Today, we still study off a chalkboard, the chalkboard was invented in the mid-1800's. But the revolution has begun, computers were invented in the 1960's and used a stack of cards and some hole punchers. They took up entire rooms. In the 1970's Windows DOS was NEW. In 1989, it was outdated. Today, we have cell phones that are a less than a fraction of their original sizes and weight, computers that once took a room, can now sit on one's lap. This happened in under 40 years, but what about 40 years from now? Computers already have a processing power in the billions of bytes, what next? Predictions of super-computers that could compete with a human brain are set on 2013. That is only 3 years away. Kids, and probably everybody else, within the next 40 years, will no longer be reading out of books, but computers. New jobs that we never even thought would be important, suddenly become top-priority. Kids in the future will do everything electronically. To us, the future will be much like Star Trek.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Key Concept #6 Media Have Social and Political Implications
Today, we still study off a chalkboard, the chalkboard was invented in the mid-1800's. But the revolution has begun, computers were invented in the 1960's and used a stack of cards and some hole punchers. They took up entire rooms. In the 1970's Windows DOS was NEW. In 1989, it was outdated. Today, we have cell phones that are a less than a fraction of their original sizes and weight, computers that once took a room, can now sit on one's lap. This happened in under 40 years, but what about 40 years from now? Computers already have a processing power in the billions of bytes, what next? Predictions of super-computers that could compete with a human brain are set on 2013. That is only 3 years away. Kids, and probably everybody else, within the next 40 years, will no longer be reading out of books, but computers. New jobs that we never even thought would be important, suddenly become top-priority. Kids in the future will do everything electronically. To us, the future will be much like Star Trek.
Key Concept #4 Media Have Commercial Implications
We all know about the super bowl, (not all of us watch it, however). Since the superbowl began, the price for a 30 second commcercial during this game rose, and rose. During the 2010 game, commercials were $3 Million apiece! This is a far-cry from the $600,000 for a spot in 1987, or Super Bowl XXI. So, in under 20 years, why has the price risen so high? In my opinion it's because the number of viewers, and shares with the broadcasting stations have increased. Are the companies getting their $3M from advertising? I don't think so, nobody pays attention to commercials during the games, commercials are for bathroom breaks, and filling up the beer and peanuts.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Key Concept #3 Audiences Negotiate Meaning in the Media
Media Construct Reality
We see media everday, but do we realize that it is not really real? When you watch a good movie, don't you get attatched to the characters? These characters are just that, characters, they aren't real, even though they might as well be. The reason for the realness of these people is the blurring of reality and make-believe. People believe that what they see on televison is real, and anybody could do it, that they too could fly, just like superman, or perform a move from Mortal Kombat. Because people believe this; there have been accidents, where people were injured and even killed trying to do what their heroes do in the movies/ video games.
http://www.ctd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/032702.jba.wilson.pdf
- The above link is the account of a boy who thought he was a character from Mortal Kombat, he ended up killing his friend.
We see media everday, but do we realize that it is not really real? When you watch a good movie, don't you get attatched to the characters? These characters are just that, characters, they aren't real, even though they might as well be. The reason for the realness of these people is the blurring of reality and make-believe. People believe that what they see on televison is real, and anybody could do it, that they too could fly, just like superman, or perform a move from Mortal Kombat. Because people believe this; there have been accidents, where people were injured and even killed trying to do what their heroes do in the movies/ video games.
http://www.ctd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/032702.jba.wilson.pdf
- The above link is the account of a boy who thought he was a character from Mortal Kombat, he ended up killing his friend.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Key Concept # 1 - Media Construct Reality
Computer Retouching- Has it gone too far?
Today, one sees a lot of magazines in stores, and on these magazines are men and women who make a career out of modeling. But what you may not realize is that almost all of these photos have been "retouched". This retouching is actually the complete redo of the picture, where the editor makes the "imperfections" disappear. The end result? Someone/something that isn't what it started out as. I call this fabricated beauty. In my opinion, this is no longer making a sellable advertisement, but a model on which so many people who are conscious of their bodies revolve their lives around. You may or may not realize, but eating disorders are fairly new to humans, but because "thin is the new in", people feel the need to be skinny. This retouching as they call it is no longer just to smooth out the rough edges, but to force people to conform to the new ideals, or be forever "ugly". This is way beyond too far, this is disastrous, especially for people's body images.
Today, one sees a lot of magazines in stores, and on these magazines are men and women who make a career out of modeling. But what you may not realize is that almost all of these photos have been "retouched". This retouching is actually the complete redo of the picture, where the editor makes the "imperfections" disappear. The end result? Someone/something that isn't what it started out as. I call this fabricated beauty. In my opinion, this is no longer making a sellable advertisement, but a model on which so many people who are conscious of their bodies revolve their lives around. You may or may not realize, but eating disorders are fairly new to humans, but because "thin is the new in", people feel the need to be skinny. This retouching as they call it is no longer just to smooth out the rough edges, but to force people to conform to the new ideals, or be forever "ugly". This is way beyond too far, this is disastrous, especially for people's body images.
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