Presentation Reflection (improved)

Retracing back the presentation about using mobile phones while driving, the research process went smoothly. I used “danger”, “mobile phones”, “accidents” and “traffic” as keywords to gather information from the internet. I thought that it was a topic where I could find a lot of information online, so I did not try to research at the library. However, evaluating my choice, I think that official reports about the effect of using mobile phones on death rates, which I could not find online, could have validated more the argument. Our group could have used Ethos by referring to those official sources. Instead of the numbers used by my colleagues and me, which were from news articles online, we could have searched for governmental reports or World Health Organization reports, for instance. The information would have been more reliable.

Our presentation was effective mainly because of the Pathos appeal that we used. Since the audience is our classmates and because the video featured young people who had a deadly accident while using a mobile phone, they were touched and therefore easily persuaded. The use of visuals was very effective because the argument that using mobile phones was the most dangerous violation of traffic regulations was communicated using an acted scene. It enabled the full picturing of the scenario that can happen due to texting while driving.

Since the video is a UK campaign, it would have been more relevant if the video was shoot in a well-known street, for instance Road 90 where the AUC is. That would match the audience (the students in class) more. Also, using objects that would enable them to identify with the people in the video would be effective, such as using blackberries for texting.

As for my part in the presentation, my explanation was clear and I made good eye contact with the audience. However, my approach of the part I was responsible was not the best way to give the impression of a strong will to persuade the audience because of the format used for presenting the supporting information. I presented it as questions and answers. It would have been more effective to state the information in a logical order, without providing the questions because they could have distracted the audience.

Summary of reading

 Summary

The article describes a journey that the reporter had through the roads of Cairo. The author describes the journey from his position during taxi rides, from where he could observe how people drive. The reports states the number of vehicles circulating in Cairo – at the the time of the publishing of the article – as well as how many Egyptians are killed in car accidents yearly. The reporter finally claims that Cairo has one of the most “nerve-racking” traffics in the world (Dellios).

Evaluation

The origin of the source is representative of a lot of aspects. The source is a newspaper article, from The Seattle Times newspaper. The nature of the source implies that there are no references for the given information: the reporter states numbers but does not indicate his sources. For instance, he stated the 1.5 million cars will be present in on traffic roads by the year 2000 (Dellios). That undermines the reliability of the source. The source being a newspaper article is compatible with the type of information; at that time, the report is a scene of a current event which is the traffic scene in Cairo. The scene includes the way people drive as how they park (Dellios). The article is put under the “News” section in the newspaper, which shows how unusual the described scenery is, relative to non-Egyptians – regarding the fact that the article is published in Seattle.

The author is Hugh Dellios, a reporter. He does not play a major role in the content of the article. He only describes what he sees in the streets of Cairo. However, the tone that he uses, sarcastic and criticizing, and the information that he selects shows that he is biased towards denouncing the traffic situation in Cairo. The author uses the words “innocent journey” that indicated how the journey started peacefully for the author but turned out otherwise and”This didn’t deter my driver […]” which gives a feeling of mocking the driver’s attitude or questioning the reason why he acted this way (Dellios).

The article dates since 1999. It is eleven years old, which means it is not up-to-date, especially concerning the numbers stated. However, this article can be used to compare the situation of traffic now and eleven years ago, evaluating whether is has evolved or deteriorated and what are the similarities and differences.

The aim of the article is to inform the reader about the hectic, stressing roads of Cairo; he uses the expression “nerve-racking”to describe the effect of Cairo traffic on the people (Dellios). This article seems to have been written as a piece of news about an unusual city in the world regarding traffic. The report seems to be in the form of a personal experience lived by the reporter. It also aims to show the bad image of hazardous roads of Cairo, including violations and accidents. To indicate the danger of the roads of Cairo, the author stated that 200 deaths occur yearly in Egypt due to car accidents (Dellios).

The article is not completely reliable in terms of the information presented because it is not referenced, while the reporter clearly states this information as facts. The picture of Cairo traffic is formulated in a subjective tone (mocking tone) but the scenery itself is reported without being altered – the actions that the reporter points out are usual to someone who lives in Cairo. For instance, he mentions how people double and triple park in the streets of Cairo as well as how the taxi driver tries to take be fifth next to the other cars in a three-lane street (Dellios). Therefore, as an Egyptian witness, I can be sure the reported actions in the streets are reliable information.

Works cited

Dellios, Hugh. “Cairo street scene is really hell on wheels.” The Seattle Times 28 March 1999: A.24. Access World News. American U. in Cairo Lib. 1 Dec. 2010 <http://infoweb.newsbank.com.library.aucegypt.edu:2048/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=0ED1C7C99CC3E9B6&d_place=STIW&f_issue=1999-03-28&f_publisher=&gt;

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream (Film response)

     The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream is a documentary produced in 2004 that discusses the issue of oil depletion. It claims that the oil depletion will affect suburbia making life impossible there without this source of energy. In order to make this claim, the assumption made was that the suburban lifestyle relies on oil. To support this, the film showed that suburbia was born as a result of cheap oil. When the oil was still present in great amounts after the Second World War, it was still cheap, as explained by the economic law of offer and demand. The available energy therefore enabled the birth of new populated lands around the cities in the United States. The houses had access to sources of energy and more importantly there was enough fuel for the vehicles transporting the people from their houses to their workplaces. The evidence used was pictures of highways full of cars, indicating that suburbia became widely populated and that a lot of vehicles were needed for this style of life to appear. As for the evidence used to support that the consumption of oil is dramatically increasing, resulting in oil depletion, the occurrence of a blackout in the United States was pointed out. Too much electricity used led to the collapsing of the generators and the reign of the dark for several hours.

     After making the stated claims, the documentary refers to future expectations. There will be economic impacts for the increasing extraction oil. Extracting more implies more expenses, which means the rise of the price of oil. The proof is that the coast of one barrel of oil is increasing. Specific numbers are used in the documentary to support this. Another expectation is that our lifestyle will be affected when the oil finishes. We do not think of the impacts of that on us now, but we need to start thinking because this is predicted to occur in the close future, maybe in the coming dozens of years.

     Referring to the housing boom, that took place to provide homes for the returning warriors or the families of the warriors after the World War II in the suburbs, serves the Pathos appeal. The identity of the residents does not serve the claim from the logical perspective. However, knowing that honored warriors were those who benefited from the rise of suburbia makes the audience more concerned about the survival of suburbia. The documentary explained that the warriors needed homes to get the feeling of security. Referring to this symbol of the home touches the reader who sympathizes with suburban residents. The audience can then fear the consequences of oil depletion on them.

     Pathos was used to persuade the audience, but the argument risked having logical fallacies. When the documentary explained how warriors needed a feeling of security and therefore they received homes, it restrained the argument to only a portion of the society that will be affected. That was not valid as a logical argument because everyone will be affected by oil depletion.

   The documentary aimed for calling upon the audience to feel the urge of finding other sources of energy other than oil. Indeed, we need to be aware of the crucial problem and try to come up with alternative solutions.