Final Examination Part #2

Media does play an important role in my life; I interface with the internet, cell phones, books, magazines, television, radio and newspapers on a daily basis. News is something that I get from multiple sources whether it is from the internet, radio, newspapers, or television. I think that it is important to get your news from a varied amount of sources and not just one source. Also because I often travel a lot I often have to get my news from multiple sources. I don’t think I prefer one news source over the other I think each has its benefits and drawbacks.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

media convergence

“The do it yourself content of the internet doesn’t end with blogs and wikis. A whole host of social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, LiveJournal, Hi, Bebo, and Xanga are now available” pg. 53 Not only can the internet be used for email but it can also be used to interface with and network with numerous people around the world. “Another area of the internet on which companies their attention was e-mail. Because sending and receiving e-mail is the most popular use of the internet major corporations such as Yahoo!,AOL, Google, and Microsoft (Hotmail) offer free Web-based email accounts to draw users to their sites. Many corporations take ownership of the internet although there is no one true owner Google owns the majority of advertising.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqFnCedlcE

Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg in 2005

Google was created by Eric E. Schmidt  in 1998

“Two of the most successful original series of this generation have been J.K Rowling’s HarryPotter and Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The series “successes” are measured not only in actual book sales but in the profitable movie franchises and other merchandising they have inspired.” After seeing Harry Potter over Thanksgiving Break I thought that this would be a good opportunity to reflect on how media converges and affects our society. “In terms of commercial success the series has sold more than 375 million copies in sixty five languages in 2008.” pg .314 “At the international level countries continue to struggle with questions about the influence of American films on local customs and culture” pg 243.

                                                                                         

                                                                                          

                   

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows gross income was
102.7 million

Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Daniel Radcliffe
have become a cultural icon starring as Ron Weasly, Hermoine Granger, and Harry Potter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EC2tmFVNNE                                  

“On the internet we can download traditional TV shows, including CSI, Lost, House, 24, Greys Anatomy, and Desperate Housewives. pg.169.“No old media ever disappears it just gets reinvented into a new purpose” pg. 169. With cellphones, Ipods, and the internet it is now easier than ever to have access to television in different forms. “Arrested development, a comedy that never attracted a sufficient audience on Fox from 2003 to 2006, consistently ranks among the top three series on Hulu, an online video site founded as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the News Corporation.” pg. 170. As television transitions towards a digital media era, it is easier to get television and for televison to be revitalized.

Hulu was founded in March 2007 by Jason Kilar

Netflix was started in 1997 by Reed Hastings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3GuuLK345w

“In the following decade, though as blogs like the Daily Kos, the Huffington Post, Andrew Sullivan.com, and Taking Points Memo gained credibility and a large readership.” pg.275. Many newspapers have online versions as well as a blog. The blog shows opinions and can offer a healthy forum to debate on topics and discuss issues.

The Huffington Post was started by May 2005 by
Ariana Huffington

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9su793_oJo0

 “The biggest phenomenon on the internet in user- created content on the internet has been Web blogs” pg. 52. “ A 2006 study of the Pew internet and American Life Project found that more than 12 million U.S adults have created blogs, and 39 percent have read blogs.” pg 52. I haven't really blogged except for outside class. I do think that it is a useful tool especially for networking. 

Blogger was founded August 23rd 1999

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

 “By far country claims the most stations- more than two thousand, nearly twice as many stations as those with the news/talk format. Country music has old roots in radio, starting in 1925 with the influential Grand Ole Opry program in 1925 on WSM in Nashville.”pg. 130.  I think this is definitely true whenever I turn on the radio in my car the majority of the stations are either rock or country.

WSM radio started in 1925 in Nashville, Tennesee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0MJT936Hq0

“The television age not only spawned TV Guide but also a number of specialized entertainment, leisure, and sports magazines.” pg.297. “Launched in 1954 by Henry Luce’s Time Inc., Sports Illustrated was initially aimed at well-educated, middle-class men.” pg. 297. “Sports Illustrated competes directly with ESPN The Magazine, and indirectly with dozens of leisure and niche sports magazine competitors like Golf Digest, Outside, and Pro Football Weekly. I don’t read a lot of magazines but whenever I am in Borders I find that specialized magazines, such as Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, Rolling Stones are more appealing than other targeted magazines.

                                        

                                                                                                                                                   

Sports Illustrated was started
 in 1954 by Stephen Walsh                                      

            
                                      

                                                    

                               

National Geograhic was started in 1888 by Gardiner
Greene Hubbard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6pXARR4vdA


“Apples iphone a hub of convergence featuring phone, internet, music, video and gaming capabilities, is also a tool for mass customization-as users can choose and purchase from a wide selection of applications to make their iphones fit their needs and wants.” pg. 67. Apple along with Google make up the majority of mobile users.

Apples Iphone 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLHDna8fLJA

“British alternative rock group Radiohead decided to sell their 2007 album In Rainbows on the internet  (www.inrainbows.com) for whatever price fans wished to pay, including nothing at all.”pg. 71 Many bands after that followed suit and with apples ipod it is easy to download music. “Apples ipod the leading portable music and video player, began a revolution in digital music.” pg.79

Apples Itouch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lk1ymsxMr8

oral presentation

Thesis: "Rolling Stones is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." Jann Wenner editor

Five Facts:
~ started in 1967
~Jann Wenner is the publisher
~over 1.4 million copies have been sold
~  originally identified with the hippie counterculture of the era
~focuses on music and politics

Triune Brain: The Rolling Stones is heavy on the limbic with the variety of colors that they use in their ads and pictorials. They really know how to emotionally transfer a message through them.

8 Trends: The Rolling stones is a key example of the new digital media convergence age they have links to websites at the bottom of each ad. It really reads more like a webpage then an actual text pulling you from one story to the next.

7 Principles: emotional transfer, color schemes~mostly black/white

29 persuasive techniques: The rolling stones uses a variety of persuasive techniques such as flattery, celebrity, beautiful people, symbols, testimonials. Celebrity this one is most obvious  as the rolling stones throughout the years has used celebrites such as John Lennon, Brtney Spears, and more recently Barack Obama.  Symbols both celebrity and political symbols. Testimonials from celebrities and politicians. 

Midterm Reflection

1. After studying 21st century media for eight weeks in this class, what have you
      learned? Please be specific.
I’ve learned that media can easily change our perceptions and how we think. No more is this more apparent then in the clip Reel Bad Arabs where Hollywood and Washington change our perceptions about an entire group of people.

2. What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a critical reader, a writer, and a thinker in this class so far? The most important thing I have learned about myself as a critical reader, writer, and thinker in this class so far is that when you look at a text when you look at a text, film or whatever media that it may be you need to look at all aspects of it and not just from one standpoint.

3. What’s one thing you would do differently this first half of the semester of you were to take this class again? One thing I would do differently if I were to take this class again is read things more thoroughly and blog more in depth.

4. What’s one thing you would like me to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again? One thing the professor could do differently the first half is have more class discussions analyzing why were doing this such as why were blogging, watching this film, reading this book, etc.

5. Please comment on the usefulness of the power tools, our course blog, your personal blog, our in class quizzes, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.

Power tools~ I didn’t find the power tools very useful because I didn’t ever use them. I think that it would have been easier if we discussed about them more in depth.

Course blog~ I liked the course blog because it helped reiterate what you learned in the textbook. It was a great way to share ideas with the rest of the class and have online discussions about the reading.

Personal blog~  The personal blogs were a great networking tool. I think it was useful because not only could we connect with other people in the class but we could use it for a potential job application. It’s a great way to reflect on how your doing and to learn about other people.

Film~  I liked the film Reel Bad Arabs because in the film it showed how media can influence our perceptions on how we think and what we do.  The film is an analysis about how Hollywood portrays Arabics and how we in turn internalize this information. It is interesting to see how Hollywood can perpetrate old sterotypes and we seem to follow into the mould. He states that  movies such as Rules of Engagement, The Delta Force, Death before dishonour, and true lies encourage these negative sterotypes.

Book~ The textbook is really through and covers many different topics. This is good because at least it is not tedious. The textbook is up to date and at least relevant to what we are learning in class so I think it is useful.

Media Meditation #4

So I went to see The Social Network the other day. It's a good movie a bit overdramatized in some parts but overall Jesse Eisenburg can really capture the essence of Zuckerburg. What I really like about the movie is that essentially he had no intention of even creating facebook it seemed to be a mishap of sorts, a bad date with a girl, alcohol, and then coming home drunk to his dorm and wanting to exact his revenge on her decides hey why don't I take her picture and put next to another girls photo and send it out to the people in my dorm and thus facesmash was born. He sees how popular this idea becomes and decides hey I could take all the photos in our facebook and put it on the web and send it out to people and thus facebook was born. Unfortunately when you make 500 million friends your bound to make a few enemies along the way and no more is this more clear when his own friend turns against him and sues him. It really delves into the heart of the issue which is does facebook really improve communication or is it just a means of bypassing it? Sure you can  meet people more efficently  but you haven't taken out the human equation which is basically people can still lie, cheat, and fanagle their way around online as well. Are they really your friends when they click that button or are they just an imposter? It seems that the movie brings up another key point that the more connected we are with people especially through the means of online communication the more narcisstic people become. This is aparently true with online social networking sites such as facebook where it is just seemingly one big me fest how many friends can I get? How many more friends can I get then other people? How beautiful, handsome is my profile picture? How many times should I be updating my profile picture? It seems that a website created for connecting and socializing with other people seems extremely focused on nothing other than greed and narcissism which in a way makes sense because Zuckerburg himself created the website out of spite for his date.

http://www.facebook.com/markzuckerberg?v=wall

Media Mediation #3

So I'm actually a huge backstreet boys fan I hate to admit.What I think really makes them appealing is first of all there a nineties iconic boyband that despite there retroglam look they actually can produce some qualitive music without the use of a voice enhancer or autotune . There the only boy band band that has been together for over twenty years while there competition NSYNC broke it off back in 2002. There still recording music and there music is  played  in  over seventeen different countries.Impressive much?They really do represent not only an entire genre of music but a whole generation of listeners.  When I was nine I bought their album Millenium which have sold over 11 million copies worldwide. They have sold over 130 million records collectively worldwide making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. The band comprises of none other than A.J Mclean, Howie Dourough,Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, and Nick Carter. Who can ever forget Nick Carters blond curtained hair and blue eyes? Even though there had been boybands before them think New Kids on the Block, the backstreet boys have sold more cds then them and brought in more revenue. It might even be safe to say that they could be one of the most successful boy bands in history. However I would like to bring up the fact that just because they are successful does not mean that there music overall is good or even awe-insiring. Sure they can sing without a voice enhancer but that that doesn't inspire me to protest in the streets, at the end of the day they are just a boy band that has had entreprenuerial success. 

Radio PSA for Daring to be Different.

Phineas Gage