COM 325 ended the Fall 2015 semester by producing its own digital videos based on student projects. Here's the first one we're posting online. Look for others in the coming weeks!
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Post contributed by Amanda Smith
According to AT&T, 70 percent of drivers look at their smartphone while driving. Common activities include texting (61 percent), checking email (33 percent) or social media (40 percent), and surfing the net (30 percent). In 2010, AT&T’s It Can Wait viral campaign was launched. It started with a focus on raising awareness about texting and driving in 2011 before shifting to what can be done to pass the message on in 2012. Then it shifted to advocacy in 2013 and became a social movement. According to FleishmanHillard, “The movement had two main goals: 1) reduce the number of automobile crashes caused by texting while driving, and 2) spur advocacy to show that texting and driving is as dangerous as drinking and driving.” Today, the focus of It Can Wait encompasses all these ideas, and has grown to include distracted driving as a whole instead of focusing on the texting part. There are several components to this campaign, which include mini documentary and simulated advertisements on YouTube and TV; online and physical driving simulators that show what can happen when one uses their phone while driving; and an app for some Android and Apple smartphones that sends messages to people trying to reach the driver that he or she is currently driving and cannot answer the phone. The heart of this campaign is online through students, parents, celebrities, politicians, etc., who use #itcanwait with their online posts. However, more than 500 events also occurred nationwide offline in 2014 to spread the message. In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker has made October Distracted Driving Awareness Month. In addition, 25 schools throughout Wisconsin will have an event during this school year that will educate students on the danger of driving while distracted, which will also include the use of a simulator to show students what happens when one is behind the wheel and on their phone. “When we launched the It Can Wait campaign five years ago, our message was simple – no text is worth a life,” said Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin, in a Fox 6 News article. “The same applies to other smartphone activities people are now engaging in while driving. We are urging people to please keep their eyes on the road and not on their phones.” More than 7 million people have now taken the pledge. Will you take a stand to stop distracted driving? Go to http://www.itcanwait.com/all to learn more about It Can Wait, take the pledge, or start your own advocacy program. For the longer version of the video, please check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVnRcIXEqaU. |
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