BTBF Critical Summary Portfolio

 August 3rd, Thursday

Source one: Infographic

Click here for infographic 

    An infographic from the CBI Ministry of Affairs titled "The Importance of Food in Travel" depicts research regarding food tourism. Using statistics from a survey, visualizers for those statistics, and captions that make sense of the statistics for consumers identify the source as an infographic because infographics represent data. The infographic argues that food is crucial to tourism. First, it claims that "88.2% of survey respondents consider gastronomy a defining element of the brand image of travel destinations." Then, it claims that "11.8% of respondents considered gastronomy to play a minor role." The split between the majority and minority conveys that the food of a specific location can impact the tourism industry in that country. Countries can increase tourist traffic by branding, improving, and advertising their food. By claiming that gastronomy impacts tourism, the infographic also makes an implicit argument regarding food tourism's positive impact on the economy. The last part of the infographic, which solidifies this implicit argument, has 60 bags of money. Twenty-three of those bags are colored white, while the other thirty-seven are colored red. Underneath, the caption reads, "Over a third of tourists' spending is devoted to food." Visually, readers focus on the uneven split in color to understand that food is a central part of how people travel. The infographic's simplicity, in color and style, allows viewers, including me, to focus on its message regarding gastronomy and tourism. As a reader, everything felt purposeful, such as how the enlargement of 11.8% and 88.2% effectively emphasizes the overwhelming majority of their surveys. The visuals it incorporated on the bottom effectively highlighted food's impact on the economy during my reading. However, the infographic does not actively restrict its scope to European markets (without the required clicking to an attached article), which was misleading for me and could be misleading for potential viewers. 

Source two: News broadcast 

Click here to watch the broadcast

    Mutizwa mentions that the United Nations World Tourism in 2017 reported the growth of food tourism over time before she starts talking about the positive influences of food on tourism and of food tourism on a country because she has to provide her argument's significance. This sequence implies that it is essential to examine food tourism because it is growing to be more well-known and practiced globally. This growth in food tourism leads to "hotel and travel agencies [promoting] certain cuisine by organizing regular tours focusing solely on food." An example of this provided was tribal food tours in Nigeria because people travel to Nigeria to experience its diversity in food. This segment of information connects countries to food tourism: businesses in a country can aim to bring tourists to that country through food. The next piece continues to build on this connection by talking about marketing. Blogging and social networking sites, such as Instagram and Snapchat, are popular ways to market food to attract tourism because of their visual aspects. The video closes out with a feature of Enid Mirembre as an interviewee because of her involvement in curating Uganda's Rolex Festival: a festival centered around Uganda's egg-filled sandwiches. Creating cultural events focusing on food invites people to that destination and builds cultural curiosity. Mirembre focuses on this idea of a country being known for its food, the way Italy is known for pasta, and the power such a reputation can give the country in the international world. The news broadcast effectively depicted gastronomy's positive and powerful impact on a country's tourism because readers, including myself, were drawn in by the definitions provided, the examples used, the pictures shown, and the method of including expert opinions. Instead of solely spouting facts and statistics, readers got to hear directly from an expert, which was engaging. However, the broadcast features a single-story aspect that leaves the viewers wanting more information. I wondered about the possible adverse effects of using gastronomy to increase tourism because the video failed to mention any potential adverse effects. 

Source three: Tourist article 

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Click here for summary or scroll below 

    

Reflection:

    I used an array of different techniques to identify the genre of each source. One technique was looking at what type of information the source was attempting to convey and how it was attempting to convey that information. This strategy of asking myself key questions helped me identify that the genre for my video was a news broadcast. The person was representing a news station, informing viewers on food tourism for a specific continent, Africa. One way she conveyed information was through an interview with an expert. All these aspects fall into the genre of news broadcasting. Another strategy was using outside researching brainstorming tactics. For example, I found the definition of infographic and the definition of article. Then, I compared each aspect of that source to the definition I acquired. For example, a key aspect of an infographic's definition is its representation of data. So, I brainstormed different ways to represent data and checked the components of the source for matches. Using additional research helped me be specific about the type of article my source was: an opinion article. 

    This project hindered my ability to develop my ideas on food and tourism. Critical summary emphasizes the ability to retell information rather than developing your own argument and effectively proving it. Although criticism of the source is important, I was limited to critiquing its arguments and choices made to convey that argument. I was not able to present and provide my own counter argument. Nevertheless, this project allowed me to introduce new ideas regarding food and identity to my blog. Although the ideas in the sources of my critical summer are not mine, my summary will still help viewers of my blog explore food tourism.