I need you

    • 910 posts
    April 18, 2010 10:46 AM PDT
    Hey there, still working on it. The end of the semester is in 3 weeks so it will be turned in then. I will post results by May 7th (end of my semester)
  • April 18, 2010 5:26 PM PDT
    One thing Buffy! - I noticed that a lot of people talked about their patches but didn't mention pins- they also have a place in your report.
    For example most pins are for charity rides such as cancer, MDA, MS,child abuse,or my favorite is children's hospitals.
    Do you plan on putting that into your paper or are you interested in patches only?
    Either way if you need more pics I can post a bunch from the 50 plus years I've been riding, all the way from 1% clubs to what I wear now.
    • 910 posts
    April 18, 2010 11:02 PM PDT
    Thank you sarge7! I do have time to include new contributions if you are able to do so relatively soon (like by the weekend). As far as pins and stickers It helps me personally to understand all of these things collectively, but for the assignment we were instructed to narrow it to a very specific focus so my study excludes all but the patches in the final presentation. I recognize that they (pins/stickers) have important stories to tell but not having done a project like this before I didn't quite know how to frame it properly in the beginning stage. I swear if I were to repeat this project every year, I could broaden the scope and each time I would come up with different results... it's fascinating!
  • g
    April 18, 2010 11:11 PM PDT
    great work buffy .
  • g
    April 18, 2010 11:13 PM PDT
    i also now know a bit more about all the patches ,thanks to you .
    • Moderator
    • 19040 posts
    April 18, 2010 11:44 PM PDT
    Sitting here with a worm on my tongue (Baited breath) waiting for the results...
    • 910 posts
    April 18, 2010 11:59 PM PDT
    hey g, that is cool to hear, though I can't take the credit. That goes to the great people on CF.

    Rex... that expression just gave me such a case of the giggles! Sidetrack must be rubbing off on you *winks*
    • Moderator
    • 19040 posts
    April 19, 2010 12:17 AM PDT
    Rubbing, oh yeah...
  • April 19, 2010 4:46 AM PDT
    OK - Here ya go
    THe demin jacket is mostly for ABATE functions and my vest shows ride pins for the last 2 years - if I put all of them on one vest I wouldn't be able to walk nor would I have the room needed to get all of them on - same goes for my patches - the ones I wear are the flag (of course) my retired military patch and the kids charity patchs - all are close to my heart - especially the kids (was one once myself).
    Back of the demin is my feelings toward those who have served and wern't as lucky as I was.  I'll never forget a downed brother in arms.
    Hope this helps your assignment a little.
    • 910 posts
    April 19, 2010 5:10 AM PDT
    Thank you! Every bit of information helps both with the assignment and with my own understanding.
  • April 19, 2010 5:48 PM PDT
    AdventureGirl wrote...
    also, "race" is included in the basic information section but I did not ask that of anyone so I am going to remove it.
    About one or twice a month I get harris polls to fill out - and in every one they have a question as to "race" as does the current census form.
    I have only one answer every time they ask me that question - MY RACE IS AMERICAN.
    Some one once asked me why I answer that way and I explain that the US wrote a paper one time that stated all men and women were created equal - it's kind of a old paper written back in 1776 or thereabouts but it still works today you might of heard of it.
    After 30 years in the military I learned that there is only one color and it's red - a lot of our guys proved that in so many wars that I think it would be pointless to look a persons skin and judge him or her by it. My outlook on race is that the United Staes is the melting pot of the world and it doesn't matter what color you are as long as you believe in our great country and what it stands for.
    I don't speak spanish or german or any other language except american and I don't care what anybody speaks either but when someone moves to our country and doesn't want learn our ways or expects special treatment because they can't or won't learn our ways then that person is not American and in that light I employ the golden rule - it's simple direct and leaves no misunderstanding between people of different backgrounds - break that rule and that person is not an AMERICAN.

    • 910 posts
    April 25, 2010 3:39 PM PDT
    Thank you sarge7 for your very valuable input!

    For you and the rest who participated here I have questions to help clarify some sections of the "unit of analysis" & the "measurement tool". My instructor is looking for more detail on

    1.) the "Genre of Belief the patch communicates" this is a direction he guided me to but I don't know how to categorize all the contributions appropriately. He gave general examples of: "humor, political, motorcycle-related, etc." I thought perhaps to add "patriotism, military service"

    2.) the "patch salience according to where the motorcyclist places it": i.) categories of patch location:
    • 910 posts
    April 25, 2010 3:39 PM PDT
    *His comment: 1) decide what specific locations cause the greatest salience. On the top of the back of motorcyclist's jacket, on the middle orlower portion of the back of the motorcyclist's jacket, on sleeve of motorcyclist's jacket, on front of motorcyclist's jacket 2) establish which locations are intrinsically most, 2nd most, 3rd most etc. salient.

    For example: Back of motorcyclists jacket could equal "1st most" because not only is it very visible to vehicles following the motorcycle on the road, the motorcyclist chooses to wear it, and thus, embody the message.

    Salience: the degree of importance/priority suggested by a media exemplar (had a hard time reading his writing for that word) as a function of strategic placement.
    • 910 posts
    April 25, 2010 3:50 PM PDT
    ok, more questions: (I think I can ascertain much of this by looking at the pictures you provided but where it isn't obvious could you help me by providing me with the benefit of your insight?)

    If a patch has special representation for family, friends or other...
    What are potential themes that correspond to family, friends? Last name, special event, inside joke, first name, etc?
    • Moderator
    • 19040 posts
    April 26, 2010 12:02 AM PDT
    Buffy, two of my patches fit this...
    Survivor - Created by a cancer survivor for cancer survivors
    Moosechoppers MC - only three members, inside joke for event brought on by excessive consumption of Jack
    • 910 posts
    April 26, 2010 12:35 AM PDT
    RexTheRoadDog wrote...
    Buffy, two of my patches fit this...
    Survivor - Created by a cancer survivor for cancer survivors
    Moosechoppers MC - only three members, inside joke for event brought on by excessive consumption of Jack

    Thank you Mike. Oh and the Moosechoppers MC patch? I got a nice chuckle out of that one, not so much the patch but because it came to be after 'excessive consumption of Jack'. I wonder how many other things can be said of that.. *lol*
    • 910 posts
    April 29, 2010 2:11 AM PDT
    Ok, I have a generic question. For patch locations. Where are the top 5 most coveted locations for your patches? For example:

    Center middle back, upper middle back, lower middle back, left side middle back, right side middle back, left chest, right chest... etc.
  • April 29, 2010 2:24 AM PDT
    1. middle back
    2. upper middle back
    3. lower middle back
    4. left chest
    5. right chest
    (1) colors,(2)  Name of club or oganization,(3) area covered by club or organization(4) member status,(5 or other) name, personal statement, or sallute.
    • 910 posts
    May 11, 2010 12:04 PM PDT

    This paper just about broke me last week. 
     

    The way I set this project up turned out to be a massive amount of work when it came time to match raw data to the measurement tool then input that into excel. I was having a panic attack at crunch time and had to be convcinced by a classmate (math major) to randomly select 6 of the 36 contributors as a smaller subset for the analysis. My professor thought that was sage advice as long as my sample analyzed 30 patches. The 6 random selections turned out to have 99 patches total, so that worked in my favor.
     

    Other thoughts?

    • I decided I hated excel with a vengeance before finally making peace with it (I'm a visual person, the neat tables and colored charts/graphs helped).
    • Citing sources is new territory for me, I found it to be painful and confusing... I will have to get better at that as I have many more papers in my future (*whimper*).
    • I had no idea what to write for my hypothetical examples but I did it anyway.
    • The analysis part... that took quite a bit of time. I had to read dozens of papers on my selected theory (Agenda Setting) to find three examples that fit the idea of patches as a media so that I could cite it, analyze it and compare it to my original idea. Each analysis becoming more closely matched to my topic.... I did what I could with that. (it didn't help that I first started looking for another theory "uses & gratification" before switching over to "agenda setting")
    • I think perhaps I put too much of my own self into the work too. The peer examples the professor shared with us included personal commentary so I did the same, I might have taken that a bit far.
       

    In the end, it did prove challenging but in a way that should have been expected (ok it was) because my professor informed me no other study with this focus exists.
     

    My only real disappointment is it seemed a really cool idea in the beginning, but the final product is a very complex scientific document.
     

    If any of you are interested in seeing it, it's too large to post here (32 pages), I would happily send it to your email as an attachment if you send me a PM with your email address.
     
     I didn't have time to do a post-mortem with my instructor after submitting the paper and before the close of the semester but I emailed him to ask if he would review it with me in the fall to let me know what he thinks could have been done differently.
     

    OH.... my grade for the class?  

    I owe every one of you a great debt of gratitude!!!!

    • 190 posts
    May 11, 2010 12:44 PM PDT
    Glad that it all ended up working out, congrats on the 'A'.
  • May 11, 2010 12:46 PM PDT
    Buffy
    That is awesome you did wonderful!!!
    • 2072 posts
    May 11, 2010 12:57 PM PDT
    Buffy...... "A" That is so awesome !!!! Speaking for your whole Cyclefish family....... Ya made us proud girl !!!!!!
  • May 11, 2010 1:08 PM PDT
    Congratulations on a difficult and all consuming job well done. You did good girlfriend!!!!
  • May 11, 2010 1:19 PM PDT
    Your present insight in the Cyclefish family far exceeds the perception of the majority of the people who offered the view into the bikier life. You now know us better than we might believe. Great job on a very complex undertaking.
    • 1040 posts
    May 11, 2010 1:47 PM PDT
    Dedication and desire goes a loooooooooooooooooooooooong way; way to go Buffy.