The workshops for Unit 3 have been different to say the least. With classes going online obviously it changes the format on the workshops. Some concerns that were addressed during the workshop were, time to do the project really. Since there is online class from 3:40-5 it takes out a whole day that we would’ve had to work more on it and get peer edits. To rectify that issue my group met on other days where we were all free and worked on our project together over our own zoom meeting. This seemed to solve the issue of maybe not having enough time as a group to work on the Unit 3 project. The things that I am happy with regarding this project is that although the switch to online classes was not taken into account at the beginning but the project is something that is able to be done in different places, since our group is no longer all living in one common campus. Due to being able to record a podcast for the project takes off the stress if it were to be a presentation or a different format. The future plans for the progress of my group’s project is to keep working together during the class time that we are given and each week we talk about if we need to meet again or not so we will continue to do that as well. I see this project going in the direction of an A+ personally. 251 Words.

I chose Prezi because it is a presentation platform that I used in High School so I am kinda familiar with the format of the website. There were not that many drawbacks. I was concerned that it would be confusing. It turned out to be easy to use, and very accessible. I was confused on how to link the link to my presentation but within a few minutes I figured it out. I liked how it was very simple and minimalist. There weren’t that too many features which can make a platform like this confusing. I would like to use the platform because you can make the presentation look nice and they have fun templates instead of just a boring slide show.

Dave Portnoy Barstool Sports Inc. 13 W 27th St. New York City, New York

Dear Mr. Portnoy,

I am writing to you about putting in your Podcasts a PSA about how Classes affected by the current Pandemic should be pass/fail courses instead of letter grades. This is topic that my company has worked hard to raise awareness for. A lot of your audience is college students or graduate students and if they are informed about the benefits about their courses being pass/fail they will be able to work with their universities or let them know about their opinions.  It is important for students, especially college, to get some help in this troubling time and making courses be pass/fail would help exponentially. I believe that if our PSA were to be put in some of the podcasts that Barstool publishes the topic of pass/fail courses would increase, and it would put universities under pressure to comply with these standards. 

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you and your team. 

Sincerely yours,

Eleanor Estes

The company that I chose to research on is the Morton Publishing Company. They are known for producing text books specifically for the sciences. Recently they have focused on lab manuals and photographic atlases for life and physical sciences. The company serves Marilyn L. Brown, the wife of Doug Morton, who took over the company upon her husband’s passing. Morton Publishing is now a trading partner with Pubnet. The company’s brand could be described as trying to actively educate the students. To them it seems like active learning is personal and they are here to help in any way that they can.

When I admire most about the company is how they treat learning as a personal thing for them. It makes them seem like they care about each student’s education even though their products are used by millions of students. Also their love for science overlaps with mine making this company even more interesting. They tend to focus on physical sciences while I major in a physical science. It is something that I am passionate about and it seems like everyone that works for the company is too because spreading knowledge about the sciences is so important especially to the future generations. That’s also their target audience because the younger generation is the most likely to be using textbooks which makes this company even more important.

My experience with this week’s workshop on my Unit 1 Project was a productive one. I got feedback from two of my peers, and I found what they said helpful in improving my Information Report and Manual on how to perform a four-quadrant streak. I added in a Conclusion in the Information report, and for my manual I numbered the steps on how to perform a four-quadrant streak so it would be easier to understand for the reader. I also add a paragraph detailing the materials needed in the information report as well. I am frustrated that I couldn’t find any more good pictures to add to my manual pertaining the four-quadrant streak but there aren’t a lot of easy to understand pictures that I could find that would help demonstrate the four-quadrant streak visually. I honestly don’t know if I’m doing this correctly so I am worried about my grade for this project. Although I have put in a lot of effort into the information report and manual, I can’t think of anything that I could add, but I’m worried that I am missing something. Although there is that worry, I am happy with the progress that I have made with it. I think my manual and information report are very detailed and easy to understand. (Word Count 221)

The manual I chose to read was Video Subtitling that was created by a “community of Open Translation innovators” by using a platform FLOSSManuals to create this content collaboratively.

The audience for this manual I would imagine being a videographer or Youtuber. Obviously someone who creates videos would most likely need the knowledge of putting subtitles to their videos. I can assume that the audience based on the content of this manual have a deeper understanding about the specialized software that they talk about so it would need to be someone who is experienced with this technology.

The purpose of this document is to show step by step how to create subtitles. This is the primary purpose because it can help translate something like a movie. Although there are somethings that need to be available for that movie to be translated like an available script, and called character set. With subtitles though, it allows for a movie or a video to be viewed from places all over the world therefore increasing the box office/ratings.

The Manual overall is spaced out and easy to read with font color and size. It covers the need and definition is a subtitle which is different from what every thinks. The information is broken up into chronological paragraphs so each step is easy to read. Not only does it cover the basics of creating subtitles it also covers some background information that you would need to know such as file formats, different subtitle files, and it even compares different file formats. Choosing your file is essential to your creation since it needs to be compatible with your technology and the timing of the subtitles/video.

What’s appreciated about this manual is their specific language like in the paragraph “Creating Subtitles” and how they list specialized software that you might use. Also in the “Distribution” part the authors get into some issues that you can run into with subtitles and there the language sounds like how a text editor would discuss their job making it more relatable to their tech savvy audience. Their design of the manual works well with the language since the design is minimalist. They also show pictures with most of the steps to create the subtitle which is important since videographers usually tend to be more visual.

One thing that I would change about the manual if I were the author is I would make it more under stable to the public. It is aimed more at people who are advanced in the field of technology and software. Those are confusing topics to the majority of people in my opinion. I am not a software connoisseur myself and I struggled with understanding some of the language used in this manual even though it was detailed.