This was yet another fiasco among the group. We did figure it out though and we managed to actually get some work done. People need to tell us when their not going to do something, but whatever, we picked a song about technology and how it is taking over. We figured out how to make a music video relate, filmed for about an hour because that is what I'm good at. I used just a regular camera, ran around Lisa's room a bit, and it was good. Cara edited for me because I still don't know how to do that very well.
Overall a good experience, although I didn't help that much for this project because I don't like the song very much and I had another idea, but its ok! I will live.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Human Rights Project
I feel very strongly about human rights and having a free opposition. I feel a person should never be tortured by another human for expressing their opinion. Although humans have treated other humans horribly since they have existed I still feel this needs to stop. To create a change from these abuses, people must know about them first. So the main part of this project is just to get people to look at some examples of human rights issues. So I made a poster with some pictures and websites that will hopefully get people thinking about these issues.
I worked with Jenn Doxsee for this project. To make this issue clear to others we put up posters in residence with pieces of information about different human rights issues going on around the world now. We looked at Burma, where people from the opposition being arrested in mass amounts, including Monks. Even though another group has done a project on Burma, I think this is a very important issue and wanted to look at it myself. When a government can completely stop a revolution from happening by simply using force without anyone else intervening is unbelievable. We looked at Kurdish issues, the chemical bombings in Halabja, which occurred in 1988. This was included in Saddam’s Anfal campaign of Arabization in Kurdish areas. We also looked at Kurds being oppressed in Turkey for simply being Kurdish.
I’ve been watching the news since I first moved to Iraq, in 1998. I’m now a news freak. I religiously check the BBC website at least 10 times a day so I didn’t really learn anything for this project, other than figuring out group work is hard. I’ve always felt strongly about human rights issues and feel that other people need to know about them.
Timeline information
Adam Mirani
Cara Gooding
Lisa Goulet
Media Timeline
The Phonograph
It is hard to imagine going for my morning jogs without having “I am a winner” by The Aquabats blaring into my ears and setting the pace, or listening to my favourite Avenge Sevenfold song when I need some cheering up. With the help of Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph created on December 4th, 1877 it wouldn’t be possible. The phonograph was really invented while Edison was working on the telephone. Initially the telephone was invented as a faster way to send telegraphs for the Western Union – “But the problem was that the telephone could transmit information much more quickly than a telegraph. It was not economical to slow the transmission down to the rate at which someone could transcribe it. What was needed was a way to record the message so it could be played back later at a slower speed. This problem provided the motivation for the invention of the phonograph.” (Turn of the Century 1)
The making of the phonograph was done with a needle known as a stylus. The stylus was then held up against a rapidly moving cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it. It had two separate diaphragm / needle units. One was used for recording the voice or sound, and the other was used to play it back. When a noise was picked up by the recording needle the sound vibrations would get indented onto the cylinder and would later be able to be played back.
In the North American Review written in June 1878 Edison had made a list of the things he had thought the phonograph would be used for in future times;
1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a stenographer.
2. Phonographic books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part.
3. The teaching of elocution.
4. Reproduction of music.
5. The "Family Record"--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by members of a family in their own voices, and of the last words of dying persons.
6. Music-boxes and toys.
7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going home, going to meals, etc.
8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of pronouncing.
9. Educational purposes; such as preserving the explanations made by a teacher, so that the pupil can refer to them at any moment, and spelling or other lessons placed upon the phonograph for convenience in committing to memory.
10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication.
(The Library of Congress 2)
So it was no surprise when Edison Phonograph Works also produced musical cylinders for coin-slot phonographs – aka early jukeboxes, which pointed the future of the phonograph as an entertainment machine.
You could see how much this invention had an impact on society and media as a whole. The creation of records was later created and the completion of the telephone which is still used today. A negative effect was created (and any invention would create, even today) as the starting of elitism grew larger. Elitism is just the belief that certain people or certain classes deserve special treatment by virtue of their perceived. When new forms of technology are released the pricing is ridiculously high making it so “only the rich” can afford to purchase or use it.
Vinyl
Vinyl was first mass produced by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Victor made it commercially available in the 1930s. Vinyl had been around 50 years prior to this but it had not been perfected and was a very poor quality way of recording music. But because it was released during the depression and phonographs were expensive at this time it was not very popular. It became a more popular form of recording music in the 1940’s when Columbia Records fixed recording problems and reduced the price.
Vinyl has had a huge impact on society due to it being one of the first mass produced forms of music recording. It has also outlasted most other forms of recording including the 8-track and the cassette tape. The cassette tape also had help being produced from RCA Victor. People still view it today as being the superior form of sound quality and collect them religiously.
Vinyl also took us through the intense rock ‘n’ roll years involving bands like Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. This form of music sharing was most popular during the time when these bands were around. Bands would put large amounts of money into producing the artwork display on the album covers which became an important part of making music. Because vinyl records were so big, around 12”, the cover had a lot of space to put things. Bands took advantage of this and we can see record covers becoming a very popular art form.
The Cassette Tape
The cassette tape was responsible for many social phenomena since its
creation in 1963 by Philips Electronics. But there is one main connection that the cassette tape has to culture of the 1970s-90s, and it is that of the hip-hop culture. Small and compact, the cassette tape was the first portable piece of audio equipment with recording on the piece. With the help of the Sony Walkman in 1979, this was made possible for individuals to mobility with audio recordings. This is where one can see the start of hip-hop culture becoming more popular, because MCs and breakdancers were provided with the mobility to spread the idea of hip-hop culture. This culture would be blown away with what would come next. The highly anticipated, large-and-loud style boombox, or ghetto blaster, was created in 1981, further advancing the breakdancing scene, because now, breakers could make an entire style out of carrying around this huge music playing device. Relating back to the cassette tape, these two aspects of hip hop culture were a result of the cassette tape, and essentially, pushed the hip hop movement to a great start.
Bellis, Mary. "The History of Sound Recording." About.com. 2007. New
York Times Company. November 25, 2007.
Bellis, Mary. "The History of The Cassette Tape." About.com. 2007. New
York Times Company. November 25, 2007.
"Boombox Birth." Pocket Calculator Show. 2007. Boombox Museum.
November 25, 2007.
Donna Yankowitz , The Turn Of The Century, The Phonograph. 2007
Dr. James H. Billington,The Library of Congress, Inventing Entertainment: The History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph, 2007 < http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html>
Mobley, Max. "A Brief History of Listening." Crawdaddy: The Magazine of Rock May 16, 2007 November 20th.
Cara Gooding
Lisa Goulet
Media Timeline
The Phonograph
It is hard to imagine going for my morning jogs without having “I am a winner” by The Aquabats blaring into my ears and setting the pace, or listening to my favourite Avenge Sevenfold song when I need some cheering up. With the help of Thomas Edison’s invention of the phonograph created on December 4th, 1877 it wouldn’t be possible. The phonograph was really invented while Edison was working on the telephone. Initially the telephone was invented as a faster way to send telegraphs for the Western Union – “But the problem was that the telephone could transmit information much more quickly than a telegraph. It was not economical to slow the transmission down to the rate at which someone could transcribe it. What was needed was a way to record the message so it could be played back later at a slower speed. This problem provided the motivation for the invention of the phonograph.” (Turn of the Century 1)
The making of the phonograph was done with a needle known as a stylus. The stylus was then held up against a rapidly moving cylinder with tin foil wrapped around it. It had two separate diaphragm / needle units. One was used for recording the voice or sound, and the other was used to play it back. When a noise was picked up by the recording needle the sound vibrations would get indented onto the cylinder and would later be able to be played back.
In the North American Review written in June 1878 Edison had made a list of the things he had thought the phonograph would be used for in future times;
1. Letter writing and all kinds of dictation without the aid of a stenographer.
2. Phonographic books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part.
3. The teaching of elocution.
4. Reproduction of music.
5. The "Family Record"--a registry of sayings, reminiscences, etc., by members of a family in their own voices, and of the last words of dying persons.
6. Music-boxes and toys.
7. Clocks that should announce in articulate speech the time for going home, going to meals, etc.
8. The preservation of languages by exact reproduction of the manner of pronouncing.
9. Educational purposes; such as preserving the explanations made by a teacher, so that the pupil can refer to them at any moment, and spelling or other lessons placed upon the phonograph for convenience in committing to memory.
10. Connection with the telephone, so as to make that instrument an auxiliary in the transmission of permanent and invaluable records, instead of being the recipient of momentary and fleeting communication.
(The Library of Congress 2)
So it was no surprise when Edison Phonograph Works also produced musical cylinders for coin-slot phonographs – aka early jukeboxes, which pointed the future of the phonograph as an entertainment machine.
You could see how much this invention had an impact on society and media as a whole. The creation of records was later created and the completion of the telephone which is still used today. A negative effect was created (and any invention would create, even today) as the starting of elitism grew larger. Elitism is just the belief that certain people or certain classes deserve special treatment by virtue of their perceived. When new forms of technology are released the pricing is ridiculously high making it so “only the rich” can afford to purchase or use it.
Vinyl
Vinyl was first mass produced by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) Victor made it commercially available in the 1930s. Vinyl had been around 50 years prior to this but it had not been perfected and was a very poor quality way of recording music. But because it was released during the depression and phonographs were expensive at this time it was not very popular. It became a more popular form of recording music in the 1940’s when Columbia Records fixed recording problems and reduced the price.
Vinyl has had a huge impact on society due to it being one of the first mass produced forms of music recording. It has also outlasted most other forms of recording including the 8-track and the cassette tape. The cassette tape also had help being produced from RCA Victor. People still view it today as being the superior form of sound quality and collect them religiously.
Vinyl also took us through the intense rock ‘n’ roll years involving bands like Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. This form of music sharing was most popular during the time when these bands were around. Bands would put large amounts of money into producing the artwork display on the album covers which became an important part of making music. Because vinyl records were so big, around 12”, the cover had a lot of space to put things. Bands took advantage of this and we can see record covers becoming a very popular art form.
The Cassette Tape
The cassette tape was responsible for many social phenomena since its
creation in 1963 by Philips Electronics. But there is one main connection that the cassette tape has to culture of the 1970s-90s, and it is that of the hip-hop culture. Small and compact, the cassette tape was the first portable piece of audio equipment with recording on the piece. With the help of the Sony Walkman in 1979, this was made possible for individuals to mobility with audio recordings. This is where one can see the start of hip-hop culture becoming more popular, because MCs and breakdancers were provided with the mobility to spread the idea of hip-hop culture. This culture would be blown away with what would come next. The highly anticipated, large-and-loud style boombox, or ghetto blaster, was created in 1981, further advancing the breakdancing scene, because now, breakers could make an entire style out of carrying around this huge music playing device. Relating back to the cassette tape, these two aspects of hip hop culture were a result of the cassette tape, and essentially, pushed the hip hop movement to a great start.
Bellis, Mary. "The History of Sound Recording." About.com. 2007. New
York Times Company. November 25, 2007.
Bellis, Mary. "The History of The Cassette Tape." About.com. 2007. New
York Times Company. November 25, 2007.
"Boombox Birth." Pocket Calculator Show. 2007. Boombox Museum.
November 25, 2007.
Donna Yankowitz , The Turn Of The Century, The Phonograph. 2007
Dr. James H. Billington,The Library of Congress, Inventing Entertainment: The History of the Edison Cylinder Phonograph, 2007 < http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edcyldr.html>
Mobley, Max. "A Brief History of Listening." Crawdaddy: The Magazine of Rock May 16, 2007 November 20th
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Facebook Poster
Click on the image to make it larger.
We first made the poster, then I took a picture of it, put it on the computer and played around with it through photoshop. Then we put together the writing and facts, put it all together in that template, and bam, there we had a page of cool information. There's a picture of Lisa Goulet with the poster before it was completely finished.
Media timeline
Our timeline project was a little hectic because of trying to figure out who would do what part of the project. When assigned these different parts some people wouldn’t do their piece or would be really slow at it, so that was a tough obstacle to get around. Cara freaked out a lot, but she does that all the time anyway, so it’s ok. We made it through. , We’re making a little technology thing that I will post pictures of soon. Our project was focused on forms of projecting music or information. Music is considered a form of social opposition when it is used in that way, so the way music gets around is a big factor. Its creation had to do with making a better quality in music, as technology progressed people’s demand for better forms of it rose.
I picked to research vinyl, which was an important form of recording music from the 1930’s up until now even. It was most involved in the hippie movement of the 60s, when psychedelic music and rock ‘n’ roll were a huge part of society.
I picked to research vinyl, which was an important form of recording music from the 1930’s up until now even. It was most involved in the hippie movement of the 60s, when psychedelic music and rock ‘n’ roll were a huge part of society.
Facebook project
For the hegemony project we picked Facebook. Although Facebook is not a company like Disney or Viacom, it definitely has the potential to become a huge source of personal information for companies like these to use to their advantage.
We put together a poster with snippets of information, we all watched the movie about Facebook, then researched the companies involved with the funding of Facebook. I learned that many firms involved with the collection of personal information have focused their attention on Facebook. With Facebook now boasting over 40 million users, these companies feel compelled to be involved. With that amount of people at their finger tips, manipulation is quite easy.
This new form of medium is still in its beginning stages. Not many people know what the outcome will be. Although Microsoft has bought a piece of Facebook some people are skeptical about it. Social networks can lose their users as quickly as they gained them. With the emergence of a better social network, people may leave Facebook for that one, causing Microsoft to lose a lot of money.
We put together a poster with snippets of information, we all watched the movie about Facebook, then researched the companies involved with the funding of Facebook. I learned that many firms involved with the collection of personal information have focused their attention on Facebook. With Facebook now boasting over 40 million users, these companies feel compelled to be involved. With that amount of people at their finger tips, manipulation is quite easy.
This new form of medium is still in its beginning stages. Not many people know what the outcome will be. Although Microsoft has bought a piece of Facebook some people are skeptical about it. Social networks can lose their users as quickly as they gained them. With the emergence of a better social network, people may leave Facebook for that one, causing Microsoft to lose a lot of money.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Fake News
Ian's lecture on fake news was really interesting to me. I've never really thought about fake news at all. It has only been a humorous entity to me. Ian answered my question really well about why fake news and political satire are on the rise. It has to do with people's need for entertainment and also with their dissatisfaction with the political system. The pre-Bush era did not have as many shows as there are on nowadays and I think the Bush administration is directly related to these shows success. If it weren't for Bush making a fool of himself so much I don't think these shows would be as popular. The current political situation, which is America craving a new administration, has pushed how people want to view the news. I guess they got sick of hearing about all the bull*&!T that goes on, so they resort to political humor and The Onion.
We The Media
We the Media has given me even more examples of corporations hunger for the publics consent of their ‘wanted’ products. When people’s minds are manipulated as much as they are, it has become easy for corporations to sell what they want to sell. The only things on their minds are profits, so they will say and do anything to get your attention.
What has struck me in this book is the effects that TV has on children and the youth of today’s world. “The greatest amount of television viewing takes place among children and young adolescents and peaks around age 12. By age 18, the average child will have watched 22,000 hours of TV- more time in front of the tube than in the classroom.” (We the Media 64) Today, young people generate $150 billion through their materialistic lives. Selling stuff to these kids is a big chunk of their profits so lots of advertising involves young people or is pointed towards them in some way. Why these kids are making companies such large profits has to do with kids not questioning what is surrounding them, they just buy what they want. Since they are exposed to TV, Internet and advertising everywhere you go it creates a person who doesn’t think twice about what he or she is buying, as long as this product will do what the advertisement says. And as long as everyone else at school has one, you may as well get one too, just to fit in.
Our youth needs to be educated about these things. I’m positive this type of culture will have bad effects on us overall. When the youth becomes more and more exposed to things they supposedly need they will stop questioning and just do what it says. I can already see the effects in my friends who watch a lot of TV. They watch TV all day long and the only subject of conversation surrounds things they’ve seen on TV. Any other topic brought up will die down quickly because they have no knowledge of it. Soon enough we’ll have a society that is controlled by advertising, and we can already see this today. If some small business is making a product but doesn’t have the money to advertise as much as a large company, they’re product won’t gain much more momentum. A big company, however, can start a quick advertising campaign and have their product on grocery stores shelves very quickly. And although these two business’s products are the same, brand parity, the one that is seen by the public will be the one to sell.
Its scary to see what this kind of control will do. What if there is a civil war? Whoever controls the flow of information will most likely be the victor. And the people who now control the flow of information are people who would fend for themselves in a war-like situation, and not have a care in the world for the people that made them rich. They have the power and the means to do what they want, that is a scary thought to me.
Hazen, Don, Winokur, Julie. We The Media. New York: The New Press; 1997.
What has struck me in this book is the effects that TV has on children and the youth of today’s world. “The greatest amount of television viewing takes place among children and young adolescents and peaks around age 12. By age 18, the average child will have watched 22,000 hours of TV- more time in front of the tube than in the classroom.” (We the Media 64) Today, young people generate $150 billion through their materialistic lives. Selling stuff to these kids is a big chunk of their profits so lots of advertising involves young people or is pointed towards them in some way. Why these kids are making companies such large profits has to do with kids not questioning what is surrounding them, they just buy what they want. Since they are exposed to TV, Internet and advertising everywhere you go it creates a person who doesn’t think twice about what he or she is buying, as long as this product will do what the advertisement says. And as long as everyone else at school has one, you may as well get one too, just to fit in.
Our youth needs to be educated about these things. I’m positive this type of culture will have bad effects on us overall. When the youth becomes more and more exposed to things they supposedly need they will stop questioning and just do what it says. I can already see the effects in my friends who watch a lot of TV. They watch TV all day long and the only subject of conversation surrounds things they’ve seen on TV. Any other topic brought up will die down quickly because they have no knowledge of it. Soon enough we’ll have a society that is controlled by advertising, and we can already see this today. If some small business is making a product but doesn’t have the money to advertise as much as a large company, they’re product won’t gain much more momentum. A big company, however, can start a quick advertising campaign and have their product on grocery stores shelves very quickly. And although these two business’s products are the same, brand parity, the one that is seen by the public will be the one to sell.
Its scary to see what this kind of control will do. What if there is a civil war? Whoever controls the flow of information will most likely be the victor. And the people who now control the flow of information are people who would fend for themselves in a war-like situation, and not have a care in the world for the people that made them rich. They have the power and the means to do what they want, that is a scary thought to me.
Hazen, Don, Winokur, Julie. We The Media. New York: The New Press; 1997.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Culture Jammings: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs
This essay is about the media manipulation that happens in our world today. With technology now running our society it has become simple to distort and alter the truth through these technologies. We can no longer trust what we see or hear through the media’s eyes, we must be constantly judging and questioning what we hear. “Everywhere the fabricated, the inauthentic and the theatrical have gradually driven out the natural, the genuine and the spontaneous until there is no distinction between real life and stagecraft. In fact, one could argue that the theatricalization of American life is the major cultural transformation of this century.” (Culture Jammings. Gabler, Neal.) This observation of “theatre” is truly there. Just watching the democratic debate this weekend you can see that the whole political campaign is now a popularity contest. When some questions were answered boo’s came out of the crowd, while some candidates received standing ovations. Make-up was not applied in moderation. Wolf Blitzer spits out questions the whole time trying to make the candidates slip-up. It seems that to interest people in their future you must make it entertaining.
The essay also talks about media sabotage. What interested me most about this was the unbiased approach to explaining how to do these things. The author mentions subvertising and its effectiveness, but he also touches on the fact that using subvertising is still using the same method that the companies use.
Dery, Mark. "Culture Jammings: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs." http://www.levity.com/markdery/culturjam.html. 1993.
The essay also talks about media sabotage. What interested me most about this was the unbiased approach to explaining how to do these things. The author mentions subvertising and its effectiveness, but he also touches on the fact that using subvertising is still using the same method that the companies use.
Dery, Mark. "Culture Jammings: Hacking, Slashing and Sniping in the Empire of Signs." http://www.levity.com/markdery/culturjam.html. 1993.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Podcasting
I looked at this project as more of a fun thing to do. So I got together with my group, Vanessa, Cara, Lisa and Katherine. We each picked a place in rez and built a story surrounding that place or object. It was viewed in a horror story type sense to create a thrilling feeling. I was assigned the elevator. Since this was a school for boys and was in a boarding school environment I assume they didn't let kids use the elevators. Kids must have snuck in there once and awhile to break the rules. I lived in a boarding school environment myself and the thrill of breaking the rules usually overcomes our concious thinking.
This was a good group project. We were organized, we all picked places around residence and we all did what we were supposed to do. Also, since we all live in residence it was an easy choice for this project. Nobody has to leave, yet people want to know a little bit residence itself so we decided to make some interesting stuff up.
Here is the document we wrote:
Podcast Tour of Humber College Residence, formerly the Rexdale School for Boys
RECORDING SCRIPT (effects will be added to the real mp3)
Vanessa: There is one recorded fatality at the Rexdale School for Boys. His name was Earnest, and he was 13 years old. He lived in Room 666, and he was liked by all his peers. He was discovered in his room slumped over his bureau with his history textbooks open. Cause of death: Homework Overload.
Cara: We’re here now at the Rexdale School for Boys today, now known as Humber North College Residence, where we are going to be leading a tour. Please stay with us as we venture through the tunnel that has an unknown history to the students who live here now.
Vanessa: The tunnel, which connects S building to the rest of the residence, was built over a fire pitt which students would use to burn all of their work at the end of the school year. To this day, some students say that they can feel what they can only describe as a hot spot as they pass through the tunnel.
The laundry room was used as the detention room back when it was a board school. Rumor has it that sometimes kids were made to stay in the detention room for over 24 hours. Some students would smuggle in small games to play to help pass the time. Ghosts are said to be seen in the laundry room and jacks have been found in the corner of the room.
Cara: Back when the building was for the Rexdale School for boys, the elevator was only supposed to be used by the cleaning maids and teachers. Some boys that were risky enough snuck into it regularly, just for the thrill of breaking the rules. Often they would ride up to the roof and look out over the landscape, usually a sunset or sunrise. Lets take a look up there now and find out what we can see.
Currently from the roof you can see the other residence buildings, the daycare centre, Hwy 27, and the Humber and Guelph-Humber buildings. At the time of the Rexdale School, most of this area wasn’t developed, so there was really nothing to see except a dirt path and a few trees. But the view wasn’t the only reason to go up to the roof. Professors used the roof as an illegal zone...they smoked and drank like there was no tomorrow. They assumed that no students would see them. However, Earnest and some friends went up to the roof one night, and they found their three teachers drunk, dancing to salsa music. They were horrified, so they ran back downstairs. It is still unknown if the teachers were aware of how their secret was exposed.
Vanessa: That’s it for the tour today. Please join our show next week when we will explore ...
This was a good group project. We were organized, we all picked places around residence and we all did what we were supposed to do. Also, since we all live in residence it was an easy choice for this project. Nobody has to leave, yet people want to know a little bit residence itself so we decided to make some interesting stuff up.
Here is the document we wrote:
Podcast Tour of Humber College Residence, formerly the Rexdale School for Boys
RECORDING SCRIPT (effects will be added to the real mp3)
Vanessa: There is one recorded fatality at the Rexdale School for Boys. His name was Earnest, and he was 13 years old. He lived in Room 666, and he was liked by all his peers. He was discovered in his room slumped over his bureau with his history textbooks open. Cause of death: Homework Overload.
Cara: We’re here now at the Rexdale School for Boys today, now known as Humber North College Residence, where we are going to be leading a tour. Please stay with us as we venture through the tunnel that has an unknown history to the students who live here now.
Vanessa: The tunnel, which connects S building to the rest of the residence, was built over a fire pitt which students would use to burn all of their work at the end of the school year. To this day, some students say that they can feel what they can only describe as a hot spot as they pass through the tunnel.
The laundry room was used as the detention room back when it was a board school. Rumor has it that sometimes kids were made to stay in the detention room for over 24 hours. Some students would smuggle in small games to play to help pass the time. Ghosts are said to be seen in the laundry room and jacks have been found in the corner of the room.
Cara: Back when the building was for the Rexdale School for boys, the elevator was only supposed to be used by the cleaning maids and teachers. Some boys that were risky enough snuck into it regularly, just for the thrill of breaking the rules. Often they would ride up to the roof and look out over the landscape, usually a sunset or sunrise. Lets take a look up there now and find out what we can see.
Currently from the roof you can see the other residence buildings, the daycare centre, Hwy 27, and the Humber and Guelph-Humber buildings. At the time of the Rexdale School, most of this area wasn’t developed, so there was really nothing to see except a dirt path and a few trees. But the view wasn’t the only reason to go up to the roof. Professors used the roof as an illegal zone...they smoked and drank like there was no tomorrow. They assumed that no students would see them. However, Earnest and some friends went up to the roof one night, and they found their three teachers drunk, dancing to salsa music. They were horrified, so they ran back downstairs. It is still unknown if the teachers were aware of how their secret was exposed.
Vanessa: That’s it for the tour today. Please join our show next week when we will explore ...
November 14th class
Today’s class was really interesting. I love looking at media history because it directly relates to how media works nowadays. We all know the phrase “history repeats itself” so knowing what happened in the past can help us understand what these forms of medium may do. The printing press gave a whole new meaning to writing. People could now reproduce what they write in mass amounts without a scrivener, even though they were still used up to the point when a copy machine was invented. Speech, language, writing, alphabets, all these things completely changed the way societies and cultures functioned. Nowadays computers, the Internet and televisions are the driving factor in our cultures shift from a print culture to an individualized culture where your opinion can be voiced in places where people will listen. This coming century seems to me will be the largest dissenting population the world has ever experienced. Although in some countries blogging is censored, it can still be used to get inside opinions on places where newscasters cannot go. The Internet has provided us with a way of telling others what is going on, something that wasn’t easily done in the past.
When I was in Iraq during the war being on the Internet was amazing. If you used ICQ people could find people through where they lived and message them, so people went through the lists and it stated that I was from Iraq. So every time I logged onto ICQ hundreds upon hundreds of messages from people all over the world would flood my screen asking questions about what was happening there. My usual response was: well I’m sitting on the Internet so obviously I’m not running from anything. Peoples perspective on the place was minimized to what they saw on TV, so my opinion was completely different from those people messaging me and it would sometimes turn into an argument.
What was amazing here though was that these conversations were possible. It was probably one of the first wars out there where people inside the country could voice there opinions through the Internet. Obviously they weren’t voicing opinions down South before the war because of Saddam’s censorship of every form of medium. After the war though, the Internet became widely available and nowadays we can see blogs from many different Iraqi’s giving us many different perspectives on the place. So the Internet has created a hub where people can converse and share opinions and learn about other places.
When I was in Iraq during the war being on the Internet was amazing. If you used ICQ people could find people through where they lived and message them, so people went through the lists and it stated that I was from Iraq. So every time I logged onto ICQ hundreds upon hundreds of messages from people all over the world would flood my screen asking questions about what was happening there. My usual response was: well I’m sitting on the Internet so obviously I’m not running from anything. Peoples perspective on the place was minimized to what they saw on TV, so my opinion was completely different from those people messaging me and it would sometimes turn into an argument.
What was amazing here though was that these conversations were possible. It was probably one of the first wars out there where people inside the country could voice there opinions through the Internet. Obviously they weren’t voicing opinions down South before the war because of Saddam’s censorship of every form of medium. After the war though, the Internet became widely available and nowadays we can see blogs from many different Iraqi’s giving us many different perspectives on the place. So the Internet has created a hub where people can converse and share opinions and learn about other places.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Potential Hegemony
For the hegemony project I will be looking at Facebook. Since Facebook is new it is not fully immersed in complete hegemonic tendencies. For example we can look at what controls My Space or Xanga and see that they have already been completely bought out by huge media companies like News Corp. Facebook is still it's own entity, it is just beginning its move towards a controlled social environment. Facebook can use all of the information posted on its website for its own purposes so it is like a goldmine for the advertising industry. Microsoft has bought a tiny piece of Facebook, 1.6%, for $240 million. This shows us that people are taking personal information seriously.
If this site moves towards a more IAO tendency then Facebook should be considered a place perfect for advertising companies. There is so much information available from Facebook and it seems Mark Zuckerburg doesn't mind to expose this information to the highest paying customer.
Because this site has the potential to become a largely controlled social place I would like to provide the information on its move towards just that. Other people have an interest in this so we will take it to the next level.
If this site moves towards a more IAO tendency then Facebook should be considered a place perfect for advertising companies. There is so much information available from Facebook and it seems Mark Zuckerburg doesn't mind to expose this information to the highest paying customer.
Because this site has the potential to become a largely controlled social place I would like to provide the information on its move towards just that. Other people have an interest in this so we will take it to the next level.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Toxic Sludge is Good For You
This book was a really good read. It is simple yet very informative on the PR industry. Today I was really surprised to find out that Mark Lipton worked for Hill & Knowlton. This made me almost completely change my mind about the PR industry, it made me realize that not every single PR firm out there is evil. If they were, Mark would be considered evil to, wouldn't he? Or maybe he got out of it because of the evilness eminating from the PR industry? During my high school career I worked on a dairy farm, which was on campus at my boarding school. The barn consists of, I'm pretty sure, 50 milking cows which are graded some of the best in the country. Some have quadruple E 90's, which is an extremely high genetic score of a dairy cow. At this school I took many agriculture classes and learned a ton about the agricultural industry. Monsanto is one of the biggest corporations that now owns a huge chunk of the agriculture market. Although they are the biggest, they are considered the enemy of many farmers. Monsanto has created a pesticide called Round-up Ready. When this is bought by a farmer it can genetically change your crop. If the seeds from this crop fly to another field, which is the way nature words, that crop will incorporate the genetics into its own. Once this has happened that field is now legally Monsanto's. They have put a patent on that gene, so when it is found in other crops, Monsanto accuses them of stealing their crop. It has been like this for many years and is the driving factor in the anti-GMO movement.
In the book it talks about bovine growth hormones, rGBH, which were not used at my school. We went around to many other dairy farms in the area and found out that people who have used it have higher still born rates and an increase in the udder infection, mastitis. rGBH has done no good for the dairy industry, It has just created more problems. With the increase in milk production farmers must now compete with this new technology in an already struggling industry. Dairy farms all over the place are going out of business because of huge dairy operations where rGBH is widely used. Theres also a health concern surrounding bovine growth hormones. If a cow is injected with a hormone, who's to say that it is not in the milk? Who's to say it's not being drunk by people's children? There is still no way of knowing completely what this does to people. In my opinion it should not be used at all.
Although I've had a general knowledge that the PR industry advocates for their companies causes, I still learned a ton of specific information about it. I never knew of the extent to which companies will go to prevent a tarnishing of their name. PR firms are sneaky, smart and know exactly how to manipulate an audience to believe whatever they want them to believe.
In the book it talks about bovine growth hormones, rGBH, which were not used at my school. We went around to many other dairy farms in the area and found out that people who have used it have higher still born rates and an increase in the udder infection, mastitis. rGBH has done no good for the dairy industry, It has just created more problems. With the increase in milk production farmers must now compete with this new technology in an already struggling industry. Dairy farms all over the place are going out of business because of huge dairy operations where rGBH is widely used. Theres also a health concern surrounding bovine growth hormones. If a cow is injected with a hormone, who's to say that it is not in the milk? Who's to say it's not being drunk by people's children? There is still no way of knowing completely what this does to people. In my opinion it should not be used at all.
Although I've had a general knowledge that the PR industry advocates for their companies causes, I still learned a ton of specific information about it. I never knew of the extent to which companies will go to prevent a tarnishing of their name. PR firms are sneaky, smart and know exactly how to manipulate an audience to believe whatever they want them to believe.
November 7th
I liked this class a lot. I wish that Ian's lecture was less in a lecture setting. If that had been just a regular conversation it would have been much more interesting to add input. What I learned today has to do with understanding how to get a message across. What catches our attention are shocking images, so you must learn how to shock people in an activist fight. In North America we are already surrounded by thousands of different fights to fight, it’s just a matter of what seems to be more important to you or me. What bothers me about this kind of activism, it’s an obvious bother too, is that activism shouldn’t exist, in my view. Ideally we shouldn’t have to raise awareness about issues, we should already be aware and doing something about it. If we all want to live in a perfect world, you need unity and equality. Obviously we do not live in an ideal world and activism is an extremely important part of life so finding out the most effective methods of putting forth this awareness is essential.
Another thing we discussed was revolution. I don’t know if I grasped the entire concept of what Ian was talking about, but I’ll try to think critically. What came to my mind most when discussing revolutionary theories was that isn’t it assumed that people must feel that a hegemonic entity is taking over their culture for them to rebel? Most rebellions are staged by a majority of oppressed people who feel they have a better logic than the current one. When a system is not working for a majority of people, that system changes, unless there’s something in the way like Hitler, or Mussolini, or Saddam, or Gadaffi. What I’m trying to say is that I felt these theories were obvious. When people are angry with a system, they will rebel, and usually what they are rebelling against is a hegemonic element. As more and more people feel that the dominant logic is not one meant for their kids or themselves, they will find ways to change it.
Another thing we discussed was revolution. I don’t know if I grasped the entire concept of what Ian was talking about, but I’ll try to think critically. What came to my mind most when discussing revolutionary theories was that isn’t it assumed that people must feel that a hegemonic entity is taking over their culture for them to rebel? Most rebellions are staged by a majority of oppressed people who feel they have a better logic than the current one. When a system is not working for a majority of people, that system changes, unless there’s something in the way like Hitler, or Mussolini, or Saddam, or Gadaffi. What I’m trying to say is that I felt these theories were obvious. When people are angry with a system, they will rebel, and usually what they are rebelling against is a hegemonic element. As more and more people feel that the dominant logic is not one meant for their kids or themselves, they will find ways to change it.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Halloween Class
Reading through Toxic Sludge, going to today’s class, everything we have learned, has reinforced my opinion even more. Large corporations control everything today, I can’t even begin to comprehend the amount of connections there are that we don’t even know about. Advertising, government affiliations, the Internet, television, all of these and more are connected, and are exploited by large companies to make their influence even broader. It makes me sick that these companies are allowed to advertise for medicine that may not even do anything. The public needs to be informed about these things, they need to know that they are being taken advantage of. But since most Americans don’t even have past a grade eight education, it would be hard to explain that something from the television lied.
The amount of wealth that these people hold is also disgusting. According to Forbes.com, 5 of the top 10 richest people in the world are board members of Wal-Mart. The worlds 225 richest people have a combined wealth of which only four percent would be needed to provide basic education, healthcare, food and safe water for every person in the world. This type of monopoly of wealth is not fair. If Bill Gates were to give away all his money, that would mean that the entire world would have better education and healthcare. I’m not saying he hasn’t given away money, Bill Gates has actually given the biggest donation in history, $24 Billion to his own foundation. But for such a small amount of people, to have all the money in the world, all the influence, and all the power, is not fair. Humans have always had to deal with societies that have aristocratic tendencies, wealth has pretty much always been in the hands of a small amount of people.
The amount of wealth that these people hold is also disgusting. According to Forbes.com, 5 of the top 10 richest people in the world are board members of Wal-Mart. The worlds 225 richest people have a combined wealth of which only four percent would be needed to provide basic education, healthcare, food and safe water for every person in the world. This type of monopoly of wealth is not fair. If Bill Gates were to give away all his money, that would mean that the entire world would have better education and healthcare. I’m not saying he hasn’t given away money, Bill Gates has actually given the biggest donation in history, $24 Billion to his own foundation. But for such a small amount of people, to have all the money in the world, all the influence, and all the power, is not fair. Humans have always had to deal with societies that have aristocratic tendencies, wealth has pretty much always been in the hands of a small amount of people.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Group projects
I've been looking into the group projects quite a bit. For the Media hegemonies I was flipping through 'We the Media' and saw that they have the entire media hegemony right there. Wondering if I should be lazy and use that. I'll see what the higher powers say. My activism project is yet again going to involve the Kurds. It is going to be much more general though. I'll be looking at human rights issues surrounding the Kurds throughout the Middle East, but the overall project will focus on broad human rights issues in the world. I've been reading through Amnesty Internationals website, looking at the more recent abuses in Burma through the ruling Junta.
I feel that human rights is the most important issue facing us right now. Although human rights issues have been around pretty much since humans have been on the planet, we still need to know what is happening to some. Torture is the most disgusting thing a human would ever have to face, so someone who has been exposed to torture should let others know what it is like. People need to learn ethical standards and be able to recognize and understand what human beings are capable of.
I feel that human rights is the most important issue facing us right now. Although human rights issues have been around pretty much since humans have been on the planet, we still need to know what is happening to some. Torture is the most disgusting thing a human would ever have to face, so someone who has been exposed to torture should let others know what it is like. People need to learn ethical standards and be able to recognize and understand what human beings are capable of.
This idea is getting better and better. Looking at Kurdish culture and what they are fighting for. Kurds have recently been in the news over issues of PKK and Turkey. I'd like to add this issue into my paper. I've begun writing, exploring thoughts and seeing what my mind is capable of comprehending.
I've been watching the PKK and Turkey story closely because I am Kurdish. I'd like to make it clear that Turkey has no right to treat the Kurds they way they do. If any group of people were oppressed like the Turks oppress, they would have an active 'terrorist' group too. I am very hopeful that this issue is resolved without much more conflict. Iraq is already a mess, and to invade a part of the country with the most progress and calm would be a disaster. Business is booming up north and half of this is due to Turkish investors, so an invasion by them wouldn't be good for most.
In my paper I'd like to take a step back and see why they are fighting and why it hasn't been resolved since the PKK started 30 years ago. Turkey must be holding onto that chunk of land for some reason, and its not due to the love of it, I'm sure.
I've been watching the PKK and Turkey story closely because I am Kurdish. I'd like to make it clear that Turkey has no right to treat the Kurds they way they do. If any group of people were oppressed like the Turks oppress, they would have an active 'terrorist' group too. I am very hopeful that this issue is resolved without much more conflict. Iraq is already a mess, and to invade a part of the country with the most progress and calm would be a disaster. Business is booming up north and half of this is due to Turkish investors, so an invasion by them wouldn't be good for most.
In my paper I'd like to take a step back and see why they are fighting and why it hasn't been resolved since the PKK started 30 years ago. Turkey must be holding onto that chunk of land for some reason, and its not due to the love of it, I'm sure.
Semiotic thinking
This class really put forward what I want to do with my semiotic analysis. I’m going to attempt to write about Kurdish culture and how it compared to Western culture before and after the war. Kurds are an ethnic group in the Middle East consisting of around 30 million people. This is the biggest ethnic group in the world without their own country, although the Kurds in Iraq have enjoyed autonomy for the past 16 years. The way that American culture has seeped into Kurdish culture is due to a huge boom in business, which has made this society even more capitalistic than it was before. Also, before the war, Kurds were still a modern society even though they have been oppressed for as long as any Kurd can remember. Comparing these two culture is where most semiotic analysis will come from. Symbols mean very different things between the cultures and I’d like to look at what these differences are.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
What struck me most about the book Understanding Comics is the space between comic strip pictures. We were talking about the same type of concept in the class the other day, metonyms. These little spaces of time are where it is up to the reader to interpret what is happening in the story. They are usually obvious things like an image of an axe, and an image of someone struggling on a tree stump. We put two and two together, and that person is assumed dead.
McCloud goes on to explain the differences in Western and Japanese comics. When going into metonym’s he sees that there is a big difference between the way Western’s perceive and interpret over the way Japanese do. “Traditional Western art and literature don’t wander much. On the whole, we’re a pretty goal-oriented culture. But in the East, there’s a rich tradition of cyclical and labyrinthine works of art” (McCloud, 81). Here we have to look at the cultural and mental differences between these two sets of people. In the East people are much more focused on aspects and learning about an environment. In the West we are all in a rush. We need to get places as fast as possible, that’s why we don’t care much about how we are getting places, but what happens when we get there.
Understanding Comics definitely shows how much comics represent a culture. He breaks down time periods, types of comics, different publishing locations, which all help show that comics hold a fundamental understanding of our culture. Although comics have been denounced as a form of entertainment for kids, McCloud shows us that there is more behind a comic than you would think.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 2. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
McCloud goes on to explain the differences in Western and Japanese comics. When going into metonym’s he sees that there is a big difference between the way Western’s perceive and interpret over the way Japanese do. “Traditional Western art and literature don’t wander much. On the whole, we’re a pretty goal-oriented culture. But in the East, there’s a rich tradition of cyclical and labyrinthine works of art” (McCloud, 81). Here we have to look at the cultural and mental differences between these two sets of people. In the East people are much more focused on aspects and learning about an environment. In the West we are all in a rush. We need to get places as fast as possible, that’s why we don’t care much about how we are getting places, but what happens when we get there.
Understanding Comics definitely shows how much comics represent a culture. He breaks down time periods, types of comics, different publishing locations, which all help show that comics hold a fundamental understanding of our culture. Although comics have been denounced as a form of entertainment for kids, McCloud shows us that there is more behind a comic than you would think.
McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 2. New York: HarperCollins, 1994.
October 10th Class
Class focus was on semiotics, which is still a concept I have yet to completely grasp. I've asked my mom about it, looked at cultural studies books, found definitions on wikipedia.org and it has made a difference in my understanding. Hopefully I'll be capable of talking about some cultural issue or phenomenon in a semiotic sense. Semiotics is such a complicated way of looking at things, in my opinion. The theory I comprehended most was how we view the world. Denotation, connotation, ideology. This seems to be exactly what I do when I look at anything in the world and I have some major connotations about things.
There are connotations everywhere, good ones and bad ones. I think of my car, I think gas-guzzler, money consumer, earth destroyer, but yet I still drive. On the other hand I think of my car as my way of getting from point A to point B. Without it, I would be stuck with using the bus, or a bike, or any other form of ‘green’ transportation. When breaking down these points, I can look at any form of medium and we usually have negative connotation towards it. TV is used to commercialize, to materialize, to make us buy things. Internet is also an advertiser. What do these things do to us? Are we willing to fight it? It doesn’t seem like there is much protest to the things that enhance our lives. Even though these things give us more time to work, they do make our lives easier in some way and protesting against it involves either not using it, or being a hypocrite.
There are connotations everywhere, good ones and bad ones. I think of my car, I think gas-guzzler, money consumer, earth destroyer, but yet I still drive. On the other hand I think of my car as my way of getting from point A to point B. Without it, I would be stuck with using the bus, or a bike, or any other form of ‘green’ transportation. When breaking down these points, I can look at any form of medium and we usually have negative connotation towards it. TV is used to commercialize, to materialize, to make us buy things. Internet is also an advertiser. What do these things do to us? Are we willing to fight it? It doesn’t seem like there is much protest to the things that enhance our lives. Even though these things give us more time to work, they do make our lives easier in some way and protesting against it involves either not using it, or being a hypocrite.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Ten Things Wrong with the Media 'Effects' Model
It seems to me that people doing research on the effects of TV needed to realize that the methods they were using weren’t very effective. They needed to see that television influences our reactions, it doesn’t simply change our behavior. In my experience I have never seen any type of violence shown on TV turn into immediate behavioral changes. When living in Iraq I would often see, with my cousins, executions being shown live on the National Iraqi channel during that time, which was the only channel for the non-fly zoned area. People lined up, blind folded, then shot in the face by Saddam’s soldiers. My cousins saw these things, I saw these things and it was a common occurrence and not one of my cousins has any indication of violent or even aggressive tendencies and neither do I. Many other things have happened to my cousins and myself and still I see no change.
I support what David Gauntlett is saying. You must see how TV affects us in a broader sense, because TV is so broad. When looking at how children are affected by TV you should look at what they wear, what they talk about, to what extent does their knowledge go and where does that information come from. It seems that this should have been obvious after so much rigorous research, but it seems this is only being realized.
I support what David Gauntlett is saying. You must see how TV affects us in a broader sense, because TV is so broad. When looking at how children are affected by TV you should look at what they wear, what they talk about, to what extent does their knowledge go and where does that information come from. It seems that this should have been obvious after so much rigorous research, but it seems this is only being realized.
Slideshow project
The group project has worked out. I am in a group of two other people, Jenn Doxsee and Kelly Scott, and we worked productively together. I went home last weekend and took shots in the mall and in the grocery store Sobey’s. I shot for a few hours, took them home, loaded them on the computer and I realized that most of the people in my shots seemed very down and somewhat depressed. These places are supposed to make life easier. Advertisements exist to show off what could make your life better, they show an ideal that only few have supposedly obtain, say celebrities. If you have what we have, you will be happy. Most people don't have what advertisements advertise or have what celebrities have. I’m slowly learning here that our society is surrounded by images that make us envious towards the ideal life. White house, fluffy dog, shiny car, perfect kids, all these things are continuously portrayed through these advertisements.
The images that I took were of people shopping, store shelves, advertisements that came along with a product. I took the shots in black and white to give off a sense of control. I feel like I am living in a society controlled by signs. These signs show us the direction in which we should go in, the direction to happiness. The pictures that I present show people in their unhappy states. It also shows some regular advertisements that help persuade us to buy the products that will make us happy or more efficient. What I’ve come to realize is that everything that humans create is to make us more efficient and quicker in our daily lives. These things are created to give us more time for our enjoyment, but as humans become more and more efficient the result is we have more time to work and make money.
The images that I took were of people shopping, store shelves, advertisements that came along with a product. I took the shots in black and white to give off a sense of control. I feel like I am living in a society controlled by signs. These signs show us the direction in which we should go in, the direction to happiness. The pictures that I present show people in their unhappy states. It also shows some regular advertisements that help persuade us to buy the products that will make us happy or more efficient. What I’ve come to realize is that everything that humans create is to make us more efficient and quicker in our daily lives. These things are created to give us more time for our enjoyment, but as humans become more and more efficient the result is we have more time to work and make money.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
October 3rd Class
I really liked this class because of the heated debate about who can get post-secondary education. Public education has alot to do with what we were talking about. The education system, to me, makes people fail, or strives to make kids fail. Most of what I have heard from friends and family is that the teachers are very impersonal, if you do not try, they do not care. To give everyone equal opportunities you must first give everyone equal education. I come from a privilaged family myself and feel lucky to be able to get an education without much fuss, for others this isn't the case and I feel that this is not fair at all.
Another point was about the individuals themselves, if a person tries hard enough, they will succeed. This works for some, but others are stuck in the system. If your family doesn't make enough money to provide, the kids must either drop out to get a job or the family must wait until that child is out of high school and then start work. Once you are providing for your family, paying the bills and insurance and being influenced by our materialistic ways you become stuck. You cannot just quit your job and enter schooling to get a better job. I've worked in factories the past two summers and every single "lifer" (the people who work there year round) who works there tells all the summer workers to stay in school or you will get stuck. Some people had been manning the most boring machines ever invented for over 10 years. Actually going there everyday for 8-12 hours made me feel extremely sorry for those people, just because I was born into a higher class family I have the opportunity for a better life.
Another point was about the individuals themselves, if a person tries hard enough, they will succeed. This works for some, but others are stuck in the system. If your family doesn't make enough money to provide, the kids must either drop out to get a job or the family must wait until that child is out of high school and then start work. Once you are providing for your family, paying the bills and insurance and being influenced by our materialistic ways you become stuck. You cannot just quit your job and enter schooling to get a better job. I've worked in factories the past two summers and every single "lifer" (the people who work there year round) who works there tells all the summer workers to stay in school or you will get stuck. Some people had been manning the most boring machines ever invented for over 10 years. Actually going there everyday for 8-12 hours made me feel extremely sorry for those people, just because I was born into a higher class family I have the opportunity for a better life.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Ways Of Seeing, John Berger
Advertising is a huge industry in our day and age and to be able to see what it does to us is important. Advertising has become a very detailed and complicated process of figuring out what makes people want what they have to sell. There are millions of different choices out there and advertisers want you to buy their stuff. The pictures that are now used create a culture of envy. When billboards are everywhere, stores surrounding us, there is no way to avoid what the advertisers assume is the ideal human. With all these things around us it becomes a cycle of consumerism, you work to make money, to buy what advertisers sell. These advertisers advertise happiness and it makes you want happiness, but to obtain this happiness, you must work, and working for most people is not the most pleasant thing. “The interminable present of meaningless working hours is ‘balanced’ by a dreamt future in which imaginary activity replaces the passivity of the moment. In his or her day-dreams the passive worker becomes the active consumer. The working self envies the consumer self.” Here Berger emphasizes the fact that advertising gets into your head. It is all over the place nowadays, in our newspapers, on our TV’s, on the internet, there is no way around comparing yourself to someone you assume is ideal. In class today we talked about the 2nd commandment, which tells humanity to avoid making images so that we can prevent idolatry, this seems to be our problem. Its funny that even God predicted what we would become or at least knew about human weakness.
Group Work So Far
I seem to be a little rusty on my group skills because I ended up doing a lot of the project. It was my fault though because I didn’t realize that the task I told people I would do was most of the project. So it seems some from my group have ditched me for another group, but that is fine! To fix this in the future I definitely need to plan more and actually get familiar with the people in my group. Those seemed to be the two big problems, once I figure out how to organize the work we are supposed to do in an even amount and get to know my group better, then I think I’ll be set.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Amusing Ourselves to Death, McLuhan
This book and the Playboy interview are theories and concepts that are hard to comprehend. What these authors are saying is that without these forms of medium, or to stick to our basic forms of discourse (phonetic alphabet, printing press) our race would be alot better off. I don't really agree with this point of view because I myself am knee deep within our modern forms of medium. Also the alternative, which McLuhan puts forward, is that we would live again in an undemocratic tribalized society where our individual freedoms would not exist. "By their dependence on the spoken word for information, people were drawn together into a tribal mesh; and since the spoken word is more emotionally laden than the written -- conveying by intonation such rich emotions as anger, joy, sorrow, fear -- tribal man was more spontaneous and passionately volatile." (pp. 6) To go from where we are now to that lifestyle doesn't seem very reasonable or in any way better than where we are today. Being passionately volatile is not something that is accepted in our culture anymore. McLuhan's theories definitly struck something in me, although, and made me wonder why we actually watch TV so much, what is so appealing about TV? 15 Minutes of commercials every 2 minutes, shows that give us no solid opinions or observations on the world around us and the fact that if you step out your door, something called fresh air will fill your lungs and give your lungs some satisfaction. I like the fresh air, and hopefully we can all figure out someday that the air outside is nice and that the TV is a good form of getting information, it shouldn't be the only form.
Mass Communications
I must say that this is the most intimidating class I've ever been involved in. I think my level of overwhelmedness has shot through the roof. Even though I am in a rut about this, I'm fairly sure that I will make it through and on the plus side the class is very interesting. I think the overwhelming part has to do with having every assignment in which we will be doing has been explained to us in class so I've crunched all that information together in my head and I guess it's ready to explode. When I actually looked through the syllabus step by step and broke down all the other info my heart stopped racing and I realized that this class will be a good challenge for me and I am definitly looking forward to doing the assignments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)