts to inform in a less biased way.

6. Popular sites are more aimed at catching the eyes of their audience and being appealing while professional sites are focused on an audience who wants to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.

Sina, Kourtney, Jason, Peter

www.jstor.org/pss/3031463

www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/52qmk7dt9780252034664.html

1.Both sources are discussing post WWII football in America.

2. The audience targeted is more professional, maybe those doing research on the topic.

3. There aren't any graphics which makes the sites seem more professional.

4. Both sources are published and the second source has been validated by the University of Illinois which makes it more credible.

5. Football is intertwined with American culture and expands with the country. The sport was a battle on and off the field when it came to issues such as racial integration.

6. The more popular sites tend to use more graphics and less words while the professional sites are more narratives and use citations. The popular sites use less difficult and are easier to read.

group 2

1.

Average score of the group is 10.75. This represents the lower level of apprehension in groups, which means we are comfortable in interacting each other.

2.

We will make sure that everyone has the same floor space so that each member’s views can be represented.

Take a break for a while, and rethink about the topic.

Reevaluate the pros and cons collectively.

3.

Take a break; bring the impartial third party immediately to resolve the conflict.

4.

No interruption. We take into account group member’s race and background. If you are going to be late, contact any member immediately. Otherwise, show up. Work around the meeting schedule.

5.

Benjamin-Scheduler/Agenda Setter

Sam-Note taker

Sarthak-Communication Organizer

Lauren-Leader

6.

Leader type: participative

Tony, Marsal, Sneha, Jimmie Group Response

1. Tony – 13

Marsal = 10

Sneha – 12

Jimmie – 9

Group average 11

In general, we are not scared to participate in a group discussion.

2. a) Get everyone in the group to participate

b) Being open to different points of view in the group

c) Don’t be overly critical

3. a) Weigh pros and cons of argument

b) Reach to a consensus decision

c) Cool down and talk things over

4. a) Everyone should be free to voice their opinion

b) Constructive criticism should be welcomed

c) Engage everyone into the group discussion

5. Tony – Information giver – gatekeeper

Sneha – Administrator – harmonizer

Marsal – Leader – elaborator -

Jimmie – sensor – information seeker

6. Participative

Group no. 4

1. The average score for the whole group on the checklist is 14. This shows that the group is moderate level of communication.

2. a) Purposely play Devil's advocate.
b) Research different view points
c) Ask other people about their interpretations to get their perspectives.

3. a) Peacefully resolution through talks
b) Address grievances and vote on problems.
c) Talk to professor Schiff

4. a) Every person gets to share his views uninterrupted by other members.
b) Mutual understanding that conversation is just for academic purposes without the intent of expressing sheltered view points.
c) Vote if we have disagreements.

5.
Ally - leader
Daniel - scheduler
MD - note taker
Wesley - agenda setter, organizer

6. Consultative

Group Questions: Yitian, Vinay, Elizabeth, Sebastian

1. 11.25, it means we all can communicate well and work well with others and none of us are violent and dominant. We're proactive.

2. Encourage dialogue/discussion, come up with multiple ideas before one is chosen, group leader makes sure everyone's opinion is heard.

3. Group discussion to make sure everyone knows what's going on, deal with it until it settles down, if serious conflict just go to the professor.

4. Everyone has a say, don't interrupt others talking, don't insult anyone's opinions.

5. Vinay: Group Leader, Elizabeth: Webmaster, Yitian: Organizer, Sebastian: Communications

6. Vinay will be a consultative dictator.

Group 5

1. Our group's average score is 17.25. This score is about in the middle, representing the fact that our group consists of people who have a high level of communication apprehension and also people that have a low level of communication apprehension. We have people who like to talk, and people who like to listen.

2. Writing down ideas and reading them aloud; taking turns speaking and participating in discussions; not allow the person who has talked the most to speak for five minutes.

3. Compromise; taking a majority vote on issues; rock, paper, scissors.

4. Everyone must contribute; everyone must be allowed to contribute; no one is allowed to be shy about their opinions.

5. Sina: Leader; Catherine: Communication Organizer; Jay: Information Giver; Xhou: Scheduler

6. Participative

Jason, Sina S., Kourtney, Peter

Average Score: 13-We're mostly okay with group discussions.

Groupthink

1. Everyone proposes a new idea even if they think it's a bad one.

2. Group meeting to re-evaluate the direction the project is taking.

3. Come up with pros and cons for the project ideas.

Conflict

1. Bring in a 3rd party consultant to help mediate.

2. Take a break, a time for reflection.

3. Re-analyze project ideas if the 3rd party is in opposition.

Ground Rules

1. Try not to interrupt those who are talking.

2. Come with an open mind.

3. Encourage non-participants to speak.

Roles

1. Group leader: Kourtney

2. Notes: Sina

3. Communications: Jason

4. Scheduler: Peter

Group leader: Participative

Group E

My reaction to Pink's article was very similar to Tony's, and I especially appreciated Pink's approach to his article, particularly the conversational back-and-forth between the Indian and American points of view. However, what I found most striking about the article is that while it is superficially very sympathetic and appreciative of the Indian workers and more specifically programmers, there is still a very strong underlying assumption that America's future contributions on a global scale will be superior to those of other countries.

“...Before these Indian programmers have something to fabricate, maintain, test, or upgrade, that something first must be imagined and invented. And these creations must be explained to customers and marketed to suppliers and entered into the swirl of commerce in a fashion that people notice, all of which require aptitudes that are more difficult to outsource - imagination, empathy, and the ability to forge relationships. After a week in India, it seems clear that the white-collar jobs with any lasting potential in the US won't be classically high tech. Instead, they'll be high concept and high touch. “

As has already been pointed out, Anderson relates the outsourcing situation to the introduction of computers to the workplace. While no direct allegory is drawn in the article, there is a subtle implication of dehumanization of the Indian work force in their presentation to the American public: they are new “computers”, machines to take care of mindless busy work. There is a clear assumption that the contribution of Indian workers is not expected to surpass grunt labour, while the “high concept and high touch” jobs are automatically attributed to the American labor force. The most interesting aspect of this assumption is its juxtaposition with Pink's portrait of the Indian middle class. What was once a very respectable and reasonably well-paid job in the US is referred to as “merely cranking code” at the hands of the emerging Indian middle class. While it must be accepted that as we progress in our technical, conceptual, and intellectual pursuits certain jobs which may have been previously considered to be high-skill jobs will be marginalized, I found the undertone of expected superiority to be surprising in the article.

In fact, Tony's comment that “Developed countries such as United States and European countries have the technology and time to pursue a new field of study “ was, to me, very reminiscent of one of the often overlooked functions of slavery in early American history: the opinion has been expressed that by having slaves take care of menial labour, many colonial Americans had the time and opportunity to become educated as well as accomplished leaders. The results are beneficial, but it wouldn't hurt to take a step back and re-examine our position.

Group E - The New Face of the Silicon Age

I liked how the author told both sides of the stories with the Pissed-off programmer from America and the programmers in India. Telling both stories allowed me to see the shift of the good life (good job, good pay, good living style) of the Americans to the Indian programmers. Pink states, “Programming jobs have delivered a nice upper-middle-class lifestyle to the people in this room. They own apartments. They drive new cars. They surf the Internet and watch American television and sip cappuccinos.” This quote shows that outsourcing to India changes the lives of the Indians, and the Indians are embracing the opportunity to live a better life in an overall poor country. Americans need to spread the wealth to other people in the world in order to develop the knowledge pool of other countries and increase standard of living.

I also like how Pink uses historical references and trends such as India’s “quasi-socialistic economy in 1991” which Indians lost job but had to find new jobs, the cycle of “agricultural jobs turned into even more manufacturing jobs, which decades later turned into even more service jobs,” and the fear of computers taking away people’s jobs half way in the 20^th century to drive the idea of change and the cycles of history, that there will be times which one country will prosper while another country will falter and that there will be threats to American jobs, but with time and change, America will prosper again. I definitely agree with Pink’s argument that Americans will rise out of this rut called “outsourcing” and will prosper again.

Daniel Pink’s optimism throughout the article is what I noticed the most. I do agree that the free time we have after being outsourced by India can be used to be inventive, to think new ideas that can be used for the next generations. It is easy for India and other third-world countries to develop quickly in old fields such as computer programming and engineering because the western countries have pushed the boundaries of these fields for a long time, so the Indian programmers only have to absorb the knowledge and do their job better because they need it more. Developed countries such as United States and European countries have the technology and time to pursue a new field of study, and I think this idea is the silver lining in the outsourcing crisis Americans have been experiencing for the past decades. But this optimism leads me to question how many job opportunities out there for Americans to be creative and invent.