I went to the speaking center before my speech on evidence. I think that it was really helpful. In my meeting I talked mostly about where I could potentially go with my speech. The coach showed me helpful tools and tips that can aid in my research for evidence. We also talked a little about visual aids and appearances of powerpoint for speeches. Though I did not present my speech, I know that next time I want to have my speech prepared because they have many helpful inputs on various things regarding speeches and presentations. I am definitely going to visit a few times for my future speeches.
Today I am going to talk a little about the Panhandle. So as most of us know last week we took a trip to the Panhandle to observe and collect evidence.Before I mention more about that I am going to talk more about the controversy with cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers regarding the Panhandle.
As you can see from here there path coming from Fell that lead into the Panhandle and runs into the multi-path. In the Panhandle, cyclists have trouble with the multi-use path. Sharing amongst many different users, for example joggers and walkers, causes cyclists to slow down and unable to ride at speed that allows them to get to their final destination.
With this current situation, the Panhandle Residents Organization started asking local residents if they would like parking-protected bike lanes added to Fell and Oak.
The North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association did the survey and out of the 700 responses more than 70% of people were in support of the protected bike lane.
With this data this will show city officials that there is a demand for street improvement.
Data from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency showed trips have grown
2009- 25,730 trips were taken per month
2015- 50,886 trips per month
So with this amount of bikers using the Panhandle, it would be beneficial for cyclists who are trying to travel and beneficial for residents using paths who do not want to be disturbed by fast speeding cyclists. The multi-path in the Panhandle will be primarily used by walkers, joggers, and casual bike riders. It will also relieve a lot of cycling traffic.
The data i collected at the Panhandle within the 15 minute span was 118 cyclists and about 50 walkers and joggers. So imagining that the amount of cyclists within a day is probably more that thousands.
Though there are many benefits, adding a protected bike lane comes with its tradeoffs. So one would be that the project would cost between 1.6 to 3.9 million. The other would be that it would cut out 75 of 280 unmarked parking spaces on both south and north edges for turning lanes.
Although there is another survey being conducted specifically for neighbors that might be problematic because they are opposed to bike lanes and do not want to lose any more parking that is necessary.
After watching the TED Talk videos, I see that evidence is clearly used within the presentations. Mikael Colville used lots of evidence in his presentation to prove that helmets are chasing people away from riding bikes. He gave statistics about how people are more inclined towards motor vechciles due to the promotion of helmets by brands and legislation. He also made interesting points that more accidents occur when people wear helmets rather than without. He even stated occurring to research that pedestrians have a higher rte of injuring themselves on cement sidewalks compared to cyclists.
However with Fred Rivara’s TED Talk, he talked about how helmets are essential for bicyclists. That promotion really helped increase helmet wear for cyclists. He gave a lot of statistics on how half a million bicyclists accidents are reported in the hospital. Especially with brain injuries, lots of minor damage can be prevented by the wear of a helmet.
I think both presenters make good points on either side. The evidence they presented were valid and convincing of their opinion on the wear of helmets. I see how evidence in a presentation gives creditability to yourself and also to your point or side you are trying defend/support.
When I was younger, I was surrounded by friends who had their own bike and knew how to ride without the training wheels. I remember always being jealous of my friends, who were able to go out on their own and ride wherever they wanted. I know that I was about 10 when I wanted to get my own bike and ride with my friends. Fortuneally at the time, I was living in San Diego and I lived no more than a block away from a bike shop. Whenever my mom and I would go on our walks, we would always past by. I saw one specific bike that I could not stop thinking about. It was a baby blue bike with Hawaiian flowers on the bar right under the handle bars. Right when my mom teaches me to ride, I went everywhere around my neighborhood. When I grew out of it, my sister was the next to learn on it and now my baby sister wants to ride too.
After presenting, I feel like the one thing I did well was sounding informed about that content I was iterating. One thing that I would have wanted to do better was not sound so rushed. I feel that when I was talking I was talking to fast where some might have not followed what I was presenting. I believe I conveyed my information to the audience how I wanted and wish that I was able to have gotten more information regarding the app specifically that I was referring to in the presentation. I think that my delivery was fine but I know that there is probably areas that I can work on for future presentations. I did recognize when conducting research about my topic that I was able to identify creditability in myself considering the classes that I am taking currently. I think I have learned about the ethics of public speaking but need to practice them more. For future presentations, I want to prepare more in advanced and feel more comfortable speaking my information. I defiantly felt better about speaking after recording several practice videos. I think doing that a few days in advance will help me in the future be more comfortable speaking.
After watching, I could tell I didn’t know the content fully. I was unable to look at the screen and only read from my notes.
#2:
The second video was somewhat better. I looked up at the screen more and had a better understanding of the information I was presenting.
#3:
I did not use my powerpoint to help me except for times when I was quoting someone or was stating statistics. I can tell after the third time practicing that I was a lot more aware of what I was saying and organized in my thoughts and words.
For my presentation, I am going to talk about how a hackathon held last year dedicated its coding projects to bicycle safety. People gathered together to create an app that would help solve the pedestrian and bicycle safety in the city. In 2015 there were reports of 300 crashed between pedestrians, cars, or bikes. However police stated that about 60% of bike accidents go unreported. This app would allow an easy way to report accidents and show other users where to be more cautious when riding on the road. Police often do not report crashes unless it “involves a car, a participant is injured, a law is broken or more than $1,500 in damage occurs”. The police department is looking for an app that can help bicyclists and pedestrians store information regarding their accidents in case if a report were to arise later. Twice a year workers are sent out to calculate how many bikers are using certain bike lanes. An app that allows bicyclists to enter what routes they are using to help data collectors and “give a better sense of bicycle commuting traffic across the whole year”.
I found an interesting read about society’s reaction to the invention and the threat it posed on women. Society believed that the bike could compromise women’s femininity, their reproductive systems, and corrupt their morals. Stanton saw this innovation as that paved a way for “spiritual independence” for women. Though bikes posed new implications on society, like accidents and deformities. People worried that the bike imposed physical exertion on women and would complicate their ability to reproduce healthy children. Authors and poets began explaining how cycling helped women get active and help mental illnesses. However others were more concerned that cycling threatened women’s femininity. People wanted racers to change their posture to look more “graceful”. no matter the implications, society saw cycling for women as a way for them to look more “manly” and produce “masculine women”. Stanton overall saw the bicycle “as a tool of liberation”. She believed that this invention could change the perspective of women in society as a whole.
