PARTICIPATION LOG
Dylan Cromwell
Group Page: http://cuhelpforthehomeless.tumblr.com
Participation Log & Annotations:
1. 
10/10/14 This meme post was meant to attract attention through humor and deliver the message of people’s tolerance for homelessness. More needs to be done for prevention and understanding. In order for people to start changing their views and stereotypes of homelessness, understanding is the first key. Though this meme was meant to draw in an audience of different background and values it was also meant to deliver a short simple message quickly. There were no likes however on this post.
2. http://www.standupforkids.org 10/12/14 This link posted was of an online organization that attempts to help homeless children throughout the United States. Unlike my groups attempt with this issue, this group and organization took a more high risk activism approach as their main goal was to get their audience to “adopt a child” for some amount of money a month or year. They relied more on strong ties than my group did. This was a good case study of an example of what our group did not want to fall into.
3.
10/15/14- I thought this video was a good example of how the media and networked community could change the life of the exact people my group is focusing on helping and creating awareness for. Also the participatory culture that is shown as someone had to go and upload this video to youtube, shows the power and ability that every one person is capable of as now this man is no longer homeless, and was discovered for his talents. Also the popularity of the video (though it was slightly out of date) I also thought would help transform our space into a more relatable place
4. http://www.homelessworldcup.org/content/homelessness-statistics 10/15/14
I posted a link that broke down the basic facts about homelessness throughout the world in each country. America has over 1.37 million of the homeless population are children. Our groups mission statement said that our main goal was to attempt to reveal the truth about homelessness, as the majority of those homeless are children and families. Not just a scary, dirty man with a sign on the side of the road. Though I thought this article relayed a lot of important information about awareness and transforming the way people think about homelessness, I personally think it came off too scholarly for many of our audience to put in the time.
5. 
This cartoon I liked because of how short and simple it is. There is no reason not to read it because just by glancing at it the message behind the cartoon is revealed. As homelessness is starting to become a greater and greater problem in cities and around the world, no longer can people just turn their heads and ignore what is right in front of them. The humor aspect as well in this cartoon I thought would be able to attract viewers and allow it to be something that they will remember after they have stopped viewing the image, this idea of occupying or transforming our space.
6. http://invisiblepeople.tv/blog/ 10/18/14
I posted a blog that I had found which shared videos of different people who were homeless. The blog site was very easy to navigate and the content was very entertaining and engaging. It did a great job of displaying all sides of homelessness and giving a good overview of all the different and unfortunate paths that lead all kinds of different people to become homeless. I also thought it would be a good idea to share something that another person or group of people created simply due to this idea of participatory culture. If others see that people are creating blogs and participating it might encourage them to become more active in the online community rather then being simply an observer.
7.
This video revealed that even people who have nothing are still sometimes some of the best souls with great values. The older man ends up winning the arm wrestle and the $100, however he immediately hands it over to the younger homeless kid, someone he’s never met. This act of kindness not just by those who made the video, but by the homeless man shows us all why we need to care. The video received a lot of attention on youtube and has circulated on Facebook and other network media sites. It helps show why we should try and help everyone out and not judge a book by its cover.
8. 
10/24/14- This meme helped exemplify participatory culture and remixing capabilities. Our main goal was to try and transform our group’s space by encouraging our audience to interact and be effected by the things we post and create a collective community. The meme itself also attempts to relay that homelessness has been an issue in our society for an extremely long time, and that more focus on it needs to be taken if any change is going to be seen in our future.
9. http://colorado.rockies.mlb.com/col/fan_forum/funrun.jsp 10/26/14
I posted a link to a fundraiser help every year by the Colorado Rockies called “Home Run for the Homeless.” This link I thought was good as it attracted people with sports interest as well as most of our groups material has little to relate to this area of interest. It also shows the extent that the issue of homelessness has become, as well as revealing that there are many opportunities for the community and society to get together and do something powerful and meaningful with their day, and still have a great time doing it. An attempt to give people the ability to feel this “epic meaning” through an “epic win” by attending the fundraiser.
10. http://www.businessinsider.com/rich-and-famous-people-who-were-homeless-2014-8?op=1
This article I posted reveals 15 different rich and famous people who were once homeless before their rise to fame. Some of these celebrities shocking included Jim Carry, Dr. Phil, Daniel Craig and many other very recognizable celebs. I thought this was a very interesting read and very shocking, as it relates to pop culture I also thought it would be a good thing to post to attract an audience that would develop a new found interest in this issue, as often times many people are able to hide the fact that they are homeless
Dylan Cromwell 