TOW #28 Ants: Nature's Secret Power

Driver ants live in colonies with a million individuals, and have reportedly killed people. Never mess with ants.

      Humans don't like to realize or admit it, but there are other creatures on this earth that rival our success and intelligence. Beyond simple communities, ants have been organizing super-organisms that are more prevalent and powerful than any human social construct. Ants: Nature's Secret Power tries to bring this unique and humbling viewpoint into vivid perspective. Incorporating Burt Hölldobler, colleague of world-renowned myrmecologist Edward Owens and one of the founders of Sociobiology, the film draws on the laboratory experiments and field observations of a world leading evolutionary biologist. In addition to the knowledge he provides, award-winning cameraman Wolfgang Thaler uses stunning macro cinematography to descend to the perspective of Earth's miniature world power. Recently, research on ants has become more popular, because understanding the hive mentality they use can help develop artificially intelligent software and understand animal eusociality. Ants, while comprising only 3% of Earth's diversity, make up 50% of all the biomass on the planet. They are fantastically successful and can live in tremendously large and organized colonies (the largest of which housed 306 million individuals, 1 million queens, and stretched over several hectares). They consume more meat than lions, tigers, and wolves combined, and have designed air conditioning, learned to garden, and tend farms of symbiotic insects. Created by the BBC, Ants: Nature's Secret Power is intended for all audiences with an interest in nature and without a broad biological knowledge. It has won critical acclaim and winner of "Best TV-Program and "Best Educational Value" at the International Wildlife Film Festival Missoula (USA).
     The film introduces an alien motif in order to show how foreign the lives of ants appear to be to us, and how different the world they rule is from our own. The purpose of the film is to show how complex and significant that unique world is, and to inform people about the ants societies that thrive unbeknownst to us. The first way that the documentary does this is with its narration style. The speaker is very slow and dramatic, which appeals to pathos and engenders feelings of awe and respect towards the ants busying themselves on the screen. Additionally, the music contributes heavily to the audio effects of the documentary. By using plucky, fast paced music, the documentary mimics the rapid movement and activity of the ants. Enhanced sound effects of scrabbling, cutting, and communicating ants enhances the tiny world far beyond what we can observe normally. The documentary makes the recurring point that ants live a scent and sound based existence.
     Additionally, the macro filming and pans down from our normal view of a forest into the massive world of ants further immerses us in the perspective of these insects. Unique views inside of dug up colonies and clear ant farms also engage and envelope the audience. The purpose of all of this is to give a dramatic view of the ants' world that is far different from the one we recognize. This creates respect and interest in the compelling information presented. Additionally, the contrast and colors in each scene are very attractive and make the scenes beautiful to watch. It is clear that it is filmed by an award-winning cameraman. Many of the scenes also take place in Hölldobler's laboratory and show various experiments. These are always shot with a clean, glowing white background to showcase the ants and give the impression of a sophisticated lab (perhaps like those envisioned on alien spacecraft to continue the motif).
     The information presented by the documentary is also selected and presented in order to intrigue and educate. Statistics such as the meat consumption figure stated above challenge our perspective of the animal kingdom and their superlative nature grabs the audience so that they listen to the ensuing explanation. They also force us to question what was said. I frequently thought to myself "Really? I don't believe that," and replaying sections to fully understand what the documentary had presented. Additionally, the documentary makes several comparisons and analogies comparing ants to a variety of human things. As they protect and eat food produced by aphids, the ants are described as farmers. When they forage for prey or attack bees, they become a vast war machine. Their burrows are described as metropolises. The documentary makes the point that ants are very intelligent and just as complex as people, and drives the point home by describing them with distinctly human terms.
     Overall, the documentary was phenomenal and very informative. I marveled the whole time at the vast world right under my nose, and will never again squash an ant for fear of a violent uprising.
   

TOW #27 Reflection

My TOWS at the beginning of the year were extremely formulaic. I wasn't sure exactly what was expected, and was anticipating being graded randomly. So I made sure to cover all of my bases. There was very little flow, however, and my writing came in the form of one dense paragraph without transitions. Content-wise, I accomplished what I needed with analysis and background information. As the year progressed I added more and more rhetorical devices and spent much more time with the analysis portions of my TOWs. Also, my TOWs became significantly more cohesive. I stopped relying on jargon and the rigid formula and wrote in a more relaxed style that flowed and established better analyses. The assessed TOW really helped initiate that.

I think I mastered the ability of establishing context. I did solid research before my TOWs to figure out who the authors were and where their point of view would be coming from. This helped a lot in my APUSH essays actually, where I would quickly establish context in my introductions. Also, I think I became good at identifying effective examples in the text that illustrated the analysis I made. Throughout the year I used direct quotes in my TOWs and I think they worked well.

My analysis cold definitely be improved. Sometimes it wasn't clear and other times I rambled about too many devices. Additionally, my organization could still improve. I don't think my TOWs are quite as unified as I would like them to be and still appear a bit formulaic. Writing as a simple, organic analysis would be more comfortable and possibly even take less time.

I think I definitely benefited from TOWs, though I think the assessment came too late in the year. My TOWs got much better after that and were easier to write because I tried to do it less formally and without looking directly at the requirements. But writing analysis essays throughout the year helped me to identify strategies in a variety of different articles and figure out how to analyze them. I think I should have used more prompts like those seen in the exam, but the process of developing two to three sentences of coherent analysis per each device was invaluable. That is the hardest part of an analysis essay and I spent all year preparing. Given that that is the purpose of the TOWs, I think they were successful assignments.

IRB #4 The Particle Odyssey (Christine Sutton, Michael Marten, and Frank Close)

This summer I was accepted into a program at UPenn for research in high energy particle physics. When they described what I will be doing, I understood almost none of the words and figure I need to properly educate myself. The program, called QuarkNet, will be sending me a textbook called The Particle Odyssey. The authors are four scientists deeply involved in physics research. Frank Close and Christine Sutton are particle physicists at Oxford and Michael Martin is the founder of the Science Photo Library. With the Photo Library backing, the textbook incorporates hundreds of images that can effectively display experimental results and the rather abstract subject matter. The textbook starts with the basics, describing the structure of the average atom and grounding the reader with some of the more common physics concepts, like the Big Bang. But then it goes into cosmic radiation and subatomic particles like muons (which I will be detecting), eventually ending with the modern discussion about the legitimacy of the standard model. From this textbook, I hope to gain a better fundamental understanding of the research I'll be conducting this summer and its application to modern advances in physics.

TOW #26 Science at Liberal Arts Colleges: A Better Education? (Thomas Cech)

Thomas Cech presents his take on liberal arts v. research university science education.

     Deep in the college search, I've come across a division in college education for degrees in science/engineering. Liberal arts colleges and major research universities both offer successful programs for students with totally different experiences. In this article, Thomas Cech, a Nobel Laureate and professor at the University of Colorado, compares the two options. His purpose is to support the liberal arts education (which he received) and to advocate that it (think Swarthmore, Williams, Pomona) is just as effective, if not more so, than more famous research institutions (think Harvard, Berkeley, MIT). He aims the article at prospective students like me who are weighing the value of different programs and probably enticed by the prestige of large universities.

     Cech begins the essay with an anecdote of his experience graduating from a tiny liberal arts school called Grinnel College and pursuing a PhD at one of the largest research schools in the world: UC Berkeley. This provides a personal touch to the essay; Cech is already extremely successful, so relating back to his formative years as a scientist captures the attention of his audience. As he assures the reader that we had received a high-quality education and was well-prepared for higher research, Cech effectively introduces his argument and establishes his ethos because he has clearly studied in both forms of science school.

     Cech's argument progresses with the introduction of a statistical analysis paired with logical conclusions (you can barely tell that he's a laboratory chemist). He begins by explaining the value of looking at the percentages of students who go on to earn PhDs in their respective fields as an accurate measure of the success for the college. He then provides data in tables that is readily understood and compared, which he further analyzes to show that liberal arts colleges produce as many PhD students as a percentage of their total enrollment, which indicates the success of such programs.

     Cech finally presents information in a strictly logical format which he uses to draw conclusions. He presents the assertion that research universities depend on their grants and research to hold their prestige. He then presents the argument that they would prefer graduate students to carry out this vital research, whereas liberal arts colleges only have their pool of undergraduates to give such experience to. By progressing logically, Cech offers up a sound argument.

     Cech clearly knows what he's talking about and does a great job establishing his credibility and logical arguments. The article was very rhetorically effective.

TOW #26 The Case Against Grades (Michael Thomson)

I would like to give a shorter introduction and spend more time analyzing the devices' impacts on readers.  

     My view of grades is rather negative, so in reading an article of favorite abolish-grades educational psychologists Alfie Kohn I discovered this article that he mentioned. Slate is an online publishing magazine that has great opinion pieces backed by current data, and this one, by Michael Thomson, is no exception. While not a sociologist himself, Thomson includes several statistics and expert opinions that augment his credibility. His purpose is to rethink the viability of grades evaluate the worth of keeping and abolishing them, with significant bias towards removing them. His article is not directed towards anyone in particular, I think it is a simple open opinion piece.
     Thomson uses a format of exemplification to make his points regarding grades. He makes a point of describing several schools and districts that have eliminated grading altogether, and then continues with analysis of how students' educational experiences have been changed as a result. For example, he describes the Summerhill model of education without grades, precisely how it looks to a student participant and teachers, and then offers a statistic about a similar school of the same design, the Sudbury Valley School, and its 80 percent college and 20 percent graduate school acceptance rates. By doing this, Thomson moves away from educational philosophy and provides real, applicable examples that can be analyzed and considered by his audience. By describing them with words that have positive connotations like "support" and "encourage," Thomson gives the impression that they are ideal learning institutions.
     Thomson begins the essay with an introduction to the problem of grading. He does this via statistics. "SAT reading scores are at a 40-year low, and one recent study ranked the U.S. 17th in education," he writes, and then concludes "It's becoming increasingly clear that the rigid and judgmental foundation of modern education is the origin point for many of our worst qualities." By coupling hard facts with analysis to introduce the problem, Thomson makes his subject of interest irrefutable and concrete, an issue that must be dealt with immediately and that directly concerns his audience.
     Overall, I think the essay did a solid job. There were one or two logical fallacies that connected studies that were significant independently but not when paired. The examples he found and compiled were really interesting, though.

Article

TOW #25 GE Advertisement

General Electric appeals to the American Dream in this advertisement.

My goals are to write in a cohesive format without obviously listing the required information. I would also like to focus on and go in depth about one or two strategies, instead of listing many.
   
     The ad above is for houses produced by the Levitt & Sons company just after World War 2. At this point in time, several millions of soldiers were returning home to their wives and girlfriends, and all at once needed places to live and start a family. This combined with greater American wealth at the time, led Americans to sprawling suburban communities with thousands of well-organized and similar houses. William Levitt created four standard models of a house that could be ordered in a catalogue, and, in assembly line fashion, constructed four enormous communities very inexpensively in a very short amount of time. His advertisements were of the first generation of American family appeal, using the image of the "nuclear family" looking for a normal, conformist life. Levitt's purpose in the advertisement is to appeal to the vast number of veterans he can persuade to purchase his services and products, and to convince them that his houses fulfill their future needs and desires.
     The first thing that one notices in the ad are the caricatures of the veteran and his wife. The man is clearly in his uniform from the war, and his wife is smartly dressed and clearly adoring of him. Both are smiling, rosy cheeked, and intimate. This is clearly an appeal to pathos, as Levitt wants viewers to consider themselves in the same positions as the characters in the ad: planning a new life is happy. Sketched in the dirt is another appeal to pathos and the subject of the ad: an appealing, average house. People of the 1950s thrived on nondescript conformity, and a symmetrical house sketched in the dirt, while not an accurate representation of the actual houses Levitt built, still conjures up feelings of that ideal "American lifestyle."
     While difficult to read, I believe the paragraphs at the bottom of the ad describe a soldier's need to make smart future plans for his family, especially before he leaves to further serve his country. General Electric, a partner of Levitt, includes small depictions of appliances and a brief description of its services to give the appearance of working for the consumer. It provides many new technologies to make life easier in this time of stress and war.
     Because of its emotional appeals, this ad is a form of propaganda. However, because Americans were so gullible when it came to pursuing the American dream, the advertisement is still effective.

TOW #24 The End of Anonymity (Erik Sofge)

Facial recognition has become much more prevalent and powerful in recent years. But is it ethical?

My goals are to have a more cohesive introduction/background information and to provide specific examples from the text to show the rhetorical devices.

     We've all heard of PRISM, the NSA program that invaded the privacy of millions of people by secretly surveying emails and social media accounts. Erik Sofge, in this article for Popular Science Magazine, examines the other less-controversial surveillance method utilized by the FBI: facial recognition. The FBI has been collecting information on criminals since 1924, ranging from the first index card and ink fingerprint records to DNA tests and a database of millions of mugshots for recognition. Facial recognition is exceptionally difficult, especially with low resolution security camera footage. However, in recent years the many algorithms contracted to the FBI from worldwide proprietary software companies have greatly increased computers' ability to decipher a tilted head, expressive features, and low light. While not usable in court because of the techniques success rate (in good conditions in hovers around 80% confidence in a criminal/suspect match), facial-recognition is still widely used and, with the information stored in social media, could become the best way to generate leads in an investigation. WHile Sofge stays rather neutral in reporting, his purpose is clearly to raise awareness about this surveillance technology and bring to light some if its more controversial aspects.
     The most obvious rhetorical strategy employed by Sofge is his use of statistics. His goal is to show the effectiveness and broad scope of facial-recognition investigation. For this reason, he uses facts like a database containing 3.5 million mugshots, a program that costs $1.2 billion, and a current 1% drop in accuracy per year (so more older photos can be used with confidence). Instead of just saying that the programs are massive or effective, Sofge supplies strong supporting evidence to convince us, and possibly engender a thoughtful reaction about the size of his described programs.
     Throughout the article Sofge also calls upon reputable experts from a variety of origins. He begins with an anecdote containing detective Jim McClelland from Cheltenham, PA, who describes the ways that facial recognition advances have made his job significantly easier. Sofge also quotes a CEO of a firm that develops the software about modern advances, as well as a professor who controversially used Facebook images to make a more comprehensive database of people. Such varied opinions on all aspects of the technology inform the reader and provide perspectives that support and refute the implementation of facial recognition. These act as support and concessions and, when paired with his objective statistics, made Sofge's article effective in accomplishing its purpose.