Tuesday, 8 March 2016

Online Textbook Work Notes - For 8/3/16

Textbook Notes

13.5.1 - Symbolic Representations

Symbols are commonly used to simplify and represent various things in real life.

Example given: Olympic Logo
The five different coloured rings of the logo represent the five main inhabited regions of the world. The interlinked rings stand for the unity and friendship associated with the Olympics.

It could be said that words and phrases are symbols in the same way as the Olympic logo. Words & phrases can be used to represent or stand for anything we can experience or imagine.

Activity 11
Discussing how logos represent their organisations

FedEx Logo:
FedEx is a delivery/courier service that operates internationally on a large scale.
Their logo is particularly famous because it contains a notoriously hidden arrow in between the E and the X, this use of negative space to create a hidden image has made it one of the most acclaimed logos in recent history.
The arrow represents the delivery service that they provide.
The vibrant colours of the logo are certainly eyecatching.

Evian Logo:
Evian is a brand of mineral water.
The name itself is a reference to the source of the water; Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.
The source of the water is also referenced in the white background and blue mountains, which are clearly meant to represent the Swiss alps, from which the water Evian uses flows.

13.5.2 - Representations 

Representation can just be name-calling, which can be displayed anywhere, from children's playgrounds to politicians in debate.
In a Mail on Sunday article in 2014, David Rose displayed his skepticism towards claims in reference to climate change. He did so by representing issues and people in a pejorative manner.
Using phrases such as: 'The great green con', 'green zealots', 'climate enforcers', 'alarmist climate science', 'climate McCarthyism'.
The strongest, and most interesting accusation comes from the word 'McCarthyism' This term is in reference to the period of time in American History when the concept of Witch-Hunting Communists was  a popular one, where thousands of people were punished for holding certain views. This claim suggests that the climate change researchers are doing the same towards those who oppose them.
Put simply, representation is all to do with how things are described. This can apply to a wide spectrum of things, but different things come from different ways of thinking about and interpreting them.

13.5.3 - Representation of Concepts

Friday, 4 March 2016

Class Work for 01/03/2016 - Fairtrade Fortnight Text Analysis

a) ActionAid Teaching Resource


  • Identify the GRAPE and select some key conventions/techniques that relate to the GRAPE
G - The genre of this text is webpage. It is for a charity, and has downloadable educational resources for use by teachers.
R - This text would be received through use of the ActionAid website.
A - The audience of this text would be teachers or other people who would wish to educate others about fairtrade.
P - The purpose of this webpage is to advertise the educational resources available, as well as to inform, in a way, any visitor to the website about the work that they do for Fairtrade and other charitable causes
E - The expectations of this text would be to be professional, easy to navigate, yet informative.


b) Daily Mail Article

G - The genre of this text is an online article
R - This article would be received through the Daily Mail website
A - The main audience for this text would be Daily Mail readers, but it could also attract attention from any people who are interested in the effectiveness of the Fairtrade scheme.
P - The purpose of the article is to inform people, particularly of the alleged ineffectiveness of the Fairtrade scheme
E - As a Daily Mail article, there is a certain expectation that people have as to the content of the article. Qualities often attributed to Daily Mail articles include: Controversial, Inflammatory, Polarising and Sensational.


Analysis of a)

This text, an ActionAid webpage, showcases various educational resources available for download to be used as a learning tool. This text would be received by any reader through the ActionAid website. The intended audience for this text would likely be teachers or other educational professional, who would wish to educate their students about the work that this charity does. The purpose of this text is to allow any interested party to download the educational resources displayed on the site.
Most people who encounter this text would expect it to be in a very formal address, and to impart all the necessary information about the cause being advertised.


Analysis of b)


The second text is an online article from the Daily Mail, covering an investigation that claims to show how Fairtrade farms are perhaps not as ethical as you might think. This would be received through the Daily Mail website, and the main audience to which it would be targeted is Daily Mail readers. However, it definitely has a secondary audience of people who are interested in the Fairtrade movement and the ethics behind it. This article serves to inform people of the alleged ineffectiveness of the Fairtrade movement, and as it comes from the Daily Mail, there is a certain expectation held by anyone who reads it, as there are certain qualities that are often attributed to content produced by the Daily Mail.


Comparison of the Two Texts


The two texts are different from the outset, while both of them are online texts, the ActionAid text is a webpage, with downloadable content, whereas the Daily Mail text is an online article. The fact that they are both online does offer them some sense of similarity, but the genres of the texts themselves are too different to be likened in most ways. That said, due to that fact, the way that they could be received is almost identical, as you'd either have to receive a link to the page/article, or go through the respective website yourself to encounter either text. There are similarities too, in the potential audiences for these texts: the ActionAid page is geared towards people who wish to educate others on the cause supported by the charity, and the Daily Mail article is explicitly intended for Daily Mail readers. Despite these two very different main audiences, they both share a minor audience; those interested in the Fairtrade scheme. Both texts could be encountered by someone interested in the workings of the scheme, as they are both covering the topic. The purposes do not share much similarity on the surface; with the ActionAid page serving as more of a portal to obtaining other downloadable resources, and the Daily Mail article being used to inform the reader as to the alleged unethical nature of the Fairtrade scheme. However, as with their audiences, they share a sub-purpose, which is to educate. Both texts, either directly or indirectly, seek to teach the reader something new about the Fairtrade movement, and while these might be two different sides of the story, they are still related at the core of the matter.
To close, the expectations of the texts are very different in most ways. The ActionAid page would be expected to support the Fairtrade cause, and to present its information in a professional, easy to navigate, yet informative manner, and the Daily Mail article has attached to it the stigma and characteristics classically attached to any content produced by the newspaper (including attributes such as: sensationalist, controversial, inflammatory and polarising. Both texts seem to fulfil at least some of these expectations.