Screens vs. Smoking

On-screen violence is nearly as bad a public health problem as smoking.

That is the major finding of a study by two researchers who claim that violence on television, in films, and in video games causes agressiveness in males and females, children and adults.

A sidelight of the study is that video game-playing devices are now in 83 percent of American households with children and, consequently, have also become a major factor in creating aggressiveness in children.

MWF classes only

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #9

Kindling Interest in eBooks

Amazon.com has introduced Kindle, an e-text reader that will tap into Amazon's enormous clout in the book world. The 10-ounce device uses eInk technology, so it does not have a backlit screen, meaning longer battery life and a display that can be read outdoors. The device is also wireless, meaning that books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs can all be purchased and downloaded on a moment's notice.

So is Kindle the device that will really put ebooks into the hands of the masses? That was a question for the MC101s...

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #8

TV Turnoff

Could the television--so much a part of our lives for the last half century--be losing relevance to young adults. Sort of, is the conclusion of a Reuters news story that indicates that some college-age South Koreans are going happily TV-less without abstaining from video programming. According to the article, the TV screen is giving way to the computer screen, and the airwaves are being replaced by broadband Internet access.

MWF classes only

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #7

HypeSpace

We had a shootout with digital cameras during our last MC101 field trip of the semester on Nov. 16. Location was the oh-so-fabulous Getty Center.

According to a National Public Radio story that we listened to today, the Internet has the potential to be the most personal, most targeted, most efficient advertising medium ever imagined. Cookies (those little things that track where you have web surfed) and social networking sites are the keys to making ads ever more relevant, and a little creepy.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #6

Tangy Trailers

So-called "green band" movie trailers are family-friendly enough to be shown in multiplexes in front of a variety of films. But they don't really capture the action or sensuality of R-rated films. So what to do? According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, the answer is racier, edgier "red band" trailers made for online viewing.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #5

Creeps in Cyberspace

Cyber bullying, where children and young adults are insulted, threatened and humiliated on web sites and via emails and text messages, is an increasingly serious problem in Japan, according to a recent Yahoo! News article. Unfortunately, some MC101s also knew of people who have had problems with cyber bullies.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #4

Dutch Treat

Today's medianote was about a Dutch man who has tried to woo a woman half a world away (he's in the Netherlands, she's in San Diego) through a series of podcasts. The podcasts have drawn a sizable international audience, but the San Diego woman eventually broke off the relationship.

Concentrate ... Concentrate ...

On a midterm, like we just had in MC101, it is good to be able to concentrate. But is media concentraton a good thing? Well, maybe not if it takes the form of concentrating ownership of many radio and television stations into just a few large corporate hands. A recent National Public Radio story covers a Federal Communication Commission meeting about media concentration that was held on Halloween. Protesters arrived in costume and delivered their views in an often-whimsical way.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #2