Invention

By the way, some folks are celebrating the 200th anniversary of the invention of the bicycle (or its precursor, anyway). In 1817, Karl von Drais created the hobby horse or “draisienne,” a two-wheeled contraption that eventually evolved into the modern bicycle.

In ancient rhetoric, “invention” has a different meaning: it’s the process of discovering arguments and information to share with others. In our class, it also means discovering your own interests and passions.

For Tuesday’s class (2/7), post to your blog three ideas for a presentation (one of each from the categories below).

Write a good solid paragraph (or more) for presentation idea—at least 150 words or so. More is always welcome—writing these posts is meant to be an opportunity to push your thinking forward.

Remember, it’s fine to take risks. Don’t stick with a safe or easy topic. Rather, use this assignment as a chance to learn, explore, and grow as a communicator.

  1. A credibility assessment presentation. The challenge here is to apply one or more of the credibility concepts we’ve discussed (from Horner, Tseng & Fogg, or Treasure). You can choose almost anything as the object of your analysis, as we discussed in class (but of course you must think about linking to the topic of the class). Options we discussed:
  1. A presentation based on your own personal interests, values, or community. Whatever your interests, there’s a way to find out about the bicycle connection. Go to the main page of Fusion and search for your interest + bicycle. (Obviously, YouTube is also a great place to search but I want you to get to know the library site—it’s my job.)
  • say you loved The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006; 37% on Rotten Tomatoes)…. then you might love this inexplicable and strangely beautiful sight: https://youtu.be/k8PxC8mFM4M?t=52s
  • do you care about global issues like the environment? poverty? public health? folks are out there trying to address these problems with bicycles.
  • do you like travel? look into what it might be like to travel by bike https://www.adventurecycling.org
  • What about your home state or home town? What do people there think about bikes? Does your community have a bicycle plan? Mine does—and I was pretty surprised to learn about it! http://www.wilmapco.org/bikewilmington/
  1. A presentation based on your academic or professional interests. In class, we discussed the example of bicycle economics, which could focus on the bicycle industry of specific markets, on trade relations, or other economic aspects (such as those listed here: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/statistics/category/economic-statistics).Again, Fusion is the best tool—it connects you directly to scholars studying questions that might interest you.
  • design, innovation, & engineering are areas of great interest in the bicycle world
  • if you are interested in any health-related field, there is certainly bike-related information that will interest you
  • same for law or policy!
  • it would be fascinating to investigate bicycle marketing or the retail industry.
  • are you thinking of a military career? it might surprise you that, early on, bikes were adopted for military use: https://youtu.be/yNnTSD219GA