Cheerio!

Dearest Students,

As we complete our Media Channels & Platforms journey, all that is left is for you to finish oustanding work (if you have any), me to do the grading and you to give feedback on the course.

I set a final deadline for completion of outstanding blog work as Thursday the 20th December. If you feel you need more time, let me know.

You can give feedback by going to socrative.com and Room A515DD87. It's very short and should take anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the level of feedback you are willing to give.

Have a most wonderful festive time when it arrives, it's been an absolute pleasure working with you all, best of luck with the rest of your studies and maybe I see you on the flip side.

Chris

Only 15 minutes!

Hello Desperados!

Next week (Thursday the 29th of November) we will look at celebrity culture. For this, there is only one simple pre-task: research and understand why in 1968 Andy Warhol said "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." What did he mean, why did he say that and is it true today?

Don't forget your media diary posts and get cracking with your final tasks!

Media vs Terrorism

Today we look at three pieces from The Guardian on the media response to the 2016 Bastille Day terror attack in Nice, France

The first article is on finding the balance between giving information and inspiring copycats.

The second article is on why we should publish photographs of Isis terrorists.

The third article is on why we should starve terrorists of media coverage.

Spectacular pre-task

Hello Spectators!

Re: what we spoke about in the last lesson, here's an article that appeared in The Guardian one year ago, How Facebook and Google Threaten Public Health and Democracy by Roger McNamee. Comparing Facebook and YouTube to Christianity and Islam? Punchy stuff.

Your pre-task for next Thursday's class, which will be about Spectacle in Media, is to read the piece by Jon Harris on how Guy Debord Predicted our Distracted Society and consider the following questions:

1, To what extent do you feel that life today is realised through mediated images?
2, Which of Debord's ideas do you agree/disagree with?
3, How does Peter Weir's 1998 film The Truman Show blur the boundary between appearance and reality?

If you have not seen that film, your bonus homework is to check it out. It's not available on Finnish Netflix anymore, so I don't know how you can do that.

Week 9 pre-task

Hello chairs!

This week (Thursday the 15th of November) we will be looking at news. Here's your mildly distracting and almost-not-at-all taxing pre-task.


Before the class, I'd like you to watch "The News" from "The TV". Some of you will have access to one of those things, for others, you'll have to find it on the intertubes. And, I want you to consider (and possibly make notes, as we'll be discussing it during the class) the following questions:

- What types of people are presenting the news? How would you describe them?
- What kind of feeling is created and how?
- How much of the programme is entertainment?

You can choose whatever news show you wish, it doesn't have to be from Finland.

Stalking and then Frankfurt

Hello Marxists!

This week we'll be looking at media control and for a pre-task, I ask you to read this summary of Adorno and Horkheimer's Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception.

It's quite short, but please read it some time before the class as it might cause your brain to itch. And consider the following questions:

What is the key worry about the "culture industry"?

What do you consider to be mass produced media?

Consider the films, TV shows, music and news you consume. Who ultimately owns and distributes these things? How does that affect the messages contained within them?

You don't have to post anything on your blog about this, only read the summary and think about the questions. If you want to do more background reading, feel free.

As a reminder, your post-task from last week's session on fan culture was as below:

Choose a "famous" person you are interested in and follow them on social media, for example Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc.

Follow them for a few days and also look back at their posting history to get a sense of what they produce and how they work.

Write a blog post about how they use social media, how they interact with their fans, what kind of image they project... and how that influences and gives meaning to what they produce.

Don't forget your media observation post and your elevator pitch for your final task!

Week 7 pre-task

Hello Fanatics!

This week, we'll be looking at fan culture.

As a pre-task (and I'm aware you are getting this quite late, apologies from me, but it ought not to take long), I'm asking you to read the article, Fandom Matters: Writers Must Respect Their Followers or Pay With Their Careers, by Damien Walter in the The Guardian and consider the following two questions:

- How do you understand the term "social artist"?

- How important do you think it is for an artist (musician, film maker, comic drawer, writer etc.) to know who their fans are and to communicate with them?

NB: I am only asking you to read the article and consider those two questions. You do not have to write about this on your blog. You absolutely can write about it, if you want. And you should still blog about your group's Reality TV concept and, of course, media observations.

See you on Thursday!