SESSION EIGHTEEN: Human Voices

We cordially thank everyone for attending Human Voices on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008. We hope you enjoyed hearing our personal stories, and we encourage each of you to set aside time each week listening to someone you care about.

"Listening is an act of love." - Storycorps

Please forgive me...
Theresa Tribble and Denise Watson, who accidentally disappeared from the program.


We thank poet Geneva Burch for reading from her new book, Comfortable in My Skin, published in November 2007. Congratulations, Geneva!

SESSION SEVENTEEN: No Class January 2nd

Please use Session 17 to complete preparations for our public presentation on January 9th.
All extra credit assignments are due today.

Happy Holidays!

SESSION SIXTEEN: LAP Presentations

Congratulations! You have now (almost) completed Introduction to Communication. Tonight, your final audio projects (StoryCorps or other) are due. To receive full credit for your project, it must include all items on the checklist. Tonight is also the final day to complete any late work, such as online journals or research papers. During tonight's class, we will wrap up any loose ends, examining our audio projects and planning our final party. The LAP Presentation is now the only remaining requirement. This will take place on the final night of class: January 9th, 2008.

On January 9th (from 6-8pm), we will hold a public presentation of our work. Please invite your friends and family (and bring lots of goodies!) to this event. We will share our audio portraits as a group, but each of you will be asked to give a brief (1-2min) introduction to your work. You can bring any photos or written work you would like to share as well.

Yvette St. Hilaire and her daughter Shannel at their StoryCorps interview (Nov. 07).

SESSION FIFTEEN: Lions for Lambs

Lions for Lambs (2007), directed by Robert Redford, stars Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. The film details the use of media (journalist Janine Roth, played by Streep) as a communication tool by government (Senator Jasper Irving, played by Cruise). In the film, Senator Irving invites Roth to report on a new war policy for Afghanistan, but Roth soon discovers she is not being asked to "investigate" a story as much as to "repeat" an already prepared statement.

The film's title is a derivation of Alexander the Great’s proclamation, "I am never afraid of an army of Lions led into battle by a Lamb. I fear more the army of Lambs who have a Lion to lead them" (Wikipedia). This idea is ever-present throughout the film, as young men are led (rather lambishly) into violence no one fully comprehends.

For next week... (12/19)
Project homework: Your final LAP is due next week.
Reading: Global Communications Media, pp. 495 – 527

SESSION FOURTEEN: The Conversation

The Conversation details the mental breakdown of a paranoid surveillance expert hired to spy on an adulterous couple. What happens when the spy believes he is the one being spied on? The Conversation was released in 1974 and was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman in a phenomenal performance as an "expert" with technology who begins to question his ethics. Is it enough to know how to use technology? Or, must we also know when (and when not) to employ its awesome power? Read more here.

For next week... (12/12)
Project homework: Work on LAP paper.
Reading: Media Ethics, pp. 465 – 492

SESSION THIRTEEN: Network

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Howard Beale's rants appeal to a 1970's TV audience tired of ordinary, boring programming. When UBS executives discover they can "sell" Beale's anger, the station quickly gains a top position. But, this is one of many temporary successes (and failures) of a daily entertainment business. Nothing is certain. And, nothing lasts forever. Network premiered in 1976 and won the Oscar for best screenplay. Find a movie analysis here.

For next week... (12/05)
Project homework: Work on LAP interview.
Reading: Media Uses and Effects, pp. 391 – 429; Media Policy and Law, pp. 431 – 463

SESSION TWELVE: EXTRA CREDIT - Audio/Visual Rhetoric

NO CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21ST!
Mass communications can also be examined through the lens of rhetoric. Rhetoric is commonly considered the art of persuasion. While the term is most often used to discuss public speaking, rhetoric has rapidly evolved in the Twentieth Century to incorporate mass media techniques, such as photography and audio recording. Today, when audiences encounter a mass communication, such as a magazine advertisement or a public service announcement, the message often forms a subtle (or not-so subtle) argument. In other words, the message tries to convice the receiver (YOU) to agree with an idea or to do something (like buy the latest iPhone or vote for George W. Bush).

Mass communications use many techniques to persuade their audiences; these techniques (part of the art of rhetoric) generally use images and sound to evoke ethos, pathos or logos in viewers. Media literacy must teach us how to analyze (and critique!) these techniques, allowing us to make more informed decisions about the arguments being presented.

- EXTRA CREDIT JOURNAL -
Select any mass communication you have encountered during the past week. (A mass communication includes any communication presented to a mass audience, such as a subway poster, a radio or television broadcast, a magazine ad and so on.)

First, describe the communication using the SMCR model.

• Who sent the message?
• What is the message?
• What channel was the message sent thru?
• Who was the intended receiver?

Second, analyze your experience of the message using the concept of audio-visual rhetoric.

• What argument did the message make?
• What techniques did the sender you to persuade the audience?
• What function did the message serve?