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Archive for January, 2013

Unit 4: Thesis Statement, Zotero and General Thoughts

30 Jan

I’m honestly not sure where I am on the working thesis statement. I don’t remember reading about how to actually create one. Hmmmm…it’s been a long time since I’ve had to write a thesis statement, and based on the request to “present your argument within its body,” something tells me that this statement is longer than one sentence. Guidance here is appreciated.

Regarding the bibliographic services, since SCAD has a subscription to Zotero, Zotero is what I will use. I had to watch the video in the quick start guide to figure out what exactly I was doing, but I got it. I did notice that it didn’t insert the URL in MLA style when citing a website, though it was there in Chicago. I guess it’s not a requirement.

On to topic…

As I begin to talk more and more about the direction of my thesis topic, the more and more I get feedback and ideas on how the thesis could evolve, or elements that could play a part.

For instance, yesterday, I shared my topic with my two designers. I was inspired by some of these amazing church logos on this website (http://churchrelevance.com/resources/top-church-logos/) and feeling extremely proud that the modern church has learned how important a solid identity mark can be, and how it can communicate the church’s brand, since each church is different. Or perhaps I am even more proud that there are great designers using their gifts to support the Church. Christy, one of my designers, thought it could be cool to do a thesis on contemporary design in spirituality, which I would probably drool over, but I’m not sure what I would add to the conversation, as it would be more research than anything else. But it still touched on this idea of contemporary design as it relates to visual storytelling in social media. How can we translate these strong graphic design principles into visual storytelling intended for social media.

That led us to one of our few church clients, who apparently posts pictures ALL the time on their Facebook page with spiritual messages. It clearly supported this idea that a lot of those visual messages only seem to encourage current Christians in their faith, instead of inspiring thought in a wider audience. Or, the graphics were so cliche, that non-Christian people might just ignore. Or, they were far too direct, such as “Have you read your Bible today.”

Below are a collection of images that I found, in no particular order.

 

Since I am taking only one class at a time, I have about 2 academic years to develop my thesis before I have to take the written and visual thesis class, so I have plenty of time to do research. Perhaps I can survey churches for the kinds of resources they need on social media, or examine their current practices. Or I can survey social media users from a wide background to get an idea of what they like to share and what they don’t, particularly paying attention to those who do not associate themselves with a particularly faith.

 
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Rhetorical Précis: Social Media as a New Public Sphere

27 Jan

Mazali, Tatiana. “Cultivating Trust and Harvesting Value in Virtual Communities.” Leonardo Journal 44.3 (2011) 290-291. JStor. Web. 23 Jan 2013.

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In the article, “Social Media as a New Public Sphere” (2011), Tatiana Mazali argues that online social networks are not merely representations of life, but they are places where people “perform,” actively participating and contributing to a larger group or cause, often through the creation of multimedia content. Mazali supports this argument by describing how social network spaces have evolved from interactivity to participation, defining this culture of participation, then examining the goals and impacts of the successful megafone.net project. Her purpose is to make readers aware of how social media and technology has created a public sphere and its value, both to the societies they can impact and to the individual that participate. Mazali clearly writes for the academic audience of the Leonardo Journal, using complex words and sentence structures, but still achieving a digestible language appropriate for the discussion of social media.

Mazali did an great job of helping the reader understand the different types of participants, their mindsets with which they engage in these social networks, and the behavior that results in community involvement. Evidenced by the citation of several publications and studies, she makes it clear that she has conducted thorough research, first listening to the academic conversation before getting involved.  By dissecting the megafone.net project, she brings her theories, along with the theories from her research, full circle. She gave a concrete example of how through online social networking, with the use of mobile phones, people we often ignore were able to engage in a larger community, changing the conversation and creating clear impacts in the targeted communities.

In the midst of her rather academic lingo, the simplicity of this statement was refreshing, “A performance is, in fact, a thought in action. It is idea and action simultaneously.” (290) This reinforced the idea that these new public spheres are performance based in that people act on what they think, whether it is posting a status update or sharing a form of media. As evidenced in one’s own social media interactions, or that of their “friends” or “followers,” people’s thoughts are constantly being turned into action, sometimes to a fault, because the need to perform in these public spheres can be all-consuming. However, without this need, would the public spheres exist?

In addition to the megafone.net project, the Sketchbook Project (www.sketchbookproject.com) is a really interesting project that brings art and communities together through technology, but resulting in analog methods. Participants can request a sketchbook online, which is shipped to them. They then fill the sketchbook with their art and send it back, which then goes on display in a mobile gallery, allowing people all over the world to experience their sketches. However, one of the projects they have is called “The Meal,” which asks people around the globe to have a meal on February 22 at 12pm EST, photograph yourself with the meal, and post it online. According to their website, their “aim is to inspire a feeling of community across geographic and cultural boundaries,” while also raising awareness about hunger.

Another online project that focused on a single day was the Greater Washington Give to the Max Day. People all over the Greater Washington Area were called to donate money to their nonprofit of choice through a single website, or to raise money on behalf of their nonprofit of choice. People actively participated in raising awareness, inspiring others to “perform” to benefit a variety of organizations. This resulted in over $2 million dollars being raised within 24 hours, from 17,838 donors.

In light of Mazali’s argument that social media has created a new public sphere, the following questions could be posed:

  • When do we start living in reality? Have we, as a human culture, given up on making real and personal connections?
  • Has online communities broken down real communities, where instead of coming to the dinner table and having meaningful conversation with people we love, we opt to stare at our phones, forging superficial relationships with people we don’t really care about?
  • How can we be inspired by sites like The Sketchbook Project to create tangible work that creates opportunities for people to interact and perform in person?

 

Additional Resources

Kraut, Robert. Building Successful Online Communities: Evidence-Based Social Design. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2012. Print.

Miller, Kent D.,  Frances Fabian, ShuJou Lin. “Strategies for Online Communities.” Strategic Management Journal 30.3 (2009) 305-322. JStor. Web. 27 Jan 2013.

Porter, Constance E., Naveen Donthu. “Cultivating Trust and Harvesting Value in Virtual Communities.” Management Science 54.1 (2008) 113-128. JStor. Web. 27 Jan 2013.

Walter, Ekaterina. Fast Company. Mansueto Ventures LLC, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 23 Jan 2013.
<http://www.fastcompany.com/3000794/rise-visual-social-media>

 
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Progress: New books and Prior Theses to Examine

26 Jan

With the shifting of my thesis topic to hone in on the design genre of visual storytelling for social media, to the benefit of nonprofit organizations, more specifically faith-based organizations, I had to find new resources to read.  Some of my books are still relevant, but I was able to find more theses that could prove helpful to me. Some were in the GRDS program, and some came out of the Arts Administration program.

Books:

  • Designing For Social Change: Strategies for Community-Based​ Graphic Design (Design Briefs) by Andrew Shea
  • The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue by Shama Kabani
  • Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) by Dave Kerpen
  • The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarrella

 

Theses:

  • Empathy Within Orthodoxy: Fostering a Culture of Innovation in Faith-Based Organizations Through Design Thinking by Jay Morgan Bopp
  • The Simple Question: Marketing Strategy Changes with the Introduction of Social Media by Pam Howe
  • The Effect of Social Media Networks On Political Marketing by Sarah Khan
  • A Relationship Framework: Understanding the Impact of Relationship Marketing Philosophy on Social Media use and Audience Engagement among Performing Arts Non Profits by Lindsay Kolsch
  • Creating a Transmedia narrative for non-profit by Khambrel Jamal Lewis
  • Storytelling and Graphic Design: “Effective Methodology for Incorporating Storytelling to Design” by Meg McClelland
  • The Effective and Empathetic Designer: Professional Identity as a Function of Self-Definition by Andrea Nordstrom
  • “Empathy: A Driving Force in Graphic Design” by Carla Paola Torres
 
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Tweet Your Topic

23 Jan

Graphic designers have long created social change using mediums such as posters, out-of-home, annual reports, and websites. As visual storytelling has moved into the spotlight, particularly for nonprofit organizations, along with the rise of social media, graphic designers need to carve a niche in visual storytelling for social media, creating powerful image-based messages that inspire viral sharing, raising awareness for the organization they are supporting. These visual stories could be particularly effective for faith-based organizations looking to reach a wider audience who usually ignore traditional faith-based graphics.

 
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Mind Map: Breakdown of initial idea

21 Jan

When I made my original discussion board post in Unit 1, Professors Fields recommended that I break down each important word in the statement I made. That statement was “How the Christian Church can leverage design in our mission to help people develop a real relationship with Jesus.” So I wanted to make sure that I did that, just in case anything stood out to me. I’m really enjoying this mind mapping thing. I typically love a good ole word list, but this is like an organized word list!

Mind Map: How the Christian Church can leverage Design in our mission to help people develop a real relationship with Jesus

 
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Additional Freewriting

21 Jan

As I have spent the week thinking about my topic, and talking to people about it, I wondered about additional questions angles on my topic. Has graphic design created lazy Christians who rely too heavily on a fancy invitation card for sharing their faith instead of building real relationships with people. Or maybe people get so enamored by cool graphics and the experience it creates (particularly in larger churches) that people miss that a great church is not defined by how entertaining it is, and therefore miss out on a real relationship with Jesus and his bride. I’m open to thoughts and feedback.

 
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Unit 2: Additional Questions to Answer

20 Jan
  1. Discuss the ways that you are going to keep track of the research you are doing. Make lists of the places you are exploring and what useful tips you can offer with regards to finding materials. Use the ideas covered in the lecture and Clark’s book to illuminate the path for others. Act as though you are writing your own guide to conducting research.

    The primary ways I will keep track of my research is using technology. When I am online, I bookmark everything that I find helpful into a SCAD > Thesis folder in Safari, which will sync across my devices. On Amazon, I created a Wish List for my Thesis of books that I want to consider/buy. On my iPad, my favorite app is GoodNotes, where I can write with my stylus just like I’m writing in a notebook. So I have a SCAD folder with a Thesis Prep “notebook” for all of my freewriting. I also have a Mind Maps app, which lets me conveniently create Mind Maps that can be exported. Both of my key iPad apps sync to my Dropbox account for backups. And of course, there is my blog to document additional thoughts and progress.

  2. Discuss how you are planning to ‘map’ texts, per Clark’s book.

    The strategies for mapping texts that stood out to me most was getting the topical overview, considering the impact the writing as a whole is trying to make, and consider why I am reading the text (how will this help me define my problem or support my argument, and making notes about it as I go).

 
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Mind Map: Church Design

20 Jan

I decided to do a mind map on Church Design just to get related topics out of my mind and on “paper.”

Mind Map: Church Design

Mind Map: Church Design

 
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Library Research

16 Jan

I did some research in the SCAD Graduate Thesis Collection and found some interesting topics, which are helping me to clarify what my topic or thesis statement could be. Being constantly told to narrow our focus is starting to make sense. Here are the three theses that I found in this initial search:

  1. Empathy Within Orthodoxy: Fostering a Culture of Innovation in Faith-Based Organizations Through Design Thinking by Jay Bopp
  2. The Effective and Empathetic Designer: Professional Identity as a Function of Self-Definition by Andrea Nordstrom
  3. Crossing the Line: Why Designers and Aid Agencies Need Each Other by Timothy Putt

From it, I gleaned ideas for books to read, with Amazon creating great recommendations. I also found some insight into committee members, noting that Professor Jason Frazier was on the committee of each of these students.

Here are some of the books that I have bookmarked for potential reading.

  1. Branding Faith: Why Some Churches and Nonprofits Impact Culture and Others Don’t by Phil Cooke
  2. Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley
  3. Outspoken: Conversations on Church Communication by Tim Schraeder
  4. This is Service Design Thinking: Basics, Tools, Cases by Marc Stickdorn
  5. The Design of Business: Why Design Thinking is the Next Competitive Advantage by Roger L. Martin
  6. The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO’s Strategies for Defeating the Devil’s Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization by Jonathan Littman
  7. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown
  8. User Friendly Churches: What Christians Need to Know About the Churches People Love To Go To by George Barna
  9. Church Marketing 101: Preparing Your Church for Greater Growth by Richard L. Reising
  10. Multiply: Disciples Making Disciples by Francis Chan
  11. Creature of the Word: The Jesus-Centered Church by Matt Chandler

I think I’m starting to get excited! I really look forward to digging through some of these books.

 

 
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Unit 2: Freewriting

15 Jan

Attached is the results of my freewriting exercise. One this is for sure, my handwriting is NOT the best! For the most part, I just thought about how the modern church has changed, creating a more diverse group of people who now faithfully attend church and identify themselves as Christians. This let me to dig into who are those people. Are they people who were turned off by fake Christians? Are they people who thought they just could never fit in or belong? But what I really wondered about are people who never identified with any faith, and therefore where never interested in going to church to begin with. What message do they need to see or hear to make them consider otherwise? Where would those messages be and in what form would that message occur?  How often would they need to see that message. What ultimate form of visual communication would most effectively create a seeker out of a non-seeker?

While I think there is more freewriting to be had, it was nice to at least put a little “pen to paper,” or stylus pen to iPad in my case.

January 15, 2013 – Freewriting

 
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