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.