Class 8 - Magazines

ANNOUNCEMENT: The iPad is here! It's like a gigantic iTouch. We couldn't view the online video because it's in QuickTime, which our PC doesn't read.

QUIZ: Students completed the quiz for Chapter 4 (Newspapers). The Chapter 5 (Magazine) quiz is online here. Click on the "Multiple Choice" quiz on the left navigation bar. At the end of the quiz, enter your e-mail address and mine to send the score. If you don't get an acknowledgement that the score was sent, copy your score and paste it into an e-mail to me. The Internet Search Project and Blog 4 (see below) are both due Sunday 1-31 at midnight.

DISCUSSION: We discussed the three stages of media development, which apply to magazines and to other media we are studying:

• Elite stage -- Only the most wealthy, most educated have access
• Popular stage -- Most people have access, but choices are limited
• Specialized stage -- Everyone has access, but choices are fragmented

SHOW AND TELL: We looked at older copies of Life, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, etc. and examples of different types of magazines: Trade, public relations, consumer; and academic and professional journals.

MAGAZINE COVERS: We viewed online the best magazine covers of 2009, Top 40 covers of 1965-2005 and Time magazine covers . We also looked some at magazines that failed and new magazine start-ups from 2009.

BLOG 4 - Magazine Proposal
Write a proposal for a new magazine (either a print magazine or an online magazine), as if you were going to submit it to a publisher. Your proposal should include:

· Name of magazine
· Concept – how is your magazine different from existing magazines?
· Readers – demographics and psychographics (may include age group, gender, ethnicity, income level, interests, self-image, self-identification, etc.)
· Other magazines serving this demographic (your competition) – your investors will want to know how your magazine is different or better?
· Five advertisers who you think would like to reach your readers
· Five articles you might include in your premier (first) issue
· Describe the cover of your premier issue (photo, graphics, color, words, etc.)
· Bonus: Draw (or create electronically) your proposed cover and bring it to class

HOMEWORK: Read Chapter 6 (Movies) and complete workbook assignments.

Class 7 - Newspapers

ANNOUNCEMENTS:  We will have the Chapter 4 (Newspapers) quiz in class on Thursday. The Chapter 5 (Magazine) quiz is online here. Click on the "Multiple Choice" quiz on the left navigation bar. At the end of the quiz, enter your e-mail address and mine to send the score. If you don't get an acknowledgement that the score was sent, copy your score and paste it into an e-mail to me. The Internet Search Project and Blog 4 (Magazines) are both due Sunday 1-31 at midnight.

DISCUSSION: Students discussed what newspapers could do to better appeal to 18- to 29-year-olds. Suggestions included: More magazine-style design and writing, younger reporters to report on youth trends, more color, smaller format, stories that don't jump to inside pages.

POWERPOINT: We looked at the history of newspapers, highlighting the development of
- The inverted pyramid style during the U.S. Civil War
- Yellow journalism during and before the Spanish-American war (resulting from a newspaper war between newspaper barons Pulitzer and Hearst)
- Public journalism (also known as civic or advocacy journalism)
- Tabloid newspapers such as the New York Post

FUTURE OF NEWSPAPERS AND NEWSPAPER-QUALITY JOURNALISM: We looked at four alternatives to advertiser-funded journalism.

• Pay for content
  
• Non-profit
  
• Crowd funding
  
• Government funding

HOMEWORK: Read Chapter 5 and complete workbook exercises. NOTE: Exercise No. 2 should say Chapters 3, 4 and 5.

Class 6 -- Books

ANNOUNCEMENT: Internet Search Project is due Jan. 31. The assignment consists of 20 questions based on mass media Web sites, and it will take several hours to complete.

DISCUSSION: Groups came up with lists of the six most influential books of all time. The lists included: The Bible, the Koran, Greek myths, Shakespeare and the Kama Sutra. More recent books included: Goosebumps, Harry Potter and Rant. We compared the lists to Boston Public Library's list of most influential books of the last 100 years and Wikipedia's list of the 100 most influential books ever. We discussed banned and challenged books.

POWERPOINT: We examined the history of printing, the printing press and moveable type. We discussed electronic book readers such as the Sony Reader and Amazon's Kindle.

SHOW AND TELL: We looked at lead type letters and a printer's drawer and some books including Where's Waldo -- banned because of a topless woman in Waldo's beach scene.


HOMEWORK: Read Chapters 4 (Newspapers) and 5 (Magazine) and complete Workbook exercises.

BLOG 3 - BOOKS
Name three books you have read that had the most influence on you. In 1-2 sentences, describe why each one was influential. (Write in more detail than saying, «It was good» or «it made me laugh.» Say why it was good or made you laugh and how it stayed with you after you read it.) Add links to the books on Amazon.com or another online bookseller, or authors’ Websites.
This week, comment on at least one other student's blog (see list on the right).

Class 5

Class canceled.

Class 4 - Media Impact

ANNOUNCEMENTS: We have 93 percent compliance on the blog assignment -- just two more to go. Thanks to all those who have posted!

 

POWERPOINT: We reviewed key concepts from the textbook;

• Research methodology to measure media impacts (some borrowed from scientific research)
• Social science perspectives
• Flow theories
• How new innovations move through society.

DVD: We watched a DVD about the history of comic books, and the work of Dr. Fredric Wertham leading to the self-censoring "Comic Book Code." See textbook p. 36-37. We discussed whether Wertham's research menthods were valid.

 

DVD: We watched a DVD about Canadian media critic Marshall McLuhan's theories of "Technological Determinism." McLuhan died before many of the media we studied had been developed, but we tried to apply his theories to some of today's media. (See below for new alternative blog assignment.)

 

QUIZ: Ch. 2 Media Impact

 

HOMEWORK: Read and complete workbook activities for Chapter 3 (Books). Note: We will discuss workbook responses for Chapter 3 in class.

 

BLOG: After reading Chapter 2 on Media Impact, propose a media research project, based on what you learned in the chapter. You can research any aspect of how media impact people. E.g. Advertising, reality TV, movies, cartoons, magazine images, etc. Describe your project in 4-5 sentences, using some of the terminology from the textbooks’ margin notes. What are you researching? What methodology would you use? How would you test your hypothesis? What results do you predict?

OR

Theorize about a technological development using McLuhan's theory of "Technological Determinism" and its  the four effects (don't use one we examined in class). Technological Determinism in clearer language means we shape our tools and they, in turn, shape us. You can chose older developments (printing press, photography, movies, radio etc. or newer (iPod, iPhone, electronic book reader, GPS, etc.) Here are the four effects:

 

Class 3 - Chapter 1

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Returned practice quizzes, explained class numbering system.

DISCUSSION: "The audience is the arbiter of meaning." The senders may think they are sending one message, but ultimately it is the audience that determines what the message was.

VIDEO: "Sammy's Visit" from All in the Family , 1972, an example of the audience as final arbiter of meaning and technological and societal change.

VIDEO REVIEW: Discussion on the societal, cultural and technological differences between the early 70s and now, as seen in the video (media as a reflection of society).

HOMEWORK: Read textbook Ch 2, complete workbook Ch 2.

Class 2 - Mass Communication

DISCUSSION: Definitions of communication, mass communication, mediated communication.

 

LECTURETTE: Ways to categorize communication:

• Intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group, organizational, public, mass
• Verbal and visual
• Mediated and non-mediated

POWERPOINT:  Basic model of communication (sender, message, channel, receiver, feedback, gatekeeper, noise) with discussion on feedback loop and types of environmental and psychological noise. Traditional mass media, converged mass media.

 

VIDEO: The Simpsons "Itchy Scratchy & Marge"  


DISCUSSION: Relevance of this video to our study of mass communication:

 - Does violence in the media affect or cause violence in society?

 - Marge catalogs violent actions in cartoon AKA "content analysis" done by media researchers

 - Parents don't always have control over children's TV habits (can go to neighbors' houses and watch)

 - TV writers use storyboard format on walls

 - Talk show host does not provide equal time to both sides of the issue, despite having representation from both sides; TV news skims over important topics and doesn't go into depth

 - The mass communication feedback process does not function as smoothly as the interpersonal communications feedback process, but there are options for it: boycotting products, picketing, going on talk shows, writing letters to management

- Opinion leaders hold influence over media messages

- Press conference: public relations and journalism come together

- Cartoon writers: fun media job

 - First Amendment - freedom on speech - can you be for censorship of one type of freedom of speech, but not another?

- The model of communication

  

RESEARCH METHOD: Content analysis

  

QUIZ: Practice quiz.

 

HOMEWORK: Read and complete worbook assignment for Chapter 1

BLOG ASSIGNMENT: Set up a blog in blogger.com and e-mail me the blog address. Post your first blog post.

BLOG 1: Media Autobiography

 

Write your short media autobiography. This should be a short essay (about 200-400 words) about you and your relationship with the eight types of mass media we are studying in this class: Books, Newspapers, Magazines, Movies, Recordings, Radio, Television and the Internet.

  

Talk about your background with each of these media, your experiences (use/habits) with them, your likes and dislikes of them, and which ones are important to you now and when you were growing up. Tell if you have, had or would like a job or career in the media. If you have lived in another country, talk about the media there. Mention your major, if it is related to the media, and the name of the university you want to transfer to, if appropriate.

 

Do not write about other aspects of your life, unless they relate to the media. E-mail me your blog address.

 

Class 1 - Introduction

LECTURETTE: We discussed the eight mass media we will be studying in this class. For each, we will study  history, industry and controversies.

• Books
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Movies
• Recording
• Radio
• Television
• Internet

CLASS EXERCISE: Students did a scavenger hunt based on the eight media and introduced themselves. 
TEXTBOOK:  The textbook for the class is Mass Media and its Impact on Society 3e by George Rodman. You can guy an online version from CourseSmart.
BLOGS: We discussed the blog assignments for the class. Students will set up blogs at Blogger.com and e-mail me the blog address.