The Do-Over Law

GCC students "streak" near the Administration Building, March 1974. "Streaking," running in the nude through public places, was a brief fad. Imagine how many streaking photos would exist today if smart phones had existed in the 1970s.

Post a really unfortunate selfie? Write something online that reflects badly on your character, or even your sanity?

Doing rash, ill-considered things is part of being young. And until recently, young people could do ill-advised things and they would eventually be forgotten about. Now every angry, drunken or just plain dumb thing a young person posts about him or herself can be posted on the Internet for all to see, forever.

California is trying to do something about this. Gov. Jerry Brown just signed what is being called the "eraser law." It allows young adults, under certain circumstances, to erase ill-advised comments and photos that they may have posted as minors. Reuters reports.

Questions...

•What do you think of this law?

•Should it be expanded to adults?

•How might an unfortunate post hurt you?

•Is this law enforceable?

Pixel Perfect Partners

This medianote was presented only to TTh classes.

Think online dating is new? Thank again. According to National Public Radio, it dates back to the telegraph era, when romance flourished in Morse Code.

Questions...

•Who do you know who has tried online dating? What is their experience?

•What are the advantages to finding romance in an anonymous setting?

•Is online dating more appealing to a 20-year-old living in a small town, or for a 20-year-old living on a big university campus?

•Any new trends that you know of in online dating?

Big Glendale Is Watching

The Glendale Unified School District (which DOES NOT include GCC) has hired a company to monitor social media posts by local high school students in an attempt to crack down on cyber bullying and other abusive messages. The company monitors only messages that can be viewed by the public, but some wonder if the school district is overstepping its authority. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•Is the Glendale Unified School District doing the right thing here? Why or why not?

•Is it an invasion of privacy if only publicly-available messages are monitored?

•Should a student be punished for bullying or other offensive comments made outside of school?

•Would it be permissible for the school district to inform parents if their children are making bullying or otherwise offensive comments? What if they are making possibly suicidal comments?

•What do you think of the list of issues the monitoring company looks for? Are there any you would add? Are there any you would delete?

Winter Intersession, 2014

Glendale College will have a Winter Intersession starting in January 2014. There will be approximately the same number of courses as in Summer 2013. Details will be available soon on the college website.

Future of Glass Isn't Clear

Google Glass is one of the most anticipated, revolutionary, unsettling and geeky high-tech devices to hit the consumer market since, well, forever. Do we really want to live in a world where we can just look at someone and learn everything there is to know about them? And, of course, others will do the same to us. Or is Glass just undeniably cool? The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•What do you think about Glass?

•Do you foresee a Glass backlash?

•Will Glass Destroy personal Privacy?

•How is the distribution plan for Glass an example of microanalytic functional analysis?

And, just for fun, we have a Poll Everywhere poll.

Is TV a Dying Medium?

Broadcast networks are losing market share. Cable providers are losing customers. And growing numbers of mostly young people are "cutting the cord" by not having a cable or satellite provider. Is the TV business in irreversible decline? The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•Is TV a slowly dying medium?

•Has anyone here cut the cord?

•What do you think TV will be like in 10 years?

Googling the Globe

Google is a company with big ideas, and one with the brainpower and money to turn those ideas into reality.

The company's PhotoSphere Initiative seeks to photograph and otherwise document the entire Earth. And we're being asked to help. The Los Angeles Times reports.

Questions...

•What are your reactions to this project? What are its positive and negative effects?

•What limits would you put on these photos to maintain privacy?

•What places in the world would you like to see photos of on Google?

•How might these photos be misused?

LA Times Field Trip, Sept. 25

UPDATE: BOTH LA TIMES TOURS ARE FULL. Only students who were able to select a tour time will be allowed credit for their LA Times tour.

Friday Flix

Media Arts Professor Mike Petros has released the list of films he will screen this semester as part of his ongoing "Friday Flix" series. MC101 students can go to any ONE of the Friday Flix screenings this semester for extra credit.

FRIDAY FLIX SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2013
September 6 – The Goonies (1985)
13 – NO MOVIE – FACULTY INSTITUTE
20 – Lawrence of Arabia, Part 1 (1962)
27 – Lawrence of Arabia, Part 2 (1962)

October 4 – Breathless (1961)
11 -- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
18 – O Brother, Where Art Thou?
(2000) 25 – Alien (1979)

November 1– Time Bandits (1981)
8 – The Big Trail (1930)
15 – American Beauty (1999)
22 – JFK (1991)
29 – THANKSGIVING – NO FILM

December 6 – Animation Extravaganza!

Friday Flix Screenings start at 12:30 on Fridays in SG334 unless otherwise noted.

Is News Just Another Reality Show?

China is rapidly modernizing. This is undoubtedly good for the economic well-being of many, and it also has led to rapid cultural changes. One of those cultural changes is how the Chinese news media is showing a decidedly Western tendency to spotlight whatever (and whoever) is flashy and outrageous, but not necessarily important.

National Public Radio recently ran a story on the changing tastes of China's news media. This will be the springboard to our first MediaNote discussion of the Fall 2013 semester.

Questions...

•What is news and why does it matter?

•Does news in the U.S. do anything besides entertain people? If so, what else does it do?

•Why not publish or broadcast just serious, important news stories? What would likely happen to that news organization?

•Do any of the silly or seemingly trivial stories mentioned in the NPR piece make a serious point? If so, what?

Welcome Fall 2013 MC101 Students

Club MediaNote is your class blog. MediaNotes--in class presentations of current events pertaining to developments in mass media--will be presented here, along with other information.

It has come to Your Humble Blogger's attention that students are having trouble getting to campus because of traffic, parking and other automobile-related problems. Please note that the Glendale College campus is served by Metro lines 90 and 91 and by Glendale Beeline routes 3 and 7. The college also has bike racks in several locations.

Fall 2013 Supplemental Instruction

Mass Comm 101 includes weekly Supplemental Instruction (SI) study sessions. SI is optional and extra credit. Students receive two points of extra credit for each MC101 SI session attended.

Beginning on Sept. 10, SI will be each Tuesday, 1:30 - 2:30 PM in SR 115. Your SI Leader is Mike Arvizu.

Here is the link for the Fall 2013 SI Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fall13gccmc101si.

Moodle Orientation

Mass Comm 101 has a modest presence on Moodle. Lecture PowerPoints, the syllabus and a few other things are there.

If you are unfamiliar with Moodle, orientation sessions are being offered...

Moodle Student Orientations

9/4/13
Wednesday
1:00pm-2:00pm
SG137

9/5/13
Thursday
9:00am-10:00am
SG137

9/6/13
Friday
12:30pm-1:30pm
SG137

9/9/13
Monday
12:30pm-1:30pm
SG137

9/10/13
Tuesday
4:00pm-5:00pm
SG137

9/11/13
Wednesday
5:00pm-6:00pm
SG137

9/12/13
Thursday
10:00am-11:00am
SG137

9/13/13
Friday
12:30pm-1:30pm
SG1

If you attend a Moodle orientation, bring me your completion certificate.