Week 16 Question 1

In chapter 13 I found ethnography. With ethnography, a research is able to engage themselves in a culture while observing norms within this culture. Ethnography is about a researcher emerging themselves into this sub culture or society and intergrate themselves with the group of people. This type of research is difficult for researchers to find their way into the so called door that can gain access into the community for ethnography research. It is interesting how the researcher must account for their biases before, after, and during the process of this type of research. I have heard of researchers do this type of risky research with social groups such as mafias, underground fight clubs, or even traveling with professional athletic teams. This type of exposure and access can bring a good amount of truth if the data is collected in a valid way.
I wish there were more of these type of studies and research methods done in a longitudinal fashion. I believe there would be more insight in reporting and research that can improve our understanding of cultures and sub cultures.

Week 16 Question 1

Question #3

 I found the section on listening most interesting in the book.  Learning how receivers can improve decoding and the different ways to listen helped me a lot on a personal level.  I learned that listening takes skill and mental effort.  The book gives great advice explaining how we should remind ourselves to give our attention to those who are talking to us.  I started using this approach of consciously reminding myself to use good listening skills and it proved to be a good reminder and I feel my conversations have bee better.

 The book went into improving retention and revival.  In learning how to decide what needs to be stored in our memory can improve our retention.  One way to do this is to rehearse  and review ideas that need to be stored.  Note taking and reviewing the thoughts one listens to mentally can help improve retention.  Paraphrasing, or repeating a message in your own words so that speaker can check your understanding and asking important question will improve retention.  These little listening tips seemed easy to do and I felt this was the most interesting concepts in the book.  Most textbooks go over the basics of active listening.  The text for this class went deeper into listening and explained the value of improving retention, improving interpretation, and improving attention.

Week May 10-13 Question 3

  Pick one other concept in the book that you feel needs further discussion?

  I thought the book needs to further discuss characteristics of media messages.  The book could go into more detail about specific messages that the media uses to deliver the mood of the medium. Exploring how directors transition, use colors, graphics, sounds, and overall look of sets and shows have a major influence on how the audience reacts to certain signals.  One of the tactics I see in the media today is taking a story and dragging the story out for weeks and months at a time.  There are certain strategies and tactics the media uses to give a story legs through production.  There is an art to interviewing that the book did not go into. Interviewing tactics are a valuable skill that people in business and the media use that can help us become more savvy and understand in the communication process. I think interviewing people on TV, the radio, and in a business setting are interesting to watch when a skilled person conducts and interview.  But, when an interview goes wrong it can be akward and a loss of momentum in the communication process.

Week of April 29-May 2 Question #3

I found the selective exposure section of this chapter interesting and an ongoing part of our society. Selective exposure is people's tendencies to avoid certain messages and to seek out others. The book uses the example of music taste and the radio stations we listen to. A person who likes hard rock will probably not turn the channel and listen to country music. The same can be said for people and their politics. How often do people listen to the opposite side of their political party. We often believe we are open minded people but we do not expose ourselves to other messages. If we do exposure ourselves to other messages how often do we have an open mind when listening to these opposing messages?
I feel our society is quick to judge and less likely to listen. Whenever a celebrity or public figure is shown in the news for something negative people tend to believe everything the media tells them. It is true that public figures are deemed guilty until proven innocent. Our media can do a better job of checking their sources and providing clear facts. The media is a business and too often they will sensationalize stories because it gets ratings. Maybe if our media would do a better job of monitoring their selective exposure in their reporting and production it could carry over to society.

Week of April 29-May 2 Question 2

Sadly I tend to agree that Marshall McLuhan is correct in stating the medium is the mesage. I feel messages are stonger through production and format than content. People use the phrase "pictures are worth a thousand words", works for our instant gratification and TV lifestyle. The mosaic logic that bombards us with changing bits of information we cognitively assemble influences our ideas and rational with the programing. Casting personalities in forms of media has a lot to do with the sucess of the medium. Celeberties such as Paris Hilton, Bill O Riley, and even Oprah have found themselves in a character that attracts attention. Their success comes from their personna rather than what they say.
Instant gratification is becoming a major part in how our media communicates with its followers. This idea that television is this cool medium has some validity but, I think there are a lot of variations to this cool medium. TV is increasing its production cuts on all types of shows today. Watch any news show, sporting event, and drama andthe production styles of todays shows and the frequency of cuts are more frequent than past productions. TV does not want us to lose our attention spans. Instead of dialouges, TV has more effects, camera changes, and motion. The medium is sending multiple quick messages that fill the gap of conversations. I am skeptical that TV content is going to improve. I wonder how future programing is going to change. If the current trend continues, programing will continue to lack the human elements and drama that made TV great in the begining.