Summer Challenge: Communications

Abby Kanders

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Assignment Seven

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/23/climate-change-health-risks_n_7650224.html

-->  http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/programs/geh/climatechange/health_impacts/

Although there were more sources, these are the two that I focuses on. The article from Huffington Post traces back to six sources, one of which being the one above. The Huffington Post article is much more engaging to read and seems to be written with a bit of bias, while the original article is fact based and purely informational. The embellishment used on the Huffington Post article makes it more interesting to read, giving it more readers and putting it higher up when the topic is searched on a search engine. This allows for more profit to be made by the Huffington Post, and they only had to do minimal research to get to this article. This allows the writers at Huffington Post to be able to do less work and make more money than those who created the original article(s). 

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This video analyzes the Twilight fandom, a quite large community of people who enjoy the books and movies based off the story Twilight. Twilight is the story of Bella Swan, a girl who ends up getting into a relationship with vampire Edward, and their dynamic as a general. This fandom, though notoriously a bit obsessive has created some really interesting and perspective works. 

This specific piece explores the relationship between Bella and Edward, showing their struggle to connect, and then finally their unconditional love for each other. This representation of their love is quite moving, as it is so static and unchanging that it can be an example for the ideal relationship, where someone loves you to the fullest extent. 

This type of fanvid seems to be under the category of emotional intensification. The creator of this video focuses in on Bella and Edward’s reactions to seeing each other and being together. Although sometimes the video seems to portray the sacrifices that both characters have made to be together, it also shows their love for one another. This strong emotion of love is portrayed through the whole video, becoming the common theme. 

This creator obviously really believes in the love between Bella and Edward. In addition, they must revere this type of unconditional relationship. This type of video allows a person become involved in their fandom and also to create a new type of media. By creating this media, its modifying the text to personalize it, and focus in on one specifically desired meaning of the original text. This personalization is what fanfic/fanvids/fandoms are all about. 

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Assignment Five

The Modern Family “Connection Lost” explores the realm of technology and it’s daily use. Personally, I’m not an avid fan of Modern Family, but this episode was quite enjoyable. Not only was the episode funny, but it correctly depicted how Apple’s products work. From FaceTiming to “Facebook stalking”, Claire utilizes all of her abilities on the computer to see what her daughter is up to. I think that this episode is quite innovative and represents today’s culture quite well. 

My favorite part of this episode was the group FaceTime. The entire family was participating in a group FaceTime, which reminded me a lot of my own family. Since I am quite close with my cousins but we live in different states, we tend to FaceTime quite a bit. So, this type of group FaceTime is quite common for me to experience. When people started speaking and reacting at the same time, creating a hectic atmosphere, I could relate quite a bit. This is quite a true representation of a family. 

Overall, I liked this episode because I think it can pertain to today’s culture. Our habit to use technology in most situations is quite apparent, and although sometimes frowned upon, quite common. 

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Assignment Three

Meet John Green, New York Times Bestselling author several times over and avid YouTuber. This is his pitch to advertisers from YouTube’s 10th anniversary event, held this winter in New York City. Listen to how he conceptualizes the potential of YouTube for advertisers, with keywords like “communities” and “engagement.” How does this connect with the motives and business models of advertising that we discussed in class today? What are the challenges that advertisers face in targeting youth demographics with this kind of YouTube advertising? Respond to the video in less than 300 words. Remember to tag the post like this one.

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I think that John Green makes an excellent point in this video. He points out that to stay with the current generation, people must begin to advertise on YouTube, as this is what is engaging and entertaining to today’s teens. He compares watching an episode of “Deadliest Catch” to watching a video made by Vi Hart, a YouTuber who discusses math and its strange aspects. Clearly, he says, Vi Hart’s video is more educationally valuable, and more engaging. In addition, he makes the point that television is a distraction from the fears of mortality, while YouTube allows people to become parts of a community and to learn about their world. 

John Green also states that rather than targeting a demographic through advertising, companies should be engaging the demographic with things that they are interested in. In other words, rather than putting an advertisement at the beginning of a video (that any normal person would skip after the mandatory five seconds), its more engaging to ask a YouTuber to mention a product and how it has been useful to them in a video. By doing this, they create connections to these extremely powerful communities, or “fandoms”. 

In today’s culture, John says, we have begun to form communities online, instead of solely participating in observation of a show on television. These communities are not only the innovators of our age, but some of the most powerful groups that exist today (i.e. Tyler Oakley’s fans have raised thousands of dollars for the Trevor Project, a "Lifeline for LGBTQ young people”). By investing in advertisements on YouTube, any company would be making steps to join and support communities that are growing at rapid rates, and is one of the most accessible ways to speak to a large part of today’s demographic. 

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Cookie Monster, from Sesame Street, an American children’s TV show

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This gif is of Cookie Monster receiving cookies, which of course, he loves. Its a clip from a fairly popular television show called Sesame Street. This gif conveys the emotion of excitement and pure happiness. Although the specific context of this gif is unknown, we can decipher the emotions that are conveyed from the situation we view that is just a few seconds long. In another society, cookie monster might seem in pain or in shock (with negative connotation), but our society’s ideology and the iconic symbol of Cookie Monster himself help us to immediately understand this the connotation of this gif is positive. 

Even though there is no textual evidence, this gif is able to communicate through expression and general understanding. The use of panning from the cookies to Cookie Monster’s face shows us that he is reacting to the cookies. Further, the people clapping in the background signify, with norms from our culture, of success or someone accomplishing something. Here, Cookie Monster has succeeded in finding his happiness, which happens to be acquiring cookies. 

Although it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how we can understand the meaning behind this gif, I think that it is mainly a combination of our society’s ideology, common norms, and iconic symbolism. These three pieces make it easy to identify emotions and decipher the bit of the clip that is received, even without context. 

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Assignment One

I am taking this communications course so that I can learn about communications in general. As of now, I don’t have much knowledge on the subject although it has always intrigued me. In addition, I would love to have extra knowledge on the subject for the future, as it not only seems useful generally, but also might be something that I want the major/minor in.  

I hope that we learn about the general workings of the media, especially social media since it is so prevalent in our lives today. I am also really interested in the PR segment of communications. I will be working in a hotel after completion of this program, so learning a bit about PR would definitely be helpful.