Week Sixteen

The Webzine was really hard to work on as a team. I think there should be more of a guideline of what needs to be done. Like a rubric for us to use as a guide. I felt kind of lost on what was supposed to be done. Perhaps that’s because I missed a lot of class because of illness, but my classmates were not able to help me when asked either.  I feel like having guidelines up for what is expected of the webzine would help students know what is expected of them. And it would help us know what is left to do and how much better we could make the webzine.

If I were to do anything different I think I would work harder on making my classmates tell me what I can do. I would also read up on how to make the website more elaborate. I think our site could have been done that way, but I did not know how to do so.

As far as contributions for the Webzine go, I know that Sergio, Susy, and Erica E. did a lot of work. Not only did they work on their individual webzines, but they made the class site looked good and was advertised well. Erica, Liz and I worked on the proposals together and I know Liz and Erica worked hard on the fliers. Sergio made the slideshows and designed the homepage, and Susy did a lot of the design work as well. Without them, I don’t think our site would have made it as far as it did.

I also know Joe worked on not only his summary, but wrote one for Sergio as well.

I think everyone else kind of just worked on their own things. Honestly, I’m not sure what Ericka D., Chris, Ally, Corwin, Tiffani, and Summer did to contribute to it. I think they worked on their webtexts.

I also know that Ericka D had to deal with the passing of her mother during this semester. I give her major props for even continuing in the class, because I know if that had happened to me, I might have just given up on the semester.  So, I feel like as a class, we should cut her some slack because of this situation in her life.

Week Thirteen

Reflect on the process you followed for your field (primary) research.  First, tell me exactly what you did (to whom you spoke, when you met with them, etc.).  Tell me how this research is different (or similar to) other research that you've done, how long it took you to do it, how you analyzed your findings, how the secondary research supports (or does not support) your findings, and what you will do differently when you need to conduct field research in the future.


I am in the process of setting up an interview with Pat Huber, the President of Crown Point Community Foundation. I am waiting for a call back, and I am hoping that I will be able to meet with her sometime next week. 


This research will be different to the other research that I have done because it is first person, and not finding sources online. I'm hoping that this research will support my secondary research by backing up what it says. 


In the future I will be more proactive in setting up an interview, instead of waiting until the last few weeks. 

Week Twelve

I plan on asking her the following questions:

1.    I know that CPCF gives scholarships and grants to schools, what else does CPCF do?

2.    What are some things that CPCF has done for the community?

3.    Does CPCF receive any government funding?

4.    Does that impact how CPCF is run?

5.    Are there any organizations that CPCF has partnered with?

a.    Does CPCF work with The Jasmine Rose Community Foundation (of Merrillville) and/or the Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana, Inc. (in Munster)?

6.    What are the future plans for CPCF?

7.    How can the community get involved?

Week Eleven

ENGL 105

Primary Research Outline

You are to answer all of the following reporter’s questions; who, what, where, when,  why, and how

• WHO 
  Here, you will describe specifically who your contact person is. This is the person you are going to interview, or the person from whom you will get permission to conduct your survey, site visit, or observation.  Give me that person’s credentials and/or title, and how you will contact that person. Give me the contact information
• Patricia Huber, President/ Executive Director of the Crown Point Community Foundation.  I will call her at (219) 662-7252.
  
  
  
• WHAT 
   What do you hope to accomplish?  Which research question do you think your findings will answer?
• I am hoping to get more information on what they do for the community, the details that go into what they do, and how much government funding they receive. This will help me in forming a more concrete argument on how they help the community.
  
  
  
• WHERE 
  Where will your primary research take place? Be specific
• I am hoping that my research will take place in the office for CPCF. However, I may also see if there is anything that I can observe, in which case that research will happen in the Crown Point area.
  
  
  
• WHEN 
  This is when you are going to conduct the research.  You may not have -the when yet by Monday, but you must be working on the when
• I am not sure about when this will happen yet.
  
  
  
• WHY 
  Here, you will tell me why you have chosen your primary research.  For example, if you are doing an observation, why are you doing an observation rather than a survey?
• I chose an interview because it is more beneficial for me to ask questions about what they do in the community and how they are funded than to conduct a survey. I may also do an observation because it would be helpful for me to observe differences they make, as well as hear what they have to say about it.
  
  
  
• HOW

How are you going to conduct this research?  Be specific.

            This research will be done by calling Patricia Huber to set up an appointment to meet with her to interview her. My questions are in the Week 12 blog. 

Week Ten

Faith-based and community initiatives are relatively new things to our culture. There are some people who agree with Faith-based initiatives being in the community, and some that disagree.  It is important to note that these groups are making a difference, and some are funded by the government. I believe that this is well suited for a slideshow because there are a lot of graphs and pictures having to do with Faith-based initiatives that can be easily shared through a slideshow.  This is something new to the semester project. While I have talked about community organizations, I have not focused on Faith-based initiatives. This is a fairly controversial topic and I can cover the advantages and disadvantages of having them in a community, as well as how the government is involved with them.

Pipes, P.F. & Ebaugh, H.R. (2002). Faith-based coalitions, social services, and government funding. Sociology of Religion, 63(1), 49-68. Retrieved from http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/63/1/49.full.pdf
This article talks about President Clinton & President Bush’s interests in faith-based initiatives, as well as 14 faith-based groups in Texas. This is a very helpful article when trying to understand faith-based social services.
Authority-Pipes is a former professor of sociology at the University of Houston, and Ebaugh is a current professor there, and she has her doctorate in sociology, which she attained from Columbia University. Her research interests are in Sociology of Religion. I would say that these two have authority on the subject.
Accuracy- The information is likely to be accurate, however it may not be current because it is from 2002, and not more recent.
Currency- as stated above, it may have some information that is not current, but it will help with history.
Objectivity- I would say that this is an objective source.

Indiana Government (n.d.) Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives.
Retrieved from http://www.in.gov/ofbci/2355.htm
This website gives me information about faith-based and community initiatives in Indiana. They give a direct purpose and talk about laws that have been passed by the governor, as well as the president. This will be very helpful when working on my slideshow because it brings the situation closer to home than just talking about what is going on in the country.
Authority- It is directly from the government, so I feel like this source has authority.
Accuracy- I would hope that the information is also accurate since it is coming from the government.
Currency- The website does not have a date, but everything seems fairly recent.
Objectivity- It is coming from the government’s point of view, so it may be biased towards how the government is doing a great job. However, it does seem to present the facts very well.

Images:

The Melon (n.d). 539w. Retrieved from http://www.themelononline.com/539w.jpg

This shows that Obama is talking about the Faith and Community movement. This will help people who view my slideshow know that it is a legitimate issue. 

IndyStar.com (2011). Topic Retrieved from http://newsfromyou.indystar.com/people/artbydeborah

This image gives a organization that everyone has heard of, so it makes it applicable to everyone. 

Week Nine

Strategies for Revising/Expanding

I. Is there any MAJOR revision you need to do?  What is it?  
I do not think that there’s an MAJOR revisions that need to be made.

II: Examine the main thesis statement for the current Webtext. Drawing on the main thesis statement, what do you expect your audience to do, say, or think after reading your piece? Be specific.
I expect my audience to say that they feel like they know more about how they learned more about CPCF and its role in the community.

III: Will your current content illicit the response from your audience that you hope it will? Why or why not?  I think I will because I do explain how CPCF works, as well as how community organizations/public charities work.

·         What do you need more to support your current/new ideas and how do you intend to do it?
I could find more support for the part about funding. I need to call the organization themselves and ask how they are funded, including government funding.   

·         Would another example help you make your current/new points more clear?  Why or why not?
I do not think it would, it just needs more support to back up the statements.

·         What experts exist in the field of your topic? Have you referred to any of them?  You are expected to know who the experts are.  By experts, I mean nationally or globally recognized names in the field, not just an author of a text.
The experts in my topic would be sociologists or social workers. I do not know if I have referred to any of them.

·         Do any of your current/future terms need to be defined for your readers?  You should be using anchor text only for this. 
I do not think any of my terms need to be defined for my readers.

·         You’ll be incorporating your podcast into the Webtet due in Phase Two.  The podcast is only 3-4 minutes - is there anything you’d like to elaborate on in regards to your podcast topic?  
I do not think so.

IV: For the visuals in your Webtext, ask yourself the following:

·         Do your visuals represent the content of my text, or have you added them just because you were supposed to?
I believe they do represent the content of my text.

·         What do the colors of your Webtext mean? In other words, how do they represent your topic (they should)?
The blue is representing the responsibility of the community as well as being educated about a topic.
Green represents growth and renewal of the community.
White and black just have a form of formality.

V: Examine the overall structure of your Webtext and ask

·         Have you effectively broken up your text with appropriate headings reflecting the content of each?
Yes

·         Have you written a preliminary conclusion that does more than summarize my webtext or repeat the introduction?   Explain.
Yes I have. I wrote what I had concluded based on the research I had done.

VI:  Have someone read your Webtext and tell them you need them to ask you three content questions about your text.  Write the questions in this document.

Is there a residential requirement for those who receive scholarships & grants?
Is CPCF similar to the community foundation that is run by Community Hospital?

Do other communities in Lake Co. have their own community foundations?

Week Eight

Look at this Webtext and find where the podcast is linked: Charter Schools

How was this podcast incorporated? How is the content of the podcast enhancing the written text? What is the podcast doing for the audience?

The podcast is about paying teachers based upon how they perform, and the webtext is about charter schools. These subjects are very much related, as they both have to do with education. The podcast enhances the written text because it sheds light on how teachers are paid, and what the legislation says about that. The podcast is informing the audience about a very real issue about how teachers are being compensated for their time.

How/where will you incorporate your podcast into your own text?

My podcast is based on the differences between public charities and private foundations and so it is incorporated in the beginning of my webtext where I give a brief definition of what a public charity is.

Week Six

IDEA: What is the difference between a public charity and a private foundation?

There are many different types of organizations that are there to help others. There are two that are easily confused: public charities and private foundations. I am going to inform you of the differences in between these two types of establishments, and how each one works. The IRS states that private foundations and public charities are primarily distinguished by the level of public involvement in their activities (2010). Public charities tend to have more public involvement, as they receive donations from a magnitude of sources. The Lawyers Alliance for New York says the most common type of a public charity has an active program of fundraising and receiving contributions from many sources, including the general public, governmental agencies, corporations, private foundations or other public charities. In contrast, private foundations typically have a single major source of funding, as in one family or corporation (n.d.). This illustrates that private foundations have less public involvement than public charities due to only having one or a few contributors.

References: 

Internal Revenue Service (2010). EO operational requirements: Private foundations and private charities
            Retrieved from: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=139019,00.html

Lawyers Alliance for New York (n.d.). Life cycle moment: The end of advanced ruling period.

Retrieved from: http://www.lawyersalliance.org/pdfs/news_legal/The%20End%20of%20the%20Advance%20Ruling%20Period.pdf

Ethos: I plan on using ethos by using reputable sources, such as the IRS and the Lawyers Alliance for NY. These are sources that people trust, and they will also trust me if I am using such sources.

Logos: This podcast will rely on facts that are hopefully logical and reasonable.

Pathos: I am unsure on how this podcast will appeal to emotion, but perhaps it can through my tone of voice 

Week Five

Analyze the sources you used for your Webtext. 

Carman, J.G. (2001). Community foundations: A growing resource for community development. Nonprofit Management and Leadership. 12, 1. 7-24.

• Authority:  Joanne G. Carman has her Ph.D. and is an assistant professor in the Political Science department at the University of South Carolina in Charlotte. She would know how the politics of this works, and therefore would have authority on the subject.
• Accuracy: This is information that I relates to what I have previously read, so it seems to be accurate. In addition to that, all of her sources seem like reputable sources.
• Currency: Since this article was written in 2001, things could have changed since then. However, I do not think the fact that Community foundations are helping communities grow has changed that much.
• Objectivity:  This article doesn’t seem to hold any biases and will be a good tool in helping me with my semester topic.

Grady, E., Wang, L.  (2007). Community Foundation Development and Social Capital. Nonprofit and Volunteer Sector Quarterly. 38, 3. 392-412.

• Authority: The authors of this article are from the University of Southern California. Grady is a professor and director of the Public Policy program, and Wang is a Ph.D. candidate in Public Administration. It seems as if they would have authority on this topic.
• Accuracy: All of the information is very detailed, even giving statistics. All of the resources listed seem like they are reputable sources to get information as well.
• Currency: Since this was written in 2007, it would seem as if this is all current information. All the sources are from the last 20 years, so all of this information could be considered current.
• Objectivity: This seems to be stating fact. However, since they are proving that community foundations are growing some of the information could be biased towards that aspect instead of showing information that could be against it. 

Huber, P. (2008, August 20). For good, forever! Northwest Indiana Times.

                Retrieved from http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/article_e2195433-f51f-5d89-b3a9-12b854cc1b09.html

• Authority: This is a believable source because it is written in the local newspaper. It is also written by the president and executive director of the organization.
• Accuracy: The description of the organization is the same as every other description that I have read. The information about the foundation is likely to be accurate since it is written by the president and executive director.  The address given in the article is not accurate anymore because of moving recently.
• Currency: It is a 3 year old article, so some of the information is not as current as it could be.
• Objectivity: There could be some biases because this article was written by the president and executive director of the Crown Point Community Foundation. However, it seems as if the article is just stating facts.

Purdue Extension: The Benefit Bank 

Retrieved from http://www.tbbin.org/partners.aspx

• Authority: This is a believable source because it is from a Purdue Extension. One would think that this is a reliable source.
• Accuracy: This is an accurate depiction of how the Crown Point Community Foundation and it backs up what can be found on their website.
• Currency: It seems like a current representation of the organization. Although there is no date as to when the website was last updated.
• Objectivity: I feel like this is an objective statement of what the Crown Point Community Foundation does.

Week Three

These two sources answer my main research question, “How does the Crown Point Community Foundation affect Northwest Indiana residents,” and another question, “Does the Crown Point Community Foundation work with any other organizations?”

Purdue Extension: The Benefit Bank 

Retrieved from http://www.tbbin.org/partners.aspx

The Benefit Bank explains how the Crown Point Community Foundation affects the community, as well as showing that it partners with them. While it does not give a lot of information about foundation, it does share the interests of the organization.

Authority- This is a believable source because it is from a Purdue Extension. One would think that this is a reliable source.

Accuracy- This is an accurate depiction of how the Crown Point Community Foundation and it backs up what can be found on their website.

Currency- It seems like a current representation of the organization. Although there is no date as to when the website was last updated.

Objectivity- I feel like this is an objective statement of what the Crown Point Community Foundation does.

Huber, P. (2008, August 20). For good, forever! Northwest Indiana Times.

                Retrieved from http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/article_e2195433-f51f-5d89-b3a9-12b854cc1b09.html

                This source explains what the 3 main goals of the Crown Point Community Foundation are. This article also mentions what kind of grants and scholarships they give. As well as how to contact them about receiving more information and where they are located.

Authority- This is a believable source because it is written in the local newspaper. It is also written by the president and executive director of the organization.

Accuracy- The description of the organization is the same as every other description that I have read. The information about the foundation is likely to be accurate since it is written by the president and executive director.  The address given in the article is not accurate anymore because of moving recently.

Currency- It is a 3 year old article, so some of the information is not as current as it could be.

Objectivity- There could be some biases because this article was written by the president and executive director of the Crown Point Community Foundation. However, it seems as if the article is just stating facts.

Week Two

My semester topic will be about discussing how the Crown Point Community Foundation and White’s Residential and Family Services make a difference. I chose this topic because organizations like these are very close to my heart. As a psychology major, someday I hope to make a difference in the community like they are. I have also known families who have provided foster care through White’s and have been very happy with how they have handled foster care situations.

           

One big question that people may ask is:

How are Crown Point Community Foundation and White’s Residential and Family Services going to make a difference in my life?

Perhaps we should broaden that to say, how are these organizations going to make a changes in Crown Point? Or even perhaps, how are these groups going to alter Northwest Indiana?  Are they going to have such an expanse, so they will make a difference in the general population of the country?

Then we can narrow it down to, how are the people that work with these places going to help the community legally? Is there a certain population that these groups help more than others? How are they working with the legal and political system to achieve their overall goals? 

Week One

After completing the Week 1 readings and understanding the prompt for the Phase One Webtext, consider current events or issues at your workplace, on campus, or in your community. Think of at least three current events or issues, and post them in your your blog. Fully describe these current events or issues, and tell your instructor everything you know about them.   Also identify who cares about these current events or issues.  The “who cares” will be your audience.  Be specific; understand that anybody, everybody, anyone, my classmates and my instructor is not an audience.


An issue that is affecting local beach-goers is the E. coli that has been found in Hidden Lake in Merrillville. This beachfront has been closed all summer due to the infected water, making it unsafe to swim in. They have done multiple tests to see if the water is safe, but they have not had a consistent reading on whether there is or is not bacteria. One test showed that the water was clear, while another showed that there was still E. coli. The beach will remain closed as long as the water tests positive for bacteria.The Ross Township Boar believes that it is possibly that feces from animals is causing the problem, and an aerator could help in relieving the problem. However, there are not funds for such a tool. To my knowledge they have not created a plan to increase their money intake in order to obtain this instrument. 


Every year at about this time in the summer, Porter County puts on a festival full of food called, The Taste of Porter County. This is an event for those who love to be outside in a fair-like atmosphere. The cost is low at just $5 a car, and features not only food, but also jewelry, cutlery, local arts and crafts, and so much more! The samples of food range from fair food to all kinds of ethnic foods. The organizer, Mario Alvarez, says that the festival has grown a lot in its three years that it has been running, and he hopes it continues.

To those seeking to help Crown Point and the surrounding communities, as well as provide homes to children who are without one: the news that Crown Point Community Foundation and White's Residential and Family Services are now sharing an office space, might be of interest. Crown Point Community Foundation is well known in the community for having food drives and doing other things to benefit the community as a whole. White's Residential and Family Services is relatively new to the area, and serves children in need through foster care, independent living, a residential school, adoption and home based services for nearly 3,000 Hoosier children and families every year. Their new shared office space, which both organizations are excited about, is located at 115 S. Court St. in Crown Point.

This is just a test!

This is the first of many blog posts for English 105!