Tasks Due Today from Week 5

  • Review Week 5 Agenda
  • Schedule a Meeting (if we haven’t already met)
  • Revise your Reading Response 3
  • Complete Reading Response 4
  • Submit Week 5 Agenda Checklist

This Week’s Topics

Check-in (15+ min)

Spring 2024 Playlist

Freewrite – The Art of Noticing

Prompt: In your language of choice, write continuously in your notebook for 5 minutes about what you noticed when you donated time to someone else. Don’t edit, or correct, don’t stop, just write. Feel free to share or not.

This week’s task brought to you by Miranda:

Donate Time

[in a study] “those who spent time on others reported feeling like they had more time than those who spent time on themselves.” Why would this be? Helping your neighbor clear out his garage is a self-contained accomplishment – something… that had “a specific, tangible impact.” What time donation could you make?

ART OF NOTICING

Next Week’s Prompt by Andre:

Notice the weirdest thing in the room and ask about it…

Whether you are in someone’s home, office, or business, determine which is the most inexplicable and unlikely object you can see. Then ask, “So what’s the story with that?” Chances are, a memorable tale will follow.

ART OF NOTICING

Meeting request

There are still a few people who haven’t signed up for a meeting. If you haven’t, please sign up for a 15 min remote or in-person meeting. If you are unavailable during the meeting slots, please contact me to find another time.

Schedule a Meeting

Activities

Below, find the information covered in this session. Complete all of the following activities, videos, and assignments.

1. Reading Response #4 Feedback and Discussion (30 min)

Let’s take a closer look at the Reading Response #4 guidelines and our Hypothesis annotations.

This 10-minute video from Cheyenne Cassidy might help us better understand the reading and provides a link between Semiotics and Hall’s Representation Theory:

Stuart Hall Representation Theory Explained – cheyenne cassidy

If you haven’t already, review your colleagues’ responses and add a reply!

Review, revise, and repost your reading response based on feedback/questions and discussions with your peers. If you’d like additional feedback from me or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact me.

2. Concept and Vocabulary Review from Week 5 (30 min)

Let’s review Stuart Hall’s theories we covered last week. And we’ll introduce a couple more in preparation for your Research Essay on the use of stereotype in advertising. You can review all of the terms we’ve covered so far in the Glossary.

Cultivation theory: is a communication and media studies concept that explores how exposure to media messages influences perceptions of reality. Developed by George Gerbner in the 1960s, cultivation theory suggests that prolonged exposure to certain themes and portrayals in media can shape individuals’ beliefs and attitudes about the world.

Framing Theory: refers to the way information is presented (or framed) and the impact it has on shaping public perception. It explores how the framing of messages, such as images and narratives of certain groups of people in the news, influences the way people interpret and understand events or issues.

Stereotypes: are widely circulated oversimplifications of people and groups; a preconceived idea of what a person is like, based on a range of different factors. These factors can involve culture, religion, race, sexual orientation, age, gender, and appearance.

Polysemic: a sign that has multiple meanings

Myth: a widely accepted meaning of a sign

Naturalization: in a society, the repeated use of signs shapes their meaning

Stuart Hall: was a Jamaican-born British sociologist, cultural theorist, and political activist. He looked at the power of mainstream media to understand the representation of race, gender, class, ethnicity, and religion.

Here are some of the theories and terms associated with his work.

  • ReceptionTheory: This theory asserts that advertising and media are encoded and decoded. The creator encodes messages and values into media, which are then decoded by the audience. Audiences will decode the media differently and not always in the way the creator intended.
    • Dominant, or Preferred Reading: how the creator wants the audience to view the advertisement or media.
    • Oppositional Reading: when the audience rejects the preferred reading and creates their own meaning. This can happen when content is controversial, or when the audience holds different beliefs or is of a different age or culture.
    • Negotiated Reading: a compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings. The audience accepts some of the creator’s view, but also has their own views.
  • Representation Theory: There is no true representation of people or events in media. Designers/creators try to ‘fix’ a ‘preferred meaning’ through ideology or stereotyping. Historically, this is driven by people in power.

This 3-minute video breaks down Hall’s Representation Theory:

Stuart Hall’s Representation Theory – Simplified

This 6+ minute video explains Hall’s Reception Theory:

@TheMediaInsider Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory Explained

4. Assignment: Research Essay – Stereotype in Advertising

Follow the assignment guidelines and prompts for Research Essay – Stereotype in Advertising

DUE Wednesday before the next class to allow for feedback.

Week 6 Agenda Checklist

Below are all of the tasks, big and small, for this week. The due date is Wednesday, 11:59 pm before our next Thursday class. Timely completion of these tasks will contribute to your success in this course.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Tasks from the Week 6 Agenda
Name

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