Thinkfinity Learning Communities

When I first came across Thinkfinity -- I thought, oh great!  Another website to become familiar with and something else to do.  I learned to navigate the site over the summer during another technology course.  It wasn't the worse thing in the world and I became comfortable with the easy navigation.  Tonight, I found 2 communities (Onlien Tools for Educators & Special Education) to join that would serve my purpose of gaining additional knowledge and resources from people who may have more experience in technology and Special Education than I do.  Thinkfinity is really cool! It's teachers helping teachers. It is filled with a lot of clever ideas and great resources available.  Tonight, while surfing, I came across a group of teachers who removed their desks from the classrooms to make more room because their desks were not being used efficiently.  How clever! 

My goals for my projects are to house and combine my information in a format that students, parents, colleagues, and myself have access to 24/7.  It will be similiar to an online Walmart for education. The recent changes in my professional life moved me into the digital age full-time.  I recently, purged my home office of several 6" binders overloaded with print material; Venns, charts, story maps, timelines, etc. which are all on-line. The development of the Web 2.0 is paperless requiring a backup drive which arrived the other day.  My classes have taught me to think differently about print, therefore I plan to network my computers to capture and secure all my learning as a student and teacher.

Thinkfinity Community

The Motor City -- Rise!

Analysis
Detroit, the Motor City, is attempting to remove and revitalize Detroit’s tarnished urban image of economic and social decay manifested in the tanked economy due to the demise of the American car industry’s inability to win American consumerism.  I have never been to Detroit, but from the national news reports of the city – it is an authentic portrayal of reality for the residents of the city.  The visual decay is replaced with sleek, shiny, new, colorful, glossy, reflections, contrasts, etc. that is aesthetically pleasing and complimentary of each other.  It shares the ideas and possibilities of what can be for the future of the city if a sincere effort to recapture America’s sway is genuine.

Audience 
The urban areas of the city’s residents are mostly minorities who are represented well in the video, but it is a diverse urban community setting.  The well dressed man crossing the busy street.  The choir members perfectly garbed in their choir robes.  The obvious audience is the working class strong (baby boomers) who helped put Detroit on the map, those who want a future, but it’s the face of the young Hip Hopper Eminem, the “digital natives” particularly men who are subtle targets.  The obvious targets are the unemployed baby boomers who must get back to work for a multitude of reasons and the young generation is the group to rebuild the city due to their  strength, youth, vitality, and potential income, accessible resources, and creative talents.  The baby boomers are familiar with the reputation of “Detroit Iron” and the Hip Hoppers are anxious to have new sleek cars usually foreign.  Detroit would like to change that idea.

Representation
The representation is to aim at the people who have a large stake, a vested interest, and the most to benefit or lose.  The best form of any attack is the reach the audience literally “where they live” and begin a dialogue of the issues before taking action.  The figures are portrayed as Middle American “Joes” just average and hardworking people.  There is no representation of an elite lifestyle or glamour until the end -- Eminem which is strategic and well executed to elucidate what can be.

Design
The mass appeal and availability of television is simple math.  More minority homes have televisions than reading material.  It is the longest of all the ads, but has fewer hits.  The backgrounds are dark and polished which is a contradiction, but reflects the possibility of hope.   The figures are ordinary people, no glam; the close up views of the city buildings, but the genius is the end.  The consumer is not sure what the product is until the end.  The ad reminds people (men and women) the struggles that the entire nation is facing, what we have experienced in the past, capable of enduring, and reclaiming for our future.  Several of the buildings reminded me of the FDR’s New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) that surged the American economy again.  The ad has a lot of information in it if the consumer is open to receive it and it is the most explicit form of propaganda that I’ve paid attention to in a long time.