Facebook

1) Facebook is a social networking tool that creates a false sense of self and is run by corporate money-sucking people.

I definetly agree with the sense that facebook can create a false sense of self, although I think that this depends on the user. I don't try to be someone I am not on my own Facebook page. I also agree with the massive advertising tool it has become. Facebook creates a whole new world of advertising that was never there before and because they use your profile to connect you with advertising you will most likely consume it just makes it that much more effective.

I don't agree with how bias Hodgkin is in the article. He takes it to an extreme. Not all facebook users create a false identity and are connected to it all day everyday. It really does help with keeping in touch with far away friends. While it make take away from making a phone call, I am 'more aware with what my friends lives are like across the country. I also don't agree that the inventors and people that most likely work on the website are trying to create a world of virtual reality and that this starts with facebook. I think that idea is a bit extreme and he needs to relax.

2) I definetly felt a little creeped out an invaded by the Killing Us Softly speech. I have always noticed that ads portray women in a sexual, helpless manner, however, I don't think I have actually seen any ads to that extreme. Her use of images and humor is very convincing and appealing to the audience.

1. People see 3,000 ads per year and three years of their life watching TV
2. "Turning people into a "thing" is the first step in justifying violence against that person- it's the logical result of objectification."
3. Stereotypes that harm men are less associated with the body
4. The advertiser is America's real pornographer
5. Obsession with thinness is cutting women down to size and making them silenced

3) What really stood out to me in, "The Making of a Media Literate Mind", was how much the media puts into purposely influencing our mind even if that means negatively impacting its consumers. It is all about money in this country, which is not a new concept, but its crazy how much more you see when you are aware of what is going on. I wonder how different I would be now if I was aware of what I was watching on TV as a child. I didn't watch a lot of TV, but I did watch cartoons on Saturday mornings and sometimes after school depending on the weather. I had no idea how what I was watching was impacting my brain.

Twitter

1) There were a few things at the end of Ad Nauseam that I found particularly amusing. The first one was in the section of "Subliminal Seduction". I find it very strange that people could actually see pornographic scenes, naked women and even animals on plates of food and in the ice cubes in a cocktail. Even once I was told what to look for I couldn't see it. I find it strange that people used that has advertising when it is so discrete that most people wouldn't pick up on it.

I also found it very interesting that women are deemed idiots and is the reason why a lot of ad campaigns are targeted to women (the other is that in general women do more consuming than men...) However, as they advertisers were trying to sell things such as household products, they seemed to sell them as being "smart" and "sohpisticated".

Lastly, I enjoyed part 6 in its entirety. It's crazy how someone will be willing to buy anything if you sell it well enough. That is why advertising can be such a problem. People are attempting to sell things using lies and all the techniques used throughout the book. This is isn't anything new to me but it definetly reiterized the idea of "buyer beware".

My questions is, if we are selling sex and violence to and extreme already, how is that going to progress and/or change in the future? Will be finally realize how sick our society has become and try to change that or is it only going to get worse?

2) Twitters massive following and usage has created a new media highway for communication, advertising, and news.

In Steven Johnson's article, "How Twitter Will Change the Way we Live", there were a few concepts with which I agreed with. One of which is its ability to be used as a social networking in a way that we have never been able to use it before. The fact that they used this for an education forum that was open to the public is really cool. It allows for the public to take part and have a voice in places that they have never had before. I also agree with the advertising bonus that this creates. Businesses have a great way of advertising to a massive amount of people and this also allows them to have a more one-on-one customer basis. They can have instant chats and gain feedback about their company and products.

There were a few things that I did not agree with too. For instance, I don't necessarily view Twitter as a breakout program to our culture. I don't necessarily understand how much different it is than texting or live chat rooms aside from the fact that a website makes finding these much easier. You can send texts to as many people as you want from your phone. I guess I just don't understand how Twitter is viewed as this new amazing concept. I also don't agree with the fact that Twitter search engines may at one time be more useful than Google. Twitter is filled with ideas that have been changed and formed to what their users like. Its just like saying that we should all use and believe everything that Wikipedia tells us to believe.


3) Five things I learned from the video "The Merchants of Cool"

1. That channels actually pay someone to do ethnographic research on teens and how their lives have changed over the years.
2. That TV must inevitably change their ways of advertising and broadcasting to each generation.
3. Teens are one of the largest groups of consumers and the biggest trendsetters. People seek out the biggest trendsetters to find groups of consumers to market to.
4. Movies have transformed over time from being more wholesome, to more sexual and violent and only to fulfill the consumers needs. Its almost as if society is saying its ok to thing like this and feel like this.
5. The best part of a female body is her midriff and there are actually certain ways to portray it and act the part.

Media Art

Media Memoir

I was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, tucked way up in the top left hand corner of North America. Although I lived in the city, we were very isolated from the rest of the country. When I lived there the city was very spread out. Being a city of 300,000 we had most of what other cities had to offer; shopping, grocery stores, movie theatres and arcades. Most of what I knew was not different from that of most other children throughout the United States, but there was one thing that stood out to me; the culture. The culture almost acted as a part of the media. Most commercials on TV had to do with some part of Inuit culture, such as totem poles, Inuit clothing, whales etc. In fact, one of the biggest celebrations each year is Fur Rendezvous which is the start of the Ididarod. It is a week long event with a variety of activities such as snow sculpting, native dance demonstrations, and a native market for anyone to purchase items made from seal skin and caribou. I really think that media shapes us and the media that was shown to me through this culture definitely helped mold me into who I am today. I do have Native American blood, however, my parents don't practice Native American beliefs, but growing up in an area rich in its own culture has led me to appreciate our differences. Now as I have gotten older I have been able to further research other cultures very easily via the internet. While I know longer live in Alaska, I am able to purchase Native products through the internet, which is something that would have never crossed my mind when I was younger. I first got the internet when I was 12 years old. I knew a little bit about computers from taking classes in grade school, however, the internet was a whole new exciting concept. I remember sitting at my computer for hours listening to music from my favorite artists. The concepts I was able to research seemed endless. And they are endless. In fact now I think they are so endless that I almost get bored. Often times I sit down at a computer and after I check my e-mail and facebook I draw a blank. It's as if I have too many options I am unable to limit myself. While I can't imagine not having the internet and it has played a huge role in my college career (I am sure no one can deny that. What would we have done without it?) I have started to drift away from the internet and many other sources of media/technology. I have realized that as much as it has shaped my life and changed our society in a tremendous way, I don't need it as much as I once thought. TV now contains too many reality shows and endless amounts of commercials, the internet shows too many pop-up ads(using it might ruin your computer forever), and the radio never seems to play music!!! The media has taken over. Everything is media now. You can't get away from it, which is exactly why I am taking this class. I want to understand it in a way that feels less harmful and perhaps maybe even appreciate it a little.