Blog Post #7: Online Safety: Analyzing Visual Rhetoric

The piece of visual rhetoric that I chose to analyze was found on a blog at pc1news.com. This public service announcement pertains to parents whose children talk to strangers online and it was made to make parents more aware about their children's Internet activities. This ad was originally created for the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative. The ad is all black and white and it shows a girl on a laptop and a man with the word "predator" underlined in red on him. The ad is in black and white to emphasize the red, underlined word "predator". This draws your attention to the word "predator" and enhances the importance of the message of the ad. The black and white color of this ad also brings out the serious tone and the inexpressive face of the man appeals to pathos because it is actually somewhat scary because he seems like a prisoner having his mug shot taken. The ad also has the phrase, "You should see who your daughter met online last night". The images of the man and the young girl help explain the verbal content because there is a clear meaning in the message of the verbal content. This ad adequately grabs your attention and conveys the message that parents need to be more aware of their children's online activities.

Blog Post #6: What's Your Password?

When it comes to sharing your password with strangers it is pretty obvious that we all know that you should not do so. Often times though, we over look this care and concern when it comes to sharing our passwords with friends. This does not apply only to social networking sites but it also applies to sharing passwords for your email accounts or school learning account. It is unsafe to provide your school learning account because people can then access personal information such as your grades and the classes you are taking. Sometimes people let their friends access their personal school learning account such as eLearning if they need to print out notes or catch up on a lecture that they missed. This can be dangerous though because your netID and password can be saved on your friend's laptop and someone else could obtain access to your account.
Another scenario to keep in mind is that many people believe that they have a secure password when in reality, they don't. Texas A&M requires it's students to take an Information Security Awareness Training. This training is mandatory to help students learn about how to be safe when it comes to online safety on campus. You can find out more about this security training by going to the Texas A&M Information Security Training website.

Blog Post #5: Cyberbullying Blogs

Francis Duncan's blog post "Would Your Child Tell You If He/She Was Being Bullied?" discusses the element of cyberbullying. In her blog post, she discusses if children would actually be comfortable telling their parents that they are being bullied online and tips to deal with the situation. Diana Pentecost's blog post "What Can You Do If Your Child Is Bullied Online?" also discusses the issue of cyberbullying. Pentecost's blog post offers tips on how to effectively recognize and deal with a situation that involves your child and online bullying. Both of these blog posts obviously are geared towards parents. This causes the blog posts to appeal to pathos. Both of the blogs also offer tips on how to deal with situations regarding your child and online bullying. The two blog posts are different because Pentecost offers tips on how to deal with online bullying with the help of The NetSmartz Workshop, instead of offering her own opinion. Duncan's blog post, on the other hand, has her own insightful tips on how to deal with cyberbullying. The rhetorical messages conveyed in both blog posts are successful because they offer good advice and the response that they have received from their blog followers is positive. Francis Duncan's blog post can be found at the safetyclicks website and Diana Pentecost's blog post can also be found at the safetyclicks website.