Visual Composition

I decided to use a slideshow presentation because I felt that it could really show how bad diseases can get, but what great things can come out of finding vaccinations for them. It was a fun visual with a lot of color that grabs the attention. The captions I chose were the most basic things I could think of that would really get the point across, while leaving out excess information that would distract the viewer from the pictures.

Project 1

There are many things in life that humans have the ability to control. Illness however, is usually not one of them. Disease has been a part of human reality since the beginning of time. Although diseases have faded and developed over the years, it is a worry that bonds everyone together. Humans of today have amazing technology and science is making things possible that most people never would have dreamed of. One of these things that science has created that is recent in terms of human history is vaccinations. Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to produce immunity to a disease (Wikipedia.com).

Although vaccines do not cure disease, they have a very high rate of success in preventing them. In the thousands of years before the creation and use of vaccines, a disease could wipe out hundreds of thousands of people in a short time, and there was nothing that could be done about it. For example, in the 14th century the bubonic plague became a pandemic and claimed the lives of nearly a third of the world population (williamshakespear.com). In the early 20th century, a polio epidemic maimed over 27,000 people and killed over 6,000 in the U.S alone (Wikipedia.com). However, since these times, these diseases are not seen as threatening. This lack of concern is due to the increasing success of vaccinations.

Unfortunately, this lack of concern is mostly just in the Western world. In third world countries such as Africa, these diseases are very much a part of everyday life. Neglected tropical diseases such as hookworm and trachoma kill and handicap thousands, causing blindness and malnutrition (globalnetwork.org). What many people fail to realize is that these diseases are usually 100% preventable. However, most of these countries cannot afford the research to find cures and vaccinations for prevention. They are overlooked by those of the Western world. Recently, it has been argued that vaccinations are useless and dangerous. The danger lies in this thinking, and not in the vaccinations.
When a vaccine is taken, the immune system of the body produces antibodies that weaken and destroy disease causing bacteria. It builds up a bodies’ resistance to the disease, so if later in life a person comes into contact with the bacteria the body already knows how to fight it (Farlex dictionary). Since almost all children in the West nowadays are vaccinated, diseases are nearly unheard of. However, if some people stop being vaccinated, there are gaps in this system. The more gaps there are, the more people are less immune and more susceptible to harmful, life threatening diseases. The diseases did not cease to exist; they still exist in our modern world, just not where we live. The fact that they are still in existence means that as soon as resistance goes down, people can be infected. Diseases that are seemingly gone can again spread and run rapid, killing thousands. This is why it is important that all children be vaccinated, and that there is increased funding for disease research, prevention, and vaccination creation.

The Vaccines for Children program is a United States federally funded program that provides free vaccinations to children whose parents could otherwise not afford to vaccinate them. It is a part of each state’s Medicaid plan (cdc.gov). Programs like this are important to stop the spread of disease world wide. Increased funding for these programs and research is necessary. A country’s job is to protect its’ people. This is not just in the form of physical protection, but also in the way of preventing illness that could affect everyone. Programs such as this and vaccine research funding is about saving human life. I chose to advocate this program because human life is very important to me.

Project One Proposal

I have decided to advocate the continuation and increase of government funding for the research and distribution of vaccinations. I chose this project because while writing a paper for comp 105 I did a lot of research similar to this topic and it became very important to me. Through my research I realized the importance of vaccinations and how the availability of them has changed history and the course of human life. Many epidemics that used to kill thousands have been nearly wiped out; some of these diseases are virtually unknown to us. Even less serious illnesses that our parents got as children are ones we have never experienced due to vaccinations. My grandmother had polio when she was 5, and if the vaccine for it had been available sooner she might not have spent every summer until she was 13 in the hospital getting surgery done on her legs, and walking might not have been such a struggle for her all her life. Diseases such as these may seem foreign to us, but they still exist elsewhere in the world, which means if vaccines are stopped or are less common the diseases CAN still spread again. They can run rapid and become epidemics again, and today's generation has no natural resistance except for the vaccinations they had as children. If funding for research stops or slows, new diseases can develop and spread wildly, with no resitance and no cure. The result could be the death or maiming of millions of people worldwide. A country's job is to take care of its people, and this includes not just health care but health prevention. This is why the increased and continued funing for vaccination research is so important.

Screen Capture Reflection

Prior to this assignment I didn't know that you could take a picture of your screen. Getting the hang of it was difficult; it took me a few tries to get it right and post it on my blog. I think that it is a really great way to capture everything you're doing at once, and it can be used to capturing everything you're working with for a project at the same time. I think it would be a great way to document your hard work, and show to others the things you use daily or for a project. Composing on the computer is a lot different then hand-written or voal work. Composing and working with the computer allows you to be more detailed and conduct better research. Typing allows you to say more easily what you're trying to present to others, and it gives you the opportunity to edit and revise without completely starting over. The internet contains thousands of sources at a person's disposal for researching purposes, and allows a person to put their ideas out there for others to see, on things such as websits or blogs. Digital imaging and editing techniques really help people to be more creative and to express themselves in their own way. Digital imaging techniques twist the typical printed picture and allow the expression to be so much more powerful. The only way to better understand digital processes such as this is to work with it ourselves. Applying our own creativity allows us to express ourselves to others and to become more comfortable with internet processes. The more we work with the digital composing process, the better we can understand others, express ourseleves, and make our own work more powerful.

Screen Capture