Title and Source: Swimming Bans High-Tech Suits, Ending an Era; New York Times Newspaper
Author and Credibility: Karen Crouse - Credited newspaper editor for the New York Times and sports columnist for various newspapers
Target Audience: This is a newspaper article in the general section of the New York Times, so I'd say the audience is the general public. Furthermore, I believe that since the article doesn't spit out any scientific vernacular in its writing, this article is meant to simply inform the reader of a certain event that has been "resolved".
Main Purpose: Inform the reader about why this ban is necessary through stats like 130 world records created by the LZR and quotes from athletes like Michael Phelps about the issue as a whole.
Contextual Details: References certain swimsuit companies that will be affected by this issue like Speedo and Jaked, and direct quotes from important non-swimmers in the industry, such as Corel Marculescu, executive director of FINA (a sporting company).
2nd Source: The Guardian
Title and Source: Born Slippery; The Guardian
Author and Credibility: Anna Kessel is a sports writer for the Guardian and has been a writer for over a decade - both found here
Target Audience: This is meant for people who are interested in the sport of swimming since this is in the sports section of the Guardian newspaper. Furthermore, this article features more unknown swimmers, so the audience may be even more specific than just a "sports fan".
Main Purpose: Inform the reader just on why the LZR swimsuit was banned after the 2008 Olympics using facts like how the suit is 70 times tighter on the human body than a regular suit and quotes by Speedo representatives.
Contextual Details: References to how the company AquaLab made the suit and evidence of as new era of suits re-surfacing
3rd Source - Sports Scientists
Title and Source: Beijing Record Summary; Sports Scientists
Author and Credibility: The journal itself made the image. They are a small magazine that use science to explain the certain phenomena that surround certain sports events. Currently they are a certified magazine with decades of articles and credible authors - main page here
Target Audience: This image is really bare bones, but is very plain in simple on what it is trying to convey. Because of the simplicity of this image, I think that this image is meant for the general public.
Main Purpose: I think that this is an image to show the magnitude that racing suits have on the competitive swimming scene to anyone because the numbers shown in the image are alarmingly large in respect to number of world records and the fact that the numbers are large for both men and women athletes.
Contextual Details: The article for this image explains how these numbers are so significant in the swimming world and why there needs to be a change in order to make sure that every Olympics isn't just another grind for mass new world records.
4th Source - Sports Scientists
Title and Source: Men's World Records -2008; Sports Scientists
Author and Credibility: Same as 3rd Source
Target Audience: Same as 3rd Source
Main Purpose: This image is a little more in depth than the one found in my 3rd source, so obviously I think there is a little more dpeth in the purpose. The main idea is that the average world record legnth is noticably low, with only certain records noted by arrows not being made by swimmers with the new technical suits at the time. The arrows and the average time are the magazine's proof to show that these suits are unfair.
Contextual Details: Same as 3rd Source
5th Source - NASA
Title and Source: Record Breaking Benefits; NASA
Author and Credibility: There is no specified author in the article, which is very unsettling, but since this is NASA, a government organization that is world-renowned for their breakthroughs in all sorts of branches of science, that's more than enough credibility.
Target Audience: The article goes into the more scientific details of swimsuits, such as AquaLab procedure in making the suits and certain specializations that help the suits with certain strokes, like freestyle.
Main Purpose: Considering that NASA is explaining the science of swimsuits and using these facts as a quasi-excuse to make it rational to use these suits shows that the organization is trying to state that the suits are fair since competitions are fair if EVERY athlete wears them.
Contextual Details: NASA has direct quotes from Speedo and their own personal affiliation with the sciences of swimming.
6th Source - The Baltimore Sun
Title and Source: FINA bans controversial full-body swimsuits; The Baltimore Sun
Author and Credibility: Lisa Dillman is a sports columnist for the LA Times and has written in various national newspapers for many years - both sources
Target Audience: This article is very similar to my 2nd Source, so I believe that the target audience for this article are swimming fanatics since it features quotes from lesser known athletes an is part of the sports section of this newspaper.
Main Purpose: The article tells of events in 2008 that results in the banning of full-body suits and explains what companies like Jaked and Arena have been doing to make these suits "unfair". The author wants to inform the audience of these sorts of facts that surround the controversy.
Contextual Details: The article explains how Michael Phelps received 8 gold medals in the 2008 Olympics with the help of a full-body suit and Mark Schubert's efforts to nullify records that were made by full-body suits.
7th Source - Speedo Fastskins
Title and Source: Fastskin; Speedo Technology
Author and Credibility: There is no author for this source, but considering that the company that made this guide is the company that creates controversial suits makes this sources a direct source for what the company's perspective on the whole issue is. That is easily credible.
Target Audience: The guide looks very sharp, containing various striking visuals and various statistics that prove how certain quits are faster than other. The guide is meant for the eyes of swimming athletes that recognize how important these numbers are
Main Purpose: Since the guide is showing how advanced the technology in the suits are and how affordable the suits can be, it's pretty obvious that this guide is just a giant advertisement to buy Speedo fastskins.
Contextual Details: Direct quotes from a lot of famous competitive swimmers and information on the most popular Speedo fastskin models further support the claim that this is an advertisement.
8th Source - Science on the Net
Title and Source: Rules and technological innovation: the Fastskin Revolution; Science on the Net
Author and Credibility: There is no specific author given in the article, but this source is a official magazine that specializes in the sciences of general topics. In this case, I would say that this source isn't specialized to say that their word is absolute law, but this magazine definitely knows what they're talking since they're an official magazine. main page
Target Audience: This audience is very niche since the article specifically references the science behind new fastskins (cerca 2012) and the relation of this technology to technologies within tennis.
Main Purpose: Much like many magazines, Science on the Net us trying to inform its audience of the happenings of technologies through direct quotes from companies like Speedo and the history of fastskin technologies.
Contextual Details: Questions why some improving technologies are prohibited while others are allowed not only for swimming, but for all sports.
9th Source - Swimming Vortex
Title and Source: THE LZR LIVES ON: SPEEDO FASTSKIN RACER X SUITED FOR FEEL-GOOD FACTOR, SAY SWIMMERS; Swimming Vortex
Author and Credibility: There is no citable author for this source as well ( I have quite a few of these), but this is a credible source since its an article by Swimming Vortex. Swimming Vortex is a magazine that specializes in the current events of swimming and reports on the results of competitions and analyzes them. - main page
Target Audience: This article specifically talks about only the pros of the new Speedo fastskin and references how this suit may even rival the 2008 suit. So I think that the article is trying to inform of the potential consequences that the new Speedo may create. This will only be important to swimming athletes since they are the only athletes that will use this technology
Main Purpose: As staed above, I believe that the author is trying to inform the audience of the potential consequences that this suit may create. It states this through explaining the new technologies in the suit and uses direct quoets from athletes about their opinions on the suit.
Contextual Details: There is a advertisement for the new suit in the article and references facts that Speedo collected in regards to the suit.
10th source - IBTimes
Title and Source: Speedo unveils Fastskin swimsuit for Rio 2016 Olympics; International Business Times
Author and Credibility: The author is Adam Justice, work posted here. This author is credible since he is an experienced author and video journalist for IBTimes
Target Audience: This article has quite the "clickbait" title and references the upcoming 2016 Olympics several times. Therefore, I think this article is trying to catch the attention of anyone it can, so the audience is the general public.
Main Purpose: Since the article explains how the new fastskin will be in place at the next Olympics and references athletes that will use this suit, I believe that it is trying to inform its audience about these facts.
Contextual Details: The article includes a video that is a breakdown of the suit as a whole and direct quotes from renowned athletes like Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.
Hey Jackson,
ReplyDeleteI read through this research report and think you have done a fabulous job! Here are some suggestions for further improvement:
1. I saw from the class directory that you're doing a Video Essay. Although you have a lot of really good and credible text-based resources, I think it would be beneficial for you to find audio and/or video articles that you can directly include into your video essay (trust me, I speak from experience).
2. Although all of your sources are incredibly credible, all but like 4 of them are from before 2010. Are you going to use these articles to explain how long this argument has been going for? Finding more up-to-date articles will most likely prove to be useful.
3. You have a really nice variety of news articles and scholarly journals, but I think the addition of an opinion-based source could add a little, for a lack of a better word, flavor to your project.
But overall, this all looks great! Best of luck! Hope my suggestions were helpful :)