At this stage, my research has been within my own major. I have looked around in my field to find things that interest me, and jobs that hire math majors. I do not yet have specific sources for my evidence, as my research has mostly been questioning my peers, but, I do have a better idea now, of what I want to do with my degree than I have all the way up to this point. Here is my preparation outline:
Preparation Outline
Topic: Math as a major, what to do with it?
Purpose: To inform audience of the many ways that math affects current events, and their everyday lives.
I-Introduction: Story of how people react when I share with them that I am a math major. Include
short humorous imitation of the questions I am always asked, including: “Are you going to be a
teacher?” and inevitably, “What do you want to do with that?”
A-Statement of Topic: In fact there are a lot of things that I can do with a degree in math. Math
is all over, we encounter it every day. After all, math is just manipulating numbers, and there are many careers that could use someone skilled in such things.
B-Signposts: Although I have not yet decided exactly what I want to be when I grow up, there
are three different areas of emphasis I can choose from. Each of these areas would manifest themselves in current events in different ways. I am going to tell you a little about each of these areas, and answer the question; “What can you do with a math major?” once and for all.
Transition: There are three different areas of focus within the math major, that I have considered, the first area of emphasis, is finance. How greatly this area of the math major is affecting all of us right now is unbelievable.
II-Body
A- The area of finance is on everyone’s mind right now. We cannot always predict the overall market, but we can protect ourselves through sound financial planning. This is what I would want to do.
1- Transition: Protecting ourselves financially can be something a math graduate can help us with, another way we can protect ourselves is through insurance. Life insurance companies are another area that looks for math majors.
B- Statistics majors can often find jobs working for ins. companies assessing risk, and determining the amount to charge in order to cover the pay out. This is something I would find interesting.
1- Transition: Statistics is a large field within math, and Ins. companies widely use graduates in this area, another field in which math majors are widely used is computer programming.
C- Computer programming is not always done by computer science majors. This area also hires and uses math majors. Math majors can emphasize in computer science and gain some of the same education in technology as computer science majors do, in addition to their math background.
1- Transition: Programming is only one of the other fields that math majors can enter.
III-Conclusion: Finance, statistics and computer science are three areas that I have considered within the math major. However, these are only three small examples of jobs or fields that are available to me as a math graduate. So to answer the forever question; yes, there are many careers that look for math majors, and no, I am not going to be a teacher. There is a lot more out there for math majors than teaching; many jobs, that affect each one of us, are being performed by mathematicians. Including financial planners, ins. statisticians, and computer programming.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Graphic Design
The first example that I found was the "Who's watching your drink" coaster. The thing that I think this design does best is guiding your eye along the z. The shape of the text as well as the descreasing size naturally takes your eye along the path of the words. The message is clear and consise as well as the design. The author chose a unique way of making a text dominant advertisement somehow merge into an image dominant advertisement depending on how you look at it. 
The next example I thought was good was the "Dirty Disco" ad. This ad also leads your eye along the z path. The womans hair flows along the top leading your eye back to the curve of her elbow then finally to the lower right corner for the company name and date. This is an image dominant ad and the image does well to intrige viewers because of its sensuality. The image, although it dominates the ad still does not detract from the information text that it advertises. It stays enough in the background and leaves just the right amount of white space for the mind to still see and comprehend the text. The choice not to show her face also helps, in that her body portrays sensuality etc. but the attraction is to the company not the woman, because there could be any face on that body which seems to tell the reader that if you come to their club you will find many women that look that good.
The last positive example that I included was the "Four Eyes" company logo. The image does well in portraying the company name, however what I liked about this exapmle was the type. The company uses a nonscript, bold, blocky, yet slightly slanted type. I thought this matched with the name very well. The plain blocky thick lines make you think of the nerdy smart kid that was nicknamed four-eyes in elementary school. Yet the forward slant and the modern non-script part shows that the smartie-pants thing is now in style and that is exatly what they are trying to sell. They are proud to be "nerdy" and you will need their smarts to help you with your problems.
Next I looked for poor examples of graphic design and found the updated DQ logo. This I think is bad because the colors do not fit or represent anything to do with DQ. I think that it would be a bad idea to update a logo that was already so recognizable, and the additions make it much harder to recognize. I also think that the additions confuse the eye, and force it in a counterclockwise circular direction, rather than the natural z pattern. In other word what they could do better would be to leave well enough alone.
The last bad example I found was the picture illustrating the decline of a business. I think that the thumbs down is not only unneccesary, but also distracting from the idea of the ad. It doesn't seem to fit. The ad as a whole does not have a color scheme, mixing black and white as well as color. Also the red line and the hand come from the same direction making the whole very unbalanced. I think that to removing the hand altogether would improve the image greatly, or at least to have it entering from the other side of the page, making it smaller and maybe in a shade of gray so that the red line would be more prominant.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Bias Language
I happen to be your run-ofthe-mill, young, white, male. Belonging to the large majority, and the one group that is rarely the victim of bias or stereotypes. However, that does not protect me from making blunders myself. The example that comes to mind, is when I made a mistake in refering to my wife-to-be's future occupation.
When my wife and I were dating, she was preparing to enter massage therapy school. When I would tell my friends about her, it was a common question for them to ask me what she "did." I would respond that she was going to be a massage therapist. Usually they would tell me how lucky I was going to be to be married to a masseuse. We would laugh and I would brag, and it became kind of a running joke. One day she was with me when this exchange was taking place. This also happened to be the day that when asked what she was going to be, I replied "A masseuse!" I was quickly, and sternly corrected. She was going to be a massage therapist, not a masseuse. Only later when she explained the incorrect implications implied with the word masseuse, did I realize the huge mistake I had been making. I was even more embarrassed seeing as how the person I was refering to was going to be my wife!
My wife quickly forgave me, but made sure I was clear that I was to always refer to her as a massage therapist and nothing else, as well as making sure my friends did the same. I knew that I had been ignorant about the connotations of the different tittles, but it did teach me that I needed to be more aware of how I used my words. It also taught me that if using the wrong word, or the one associated with stereotypes and bias, you could not only offend someone, you could be saying way more than you meant.
A real world example of bias language that I found was when New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, following Katrina, asked that the African-American community rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans." Many African-Americans were offended, and his attempt to explain himself was weak. However, it did not cost him the election for a following term.
I think that this speech is offensive, I know that many African-American's refer to themselves as "chocolate" but it is obsurd to assume that all of them would agree with the term. Also it was unprofessional to use that slang term when adressing the public; it could only serve to imply to the white community that "chocolate" was an acceptable way to refer to their African-American counterparts.
All of us make mistakes, and we all need to learn correct terms and tittles, but wouldn't it be even better if we didn't need distinctive terms in the first place? If everyone was just human, instead of a color or an orientation, or even a gender?
When my wife and I were dating, she was preparing to enter massage therapy school. When I would tell my friends about her, it was a common question for them to ask me what she "did." I would respond that she was going to be a massage therapist. Usually they would tell me how lucky I was going to be to be married to a masseuse. We would laugh and I would brag, and it became kind of a running joke. One day she was with me when this exchange was taking place. This also happened to be the day that when asked what she was going to be, I replied "A masseuse!" I was quickly, and sternly corrected. She was going to be a massage therapist, not a masseuse. Only later when she explained the incorrect implications implied with the word masseuse, did I realize the huge mistake I had been making. I was even more embarrassed seeing as how the person I was refering to was going to be my wife!
My wife quickly forgave me, but made sure I was clear that I was to always refer to her as a massage therapist and nothing else, as well as making sure my friends did the same. I knew that I had been ignorant about the connotations of the different tittles, but it did teach me that I needed to be more aware of how I used my words. It also taught me that if using the wrong word, or the one associated with stereotypes and bias, you could not only offend someone, you could be saying way more than you meant.
A real world example of bias language that I found was when New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, following Katrina, asked that the African-American community rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans." Many African-Americans were offended, and his attempt to explain himself was weak. However, it did not cost him the election for a following term.
I think that this speech is offensive, I know that many African-American's refer to themselves as "chocolate" but it is obsurd to assume that all of them would agree with the term. Also it was unprofessional to use that slang term when adressing the public; it could only serve to imply to the white community that "chocolate" was an acceptable way to refer to their African-American counterparts.
All of us make mistakes, and we all need to learn correct terms and tittles, but wouldn't it be even better if we didn't need distinctive terms in the first place? If everyone was just human, instead of a color or an orientation, or even a gender?
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