I'm a writer at heart, so this is one of the places I write. It's where I store my ideas, observations, interests. This is my personal reflective journal on a range of topics. I'm told journaling is good for the soul. I hope so. And since there's nothing quite as powerful as an idea, maybe a few of those will manifest themselves in my writing. Thank you for reading and always feel free to post a comment.
Happy Monday (April 4) to all in my MCOM 101 class.
Please get started, if you haven’t already done so, with your study and reading of chapter 9 “Digital Media: Widening the Web.”
Here are some notes/comments related to that chapter.
The man who invented the World Wide Web, widely known as the eighth major mass medium of communication, keeps a pretty low profile. Some have described British physicist Tim Berners-Lee as a kind of geeky genious. Bet few if any of you had ever heard about him before taking our course. Nevertheless, know who he is and what his motives were for inventing this revolutionary new mass medium of communication.
The inventor of the World Wide Web, in my opinion, deserves as many plaudits as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell or the Wright brothers. But for Berners-Lee, you wouldn’t be reading this message from me right now!
If you’re Web savvy, and I presume that many of you are, you’ll become reacquainted (through reading chapter 9) with such important terms as HTML, HTTP, convergence, links, public domain, SMS, social network, podcast, blog, Net neutrality, intellectual property rights, file sharing, cloud computing, data compression and touch technology.
Other important material/areas covered in this chapter are noted in the list of “Key Terms” at the bottom of page 202 and at the top of page 203.
Be sure, too, to be able to answer the “Critical Questions” at the end of this chapter on pg. 201.
Providing a technological framework for the World Wide Web have been: Media convergence and how miniaturization and digitization technology came together; fiber optic cables; and broadband (high speed) online service.
Important public policy issues connected with the World Wide Web include: 1) whether the government should guarantee everyone has Web access; 2) whether the Web should be policed/filtered for objectionable content; 3) whether the Web crosses the line between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy; 4) creating a false sense of intimacy and interaction among users. Some also refer to this as high-tech/low touch society or culture: and 5)copyright/intellectual property rights (Time permitting, we may briefly discuss these crucial public policy issues during class.)
No one really knows where the Web is going and/or what it might morph into in the coming years. Some scientists are hard at work on digitizing sense of touch or smell or tactile sensation (see discussion of Touch Technology on page 199.) What of the possibilities concerning slipping into some sort of special garment, hooking our garment-dressed selves to a Web-connected computer and then . . .? This is not pie in the sky stuff. It’s already under development.
Oh, by the way, notice how “Web” is always capitalized. Make sure you always capitalize this important medium of mass communication.
How many of you use social media? Here's a brief clip of how social media have rapidly evolved on the Internet:
Enough for now.
More about the Web in another post from me. Keep checking my blog.
Our "Mass Media and Society" class took a short field trip to EHC-TV a few days ago. Teresa Keller general manager of the station, gave us the ins and outs of what EHC-TV is all about.
Here are a few scenes from our visit:
One of the interesting things that EHC-TV does is allow students to have a Rant. Some of the Rants are posted on YouTube. Here's one from a few years back. Accompanying the rant was this:
EHC-TV presents the Rant. Chris Sills rants this week about loud music in the dorms. The program was originally broadcast on October 26 and 27, 2011 on Comcast Cable Channels 70 and 95. EHC-TV is a product of the Mass Communications Department at Emory & Henry College.
We've all heard about digital TV, but what about our world in general? How are technology, new forms of media and brilliant creative minds changing everything and everyone?
Greetings to all in my “Mass Media and Society” course. Hope you are all reading (or by now have read) chapter 8 “Television: Changing Channels” in our textbook.
Here are some notes and observations about chapter 8—to help shape your study of this important part of our course.
In chapter 8 are such key points/topics as the history and early development of television; TV media mogul Ted Turner (who once declared that newspapers would within a few years become extinct mainly because of the power of TV (But that prophecy, obviously did not materialize); the debut of TV at the World’s Fair in NYC in 1939; the different kinds or genres of entertainment offered by early TV; the quiz show scandals of the 1950s; the Nielsen Company; public televison; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; the eight departments found at a typical TV station; cable and satellite delivery of TV; DVRs; and HDTV.
Not touched up in this chapter (but a person you should nevertheless become familiar with in terms of the history of TV, is Christine Craft; certain folks in the TV industry said she was too old to work professionally in TV and not sufficiently subservient to men). To learn more about who Christine Craft was/is (and how she relates to the development and history of TV, do some quick research on the Net and find out.)
You should also become familiar with the the television station at Emory & Henry Colllege. Learn how that station’s TV content is produced, by whom it is produced and where you can find/view it. By the way, where exactly on our campus is EHC-TV headquartered? Hint: it’s quite close to our classroom.
If you plan to pursue TV as a career—either in front of the camera or behind the scenes—you might want to get involved quickly with EHC-TV (or as an intern or volunteer at a TV station in your home community). You, too, may one day find yourself featured in a news segment, feature story or other offering on television.
There have been several landmark or defining points/programs in the history and development of TV. Be able to name and discuss at least a few of these programs. (We may note a sampling of such programs in our class.)
Related to that, think about what it takes to be successful and/or to break into a career in TV. Not sure about what it takes? Connect with Dr. Teresa Keller in the Mass Communications Department. She’s general manager of EHC-TV. I’m sure the Internet also has a ton of information about how to get started in television. Or just make contact with a professional currently working in TV. Pick his/her brain on what it takes to break into TV and to be successful.
Here are key points about chapter 8 “Television…”:
1. Television influences people and society in both the short-term and long-term. Television has reshaped other media.
2. Television content was once labeled a “vast wasteland” by a chairman of the FCC.
3. U.S. television is organized on two tiers, national and local.
4. Television has expanded beyond over-air delivery.
5. Networks dominate programming to local over-air television stations.
6. Federal money channeled through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting helps fund non-commercial television.
7. Cable today rivals over-air networks and affiliates.
8. Radio was the model for early television entertainment programs.
9. JFK was the country’s first television president.
Key terms/names from chapter 8 include:
1. Major TV networks
2. CATV
3. Edward R. Murrow
4. David Brinkley
5. Philo T. Farnsworth
6. satellite delivery
7. prime time
8. “I Love Lucy”
9. FCC
10. “The Honeymooners”
11. CNN
12. demographics
13. Public Broadcasting System
14. Corporation for Public Broadcasting
15. Sesame Street
16. Super Bowl commercials
17. Telestar I
18. DVRs
19. Ted Turner
20. affiliates
21. concentrated ownership of stations
22. Univision
23. ratings
24. Sweeps
25. HDTV
I hope these notes about chapter 8 will help guide you in your study of this important chapter. Maybe, in a sense, some critics have been a bit unkind or unfair in describing the content/messages of TV as a “vast wasteland.”
Certainly, some TV programs have at least some redeeming/educational value. We should never discount the power of pictures choreographed with sound.
•But for TV, we wouldn’t have had an armchair seat on the news coverage of the assassination of JFK.
•But for TV, the American Civil Rights movement--the marches and suffering of African-Americans campaigning for social justice and equality under the law--probably would not have borne fruit.
•But for TV, which exposed the thousands of U.S. flag-draped coffins coming back from Southeast Asia, America’s military involvement in Vietnam would have dragged on much longer than it did.
•But for TV, we as a nation would have never been able to witness the thrills and chills of the first humans walking on the moon.
•But for TV, we would not have seen the historic (and emotionally wrenching) explosions of the Challenger and Columbia space shuttles.
•But for the power of moving pictures, we would not have witnessed first hand the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. •But for TV, we would not have been as emotionally or psychologically touched by the dramatic events of Sept. 11, 2001.
•But for TV, we wouldn’t have been able to watch first-hand the huge, joyous celebration (in Chicago) of Barack Obama’s election night victory—as the nation’s first African-American president—in November 2008.
•But for TV, many of us (among them yours truly) wouldn’t have been riveted to news of a STILL-MISSING Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 with more than 235 people aboard.
Concluding observation: we owe a lot to TV, and it’s shaping our lives—what we think about, what we value, what we do and how we do it, what we talk about and write about, how we relate to others.
We definitely have to acknowledge that TV is an integral part of our psyche AND our culture. (Still don’t believe it’s an integral part of our psyche? How could it NOT be, given how much time we spend watching television. (What does chap. 8 say about how much time we spend watching TV?)
That’s it. If you’re reading this in the evening, you’re probably aching to watch your favorite TV program. And what program would that be? Are you an ESPN junkie? A Golf channel fanatic? Glued to an evening TV drama? A regular watcher of the The Voice?
One of the most famous early TV programs in the history and development of TV was "I Love Lucy"--starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. This show is mentioned in chapter 8.
Here's an “I Love Lucy” YouTube clip:
What will our world be like in 2028? Here’s a thought-provoking clip:
How is it possible for all of us to keep us in this rapidly changing, media-driven world? Watch this YouTub clip:
This is a short week for our course. We will NOT be meeting as a class on Friday, March 25 (GOOD FRIDAY).
But we will be focusing Monday, March 21, and Wednesday, March 23, on chapter 7 “Movies: Picturing the Future.”
So be sure you’ve read this chapter by the start of our class on Wed., March 23, and that you can define/describe/explain the “Key Terms” near the top of the page at the end of the chapter on pg. 149.
Also, be able to answer the “Critical Questions” on that same page.
Okay. Let’s dive into movies.
Yes, we’ve all seen many movies, but could you correctly answer these questions about movies? Try your luck.
(I’ll reveal the correct answers later).
1. True or False? Sound was not introduced to the movies until the 1920s.
2. What famous movie (from early in the 20th century) is director D.W. Griffith associated with?
3. What state in the U.S. did much of the movie industry move to in the 1920s?
4. True or False? The movie rating or censorship system in the U.S. is state government mandated.
5. Name the first feature-length animated film produced by Walt Disney. Hint: the film was released in late 1937.
6. What did it mean for a movie employee to be “blacklisted” in the late 1940s?
7. True or False? Radio has been the biggest force—of all the branches of the mass media of communications— shaping the modern movie industry.
8. True or False? For a blockbuster movie, Titanic was a low-budget movie (meaning it cost relatively little to make compared to the revenue it brought in).
9. What are “ancillary rights” for a movie? Define/describe.
10. Why is it a challenge or hard for small theatres to convert to digital technology?
11. What is the MPAA?
12. What was the X rating for movies changed to?
13. Name one famous movie that was directed by Stephen Spielberg.
14. True or False? The movie “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (2009) was a bigger blockbuster than “Avatar” (2009).
15. Every movie begins with a story idea, and this idea comes from whom?
We’ll underscore in class the indisputable fact that movies are powerful forms of mass media of communication.
But think about that assertion for a moment.
What is it, exactly, that makes movies so powerful?
Could it be the content of a movie? The story line of a movie? The actors or stars of the movie? The costumes? The music or songs?
Perhaps it's about sitting in a darkened, air-conditioned cocoon (a movie theatre), and having your total attention (notwithstanding your arm being around your beloved) riveted on a motion picture. I believe we’d all agree movies have the power (as no other mass medium of communications does) to help define--or take us back to--the key emotional points (the highs and lows) of our lives. Remember who sat next to you or whom you were dating or what you were going through when you first saw one of your all-time favorite movies? My list includes “Jaws,” “ET,” “Titanic,” or the first “Rocky” or the first “Superman.”
What about your list? Where were you and who were you with (if anyone) when you saw your favorite movies? Bet the movie can re-kindle that memory.
Lastly (in terms of this blog post) it’s important in our study of movies to understand the concept of self-policing of the movie industry. The movie industry polices itself, not our government. Wonder why that’s the case that an industry is policing itself?
Enough for now about movies. More about them (and chapter 7) during our classes this week.
Oh yes. Here’s clip from one of my favorite films—about Vivien Thomas, a hero of the very first open-heart surgery in human history.
Have you or a member of your immediate or extended family had open heart surgery? (I had a double bypass in April 2008).
If so, you should get down on your knees and give thanks to African-American Vivien Thomas; he never went to college, let alone medical school. But starting out as a lab assistant for a noted surgeon, who became interested in doing heart surgery after researching the hearts of dogs, Thomas figured out how to solve the problem of "blue babies." He was right by the surgeon's side in the operating room at Johns Hopkins Hospital when that first open heart surgery was performed--on a blue baby in 1944.
The following clip is from the 2004 movie--"Something the Lord Made.” Turn your sound up and enjoy (and give thanks to Vivien Thomas!)
And then, on a funnier note, here's one more movie clip (also from one of my all-time favorite movies "Jerry McGuire"):
