Life as a Game

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to Mass Comm 101 students in June 2018.

Your little brother says, "I can stop anytime I want," as he plays his online game all night and misses school the next day. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially categorized Gaming Addiction in the International Classification of Diseases. Gaming Addiction has officially been identified as a psychological addiction similar to Compulsive Gambling. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do you know anyone who might be a video game addict? What do they do that seems so addictive?

•Do smartphones make the problem better, worse, or make no difference?

•What steps would you take to make sure your child is not socially isolated and is engaged with the physical world?

Check This!

Despite not having staff writers or an editorial page, Twitter often finds itself at the middle of some whopping free speech arguments. In April, it tried to crack down on false or misleading information about the Coronavirus by fact-checking dubious posts. And recently, it has fact-checked dubious claims in Tweets made by President Trump. Mr. Trump has reacted in characteristic fashion. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What exactly did Twitter do in response to Mr. Trump's Tweet about voting by mail?

•What has Mr. Trump vowed to do in response to Twitter's action?

•What is a larger reason why Twitter has acted now, in May 2020?

Privacy in Public in Europe?

The following is a MediaNote Classic. This MediaNote was originally presented to MC101 classes in Summer 2018.

In general, Europeans protect their personal privacy a bit more than Americans do. The latest example of this is a European Union law that gives people the right to not have their image posted online if they don't want it posted. This means, for example, that if your sister takes a picture of you in front of the former Berlin Wall and posts it on Facebook, a local person identifiable in the background of the photo can demand that it be removed. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What do you think of this law?

•Should photos have free speech protection? Why or why not?

•Could this law have an impact on photojournalism?

•In the US, people who get photographed in public cannot claim a right to privacy. Journalists are free to photograph things that are newsworthy. People whose likeness is used for profit--your face is on a can of soup, for example--can sue if they have not agreed to have their likeness used. What do you think of this?

•In the example above, how can you deal with the EU citizen who doesn't want to be in your tourist photo?

Hate and the Coronavirus

These are strange, unsettling, relatively unstable times. Children and teens aren't in school, or even at the playground. They're at home in front of a computer, where they can be exposed to extreme ideas. NPR reports about how White supremacist and other hate groups are using the current Covid crisis to present their ideas to young people.

Questions...

•Why are kids and teens "a captive audience"?

•What forms of hate are being presented?

•What can parents (or older brothers or sisters) do?

How Hate Spreads

There are probably more ideas floating around our society than ever before. This isn't always a good thing. The Internet has been identified as a prime place where extreme ideas--some of them potentially violent--spread. Adolescent boys are often being targeted for exposure to these ideas. NPR reports.

Questions...

•When was the first time you were confronted with hateful or otherwise dangerous material on the internet? How old were you?

•Have you experienced recommendations that are more and more extreme?

•"Neurodivergent" boys and men with career or relationship setbacks are particularly likely to receive these hate messages. What can they do to keep themselves from going off the deep end? What can we do to help them from doing that?

•Is this a serious problem? What will you do as a parent to make sure your children are not affected by extreme ideas on the Internet?

The Digital Divide

The Digital Divide is a classic story of haves vs. have-nots. Except in this case it is not access to nutritious food, clean drinking water or safe neighborhoods. It is about access to digital devices and the Internet. The theory is that growing up on the wrong side of the digital divide can harm your present and future life in significant ways ... access to education, for example.

This report is from WUNC, the NPR station at the University of North Carolina.

Questions...

•Why did the college student featured in the story spend an unusual amount of time in a local McDonalds parking lot?

•Why do around 20 million Americans lack access to broadband Internet?

•How did the federal government help rural America from falling behind the rest of the country in the 1930s?

New Stage for Movies

If you are a moviemaker, you probably dream of the big movie premiere, followed by audiences flocking to theaters nationwide. Well, all of that has changed for the time being. This NPR story tells what Universal is doing with its next few movie releases.

Questions...

•What is the strategy for releasing movies when no movie theaters are open?

•Why don't studios usually make movies available for streaming right away?

•Is this change expected to be permanent?

Did Gillette Cut Itself?

The following is a MediaNote Classic. This MediaNote was originally shown to students in January 2019.

Gillette razor blades have been associated with men and masculinity for as long as this blogger can remember. So--in light of the #Metoo Movement--it makes sense that the Boston-based company has given some thought to how men are portrayed in their ads. The result was this video. NPR reports on the backlash among some men.

Questions...

•What do you think of the message in this video?

•Are you surprised that the video has more dislikes than likes on YouTube? Do you think that means that most men are offended by it?

•Do you think this ad and controversy helps or harms the Gillette brand in the years ahead?

•What type of man should Gillette portray in their ads?

The Times Are a Changin'

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in June 2018.

This is a tough time to own a major daily newspaper. The Los Angeles Times--largely due to poor management under its previous owner--has suffered more than most. With a new owner and a new 21st Century newsroom, the Times is ready to reinvent itself. NPR reports.

Questions...

•What should a newspaper do, whether on paper or online? (what is its function)

•What things about a major metro paper (like the Times) should not be changed?

•What things SHOULD be changed?

•What insights might an immigrant to Southern California have that a native might not have?

•How can the Times be more relevant to young adults like you?

Alexa Is Listening

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently addressed the United Nations. Those in attendance thought he was going to speak about Brexit. Instead, he delivered a remarkable (and entertaining) speech about how the Internet and related digital technology is leading us toward a potentially terrifying future. We will watch the first 6:11 of the speech from The Sun, a London newspaper. Questions...

•Is this speech brilliant or bonkers? Why?

•Is it true that the human race is losing control in the digital age? In what ways might digital technology make our lives worse?

•What does PM Johnson mean when he says you can keep secrets from your family or doctor, but it's very hard to keep secrets from Google?

•What is your reaction to the statement that "data is the crude oil of the modern economy?" How is your data being harvested for profit on a daily basis?

•How do you feel about the "Internet of Things" (everyday items that have a connection to the internet)?

•What can we do to make sure that PM Johnson's worst predictions do not come true?

F for Fake

Near the end of his legendary filmmaking career, Orson Welles made a movie titled "F for Fake." It was about several instances of fraud that were so convincing that it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. It was a very confusing movie. Today, deep fake technology may make figuring out what is real harder than even Welles might have imagined. And what impact could that have on our upcoming elections? NPR reports...

Questions...

•Have you ever seen a deep fake video? What was it?

•Describe a Deep Fake that could cause Mr. Trump or Sen. Warren or some other top political figure to lose votes?

•What Deep Fake could make the divisions between men and women, gays and straights, whites and people of color worse?

•What can average people like us do to make sure (or be as sure as possible) that something is true?

Screens Great and Small

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in October 2017.

Academic researchers have done a tremendous amount of research over the potential damage that can be done to children if they are allowed to watch too much television. But what about children (8 or younger) who spend a lot a time online? NPR reports.

Questions...

•Which do you feel is worse: letting small children watch a lot of TV, or spend a lot of time online? Does anyone want to make the case that a lot of screen time is beneficial to small children?

•Which is more addicting: TV or the Internet? Why?

•Which is a better teacher: TV or the Internet? Why?

•Under what conditions would you allow an 8-year-old go online?

Here's the Pitch...

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in January 2017.

Your Aunt Mabel is holding a Tupperware Party. Friends, neighbors and relatives will assemble in the living room, relax over a bit of food and drink, and hopefully buy some Tupperware. It's a sales job, but it is also from someone you know. So you go and you buy.

The online version of this is the "Influencer." Influencers may post about a way of life or a product, but they're trying to sell you something. And tech-savvy young adults are more likely than most to be Influencers. NPR reports.

Questions...

•How do Influencers fit in with Paul Lazerfeld's 1940 People's Choice Study?

•According to the Indirect Effects Model, will the effects of an Influencer's message be predictable and uniform across the population seeing or hearing the message?

•Under the Transmission Model (SMCR), name the Sender, Message, Channel, and Receiver for the student Influencer in the story?

•In your estimation, are Influencers a passing fad, or are they here to stay? Why?

Forget This!

This is a Medianote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in September 2015.

There is an amazingly unfortunate video of you going around the Internet. Should it be allowed to haunt you forever, or can search engines and social media sites be forced to take that video down. Large online companies like Google and Facebook are running into conflicts over the European idea of "The Right to be Forgotten." NPR reports.

Questions...

•In Germany, once a law-breaker has paid his or her debt to society, record of the criminal conviction is erased from the public record. What do you think of this concept?

•Should public figures (politicians, celebrities and other famous people) have the right to be forgotten, or should this only be for regular people?

•What other types of problems with content on their sites do multinational Internet companies run into?

•Should the right to be forgotten be extended to the U.S.?

•Are there any practical problems with "The Right to be Forgotten" on the Internet?

Window on the World or Terrorist Tool?

The mass shootings that killed 49 people in two New Zealand mosques were livestreamed for 17 minutes on Facebook. The social media company took down the video, but by then it had gone viral. Obviously, the role of Facebook Live and other forms of livestreaming will come under close examination. NPR reports...

Questions...

•What are the ways livestreaming can be used for good? What are the ways it can be used for evil?

•On balance, does livestreaming benefit the larger society or harm it?

•Does the First Amendment apply in this case? How much or how little?

•Should livestreaming have a delay, as with live callers to radio shows.

•Would international internet standards be a good idea or a bad idea?

My Refrigerator Is Squealing on Me!

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in March 2018.

Your Humble Blogger recently purchased a GPS device for his bicycle. With it, he can not only record data and maps of his rides, he can also download data and maps of other people's rides. However, he began getting emails stating that he has turned in the 26th fastest climb on this hill or the 105th quickest trip along this route. This was a little unsettling since Your Humble Blogger never entered these competitions... but his bike computer did.

This NPR story looks at the privacy implications of smart devices. In light of this, would anyone want a smart bathroom?

Questions...

•Do you want to live in a smart house? Why or why not?

•What could a smart TV do for you? What could it do to you?

•How about a smart refrigerator?

•What smart devices would a life insurance company or a medical insurance company like to get data from?

•What would you like to automate in your house? What things in your house would you like to operate remotely?

Emergency MediaNote!

This MediaNote was presented to the MW class only.br>
Today at 11:18 am a new text-based emergency warning system will be activated. It supplements the emergency broadcast system that we have seen tested on television down through the years. But in these highly polarized times, there is concern from some that this national system could be misused. NPR reports.

Questions...

•For what sort of situations would the federal government need to send an emergency text message to everyone's phone?

•How might these emergency messages be particularly important to Californians?

•Should citizens have the right to opt out of receiving these messages? Why or why not?

•Are you concerned that President Trump or future presidents will misuse this system? What kind of misuse could you imagine?

NOTE: Glendale College has a text-based warning system called Nixle. If you want to sign up for Nixle (or simply know more about it), follow this link for details.

Books: Not Just for Grandpa

The following is a MadiaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 students in September 2014.

One of the annoying things about stereotypes is that they are often provably untrue, but the stereotype endures anyway. One stereotype is that the Millennial Generation (currently ages 16 to 29) don't read books, or at least not to the degree that previous generations did.

Well, it's not true according to a recent Pew Research study. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Do these results surprise you? Why or why not?

•Why do books endure in the face of dazzling interactive media?

•Are books as enjoyable and informative on a Kindle or an iPad as they are on paper?

•Has the Internet done anything to cause book reading to increase or decrease? If so, what?

•What advice would you give to GCC as it transitions to digital textbooks?

Gaming While Female

In the early years of online gaming, players were usually young and male and the games were aggressive. In more recent years, both the user base and game content has diversified. Some feminist critics of the gamer culture feel it is time to include gaming in the #metoo Movement. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Is it harder to be identifiably female online? How are female gamers treated differently than male gamers?

•Is harassment of women a particularly big problem in gaming, or is it just as bad in social media and other online places?

•How are online harassers similar to people like Harvey Weinstein? How are they different?

•What can be done to combat harassment in gaming?

Beware of Online Surveys

It's fun to take an online survey telling you what city you belong in or what Disney Princess you are most like. But before you answer the questions, think about this: Why would someone write the survey? Why would someone write the program to analyze the surveys? And what happens to the answers to your survey once you've found out that you're a dead-ringer for Princess Jasmine and you would be happiest in Boston.

The controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica, Facebook and the Trump Campaign has given us a peek at how personal information is obtained, analyzed and sold. NBC reports.

Questions...

•What is your attitude about taking online surveys? Do you worry about them? Why or why not?

•Has the Cambridge Analytica controversy changed your willingness to take online surveys? Why or why not?

•What information should companies be allowed to collect about you? What should they not be able to collect?