Pre-Telegraphic Final Memo

To: Professor Ryan Lizardi
From: JoAnna Niles
Date: September 15, 2019
Re: Module 2 Pre-Telegraphic Memo

For this module, the feedback from my peers had me rethink some of the considerations from my original proposal. In this memo, I will discuss how I arrived at a final design.

Message

The objective of this blog post is to discuss the advancement of music and song in the early Pre-telegraphic era and how it applies to society today.

My blogpost contains details about the use of music and song in the pre-telegraphic era as it relates to slavery in the Americas. It discusses how music and song were used by tribes before the middle passage, how it changed during years of enslavement, and how music and song impact society throughout the world today.

Target Audience

The target audience for this project was initially for students and Instructors in the IDT 507 class. After feedback, I decided to expand the audience to include high school history students as well. Given the subject matter covered and embedded videos, it gives students information that is simple enough to be entertaining and still hold interest.

Since the site is searchable, it can also be accessed by individuals searching for the topic of music and song during slavery or the use of music as communication during that time period.

Platform

I used the WordPress blogging platform for this project as I intended to advance my skills in blogging through WordPress.

Design Considerations

I wanted the site to be user-friendly so I chose a theme with a simple design. I considered creating shorter blog posts based on the different points made and linking them together, but for SEO purposes, longer written posts with multiple keywords rank higher. I decided to merge everything together and separate by headers. For this specific blog post, I also wanted to include images that were my own from previous travels and audio/video examples to support my view on the subject.

Design Challenges

The biggest design challenge was picking the subject and blog theme. In previous projects, I just purchased a theme, but this time I was able to use WordPress’ free options. Another challenge was using WordPress blocking editor. It was a different learning curve that I still haven’t 100% grasped.

References Used

Gleick, James. The Information: a History, a Theory, a Flood. Vintage Books, 2011.

Singing in Slavery: Songs of Survival, Songs of Freedom. (2017, January 25). PBS.org 
Project. Retrieved 11:08, September 8, 2019 from
http://www.pbs.org/mercy-street/blogs/mercy-street-revealed/songs-of-survival-and-songs-of-freedom-during-slavery/

Stringfellow, Thornton. Scriptural and Statistical Views in Favor of Slavery, 2000