Media Literacy Summer 2011

Last Week Blog

2011-08-08T23:35:45Z

When we watched the trailer for the documentary Page One, I think that's the title, it reminded me of a screening i had in a different communications class. I don't quite remember what it was called but it was pretty much about the crisis of finding work/keeping work for journalists and the effect of the declining consumers of newspaper on the journalists. I'm assuming that Page One was similar to the screening I had in my other class where the dilemma is on newspapers and its sustainability in our culture. It probably is giving a point of view of the people in Page One and what their thoughts are on the life of newspapers. I think having discussed about newspapers in another class helped me understand it more in depth when we discussed the articles in class.

The Johnson article was praising the news transitioning to the web, the author really liked this new growth media. I agree with him on this. I socialize, do research, check email, and communicate with family on my computer; even school work is done over the internet. So for articles from the newspaper to be posted on the web, it would be so much more convenient for constant computer users like myself. It would even help us to be updated with the world consistently and every minute. Johnson said that the information he got over the web has given him higher quality, more depth, and just more information. That's a good thing, we should like this new form of media; the web.

Someone in class I believe brought up that maybe journalists should stop pouting about the decline of usage of newspapers and move on and become excited for new life in news being on the web. In the Starr article, he talked about how newspapers have always relied on the power of pricing. Newspaper companies can still have that power. People can buy their newspapers online. If newspapers and journalists were all transitioned to online then it could be beneficial. Journalists could write longer articles and write more than just one article on more than just one topic. Technology is improving, so should people's adaptability. Adaptability is part of survival in this world.

Last Blog iCulture

2011-08-07T18:43:18Z

When we spoke of the three dimensions of i Culture. The topic of privacy was raised and how technology has influenced what information we tend to put on websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Since most companies such as credit card companies , cell phone and banks these days tend to use online access to pay or look through a bill. Its hard to be so private through online access , so you cant really get rid of it but you can minimize what kind of information you put online such as social security bank accounts cell phone etc. In this day of age everything just seems to move away from the mailing etc and moving to the fast online transformers. Such as instead of waiting weeks for a paycheck to come through the mail you can instead get your money through direct deposit fast but with that you must put all the information need such as social security number to access direct to deposit. These days the question is What kind of information about yourself are you willing to give up online to be happy. For some that's a easy questions to answer for others one of the hardest.

Newspapers - where are they going next??

2011-08-06T04:37:32Z

Allison's presentation made me think a little more about the future of newspapers in this country. I was under the impression that the NYTimes and almost all other newpapers were in financial distress. IF, and that I think it is a big if, the NYT is doing better now, will they evolve into something other than a newspaper? Like MPR. MPR's main focus is radio, but on there website they now have written articles and I think they are starting to get into video also. If the Washington Post, NYT, and WSJ can develop a financial model that allows they to make money, it may be not because they are newspapers, but because they are sources of high quality news. How it is distributed could be of secondary importance. The news that they produce could be distributed in print, WWW, mobile, or ??? Just something to think about.

A final note on my comment about the financial situation of the NYT. I did a quick look through Yahoo, and the NYT is not profitable, and looking at a number of comments, their attempt to get paying subscriptions for online content is not going well.

Last day of Class

2011-08-05T17:54:12Z

This has been a very interesting class to be in. I've never been in a class that we were required to tweet and blog so that was a struggle for me. But back to the last day, everyone day very interesting topics for their final papers. I may have bombed my speech but I've really never been good at them. And it was also very fun to see how much knowledge we gained from this class. I know I will take away a understanding of what is going on in our media industry and how to avoid the pitfalls of these texts.

Discussion Leader Question 8/3

2011-08-05T14:11:56Z

Sorry i missed class for personal reasons on Wednesday but my question would be this: How is it that a company like Tommy Hilfiger gone from being one of the most trediest clothing lines in the 90's to not being that popular, where a brand like Nike has almost dominated their area of clothing for the last decade?

Wiki Leaks Review

2011-08-05T14:06:10Z

The Wiki Leaks screening was very interesting to me. I had never heard of wiki links and was quite shocked when i heard what they were about and what they do. I still have some questions for how and who they find their information out,but it just goes to show that NOTHING is a secret now adays. One thing i was happy with however is that thet are using their advantage for good and not bad, and not taking to much avantage of the media power that they have developed over the years

Blindside Review

2011-08-05T14:01:18Z

The Blindside was a great movie and has alreaby been dubbed one of the best sports movies of all-time. Its heart felt movie starring sandra bullock and is based off the true live story of Baltimore Ravens starting Offensive Tackle Micheal Oher. The one way i could relate to it personally was the recruiting process. Its funny to see it in the movie, because some of those exact same coaches came to my house and tried to win me over the same way they did in the movie.
One way this movie relates to the media is how he got recruited. His fame spread over the internet as people began to take notice so did the college coaches. Rivals.com run by Tom Lemming is a website just for college football/basketball recruiting and it is a way for kids to get noticed by using online media.

Blindside discussion leader

2011-08-04T18:57:45Z

I was out of town for a conference for several days and I was unable to be in class for the screening of the Blindside, but I have seen it so the teacher and I worked it out where I could be kind of a discussion leader. It's been really hectic since I got back but I've finally found time to discuss it

I remember watching the NFL draft and Michael Oher was drafted to the Ravens, and my brother was telling me about him. He had pretty much came from nothing, had nothing, and nothing was his future. He was saved by the Tuohy family who took him in as their own. At the time it was a crazy thing for the southern white family to take a black boy into their own home. They helped him do better in school in order to go to college football. He ended up going to Ole Miss and excelling academically and athletically. His story would later be made into the movie, The Blindside.

Biggest theme I got out of this movie was family and love. Leanne Tuohy had such a big heart, and let's be honest, someone with that big of a heart is rare. She took in a complete stranger off the street into her own home where her family lives. She did so much for this kid to have a better life. She got him a tutor, she made sure her family welcomed him well, she talked to his real mother, she defended him against dangerous gangsters, and even got him a car to make him feel worthy (that last part may seem a little spoiling to us but we gotta see it from his point of view, his life was very hard and abnormal).

In Oher's case, he had to work really hard with a strong support system to get to the NFL. Some athletes have the privilege of being the son or daughter of an all-star, and others came from a normal upbringing where they went to school with friends all their life, had a loving family all their life, and simply joined their school sports team because they loved the sport and had some skills to follow it. The Superbowl is a huge event in America. Football is a very popular sport to watch in America. When people watch Sports Center on ESPN, they get highlights of the best players or remarkable stories. I can bet Oher's story that year he was drafted was at the top of that list. With new technology springing up these days, the exposure football gets nationwide is many and beyond. But with Oher's family upbringing, I am sure he is well grounded and just loving to play the blindside.

Question 8/1 and Question 8/3

2011-08-04T18:47:35Z

I wasn't sure if I needed to post questions if I was discussion leader and my questions would be asked for sure in class. But I will post them any ways for those not in class those days.

For Monday, the topic was the extinction of print newspaper. My question was if we lose newspapers for good in the future, would it be a good thing or bad thing for our culture? Do you think newspaper have a sustainability where they will still be here in 10-20 years, not as strong of course? Will this be due to the fact that they are the base of all the other new media, where else would these new media get their info?

Yesterday, the topic was on iculture and we discussed a lot about privacy. I forgot to make a comment. On the U of m Website, my friend needed to look up my email. She looked up my name, not only did it give my name and email, it gave my entire home address! I was really surprised and kind of felt violated. I had no idea this type of information was on our school system. It's kind of scary.

Response to Andrejevic's iCulture

2011-08-03T23:12:06Z

I thought that Andrejevic brought up some good points in his essay on the three dimensions of what he calls "iCulture." There has certainly been a trend recently toward much more interaction in media and a movement away from a more top-down delivery of content. Today's discussion also raised a lot of interesting ideas - especially whether we should be scared of this change, or whether we are simply paranoid. I tend to believe that most of us are not interested in being exploited, either openly or covertly, but that we also are not all that interested in the amount of "watchdog-ing" needed to maintain more online anonymity. Like I said in class, I do use my email everyday for personal and school and work communication, yet I never worry about who or what might be "reading" the messages. Andrejevic's point that all this "iMonitoring" is possible now due to interactive media is interesting, but my point is that it isn't the media isn't making us paranoid, its us. The more info we put out there, and the more we invite technology into our lives, our homes, and our computers, the more we are allowing ourselves to be researched and watched. Like some people in the class pointed out, if you don't want to be part of this, you have to stop participating. And that is really hard to do.

Reaction to Ted Video

2011-08-03T15:11:17Z

The video we watched in class on Monday about the founder of Wiki Leaks and the preview of the NY Times movie coming out soon brought up many different issues. Do we accept the fact that we should accept that certain things are not for public viewing or should the general public have access to anything at anytime?

For me personally I think there is somethings I would rather not know about but for the most part I am a big fan of full disclosure.

DQ for 8/3

2011-08-03T15:05:19Z

How has mass culture influence how we as a society view product markets such as Nike , Ralph Lauren, and how has that reached internationally across the world.

Weekly analysis for the future of our news debate

2011-08-03T07:03:24Z

While looking at the pros and cons of keeping the traditional newspapers verses evolving it, I have come to the conclusion that our society will need both. There is no doubt in my mind that the Internet database for news will greatly surpass that of print form. However, I feel that both are needed for the generational gap. When I look at my parents and grandparents, I see that they have grown up with print newspapers just as we have grown up with the Internet. When there is a slower learning curve for those not exposed to technical advancements, it seems unfair to take away the main source of media they are used to. Even though I believe this news form is far less efficient, being able to get some news is better than not getting any at all be it through lack of knowledge or desire to navigate the Internet form. Beyond just the generational difference, I think there is also the question on how many people actually have access to computers and Internet. For those who do not have the resources, time, or money to surf the web for important facts, it is impossible to keep up with the daily news. In addition, it is difficult for people just learning how to scope the net to distinguish reliable sources from phony ones. Despite these dilemmas for access to the web, the web itself can provide a much greater wealth of knowledge and diversity that can reach out to a much greater audience rather then just creating a few articles that appeal to someone, which is only able to reach out to a few thousand people in the first place.

Question for 8/3

2011-08-03T06:47:44Z

Do you agree with the statement that producers have more information about conumers than before while consumers are unable to have control or knowledge of how the information is being used? why or why not?

DQ 8.3

2011-08-03T06:01:56Z

Part of Andrejevic article discusses iMonitoring, which is kind of what Ox is talking about below. I know that this is not a new idea, but at what point do we lose all privacy? I one point I thought that it would get to the point that there would be so much info that if could not be sorted through, but I don't think that anymore. Computer programs are getting very good at categorizing information.

Do you know that there are ways to id people in photos? Like on facebook. So at some point, all though photos of you behaving badly on spring break we be searchable, just like google is now.