Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Wasted Food
After watching the documentary, Food Inc., we hope you gained an opinion about the food industry and what is have evolved into today. The Wasted Food blog is about all the food humans waste in the United States. There are facts, stories, tips, and opinions on this blog. We hope that you will be able to relate this blog to Food Inc. as well as share your own personal opinions, things you like, and critiques of this blog. We are excited to hear what you have to say! www.wastedfood.com
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This blog is pretty interesting in its color scheme. It uses the blue and green that we've seen before in environmental blogs, but uses a large image of a farm with a field of grass and a blue sky to tie in these colors. This sort of "old style farm" imagery is the same sort of thing that "Food Inc" first discusses. Just from skimming through a few posts, the subject material seems to be presented very informally, as if we were friends with the author and just talking. Many of the posts have a lot to offer, but because of that, many of the topics only get a small sentence and a link dedicated to them. It would be nice to see some of the subjects elaborated on further. The overall goal of the blog is to get people to stop wasting food, and in that respect I think the website is effective. The navigation bar offers tips, act!, and food rescue. However, I found that the book link takes me to a large page dedicated to selling the book American Wasteland. Personally, I think this sort of destroys a lot of credibility the blog had established.
ReplyDeleteWhen first viewing this blog I initially saw the farmer theme. The large heading on the top of the page really says a lot about this blog and what it stands for. In the center we see the ideal farm and green grass, but instead of seeing all the crops and fields of plants we see trash cans. This is to represent the idea that this site proposes of food waste. This is a very professional blog and does a good job connecting to the people through social outlets such as twitter and facebook. It also does a great job of organizing the site and gives the user options on how to search for articles. Another great thing about this blog is all the links it supplies. These links all deal with food waste and even some food recovery groups. Unlike many other blogs we have viewed, this blog seems to be updated fairly frequently, but like the others it lacks comments from the users. Although this blog at first seems credible, I began to wonder who actually posted these blogs. It seems to be that only one person (Jonathan Bloom) runs this site and it gives no hint as to why he would have reliable information. Overall, I believe this website does a great job informing people about food waste and also provides interested users the links and tools to join the cause if they feel led.
ReplyDeleteThe banner to this blog is very clever and eye catching. It reminds me a lot of the documentary that we just watched, Food Inc., because they talked about how advertisers make food products look like they come from quaint little farms. If you look more closely at the picture you notice the rows of trashcans, which is interesting and makes you want to look further into the blog. I looked about the “about” section and saw that the author of this blog is a guy who has been researching “wasted food” since 2005. I also saw that he has written a book, makes speeches, and is a volunteer in a homeless shelter, but I don’t really know if this guy is an expert or just passionate about food. A thing that adds to the credibility of the blog is that the author posts very often. The posts are very interesting, also. The first one caught my eye because I am one of those picky people who will not drink milk if it says “Best before” today’s date. The blog is very helpful because it has many sites down the right side to use as resources, and the blog posts cover an abundance of topics. It seems like many readers commented on the “About” section and the “Tips” sections above the top, which makes me think that it does have some popularity. It is more comments than we have seen on any other blog at least. I think that wasting food is a very serious issue that most people don’t think about and this blog is effective at getting information out to the public.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that caught my eye, just like in every other blog, was the heading. It had a humorous aspect but also a serious one. It would definitely catch the attention of a reader. Instantly though, the credibility of this blog is questioned. Underneath the tab bar the introduction mentions a man by the name of Jonathon Bloom, but the question is who is this man? The titles of the articles are very creative and catchy and personally made me want to continue to read the articles that follow. I also noticed that most of the articles contain a lot of hyperlinks of things you can click on and continue to read and learn. And obviously the designer of this blog enjoys what he does because he makes posts very frequently. The blog is also very organized; this is evident at the bottom of the page where you can search a post by month or category. I also really enjoyed watching the counter at the bottom which shows how many pounds of U.S. food is wasted since the page loaded, it is astounding. I noticed also that this blog like the Civil Right blog is connected with different social media sights to continue to get the word across and influence as many people as possible.
ReplyDeleteAfter reviewing the Wasted Food Blog by Jonathan Bloom, the blog effectively communicates ideas for reducing the amount of food being thrown out in the United States. The interface of the blog allows the reader to understand the theme of the blog. The banner across the top of the page contains a stereotypical red barn with three sheep outside on the green grass. In addition, the field aspect of the farm depicts many trash cans rather than a type of crop indicating to the reader that fresh crops are just being thrown away like trash. The blue sky contains the words in dark red, Wasted Food. The contrast between the blue sky and the red font grabs the reader’s attention. The background of the website is white with blue, green, and grey accents. Another interesting detail of the blog is that the bullet points for the entries contain different images such as a dead fish, plants, and an apple core. The interface of the blog is very well put together and intrigues the reader to return.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting aspect to OSU students would be that in the links section of the blog, a link is contained for No Impact Man. No Impact Man was the book students were encouraged to read for the Buckeye Book Club. Along with approximately twenty other links to blogs that are similar, the blog contains links to recent posts and upcoming events. Lastly, the blog updates regularly, around every couple of days. By posting to the blog frequently, Bloom is adding to his credibility and interest in the subject. The Wasted Food Blog effectively describes the way that food is being wasted through its user interface and providing information and additional links to readers who are HUNGRY for more.
Does anyone else think that posting a link to buy a book decreases the credibility of the blog? If so why?
ReplyDeleteWhen I first looked at the blog, the very first thing that I noticed was the banner at the top. The farm looks like a perfect little farm until you look closer. Where the crops are supposed to be is just lines and lines of trash cans. I like in the banner how what the blog is about is blunt and given straight to the readers with the words "Wasted Food." I also noticed that the author, Jonathon Bloom, has been researching this topic since 2005. You can also search at the bottom for any post at anytime. I think that Bloom's experience does add to the credibility of the blog. However, to answer Tochu's question, I do think that posting a link to buy a book decreases the credibility because since Bloom wrote it, it seems like he is just trying to self promote himself and get an extra couple sales. It takes away from the cause. I do like how almost every post contains a video or links where you can get more information. This shows Bloom's interest in getting others informed. The way that the side bar and the tabs on the blog also encourage readers to learn more and get involved if they want to. The side bar offers links to to Food Recovery Groups and upcoming events. There is also a tab that is labeled Act!, which encourages people to get involved. I really like how this blog is not just posts, it offers so much information on a topic that is often overlooked. I really enjoyed the post about expiration dates. My aunt is an expiration date freak and will not eat anything if it is anywhere close to the expiration date. The post showed that expiration dates are selected with extreme, extreme caution and on a good number of products, it is okay to still eat it past the date. Overall, this blog is full of information about a topic that more people should be educated about because at some point, we have all been food wasters.
ReplyDeleteThe first impression of this website is appealing with the humorous heading like everyone has commented on thus far. However, the site kind of bored me. Wasting food really isn't an exciting topic to talk about in the first place (at least in my opinion), but the author didn't expand his posts to anything more than just wasting food. I wish there was more related topics to make the site more interesting.
ReplyDeleteTo Thochu, I don't think that posting the link to buy the author's book decreases the credibility of the blog. Although, having tons of ads running up and down the side of the page reduces credibility because it's seems like the purpose of the blog is more focused on selling things or advertising things. However, in the wastedfood blog, it's a simple picture suggesting to "buy the book". I honestly didn't even notice it until Thochu said something.
Overall, it seems like a worthy blog though. As I was reading the comments in the about section, many people commented saying that this blog really gave them a different outlook on wasting food. So, I guess the blog's job is doing a great job at getting the word out there.
The first thing I immediately noticed about the blog was the banner. It is very eye catching and funny; it definitely made me want to explore the blog further. As I was scrolling through the blog, I noticed the titles and how there is a picture that accompanies each title; this is the first blog that our class has come across that this has occurred. The picture made me want to read the entry because I want to see how the picture relates to the title of the article. The color of the titles is also very attractive; the author used the color green which is a popular color for the go green act. In a way, not wasting food is sub category for the go green movement therefore green was a good color to choose. Also I noticed on the side of the page, the author had links to dealing with other food issues and food subjects and he also listed food activist groups. When I scrolled to the end of the page, I noticed there was a search engine. Not only did this add to the professionalism of the blog but the food waste counter also made it very credible. You can tell that the author is very passionate about this topic by the effort he puts into his blog. He not only posts every few days but he has links to up coming events. Also, he not only blogs about issues but he has a ton of other information on the page such has links to books about food, tips on how not to waste food, etc. Overall you can tell the author is very passionate about the topic of wasting food. I think he goes above and beyond the exceptions of a blog that is written by one person. He also does a great job of getting his point across and get his information out there effectively
ReplyDeleteWhen I first took a look at the blog, it was very interesting to notice how easily I was pulled into reading the articles and browsing the site. The banner is very interesting and eye-catching. It sums up the purpose of the site in a complete and clear picture. It seems to communicate the idea fairly well so that the readers get to understand a little bit about what they are going to find on the site, before they even jump into it. I also noticed that the site uses bright, lucid colors for all of the schemes on the blog. Whether it is in the opening banner or the titles of the posted articles, the site takes advantage of color scheme and uses it to appeal to readers and capture their attention through visual appeal. I also noticed that the site seems very animated. The banner was created through animated pictures and all of the titles contain animated pictures. It seems the author wants to captivate the audience’s attention with bright colors and animated pictures, but this may effect the author’s ethos in a negative way. Being “cartoony” and colorful is fun and appealing, but it does not give a professional effect and may make a lot of viewers believe that the author is not a very credible source. I noticed that the site is very clean cut. It is organized very well and even has a search engine to accommodate viewers looking for certain articles. Overall the site does a great job at bringing in viewers and to some extent even followers, but I feel that it is hard to get a read on the credibility of the site and the author.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I saw when looking as this blog was the header, it initiated a serious topic in kind of a funny way. It is very eye catching and I know it made me stay on the page. Overall, the blogs were kind of short with like one sentence and then a link. The links were helpful, but I think the topics could have been discussed in more detail. The blog is informative with the tips it gives on being less wasteful. This topic is serious, and I feel like more detail would help with the credibility, because right now Ifeel as if the author does not care much about explaining things. I think with some minor changes, this could help with the credibility and even make it easier to understand what the topic actually entails.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see that everyone has similar thoughts about the banner being eye catching and suited the site.
ReplyDeleteI really like the banner at the top of the blog. it draws the readers attention and pulls them into the blog. The formatting is simple which makes it easy to read and the articles are interesting. The color scheme does not really stand out or jump out at the reader, but the simplicity of it is very nice and sort of has a calming effect. The titles for each of the articles are kind of vague like "fear not" or "First Impression: Impressed" i think that this approach makes readers curious about the articles which encourages them to read them; a very smart tactic. The images that they have along side articles also appeals to visual readers and catches are eyes. Overall this blog does a great job of influencing people to read it and drawing people in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you that the banner at the top is being eye catching. the banner clearly shows the purpose and the ideas to the audiences. This is very necessary to this blog to be successful. Also, this blog does a good job on the combination of information and analysis, which help the audiences understand the food industry in the US more deeply.
ReplyDeleteThe banner is the first place my eyes went to when I got in the website. It is very eye catching and does a good job getting the point of the blog across clearly. The colors and attractiveness of the blog were disappointing after seeing the banner though. They are pretty basic and dull. The blog is very organized which is nice. A common theme for all the blogs this quarter have been the links on the side of the blog. This particular blog does a good job with organizing them so that the viewer can locate what they are looking for very easily. I thought that the articles were interesting and diverse which is nice. It's always good to have a variety of articles to choose from. The bottom of the blog is really cool to me how they have a search engine. It allows you to search for a particular post by month or by category. Overall I think the blog is very nice and well organized.
ReplyDeleteThis blog banner was very eye catching as soon as I seen the site. It had lots of interesting colors that made me want to find out and read more on Wasted Foods. However, I do feel that I everything else was just as colorful and eye catching then I would really be interested in the entire blog.
ReplyDeleteThe site was well organized so if anyone needed to find something then they can easily find what they're looking for along the top. I did like how there are different entry/ comments about how food around the country is being wasted. Overall I would say this blog is somewhat interesting, different, and organized.
I like the layout of the blog because it is not so complicated to make me confuse about the content. Also the titles of the article in green catch my eyes immediately. The information it provides is diversity which includes video, pictures and other resources. Discussion in it attracts other audience to join in it and continuos give other interesting views as well. In addition, most of the articles are not very long and clarifying the points to get a better communication to the viewers. The book this blog recommends still interests me and give us better understanding of wasting food from outside sources.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of comprehensive will attract more people to concentrate on the issues of waste food and give the viewers courages to know more about it.