CRAP, Plagiarism, and You

For this week, we are reading about the CRAP principles and how they relate to the final project. CRAP is a major component of graphic design, and stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. They are the ground rules that should be followed while designing something visual, and help to increase the quality of the finished work. Below is a link to a comedy short that demonstrates why not following these guidelines would be a bad move.

Cracked: The Most Terrifying Powerpoint Presentation Ever

This comedy short draws some of its humor from the lack of CRAP design principles in the protagonists PowerPoint presentation. The largest offense is the inconsistent font size and the apparent randomness of the word placement. Of course, there are other obvious aspects that could be improved upon, such as the general blandness of the color and font choices as well. However, there are some redeeming qualities of the presentation. 

Prompt 1: After watching the comedy short posted above, point out at least one of the CRAP principles the “TRUCK SALES” PowerPoint adheres to.

Another subject that is covered this week is the proper method of doing research. We are tasked with watching various infographics and videos that explain the basic concepts of academic research. One of the videos discusses what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it. Avoiding plagiarism is one of the main concerns while doing research for the final project, and careful steps must be taken to avoid doing it, intentionally or otherwise.

One famous case of plagiarism has to do with the band Led Zeppelin, and how they allegedly copied the work of other musicians. Some say that the band outright stole the music from past performers, while others claim they adapted the music into a different, more modern style. Above is a video comparing the work of Led Zeppelin to those they allegedly stole from.  

Prompt 2: This week we ask you to post other cases of plagiarism, famous or otherwise, and discuss whether it was intentional or simply a mistake. If it was a mistake, what could they have done differently to avoid plagiarizing?

Prompt 3: The quote by Herbert Simon listed on the homepage of UML’s Know How website states:“…the wealth of information means a dearth of something else; a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious; it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” -Herbert Simon. What exactly does this mean to you? Do you agree or disagree? What are some examples that directly support his argument within the website? Are there other relative examples you can come up with on your own? Share and discuss your arguments and ideas.​

Here is a link to the Cracked video in case the above link is broken : http://www.cracked.com/video_18699_the-most-terrifying-powerpoint-presentation-ever.html 

Copyright, Trademark and Ownership

Copyright infringements, ownership and trademark issues are not easy to resolve. There is often a gray area between what is okay to publish and what is not. Sturken and Cartwright state the biggest factor in determining the fair use of property is whether or not the copy is promoting or adding to the original piece. (208) As our society adopts more advanced technologies it is difficult to prove clear copyright violations. Sturken and Cartwright ask the question: How do courts find the difference between transformation and the derivation of a piece of work?

Below is an example post I have written for this discussion. This commercial definitely made me question its intentions and reminded me of the California Celebrities Rights Act of 1984 (207) mentioned in the reading. You do NOT need to answer the questions in my example. 

In 2009, Direct TV released a commercial with David Spade promoting satellite television. The advertisement used a scene from the film Tommy Boy, which caused debate among viewers. Chris Farley's family approved the commercial, making this a case of morality. David Spade and Farley's family defended the commercial; however, people felt it was in poor taste. Is this an issue of exploitation of the dead or a way to honor the late actor's career? Since Farley is synonymous with the character Tommy from the film, does this affect his likeness?

Research an article, court case or issue that interests you! What you post is not limited to legal conflicts, but can touch upon what is morally right or wrong within this week's topic. From a celebrity's likeness/persona to the pros and cons of digital images compared to analog photographic images, there are numerous options to explore. Ask questions to engage others and give your opinion. 

Blogger:
Lone Ranger 

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. “Copies, Ownership and Copyright.” 204-220. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University., 2009. Print.

Perspectives on Infographics and The Guerilla Girls

Infographics are an integral part of conveying information within our society and so it is important to know how Infographics can potentially be misleading. From the reading on Infographics, the author explains how charts can lie, and how "even if the original data is good, your graphical representation of the data may not be" (11). Below are two graphs taken from different FOX News broadcasts which show extremely misleading information:

Figure 1 : Misleading Cost of Gas

In Figure 1, we can see how the bottom scale of the graph jumps from last year, to last week, to current. This is by no means an accurate time-frame to make a line graph out of, and so while the graph shows an increase in the cost of gas over time, it really isn't saying anything meaningful in terms of statistical data. Perhaps "last week" had particularly high gas prices, and "current" could mean literally anything from one week later to years later. Not only this, but the Y axis only measures 10 cents per line, making a small increase appear to be a huge jump when it's really not.

Figure 2: Misleading Unemployment Rates

Figure 3: Unemployment Rates with Indicator lines

In Figures 2 and 3, you can see directly with the added lines how the data is not portrayed correctly on the graph, as 8.6% is literally adjacent to 9.0%. In all of these graphs, the creator is manipulating the Y axis to make the change seem more significant than it actually is.

Prompt 1: Misleading Infographics are still a big problem in society, so for discussion, can you find any other examples of ways in which Infographics are being used to portray skewed or false information? In what other ways might Infographics be particularly harmful and/or helpful to society? Could Fox News be misrepresenting the data to promote a certain political ideology?


The Guerrilla Girls is a movement composed of female artists who fight for equality in the art world. Often, the posters they create are meant to incite a certain political or social ideaology pertaining to the status of female artists in a largely patriarchal society. From the reading on Guerrilla Girls, “The famous query by feminist artists and art historians goes, ‘Why haven’t there been more great women artists throughout Western history?’ The Guerrilla Girls want to restate the question: ‘Why haven’t more women been considered great artists throughout Western History?” Below are two Guerrilla Girl images.

Figure 4 - Michele Bachmann

In Figure 4, we see an image of Michele Bachmann with a caption that reads, “Even Michele Bachmann believes we all have the same civil rights” with an equal sign covering her mouth. The overall message seems to be calling for an equality that the person on the poster claims to exist, that clearly doesn’t.

Figure 5 - Guerilla Girl

Figure 5 shows a picture of a nude model wearing a gorilla mask. The caption suggests that women artists are under-appreciated and yet a vast majority of art depicting the naked human body are of women. The implication is then that even in the art world, women are seen as objects in a patriarchal society, something that the Guerrilla Girls aspire to change

Prompt 2: In Figure 4, what do you see as the overall message? Do you think there is something oppressive about the “equal” sign and where it is situated in the image, and if so do you think that it creates something contradictory? In other words, is the implication of “shutting out” Michele Bachmann contradictory of equality in sense of free speech? Feel free to share any other examples images that seem to incite messages of equality, specifically in terms of gender.

Applying Different Theories of the Gaze: bell hooks and Sturken & Cartwright

This week, we are reading bell hooks' "The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators" and Sturken & Cartwright's "Changing Concepts of the Gaze."  Each theorist provides a new insight and outlook on the gaze.  In bell hooks' article, she details the role of black women as spectators, both historically and in today's society.  Sturken and Cartwright's text examines a reversal of the gaze that occurs when men are portrayed as sexual objects.

Prompt 1:

Sturken & Cartwright's "Changing Concepts of the Gaze" states:

Contemporary visual culture involves a highly complex array not only of images and spectators but also of gazes.  Whereas many contemporary advertisements continue to sell products through traditional gender codes by portraying women in demure, seductive poses for a possessive male gaze, other ads play off these traditions by reversing them and showing both the pleasure of looking at men as objects and the power of women in action. (Sturken and Cartwright 133)

The text illustrates how modern media often reverses traditional roles of the gaze. Many films and advertisements turn men into sexualized objects and subsequently give women power as the gazers.

Figure 1: Movie Still from Magic Mike

Retrieved from: New York Times' Website 

Consider the film Magic Mike. One could argue that Magic Mike defies the concept of the traditional male gaze.  In the movie, Magic Mike's entire body is on display while he's dancing provocatively for the females surrounding him.  His character is ultimately subject to the gaze, as myriad women fawn over his physique. 

For this prompt, we propose that you find another example of a movie, commercial, or advertisement that contradicts the traditional concept of the male gaze. Please post your findings and discuss how they reverse the stereotypical male gaze.  You could also further examine Magic Mike as an example.

Figure 2: Magic Mike Film Trailer

Retrieved from: YouTube 

Prompt 2:

Figure 2: Man with Raw Steaks
Retrieved from: NY Daily News

This image is of a muscular man with multiple raw steaks on a plate looking directly at his viewers. In "Changing Concepts of the Gaze," it says that "contemporary theories that engage with issues of race, ethnicity, and sexuality as factors in the construction of the gaze allow for much more nuanced understandings of the processes of identification with the image and the complex ways in which images interpellate spectators" (Sturken and Cartwright 136).  This man's gaze can represent several things to many different people as suggested above.  Think from the perspective of either a vegetarian, an elderly woman, or a homosexual male.  What might his gaze mean?  Is it effective in advertising the meat?  How might this image be different if the gaze was on the meat instead of the viewer?

Citations:
bell hooks, “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators,” The Feminism and Visual 
Culture Reader, ed. Amelia Jones. London: Routledge, 2003. 94-105. Print.

Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. “Changing Concepts of the Gaze.” Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Univ., 2009. 130-136. Print.

Blog Post:
Brittany Andersen and Kayola Davis-Tabb