Wednesday, November 17, 2010

crtiical thinking

"critical thinking is the development of the cohesive and logical thinking patterns"
I think that the main difference that i think about when i write for hypertext i think about a web. i start with my small main point which is like the fly in the spider web and then I can go out in all sorts of different directions. which for the most part I like because it doesn't restrict you like linear papers.

Critical Thinking in Hypertext

Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. Critical thinking also involves evaluating the thinking process - the reasoning that went into the conclusion we've arrived at the kinds of factors considered in making a decision. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome."

"Critical thinking skills: understanding the meaning of a statement, judging ambiguity, judging whether an inductive conclusion is warranted, and judging whether statements made by authorities are acceptable."

When thinking about this quote I would greatly relate to this quote. When I try to write out my Hypertext essays I would follow this format of writing to correctly portray my thought process. The critical thinking about an essay develops what different audiences there are that have an interest in reading your argument for the paper. Critical thinking is completely directed to the writers goal of directing the argument to the correct audience. When using the hypertext it is very helpful from an ordinary essay to quickly read the information and take away the necessary information that the individual wants to know. The critical reading makes you think in more detail about your topic and helps the writer explore other "streets" that can be navigated originating from the topic that you originally chosen.

Critical Thinking

"Broadly speaking, critical thinking is concerned with reason, intellectual honesty, and open-mindedness, as opposed too emotionalism, intellectual laziness, and closed-mindedness. Thus, critical thinking involves: following evidence where it leads; considering all possibilities; relying on reason rather than emotion; being precise; considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; weighing the effects of motives and biases; being concerned more with finding the truth than with being right; not rejecting unpopular views out of hand; being aware of one's own prejudices and biases, and not allowing them to sway one's judgment." Kurland, Daniel J. I Know What It Says . . . What does it Mean? 1995.

I feel that I can greatly relate with Kurland's quotation above. When writing for my hypertexts, I consider all of the parties involved in an issue and I try to write as open-mindedly as possible. Everyone has an equal say on the issue, which is why I am to accurately show their views. I try to be aware of how I portray my own views and biases, and I don't allow my views to completely affect my writing.


Critical thinking is the development of cohesive and logical reasoning patterns. Stahl and Stahl, 1991.


These critical thinking projects have shown me the importance of reserching information in order to become knowledgeable on a specific issue. After reviewing the literature and understanding the conversation, I can then try to fuse the information I've gathered. I can look for patterns and make logical hypotheses on the issue, maybe even proposing new ideas. I'm still working on developing this process of cohering research together to form my own original research.

Hypertexts vs. traditional essays

When we compose hypertexts, I think that we use our critical thinking more than we do when we write traditional research papers.

This quote by Diane F. Halpern inspired me:

"Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task…”

Using critical thinking skills is essential in the creation of hypertexts. The writer must analyze what information is necessary to their argument and should be published to their website. Also, the writer must use their best judgment, regarding what is the best way to organize their hypertext. When someone writes a traditional essay, the outcome is simply words on pieces of paper. However when someone writes for a hypertext, the outcome is a thoughtful and organized version that brings the writing to life. Critical thinking is used when composing hypertexts because the writer has to determine what is the most powerful way to design their hypertext, in order to make their main point stand out.

I also liked the quote, “Critical thinking is the development of cohesive and logical reasoning patterns” Stahl and Stahl, 1991. Hypertexts are different than traditional essays because the presence of cohesion is very important to the success of its creation. If the hypertext and hyperlinks do not flow, then the meaning of the writing will be lost. The writer has to use their critical thinking skills to decide what organization would be best suited for their argument.

Critical Thinking

In the process of writing hypertext the overall mind set is that many people will be examining your website. Many people will merely skim while other will read through it slowly and thoroughly. The overall goal or thinking during making a hyperlink versus linear essay is the difference in style. One incorporates very logical straight forward thinking that brings a lot of details on why/what is important. In a hypertext however, one needs to make a detailed yet scares essay possible.

The way in which to do this is to highlight key points. “Critical thinking is careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment. “
Moore and Parker, 1994. Make sure that someone who skims the hyperlink can pull out main ideas that are sufficient enough to qualify your argument.

There also exist a few people who will be vastly interested in this topic. Allow for a lot of detail and external links which will help someone gain more knowledge about the topic. "The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems. Since all three areas involve the asking of questions, we can say that critical thinking is the questioning or inquiry we engage in when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve." Maiorana, Victor P. Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: Building the Analytical Classroom. 1992. These are the people who will use your website as a gate to further thinking/information. This is when details will be beneficial to the overall hypertext.

"Critical thinking includes the ability to respond to material by distinguishing between facts and opinions.” MCC General Education Initiatives. Hyper text is unique in the fact that it allows more people to talk with their own personal feelings. Where as formal papers have more of a formal tone. Hyperlinks must be able to clearly distinct between facts and the writer’s opinion. If not this would be a conflict of interest which could have devastating effects on the person who is reading as well as the writer.

The thinking going into a hyperlink vs. a traditional paper is the audience. Hyperlinks must cater to many different types of people while general traditional papers are to educated professors. This means the thinking going into both has many give and take aspects to them during the critical reading aspects. My thinking in creating is a hyperlink is based off of getting the idea across with enough information while not overloading the average individual.

Critical Thinking exploration

"Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task.

Critical thinking also involves evaluating the thinking process - the reasoning that went into the conclusion we've arrived at the kinds of factors considered in making a decision. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome."

"The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems. Since all three areas involve the asking of questions, we can say that critical thinking is the questioning or inquiry we engage in when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve."

Critical thinking is "the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, or more defensible."




These three particular quotations regarding critical thinking apply directly to my experience of composing hypertext.  Throughout my hypertext projects, one of the main objectives has been to share my viewpoint and perspective with different kinds of audiences.  Critical thinking is "used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed," and that fits my situation precisely.  It has been very interesting sharing my perspective with a wide variety of people.  The last quote is relevant because of the stress on clear, concise writing, which is different than most writing experiences I have come across.  Overall I have enjoyed the new opportunities to express my writing in hypertext.  I hope to keep improving in my communication and design of my hypertexts.

Critical Thinking: Linear Essays vs. Hypertexts

Critical thinking is careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment.
Moore and Parker, 1994.

I think that this quote is relevant to my opinion about how you think when you're writing a linear essay versus a hypertext. What you're writing on a hypertext is going to go online onto a public website where everyone can read it. You've got to censor yourself at least a little bit so you won't anger that many people. At the same time writing for a hypertext can relax the tone of your writing--you're writing for the public, not your professor so you can loosen the tone of your writing. For a linear essay, you're writing for your professor so you're going to write in a much more polite tone.
Linear essays provide a lot more thinking about how to be concise with your writing. Yes, you have to be concise and to the point with your hypertext, but you have SO much more room to be able to write however long you want. Linear essays rely on judgement from one person, whereas hypertexts rely on judgement from more than one person.
Critical thinking is deciding rationally what to or what not to believe."
Norris, Stephen P. "Synthesis of Research on Critical Thinking. Educational Leadership, v 42 n 8 May 1985. 40-45.

This is a basic yet accurate definition of the term 'critical thinking'. It simply implies reading information, analyzing it, and then deciding which information is useful and which information is not. It is a fairly straightforward definition. The main point is that in many pieces of writing there is a fair amount of information, but critical thinking is required to isolate the information that will provide useful to the task at hand.



"The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems. Since all three areas involve the asking of questions, we can say that critical thinking is the questioning or inquiry we engage in when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve."
Maiorana, Victor P. Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: Building the Analytical Classroom. 1992.

This definition is a bit more complex, yet similar to the first one. It focuses more on why critical thinking is essential, as opposed to simply what critical thinking is. The idea of asking questions to gain a truer and deeper meaning of a piece of literature is heavily stressed in this definition. Critical thinking must be the result of curiosity and desire to comprehend a proposed thought or idea.


"Broadly speaking, critical thinking is concerned with reason, intellectual honesty, and open-mindedness, as opposed too emotionalism, intellectual laziness, and closed-mindedness. Thus, critical thinking involves: following evidence where it leads; considering all possibilities; relying on reason rather than emotion; being precise; considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; weighing the effects of motives and biases; being concerned more with finding the truth than with being right; not rejecting unpopular views out of hand; being aware of one's own prejudices and biases, and not allowing them to sway one's judgment."

Kurland, Daniel J. I Know What It Says . . . What does it Mean? 1995.

This definition of critical thinking focuses on having a specific viewpoint while keeping an open mind towards other opinions. It also stresses the significance of abandoning emotional opinions while analyzing a possibly controversial subject. Emotion and personal opinion is okay to recognize, as long as they do not affect the final judgment.


Critical thinking is different when hypertext is involved. When reading hypertext, critical thinking is extremely important because reading hypertext involves scanning information and afterward decide which information is worth retaining, which is not the same method used by most researchers when using other media for research. In terms of writing hypertext, it is essential to have the ability to write with heavily concentrated information without sacrificing reader interest. Critical thinking plays a vital role in the creating and obtaining any type of media, but one could argue that critical thinking skills are especially vital in the creating and obtaining of hypertext.



Critical Thinking in Hypertexts

Critical thinking is not often associated with writing for hypertexts. This is because the writing for hypertexts is not the same as writing a linear essay. However writing for hypertexts does produce a source of critical thinking, just different critical thinking from that of writing linear essays.

"Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task."
Halpern, Diane F. Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking. 1996.

This statement thoroughly describes the thinking process when writing for hypertexts. Writing for hypertexts forces one to use cognitive skills and strategies to keep the reader interested in the website while at the same time providing useful and accurate information.

"Critical thinking is the development of cohesive and logical reasoning patterns." Stahl and Stahl, 1991.

This also relates to the writing for hypertexts because the writing must be logically developed for the reader to understand. Since writing for hypertexts is different from writing linear essays, the writing can be more cohesive and logical since the writing language can be more relaxed.

Critical Thinking

"The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems." - Victor P. Maiorana



"Critical thinking skills: understanding the meaning of a statement, judgine ambiguity, judging whether an inductive conclusion is warranted, and judging whether statements made by authorities are acceptable."

critical thinking

Critical thinking is the development of cohesive and logical reasoning patterns. Stahl and Stahl, 1991.

In writing a hypertext, it is much easier to compose a "cohesive" piece because one does not have to worry about following specific guidelines. Personally, I like writing hypertexts because I can just write and express what I am trying to say rather than getting caught up in thesis statements and body paragraphs, et cetera.

"The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems. Since all three areas involve the asking of questions, we can say that critical thinking is the questioning or inquiry we engage in when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve."
Maiorana, Victor P. Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum: Building the Analytical Classroom. 1992.

When I write a hypertext, I feel that my opinions and views are more clearly expressed and are definitely more accessible to a wider range of people than a typical printed essay. Published work raises questions and makes people think and ask questions about the issue being raised.

When I write a boring and methodically written linear essay, I tend to think in that way as well, which usually does not produce quality writing. A hypertext allows for more freedom in writing as well as mixed media such as links, videos, and pictures. Hypertext writing is more an expression of self and a more effective way of producing and publishing opinions than typical linear writing. Overall, I feel that hypertext thinking opens all of the doors of my imagination and has endless possibilities, while linear writing is as limited as the paper it is written on.

Critical Thinking

"Critical thinking is the use of those cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability of a desirable outcome. It is used to describe thinking that is purposeful, reasoned and goal directed - the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions when the thinker is using skills that are thoughtful and effective for the particular context and type of thinking task. Critical thinking also involves evaluating the thinking process - the reasoning that went into the conclusion we've arrived at the kinds of factors considered in making a decision. Critical thinking is sometimes called directed thinking because it focuses on a desired outcome."
"The purpose of critical thinking is, therefore, to achieve understanding, evaluate view points, and solve problems. Since all three areas involve the asking of questions, we can say that critical thinking is the questioning or inquiry we engage in when we seek to understand, evaluate, or resolve."
"Broadly speaking, critical thinking is concerned with reason, intellectual honesty, and open-mindedness, as opposed too emotionalism, intellectual laziness, and closed-mindedness. Thus, critical thinking involves: following evidence where it leads; considering all possibilities; relying on reason rather than emotion; being precise; considering a variety of possible viewpoints and explanations; weighing the effects of motives and biases; being concerned more with finding the truth than with being right; not rejecting unpopular views out of hand; being aware of one's own prejudices and biases, and not allowing them to sway one's judgment."
Critical thinking is necessary for the formation of a hypertext because when writing for a website it is essential to consider other peoples ideas and experiences. Since Hypertext is a public work, it is very different than a linear essay. With a hypertext, facts are necessary to persuade others and a way to voice one's opinion. Additionally, a hypertext can bridge together different ideas and can serve as a common ground for either debate or reconciliation.

Critical Thinking

"Critical thinking is the use of cognitive skills or strategies that increase the probability a desireable outcome."
I believe this quote accurately describes how I feel about writing for hypertext. When I begin writing I have a goal in my head that I want to attain. I then use my set of skills and/or strategies in order to get to this goal. This quote is the most accurate on how I feel about writing for hypertext, none of the other quotes really spoke to or affected me.

Hypertext vs Linear

Critical thinking is careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept, reject, or suspend judgment.

Critical thinking is the formation of logical inferences.

These two quotes demonstrate my thought process when i form a linear essay. You have to think very carefully and formulate everthing logically to get a good outcome that makes sense. Also, in linear essays we often have to lean towards certain standpoints or present all of them and compare. This, too, is carefully thought out and formal.


Critical thinking is "the examination and testing of suggested solutions to see whether they will work."

This quote, in my perspective, is an accurate statement when constructing a hypertext. You have to test things out a lot of the time to see what fits and what doesn't. This is usually when creating a website and revising. Both the design and the text need to be tested to get a good feel and flow. Hypertexts allow more creativity, ideas can be tested in different mediums.

Critical thinking is "reasonably and reflectively deciding what to believe or do."

This quote is used when making hypertext because a lot of the time you have more of a range of ideas to branch off from. You get to reasonably decide a lot of the website in terms of text, images, etc.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Low Wage Hypertext

For this project on low wage workers, I plan to explore the world of convenience store workers. Convenience stores are small shops that sell can sell food, soft drinks, lottery tickets, and newspapers or magazines. These are mini supermarkets that usually have a limited supply than that of larger grocery stores and are often seen on busy streets and gas stations. Popular convenience stores include 7-11, AmPm, and QuickStop. Although I have not personally worked in a convenience store for low wage, I have had family members work in convenience stores and small grocery shops with a low wage salary.

In my research hypertext I hope to share the duties convenience store workers perform from a worker’s standpoint as well as from a manager’s standpoint. I also want to make the distinction between the varying types of workers that are employed at convenience stores. Age is one factor where I can explore a teenager employee with hopes of just landing some extra cash, to an adult worker where his salary as a convenience store worker is all he has to support himself and maybe even a family. I could also conduct interviews with some of my family members of how working at convenience stores affected them financially and psychologically.

To get a better view of the atmosphere of working at a convenience store, I must also explore the standpoints of managers and the rules and guidelines enforced upon employees. An important issue I could include is the issue of race of convenience store employees and the many different stereotypes of the “kind of people” that work at convenience stores.

wage city population LOW

I plan on investigating the low wage labor provided in health clubs. I have personally worked a low wage job in one and am unsure how any person could make a living off of the wages. Also, I believe that it would be interesting to see if other less corporatized health clubs have better wages or fringe benefits.

Some shareholders in this would absolutely be the people that work there, employers, and families of those working at these health clubs. Other shareholders would be the higher wage employees at these health clubs such as the personal trainers and management. My mother is a personal trainer at the same health club, Lifetime Fitness, which I worked at. She repeatedly told me that without the lower-wage workers that took care of the aesthetic value of the club, there would be a lot less memberships and her job would be severely impaired. The clubs main draw, she argued, was the pristine state in which everything was kept. I would go as far as to promote a theory that; a highly corporatized fitness company is popular because of their image, which falls to the responsibility of their lowest paid employees.

Finally, I will research the medical effects and benefits of a highly labor intensive industry such as a health club. A physical ability of workers in this industry is always under review because of the philosophy that if the club is not physically fit then how can it help its members achieve that same goal? In my experience there was a corporate injury policy that dealt heavily with saving the company money, as opposed to saving the life or protecting employees from harm. I will have many contacts that worked and still work at that club. During the project I plan on ‘doing no harm’ by either refraining from using names, or creating alternate identities.

300 word proposal

For my research hypertext I’d like to look into the worlds of baby sitters and nannies, since they both are in the child care industry but at the same time are so different. I currently have a couple sources that I could personally ask, but I’m sure there are blogs or other resources online. I’d like to take a deeper look into the lives of live-at-home nannies, as well as other types of nannies and baby sitters as well and see how they feel they are treated by their employers. Like Ehrenreich, I’ll conduct interviews with people that have been nannies and people that still are nannies. The ages of my interviewees will vary; I know a teenage girl who was a part time nanny and I feel like her opinion would be very different from a regular baby sitter or a full time nanny.
I feel like nannies and baby sitters are unappreciated and underpaid, and sometimes nannies are seen as sort of like part time maids as well, as they are sometimes expected to do housework as well as attend to the children. I feel like these women and even sometimes men, as today’s media has shown us, deserve a little more recognition and deserve to be treated a little better for all of the hard work that they put in so the parents of today’s youth can continue to be successful so they can give their children as many opportunities as they can.
I’d like to look at this from the perspective of nannies, baby sitters, baby sitting agencies, and parents that have nannies/babysitters. Under the two categories of nannies and baby sitters I feel like I could have a lot more topics because there is such a wide variety of subgroups that I could get into; live-in nannies are sure to have a different opinion than part time nannies, and the same can go to baby sitters.
These are just a few things that I could divulge into in my hypertext. Hopefully as I continue my research I’ll be able to find new topics and have a more thorough look at the lives of nannies and baby sitters.

Low Wage Proposal

My final hypertext of this quarter will examine the low-wage experience of ranch workers. Because I have actually worked on a ranch, I can use my own personal experience to some extent, but because my jobs were so different to those of the salary workers, I won’t be using this as my main source of information, unlike Ehrenreich. I do have close family members who do work in this business as managers that could provide some very good first hand/second hand information. I will change their names and not include my personal relation to them to protect their privacy and to DO NO HARM.

Ranching is one of the most difficult jobs out there. It’s an extremely strenuous job that becomes more strenuous because many of the workers are trying to support families in the United States and in Mexico. I want to be able to depict these struggles and hardships in the way that Schlosser did in Fast Food Nation. I want to give an unbiased, factual point of view, keeping my own personal views and opinions separate, while fairly depicting other people’s point of view.

One of the main points I want to address is the “American Dream.” Because many of these workers are immigrants, they are trying to beat the odds and assimilate into American society. I’m going to investigate whether or not the “American Dream” is actually an attainable goal for the common ranching immigrant.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Proposal for Low Wage Worker Hypertext

For my new project on household cleaners, I aim to accurately represent the standpoints of the entities involved, which includes the clients, the management of housecleaning industries, and especially the housecleaners themselves. I hope to share personal experiences of housecleaners, by interviews I conduct myself or encounter through research, and present how their job affects them financially, psychologically, and physically. In the addition to the housecleaners, I want to reveal the standpoint of the management and the rules they enforce to have a profitable business, even at the sake of their employees. The way they advertise is an important aspect as well because it does not accurately portray the housecleaners’ reality, and I intend to show examples of these with different media (i.e. video commercials). Also, the views of the clients are important as well; I want to show how the clients’ attitudes can affect the housecleaners, and how they should treat these “invisible” workers with more respect.


One issue I want to address is how the effects of living a low wage life all connect and coincide with one another. How does the low wage life affect the workers’ present lives and futures? Is it possible for housecleaners to rise out of this profession or advance in the system? Can a housecleaner “get by” with the wages they earn?


Other issues I intend to confront are gender issues in this workforce and the skills needed to be a housecleaner.

Teenage Low Wage Life Hypertext Proposal

When I first wrote the 500 word essay on my topic invention for the research hypertext project, I knew I wanted to focus on teenage low-wage workers, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to narrow it down from there. Since class on Monday though, I’ve decided that I want to focus on teenage workers in the food industry – mainly comparing teenagers working in “high end” sit-down restaurants (i.e. Red Lobster, Chili’s, etc.) to teenagers working in fast-food eateries (i.e. McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in the Box, etc.). I also would like to try and compare teenagers working in the food industry to those working in other industries such as movie theaters, clerical, and retail. In order to do that, I’ll incorporate quite a few interviews with my friends who have worked in each of these industries as well as research some stories of teens working in these industries.


The various stakeholders that I’ll be aiming to represent in this hypertext include teenagers working in the food industry (“high end”, sit-down restaurants and fast-food eateries), teenagers working in the “other” industries (movie theaters, clerical, and retail), the parents of working teens, and possibly the employers of teens. Most of these will include interviews of people who have experiences in each of those categories except for employers of teens (I still have to figure out who or if I’d like to incorporate an interview there).


This hypertext will focus mainly on the wages teens earn in each of these jobs as well as how these wages differ depending on which state a teen resides in, why teens decide to work, the demands of these jobs along with the demands of school, social life, and their families, the benefits they receive (if any), and teens’ views on management (and vice versa). As mentioned earlier, I’d also like to try and compare and contrast the demands, wages, environment, and management between sit-down restaurants and fast food restaurants as well as with the other industries. Finally, I’d like to also incorporate my own job experience by comparing the food industry to my previous jobs.


So far, I’ve come up with a few questions that I’d like to explore with my hypertext:

  1. How do the demands of work affect those of school, social life, family, etc.?
  2. How do the reasons for employment vary amongst teens?
  3. How do the conditions of working in a fast-food restaurant compare to working in a sit-down restaurant?
    1. How about a restaurant to a job not in the food industry (i.e. movie theaters, clerical, retail)?
  4. How do parents feel about their teens taking on jobs at such a young age?
  5. How do those experiences of teens I interviewed compare to those represented in the books we’ve read as well as external sources?
    1. How does my experience compare?
  6. How does starting off in a low wage job shape teens’ lives?
    1. What percent “get out”?
    2. What percent “stay”?

The following is a list of concepts taken from Ehrenreich, Schlosser, and Shipler that I plan to focus on in my hypertext:


Ehrenreich

1. Teens working with older employees (p. 25-26, 70)

a. Differences in reasons for working

b. Differences in treatment?


Schlosser

1. Teens are main work force in fast-food industry (p. 68)

2. Simplicity/effectiveness & dangers in fast-food restaurants (p. 69, 72)


Shipler

1. Hard work does not always equal success in the future (p. 4)

2. The poor defining poverty – what does this mean for teens? (p. 10)

3. Low wage jobs “illegal activity” (easy manipulation of teens) (p. 19-20)

4. Obtaining good jobs depends on luck (p. 51)

5. Possibility of remaining in a low-wage job, at the bottom (p. 91)

Proposal for new website

In my research hypertext I am choosing to talk about the factory workers particularly in the china who are producing tennis products especially focusing on the production of tennis balls. I would like to express how the I feel on this topic of the workers and the point of view from the factory workers and many other people involved in to factory management. I want to try to find out how the jobs they currently have affect their health from the poor working conditions, the families that they have that could possibly working in other factories, and discovering how extremely low wages they receive a day impacts their lives. I will go in further detail about the child labor effect on the actual children and how they aren’t grown up in a learning environment so they can make something out of there lives. What I would like to do is to investigate the tennis ball companies and how the cheap labor that is in the factories is increasing revenue in the tennis industry dramatically. Another process is how the actual tennis ball is being made and how the chemicals that is a bi-product from the transformation is a deadly gas that could cause worse implications later in life. The jobs that the people working in the factories have is what I will also explain and how a particular individual will continue doing his job the whole day for a 12 hour day. I want to find out if there are laws that help the people working in the factories from further setbacks to their health. Links to youtube videos in this website will be absolutely key in order to attract the attention of the reader. There is not an easy conclusion to fighting how to fix the problem with the conditions besides throwing more money at the problem that the management doesn’t have but opinions will be provided.

“The Invisible Janitor”

My website “The Invisible Janitor” is going to be creating in the idea that everyone as individuals knows, sees, and in some aspect respect the work of these people. I want to highlight their struggles as well as their triumphs. Let’s face it we all have seen them around, especially in schools. The real question lies in whether or not we have ever said “thank you” or a “how do you do”. My website hopes to explore why there is such a barrier between such interactions as well as discuss the low wage life many, not necessarily all, janitors live with. The truth of the matter is none of us would ever want such a job; going to work every day cleaning out the bathrooms and vomit that litter the school. These people who choose to do this job to make a living are rarely even noticed when they do their job correctly. But how many times have we all noticed their short comings, when they fail to do such a task. We tend to blame them for their failures and never once thank them for their help, service, and dedication. These jobs not only come with responsibilities but the mindset that they will rarely get thanked for their work. My main goals will be to show the low wage life of a janitor as well as highlight society’s views and actions towards them. I will use my personal experiences as well as those from other sources to truly represent the working poor within the janitorial field. It may be their job to clean up after us but we as individuals don’t have to make it harder for them. I mean how would you like it if the boss wherever you worked gave you a whole bunch more work and expected you to finish at the exact same time. I hope that people who read my website will get one thing out of it if anything. That one thing is to respect those people who you rarely see but keep the world we all know clean. I’m not saying go find out their life’s story but a mere “Thank you for cleaning the bathrooms” or a “How was your day” can mean a world of difference, just show them respect.

Ehrenreich:
Page: 55 Dangers of working
Page 72: No guilt relationship or maybe No human Connections for specific reasons
Page 75: Aesthetics over Efficiency
Page 91: No hiring because of human rights? How about treating them with respect?
Page 100: Looked down by all people
Page 119: all they want is respect.
Schlosser:
Page 78: Social Status of jobs
Shipler:
Page 31: Test and people give the impression janitors are failures.
Page 39: Can’t put children in the places they work.
Page 77: Immigrants

Research Hypertext

For my research hypertext, I have chosen to explore the low-wage life of restaurant employees. Similar to the style in which Schlosser wrote Fast Food Nation, I want to discuss not only the most obvious jobs but also the more discreet professions as well. My main focus will be on restaurant servers that earn minimum wage plus tips, but I also want to touch on dishwashers at the bottom of the food chain and on the contrary the kitchen staff that may make a higher wage. Like Shippler, I will include personal stories that servers I worked with told me about their lives. I want to focus on statistics in combination with true and personal stories of earning low wages in this current economy.
Although I do not plan on recording interviews, I would like to be able to include any videos I may be able to find on the web that further explore my topic. I feel that I have a strong personal connection to this topic because, like Ehrenreich, I have actually worked this job and understand the ways in which restaurant politics and finances work. However, I want to imitate Ehrenreich’s style by supplementing all of my personal opinions and stories with facts from previous studies and other research journals.
In addition to solely researching the servers’ point of view, I would like to consider other positions on the topic as well. For instance, the management of large corporations have a very different view on wait staff’s wages than the servers themselves do. Because I worked several different positions in my own experience working in a restaurant, I can also incorporate the experiences that I myself encountered working for minimum wage. Overall, I want to answer the question of whether minimum wage, even the highest minimum wage in the state of Washington, is actually a livable wage for one person, let alone an entire family.

Research Hypertext Proposal

My final hypertext of the fall quarter will discuss the low wage workers involved in retail. I hope to accurately portray the difficult lifestyle of an individual who makes a living by working in a store that sells clothes. In my hypertext I will discuss retail workers in different situations, including different age groups, financial background, and different levels of desperation for the job.

There are many hardships to overcome while working in retail, some more difficult to take on than others. My hypertext will examine a few of these hardships and how employees, a few of whom I know personally, choose to go about dealing with these hardships. I am going to primarily use my experiences working at Hollister to compose my hypertext. Hollister is a beach themed retail store where I worked for two years. My experiences will be significant in demonstrating the concept of being an employee at a retail worker. I am not a typical low wage worker, as I simply work to earn spending money. I will do the best I can to exemplify how difficult it is for a retail worker who works for eight dollars an hour to support his or herself, and their family in some cases. I hope to convince the reader that retail workers do not get paid enough.

Finally, my hypertext will include stories of employees whom I personally know (whose names will be changed for the sake of privacy) who are much less fortunate than I am. I will make clear the extreme effort many individuals make day in and day out just to make ends meet. I will construct a multiple page hypertext which will demonstrate exactly what it means to be a retail worker. I will DO NO HARM.

Topic invention Nike sweat shops

I want my website to try to shed some light on the dire situation that sweat shop workers face every single day. I chose Nike to focus on for a couple reasons. One they are one of the leaders in shoes and clothing products and two there is a lot of material about Nike's sweats shops because they get a lot heat from organizations that is highly publicized. Although most of this news is about three to four years old and Nike has had changes, many organizations concerned about sweat shop labor still want more things to happen. With this website I want to take a closer look at all the people who have a share in this not just the workers and Nike. For example, the government has a huge role in this occurring because there have been anti sweat shop and child labor bill that haven't passed. Mostly likely they don't pass because it wouldn't be profitable for anyone, but I would have to do some research to back up that claim. Also one of the biggest share holders in sweat shop labor is consumers; I will admit that in writing this paper I'm being hypocritical because I wear Nike products almost every day. The truth of the matter is that either the companies or the consumers are going to have to be willing to take the burden of the increased prices. It is doubtful that companies would be willing to take a cut on their revenues due to the increased cost of labor, so most likely the products would become more expensive. Sweat shop labor is a complex and complicated problem with no obvious or easy solutions. In my opinion the only way to fix it is to have everyone involved compromise except those workers who have been exploited.

Migrant Farm Workers Proposal

For my proposed website, I intend to delve into and explore the experiences of migrant workers. I order to do this; I plan to interview two workers and get their life stories. I met these workers a few years ago and fully plan to mask their identities and remove any distinguishable information that may enable people to track them down. I intend to find out how their job affects their lives, their families and how it is most certainly a low wage job. Additionally, I plan to explore why most immigrants go into farm labor and how they try to survive in the US. I will also explore why they decided to come to the US in search of jobs rather than stay in their own country.

I will look at the various laws that are set up in order to protect these workers and the laws that keep out illegal immigrants. There are several laws that I will be able to look at that will provide me good information. Some of these laws are controversial as well, thus these will definitely be included in my research. For example the New Mexico law dealing with immigration will be included into my website,

Additionally, I will look at the various jobs that farming entails. I will try to provide a snapshot of the typical day of a farm laborer; from getting up early in the morning, changing water, picking, fertilizing and repeating the same process each day. I will examine various crops that laborers help grow; such as cotton, cantaloupes, hay, tomatoes, and grapes. All of these crops require different methods of work and different workers as well.

Also I will research why farmers take advantage of illegal immigrants by underpaying them and allowing them to work on their farms. I will examine the benefits that come with hiring someone illegal rather than a US resident. Lastly I will examine the moral issues dealing with the hiring of illegal immigrants

Hypertext Proposal

For my research hypertext I chose the topic of Wal-Mart. In my hypertext I want to discuss Wal-Mart’s contributions to low wage work not only in the U.S. but world wide. I have shopped at Wal-Mart in the past and seen the workers there, thus, this is my connection to my topic.


In my hypertext I wish to discuss the low wage jobs that workers in the U.S. have to deal with. Often times the workers are treated with no respect and as if they are replaceable (which they are to the company). I want to explore in depth what the workers are paid, how they are treated, and the fairness of the relationship between this fairness and what they are paid.


Not only do I wish to explore the lives of low wage employees in the U.S. but those overseas as well. I want to explore Wal-Mart’s exploitation of cheap labor in overseas factories, including the use of sweatshops and child labor. Also, how these things are related to the price of Wal-Mart products and the connections between cost to customers, the wages of workers in the U.S., the wages of workers overseas, and profits of the corporation itself.


Also, in order to gain more of an insight into how the employees feel, I could conduct interviews with Wal-Mart employees. Just like Ehrenreich attempted to gain insight into low wage life by living it, I would attempt to gain insight by learning the hardships and struggles from someone who has lived them. I would, of course, keep this completely anonymous to protect the individual.


These are just a couple of ideas that I would like to include in my research hypertext project. All in all this project will include much more than I have discussed here and include more in depth analysis of all the topics/subjects.