Advocacy E-Book
For my Online Content and Strategy class, I created an advocacy e-book on civil forfeiture, a topic I first encountered in my War on Drugs course. Learning how the government framed forfeiture as a necessary crime-fighting tool, while advocacy groups reframed it as a violation of civil liberties and property rights, showed me how rhetoric can legitimize authority, challenge institutions, and shape public consciousness. That contrast was the inspiration for my project.
The e-book required legal and historical research, but the more challenging part was translating complex policy into language that a general audience could understand. I examined how media coverage, public messaging, and advocacy campaigns influenced public opinions about drug policy and government power. Through this process, I saw how communication actively directs policy, influences values, and informs public action.
Instagram Carousel Series
To broaden the project’s impact, I reworked the e-book into a series of Instagram carousels. I wanted the same historical and legal information to exist in a space where people actually encounter advocacy work and news. Translating dense material into short slides required me to isolate the core arguments and express them without losing nuance or accuracy. This process made it clear that effective communication shifts depending on platform, audience, and attention span, yet must maintain credibility. Turning academic research into social media content showed how political and historical issues can be reframed to engage the public in ways that inform, persuade, and hold viewers’ attention.
