PSA Storyboard

My PSA will address Ethical Representation in media.The purpose is to persuade teens to think about others and consequences before they post on the Internet considering the subject, author and audience of the post. My persuasion technique is going to be "your conscience" and familiar emotional appeals.

Career Choices

Career Exploration

Marie Claire Magazine, Vol. 22 Issue 8 

Deconstructing the media message. 

1. Who is the author and what is the purpose? Marie Claire Career Network is the author. Purpose is to get readers to join the Marie Claire Career Network in "Linked In" thus providing them with resources, especially fashion. 

2. What creative techniques are used to attract and hold attention? The orange color of the female's business suit holds attention. It draws your eyes to the professionally dressed woman with fingernail polish and makeup standing in a network room with earphones and a laptop. The text 'your connection to everything' is reinforced by the network cables, laptop and headphones. 

3. How might different people understand this message?  

a) Women can dress in style in any profession. (It is just not true. I'd like to wear a dress or suit a couple times a week, but it just isn't practical. I never know when I will be climbing on chairs or a ladder or crawling under a desk or table. 

b) Women can work in technical fields. 

c) You have to be pretty to have a job like this. Or you will look like this if you have a job like this. 

d) This is a good way to get connected for your career. 

e) This is a good career to pick up chicks. 

f) Who does she think she is? She can't do that job looking like that! 

4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented? I would say this talks to the middle class women deciding on career paths, women who want power and style, women who value their appearance, women who think they are equal to men or women who want to enter a mostly male profession. To me this looks like a female perspective. 

5. What is omitted? The model is not wearing jewelry. There are no men. Nothing is dirty. 

Class Topic: Career Exploration 

This image could be used as an opener during a class on career choices. I think the deconstruction of this image could aid in breaking down the barrier between male and female careers in technology. It could encourage some and discourage others. It might open a door that was thought to be closed or never knew existed. Students could then pair up and research a career and create a poster about the job to share in class with other students.

Critically Close

"When digital and media literacy educators began to see themselves as a learning community, it became obvious that there was a set of shared ideas that unified their interests in teacher and learning." Pg. 55 

I strongly agree with this quote about a "learning community." I think digital and media literacy need to be taught with in the curriculum. It needs to be relevantly applied as students are using media. It is just easier to teach one lesson on it, check it off and move on. Because I can't be sure all my teachers are teaching digital and media literacy within their discipline and I don't have a good way to track this currently, I have to resort to the easier method for the masses. My goal is to move toward being able to prove that teachers are doing this in their classrooms on a regular basis. It is more likely that you would cover all students in the school in this way. 

"Media Messages can have variable and unexpected effects as a result of differences in meaning and interpretation. Some messages that are innocuous to some people can be destructive or hurtful to the human spirit of others." Pg. 59 

I agree with this quote. This class is helping us deconstruct media messages that we see or are presented with. We need to teach our colleagues and students to do the same thing in their every day lives. It is not just the ads and commercials that can touch and affect our lives but the every day media that we consume. I was reminded of this video from Common Sense Media. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/power-of-words 

"Digital and media literacy education reflect a deeply humanistic idea of education. When teachers and learners are both required to 'invest something of themselves' in learning, this results in personal fulfillment and genuine receptivity to new ideas. That's why we must respect students' engagement with mass media and celebrity culture. As with the humanities, digital and media literacy education helps to integrate the academic disciplines by promoting the core competencies:" Curiosity, Asking Questions, Interpretation, Synthesis and Expression. Pg. 63 

I was talking with a new teacher at my school yesterday. She was asking me about a project her students were doing. She wanted to post them safely for parents to see. We were going over a permission form she created. I was thinking about Author, Audience and Subject. I mentioned she should be writing this in her lesson plans. She can use digital literacy learning objectives and standards in her classroom. She said she thinks she does this without thinking about it. I told her she should note it and if we need it for "proof" school wide we can look back at it. I have to show that this has been covered in my school for e-rate and CIPA compliance.  We have a whole school lesson twice a year, but I'm sure my teachers are doing this in the classroom almost every day. I think the activity she was doing supports the above quote as well as the Common Core Standards. This has very strong relevancy.  

Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011. 

Ethics of Representation PSA

I would like to create a PSA to educate teens (or any media user) about the Ethics of Representation. I hope to be able to use the ethics of representation triangle to cause the user to think about the ethical behavior of the author, subject and audience in media communication. By educating teens I hope to create a better on-line environment.

I will present the three points of view in the Ethics of Representation .

1) The point of view of the AUTHOR - intentionality/consequences/Social Good 

2) The point of view of the AUDIENCE - intentionality/social good 

3) The point of view of the SUBJECT - consent/freewill 

Sources I will use include :

Haselhorst, P. (2015, September 18). Guilty in the Court of Social Media - Center for Digital Ethics and Policy | Loyola University Chicago. Retrieved September 21, 2015, from http://digitalethics.org/essays/guilty-in-the-court-of-social-media/

Goodfellow, R. (2014, January 31). Scholarly, digital, open: An impossible triangle? Retrieved September 21, 2015, from http://www.researchinlearningtechnology.net/index.php/rlt/article/view/21366

 

Richards, D. (n.d.). Digital Ethics. Retrieved September 21, 2015, from http://writingcommons.org/index.php/open-text/new-media/digital-ethics 

Multiple resources from Common Sense Media. (n.d.). Retrieved September 21, 2015, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/

Life On-line

"Courts have stated clearly that a student 'should be free to speak his mind when the school day ends' and that school administrators' disciplinary power must be restricted to the boundaries of the school itself." P. 126 

I find this quote unnerving. The disruptive behavior at school doesn't always start and finish at school. While I think school administrators' shouldn't have to actively seek to find this type of behavior after school hours, it is hard for me to think acts such as the Columbine High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings were totally constructed during school hours. I also don't think situations as described on pages 124 and 125 in our text by students should be bound to the quote above. I think students and teachers have a right not to be harassed or defamed in or out of school. 

"Every young person will, at one time or another, fail to anticipate the consequences of his or her communication behavior." P. 137 

I know this is true. It always has been. It is just that today everybody knows about it because of media and the way it is used. This makes me sad. It is the nature of the beast. You try to teach them to think about what they are doing, but at their age it is hard to see past tomorrow night. The worst thing is it sometimes happens over and over without learning taking place. 

"Adolescents are developmentally focused on taking risks, pursuing experience for the sake of experience, and seeking out novelty, complexity, and intense situations." P.128 

I understand this is how adolescents learn. Their actions are intensified by the technology available to them today. This makes me sad also. It is so hard to take back things once the are on-line. This doesn't only apply to on-line behavior. Teens have always practiced destructive behavior. 

We certainly have our work cut out for us. 

Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011.

KEEP CALM

We live in an instant world. We are prone to post before we take time to think or cool down. The "Keep Calm" signs would indicate in most circumstances you are not calm. Something has happened or is happening that is causing a reaction before the event can be processed. Using the red background and white letters puts you in the mind of a STOP sign, causing you to stop and think. The text "Think before you post" follows the "Keep Calm and ". So what are you supposed to do while you are keeping calm?  THINK! If people were calmly posting, the on-line world would be a better place.

Critical Autonomy: deconstructing media advertising

I had not heard of Century Link or Quest before viewing this commercial. The commercial went a little too fast for me to make all that deconstruction without watching it several times and hitting pause occasionally, which you might not be able to do on TV (unless you purchase that option) or other media. I agree with the first three paragraphs of deconstruction about the text and subtext and even into the fourth paragraph. 

By the time I started reading the part about "what we know" I started to wonder if this was someone that was against this company and the merger. I had not heard of MLP before this assignment so I had to read a little about them. Having the links to the research that was done embedded in the article was helpful, although I found a couple links were broken. 

I don't really think this ad is a "cover". The company might be making profits over customer satisfaction, but what ad doesn't try to sell their product? The main idea I took from this ad is the slinkies traveling all over. I associate slinkies with children, playtime and fun. These seem to be positive features from my point of view. 

I am suspicious of all wireless plans. I think they are all too expensive for what is offered, AllTel is no exception. I've enjoyed watching commercials for wireless companies over the years. I've never gotten a negative feeling from any of them. They all want you to join their plan. I've seen this commercial before and didn't think there was any racism or stereotyping going on particularly. I think the connection between the family renting the room out and the cell phone bill was meant to hit a personal note. It would be ridiculous to rent out a child's room who is living with you to people you don't know, no matter who they are, to pay your cellphone bill. Just give up the cell phone. If you feel your family needs cell phones, don't allow texting. Not everyone can afford cell phones and data plans anyway. It is always important to look closely at the fine print of advertising.

I don't like the way these TV Network commercials are made. The filming is just bad. This one is hoping to play on your love for your dog. Since a lot of people treat their pets as family, who would want to send Fido out without a coat in cold weather when one is available. Does it make you a terrible person if you don't have a coat for your pet? How cold is too cold? How long is it safe to take your dog out for a walk in cold weather? How many people do this in extremely cold weather?  And if you buy one you get another one free as well as a talking dog tag, no . . . not one, but two. It automatically makes me wonder about the quality of this product. And what if I don't already have a Snuggie to compare it to which the commercial suggests? Do I need one also?

A Crazy Idea . . .

"It was a bit of a crazy idea, Sam Fisher thought, as he drove into school that morning. But he knew he needed a fresh new way to make a connection with his Grade 10 students." Pg. 26 

"Not only did we really get to think deeply about the nature of drama as it attempts to represent the complexity of human relationships, but I think students also got a better understanding of research as a truly creative process." Pg. 44 

Who hasn't reached for a crazy idea to get the lesson across to students? It is thinking outside the box. It made me chuckle and really drew me into this week's reading. I was cheering by the time I reached the end of the chapter. Research as a truly creative process? What a novel idea! I'm sure these students learned something they will take with them throughout their years of research. It will make this task much more enjoyable and perhaps they will learn something each time they do it. 

These two quotes inspired the following meme.

Creating memes make you think about what you are trying to express causing you to search diligently for a picture to go with the few words you are going to use to convey your message. You are using Critical Media Literacy to construct the meme. Tracking it could tell you if people liked it. I'm not sure you would know how many people understood your intended message unless you set it up for people to comment on it. 

The third quote from this week's reading really leads into my post on Critical Autonomy: deconstructing media advertising.

"People trust the sources that match our existing opinions and we distrust information that challenges our beliefs." Pg. 43

This is so true. We need to look at both sides. A judge listens openly to both sides of the issue before making a decision. My reaction to this quote is framed in my post Critical Autonomy: deconstructing media advertising.

Hobbs, Renee. Digital and media literacy: Connecting culture and classroom. Corwin Press, 2011.