Week 8 Reflection

I'm seriously displeased by today's class.
Not only did Mr. Radzi came in late 25 minutes, after giving the 2nd assignment, he dismissed it without taking attendance. Like I said before, it's unfair to those who came to class as they're students who skip..
As for now, we now got another workload on us by next week.
[which is also the week of DF 2nd assessment]
This week we have english and maths test. . . .

Week 7 Reflection

So far,I have been able to easily relate to all that I have learned in Media Culture class because I have experience it up close in real life. In every parts of the world, even here in Malaysia, people are using & referring to stereotypes constantly &, as such,they are also constantly influenced by it. Cultural stereotypes such as racism, gender & religion are all around us, & I see it constantly appearing on the media, such as newspapers, magazines, & global news channels on television. Therefore, I am thoroughly convinced that it's a universal fact, that cultural stereotypes is all around us, & there is no way of escaping it, since it is a prominent factor in this modern age of civilisation.

Media Literacy 2

Why is it important for you as FCM students to have it?

As an FCM student, I think that media literacy is important as I learn to become a wiser consumer and producer of information. When I consume media, I am capable of analyzing and interpreting media messages for authenticity, originality and bias. I am also aware of the fabrication that the media is capable of. Thus, not everything I learn is accepted easily. By being media illiterate, I am able to reflect media contents with careful rationalisation. This is important as I know how to look at an issue from different perspectives in order to know the facts from rumours and myths. Media literacy, in other words, is the critical understanding of media that is obtained by accessing, comparing, analysing, interpreting, evaluating, communicating information.

By having these awareness, I understand communication better and thus, I am able to produce better and clearer media messages. By producing own media products, it gives us an insight into the realities in media and compare it with the real world. When we successfully communicate our message to the audience, they would be better informed. This decreases the doubts and myths that circulates from poorly informed audience. In this society where representations and stereotypes are considered common, everyone and anyone should learn to see the truth behind popular informations which are mostly inaccurate. As a result, wise media comsumption can be learnt.

Media Literacy 1

What is media literacy?

"Media literacy is an informed, critical understanding of the mass media. It involves examining the techniques, technologies and institutions involved in media production; being able to critically analyze media messages; and recognizing the role audiences play in making meaning from those messages."

Source: Rick Shepherd, "Why Teach Media Literacy," Teach Magazine, Quadrant Educational Media Services, Toronto, ON, Canada, Oct/Nov 1993.

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/what_is_media_literacy.cfm


"...media literacy is about more than just consuming information. A media literate individual is able to produce, create and successfully communicate information in all its forms..."

Media Literacy is the ability to acccess, analyze,evaluate and communicate information in a variety of format including print and nonprint.

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article.html


There are several ways to approach media literacy,

Aesthetics and Appreciation
The study of the language, grammar, vocabulary of film, television and other media.

Production
"...hands-on application of and utilization of production values and techniques. This might include photography, cinematography and video production."

Citizenship
"...responsible citizenship involves... informed decision-making.Media literacy promotes the critical thinking skills necessary to understand the complex issues".

Protection
"To Develop Resistance to Media's Influences"

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/ci/programs/edmedia/medialit/article3.html

Media Literacy

Week 7 's topic :
What is and why is it important for you as FCM students to have it?

Week 6 Reflection

It's Nabi Muhammad's birthday, so no class for this week's lecture~
But so far,Media Culture class has been very informative and increase my basic knowledge bout what's going on in the media world. Though it's a bit too fast paced, I can manage to keep up with the lecturers. Some attached articles and videos are very interesting, especially leaflefever's social media video. These make me enjoy doing the assignment. But compare it with articles with .. dozens of pages.. and only need to summarize 100 words from loads of facts.. Well.. I believe you understand. Anyways, classes had been fun and interesting.

Media Stereotype [2]

Stereotypes On Girls and Women In Media

Since ages ago, female stereotypes are widely exploited by media for entertainment, news, commercials and etc. Most commercials use beautiful female stars or models to promote their product. This seems to be targetting not only men, but also people of all ages and types.
For example; women who watches cosmetic commercials featuring beautiful faces will be attracted to purchase the product, believing that it will help them to look just as beautiful. Whereas, men's attention will be attracted to the beautiful promoters. [Men are scientifically proven to get attracted to visual stimulation easily]. Children too, seem to be fond of and prefer to watch beautiful female promoters. Overall, people are definitely more attracted to physical appearance, and the media exploits that aspect of viewers. Another reason for using stars and models to promote is the fact that fans will want to follow in their idols' footsteps and to be closer to their idols, even by just purchasing the products. The advertising company chooses the idols based on their target consumers. They will use hip and popular stars for younger market. Meanwhile, the company will use adult stars who still look youthful and has matured beauty for older market.


http://www.celebritycm.com/



Not only that, media also shape cultural ideas of beauty amongst female viewers. Once, the idea is that being blonde is most beautiful. This causes unfair judgement of beauty especially to exotic looking girls of different ethnic backgrounds. Now, the idea of beauty is to be skinny. Being thin is no longer enough, and this drives girls to be aneroxic or bulimic to feel beautiful. Fortunately, the runways are all slowly taking measures in limiting models to a particular minimum BMI index. As complaints were raised about too skinny models giving bad example to young girls.


www.peoplejam.com


get back to this later

Media Stereotype [1]

This is a very informative article on Media Stereotypes:-

http://web.media.mit.edu/~ayah/MediaTheories/

From your personal experience, what other media stereotype you have seen either on TV or in the movies?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stereotypes On Men And Views of Masculinity In Media

Since my father's time, he watches shows with superhero-figure main characters. This creates a stereotype that all guys must be strong and good at fights. Guys are also expected to be able to save damsels in distress and win girls' hearts with strength. The main character always avoid being soft and emotional, on the other hand, he must be aggressive and win against his opponents via violence. By being powerful, the character will achieve respect from other male and female attention. Boys who imitate their favourite characters at the time keep engaging in fights that makes them think that violence is acceptable.


http://www.supermantv.net/

Not only that, media often potray male characters who are silent but strong. These characters are often in charge of the group of protagonists as they are decisive and responsible. They are silent as they do not show their real emotions and keep a calm and serene outlook. Somehow, this type of male stereotype attracts female adoration as well. Viewers will falsely assume that men should always be dominant in social relationships and must refrain from being sensitive or emotional as it is a sign of weakness.

Media Stereotyping- Definition

Give a very short basic explanation of what media stereotype is?

Media stereotype is very common in advertising and broadcasting industries. It will give the audiences a common view or understanding of a person relating to their gender, race, or occupation which will cause social prejudice, discrimination and inequality within a society.

Week 5 Reflection

The only thing I have to comment for this week's class is how the class's attendance is only given AFTER the class ends. Mr. Radzi saying that we could sign next week makes it unfair especially to those who attended the class. Since many classmates skipped just to prepare for DF assessment on the next day [which is postphoned to following week - just made my day] so most of them might take advantage of the fact that they can sign for the previous week as well in week 6.
The attendance for week 4's tutorial work on summary Mr. Radzi didn't collect during class. Instead, he lets us to submit next week. This really irked me, since I've done the summary, and a lot of people also didn't do it.... So unfair since I also needed all the time to prepare for other class's deadlines etc.


Anyways, the class was interesting. Since I'm interested in how War of the Worlds radio broadcast give such an impact during that time. Especially since they only have radio as one of their rare source of info.

Not Everything On The Internet Is REAL

Do you often take what is on the Internet as truth without thinking much about it?


I don't believe just any information on internet, because anyone can create a website and post their point of views of the matter without exposing their true identity.
Usually, people turn to Wikipedia.com for information instantly without researching further. The problem with wikipedia is, many people edit the informations on the page, causing variations. This is doubtful as a reliable source because personal views might affect the content.
To make sure your information is true, compare the content of researches from other sources. Especially websites that show the name of authors, this allows you to check whether they know that area well. I never trust one particular source but try to search other articles and research papers on the subject to verify facts.
As I do more researches on the subject, I will find that all of them have the same basic facts while the extra informations are often exaggerated or far-fetched. This is how I determine the facts from tons of search results.

Not Everything on Internet Is True-Effective Search

Do you often take what is on the Internet as truth without thinking much about it?

Seriously. No, I don't. I've been using the internet for a few years, so that's probably why. Since I learnt from mistakes in past and be wiser in getting information.

The problem is, people who are new to internet might type out something in the search engine and believe everything that they read from the search results. Veteran internet users who are more skilled at using the search engines will get more accurate information from reliable sources. For example, using the quotation marks for a phrase is more effective, instead of typing words separately [as it will give you results of each word, causing a confusingly high number of results]. Not only that, if you'd like to search for hairstyle in a bun, which will also yield results of the same meaning of the word such as bread products, veterans will type

bun "long hairstyle" updo -bread -yeast

this will help you get results of bun that is related to "long hairstyle" and updo minutes searches that has bread, or yeast in them.

By using more keywords and eliminating unnecessary results, you will get more accurate information that you need, and reduce the number of fake information gained.

2nd Blog Topic

Comic strip entitled

"Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide, and fast on the Internet."

taken from "Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture" by Stanley Baran, pg 324. (You can post this up in your blog)

This is the 2nd blog assignment, where I will post my own thoughts on this matter later:-

Do you often take what is on the Internet as truth without thinking much about it? If yes, why? If no, why? Discuss this in your own words.