To continue, Mackenzie Kriel ’15 will discuss her internship experience with Family Abuse Services.
This semester I have had the opportunity to intern for Family Abuse Services (FAS) in Burlington, working with Dr. Pope-Ruark along with Cary Crawford from FAS. Some of my assignments have included working on the design of *FAS’ website, by integrating social media, an events calendar, and cleaning up the appearance of the main page, and writing relevant blog posts. It is also the first time I have used WordPress to blog. *http://www.familyabuseservices.org/
Through my internship, I have realized how much technology influences readers. It enhances the reader’s experience and provides a different perspective. When writing my blog posts, it was very different from reading them on paper rather than when they are on the FAS website. The posted blogs are accompanied by visuals and links that allow the reader to obtain more information about the topic. With a link to Facebook, I could give the reader the opportunity to find out more about a certain topic or event. Viewers are also allowed to make comments and discuss topics with other visitors to the website. Technology enhances the reading experience and provides the reader with a more thorough understanding.
Technology also invites visual rhetoric to play a role in the readers’ experience. Written blog posts on a piece of paper are not as reader-centered as a blog post online. Technology allowed me to experiment with the visual appearance of my articles. I could use headings, bolding, different fonts and colors, images, borders, tables, and so on. It allowed me to express the information in my blog posts more clearly and provide the viewers with a different perspective. The visual rhetoric of my blog posts guides the reader and shows them what is important and how the blog post should be read.
After this internship, I hope to continue to use the technological knowledge I have gained and apply it to my PWR classes. The blog posts that I have posted on WordPress are enhanced with features that only technology can provide. Reading an online blog post enhances the reader’s experience versus reading the post on a piece of paper. It gives the reader a more thorough understanding of the information and allows for the visual appearance to affect how the reader comprehends the blog post. This internship has provided me with a new perspective on technology and how I can use it to communicate information with readers.
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