extra credit post

Before this class, I had never published a blog, nor had ever been a blog reader. On the first blog assignment when we were supposed to tell which blog we enjoyed the most, not even one came to mind.

 I think there were two main positive aspects about using blogs in this course. First, I got to experience and play around with the blog format, something extremely new to me.  Blogs are a growing trend in out society that I knew very little about. Second, writing blogs about concepts we had learned in the previous week made me look back at my notes and kept me caught up on all of the readings and course materials in the class.

At first when I started blogging, I was confused on how to upload and double check that my blog had been posted. After playing around with the blogger website, I was able to overcome the difficulties.

The blogs that I enjoyed most were the blogs that we were required to find our own examples and explain their impacts on us as receivers of the media. For example, the second blog on the influence of media in my life made me realize how advertisements truly do have an impact on my life whether it be the guilt felt when shown underprivileged children, or the happiness associated with slender and beautiful women.  I felt that the more general prompts were less enjoyable and more difficult to write about. An example would be the prompt over the association of connotative and denotative meanings and different shot progressions.

I recommend using blogs in future RTF courses as well as other courses in general at UT, because the weekly blog assignments keep you caught up with the course and prevent you from falling behind. Not only did it keep me updated with RTF, but it also prompted me to get my books out on Sunday and start studying for other classes as well. Moreover, using it in the RTF course provides a link to using real life media and connections with the course to examples in the real world.

The only thing I can think of to make things easier to blogging experience in the future, would be to provide a more detailed explanation of how to use the blog website at the beginning of the course, along with a more detailed grading system explanation.

Yes, you can use my blog in a paper or report 

Globalization

Globalization is a process that is rapidly increasing and expanding around the world with the creation of effective and high powered digital media and devices. Globalization is the process of connecting everyone with each other no matter where on the earth you are located. The idea of globalization provides a rapid exchange of communication, which fosters the growth of many organizations and social connectedness in general.

Cultural imperialism is a term that describes one effect of globalization. Countries with more power and more technology will have more influence on other smaller and less powerful countries. This means that bigger and more technologically advanced countries will exert their countries influence on the other less advantaged countries, possibly causing infringement on local and even national culture.                        

(Rupert Murdoch- founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of News Corporation)

News Corporation is an excellent example of large conglomerates that exert their power and resources on other countries. While their influence may not be intentional, they are a main source for cable network programming, television, filmed entertainment, direct broadcast satellite TV, and publishing around the world.  Because News Corporation has so many outlets, it is almost impossible to escape them. Being a United States conglomerate, News Corporate exerts an American and Western influence on many other nations of the world. 

Advertisements

A recent advertisement that I saw on TV was for Pedigree dog food. This commercial was extremely persuasive with its use of precious dogs of different ages, sizes, and breeds.  The commercial tells viewers that dogs are loyal, trustworthy, honest, friendly, and loveable, and for these reasons, that the viewer should provide their dogs with good dog food, and pedigree is good dog food. This ad persuades the viewer to buy Pedigree dog food, in order to repay dogs for their positive qualities.

         This Pedigree ad uses the appeal of nurture and guidance. These appeals make the consumer feel obligated to purchase a product for the betterment of others.  These appeals are used to impose a sense of guilt in the audience to make them more pressured and apt to buy a product. With these appeals, it makes the audience feel as if purchasing the product not only fulfils the purpose of the product, but also helps for the betterment of some other organization or society.

Throughout the Pedigree commercial, several dogs are displayed, making them look desirable and adorable. These characteristics make the viewer feel obligated to nurture and care for these dogs, and insist that the dogs will be nurtured if they are fed Pedigree dog food.  The dogs look helpless and loveable. With these characteristics, the viewer may feel that purchasing Pedigree dog food not only nurtures their own dog, but also nurtures other adorable dogs.

Pedigree Dog Food Commercial