Well, last week, Ammara was the one who posted, so it’s my turn! To answer your question on the previous post, Anne: no, Maddie isn’t working with us. I was originally going to work with Jess and Maddie but that changed.
1. Well, so far, to kind of just further elaborate on last week’s post, we just discussed exactly what our goal was for this project. We want to see a change in smoking habits on campus because not only is it hazardous to the ones smoking, but it’s also hazardous to everyone around them; however, we want to do this in a way that won’t sound so preachy. There are so many anti-smoking ads that sometimes it gets overbearing, which is the kind of thing we want to avoid. Ammara had also mentioned wanting to interview the people who do smoke, but I wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted to ask them so that’s something we have to work on.
2. I don’t think we really had any questions. But I guess: is it a requirement to post this project where it’s intended to be posted, or was it just something to help us find a concrete audience to focus our video on?
Hi, Francis and Ammara:
Thanks for your update and questions! It sounds like you made some good progress this week.
Nice job narrowing your goal for your project. I really appreciate how you want to persuade/motivate without sounding “preachy.” This goal reminds me of the TIB podcast prompt requirement! My one lingering question about your goals is — what action do you want people to take? It sounds like your target audience right now is smokers on campus, and that you want to persuade them on an individual level to not smoke (when they’re on campus)? However, a different approach would be targeting Penn State students more broadly — if you want to get the ball rolling on a petition to outlaw smoking on campus. So, be sure to clarify this, if you haven’t already.
Interviewing students on campus — smokers and non-smoker — is a great idea! Working out questions to ask, in advance, is a good plan, too. Your questions will likely change depending on your goals for your advocacy project.
Also, thanks for your question about distribution of your project. Optimally, you would attempt to distribute this project to your intended target audience. (Since the goal of this assignment is to create a project that can actually “live in the real world.”) However, that being said, my base-level requirement is that by the time you submit your advocacy project your project should be ready to be distributed in your selected venue.
In the accompanying document that you submit with your video, you should reflect on your target audience as well as how you plan to circulate your video. This will require you to at least have looked into HOW you would go about posting your video to the PSU site and other target venues. (Do you need to get permission to post your video in your target venues? Etc.)
Keep up the good work, and let me know if you have any questions moving forward!