teaching: November 2005 Archives

Three texts for Intro to Mass Communication that were passed on to me by Professor Jeffrey Klenotic, who's on sabbatical and thus, I have the opportunity to teach at UNH:

1. Stanley J. Baran, Introduction to Mass Communication (IMC), McGraw-Hill, 4rd edition.

2. Jarice Hanson & David Maxcy, Eds. Sources: Notable Selections in Mass Media (SNS), McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2nd edition.

3. Alison Alexander & Jarice Hanson, Eds. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and Society (TS), McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 8th edition.

Paraphrased from an email from Janice to the commgrad listserv: Here "is an NPR link to Talk of the Nation piece titled: The Changing Face of Television from Wed 11/15/05.

[An i]nteresting discussion about

*new delivery of television programs (paying for advertiser supported tv content through on demand) and

*the relationship between advertisers, broadcasters and consumers within a changing media environment.

*a TV exec saying that TVs primary work is selling audiences, and

*discussion of whether audiences will be willing to accept advertising in content they pay for (no discussion of product placement).

I asked my students today about the relationship(s) among appearance, identity, and authority - specifically mine. It's part of the ongoing pedagogy project I've been working on with Leda about the visibility/invisibility of our actual bodies in the classroom. By the end of the discussion several students were telling me how I should have taught (!) the class all along: roughly more form-based than content-based.

Interesting blogpost by Danah Boyd about Facebook as a public sphere where young people can "negotiate their peers and learn about the social world." The speeches in Public Speaking about Facebook emphasized its fun and useful qualities (although I have to seriously wonder if anyone really uses it to get notes from a missed class!) but also the risks of providing so much information to an unknown (and unknowable) public. Besides the debate on whether online communication somehow "takes away from" or "substitutes for" face-to-face communication, I'm wondering about differences between online "public speaking" and face-to-face public speaking.

I came out indirectly to my students in COM260, Public Speaking. I told them of the time I questioned Geraldine Ferraro, at the National Women's Music Festival, about how she could address an audience of 3000 lesbians without using the word, "lesbian". I don't remember exactly what I said, I'm pretty sure it was implicit - I was a member of the audience she was addressing (without knowing us too well). I do recall a moment of heightened alertness/silence - as if a shudder went through the whole class at the same time?

some of my students may - or may not?! - be thrilled to know that academic interest has been tweaked. Copied from the air-l Digest, Vol 16, Issue 11:

Searches of the papers at AoIR conferences and the journal indexes come up empty. Who is doing research on the social networkingwebsites, such as Facebook, Myspace, XuQa, Tagworld, Catch-27, etc.???
--
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.

It's Leda's panel, I'll just present a part of The (In)visibility of Teachers: On Meaning, Body and Pedagogy

Disproving rumors that I might disappear after having dinner (compliments to the chef!) in the inner sanctum of Chi Omega, please note that I escaped intact! Really, there was no threat, only me facing a wee bit of my own historical (as in, when I was in college, back in the day) "outsidership". Actually, some of my stereotypes were dispelled...I was impressed by the young women I met tonight, who were ambitious and friendly. :-) Elaine and several other students were honored for thier academic accomplishments. We spoke of many things, including class (!), foreign travel, television (I think the chef's tv reviews are publishable, and you almost convinced me to watch Nip/Tuck, which they argued actually works to convince viewers NOT to go in for plastic surgery), and work.

I'm really glad I was able to be there. :-)

especially those of you interested in professional sports, check out this weekly blog, Edge of Sports, by Dave Zirin. He'll be speaking on campus, btw, tomorrow Thursday, November 10
Isenberg School of Management - 133
UMass Amherst Campus
7:00 p.m.

thanks Chris!

Billed as "he Premier International Conference on Television, Mobile, Advertising & Marketing, Cable & Satellite, Broadband, Motion Pictures, Publishing, Radio, Magazines, News & Print Media", I'm curious what kind of coverage this conference for mass media insiders will receive, where, and when.

Thanks, Nancy, for sharing it with the commgrad list!

One of my students asked on Friday if we could have a fiesta at the end of the year. Of course - complete with a pinata? This seemed to throw him - is it my stereotype or his monolingualism? He used a Spanish word to convey the idea of a party. Should that necessarily have conjured up an image in my mind of a pinata? I actually had a flash of memory in that moment. We had a pinata at one of the BM's early birthdays - I think it was when she turned 4, but maybe it was her 5th. ;-)

The kids were out of control, ohmygosh I had to go wading in there and holler like a drill sargeant to keep anyone from getting clocked! It was an awful lot of fun, but the moment it began it was clear there was potential for an accident. Whoa! So, this is flashing through my mind, as I'm also wondering, how does he not associate a Spanish word with its cultural event? Is this because English has colonized the term so completely it's original semiotic relation has been severed?

Smaller class than usual today - perhaps people were lured away by the promise of a mellow fall day? And then the temperature plunged. Impromptu's today included legalizing marijuana, lowering the drinking age as a long-term remedy to minimize binge drinking, and the dangers & promises of technology. We have an awesome public sphere developing... not to mention some quite promising public speakers. :-)

Btw, thanks "Radio" (!), for letting me copy your notes from Monday. Here's the list we brainstormed of the topics covered to date: baseball, facebook, foreign accents, teacher's appearance, dress codes, stress, unions, drinking, same-sex marriage, Iraq war, menopause, notion of a "public", rhetoric (orality, rhetoric, eloquence), privacy, discrimination, Woodstock, moral dilemmas, gender, activism, peace rallies, feedback/authority, POWER - what are you going to do about it, VOICE, deviating from the script.

An excellent resource for anyone interested in Democracy Online (seems to be based in Great Britain?)

Relevant articles from "top blogs".

Current discussion: Should voters expect privacy when seeking information about candidates online? Draft paper on international electoral standards and the Internet