Media and Information Overload

Here are some treats from the Columbia Journalism Review. One of our tasks in this class is to consider not just how media impact messages--things we may wish to say or hear--but how media impact us, our thinking, and our relationships with other human beings.

The video clip below is a short description of the research Maggie Jackson is doing on our ability to pay attention to the world around us. Watch the clip and consider two different ways we can apply our mental energy: in a focused, precise way, or in a diffuse and complex way. We can think of it as the difference between meditation and multi-tasking.

The structure of digital media and the aggressive way advertising solicits our attention pulls our mind into a natural state of diffusion--our thoughts change rapidly, and no thought remains very long.

The above photo: Scientists quantifying the mental energy of a Buddhist monk meditating. source: TheBuddhistblog.blogspot.com

Ad Analysis Assignment

I've posted today's slides on Blackboard that deal with Wednesday's Ad Analysis assignment and the Radio as a Medium slides. The Ad Analysis is pretty straightforward if you just follow the format below:

1. Description:
–The medium of the ad (TV, print, radio, web...)
–The source of the ad (the TV station, or magazine, for example)
–All the elements that help tell the story of the ad
•Music (happy, sad, vocal, instrumental, genre….)
•Visual images (what objects, what style, colors…)
•Text (including fonts, size, location, information…)

2. Analysis
–Why is it constructed the way it is (how does the design of the ad help persuade the audience)
–Who is the targeted audience
–What is the argumentation form
•Logos (logical argument providing evidence)
•Ethos (persuasion based on someone’s reputation)
•Pathos (persuasion based on an emotional appeal)

3. Evaluation
–How well do you think the advertisement worked?
–Is the argument persuasive?
–What were the specific strengths of the ad?
–What could be improved?

More Resources

Once you open the floodgates to a topic like independent media--individuals telling their stories through film, radio, animation, music, and on and on--then it can be hard to stop passing along more material. Take a look below at a few sites which will not only give you access to great storytelling (and much of it by young adults), but the resources to create your own stories.

Everyone in this class has a compelling story to tell--one that would make us stop and think quietly about it, or would double us over in laughter, tears, or both--most likely both.

The world will be a better place to the extent that you tell these stories.

Your production assignment can be about anything. And it's just your next step in a longer series of stories to tell.

http://www.listenup.org/index.php

http://transom.org/

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

Two Things...

One:
I mentioned the link to Daniel Levitin's lecture on ideas from his book: This Is Your Brain On Music. The link is here:

http://content.digitalwell.washington.edu/msr/external_release_talks_12_05_2005/13826/lecture.htm

http://www.yourbrainonmusic.com/



Two:
Here's a site to browse for production assignment inspiration. One of your classmates alerted me to Outta Your Backpack Media--take a look at their short films, made in the span of a few hours to a few days.

There's something comically satisfying about the phrase Revenge Tastes Like Panda. Say it a few times to someone you love.

http://www.indigenousaction.org/





While we're at it: check out the student-made media at Spy Hop Productions in Salt Lake:

http://www.spyhop.org/gallery.html

A great site for student video, audio and web-based media. Mother Superior was screened at Sundance in 2007.

Just in time for Chapter Three

Our next class discussions will revolve around recorded music. We'll discuss the music industry, recording technologies, and different genres of music.

When you get the opportunity, read through the Underground Hip-Hop paper that is new on Blackboard. Read it for the sake of appreciating the most globally dominant form of music, but also as an example of thinking deeply about a topic from pop culture. We have, in this class, the opportunity to write about cartoons, Johnny Cash albums, the social impact of the Halo video game series, or anything else that we can link to mass communications. However, a paper about country music or video games should be as well thought-out as a paper about the Spanish-American War or the role of ATP in photosynthesis.

Those of you who follow Hip-Hop will find the material to be a few years old, but it still does a great job of going beneath the surface. Your papers for this class don't have to be nearly so long, but they should show interest in the subject, be well-researched, and should allow the reader to walk away with a new perspective.

Happy reading.

This too...

Perhaps the most useful thing about this blog is the chance it gives me to shore up the gaps when I forget things in our class discussions. As we spoke about the Radio West broadcast, we covered some ideas about growth through new ideas, and that breaking down our tendency to cluster into comfortable groups can help us gain new points-of-view (or at least appreciate the humanity of those with opposing points-of-view).

What I forgot to go back to is something called consistency theory--which is the idea that despite our access to many different points-of-view in the media, and particuarly online, we tend to not choose to access those different ideas. Instead, we often return to what is known and what is comfortable. This isnt' to say we don't like new media messages--we consume them voraciously. But typically, we get 'new' messages from tried-and-true sources, with slight variance from what we think we'll like.

Example: If I have every Scorpions album ever printed and I'm starting to get bored of them, I may end up loading up on Iron Maiden MP3's. I may also end up buying the Guitar World magazine with Metallica on the cover, rather than Wired, Better Homes and Gardens, or Elle.

Of course, this is a generalization, like just about everything else we'll study. I noticed quite a few of you who combined vastly different musical genres and other wide-ranging ideas on your blogs. Just remember consistency theory as another way to talk about things general media audiences do generally.

5 key questions assignment

Select any media message from TV, radio, video games, recorded music or the web, and apply our 5 key questions (from the first weeks of class) to that message. Answer each of the five questions after giving each careful consideration and backing your answers up with outside quotes, statistics, etc. where appropriate.

1. Who created this message?
2. What techniques are used to attract my attention? How might the medium's rules of communication have impacted the message?
3. How might different people understand this message differently from me?
4. What lifestyles, values, or points-of-view are represented by this message? What have been omitted?
5. Why was this message sent?

Take a look at a sample I put on Blackboard. As you read through it, consider how well it answered the questions, and what could be improved.

You can pick any media message you wish for your assignment. Consider video games, recorded music, advertisements, magazine articles, etc. Pick something you are really interested in, or something you really aren't--something with which you fundamentally disagree. Picking something with which you are already bored won't make this any easier.

Whenever possible, do some research to answer questions that arise while you are working, and cite your sources.

Post, e-mail, submit to Blackboard, or bring to class by January 26th.

Have fun.

Some Homework for the Extended Weekend

Between Wednesday the 14th, and Wednesday the 21st, you'll have many opportunities to carve out an hour and dedicate it to a radio broadcast from the University of Utah's KUER program, Radio West.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuer/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1456544

At some point before the next class session, click on the link, listen to this program, and write down your reactions as the moderator and guest, Bill Bishop, discuss some trends in American and Global culture.

Today we have many choices about where we live and work, and what we watch, hear, or read. With nearly unlimited access to information on TV or the Web, do we get an understanding of what different people think, or do we tend to see images of ourselves reflected back at us in different forms? This radio interview will bring up many ideas that we will go on to cover in Comm 1500 in more detail. While you listen, consider some of our ideas we discussed last class:

• Who sent this message?
• What values or points-of-view are represented by the moderator, the guest, the listeners calling in? What values or points-of-view are omitted?
• How would other people, different from me, understand these ideas?
• What are some possible reasons this radio program was broadcast?

Write down your thoughts, your ideas of what you thought was interesting, or what needed more explanation. How would you add to their view of history, or to their discussions of rural living compared to urban living? How have your own life experiences been similar to, or different from, the discussion of the guests and callers. Finally, what might the cultural changes discussed in the program mean for the country? How might we all be impacted in the future?

You can post your ideas here, or on your own blog, or bring a few notes to class for discussion.

Put down the phone, game controller, and e-mail.

Take an hour, relax, and listen.

First two assignments.

Between now and January 19, pick a day where you will track your media consumption for one twelve hour period (or a waking day, whichever you prefer). Make a list of TV programs, books, recorded music, web pages, advertisements, magazines you consume, etc. Please note when the media messages contain commercial content; this can be helpful information as we develop a picture of what kind of stories we are taking in.

Shoot for publishing your media log by the 19th. We will not meet on this day, so enjoy your Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. If you would prefer not to publish your media log to your blog, you can e-mail it to me over our class Blackboard page.

The second assignment, the 5 questions assignment, can be published to your blog anytime that following week. The instructions are listed below. You can also find information on all of the semester's assignments on the Comm 1500 Blackboard site. Enjoy.

Select any media message from TV, radio, video games, recorded music, the web, etc. and apply our 5 key questions (from the first weeks of class) to that message. Answer each of the five questions after giving each careful consideration and backing your answers up with outside quotes, statistics, etc. where appropriate.

The Syllabus

College of Eastern Utah San Juan Campus
Introduction to Mass Communication – COMM 1500
Fall Semester, 2008 EDNET
3 credit hours
Monday, Wednesday, 1:00 – 2:15 HSL 129

SYLLABUS

Instructor: Anthony Lott Office Phone: (435) 678-2201 ext. 118
Office Hours M – TH 12 – 1:00 Art Room office in HSL - 1st floor
anthonylott@sjc.ceu.edu http://sjcmasscomm.blogspot.com/


Course Description:
This humanities course is an introduction to the theory, structure, content, functions, impacts, power, and responsibility of newspapers, magazines, radio, television, computer networks and motion pictures, and their significance in contemporary society.

Prerequisites: none

Required Text and Materials:
Text: Media and Culture: an introduction to mass communication, 2009 Update: Campbell, Martin, and Fabos
ISBN: 978-0-312-47824-7
This class will also require access to television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, and internet access. Access to all of these at home is helpful, but you can utilize the library and computer lab on campus as needed.

Course Objectives:

To develop a greater awareness of the media’s influence on our lives and culture.
To increase oral and written communication skills, and production skills in one or more mass media.
To develop critical thinking, and the skills of analyzing messages in a variety of media.
To develop skills in research using a variety of resources.
To be able to form opinions more independently of the influences of marketing, spin, and rhetoric, and to maintain healthy media literacy.

Teaching Methods:
This course will combine discussion, group assignments, individual projects, and lecture. Small group and whole class discussion will be used to review concepts from the assigned readings, as well as to review issues that come up in written assignments. Lectures by the instructor, and the viewing of film clips and web content will be used to introduce new information or discussion topics. Class content will vary according to what happens in the media over the course of the semester. You will do a fair amount of hands-on work to create mass messages of your own.



Policies and Procedures:

New for Fall ’09!
You will incorporate your classwork into a personal blog. Your blog may range beyond the content of the class (for example, you may create a music blog, if that is your interest, or a blog about current events, sports, etc.). When it is time to submit a class assignment (see assignment sheet), you will publish that work to your blog. You may tailor your assignment to fit the general tone of your blog. For example, if you are keeping a music-oriented blog, write about the mass media’s impact on the music industry, or digitization and music.
You can get updates on the class and other info at
http://sjcmasscomm.blogspot.com/

Students are responsible to read all textbook assignments or other readings prior to class. Information from the readings may not be reviewed in class, but may still appear in an examination. Generally, the mid-term and final exams will be based on concepts from the textbook. Written assignments will be more involved with students’ personal use and involvement with the media, and will require the application of ideas from the readings.
Quizzes of various formats will be given periodically to reinforce the readings and ideas that pop up in class discussion.

Attendance: If you are late or absent, it is your responsibility to make up course material and assignments. If you miss a class, it is up to you to get class notes, assignments, etc. from classmates.

Plagiarism: Submission of work that is not your own, or material included without proper source citation, will result in a failing grade for the assignment, and possible disciplinary action by the college. It will be considered plagiarism if you 1) fail to cite quotations and borrowed ideas. 2) fail to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks. and 3) fail to put summaries or paraphrases in your own words. Take the time to understand the ideas you research, and develop your own opinions for your projects.

Outcomes Assessment and Grading Criteria:
Written assignments will be evaluated based on your use of concepts from class and the textbook, as well as how well the work answers the main idea of the assignment. The assignments are open-ended—they are based on your own perceptions, research, and analysis. Think them through, be thorough, and write about what interests you (you will perform better if you find a topic that you are curious about). I will grade them on a twenty-point scale. A grade of 14 means that the basic requirement of the assignment was met, but little additional effort was put forth (a C). A grade of 20 shows inventiveness, logic, and a willingness to explore your idea fully. We will discuss this further in class.

Exams will be a combination of short answer and short essay questions based on the main ideas from class and the readings.



Midterm Exam 20%
Final Exam 20%
Written Assignments 30%
Production Assignment 20%
3 Quizzes 10%

Extra-credit assignments can be negotiated. See me for more information.

Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. If you are a student with a disability or special need, contact Karolyn Romero immediately to arrange for accommodations that will assist you with this course: HSL Building, room118, (435)678-2201 ext. 161, KarolynRomero@sjc.ceu.edu.

Welcome to Mass Comm class

Welcome to the blog for the College of Eastern Utah's San Juan Campus Intro to Mass Communication class. I'll post updates, assignment reminders, or links to interesting and/or relevant material.

If you are in the Comm 1500 course, think about the following:

• make sure you're registered
• make sure you have a copy of the textbook
• make yourself comfortable with your own blog--for tips on getting started, take a look at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

• you can start following this blog with the link to the right

See you in class, and please feel free to post comments for the class on this blog. If you have something especially compelling on your own blog that we should see immediately, this is a good way to let us know.