Critical Reflection for Digital Curation Project

Spay and Neuter

Choosing a topic for my digital curation project was not a simple task and I mulled it over for several days before landing on the importance of spaying and neutering. This subject is near and dear to my heart because I have lost a pet due to the devastating ripple effects of not having her spayed at a young age. My intended audience is all current and future pet owners. My goal is to persuade pet owners that spaying and neutering increase longevity in pets and quality of life. If every pet was spayed or neutered then we would not have puppies and kittens, so for those pet parents that are breeders or have working dogs, these animals should be spayed as soon as their reproductive organs are no longer needed. 

I use ethos, logos, and pathos as rhetorical appeals to help persuade my audience. I use ethos throughout my DCP with my professional aesthetic to give credibility, as well as using credible sources and providing credible and verifiable data. I use logos throughout my DCP by appealing to the audience's logic such as it is only logical to spay or neuter to prevent roaming, aggression, unwanted litters, and to reduce the risk of cancer. The pathos present in my DCP is evident from the beginning by discussing Cali's story and using adorable images of animals to appeal to the audience's emotional side. 

My call to action for my audience to take responsibility for the health and well-being of their pets at an early age by spaying and neutering them to reduce unwanted litters (therefore reducing the number of homeless pets in animal shelters), and reducing the risk of cancer and devastating reproductive disorders that can shorten the pet's lifespan. 

Design Principles

I've compiled a list of design principles I've implemented in my DCP. These principles add credibility and professionalism to my project and increase the persuasion power of my call to action. 

1. Alignment (p. 24) - This is coordinating the placement of various design elements in rows, columns, or centered. I've used a left-side alignment of text on all pages throughout my DCP as well as lined up lists in columns such as on the "Why Spay and Neuter" section of my DCP.
2. Five Hat Racks (p. 100) - This is a way to organize information. For my DCP, I've chosen to focus on the continuum organization method of the Five Hat Racks design principle by focusing on the highest priority items first (such as spay and neuter, pyometra, and cancer) before moving onto lower priority items (such as animal shelter populations). 
3. Inverted Pyramid (p. 140) - This design principle is a way to present information in descending order of importance. Similar to the aforementioned Five Hat Racks (p. 100), I've chosen to focus on why you should spay and neuter and why it is important first before continuing onto the risks and benefits of it. 
4. Highlighting (p. 126) - Highlighting is a way to bring attention to a design element such as a graphic or a specific part of text through boldface, italics, color, and font. I've used boldface throughout my DCP to highlight important information. 
   
5. Color (p. 48) - Color is a design principle in which using color can attract attention to specific text, show consistency (p. 56), or add an aesthetic (p. 20) appeal. 
6. Chunking (p. 40) - Chunking is the combination or separation of information into chunks for better readability (p. 198) and legibility (p. 148). I've implemented this principle throughout my DCP in the form of paragraphs and lists of facts or statistics to make the processing of this information easier for my audience. 
7. Layering (p. 146) - This design principle is the process of organizing information into similar groups to enhance readability (p. 198) and better processing for the audience. I've implemented this design principle by keeping cancer-related information together, reproductive information together, and animal shelter information together. 
8. Readability (p. 198) - This is likely the most important design principle for my DCP due to the nature of the information I'm discussing. With my DCP being a very medical-term-heavy subject, it is easy for the audience to get lost in the medical terminology and jargon to the point that the message and call to action goes over their head. I have tried to explain everything into layman's terms for the audience's understanding and convenience to better understand my message and call to action.
   
9. Cognitive Dissonance (p. 46) - Cognitive Dissonance is the feeling of having inconsistent thoughts to behaviors or opinions and seeking to have consistency (p.56) among these. People will try to alleviate the uncomfortable feeling of cognitive dissonance. I've tried to implement this in my DCP by implying if someone loves their pet, they will want the best for their pet, and therefore they will take action to take care of their pet by spaying or neutering with the consequence that they could develop a reproductive disorder or cancer. 
10. Aesthetic Usability Effect (p. 20) - Aesthetic Usability Effect implies that aesthetically pleasing designs are easier to use. I've tried to maintain a professional aesthetic throughout my DCP to give my audience the impression that my website is easy to use (which it is!) and add credibility. 
11. Consistency (p. 56) - Consistency is the design principle that states the usability of something is improved when everything is consistent or similar in multiple ways. I've maintained consistency throughout my DCP by using the same set of fonts throughout my DCP, using a consistent color palette and overall aesthetic (p. 20). 
12. Entry Point (p. 80) - This is the first part of a design that the audience sees. This is the first point they come in contact with that has to hook them and keep them interested in the rest of the design. I've implemented this with an entry point that asks the audience to continue reading to learn how to increase the longevity of their pet and quality of life. 
13. Legibility (p. 148)  - Legibility is the extent to which a text is visually readable (p. 198). I've implemented this throughout my DCP by not using overly distracting background images and using contrasting font and background colors. 

Coming Together

All of the design principles I've chosen to focus on have come together to make my DCP the professional work of multimedia writing that it is. I've chosen these principles because not only are they some of the basics of design, but they are also essential to design. These basic essentials include color, consistency, alignment, legibility, and readability. These may seem to be obvious choices, but without these basic essentials, my DCP would look like a jumbled mess. I want my audience to have a very pleasant experience with my DCP, I want them to see credibility and professionalism. With credibility and professionalism, this is likely to persuade my audience to reflect on the information presented and not only realize my call to action but act on it. 

End-of-Term Inventory Questions

TOTAL # of blog posts currently on your blog: 25 excluding this one, 24 excluding the Mid-Term Inventory post from October 1, 2019.

In a bulleted list, name and describe any new blog posts added after the mid-term deadline for which they were due.

• Week 11, Deadline 2 - Classmate Response 
• Due November 5th, posted November 8th.
• This assignment is a response to my classmates' progress on their DCPs.
• I spent a lot of time making sure I had posted for all deadlines, (I wasn't counting the other one we posted for this week and I was all kinds of confused) and I believe this is the only one that was posted after the deadline. 

Any other comments that you would like me to consider in evaluating your performance for the second half of the term?

• No comments that are of relevance. I hope I've performed adequately. I know some of my assignments haven't been 100% on time (although it felt like I had more I was late on), I've tried my best to work with my erratic school schedule and two deadlines per week.

Week 14, Deadline 1: DCP Revision To-Do List

I definitely have some things in mind for my DCP in the coming days. I have a majority of the weekend off and I have a couple days off during the week of Thanksgiving that I can dedicate to my final DCP. I've come up with a list of things I know I want to complete, although there may still be some additional revisions I decide to make along the way. 

Planned Revisions 

• Review DCP for accurate alignment and spacing errors.
• Review DCP for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors.
• Come up with a way to engage my audience to view my entire DCP and stay interested.
• Suggestions welcome! I'm not very creative. :( 
• Revise Expert Testimonials and Procedures. 
• I knew I wanted to expand on this but I have yet to be able to sit down and decide what more I want to do with this. 
• Revise and expand on Resources.
• Expand on animal shelter statistics and low-cost options.
• Add more artifacts where they make sense, hopefully creating a few more on my own. 

I plan to spend a significant amount of time on this project over the coming days as well as some final projects in my other classes and I'm both nervous and excited to bring this project to an end. 

Week 13, Deadline 2: Feedback and Reflection

Classmates' DCPs

I really enjoyed looking at everyone's DCPs. Meghan's DCP looks like it could be a legitimate government website and I was really blown away. At Meghan's suggestion, I looked into adding music to my narrative section, but unfortunately, Wix's Help Center says that due to policy changes many web browsers do not allow autoplay of music anymore. I don't think I would really want them to have to click play for the music to start, I would want it to just play automatically. Jenna has a very convincing call-to-action, and I officially do not want to be a pedestrian in Morgantown (lol!). Monty is killing it with his design and implementation of his Wix skills. 

My Plans

I've waited to see what suggestions my classmates have for the revision of my DCP. Other than Meghan's suggestion of music for my narrative, I did not receive any suggestions - I'm glad everyone seemed to like it! I plan to revise the Expert Testimonials and Procedures and Resources. I want to spend more time explaining and providing information from experts and adding some really great resources. For now, the resources I have are links to pages on those organizations' pages. 

I also plan to do a very thorough review of grammar and syntax. I've also made just about everyone I know look at my page and offer suggestions and was able to use it as an educational opportunity for a receptionist I work with that had questions about pyometra in dogs the other day. 

Week 13, Deadline 1: Complete Draft

→ Link to my DCP ←

• Audience - Pet owners.
• Message - Spaying and neutering your pets can save their lives.
• Call-to-Action - Spay and neuter your pet as soon as they're old enough or after you've finished breeding them to give them a healthier, longer life. 

Design Principles:

Some of the design principles that have guided my development of my DCP include color, alignment, highlighting, readability, cognitive dissonance, and aesthetic usability effect. In addition to the information that I've presented with credible resources to back it up, I believe having a polished web presence will add to the credibility of the information I'm trying to pass on. Most importantly, a lot of the topics I discuss are medically related and it is difficult for me to (having grown up in a family of nurses and going onto become a vet tech) realize what is not a common knowledge term and what is medical jargon sometimes - this is where readability is the most important objective for me. 

I'd like to call my DCP a 100% draft, but realistically I'm going to make changes to it. I could call this a final draft and I probably wouldn't get the grade I want from it, and with the feedback I'll receive I can revise it to be better. For now I would call it a 99.9% draft because nothing is ever perfect because there is always room for improvement. 

Questions:

1. What can I improve?
2. Does the information seem readable? Are the topics or terms explained enough for them to be understood?
3. Does my layout make sense?
4. Is there another topic I should touch on more?
5. Does the design and color palette chosen seem professional?

Week 12, Deadline 2

Progress

Since our last deadline, I have not been able to make progress on my DCP at all. I spent much of the weekend visiting a sick family member and working 16-hour shifts. I am off Wednesday and Thursday this week so I'm able to spend ample amount of time finishing my DCP for our draft submission later this week. 

Classmate Response

However, I really enjoyed viewing the rest of my classmates' progress.

I like that Lakynn thought to use a resources page. I'm likely going to use this in my own DCP because there are so many resources out there with varying opinions on my topic and this will aid in my quest for transparency. 

Meghan seems to have had some of the difficulty with strips that I have also run into. I've spent a lot of time moving strips around my page early in the beginning. It's doable but boy is it a pain!

Monty's experience with using Wix as his platform is really coming in handy! His DCP is looking amazing and I can't wait to see how it turns out. 

Week 12, Deadline 1

DCP Progress

Since our last deadline, I have not had a significant amount of time to work on my DCP because I've been called into work extra shifts that have left me more than tired and slacking overall this week on homework. I've spent some time drafting plans in my head during my workdays of how I'd like to improve my DCP and my goals. As of my last post, I was estimating I was around 35% complete and as of now I'd say probably between 40-45%, so not a significant increase but I am off work two days in a row this week that I can spend a chunk of time on it. 

I've added my narrative (Cali's Story), benefits and risks, and added more hover box links to other locations on my site. The hover box links are more difficult to create than I anticipated because Wix does not have an easy way to make them, instead, you have to layer two different features to make it both hoverable and linkable.

Principle Application

I've tried to apply and keep in mind a lot of design principles throughout my work on this project, but I'll keep the list short and name only a few: alignment, five hat racks - continuum organization by magnitude, inverted pyramid, highlighting, color, chunking, layering - non-linear, readability, cognitive dissonance, and aesthetic usability effect. 

• Alignment - I've maintained alignment across my slides, starting the titles in the same places across each section and aligning up the benefits and risks across from each other. Wix uses some guiding lines as you drag a box or graphic to help align items, and it has proven very useful. 
• Five Hat Racks - I've focused on the continuum organization by magnitude style. This organizes items from highest to lowest or best to worst. For my DCP I'm focusing on the highest priority topics first before moving onto lower priority. 
• Inverted Pyramid - Along with the Five Hat Racks continuum organization by magnitude, I'm using inverted pyramid to start with the most important information first such as why to spay and neuter before going into detail about the benefits and risks of it and the added information such as animal shelters and euthanasia rates.
• Highlighting - By highlighting the most important information such as why you should spay and neuter and what happens when you do not, it brings my main information to the audience. 
• Color - Consistency in color is important and can show not only professionalism but can also add credibility to the author.
• Chunking - I've chunked my benefits and risks in a short but sweet way instead of writing long paragraphs about whether you should or shouldn't and when you should or shouldn't. Chunking these makes them short, sweet, eye-catching, and easy to read. 
• Layering - I've focused on the non-linear layering style for my website and tweaked it a little bit. For the most part, my DCP is linear until the end of the page and the other layers become evident for more information about extra topics. 
• Readability - I'm doing my best to maintain readability on my DCP by keeping wording and verbiage simple and in layman's' terms. I want my DCP to be effective for people that are not medically minded and people that may not understand all of the medical terms. It's not always easy when describing the names of certain ailments or diseases because of their names, but I've tried to expand and explain what they mean. 
• Cognitive Dissonance - I've tried to use cognitive dissonance to lightly persuade the audience because too much cognitive dissonance can cause them to shut down. People love their pets and want the best for them, so hopefully weighing the benefits and risks of spaying and neutering can persuade them to make a well-informed, but beneficial decision that can help keep their furry family healthy. 
• Aesthetic Usability Effect - I'm trying to keep my DCP aesthetically pleasing so it is perceived as easier to use, navigate, and read to persuade my audience. 

Reasoning

By using the above-mentioned design principles and other design principles we've learned thus far, whether by assignment or in the pursuit of knowledge, I believe I can create a compelling and persuasive DCP. I believe using rhetorical strategies to appeal to someone as a credible source that can reason logically and connect that logic on an emotional level will make for the best and most effective DCP. I don't want to only share my opinions in my DCP and come off as one-sided, I want to share both the good and the bad. Realistically when I'm working in the field as a Veterinary Technician, I'm talking to clients about the good and the bad so they can make the most informed decision possible because there is not always a definite answer for every pet.