Bon Bon: Internet Wayback Machine

Speaking of blasts from our past, on our recent Downtown walking tour the MC101s were fascinated by Ross Cutlery, a knife store that became somewhat infamous during the O.J. Simpson trial.

I don't use this website a lot, but when I do I'm sure glad it's there.

The Internet Wayback Machine is a partial (but still pretty voluminous) archive of web pages as they appeared a few months ago or a few years ago. For example, one of the videos I use in Mass Comm 101 used to have an online transcript. It came in quite handy for those students who wanted to quote the video. Then the transcript was taken off the web. With the Internet Wayback Machine, it's easy to go back in time and find it.

Using the Wayback Machine, I can see what CNN's front page looked like on Sept. 11, 2001. Or maybe I want to see what Google's search page looked like way back on Dec. 2, 1998.

In any event, I'm just scratching the surface. In addition to finding yesterday's web pages, this useful and entertaining archive has search tools for audio, video and other stuff that is--or, more importantly, was--on the web.

Class, Turn to Page 72 of Your Coca-Cola Textbook ...

Today we talked about naming rights and product placements in books. Our jumping-off point for the conversation was a recent Sunday Opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times entitled "Selling Between the Lines," written by novelist Jane Smiley.

We're used to seeing these things slipped into movies, of course, and we're beginning to see more of it on TV. But naming rights and product placements in books still flies pretty much below the radar. More than anything, I wanted to see if my students had any deep objections to this sort of advertising/brand-building/hype. For the most part, it was cool with them.

Campus Newspapers: Who Is Ultimately in Charge?

Today's medianote discusses a recent article about student suicides in the El Vaquero, the student newspaper at Glendale College. The article precipitated a stormy confrontation of the newspaper's faculty adviser by the college president and the head of the college's nursing department. It also led to the story briefly being taken off the newspaper's web site. The remaining paper copies of that issue of the El Vaquero--about a thousand copies--mysteriously disappeared from the newsracks. This led to a story about the controversy in the Glendale News-Press, the local daily. In addition, a report has been filed with campus police over the theft of the papers.

As this controversy plays out, a bill is making its way through the California Legislature (AB2581) that strengthens First Amendment protections for student publications on college and university campuses.

Bon Bon: Pantsless at the World Cup

The World Cup played in the background as we had our pre-field trip breakfast on Tuesday morning at Philippe's. We were all fully clothed.

MC101 Supplemental Instruction leader Mike Arvizu sent this one in. Advertising can motivate us to do a lot of things we normally wouldn't do, but this is the first time I've heard of an advertising sponsorship causing guys to partially disrobe in public.

National Public Radio reports that about a thousand Dutch soccer fans had to take off their pants before they could watch their national team play a World Cup match in Stuttgart, Germany. The men were wearing the trademark orange pants of the Baveria Brewing Company, while the exclusive beer sponsor for the event is Budweiser. Most of the men watched from the official viewing area in their underwear.

***GOOD TURNOUT for Tuesday's field trips to the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Central Library. I counted 22 MC101s and guests at the Times and 19 at the library. In between, we took to the streets and explored the city's Historic Core.

Bon Bon: BloggerCon 2006

Today we have Quiz #1 in Mass Comm 101, so there is no medianote. On these medianoteless days, I post a bon bon, something that is fun and cool and has something to do with the course.

Today's bon bon is BloggerCon 2006. It is a conference of bloggers that met in San Francisco last Friday and Saturday to talk (and certainly write about) blogs. Mark Glaser has done an excellent job of writing up the highlights in his Mediashift blog. By the way, you didn't have to be there to take in the proceedings. The BloggerCon web site (linked above) has MP3s of all of the sessions.

I'm impressed that, besides drawing bloggers, BloggerCon drew representatives of mainstream journalism and academia. That bodes well for the future of blogging, although I'm not sure that the blog of 2011 will bear much resemblence to the blog of 2006.

***Tomorrow is a field trip day. We will visit the Los Angeles Times in the morning and the Los Angeles Central Library in the afternoon. So, no medianote tomorrow but I will post something about the day's festivities.

Hey Newsheads! Can Ya Digg It?

A Yahoo! News story about Digg.com a technology news site where readers can decide what should be a front page stories was the jumping off point for today's medianote. On Digg.com, readers can recommend (or "Digg") their favorite stories to get them linked onto the site or, better yet, make the front page. It's a little like getting everyone you know to go to your web site so that it will get more prominent play on Google.

This medianote generated some extra discussion because Digg will soon branch out into more general types of news. Should editors or readers make the call on what goes on the front page of an online news site? And what other media could this consumer-preference model be applied to? (I'm sure students would like it if they got to vote on what questions will be on the next test.)

Apple Bids for Paid Movie Downloads

Apple Computer may move into the movie business via its popular iTunes Music Store. According to a recent Yahoo! News article, Apple is in negotiations with most of the major Hollywood movie studios, but the two sides do not yet agree on pricing of the downloads. Steve Jobs of Apple wants a flat price of $9.99 per movie download over iTunes, while the movie execs want a more variable price structure.

I want to know just how big these downloadable movie files are expected to be. With the Internet service I have at home, a current movie (Nacho Libre, for example) could be on Turner Movie Classics by the time I'd be able to get it all downloaded.

***FIELD TRIP REPORT We had a delegation of MC101 students and guests at yesterday's taping of The Showbiz Show with David Spade. Quickest TV taping I've ever been to.

Nielsen to Find Folks Watching Lost on iPods

Today's medianote is based on a National Public Radio story about how the winds of digital change are pushing Nielsen Media Research (the folks behind TV's infamous Nielsen ratings) into measuring viewership on devices other than televisions. This is yet another signal that the way we watch television (and what we understand a television to be) is about to undergo radical changes.

***SPEAKING OF TELEVISION I hope to see a nice turnout of MC101s and guests at this afternoon's taping of The Showbiz Show in Hollywood.

(Astro) Turf Wars Over Public Opinion

Baseball Player Bill "Spaceman" Lee was once asked whether he preferred playing on grass or Astroturf. "I don't know," he replied. "I never smoked Astroturf."

Today's medianote is from Mark Glazer's excellent MediaShift blog. In a recent post, he takes on so-called "Astroturf" letter-writing campaigns. An astroturf campaign occurs when a political organization encourages a spate of synthetic political letter-writing through the savvy use of digital technology. Organizations such as Focus on the Family and Move On have web sites where you can click on an issue (Focus on the Family is against gay marriage, for example) and be fed general talking points or specific paragraphs that can be easily cut and pasted into a letter and sent off to a local newspaper or politician.

Suddenly, local newspaper editors are getting multiple letters about an issue, like gay marriage, and it can be hard to tell when it's the actual words of the letter writers and when it's something cribbed from a web site. Mr. Glaser finds this practice deceptive and unethical. The MC101s were less outraged. One student said it was like signing a petition: the important thing is that the signer is a real person and that the letter accurately reflects the signer's opinion.

But should newspaper editors try to keep these astroturf letters from taking root in their letters to the editor columns? In that case, the MC101s generally preferred natural sod over astroturf.

***AUDIOPOST DELAYED I've created my audioblogger post, but as of 2:10 on Tuesday it hasn't shown up online. When it does, I'll add it to my written comments. And if it doesn's show up at all, I'll re-record it. No biggie. I wasn't terribly articulate on this one anyway.

***WEDNESDAY, 7:25 A.M. I've re-recorded the post. It's below and, unfortunately, I'm still not very articulate discussing this medianote.

Welcome Summer 2006 Students!

Opening Day in Mass Comm 101 was very positive: I saw lots of students asking good questions and doing other things associated with academic success.

Welcome to Club MediaNote. Beginning tomorrow and continuing almost every day thereafter, I will present something current and related to the mass media at the beginning of class. These are "medianotes." One day we may discuss whether a site like youtube.com is a passing fad or an integral part of a not-too-distant future where it will be fairly normal for media consumers to also be content creators. And the next day we may discuss whether professors putting their lectures into MP3 format (for listening on an iPod or similar device) is the wave of the future or an invitation for rampant absenteeism, or both.

And I've got a cool roster of summer field trips set up for this summer. But don't stress out over getting to them: they are all optional and extra credit.

See you in class!

Will Bill Maher be Digitally Incorrect?

Our June 6 final exam study group digs in to the course material ... and eventually the pizza. This was the last SI group led by the awesomely talented Kate Haltrom, who is transferring.

Today's medianote is based upon a National Public Radio story about television comedian Bill Maher's deal to create a half-hour talk show that will play as digital video on Amazon.com. The show will feature interviews with musicians, authors, actors and others who have a product to pitch. So, the entire show will essentially be a commercial.

And just as Sirius has banked on Howard Stern to put satellite radio on the map for the masses, Amazon executives are clearly hoping that Bill Maher's fan base will follow him to the digital screen. Could we be witnessing the start of a new era where the advertisers control the programming AND own the network?

***SPEAKING OF DIGITAL MEDIA, last week's performance of A Prairie Home Companion attended by a large and devastingly good-looking delegation of MC101s, guests, and yours truly, is now online. I think the performance plays better over the computer than it did in person. I had trouble hearing every lyric and punchline from my Section V1 seat.

Political Campaigning as Close as Your Mailbox

These are just some of the political mailers that I've received leading up to the June 6 election.

With Election Day tomorrow, registered voters across California (including this intrepid blogger) have been bombarded, lambasted, and snowed under with political mailers. Early on I got the soft image-making mailers (handsome family photos and the like). Then the upbeat political issue mailers arrived (lots of adorable school kids). This was followed by endorsement mailers.

And now, in the final days of the campaign, the attack mailers have been hitting my mailbox big time. Among the taglines I've seen recently: "We just can't count on him," "City Hall for sale," "Voter Fraud Scam," "Which candidate took tobacco money?" "The worst immigrant-bashing campaign in California history," "Divisive anti-gay/lesbian campaign tactics," "Politicians who talk out of both sides of their mouths," "Teachers and parents can't trust him," "He doesn't vote for you." Probably the most prescient mailer I've received over the last several weeks is one entitled, "Watch Out! Here Comes the Mud."

And then there are always a few mailers that show up after the election. I wonder what happens to political consultants who let that happen?

This MediaNote Thrills Me Down to My Nikes

***UPDATE 6/4 @ 7:20 p.m.: WE'VE DONE THE BOWL
Our last MC101 field trip of the semester took us to the Hollywood Bowl, where some MC101s toured the Bowl's excellent museum.

Today's medianote is from a commentary on National Public Radio about the growing use of product placements in television shows. The commentator, John Ridley, is telling his fellow television writers not to whine about a loss of artistic integrity when product placements become more commonplace. I used the commentary as a jumping off point for a discussion about whether product placements are ethical.

***I'M LOOKING FORWARD to hanging with my students on the last Mass Comm 101 field trip of the semester tonight at the Hollywood Bowl. Garrison Keillor does a lot of funny stuff on his show. Listen for the Catsup Advisory Board ad. Or the skit where the hero is always an English Major.