Lights! Cameras! Justice!

Cameras in American courtrooms have been a touchy subject since the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping trial of the 1930s, when newsreel and newspaper photographers disrupted the courtroom. In the federal district court trial over Proposition 8, the citizen-passed ballot initiative that made same-sex marriage illegal in California, the judge wanted the trial televised but the defendants (those wanting Prop. 8 to be upheld) successfully petitioned to keep cameras out of the courtroom. The judge argued that justice should be open for the public to see, while the defense said that witnesses and other could be placed in danger if their identity was known.

So we are left with sketchbook artists and reporters in the courtroom leading to newspaper articles and TV interviews conducted on the courthouse steps. That's the traditional way of covering trials.

But here's something new. A group aligned with the plaintiffs (those who want Prop. 8 to be overturned) wants to recreate the trial with actors performing off of the trial transcript. Sounds like a really looong miniseries to Your Humble Blogger, but maybe one with historical significance.

Cartoon Strips in the Age of Apps

As the newspaper industry struggles, so do cartoon strips. Long a source of amusement and social commentary in newspapers, comic strips are struggling with how to reinvent themselves in the Internet Age. "Doonesbury" takes a playful swipe at popular culture, Internet-style, this week as it lampoons the hype surrounding the introduction of Apple's new iTablet.

Is the Free Lunch Over?

Mike Arvizu led 34 MC101s in a midterm review on Thursday afternoon.


So, here's the problem. TV audiences are shrinking, advertising revenues are going down. Free online viewership of television shows, movies and other assorted movie content is soaring, but advertising is negligible and the TV folks, movie moguls, and others want to get paid for their programming. So Hulu, YouTube and some other online sites are experimenting with ways to turn free content into stuff viewers will actually pay for.

This Medianote is from two articles in the Los Angeles Times.

Caring and Giving Via New Media

Haiti has certainly been on our collective minds in recent days. We've heard the heart-breaking soundbites, read the grim details, and seen the shocking images. But more than any disaster before it, this tragedy is being reported by regular people through interpersonal media tools like Facebook and Twitter. And New Media is changing the way we give, with many making monetary contributions by text message. NPR reports.

Community Colleges in the Spotlight...

The popular comic strip "Doonesbury" has one of its characters attending community college this week. Check it out.

Online Superpowers

The world's biggest country and the world's biggest search engine are locked in a testy, public spat over the type of Internet experience that China's 1.3 billion people will have. For the Chinese government, it's about keeping tabs on dissidents and placing limits on what citizens car see online. For Google, it's about freedom of information and not having some of its services vandalized. Caught in the middle are dissidents unhappy with China's government, but able to communicate through GMail and other Google services.

This Medianote is based on a National Public Radio report.

Judge Tubey

Generally speaking, an open society requires that its court system be fairly public. Or, put another way, secret trials are generally associated with repressive governments. So in the U.S. we have open courtrooms and reporters who cover trials. But that's Old Media. What about the New Media? Should high profile trials be recorded and placed on YouTube?

At issue is the federal court in San Francisco that is hearing arguments surrounding the legality of Proposition 8, the ballot measure that bans same-sex marriage in California. The judge in the case wants the proceedings made available on YouTube. Some others think that's not such a good idea. National Public Radio reports on the controversy.

Chaplin Speaks!

Last week in class we were discussing film history and Charlie Chaplin's famous character, The Little Tramp. After Your Humble Blogger mentioned that The Little Tramp never spoke in his movies, Levon Kazarian said he remembered seeing a clip from The Great Dictator where Chaplin made a passionate anti-war, anti-fascism speech. After class, Levon tracked down the clip on YouTube and emailed YHB the link.

Cool clip. Thanks, Levon!

EXTRA: Internship Opportunity

Your Humble Blogger got this email from Mark Whalen of JPL. It looks like a good opportunity...

I’m writing to alert you and your students to an outstanding internship opportunity at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada. We’re looking for bright, eager and talented writers to consider working in JPL’s Internal Communications Group and contributing to our new intranet site and to our monthly employee newspaper.

JPL is a field center for NASA and conducts robotic space exploration (no astronauts here). Please see http://jpl.nasa.gov for information on the organization.

Please consider referring those interested to the JPL job site: https://careerlaunch.jpl.nasa.gov/ci20/index.jsp?locale=en_US&applicationName=jplCA&POSTING_ID=3065420&SRCSEQ=postingSearchResults&SEQ=jobDetails

This site provides details about the position, and applications can be submitted as well.

Please don’t hesitate to call or e-mail with questions. I look forward to hearing from you, and thanks for considering JPL.

Mark

--
Mark Whalen
Team Leader, JPL Internal Communications
Phone (818) 354-6089
Cell (818) 653-9525
Fax (818) 393-5183

Cool YouTube Presentation

Here's that YouTube presentation about how Old Media have been surpassed by new media...

Twittering Taureses

Ford, the American car company that didn't have to take bailout money, is attempting to take the lead in bringing digital communications into the automobile. So, what's in your Ford's future? Maybe an eFocus that reads incoming emails to you, or a Mustang that makes dinner suggestions as you cruise PCH at dusk. It appears to Your Humble Blogger that wireless Internet connectivity will open up your iFord to all manner of advertising and assorted come-ons. Perhaps you'll have pop-up ads projected onto your windshield, complete with directions on how to get to the store or whatever. If the car senses you've been on the road for a while, maybe you'll get a virtual coupon for $2 off at the nearest Denny's. Or maybe the gas station five miles up the interstate will lure you in with a free cup of coffee. MC101 students suggested that cars will eventually fall victim to viruses, and wrench-twirling mechanics will be out of their depth trying to restore your car's operating system and apps.

This Medianote is based upon a Los Angeles Times article.

EXTRA: Scholarship Opportunity

Your Humble Blogger got this in his email today. It sounds like something that a slick-writing, university-bound MC101 student would be interested in. If you're interested, contact GCC's Scholarship Director, Susan Borquez-Doutherty by phone at 818.240.1000 x5591 or by email at susand@glendale.edu.

Date: Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:38:42
To:
Subject: [gcc] Another great scholarship opportunity-involves essay.

$1000 Scholarship!!!

Happy New Year!!! Second notice. Please pass this great opportunity
for $1000 scholarship to our students.. so far, I have no
applicants. The application is due to me by 1/20/09. Thanks much, Susan

Hi all: We have been getting notification of many outside
scholarship opportunities that have a significant award. These
require their own application and/or essay so I feel it's important
to pass it on to all of you because you are the best source of
students who might be interested. Here's another great
opportunity. Please encourage students who are skilled at writing to
apply. Please let me know if you have an interested student and I
can work with them. Thanks, Susan

>The Community College Baccalaureate Association (CCBA) is announcing
>its 6th Annual Student Essay Contest. The CCBA's website, located
>online at www.accbd.org, has been updated to include the 2009 essay
>topic, new contest rules, and entry information. This year, the CCBA
>is encouraging early entries.
> The winner of the essay contest will receive $1,000 and
> an all expense paid trip to the Sixth Annual Community College
> Baccalaureate Association Conference in Reno-Tahoe, Nevada from
> March 13-15, 2009. $1,000 will also be awarded to the Student
> Government Association of the winner's college.
> The essay topic for 2009 is "Why obtaining a four year
> degree on my community college campus would be important to me."
> Students who enter the contest should explore the issues of
> baccalaureate degrees on community college campuses in their essays.
> Baccalaureate degrees are now offered on community
> college campuses throughout the United States and Canada through
> University Centers, 2+2 programs, and Distance Learning. Community
> colleges in fourteen states and three Canadian provinces currently
> confer the degrees themselves. The CCBA is conducting the contest
> to determine what students think about community colleges offering
> baccalaureate (four-year) degrees. Any student currently enrolled
> in a community college is eligible, and there is no limit to the
> number of students per school that may enter.
> Contest entries must be postmarked by February 5, 2009
> and mailed to Dr. Beth Hagan, Community College Baccalaureate
> Association, P. O. Box 60210, Ft. Myers, FL 33906, or emailed by
> midnight February 5, 2009 to
> BHagan7@aol.com. The winner will be
> notified no later than February 10th.
> CCBA strives to promote better access to the
> baccalaureate degree on community college campuses, and to serve as
> a resource for information on various models for accomplishing this
> purpose. For more information, go online to
> www.accbd.org.

Joining the Mob

On Wednesday afternoon at 2 Your Humble Blogger will call together his very first Flash Mob in the stands of Sartoris Stadium on the south end of the campus. Flash Mobs bring people together suddenly, unpredictably, an sometimes whimsically through the use of online communications. A slightly newer version is the Smart Mob, which is often more political in nature and is more likely to use wireless media. Wednesday's experimental mob is being organized mostly through Twitter.

Discussion of Flash Mobs and Smart Mobs, what they are and what we can do with them, will be Thursday's Medianote.

Is 'Avatar' a Lefty Screed?

Audiences apparently love the new 3-D blockbuster "Avatar," but conservative commentators see it as the latest in a long line of left-leaning Hollywood movies that bash the military, glorify environmentalism and ignore religion.

Have they got a point? And what impact do movies have on politics and society?

This Medianote is based on Patrick Goldstein's recent commentary in the Los Angeles Times.

Ads and Adds...

Opening Day in Mass Comm 101, Winter 2010 semester. Students were sitting, standing, and spilling out into the hall.

It's been quite a week already with half the Glendale College student body trying to add Mass Comm 101 and the other classes that have survived the brutal cuts brought on by the California budget crisis. Oh well, on to the first Medianote of the semester...

CBS, this year's Super Bowl network, is finding that big advertisers are lining up, more or less, to pay up to $3 million for 30 seconds during the big game on Feb. 7. The exceptions are PepsiCo, a long-time advertiser that has decided to focus more on online ads, and the bailed-out American car companies, GM and Chrysler. It just wouldn't be good politics to be seen tossing millions and millions into adds when they are living off of taxpayer bailouts.

This Medianote is from a Los Angeles Times story published on Jan. 4.