You can see the website here: http://ander1584.wix.com/inquiry-4-brooke”>
When introduced to the topic of inquiry four, I was a little unsure of how I was going to approach it and what kind of rhetorical appeal I was going to base it off of. I also wasn’t sure how I wanted to portray the message of equality among special needs children. I decided to focus not on the rights and bullying aspects, but more so on how to include those of that community. I took a more serious approach to this website because I feel like it would be hypocritical to joke and make a satirical approach. I began by using Wix to create a camp website called Camp Christopher. The purpose of this website is to advertise a camp made just for special needs kids to give them the attention they deserve and help build friendships. The title of this camp comes from my brother, Christopher, who has special needs. Some of the activities included at this camp involve swimming, soccer, coloring and other activities that allow the children to interact with those around them.
I began by inserting a mix of images that appeal to both parents and children. It was very important to use catchy colors and pictures because a majority of the time special needs children associate fun by the way something looks instead of how it sounds because some are unable to read. I would have never thought that just the font style and color could affect a page that much but after playing around I found some fonts and colors worked better than others. The front page of my website begins by seeing a very happy boy with down-syndrome. The intent of this photo was to show that this camp was for special needs children and to show the potential of happiness this camp has to offer. I feel like the “Camp Life” tab has the most to offer to the camper within my website. It also begins with an image of two, happy, special-needs boys. The use of the photos of smiling boys really touches your heart by seeing special-needs children so happy. Further down the page it lists with images many of the activities the camp has to offer. By showing the potential camper these images, they may see an activity appealing to them and make them interested in coming. As for the parents, the “About Camp” tab is very important. This tab contains our philosophy where I pulled information directly from inquiry three. It explains the purpose of this camp and the goals we hope the families to get out of it. The “Contact” tab contains FAQ’s which are silly camper FAQ’s but serious for adult FAQ. The adult FAQ’s come from concerns included in inquiry three. The overall intent of this website layout is to be welcoming and appealing to the eye in a serious manner.
Right now I personally feel like this website was one of the best ways I was able to address inquiry three, but I feel like if I had more time, I would have come up with a better idea. The overall aspect from inquiry three to inquiry four remained pretty serious but many other parts did. My audience has definitely changed, focusing more on adults who have special needs. Although the camp is for the special- needs child, the parents will be the ones enrolling them in the camp and navigating throughout the website. I feel like my argument remained the same as shown in the philosophy and FAQ section of the website. It addresses many concerns and actions that were mentioned in inquiry three. It’s somewhat challenging to clearly include your argument when presented in a website. I feel like I focused mainly on the inclusion aspect from my inquiry three. All throughout the camp website it talks about the goals of the camp, mainly being to make your child feel included. There was definitely a huge section taken out from my transition from inquiry three to four, being the Americans With Disabilities Act. I feel like it would have been challenging to include this properly within my inquiry four. But, overall it still has a good message relating to inclusion.
The start of this website incredibly stressed me out at first. I actually had no ideas coming into class on what type of website I was even going to build. I began by looking at premade templates instead of a blank template. I came across a camp one and it kind of struck an idea. My brother actually used to go to many special needs camps and loved them and I was even a volunteer at one myself. It was kind of annoying trying to pick pictures, colors, fonts, and styles that all looked good together but somewhat fun at the same time. Once I got every visual aspect done, I inserted all the text which turned out to be easier than I thought. A lot of it was fun to come up with and write and the other stuff was literally straight copied from inquiry three. I forgot to save my work about three times which was very aggravating but after a little while I got used to how the website worked. I still fear I didn’t exactly include enough information but at the same time you don’t to overwhelm the reader of a website. I actually even included links to work documents with a made up application form and what to bring to camp list which I thought was pretty interesting. I’d have to say, this inquiry was pretty independant with no feedback but I think that’s what makes it unique because the design is yours.
Overall, this was a really sweet inquiry to make. It’s definitely not like any assignment I’ve ever done in an English class before. It was cool to learn how to make a website and see the time and effort it really takes. I liked that I could create an idea from a concern in my inquiry three but still have creativity. This project really encouraged me to think out of the box and consider styles that are appealing to not just me, but parents as well.