Friday, December 20, 2013

PROJECT #1: DIGITAL MEDIA Research Project



Select a DIGITAL MEDIA issue that highlights a challenge, problem, or solution related to personal or professional media-focused business, politics, and democratic expression in our 21st century society. 

(NOTE: Scan through our MEDIA@SOCIETY book for ideas - i.e. NSA surveillance, body image and objectification, alcohol marketing to college students, Google’s controversial decision to digitally copyright books, Facebook’s ever-changing privacy policy, the issue of data mining, or gaming addiction).

We will produce the paper in stages:
(1. TOPIC; 2. QUESTION/THESIS; 3. 6 SOURCES/OUTLINE; 4. DRAFT 1.0)

Research and produce an 8 paragraph (individual) or 16 paragraph (paired) multimedia research paper on this issue, following the assessment guidelines below.

To earn an “A,” be sure your papers:

1. Have a specific THESIS statement, grounded in TIME and PLACE, in your opening paragraph.
2. Consist of 8 paragraphs of between 5-7 sentences each.
3. Contain no grammar, spelling, or mechanical errors.
4. Be illustrated with AT LEAST one SELF-CREATED photo or video embed for EACH paragraph. (Use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to help you.)
5. Provide AT LEAST one direct quotation from AT LEAST 6 different texts.
6. Be presented with confidence in class (excerpted sections.)

38 comments:

  1. The digital media issue I want to focus: Photo shop distorting ads and images are affecting people's perspective of what is real.

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  2. I would like to focus on the concept of body image and the idea of beauty and how advertisements skew our society's perception of what is attainable and what is not.

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  3. I think I am going to focus on sexuality and how both men and women are portrayed in the media. :)

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  4. I'm going to do my research paper on the growing influence of media on politics and presidential elections.

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  5. The issue I'd like to focus on is media stereotypes of race on television/ in the news.

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  6. I would like to focus on public confidence in the media.

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  7. I would like my project to focus on the NSA surveillance program, Wikileaks and the Snowden case.

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  8. I would like to focus on the mental and social impact of social media on our generation.

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  9. Photoshopping the environment and other places to make them appealing in order to attract tourists.

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  10. Environmental activists who use media to expose big corporations who are destructive to the earth.

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  11. Professional athletes finding themselves in bad PR situations due to a lack of censorship in social media.

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  12. The decreasing importance/power of record labels and increase in creativity and diversity in music because of social media.

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  15. I want to focus on how digital media are targeting and affecting the youth.

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  16. For my project, I'd like to focus on the affects of video games and similar media on violence in the U.S.

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  17. POST YOUR SIX SOURCES HERE WITH URLS AND BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS.

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  18. http://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/34677

    This is a comprehensive scholarly article on how labeling photos as “retouched” would help alleviate some of the negative body images people are developing since it would be more “open” to the public that this is not the model’s true appearance.

    http://www.theroundtable.ro/Current/2013/Cultural/Silviana%20Secara%20-%20Women%20in%20Ads%20-%20Visual%20Representation%20of%20the%20Female%20Body.pdf

    This article provides some history as to what ads used to be like before retouching and how we have proceeded.

    http://blog.birchbox.com/post/15315792061/make-up-for-evers-new-unretouched-ad

    This article examines the pros and cons of retouching and ask the very critical question of whether or not our society can ever truly recover from years of heavily photoshopped ads? Have we created an unattainable standard that we cannot lower?

    http://www.cbsnews.com/news/if-photoshop-is-banned-in-advertising-itll-be-julia-roberts-fault/

    This news article ask the question of whether or not photoshopping should be outlawed. It looks at certain locations who seem to want to create guidelines that prevent photo retouching within public advertisements so as not to be misleading.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/28/fashion/28RETOUCH.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

    This article shows how shocking it is for people to view other forms of unretouched ads (i.e. see an actress look completely different on one magazine cover than she did on another). It also brings up how easy it is for our society to use technology and quickly make critical changes to anything.

    http://www.upliftmagazine.com/uplift/2008/07/beauty-the-photoshop-way/

    This examines the length at which people will go to feel better about their appearance and tries to uncover whether or not there is a correlation between the usage of ad retouching and a generation of extremely self-conscious people.

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  19. 1. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/medias-positive-negative-influence-teenagers-10506.html

    This article is shows some of the negative and positive impacts the media has on teenagers. Including; body image, glorifying negative behaviors, cultural and political awareness and social skills.

    2. http://innervoiceofbharath.org/2013/05/24/influence-of-the-media-on-younger-generations/

    This article talks about the impact media has on children's attitudes and behaviors. It talks about the media and how children look up to celebrities and idolize them, how violence can stem from the media shown the younger generation and the addictive nature of the media on teenagers minds.

    3.http://socialmediatoday.com/karenn1617/1745751/effects-social-media-how-we-speak-and-write

    This article shows the negative aspects of social media on society and how we now are more connected than sometimes necessary/ wanted. Also, interestingly the article addresses the impact technology has on public speakers where as before they were speaking to attentive students but today they are talking to students with their faces buried in their laptops or phones.

    4. http://www.cifar.ca/technology-and-less-social-interaction-what-are-effects-alex-haslam

    This is a video explaining the effects technology has on us and how we do not feel the need to directly interact with other people because you can do it over the phone or through texting. Also talks about the concept of virtual conference calls. He said that it is the same thing like going to a concert live or listening to the singer on a CD, it is not the same and it will never be the same.

    5. http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/coping-cyberbullying-use-technology-terrify

    This is an article on cyber bullying. I find this issue very interesting that we choose to face our problems over text or technology instead of facing the person face to face. It is so much easier to say something over technology rather than face to face and this is a very negative impact of technology and the media on the youth today.

    6. http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts

    This has some staggering statistics on the media and teenagers. It is not only affecting them mentally, but the media is affecting the youths' health which is commonly overlooked.

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  21. 1. Campbell, Richard , Christopher Martin, and Bettina Fabos. Media & Culture Mass Communication in a Digital Age . Ninth Edition ed. Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2012. Print.

    Media and Culture not only focuses on the role of media and its affect on everyday life but it highlights how we arrived at this point and where we will be in the future. Many chapters are dedicated to the change in political life in the United States and media’s influence on the daily operations of politics.

    2. Nadler, Daniel, and Sounman Hong. "Which candidates do the public discuss online in an election campaign?: The use of social media by 2012 presidential candidates and its impact on candidate salience." Government Information Quarterly 29.4 (2012): 455-461. sciencedirect.com. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.

    This online academic journal explores the effects of new communication technologies on election campaigns and the potential importance of social media on political elections.

    3. Frame, Gregory1. "Seeing Obama, Projecting Kennedy: The Presence Of JFK In Images Of Barack Obama." Comparative American Studies 10.2/3 (2012): 163-176. Humanities Source. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.

    The scholarly journal draws comparisons between John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama and how Obama sought to establish himself as Kennedy successor through presentation and performance.

    4. van Elteren, Mel. "Celebrity Culture, Performative Politics, And The Spectacle Of 'Democracy' In America." Journal Of American Culture 36.4 (2013): 263-283. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.

    This essay examines the how the cult of celebrity has defined democracy and politics in the United States. It cites examples from past presidents such as Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.

    5. Coatney, Caryn. "Successful Media Strategies For Business: How Franklin Delano Roosevelt And John Curtin Won Journalists' Support." Review Of Business & Finance Studies 3.2 (2012): 55-67. Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Feb. 2014.

    This paper shows how Roosevelt was able to influence the news media and the advancement of the radio to “broadcast appealing, inclusive and accessible messages.”

    6. Kuhn, Raymond. "The Media And The 2012 Presidential Election." Modern & Contemporary France 21.1 (2013): 1-16. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Feb. 2014

    This article analyzes key aspects of media coverage in the 2012 presidential election as well as the growth of media in elections in primaries a

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  22. 1. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/08/23/fox-news-racial-crime-coverage-is-hurting-peopl/195567

    This is an article that discusses Fox News’ coverage of the murder of a white male by two black males and a white male. It also focuses on media trends when it comes to race and the racial image news stories often fall back on.

    2. http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=76462

    This examines the disparity among the four most publicized cases of missing women from 2002 to 2005. They found that race and social class seemed to play a role in how much media coverage the missing women received, with the white females from upper-class backgrounds garnering the most attention.

    3. http://www.academia.edu/857391/Missing_Children_in_National_News_Coverage_Racial_and_Gender_Representations_of_Missing_Children_Cases

    Table One from this research report compares the proportions of missing children cases in news reports and official reports from 2005-2007. They found that the coverage of missing children cases might be disproportional based on race and gender, with non- African American cases having 80.5% coverage in the television news sample and African American cases having 19.5% coverage.

    4. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2001/6/29/journalists-scholars-argue-racial-bias-in/

    This article discusses highlights from a conference in Washington DC in 2001 entitled, “Race and the Press: The Local Story.” One speaker stressed the importance of the media to help narrow the gulf between black and white citizens and another panelist said that the problem was that “we still see a white person as the default person, a regular person.”

    5. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/if-caylee-anthony-had-been-black-would-you-know-her-name/2011/07/06/gIQAtTW23H_story.html

    This article compares two mothers, both accused of killing their children, one white, one black: Casey Anthony and Banita Jacks. The article points out “media critics argue that if Caylee had been black, her disappearance and death would never have received as much attention.”


    6. http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/special-reports-landing-page/the-changing-tv-news-landscape/

    This report on media analyzes the structure of three popular news channels, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, and how opinion tends to dominate their reporting.

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  23. Bahadur, Nina. "Kraft Zesty Dressing Ad Offends 'One Million Moms,' Sparks Debate ." Huffington Post. 06 14 2013: n. page. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. .
    This is an interesting article responding to the protests against an ad campaign for Kraft Dressing that features an attractive, nearly-nude man. It was called “obscene” and overly-sexual. Yet aren’t women portrayed this way in nearly every form of advertising?

    Beckham, Ash, dir. Coming out of Your Closet. TEDxTalks, 2013. Web. 11 Feb 2014. .
    This is a TED Talk by LGBTQ advocate and public speaker Ash Beckham. She discusses homophobia and the use of “gay” in modern society. Through humor and blunt honestly, she brings awareness to the struggles every person faces, not only those in the LGBTQ community.

    Eells, Josh. n.d. n. page. .
    Tom Gabel, vocalist for alternative rock band Against Me!, came out as a TransWoman in the spring of 2012. Her actions heightened public awareness of transgender people in general, and the band’s new album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, touches on feelings of alienation, dysmorphia, and being misunderstood.

    The Fosters. ABC Family: . Television. .
    This is a fantastic TV show that features an interracial lesbian couple with twins and three foster children. Aside from the mothers, Steph (a police officer) and Lena (a school principal), the show features Jude, their foster son who struggles with his sexuality and gender identity, and Cole a Transguy living in a correctional home for girls as an alternative to juvie.

    Giddens, Anthony . Introduction to Sociology. 8th edition. W. W. Norton, 2011. 66. print.
    Discusses gendered children’s toys and non-sexualized child rearing. Is it possible to raise a child with no regard to traditional masculine and feminine roles?

    Groner, Rachael, and John O'Hara. Composing Gender. Bedford St.Martin's, 2014. Print.
    A compilation of essays and articles discussing femininity, gender, and women’s rights in the media and society. “Women’s roles” v. “men’s roles.”

    Peters, Julie Ann. Luna. Little, Brown Books, 2006. Print.
    A young adult novel from the perspective of 16-year-old Regan as her older brother, Liam, comes to terms with being transgender. Deals with Liam’s coming out, and the effect on Regan’s friendships and relationship with her parents.

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  24. Post OVERARCHING QUESTION and ONE SENTENCE THESIS (grounded in time and place) right HERE for Friday, 2/14.

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  26. 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jENEVn1DR4w
    This video explains the change in technology over many years. It is said in the video that technology has always been around and used for tasks. We now rely on technology for an abundant amount of things and because of the influence it inflicts onto us, our dependability for technology has changed significantly.

    2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNvDlqFLgxk
    This video shows how children are using technology to learn and also to play. From a deeper look into the video, social skills are not shown in this video because the children are interacting with the technology rather than one another.

    3) http://www.whattoexpect.com/toddler/toddler-learning/young-children-and-computers.aspx
    This website talks about the advantages and disadvantages of teaching your child to be computer literate. Along with the article I provided below, this website also says that your child is bound to become computer literate, when will he or she, is the question.

    4) http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=4&sid=ee371558-7ae0-4134-9351-a16abe3ee2a4%40sessionmgr113&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=eue&AN=89371474
    This article describes that you can not vere away from technology, you have to adjust to it in order for yourself to be succesfful but more importantly for oyour children to be successful because they are going to be living in a media dense world. A statistic was gathered to figure out the use of technology ( information-communication technology) with 4 year old children in their homes.

    5) http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=4&sid=ee371558-7ae0-4134-9351-a16abe3ee2a4%40sessionmgr113&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=sih&AN=94142888
    In this article, there is a discussion about whether technology is benefitting the youth with learning. In this discussion, there are 6 groups; 3 groups are for education the youth using technology and the other 3 groups are against it.

    6) http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=7&sid=ee371558-7ae0-4134-9351-a16abe3ee2a4%40sessionmgr113&hid=115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=eue&AN=84548765
    This article talks about how technology is wildly taking over our lives enough so that we use it as a main way to gain knowledge. The article also describes that the over consumption of technology can negatively affect young people, particularly children.

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  27. http://www.policymic.com/articles/79585/watch-this-woman-get-a-complete-photoshop-makeover-in-3-minutes-flat
    This link shows a video of a Hungarian artist making a music video of her getting photo shop done to her face. She goes through a transformation to make her “beautiful”. The video shows you a before and after shot at the end. You almost can’t tell it’s her in the end.
    http://realbeautysketches.dove.us/
    This link is a video with a social experience. People describe themselves to an artist and the artist draws them. Then someone who met that same person describes them and the artist draws them again. This video shows how people perceive themselves and how critical they can be of how they look and what “beauty” really is to them.
    http://www.policymic.com/articles/79647/american-eagle-won-t-photoshop-models-but-this-isn-t-what-girls-really-look-like
    This article talks about how the company Aerie is no longer going to be photo shopping their models. This is part of their new lingerie campaign “Aerie Real”. They are trying to make girls age 15- 25 to see that their models are “what girls their age really look like”
    http://www.refinery29.com/2014/01/60964/aerie-real-campaign#slide-1
    This short article talks about why Aerie untouched photos are so important. Aerie is trying to get their consumers to see that their models are just like them. They are leaving the tattoos and beauty marks because normal people have them. Its making them more relatable.
    http://unlooker.com/selfie/
    This video is about selfies. It takes you through the story of a few families who take selfies of themselves. It shows you how the girls perceive themselves and what they think beauty really is.
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/18/transformation-photos_n_4295391.html
    This article talks about how photo shop isn't the only thing that is making the models look better. They different examples of how people take two different photos and without photo shop they can look pretty different.

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  29. Thesis: The usage of photo altering programs on todays twenty-first century beauty campaigns have a negative affect on society and skew people’s perception of what is attainable and what is digitally constructed.

    Overarching Question: How have advertisements changed in the last one hundred years due to technological advancements? How were advertisements successful before the invention of photoshop?

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  30. Thesis:
    Technology has wildly improved and the amount of electronic devices has abundantly increased to the point where the 21st century American youth have become dependent on the media.

    Question:
    Will technology increase so much that the oncoming generations will have no choice but to rely on media in order to survive?

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  31. Question: What should be the limits on technological privacy from the government, and who gets to decide these limits?

    Thesis: The Edward Snowden NSA whistleblower case of June 2013 has officially brought to light the extreme measures of public surveillance taken by the American government, and has caused major debate over the ethics of this practice and whether or not it should continue.

    POST YOUR SIX SOURCES HERE WITH URLS AND BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS.
    Web Sources:
    1. http://www.npr.org/2014/02/18/279151014/debate-was-edward-snowden-justified
    This NPR report addresses the question of whether or not Edward Snowden was justified in releasing sensitive government information from the National Surveillance Agency to the public or not. There are strong feelings on both sides of the debate, including that he was doing a good service for the public versus his actions can be considered terrorism.
    2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/obama-congress-nsa_n_4571438.html
    This Huffington Post article begs the question: what has President Obama done about the current NSA situation and why does it seem like the NSA is out of control under his watch? The Snowden case has caused an uproar and backlash against the amount of spying the NSA has done, and the Huffington Post tells us that Obama is content with the current technological surveillance going on.
    3. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/16/gchq-intercepted-communications-g20-summits
    This Guardian article talks about how the Snowden scandal has also raised awareness of the United States government spying on foreign politicians and representatives.
    4. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/18/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-glasgow-university-rector
    This Guardian article offers interesting news on the NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, as he is elected Glasgow University’s student rector. The UK university says they wanted to make a strong statement about open democratic rights via having their rector be Snowden.
    5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23123964
    This BBC report covers the basics of the Snowden scandal broke out, and what has happened in the world since then because of the incident, such as Snowden fleeing to different countries, such as Hong Kong to Russia.

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  32. Question: As the use of social media increases as a society we do less face to face interactions, is there a way to reverse this inability of confrontation or are we too far past the point of no return?

    Thesis: The increased dependency on social media in the younger generations of society has changed the way we interact with one another face to face and on the internet.

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  33. Question: Why has the percentage of the American public confidence in media dropped every year since 1979?

    Thesis: Confidence in the media has dropped for many reasons but one of the overarching truths would be that journalism changed from a trade to a profession.

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  35. Question: Are media such as violent video games and news coverage some of the main reasons America has experienced so many mass murders since the early '90s?

    Thesis: Violent video games and the amount of tragedies covered on the news have desensitized our nation to the worst degree and could contribute to the increase in massacres and increase of fatalities in those massacres.

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  36. Overarching Question: Are social media a new, positive way for professional athletes to interact with fans or are they dangerous tools that wield great, unprecedented power?

    Thesis: I believe that social media are powerful tools used by professional athletes to interact with fans on a whole new personal level. However, with this great, uncensored power comes great responsibility, the responsibility to not abuse the power to do more harm than good.

    Sources for Media Project

    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1546676-how-twitter-is-impacting-professional-athletes-and-their-sports

    Discusses how Twitter is affecting professional athletes negatively.

    http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/post/_/id/10483616/is-social-media-liability-athletes

    “coach’s opinion on social media - negative”

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2013/07/31/for-athletes-social-media-not-all-fun-and-games/2606829/

    “the social media abuse on athletes”

    http://mashable.com/2011/12/08/ten-athlete-gaffes-aided-by-social-media/

    “Video on social media blunders”

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/more/09/19/twitter-downside/

    “Twitter is dangerous”

    http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/20/instead-telling-athletes-not-tweet-colgate-shows-how-social-media-can-work-them

    “pro-twitter”

    http://www.searchinfluence.com/2013/01/worst-social-media-mistakes-of-2012/

    "Biggest social media blunders of 2012"

    "Look Who's Talking -- Athletes on Twitter: A Case Study" pdf file, A Pegoraro,

    "Discusses the pros and cons of Athletes on social media."

    http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-case-of-alex-rodriguez-memory-wizards/

    "60 Minutes special on Alex Rodriguez scandal and how improper use of digital media landed him in some deep doo-doo"

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  38. Thesis:
    Technology has wildly improved and electronic devices have abundantly increased to the point where the 21st century American school-aged youth have become dependent on media.

    Question:
    Will technology increase so much that the oncoming generations will have no choice but to rely on media in order to survive?

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