Media Musings

@astrid2690

27 posts

This article is an interesting take on the argument that texting has been killing the English language. The author of the article argues that texting has not damaged our use of English; instead, texting is developing as its own mode of communication with its own grammar and rules of connotation.

This article is engaging because it couches the argument in terms of history. The article explains how writing and speaking have always been historically different because the former is slow and deliberate while the latter is quick and casual. Texting is supposedly the bridge that allows for writing to “reproduce the speed of conversation” – which means that texting can take on the same casual tone that talking has. Furthermore, the article claims that history itself is unfolding at this very moment with evolution of connotation in texting. The author uses “LOL” as an example, which has evolved from its literal meaning of “laugh out loud” to a filler word that creates a casual mood.

I think the arguments used in this short, yet thought-provoking article are insightful. It makes sense to look at texting as the evolution of a new dialect as opposed to the destruction of another. Perhaps the interesting question is, with the growing prevalence of casual texting language, will formal language eventually be pushed to the backburner? Yes, texting is not ruining our ability to write using proper spelling and grammar, but we do write with proper English less because it is more acceptable to write informally. Many years down the road, will using the traditional English grammar only be considered an art form, the way of Old English?

This was a funny YouTube video shown to me by a friend. The video shows a husky following along as a baby whines and utters incomprehensible sounds right next to it. The video is almost 3 minutes long, all of it the same repetitive husky-copies-baby scenario.

I did not watch the entire video, but I almost did. The video was indeed hilarious, but I wondered why I was glued to watching the same, repetitive thing for more than 2 minutes. One simple explanation would be that, simply, it was funny. Seeing the same hilarious scene over and over again was probably satisfying and engaging for me as a viewer. Perhaps another reason though was anticipation of something even funnier or cooler. For every time the husky howled with a funny sound, I wondered if later on in the video the husky would make an even funnier sound right next to the baby.

I realized that perhaps, it is this sense of anticipation that makes videos without clear plots successful. Because the video has no clear trajectory, the viewer does not know when the video will reach a pinnacle in which the scene is the funniest or most engaging. Thus, the viewer keeps watching the same repetitive scenario. However, this only works after some time. As I did, most viewers probably realize shortly that there is not much else to the video like this, hilarious as it may be.

This article outlines the most recent critiques of TED Talks platform that has catapulted into popularity in the past few years. The article does a good job outlining the context of the article by starting from the perspective of a speaker as she receives an invitation to talk at a TED Conference. The rest of the article then goes into the history of TED, the current state of the organization and some of the critiques about the organization and the platform as a whole.

The title of the article implies some sort of focus on the criticism that TED has drawn throughout the years. While there are hints to what some of the critics have said about TED, the article mostly focuses on the history of the organization (how it turned from a niche conference of technologists, engineers and designers to an eclectic mix of speakers) and the opinions of the organizers. The article ends with an optimistic note from TED’s leader, Chris Anderson, on how Ted’s popularity shows thirst for learning.

From my perspective, I think the article was successful in shedding light on TED and how it came to be what it is now. It was, indeed, a news article that provided context and different sides of the story. For a TED Talks fan, I was curious to hear more about the specific critics or perhaps alternative suggestions that have been proposed. However, perhaps the article’s purpose was to simply provide a quick overview of TED and then spark interest in the curious to do more research and delve into more in-depth sources of information.

Bubble Bees Game: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g2/bubble.htm

Whenever I want a low-key game, I go to Orisinal.com. This particular game that I chose, called Bubble Bees, asks the player to trap as many bumble bees as possible inside bubbles, which are created when the player presses the mouse. Ultimately, the key is to get the timing correctly so that the bee passes right before the bubble bursts.

I like this game (and the other Orisinal games in general) because they are engaging without being complicated. I think the Bubble Bees game works in particular because of the following:

- The Bubble Bees instructions that play in the beginning is short and easy to understand. The animation makes it easy to see what needs to be done without requiring the player to read a lot of text

- The playful but soothing music sets a tone of relaxation. It sets the mood of the game as one that is meant to be low key

- There is only one task (to trap the bees in the bubbles), but there are a few

o There are red bees that fly faster that are worth more points

o There are clocks that fly occasionally that, when trapped in a bubble, give the player more time

- The graphics are simple but colorful

The additional rules make the game adds excitement to the game but, since there are only two, the rules are easy to remember and does not over clutter the game space

Of course these games are not for any intense gamers who want a lot of action. This simple, 2D game would not draw the same audience as, say, Call of Duty would. But I think that’s what makes this game successful. The game is made for only a particular mood of playing and everything about it– the tune, graphics, and pared down game space – stays true to that.

This news article is probably one of the more useful ones to have read after the explosion of media after the attack at the Boston Marathon.

I think the article does a good job outlining the most common false information that went viral during and after the incident. Some of the images in the article were useful and the tag-lines were also helpful in outlining each of the viral stories. It would have been better if all the stories had images with it, but even if they didn’t, each snippet provided specific information that allows the users to recognize what the article is talking about (I recognize most of these fake stories – and I’m glad I read this article because I thought some of these were true).

The article itself almost has a mocking tone that denounces the fake stories. Clearly the article is not meant to be a formal, unbiased report of false stories. This becomes clear when the article talks about the conspiracy theories that have come up after the event. The opening sentence makes a very clear statement:

“We almost hate to even address this stuff. We'll start with a bottom line: Anyone saying they know what happened at this point is making it up.”

The last point of the article, which talks about someone who bought the URL bostonmarathonconspiracies.com to prevent “some conspiracy theory kook from owning it” re-emphasizes this point of view. It leaves the audience with the feeling that the stories that circulated were, in fact, ridiculous and overexaggerated versions of the truth.

This article, of course, clearly shows the downside to having media tools at our fingertips. On the one hand, it is very useful for being updated during emergencies as this. However, it also allows for quick propagation of rumors and falsities. How do we strike a balance?

These two images that depict the twin explosions that occurred during the Boston Marathon is informative and succinct. The first image, which shows the location of the explosion in Boylston St., has crucial information that makes the image informative but not overwhelming. It is helpful that it has labels for some of the more well-known buildings, such as the Boston Public Library. It allows those who may have been in the area before to recognize where the bombings have occurred. The labels for the finish line and the direction of the runners also put the location in perspective of the marathon. I also think that the use of the red and yellow as markers stand out and are easy to spot from the rather bland color scheme of the page.

It was beneficial to have both an overview map and a more detailed map together in one page to show where in Massachusetts the bombing occurred. This makes the visualization useful to those who might not be familiar with Boston or the route of the race.

One thing that I think could have been done to improve this is to have the two images side by side. This just makes it easier for the user to not have to scroll down to view both pictures. Even better is if there is a way to indicate that the top image is really more a zoomed-in version of the bottom image. Again, this can make the visualization more cohesive to the audience.

Read Paywalls help newspapers achieve decade-first rise in circulation revenues & other Media Week news online. Paywalls help newspapers achieve decade-first rise in circulation revenues from Media Week. Media Week magazine - news and information from the world of media

This article discusses the rise in revenue gained by newspaper companies through paywalls and digital subscriptions. According to the article, the increase in revenue this year is the first gain in almost a decade.

The information outlined in this article was actually news to me because ever since the explosion of online content, there has been a lot of speculation that the digital subscription model will not work well for media companies, especially because it is easy for news to be disbursed in other ways online. However, perhaps the growing number of online subscription is an indicator that many individuals still want to receive their information from their most trusted sources. While we can get information through brief articles from other online sources, we now that quality reporting that is published in well-known publication is more likely to be accurate and informative. Ultimately, the subscription pays for the name and for the guarantee that what we are reading is worthwhile

I wish that the article had delved deeper into what incentivizes individuals to pay for a subscription, though this is probably beyond the scope of the article since the article seems to be only a pure overview news report. For what it is, I think the article does a good job having the appropriate statistics and numbers that renders the information into something quantifiable. For instance, writing the amount of money in billions reminds individuals of how big of an industry the media this is and how much money can be lost or gain in the industry.

I love the Ted Radio Hour podcasts because it combines Ted Talks related to a particular topic, condenses them, combines them with additional interviews with the Ted Talk speaker and combine them all to create a good overview. The podcasts are an hour long but I don’t find myself bored listening to the podcast. This particular podcast is about the growth of very dense city communities currently found in 3rd world countries – and how our future cities might eventually follow this trend

There are a few elements that make this hour-long podcast successful:

1.) I think it attracts listeners by alluding that it is comprised of a a condensed version of multiple talks. Personally, I find this appealing for someone who might not have the time to watch all the talks.

2.) The podcast uses sounds to bring the user to the situation or to introduce the topic. This podcast, for example, starts with the sounds of a busy street with cars honking and people talking. This successfully brings the user to

3.) The host of the show, Allison Stewart, brings in a new perspective. She successfully introduces each Ted talk and Ted talk speaker and their main arguments. Allison’s narration, sound clips from the Ted Talk and her follow-up interview with the Ted talk speaker are woven together to create a cogent summary. The way that the story is broken up gives a very good summary and keeps the listener engaged. Breaking up the podcast into these different elements means that listeners do not have to listen to one monotonous voice.

4.) The Ted Talks are still separated into little sections. For instance, this podcast is comprised of four talks all having to do with dense cities. Again, breaking the podcast into the different sections keeps the reader engaged. Allison also provides great transitions between each talk, allowing for a coherent story to be told throughout the podcast.

This Huffington Post article briefly talks about two Time Magazine covers this week featuring lesbian and gay couples kissing.

The article is short and did not provide a lot of information or even analysis of the covers. The only additional information provided by the article is the apparent “internal debate” that occurred within Time Magazine on whether or not the covers were too strong. However, even this fact was taken from another source.

I think that for what Huffington Post intended, this short article suffices. I’m assuming that the publication’s goal is to make its frequent readers aware of a major publication’s move in support of gay marriage. It is more of an article to inform as opposed to analyze. Besides, the subject itself – the covers of the magazine – is a bold statement; readers can have enough to digest by simply seeing the images of the covers. It is also possible that Huffington Post assumed that any analysis that can be written about the covers is implied. It can be argued it is implied that a major publication’s support for gay marriage will bolster the pro-gay marriage movement and that the supposedly “in-your-face” covers is truly a powerful statement.

Every week, I co-teach engineering concepts to 4th graders by introducing hands-on activities. This is a video of me testing some of the projects (sail cars made of legos) created by the students. The video was taken by a 4th grade teacher and posted by the Center of Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO). It was then disseminated through their Facebook page.

The goal of posting the YouTube video is to demonstrate the different activities that the CEEO brings to elementary schools. In particular, the video shows that through programs that the CEEO has elementary school students are learning how to create like engineers.

I definitely think that the video itself does not fully tell this story. An audience of the video might be able to discern that the individuals in this video successfully created hand-made cars that can be pushed by wind. However, the video does not show that the projects were created by groups of fourth graders. More importantly, it does not fully impart why these sail cars are important – that this activity is a learning experience for the 4th graders who created them.

The video as it is posted on the CEEO’s Facebook page includes a description of the activity. I think the description imparts the missing information, particularly because the description connotes that the activity was a challenge given to the 4th graders. This is consistent with the CEEO’s mission of teaching students how to solve problems like engineers.

This video is definitely an example of a piece of media that cannot reach its full potential and impart its message in entirety without surrounding context.

This article does not particularly talk about a specific piece of media; rather, it talks about a trend in advertisements in general to use elements of social media and the web. Perhaps the most surprising thing for me is the fact that advertisers use social media keywords even for ads to target an older audience. As the article says, this implies that social media is a relevant part of our entire culture. Though it might resonate more with the younger generation, it is prevalent enough for anyone else to understand.

The other interesting argument that the article presents is the opinion of advertisers regarding the role of their product in a social-media dominated society. Many of these advertisements imply that real human connection (and one that is enhanced by their product) is not the same as online connection through social media. Advertisers insist that they do not intend to disparage social media.

I agree with the advertiser’s sentiments. I think that advertisers are not making ads in the expense of social media; instead, advertisers are taking advantage of emotions, the same way that they do in any other ad. Just as more traditional advertisements take advantage of stories about families, success or disaster, these advertisements that reference social media are taking advantage of the prevalent idea in society about the detriments of social media. The idea that online social media connection is not the same as a face-to-face interaction was not created by the advertising industry; rather, it became prevalent with the rise of social media. Advertisers are simply using this, the way they use any other relevant idea in society.

This is a visualization that I stumbled upon in one of my other classes. This visualization has some good elements. The colors are easy to see, for the most part it is easy to figure out which bar belongs to which state and there are actual numbers to the side to quantify the bars in the visualization.

However, there are also a few things that could be improved. First, the color scheme of blue and red is a bit misleading. Red has a connotation as a “negative.” When I first looked at the visualization, I thought that that the red stood for something like debt or something to be subtracted. I also think that the key can be more obvious. The writing to the left seems somewhat separate from the map and so I didn’t think to look at that part of the image to find out what the blue and red bars meant. Lastly, the angle of the map makes the proportion of the bars inaccurate. Because the US map has depth, the bars that are “farther” (the bars in the northern states) are smaller. This makes it hard to compare the bars in different states with each other and limits the information that can be gleaned from the height of the bars.

This article from adweek about a Milano cookies TV commercial is short and light-hearted. I think that the article brings up good points: that the concept of the ad is solid and has good footing; and that the actors do a particularly good job enacting the situation to make it real and relatable to its audience.

The latter part of the article, however, seems less important to the rest of the ad. The latter part talks about “chocoholism”, which is the theme that surrounds the ad itself. I think this less relevant part of the article has some effects and implications:

- It implies that the ad is truly good to the point that there is not much to say about it. The concept was good, the actors were good, so the rest of the time can be spent to talk about the theme itself

- It reiterates the fact that the concept used by the advertisers was clever – clever enough to warrant a lighthearted commentary on it to which everyone can relate. It reiterates the fact that the concept is funny and can be understood by society.

- It creates a very casual and sarcastically funny tone in the article itself. Clearly, this article is not meant to be a serious critique of the artistic elements of the ad (ie. there was no need to talk about lighting, framing, sound ,etc). The article is simply meant to point out how clever the theme is, how well made the ad is, and how it just works. The article’s goal is only to highlight a noteworthy ad but not necessarily to point out all the elements that comprised it.

This meme resonates with me because I am Asian and a Computer Science major. This meme definitely does its magic because it plays on the stereotypes with which we are familiar (whether we believe they are true or not). The meme is supposed to be of an Asian father and of course, the man in the image is an East Asian man with glasses (because Chinese or Japanese is the first image that most individuals associate with being Asian, even though the continent is comprised of so many ethnicities and because the glasses are always attributed to intelligence). Those who are not familiar at all with programming might not have heard of the C++ language, but it is one of the most well known ones; therefore, chances are higher that the audience has at least heard of this programming language.

Perhaps the interesting thing for me is that this meme does not at all mirror life as I know it. My Asian father is probably the last person who will pressure me to learn something in an absurd amount of time. Second, most Computer Scientists I know are not even Asian. Throughout the course of the Media and Literacy class, we have talked about how media is effective when the audience can relate to it. This meme made me realize what being able to “relate” to a piece of media really means. Perhaps it is enough for a piece of media to represent the stereotype of life as we know it and not necessarily the reality. Even if the piece of media does not represent our reality, we can still relate to it if it represents a schema that we can understand – true or not.

This commentary on Romantic Comedies from The Atlantic caught my attention because I am frequently watch movies of this genre. Normally though, I am easy to please; as long as there is comedy and some sort of a plot twist, I am content.

I do think though that this commentary sheds a light on how romantic comedies may have changed – and how society truly influences how media is created in general. The commentary argues that romantic comedies have always been couched in issues that might exist in starting a relationship, such as racial/social or SES difference, geographic difference, parental disapproval, premarital sex. However, because many of these obstacles to romantic relationships have almost disappeared, the plotlines of today’s romantic comedies pale compared to the Audrey Hepburn classics (and supposedly, the remaining obstacles to romantic relationships are too serious for romantic comedies).

There is a part of me that agrees with the sentiments in this article. The nature of societal problems and issues do reflect heavily on what movie plots will be most effective. Therefore, I do agree that the nature of romantic comedies have probably changed throughout the years.

However, I also still believe in creative license. I think that witty dialogue, engaging plot twists and borderline absurd scenes that are comedic can still exist in the context of a supposedly less problem-ridden romantic scene. Life IS a narrative. Somehow, somewhere, there are stories that will have a problem or two, no matter how small, that can be used as a setting to a romantic comedy. Perhaps it is easier for movie makers to create a classic if there are obvious societal obstacles to romantic relationships. However, I do think that truly creative writers can and will find something in the midst of our supposedly more boring romantic scenes.

This video produced by Code.org truly struck a chord with me because I am a Computer Science major and a strong proponent of K-12 CS education. To a Computer Science major, the message of the video truly resonated with me. I could easily related to the stories of the developers when they first started learning Computer Science, the challenges they faced and their passion overall.

However, I think this video’s purpose is to not speak to the choir; it’s meant to get those not in the tech industry interested in the cause. I think that the video does this very well by right away introducing some of the most famous names in the tech industry, such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. Individuals who don’t know anything about tech will still most likely know these individuals and might be interested to watch the video upon seeing them. Furthermore, the video even features an NBA all-star who coded in college and a member of the Black Eyed Peas, which again increases the appeal of the argument to a more general audience.

To further their argument, the video also talks about the amazing workspaces of some of the best tech companies in the world. The video talks about games, free laundry, and modern lounges. On the one hand, I think this part of the video breaks the common stereotype of a programmer in the basement who does nothing but code in the dark. However, it might also send the message that programming is good because of the money and benefits that tech employees receive. This latter message contradicts the idea of being a programmer for the love of the field and of engineering.

When I first saw this video, I was immediately mesmerized by the music. I thought that the sound of the one electric violin was very powerful and creates a certain mood in the viewer.

The video itself for me also made a difference. The music would have been just as mesmerizing if the video were of someone performing at a concert hall or if there were no music at all. However, the fact that the video is of someone playing on the street made the idea of this music all the more powerful to me. When listening to the music in light of the scene in the video, the music is not a designated performance or song track; it is music that is actually transforming an ordinary space (the sidewalk) into something better. Similarly, the artist is not some well-known celebrity. To me, he looks like any other individual who is disrupting the monotony of everyday life.

However, the video did have a drawback for me. At first I was confused by how the violinist had mixed the sounds. He was playing one violin, so I wondered how it eventually sounded as if two violins were playing in harmony. It had distracted me at first because the visual did not follow the sound. In the end though, it was still the mesmerizing music that won me over.

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