JOURNAL TEN: Advertising

DUE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27TH.
In honor of International BUY NOTHING DAY!, we will end our journals with an evaluation of our lives as consumers. Your assignment is divided in two parts. The first part is a personal reflection that you will not post on this blog. The second is your analysis of the relationship between spending and advertising. This you will post.

Part One: After visiting the ADBUSTERS site and reading The Empire of Debt, do an inventory of how much you spend each day, month and year. How much do you spend on essential products (like food and housing)? How does this amount compare to non-essentials (like movies and books)? Remember that it is not necessary to post this portion of the assignment. Record your answers in a notebook or offline journal.

Part Two: What is the difference between a need and a want? Were your purchases influenced by advertising? If so, how? What kinds of advertising campaigns influence you most? What ad techniques are most effective on you? What ideologies do you buy?

JOURNAL NINE: Engineering Public Opinion

DUE TUESDAY, NOV. 20TH

Visit The Living Room Candidate site. Select and view one presidential campaign commercial. Read Media Control by cultural critic Noam Chomsky. After reading the article, use Chomsky's theory to analyze your commercial.

Answer the following:

• What reality/worldview does the commercial represent?
• How is this representation used to engineer public opinion regarding the candidate?
• What cinematic techniques (audio, camera angles, lighting, etc.) does it use to "manufacture consent"?
• What rhetorical devices (appeal to emotion; appeal to authority; etc.) does it employ?

Pecha Kucha Guidelines

Pecha Kucha Night is Thursday, December 6th.

Below is a printable .jpg of the guidelines for completing the Pecha Kucha presentation. Also, you will find a .jpg of the Pecha Kucha Evaluation form.

JOURNAL EIGHT: Internet

DUE THURSDAY, NOV. 15TH

After reading at least two of the articles below, describe the conflict between traditional journalism and blogging or "citizen journalism." React to the controversy by arguing for one of the two sides. How has blogging harmed or helped journalism today?

How Blogging Changed Journalism - by Chris Mooney, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Kevin Sites and the Blogging Controversy - by Susan Mernit, Online Journalism Review
Blogging, Journalism and Credibility - by Rebecca MacKinnon, The Nation
Blogging as a Form of Journalism - by J.D. Lasica, Online Journalism Review

JOURNAL SEVEN: Visual Rhetoric

DUE TUESDAY, NOV. 13TH

Post a ONE SENTENCE reaction to the film Videodrome. Your reaction should comment on the use of visual rhetoric in the film.

Videodrome @ Wikipedia
Videodrome @ IMDb
Videodrome @ Criterion
Videodrome @ Deep Focus

For extra credit: What is videodrome?

ESSAY THREE: The Formal Research Essay

In Essay Three, we will combine what we have learned while writing essays one and two. The main outline for Essay Three will be similar to that of Essay One - it should involve a media controversy - but within Essay Three, you will evaluate three media examples as evidence - this will utilize the Essay Two outline.

Essay Three Deadlines

Proposal - Nov. 6th
Outline - Nov. 13th
Sample Bibliography - Nov. 13th
Draft - Nov. 27th
Final - Dec. 11th

ESSAY THREE: The Formal Research Essay

GOAL: Select a contemporary controversy involving mass media and its impact on society. The controversy you choose should reflect the connections between mass communication, media and society, AND it should revolve around the communication tool/technology you selected.
METHOD: Research, analyze and react to the conflict. You must evaluate three media examples as evidence for or against your selected controversy. Below, you will find a printable .jpg outline for Essay Three as well as a research topic proposal and the analysis diagram.

Essay Three PROPOSAL

Essay Three OUTLINE

Essay Three Analysis Diagram