Revelations

The following revelations are in no particular order of importance.  All photos are taken from Flickr Creative Commons or are screen captures.

Revelation #1
ACME

There is a coalition of people who are working towards promoting media literacy and educating our society about the power of our media culture. This coalition is made up of media educators and is called ACME. As I launch into my next school year I feel I have an obligation and a responsibility to begin educating my colleagues. Introduction to this site as a resource should be part of my discussion. It educates the how and why the media system works as well as keeping you informed.


Revelation #2  
TWEETDECK

I very recently became a fan of Twitter after I realized the benefits it has for me professionally.   Living in a rural area limits my connections with librarians or tech integrationist.  I find listserves to be unproductive and disorganized and they clog my email.   When Rob introduced Tweetdeck,  I became more  intrigued with the possibilities of finding and organizing information that meets my needs.    My life though isn't just about me.   I see this as a valuable tool for my colleagues.  They are aware of the importance of a PLN however, very few have included online communities.  I look forward to sharing this one!

Revelation #3
INTERNET AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR OUR PERSONAL MEMORY

       
 
I was concerned about my brain after finishing Carr's book The Shallows.   He raises some valid questions about the effects of our frequent Web surfing and reliance on the Web to remember information.   It should be no surprise that since we do not attend to information in a meaningful and systematic way that the information never makes into our long term memory.  We are then learning less and without working our longterm memeory we could lose it.  Ironically, the July 29th issue of The Week printed an article titled "Google:  Changing How People think."   The article provides different points of  views on whether or not Google is effecting our memory.  Matt Peckman quoted Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows in techland.com and supported his theory on memory shift.   For me this idea just reinforces the need to read deeply and balance deep thinking and Web surfing.


Revelation #4
THE BIG SIX

 

Call me clueless.   I had no idea that there are roughly 6 giant corporations that control what we see, read and hear.   This new knowledge will cause me to question the corporation’s intent behind any new message I see, hear or read in the future.  Do they really have the public’s best interest in mind?  Certainly not and I feel embarrassed for the many times they fooled me.    I see future discussions with my students about this problem and exercises that promote analysis and critical thinking.   Another non- profit organization that is attempting to reform media is freepress.net.


Revelation #5
CRADLE TO GRAVE

I am appalled with how early the advertising business targets our children.    They are so savvy in their thinking to target the early years considering this is when children are developing a system of values and sense of self.    I was naive in thinking I could avoid commercialism by refusing cable TV in my house.   Advertisements are everywhere and the companies are integrating their brands into children’s lives through movies, video games, television and the Internet, bill boards, school, school buses and the through the use of product placement, subliminal messages.

Revelation #6

DISNEY'S TRUE MOTIVE

  
I grew up watching Disney films and loved them.   My family visited the theme park three times during my childhood and I loved every minute.    As I watched this video with a critical eye, the female animated characters really are highly sexualized in body and in action.  I also grew up playing with Barbies.  But Barbie in the 70's had long formal gowns not clothing that resembles the attire of a prostitute.   Who cares about Barbie anyway.  The Bratz dolls have outsold her in sales and they have an appealing game site that teaches young girls important lessons on beauty.    I could get hung up on the portrayal of women, however that will be left for student evaluation.   It is the consumerism and the connection between cultural media and corporate power that will be remain my focus.   Will I still show Disney films to my daughter? Yes, but perhaps include more discussion about the portrayal of the female character.

Revelation #7

GIA 

Guillermo Fdez

After watching the video about the marketing firm Girl’s Intelligence Agency, I was taken aback by how invasive the market industry is on such a young and innocent age group. Soliciting these young girls and making them into consumers at such a young age is wrong.   The emphasis on materialism is wrong. Asking them to exploit their friends is wrong. The GIA’s secret agents or “alpha girls” must be growing up with a warped sense of what is really important in life.  Shame on the big corporations for supporting GIA’s mission; whether or not it is a creative way to make money billions.   I want to show the 60min clip to my girl friends.  For school, the video could be used with older students to generate questions and thinking about good and bad marketing strategies.

Revelation #8

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES IN ADVERTISING

Understanding and thinking about the list of persuasive media techniques helps me understand how advertisers are successful in selling their product or idea.   They have sold me several times using techniques such as flattery, bandwagon, nostalgia, laughter and rhetorical question and probably several others.  Some of the techniques are more challenging to use than others but all of them have a place and a purpose and have connect in one way or another to the three areas  of our brain.   For a video project, students could study some of the techniques and then incorporate a 2 or 3 of them into their projects.  I might assign each group  specific technique(s) and ask the rest of the class to guess the technique, similar to what we did in class.

Revelation #9
DEREGULATION

TechShowNetwork

I was unaware of the history of media regulation.   Learning about the deregulation ruling in 1981 helped me to better grasp why politics heavily influence television and radio and why the news seems biased.   Unfortunately, without some regulation or control by the FCC other than ensuring the information is accurate (and this is questionable), I do not see a quick fix to the problem.  The history of this issue is complicated and discussions about regulation seem more pertinent in high school.  Comparing and contrasting different country’s media could open up some good discussions relating to the 1^st amendment in middle school.

Revelation #10
LOGOS AND THE LIMBIC BRAIN

liladobbs

I never stopped to pay attention to the connection between commercials and my limbic brain.  I found the discussions related to the limbic brain and how media works primarily at an emotional level fascinating.    It all ties into logos and why we are so loyal to certain brands.  Somehow companies have reached and connected with us on an emotional level with their message, idea, product, and/or lifestyle.   I can imagine discussing with students their connections to brands and why they feel these connections and then following up with a discussion about when and how to accept and reject these messages.    I’m loyal to King Arthur Flour, yet have never seen an advertisement.   I’m loyal to Toyota because my cars last up to 200,000 miles.

Revelation #11

THE CLUELESS DIGITAL NATIVE 

xiaming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, this add is full of celeb's according to the post under the Flickr image by BigK@Shanghai 

"Wow! This group combines the Taiwanese pop group called S.H.E., two other pop-celebs in HK & Taiwan (the dudes between the gals), with the middle one - Liu Xiang (I don't really know his Chinese name indeed), who's indeed the Gold Medal winner for Men's 100M in Atlanta 2004 Olympics."

We are surrounding by so much information to process, analyze and evaluate.   I realized as a digital immigrant I am in a better position to understand all the changes and influences in technology than a digital native since I have lived through the changes (experience and age).  Young digital natives can be so immersed in the information they are oblivious to how and why the information is shaping them.   I could go deeply into Google's ability to profile us but I won't.   The characters in Feed seem so silly to me, yet when I think about the culture they grew up in and the culture I grew up in...it is not so silly any more.  Lori Emerson's blog post speaks more to this idea.