Monthly Archives: November 2017

Capstone Project – Adopt Don’t Shop

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My capstone project is going to be on why people should adopt animals rather than buy them from breeders or pet stores. There are so many reasons as to why people should adopt animals rather than buy them. There are so many pets out there that need a home more than others. Especially those that have been in a shelter for a long time. Each year 2.7 million adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in the US because there isn’t enough space in the shelters for them. When people adopt a pet from a shelter they are saving the life of an animal. Most pets at shelters are great animals, most are housetrained and it is usually even cheaper to adopt rather than to buy. Another reason people should adopt rather than buy is that it helps fight puppy mills. Puppy mills are horrible places where dogs are crammed together in horrible conditions where profit is put above the welfare of the dogs. It is pretty clear that people should adopt and not shop.

To present these ideas further I am going to create an infographic and a remixed video. The infographic will show some stats and facts on why people should adopt over shop. It will give basic information to help people understand the problem behind puppy mills and why buying pets can be harmful. In my remixed video I am going to make it super heartfelt and paly more on people’s feelings rather than facts. The video is still going to give facts but it is mostly going to be more emotional.

Capstone Project: Fair Trade Clothing

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My capstone project will be on fair trade sewing and the ethical treatment of foreign sewing workers. Have you ever wondered why you are able to go to a store and buy a shirt for, sometimes, less then $5? or maybe there is a BOGO or a large clearance on items? How exactly is it possible to gather all that fabric, get the shirt designed, then sewn, packaged, and shipped across the world, and still only cost $5?  the truth is, there is a larger cost; a cost much greater then $5, and there are people out there in the world paying for that cost.  most companies today practice foreign clothing labor, due to its high economical value; however, by doing so, they are alienating and demoralizing humans around the globe.  certain companies today are staring to take a stand against this business practice.  by learning to value the clothing we buy, and by adopting a quality over quantity mindset, we can help create a sustainable living for the people who make the clothes that we often take for granted.

For this project, I will be making an infographic to demonstrate the benefits of fair trade clothing, and how it can still be a high grossing economical asset.  on top of that, I will create a remix video showing the current cruel state of “sweat shops”, and how we can benefit from adopting the fair trade culture. I will use references from companies like Patagonia and Everlane. these two media pieces will be housed on a custom website using WordPress.

Capstone Project – The Effects of Mainstream Music on Human Culture

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Listening and creating music with others alters the social bonds you have with people, and has been proven to do so for at least tens of thousands of years prior to present day. Music, both live and pre-recorded, have a major developmental impact on the relationships between humans. Music can begin relationships, nurture relationships and destroy relationships depending on each individual’s taste in music, the message behind the songs’ lyrics and how often that type of music is listened to. The main cultural change I want to focus on in my capstone project is America’s increasing divorce rate in the past ~50 years, which runs parallel with the creation and evolution of pop culture. Long before pop culture, it was extremely common for song lyrics to include loving your significant other and “staying true” to them. After pop culture, it became increasingly common for artists to sing and rap about being independent and not caring about anyone’s feelings – a more “do your own thing” type of culture. I’m going to focus on divorce rate, but also how listening to music can be healthy for relationships, and what music does to the human brain.
For my website, I’m going to create an animated infographic and remix video explaining all of the effects music has on human culture. The website will consist of 4 pages, including: an introduction page, an animated infographic page, a remix video page and a page summarizing how listening to music effects the brain, along with how it impacts relationships.

Machine Learning and Big Data Capstone- Joscha Oswald

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We are at the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution. It has been caused by our rapid technological jumps. A big part of these technological jumps are big data and machine learning.  This means the giant flow of information we create can be used to train computers to be able to compute more complicated tasks. The website I will create will present how these two fields big data and machine learning affect our society and can change our future.

The two media objects I will be using are an infographic and a remixed video. These will work to tell two stories of this new technological revolution. The infographic will provide facts and figures to show how relevant and important this technology is. It will work to show the power and ubiquitous of machine learning and big data. It explores the rational side of the topic.  The remixed video will tell the story and possibilities of big data and machine learning, by showing experts and videos of what in our world will change. This will be the more emotional side of the information. These media objects work in together to show a complete picture of machine learning and big data.

Machine learning and big data already have big impacts on our society. For example, big data has put privacy on the brink. It will affect every part of our lives from our work to how we shop. Big data and machine learning will work together to drastically change our world. This website will work to explore this impact.

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Capstone Project- Cruelty Free Cosmetics

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My capstone project will be about animal testing for cosmetics and why it should be eliminated. In the beauty industry, there are many different options and brands when it comes to makeup and skin care. You can pay for a prestigious brand or a drug store brand, however which ones are cruelty free? The stigma around the price point of a product determines if it is cruelty free or not. The most general theory for this is the higher the price the more likely to be cruelty free. However, this is far from the truth. Although, animal testing for cosmetics isn’t performed primarily in America, it is required by law if sold in China. Some companies would rather have the greed of selling their products in Chinese market, then to be a cruelty free brand. Animals should not have to suffer and be put to death for the vanity of humans.

To present these ideas and further them, I am planning on creating an infographic. This infographic will represent percentages of companies that are cruelty free to ones that are not, the decrease or increase in animal testing and ways to eliminate animal testing. I also plan on creating a video remix to relay my message, this will include brands, advocates and the harsh reality that is cosmetics tested on animals.

Andrew Nevue – Capstone project on smoking and vaping issues

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My capstone project will focus on current issues of vaping and smoking, more specifically on one’s health and smoking in public. My grandpa died just over two years ago from lung cancer after being a lifelong smoker. Even though he was a doctor and knew that smoking was bad, but he was so addicted that he could not quit. After decades of knowing the harmful effects of smoking, there are still a large number of cigarette smokers. A new trend that is just as harmful is the use of electronic cigarettes, often known as vaping. Vaping products are so new that not much is known about the chemicals in them or even if they are a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes. When people puff their cigarettes and vape pens in public, that not only presents a risk to them but also the community. Secondhand smoke is a serious issue. Breathing in the cloud of chemicals from the person in front of you can cause serious problems, even lung cancer.

In addition to the website, I am planning on creating an infographic and a Remixed video. The infographic will provide statistics and other important information, while the video will do that in a visual format with intense visuals. When I was in kindergarten, there was a clay, stop-motion commercial about kids smoking. Their faces started to rot soon after smoking and that image has always stuck with me. I will try to find other compelling videos like that and videos centered around smoking in public along with secondhand smoke such as news videos and studies. These media objects will work together to provide facts to back up my arguments and educate viewers.

US Schools Ranked Below Average

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Surely, a high-performing student body may be representative of a competitively skilled future workforce. Consequently, this becomes an issue for Americans as their results on international tests continue to fall behind other participating countries, leaving the US ranked below average in subjects such as math.

There’s more to the story however, US test results were exceptionally polarized, a significant number of students scored high along the top performing countries while a large portion failed to even pass international standards. This illuminates an observation about US schools that differentiate them from other nations. American schools rely more heavily on local property taxes for funding, leading to an uncanny disparity between the rich and poor. This is especially disheartening when considering that many areas that need the most additional support for their students, such as English language learning programs, also happen to be drastically underfunded. It’s unfortunate that one’s ability to access a quality education depends on their parents economic status. This is not the case in Canada, and much of Europe, where their systems favoring egalitarianism produce more uniform results across the board.

I hope to further reiterate this message using an infographic that displays statistical comparisons visually. Additionally, I plan to produce a video remix highlighting news reports and case studies to incorporate an anecdotal aspect to my project. The website included, these media objects work together to convey different aspects of the issue in an engaging way for a better understanding overall that will hopefully motivate initiatives for improvement.

What Does it Mean to Plagiarize

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For my capstone project, I am going to explore plagiarism. During this semester, I have had personal experience of the effects of plagiarism in a group setting. While this act may or may not have been innocent, the fact it happened does not go unnoticed. The hardest part of the whole experience is knowing the actions of the one person can impact the entire team as a whole. When the act was discovered it brought forward various comments and questions, and these questions are the basis of my project. I will define plagiarism and when things should be cited, provide tools to check to see if work contains plagiarized information, and how plagiarism affects others. This will be done using two media objects.

For my project, I will be producing two different media objects along with a website. The first media object will be an infographic. This infographic will be created in illustrator, and I will create the imagery myself. This infographic will be designed to act as a tool others can use to avoid issues associated with plagiarism.

The second media object will be a remixed video. I am hoping to find enough content under creative common guidelines but may need to create some content myself. My overall goal is to provide enough content that anyone can understand and not be confused about the topic. I feel that many people take the topic lightly, and they do not understand how much of an impact it can have.

Capstone: Metal Music Stereotypes

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You know the moment when you make a new friend and decide to go out for coffee? You pick your friend up, they get in your car, and you crank up the tunes. The friend looks over at you and says “EW. You listen to screamo?” or “EW. You listen to death metal?” No matter how many times I introduce someone to the music I listen to, nine times out of ten these are the responses I get.

I feel like there is no other music genre that gets are stereotyped or as generalized as metal. While the outside world classifies all metal and “screamo” or “death metal,” true metal fans will tell you that these are just two genres of music that could be classified as metal. Much like country music has many different types like bluegrass, folk, modern country, and honky tonk, metal also has a large variety of different genres within the main metal genre. The differences between these genres can be extreme both in lyrical content and in instrumental makeup. Throwing every person that listens to metal into the screamo or death metal categories is like a slap in the face.

Metalheads are also subject to getting stereotyped for their appearance and lifestyle. When people envision metal concerts they envision a group of people dressed in all black, with thick black eyeliner, long grungy hair, piercings and tattoos all over the place. However, the reality is that most metal fans are no different than myself, a 28-year-old dad of a two year old who wears jeans and plain colored t-shirts 99.9% of the time and doesn’t have a single tattoo or piercing. I don’t do drugs, I am not gothic, I don’t worship the devil. I’m just your average guy, and I listen to metal.

For the reasons stated above I will be addressing some of the many metal stereotypes plaguing me and fellow metalheads.

The Capstone – Call of Duty

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Call of duty is one of the most popular and profitable video game of all time. Call of duty is an arcade shooter that lets the gamer experience the life of a soldier in a war setting within its campaigns, and competitive shooting scenario against their friends or online players. In media, call of duty is infamous for its inclusion of violence. A new call of duty is developed by studios which are Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and Sledghammer. Every year a new call of duty is released from one of the studios under video game publisher Activision. Also, every year when the trailer is released, the media criticizes the video game.
I am going to create a website that will include 3 pages with an Introduction, an Infographic file (at least 1600 x 800 pixels), and a Remixed video (2:30-3 mins. long). The Introduction page will include background information of call of duty. The information will consist of how the franchise was started, initial reaction of gamer community, and what the earlier call of duties were based upon. With the Infographic, I will present facts and stats about call of duty as a franchise. With the remixed video, I will present the arguments made by media and will also include some counter arguments. This way I will be able to present what call of duty is, from a perspective of the company itself, a gamer’s perspective, and the perspective of the media (which is mostly insignificant).