The spaces of newspapers are named and consistent. These allocated spaces are essential for the publication as they give the paper structure and the viewer the information they want. Most newspapers and newsletters utilize these specific areas to deliver various content. Here are some examples illustrated within the August 2023 ‘Football Preview Guide’ edition of the OU Daily.
Design elements are present even in places you would hardly look to find them. Just walking back to the parking garage after classes and going about my daily life, I found a few examples of the elements that are some the following design characteristics.
The design blitz is on! Every day these design elements are present in our life’s. Having the notion and ability to incorporate the elements are where the true art and concepts of design collaborate. From the most intended to a surprising coincidence the aforementioned characteristics of design are what we find visually appealing.
Without the green foliage, the northeast rear brick wall of the Bizzell Library would be just a dull brick wall, a corner that would melt into the other red brick building (Evans Hall) behind it. While it may be Mother Nature offering her design, someone had to decide to let it display her beauty. The deliberate nature of allowing the beauty of the greenery informs us that an element of design is at work.
I found that the mums on the South Oval are well on their way to the usual spectacular explosion of Crimson and Cream seen at its height around homecoming. Above, the image demonstrates a level of proportion and draws your attention to the dominant image in the lower left corner. The single plant is the reason for the shot but with the abundance of plants, in rows, its understandable to incorporate them into the shot.
An example of color, symmetry and rhythm is Rick Sinnett’s “Butterfly Mandala” in Norman. The balance and colors are eye-popping. Those characteristics give the piece a powerful element of visual structure.
The colors are deep and bright, drawing attention to the drab cinder wall.
The symmetry develops from the Mandala’s center into the butterflies comprising the outer circle. Sinnett says the design represents life’s beauty (Uncovering Oklahoma, www.uncoveringoklahoma.com). Rhythm flows from the center with corresponding geometric shapes that repeat. Although, the repetition is the focal point. The piece relies strongly on its repetitive patterns, creating balance and a feeling of undulation.
I recently walked downtown Tulsa and saw a group gathering on a corner. Five to six people with cameras were taking a picture of the above. Naturally, I followed suit and took out my camera. They were looking at two buildings between two buildings. Really. It is a remarkable image. Upon a Google search of the area and its art deco roots, the Mid-Continent building with the patinaed roof is to the right. The building to the left, with the spire is the Philtower Building. The balance of the split between the two buildings (or one, depending on your view) so you can view two beautiful vintage-styled buildings is spectacular. The two buildings on the far right and far left act to support the design image of the photo completely.
The minimalist approach is used in many aspects of design. From logos to complete campaigns. Got Milk? That campaign relied on reminding viewers of the color of milk, white. The simple tag line and concept fed many copycats. Got books?, Got booze?, etc..
Pringle’s pizza flavored potato crisps may be ‘Bursting with Flavor’, however, it is the logo that adopts a minimalist design. The circle with two eyes and a mustache is a just a white circle without the eyes and mustache. Without the words ‘Pringles’ the company utilizes black and white with the noticeable feature the mustache. The circular logo takes advantage of the unique packaging the chips comes in. It works because of the simplicity.
I saw this logo at the bottom of this old Coke machine at a restaurant I was eating at. I thought to myself, how simple of a name. If you own a vending company, why not Vendo? The typeface conveys fun and vintage. The Ascender on the ‘V’ and the kerning between it and the rest of the name is noticeable. The cursive connection of the letters is aesthetically appealling and reminiscent of the logos of that period. At one time, when this was brand new, this logo stood out on that red paint.
Design elements are arrows in the artists quiver. These are the concepts that are beholden to those in the profession. Not only help guide the designer but they are elements that appeal to human senses guiding the viewers to the intended message.
Spielman, D. (2017, March 6). Rick Sinnett “Butterfly Mandala.” Uncovering Oklahoma. https://www.uncoveringoklahoma.com/2017/03/rick-sinnett-butterfly-mandala/
Utilizing the subject and the space allowed while incorporating it visually through the text describes typography. Artists tap into emotion through a myriad of techniques using text and typefaces. Evoking an emotion or action using a different typeface or font is also a typography characteristic. Perhaps the company has a logo sans text but has a company name that the artist must include?
A former employer used such a technique. The artist’s name is Michael. He created this genius use of a logo within the name of a former employer. This slight adjustment added visual value to the brand at no cost to the company.
Being able to visualize the subject with title or heading together demonstrates the artists grasp of typography. An image could be written in a foreign language making only readable to those that spoke the language, however, if an image is presented with the text anyone can discern what the message is trying to convey.
Alternatively, perhaps we can observe an example of typography with the text itself. The typeface selection can immediately create a sense of familiarity with the viewer. In this example, the idea of the military comes to mind just from the typeface.
Knowing the little nuances of typeface will help deliver a message via typography. Using typewar can really test your knowledge of the nuances. I had a pretty good streak going!
Typography as stated in the Linkedin video series, we scan for a familiar image. We immediately know what is being conveyed when typography is manipulated.
Kerning is important to the brand. If out of place it throws off the whole design. I finally got he hang of it.
Give Kern Type a try and see how well you do.
Who am I?
My name is Tony. I am a husband and father of two children. As mentioned in my blog post from October of last year. Our children are growing fast, and we are working hard to teach them all the things they are going to need for their future.
I am a PR/senior at The University of Oklahoma with only a couple of semesters left. I work full time at WWLS and ALICE FM. Recently, WWLS celebrated it’s twenty-fifth anniversary at Remington Park in Oklahoma City. I work with a former professional baseball player and some accomplished journalists.
I have broadcasted in the Oklahoma City radio market for twenty-three years. My PR qualifications are scant however, around 2016 I started a boutique agency with a former co-worker. We named it Red Plains Media. The agency created audio and video content while managing the advertising buys for radio and TV. We were radio guys that were trying to find a fit and make money doing it. We had no formal training. We just had the gear and great ambition to go create great content. One of our first, successful clients was a CBD manufacturer that needed a partner to manage the flow of information and content. We created brochures and video sales collateral for their sales team. Once again, we had no idea what we were doing but we jumped in and tried. Luckily, they enjoyed our work for a few years.
I have always admired the PR professional and their ability to create or manage the spin of situations. I have found that the untrained have developed an idea of what the PR professional really does and usually their assumptions are off a bit. I want to study Public Relations because of the ability to craft and maintain an image for a client while simultaneously generating revenue. It sounds like a canned response but when the client is successful, in turn, so are you.
Ultimately the bottom line is at stake for everyone in a capitalistic environment. Revenue and the ability to nudge the direction of the company sales are what motivate my desire to know more about Public Relations. The PR professional isn’t exactly a salesperson but a voice of image, message and design.
The schedule I keep professionally and at home inhibits my ability to participate in on campus activities. I would genuinely enjoy participating, however, most of the meetings happen during my work hours. I am not a regular or active member in the community outside of talking on the radio for hours on the radio each weekday. If I had the option, I would participate in more extracurricular activities here at the university.
I haven’t worked (in this capacity) in a group for a while. I was more than happy with the group I had. They all worked hard on each of the tasks assigned. We hit the milestones, with the leadership of Madelyn. Liz, Damon and Luis nailed their presentations, it worked out well. Introspectively, with this project specifically, I realized that working with a team you can accomplish some pretty mammoth tasks. At first, I didn’t seem to grasp how we would manage such large tasks but after we did I thought; “What if we would have analyzed the whole series seasons 1 through 10?” The results would have changed (maybe) and a whole other analysis would exist. I hope I gained some friends through this Friends project.
The study below focused on the dialogue from Season 1 of Friends. Not my choice, but hey we went with it. Not a problem. I actually enjoyed it. Using the scripts and converting them to a usable format, I was able to uncover patterns of speech frequently used by the characters Chandler and Monica. While these results aren’t ground breaking, they do reveal some similarities between the two, they both like to use the word ‘oh’ a lot. Followed by the words ‘my god’ also, a lot. Monica’s most referenced friend is Rachel and Chandler’s is Joey. It was important to highlight the use of some words and what were their social interactions? What were the relationships like? How did they talk to each other? Here is the final project link:
The sitcom Friends aired on NBC from September 22, 1994-May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons (2023, Friends Central). The cast included Jennifer Aniston (Rachel), Courteney Cox (Monica), Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe), Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Matthew Perry (Chandler) and David Schwimmer (Ross). Our group project comprised five members: Madelyn, Luis, Damon, myself and Liz. We wanted to know more about the social network between friends and more about the dialogue in the individual scripts, specifically Season 1.
Through text analysis, its possible to see the level of vocabulary of the show’s writers. Do they use complex sentence structure? Do they use unique words and so on. There are multiple pieces of software that will analyze text. Ben Blatt, Slate contributor and author of Nabokov’s Favorite Word Is Mauve says that, “writers have a singular voice they will not or cannot change” (2017, Blatt).
Who interacted with who? Who interacted with that person more frequently than others? What text appeared more regularly?
To better answer those questions from the scripted dialogue between the six characters of Friends, finding a corpus (data) compatible with the text analysis tool Antconc was necessary. Antconc is a free downloadable software that analyzes corpora for text analysis. The software sorts through data, and through different settings within the software, the user can help reveal patterns in the canon of text. Voyant Tools is another analysis tool used in our analysis. Like Antconc, Voyant offers a free download but is visually more appealing than Antconc.
In this project, converting the corpus to .txt was the first order of business. Between the 5 group members, we divided up the Screenplay scripts here:
Madelyn would conduct the network analysis of the relationships between characters. The rest of the group would analyze each character’s text to decipher any patterns within. I was assigned Chandler and Monica.
Courtney Cox portrays Monica Geller, the younger sister of Ross Geller, in Friends. She is known as the “mother-hen” of the group (2023, Friends Central). Monica is a Sous-chef and is best friends with Rachel Greene. Her apartment is across from Joey and Chandler’s. She is a very tidy person, almost to the point of obsessive-compulsive.
Chandler Bing is one of three male characters on the show. He uses wit and sarcasm as defense mechanisms; therefore, his dialogue has to be complex, right? So I wanted to find out what words were used most frequently by Chandler.
Using Google Docs and a series of spreadsheet data entries, I was ready to start using the tools for better analysis. Initially, I wanted to get an overview of the texts. It was Voyant that offered me the best option—the Word Cloud.
Monica’s word cloud using 95 of the most used terms in her dialogue from Season 1.
Chandler’s word cloud using 95 of the most used terms in her dialogue from Season 1.
The word ‘oh’ really shows through the word clouds. It’s where I started. It was a similarity. Maybe other patterns would emerge around the word ‘oh’?
Antconc, while not as visually appealing as Voyant, has its own superpowers by revealing patterns between the character’s dialogue, like what character name Chandler and Monica mention the most. We don’t see the future romance between the two characters yet.
Antconc displays Monica’s mentions of other characters on the show. It seems almost to easy to know that Rachel, Monica’s best friend is the most frequently used in her dialogue with a Frequency of 41 and NormRange of .625.
Antconc makes it is accessible to see the frequency with which Chandler mentions other characters. For example, in the first episode, Joey tells Rachel he and Chandler live together across from Monica. This fact possibly explains one instance why Chandler references Joey most frequently with the highest Frequency of 21 and NormRange of 0.583.
The Voyant illustration of Chandler’s most related word to ‘oh’ above led to an exploration through Antconc of both corporas and the findings using both pieces of software agree in their findings.
The Voyant illustration of Chandler’s most related word to ‘oh’ above led to an exploration through Antconc and the findings using both pieces of software agree with each other.
Collocating-words, which are words statistically likely to appear together (2022, Anthony) in Antconc. The word “God” is located near our most popular word “oh” for Chandler.
Using the KWIC readings in the dialogue in Antconc showed that Monica Geller uses the “oh” word in Season 1 next to the two words “my” and “God” frequently. There is one gosh in there. Is that ad lib dialogue or are we again presented with the writers including the phrase “oh my God” with intent?
*spoiler alert*
If you followed the show and have seen the entire series, you know that Chandler Bing and Monica Geller marry and fall in love. However, you wouldn’t say that by the text from the dialogue of Season 1. Monica references her best friend Rachel most, while Chandler greatly references Joey. ‘Oh’ is used more frequently than any other word. Both characters use the word next to or within three words before ‘God.’ Some form of ‘oh God’ or ‘oh my God’ is used frequently.
Anthony, L. (2022). AntConc (Version 4.2.0) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software
Blatt, B. (2017, August 17). Can You Identify an Author By How Often They Use the Word “The”? Slate Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2017/08/17/identifying_an_author_s_prose_can_be_as_simple_as_counting_how_much_they.html
Friends Central (2023) https://friends.fandom.com/wiki/Friends_Wiki
Sinclair, Stéfan and Geoffrey Rockwell, 2016. Voyant Tools.
Digital humanities and its ability to reveal complex relationships help create a science of behavior in a way that traditional methods never achieved due to a lack of technological innovation. The digital path uses the medium for research, cataloging, preservation and other insightful applications. It analyzes behavior and presents it through visuals and sometimes through “plug-ins.” It is a search for answers utilizing the digital platform by either those of the DH community or curious interlopers seeking knowledge about the past. Think ancestry dot com. While still in its early years of development and study, digital humanities’ definition is subjective. Digital humanities, as a study, is a personal reflection of sorts. However, the field’s description blurs across the knowledge spectrum. Www.whatisdigitalhumanities.com, presented early in the course, I found this to be especially intriguing because everyone defines digital humanities differently. According to the site, as of January 2015, the database contains 817 rows and randomly selects a quote each time the page is loaded. (2023, Heppler). Professor and chair of Digital Studies at Davidson College, Mark Sample, says in his blog, “The heart of the digital humanities is not the production of knowledge; it’s the reproduction of knowledge” (2023, Sample). Digital humanities have a place for study, if not the most important; it is a survey of who we are and where we hail.
Digital humanities can be a personal or group reflection of the past. However, the field’s definition blurs across knowledge spectrums. The results rendered may or not fascinate those outside the field of study resulting in a lack of support. It is not until those skeptics make a personal connection through historical analysis that they realize the study’s importance. In the case of The Slave Voyages – Trans-Atlantic and Intra-American slave trade databases (2021, Eltis), Those involved may or may not want to know the reality that the slave trade is a part of their personal story. The website offers interaction with documents that may never have been available otherwise without the cataloging and preservation of manuscripts detailing those involved in the abhorrent trade. Had this site not presented these names to the current conscious, they probably would have sat elsewhere, hidden from discovery. Preserving these documents in the digital space adds an advantage for those that do not have direct access to them. It allows anyone interested and with an internet connection to study and access from anywhere.
Digital Humanists, in some respect, act similarly to museum curators and collectors of antiquities—archiving digital items into online inventory to tell a story or express a subject theme. However, compiling all things is an impossibility due to copyright laws.
Common themes are archived and compiled in one place using metadata and classification identifiers digitally. These spaces allow interaction with items not centrally located together but in a virtual space. According to the About Us page, “The Dublin Core Metadata, or “DCMI” is an organization supporting innovation in metadata design and best practices across the metadata ecology (2022, DCMI). For those that compile this data, software like Omeka is beneficial. It is another example where the user is somewhere else but would love to visit an exhibit outside of the physical location. Proximity issues are not a hindrance for those collaborating. The museum is online. An online resource such as Omeka allows collaborations to flourish. The Preserve The Baltimore Uprising Archive Project, utilizes the features of Omeka to bring the exhibit viewer closer to the protest and unrest in Baltimore following the untimely deaths of black citizens at the hands of police. The site allows users to upload relevant photos and content with metadata to archive the unrest in online collections.
Themes of humanity and the relationships created by those involved in history can be delineated using network analysis and social networks. I found demonstrating the degrees of the relationships to be especially interesting. What I found interesting is the ability to read into the relationships better with what corpus you have. It is almost like reading between the lines to see what the participants meant. For example, those networks of relationships mapped in Voltaire’s Correspondence Network show his letter correspondence to people of different importance during that time. It is beneficial in finding patterns because it breaks down the correspondences into different attributes like gender, nationality and destination. For example, you can see that the Ferney to Paris connection was essential to the Voltaire network by the size of the circle or node. The degree of centrality is a term used in network analysis. It is the number of connections to the node or how vital each node is in the network (2011, Weingart).
Ferney Shows a high degree of centrality
The majority of Voltaire’s correspondences were dispatched mainly to male recipients in France particularly Ferney.
Weingart says that analysis should not apply to every project citing danger in methodology appropriation (2011, Weingart). Assumptions could be made after analyzing the network and could be wrong or distorted is how I interpret it. Metadata is an essential aspect of a network. These seem to be the building blocks of efficient analysis. Without these crucial details, the complex nature of human relationships will not display correctly. Not only does the data need to be in shape, but the analytical part must also appear suitable, or the attempt at analysis is in vain.
Almost Jedi-like, as is the analysis of relationships in the Evelina Gabasova blog about The Star Wars social network. It is possible to take the metadata within the scripts for the movies and reveal the relationships they create. For example, the relationship between the so-called ‘terrorist groups’ residing in Boston and the characters in the Star Wars saga is the metadata, once compiled and calculated, tells about the stuff between the lines.
Gabasova demonstrates, using Cytoscape (as seen above), that R2-D2 was a large part of the story arc of Star Wars. Unfortunately, without further explanation, this general overview tells us nothing unless the attributes and edges are detailed. In her blog, Gabasova explains the interactions and scene presence of each of the main characters of the story line. As a Star Wars fan, I never gave much thought to which character was present in more scenes than others until seeing her research. Cytoscape is another arrow in the quiver of digital humanists in discovering and uncovering complex relationships in social networks.
Digital humanities, at its core, embodies the human experience through art, life moments, events and relationships. Revealing emotional and complex relationships between people in complex networks through different methodologies is now a reality. Illustrating the intricate details of those relationships as technology progresses will become more interactive and complex. Digital humanists can only uncover these connections with good data. Mining that data is time-consuming and often complex. Weingart states, “Nothing worth discovering has ever been found in safe waters” (2011, Weingart). Reflecting on his quote, he talks about going deeper to discover more than the obvious. Those topics or hypotheses’ are more complicated than others in finding answers and are worth finding. As technologies like VR and AI start to develop, I think the possibilities in this field are endless. Not that there is any shortage of topics to be researched.
The underlying stories are fascinating to realize once they are uncovered by someone regards to digital humanities. Relationships and digital humanities’ ability to demonstrate them in a manner that is visually appealing and understandable to non-specialists are key takeaways of this course.
References
Eltis, D. (2021). Explore the origins and forced relocations of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic World. A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,’ Slave Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/about.
Gabasova, E. (2015, December 15). The Star Wars Social Network. Evelina Gabasova’s Blog. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from http://evelinag.com/blog/2015/12-15-star-wars-social-network/index.html#.VnAhsTZZG6A.
Heppler, J. A. (n.d.). What is Digital Humanities. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://whatisdigitalhumanities.com/.
Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Archive Project. Preserve The Baltimore Uprising Archive Project. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://baltimoreuprising2015.org/.
Sample, M. (2011, May 25). The digital humanities is not about building, it’s about sharing [web log]. Retrieved May 6, 2023, from https://samplereality.com/blog/.
Weingart, S. (2011, December 14). Demystifying Networks. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://lms.hypothes.is/app/basic-lti-launch.
Writing this in the middle of the second week of classes for the Spring 2023 semester. Media writing, Beginning Kiowa continued, Introduction to Non-profits and Digital Humanities are the courses I am enrolled. This semester I am taking classes in person. This method, the traditional way, works better for me. I don’t mind online courses, however, I enjoy interacting with classmates. They are the ones that really understand what you are going through. On another level, they don’t. We don’t know what’s going on outside of the class for each individual. It’s a complicated world with complicated problems. This semester this blog will bring you the usual ramblings of a father in need of sleep while attempting to balance full time work and school duties. It is a wonderful world and I intend on changing the course of my trajectory one day at a time. Cheers
Over the past year, had the chance to list my top 12 movies, music and other media. The last list being top 12 Christmas movies. The lists are intended to reflect sheer likability. The lists are not created in an attempt to rank the movies. Just twelve of my favorites.
Top 12 Christmas Movies
Top 12 Sports Movies
Top 12 Movies
Top 12 Bands
Top 12 Songs
I sit here thinking about the coming Christmas holiday with dread. As a father, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of keeping it all together during this season of giving. I am talking momentarily, of course. I saw a post on social media that said, “finish your Christmas shopping..”. I thought to myself, “who has it all done, that they could finish their shopping this weekend with this particular event”? Are we expected to have it all done by now? I haven’t even given one thought to Christmas this year yet. I was even reluctant to include the ‘yet.’ In life, there is opportunity cost. I am waging my opportunity cost against attaining a Bachelor’s degree from Gaylord College to increase my earning power. I cannot even think about Christmas gifts until after finals week. Even then, where is the money going to come from?
I mentioned opportunity cost earlier. Mine include being unable to work a legitimate full-time job or have expendable income for Christmas. Let’s face it, this holiday’s meaning is lost in online shopping, Black Friday bullsh*t. I remember as a kid, there was this scent of evergreen that was present throughout my childhood. Up until a few years ago, I had not even recognized the smell, but I have recently been on the search for it. I know it sounds ridiculous and such a waste of time, but that scent, for me, signaled Christmas. I seemed so pervasive when I was young. This change, I get older, and the scents dwindle. This post swerved into traffic a paragraph ago, have a good day.
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