**4/8/13 Update: I wrote this blog proposal a while back, and I think I’m actually going to switch my advocacy project topic from pet care to advocating for the Penn State African Library Project instead. I’m part of the organization here at Penn State — and we’re currently a pretty small service group with only a handful of active members. I wanted to persuade people to help out and volunteer with our book drives to start libraries in Africa. Since we don’t have a club website at this point, I thought it might be more useful if I utilized the advocacy project opportunity to create one for the African Library Project instead of going over pet care, since pet neglect may not be as relevant here around campus because most college students live in dormitories or apartments that don’t allow pets in the first place. If I do decide to go with the African Library Project route, I would be spreading awareness by emailing other service groups and getting into contact with friends and family. I also would put up posters around campus and have online poster downloads available on the website. In this case, my target audience would be college students mostly as well as all people in general who might be interested in helping out the cause by running a book drive within their communities back home and so on. In addition, I think that social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook may be really effective in getting my message across just because many students (my intended target audience) today use these sites on a daily basis. My website would include pages like a calendar of meeting times, information about the national organization, and statistics on what areas in Africa we’ve been able to help in the past. Any suggestions on this topic (or pet care) would be appreciated!**
Old Proposal: (Pet Care)
For my advocacy project, I’d like to create a website that spreads awareness about animal neglect and abandonment and how people can take steps in everyday life to reduce the incidence of these forms of animal cruelty. My target audiences are prospective (and current) pet owners everywhere since these cases of animal cruelty often get overlooked even by people who are trying to be good pet owners.
In the past, I’ve used weebly, freewebs, and wix to create websites for school assignments and also as a hobby. Also, I’m also currently taking an online web design course this semester, so I think I will be able to utilize the online platform to advocate for animal welfare clearly. I plan on creating pages that list the statistics of animal neglect and abandonment as well as general standards pet owners should know for the most common type of pets like dogs, cats, and rabbits. Also, since pictures are usually really effective in drawing on people’s pathos, I’d like to utilize this in my website’s layout and formatting. I found a couple of pictures that I’d like to use at MorgueFile.com, a copyright free image database. I’m going to try to figure out how to embed a slideshow of pictures for the site’s header that features a lot of animals. I also took some graphic design classes in high school, so I’d like to make a few posters that people can download and print out from the website that highlight specific cases of animal neglect that often get overlooked — like when people leave their pets unattended in cars or keep their bunny locked up inside a cage without exercise. I think I want to make a poster that includes a real dog and a stuffed animal with a tagline that indicates that they are not the same since a surprising number of people I’ve noticed consider animals as “property” and therefore things to be discarded when inconvenient. I’m still thinking of ideas for these posters and what else I might want to include, but so far, I think I’m going to try to aim for 3-5 posters along with the other website content.
To really advocate for changes that might help reduce animal neglect, I would email my website URL to friends and family and ask for it to be forwarded to other people. I don’t have a twitter account, but I could try making one and somehow get into contact with famous people and try to convince them why they should care about these issues. I could also try posting the link in the comments sections of news articles that are related to animal welfare cases or legislation. Another thing that I could try is sharing the posters I make on several social media platforms.
Hey Mary! Your new proposal seems like a great plan! I liked the old one, but the new one seems to bring more immediate outcome. However, I worry that this topic won’t be “exciting” enough to attract attention of people when there are variety of other advertisements and posters online/offline. How else are you going to get the words spread to get people to go on the website? I hope it works out well!
I think making a switch is a really good idea. Not only do you recognize that college students would not necessarily be responsive to the pet topic, you also acknowledge the opportunity to sponsor a club that is making a difference; I think that is a really good way to utilize you time for this project. I’m excited to see your final product because I really don’t know that much about building websites. The only way that I could think to make an improvement would be to possibly marry your efforts of spreading the word of the club online with one of the club’s events! I think getting the word out is a very good cause, and I’m sure that you guys never stop collecting books, but maybe a specific event (if you have them) could help grab people’s attention. Overall you seem to have a really good grasp on this project!
I think to switch your goal from creating an entire website to instead assisting an existing charity is a good call. It’s no secret that group efforts often ten to be more effective than a single individual’s endeavor, so you’d accomplish the most if contributing alongside others that are similarly motivated. You sound like you have a good variety of ideas about where to take this project, but I think you could actually benefit from narrowing down your goals to instead focus on just a few of the ideas you mentioned. It seems like “making a poster” is going to be a somewhat over used idea, the default that a student without any other ideas 9such as myself) resorts to. If you’re going to focus on using facebook, keep in mind how many other organizations and individuals are also trying to gain notoriety and support through the same medium at the same time. On the internet, there is a lot of competition for a viewer’s attention, and many people disregard things that don’t directly seem to pertain to them. However, making it easier for people to participate and join you organization might be the most efficient way to bolster support for your organization. Staking out your own website, devoid of the complications and restrictions of facebook, will make your cause look more legitimate and possibly prompt more to support it.
Hi Mary- It seems like you have a solid base of ideas for your advocacy project. I like the layout plan of your website, and it sounds like it could be very effective. I’m picturing it being like the ASPCA commercials; they are definitely attention-grabbing!
The only (minor) issue that I have concerns your current target audience. I’m guessing that your friends and family don’t abuse animals, and it’s possible that their friends and families don’t either. It might be worthwhile to email past teachers and have them share it with their students. A few of my classmates definitely committed what I would consider animal abuse.
I also like the idea you have for your posters (real dog v. stuffed animal dog). I would just be sure to place the posters where they’re likely to be seen by potential animal abusers (maybe outside of a pet shelter?).
Anyways, your project sounds really good, and I look forward to seeing the final product!