Comp 106 Project Plan

My topic for the Advocacy Project is the government funding of art projects and art programs created to improve the appearance of communities. I believe it is important for buildings and structures in cities to be visually pleasing and not too industrial-looking. Clean, beautiful surroundings encourage people to take pride in their community, and decrease crime.

My audience is the Comp 106 class and professor. I believe it is important for young people to understand the connection between art, architecture, and crime in communities because it may be something that they want to become involved in. I also think this topic affects everyone because we all live in communities with buildings and surroundings that we may or may not enjoy.

I plan to use photographs to show my audience examples of communities and buildings that could use improvement and those that set a good example. I will also research programs that are going on currently to improve the look of cities and towns, and what effect they have on the people they affect.

I chose Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal as the composition I wrote about for my first Comp 106 assignment. I am very impress with Swift's creativity and risk-taking in the article, and think it is very entertaining to read. I enjoy learning about history and the way things were (like the economy in Ireland during Swift's time) through the perspectives of the people who were there. I believe it is good for society to have independent thinkers who are able and allowed to express their ideas.

Comp 106 Screen Capture

I chose to take my screen capture while I was working on the assignment to take a screen capture because I had trouble figuring out how to do it.

The picture of my computer screen makes me think of how much the internet has helped me throughout my life, and especially in my academic career. I do not consider myself especially computer savvy, but thankfully there are websites I can go to that explain how things work. I had difficulty taking a screen capture of my computer, so I searched “how to take a screen capture on a pc” on Google. I quickly found instructions that were very helpful. Search engines like Google and Yahoo have saved me hours of research by grouping together the information I am looking for.

Composing is different in digital spaces because there are also plenty of resources immediately accessible, and there are plenty of different modes of sharing a composition. A person could send an email, post a blog or note, or set up a web page to share written compositions. A visual composition such as a picture or video could be shared in all of those ways, along with being shared on Photobucket or displayed in albums on Myspace or Facebook. These things are also much faster due to the internet and technology. Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook encourage people to compose things to share with friends, and to review pictures, notes, or messages created by others.

It may be helpful to read about digital composing processes or to take a classes on different processes, but probably the best way to understand digital composing processes is to gain experience creating digital compositions.