Media Influences on
American Culture
HUM 186
Week 1
Laurie Nesbitt
Instructor
HUM / 186
The Basics
Introductions
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Name
Major
Occupation
Hobbies
Graduation date
3 words that describe you
Assignments
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Due by 6:00 pm
Submit to write point services and plagiarism
checker
Follow APA guidelines
Creditability statement
Participation
Class Discussion
Attendance
Not Evident
Minimal
participation
Participation
Active
Participation
5
10
15
20
Little or no interaction with
instructor or other
classmates during class
time or contribution is not
relevant and or disruptive
to the class
Interacts with classmates
during group activities but
does not participate in
whole class discussion and/
or is continually using a
computer during lecture
time
5
10
15
20
1 hour
2 hours
3 hours
4 hours.
Interacts with
classmates during
group activities but
only minimally
participates in whole
class discussions
Interacts with instructor,
group members and student
presenters contributing
relevant information and
comments throughout the
class
10 points are reserved for assessments and activities
Individual Assignment: Effects of Mass Media Paper
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What were the major developments in the evolution of
mass media during the last century?
How did each development influence American culture?
What is meant by the term media convergence, and how
has it affected everyday life?
Conclude your paper with a reflection on why media
literacy is important for responsible media consumption
today
Due Week 1
Week 2
Choose One:
 Toolwire® Learnscape: Examining the Use of
Social Media - Paper
 Social Media Presentation
Week 3
Influence of Entertainment Media
You investigate the interrelationship between the
entertainment media and culture.
5 - to 7 –minute presentation
Week 4
Choose one of the following options:
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Toolwire® Learnscape: Credibility and Impact
Journalist E-mail
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Your responsibility as a journalist to provide
fair, honest, and balanced coverage
Your assessment of the credibility of political
Internet sites you visited for your research,
such as Drudge Report, Daily Kos, or Colbert
Nation
Learning Teams
Must:
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Submit charter by week 2
Meet regularly
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In person
In cyber-space (learning team forum)
Document meetings – through the team forum
Complete team evaluation when needed.
Team Assignments
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Week 1 – charter
Week 3 -Toolwire® Learnscape: Examining Ethical
and Legal Issues Presentation
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Examining Ethical and Legal Issues Presentation
Week 4 - essay in which you discuss how the
information and news media have affected American
culture
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I must be included on the distribution list for the document
upon initial distribution.
Week 5 - Presentation in which you investigate the
role of advertising in a culture of consumerism.
THE INTERNET:
SOCIAL MEDIA
Objectives
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Identify the effects of mass media on American culture.
Summarize the evolution of mass media.
Explain the implications of media convergence.
Describe the value of media literacy.
Mass Media
What is it?
Media intended for a large audience. It may
take the form of broadcast media, or print
Social Media
Social media are media for social interaction,
using highly accessible and scalable
publishing techniques. Social media use webbased technologies to transform and
broadcast media monologues into social
media dialogues. They support the
democratization of knowledge and
information and transform people from
content consumers to content producers.
The Internet and Cell Phones
“A fresh approach to fostering innovation in
the mobile industry will help shape a new
computer environment that will change the
way people access and share information in
the future.”
— Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman
The Internet’s History
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Begun by the Defense Department’s ARPA
(Advanced Research Project’s Agency)
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Survivable communications in a post—
nuclear war world
Nicknamed the “Net”
No central authority, therefore no way to
decapitate in wartime
This effort gave birth to the Internet.
Figure 2.1
Media Convergence
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Internet offers unprecedented
communication opportunities:
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Interactive content
Hub for converging media
Participatory media: People become producers
rather than just consumers of content.
• What are the positive and negative
aspects of a decentralized, nonhierarchical
Internet?
Web 2.0
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Web 2.0: a rapid and robust environment that
has become a place where music, television
shows, radio stations, newspapers, and
movies coexist
Has moved toward being an interactive and
collaborative medium
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Instant messaging (IM)
Blogs
Wiki Web sites
Social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook)
Dividing Up the Web
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Four companies dominate Web 2.0.
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AOL: Once the industry leader, suffered setbacks
from merging with Time Warner in 2000
Microsoft: Dominated the Internet with the merger
of its Windows and Internet Explorer programs
Yahoo!: Established in 1994 as the main Internet
search engine, now best known for its popular
sites.
Google: Established breakthrough search engine
in 1998, currently dominates search market
Effects on the culture
The Challenge to Keep Personal
Information Private
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Everything you buy with a credit card
Every Web site you search
Every form you fill out
All can be combined into a database about
you.
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Modern marketing relies on such data.
 E-commerce’s popularity despite the risks
 Cookies
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Spyware
Opt-in, opt-out policies
Digital Divide
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Digital divide
 The growing contrast between “information
haves” and “information have-nots”
The reality of the digital divide
 In the United States
 Between the U.S. and the rest of the world
Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptop project
Will the Internet’s promise be crowded
out by commercial interests?
How has mass customization
changed the way users interact with
the Internet?
Social medias have become the new "tool" for
effective business marketing and sales.
Popular networking sites including Myspace,
Facebook and Twitter are social media most
commonly used for socialization and
connecting friends, relatives, and employees.
Activity