We chose to share a blog based on the growing issue of terrorism domestically and internationally (http://counterterrorismblog.org/). This blog contains articles discussing terrorist events from around the world and the reactions from countries to said events. Evidently, this blog preys upon people's fear of terrorism.
5. The blog post "Neutrality will not shield Sweden from terrorism" uses an interesting technique to draw readers in. Instead of making the title of the post a question that would draw readers in to want to find out the answer to that question, the post uses a large photograph to capture the viewers attention. Even just scrolling down the page quickly, your eyes are drawn to the large picture and it makes you want to read about what is occurring in the photo. In the blog post it seems that the author thinks his readers believe that certain nations can be neutral when it comes to global terrorism. The author speaks as somewhat of an authority trying to convince readers that neutrality is impossible. The large photos included in the post draw readers and help to support the authors claim. It shows that the author considers his readers to be any and everyone. The large photo draws even passerby viewers in to the article and can appeal to most readers.
ReplyDelete4. At the top of the blog there is a subheading to describe the blog's purpose. It is described as "the first multi-expert blog", which is an example of ethos. Right away, the bloggers appeal to ethos by calling themselves experts on terrorism. The appeal to ethos continues on the left side of the page with a list of "contributing experts." They are not described as contributing writers, or just contributers. They are experts. Not only are they experts, two of them are listed as doctors. The title implies that these people are well educated and therefore very knowledgable about the topics they are writing about. In the article "The Middle East: Democracies or More Terrorism?" the author appeals to ethos by linking to an opinion piece he wrote on CNN's web site. The ethos appeal is that if this writer is experienced enough to write for CNN, a well-respected news organization, he must be well-informed on the topic of terrorism. Also on the left side of the page is a list of "Experts' Books." If the people who are contributing to the blog have written books, it indicates that they must be well-informed and have done research on the topic of terrorism. That is how they appeal to ethos.
ReplyDelete5.This blog uses mutiple techniques to draw in its audience, but one technique that drew me in to read particular blog was the use of a profile picutre. I read the blog "The Ashburn jihadist signals a greater danger." Below the title, they have posted a picture of a jihadist from Ashburn. The blog states how this person was involved with terrorist actoins and assisted al Qaeda in planning multiple bombings. It also talks about how enforcement have now adays been more likely to check and search people who look of that ethnicity. At first I thought this wasn't fair and it really isn't, but then I thought "that's what drew me in to read the article in the first place." When audiences see profile pictures like that it makes them think negatively so they want to engage in the information. I feel as if the author is trying to somewhat warn its audience. He states "America is well-served by its law enforcement and national security officials, who have succeeded in stopping the overwhelming majority of planned strikes. They are our last line of defense. But they can't be everywhere at once, and the jihadists know it." By posting the profile picture compared to not posting it, I along with a lot of other readers probably would not have been interested by only the title.
ReplyDelete1. This blog is very straight forward and right to the point. It uses different shades of gray throughout the whole blog. Gray is a neutral, dull color that attracts no interest. There are pictures of the globe outlined at the top, indicating that the topic the blog is discussing affects the whole world. The blog uses the title "Counterterrorism Blog". This is not creative and gets right to the point. Underneath the title, there are words written out that describes exactly what the blog is about. This continues the straight forward approach and gets right to the point of the blog. It is a blog for information about a serious topic, so it is presented in a serious way. It is very organized and easy to navigate. The blog topics are in the center of the page, and this draws your attention straight to them.
ReplyDelete1. The format of the blog is very plain. It might be trying to prove a point. I like the fact that at the top of the blog it has a picture of the whole world. This is to show that terrorism affects everyone in the world, not just the country being attacked. Also, the fact that any country can be attacked. As mentioned earlier, the blog is very plain. The point it might be trying to prove is that terrorism is no joke. It is "black and white." It is a serious topic, and is not a laughing matter. Just a blog being about terrorism strikes fear into a lot of human beings. Therefore just in the topic itself, there is fear. The blog is set up well for the topic and as soon as I looked at the blog I knew what it was about.
ReplyDelete5. After reading several different posts on the Counterterrorism Blog by several differnt authors I have decided that the authors try and create a connection to the reaser through their speech. For example words such as we are used to create the sense that the readers and the authors are on the same page. The authors attempts to create a sense of comradary by trying to appeal to the audience by informing them that their goals are the same. For instance the author Dennis Lormel writes "We better take pre-emptive steps to diminish the new threat before it has a chance to overwhelm us." By making the readers believe that their goals are alligned with the authors goals.
ReplyDelete1. The blog is extremely boring in terms of appeal of color. The first thing people see when they log ontio this blog is the white background and black letters. At the top there is a block of gray with the world flattened featured upon it. The fact that its a picture of the world flattened, or unfolded, means that maybe the blog consists of the world's stories being unraveled and unfolded. Another interesting idea about the picture of the world is that all the countries together geographically can represent them being united. Ironically, the blog is about counterterrorism so the picture fits well. Clearly, the blog's purpose is to relay information and does so well.
ReplyDelete5. The author creates a strong argument in each post by using a lot of supporting evidence and language that draws the reader in. However, the author only takes the information that would help his/her argument or point as opposed to presenting a fair overview of the situation before diving into his/her stance.
ReplyDelete1. The first thing that I noticed upon looking at this blog was it plainness and dullness in the way the blog is presented. Clearly, the author is not trying to lure in readers based on the presentation of the blog. However, given the serious nature of what the blog is about, it is not surprising that the creator of the blog is not interested in the appearance of the blog. I thought the use of the globe in a plain grey color at the top was clever in that it is meant to show that this blog talks about global issues but does so in a serious manner. Which is made evident by the lack of color on the globe. It appears that the idea of this blog is to relay information to the reader in a straight forward serious manner and the creator is not interested on how the blog looks but rather the information is supplies.
ReplyDelete1. After observing the visuals of the blog, I think that the creators could have done significantly better with the message that it is trying to give. With an extremely fearful topic such as terrorism, there are many elements that could be incorporated into the site to make the audience believe what the writers are trying to say. First, the central colors are very bland; nothing stands out with the color gray. And the blog itself has a very boring title: "Counterterrism Blog." This title does not make me fearful of terrorism, but instead, makes me feel like I am reading an academic site. Along with the website title, the title of the articles themselves have boring titles. None of the titles really stood out to me and drew me to read further. The various articles on the side of the pages does make it convenient for readers to continue researching the issue and become persuaded to the issue. Overall, I believe the blog could have done a much better job looking more appealing to its readers.
ReplyDelete1. At first glance, the interface of the Counterterrorism Blog seems slightly more sophisticated than that of the average blog. The graphic of the world map on the homepage suggests the creator of the blog has some kind of authority on the worldwide topic of terrorism. However, the content of the blog failed to live up to expectations. For example, the sentence on the top of the homepage brags about giving "real-time information about terrorism", yet the two most recent posts are over a week apart. Although the interface may appear more sophisticated than the common blog, the Counterterrorism Blog is still pretty average.
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ReplyDelete1. This blog is very straight forward. The blog has a gray background which appears very dull. This in fact shows that this a very focus blog with no persuasion needed. There is a picture of the globe in gray at the top, again using a boring color. Gray is very neutral and non-persuasive. The title, "Counterterrorism Blog," is in white, centered at the top of the screen. This blog has all it's articles in the center of the screen and has multiple links to websites on the sides. This blog is very factual and shows that it is not trying to persuade, but inform. It almost suggests that it doesn't need to use persuasion because this topic is relevant to everyone.
ReplyDelete7.The featured blog Counterterrorism has targeted whoever is longing to know the latest news of terrorism. It has done an efficient job of informing the world most of the breaking news of terrorism around the globe. According to the sources that the blog is given and the official news across the Internet, the information shown on the blog is quite authentic. Even though the larger potion of the blog is using the way of presenting news to people, it also has its own ideas of terrorism from their contributing experts. The blog uses interviews and some personal opinions occasionally, trying to drive readers’ minds into terror. Displaying how much horror we are having around the world, it gives us a sense of unstable and unsecure. On the other hand, telling us we should be grateful to be safe away from the countries that are still at war. Although the blog does not seem to have many comments from the readers, it actually contributes huge amount of details about terrorism such as books and news links. Some of the media also interest in that the blog wanting to say about the events that is happening around the world, for example, the latest and the largest recent protest of Egypt.
ReplyDelete1. The blog was very easy to read and had a nice flow, visually. There were not distracting ads or colors or pictures. The content spoke for itself. There is nothing that sticks out and tries to pull in the reader. The creator of the blog must be assuming the topic is enough to entice readers, since the topic is timely.
ReplyDelete1. As I opened the blog I thought the world pictures made the blog appear interesting yet still academic or serious. Under the pictures reads the title Counterterrorism Blog which may hint at why they chose world drawings to catch our attention, since terrorism is a worldwide issue. Next I focused on the description of the blog which seemed pretty straight to the point, which may be expected of a research blog about a serious topic. Also I noticed the gray throughout the webpage which seemed to keep me focused on the actual substance or content of the blog as opposed to having my eyes wander and focus on pictures. The title and the description of the website seem to imply an academic blog for research instead of a blog to play up the fear of terrorism.
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