Media Representations

Media Representations of Valentine's Day (Laura A)

I used flip.com to create this project. The site is a lot like powerpoint but with some wicked backgrounds and graphics. It's like scrapbooking for techies. The only downfall is that you have to have a login to see other flipbooks....so after spending a ridiculous amount of time on this, I realized that not a whole lot of people will actually see it. However....I just now found a way to get you to it so....My advice...check it out... :)

http://www.flip.com/people/flipbooks/397065?mbid=fbflip

Media Representations of Farmers ( By Kelly Kay Rudh )

This document below is a Youtube project I put together that shows how farmers are being represented in the media; note that there is a highly international focus.

Farmers Youtube Blog

Media representations of Male and Female Athletes (by Matthew Streit)

The document below is a Word collage I compiled of images of today's male and female athletes.

athlete representation.doc

I also did an analysis of these images and a You-Tube video analysis of these (mis)representations on my blog.

Media Representations of Obesity (by Kim Aulds)

I researched media representations of teen obesity and blogged my findings here.

This is the Youtube blog about teen obesity: I wrote about the videos I discovered while researching that phenomenon and possible ways to integrate the clips into a classroom.

Veterans in the Media (by Lisa Holton)

I investigated various images of veterans created by the media and posted an analysis here on my blog page.

Following up on this concept, I considered how various media is created under the "Support Our Troops" message and how that plays out on YouTube. My analysis including YouTube clips is posted here on my blog.

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Media Representation Assignment: Identifying a Media Target and Analysis of Choice

Jeff Blanchard - Fall 2009

My teaching assignment idea for Media Representation is essentially the same as what I did with my own Voicethread project. Students can do this assignment either individually or in groups. Have the student(s) identify a specific industry or product set. Have them find several advertisements for products in that set/industry, as represented in any sect of media (TV, magazines, radio, etc.). Using these advertisements, have the student(s) identify who the target market for that/those product(s) is/are, disclose what led to that conclusion, and then analyze the methods used in each advertisement to increase their appeal to their market. Also have them look for common occurrences between the ads (what idea of representation is thematic through them all, etc.). have each student/group share with the class and analyze similarities/differences between all students' findings.

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Media Representation Assignment

by Brien Kelly

I really like the idea of using Voicethread for this assignment, not only for the fact that students can add audio commentary or text to an image, but because the entire class can add their individual analyses to a single video / slideshow. I would start my assignment by showing some television commercials and print advertisements. I would then ask specific questions about each one: Who is the target? Methods used to reach target? Is it successful? Ethical? Why or why not? Then, I would have students log into Voicethread and, using my questions as a guideline, individually comment on a series of advertisements that I had assembled. After doing this, we would come together as a class and watch / discuss the Voicethread compilation.

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Media Representation Assignment - Adam Reich

As noted in the book, media representations of political figures are a very important part of modern day American democracy. The way the media has represented President Obama has drastically differed from the way the have dealt with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. As part of Civics or US History class, students could use simple web searches to see how each of these important political figures has been represented by the media. This will bring in issues ranging from the "liberal media" to race. Students can work in groups or individually to assess how the media as a whole has treated these different figures. As a tie on, students could analyze the way media has changed since President Clinton was elected all the way back in 1992. This will tie in the role that new technologies are playing in politics and media.

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Jane's--(Brien, you and I were thinking alike. As they say, great minds think alike. Either that, or simply minds....but I prefer to think great!!) I think this voicethread program is super cool--and it's even better that it's free! I like that it allows students to do text (like I did) or verbal comments, based on what they are more comfortable with. I could totally see myself using voicethreads with students to have them analyze print ads. Students could think about authorial intent, intended audience, what is literally stated vs. what is implied, whether or not the ad is successful (do you want to buy the product?), how they personally respond to the ad, whether or not they think the ad demonstates any particular critical lens, the ethical implications of such an ad, etc. Students and teacher could discuss these questions in advance and apply them to several examples during class. They students could work on a voicethread that allows their individual voices and ideas to be heard. It's awesome that this program allows students to comments of eachtohers projects and create an ongoing "dialogue." I think it is important for students to feel like the audience for their school work extends beyond just the teacher; this program them to not only think critically and "read" various images, but it also invites dialogue and reaches out to and extended audience of fellow classmates and others.

Laura Hammond: Using voicethread in the classroom would be a beneficial tool in a lesson about media representation about a particular people. In my example, I used the representation of mothers in television programs. It is an effective means to help students explore a particular topic in depth. As it voicethread is interactive and engaging, students would enjoy the academic activity more so than simply creating an essay or poster. I like that ability to doodle over the images as well as textually or vocally respond to the images. Using voicethread in an ethnography unit might be really interesting to see how students could broaden their knowledge of a group of people and, equally important, share this knowledge with their peers.

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Miriam's media representation activity (I also did one using Voicethread!):

Choose one group or concept with which you identify (e.g. male, student, Buddhist, cheerleader, waiter, etc. etc.). Find an assortment of visual representations of this group from a variety of sources, including fictional and non-fictional portrayals. Develop two different Voicethread presentations using the images you find, with two different arguments about what the representations show. For example, you could create one presentation arguing that mothers are generally portrayed as happy, unflappable "super-moms"; and a second presentation arguing that mothers are portrayed as harried, flustered, overwhelmed professionals. The purpose of this assignment is to increase your awareness of the messages conveyed by media representations, and also to alert you to how selective or subjective analysis can be used to manipulate findings.

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Meredith's Media Representation Activity:

I think you could have students analyze media representations by looking at the types of advertisements in magazines. You could start by taking different ads out of specific magazines and stock-piling the ads from each magazine in a numbered stack. You could put the students in groups and assign each group a stack. The groups would be asked to analyze the different ads and come up with a target audience for their selection of images. Then they could try and guess which from which magazine their images were pulled. As a group they could present their findings to the class--who their audience is-- and what their prediction is for the magazine the images appeared in. I think this would be a great way to illustrate the power of marketing and the differences in marketing strategies. This would be a fun way to have them thinking about media representation in an engaging way.

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Sarah Rose, Media Representation Performance Assessment

I also think that using a program like VoiceThread or iMovie would be a great way to teach media representations in an English classroom. Following a lesson on media representations of different groups and a discussion of stereotyping, I would have the student do the following performance assessment: Work with a partner to make an advertisement for a product. Advertise the product to the best of your ability using rhetoric and language that you think will appeal to your audience. Here's the catch: do not use stereotypes. Then I would like you post a picture of your image/collage/advertisement on VoiceThread and discuss the process of making this ad on VoiceThread with your partner. Was this easy to do? Difficult? Why do you think so? Do you think your advertisement will be effective? Why or why not? I would hope that this assignment would elicit some conversations about archetypes versus stereotypes and the representative nature of most types of media.

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Critical Analysis of Media Representations

By Elisabeth C.

VoiceThread is an excellent tool for students to be able to critique media representations of advertisements and photographs. I think it would be a productive activity to have students analyze media representations of those with disabilities or other medical conditions, such as dwarfism. I think there is a severe lack of representation in the media of people with disabilities, and it would be interesting to see how those few representations that exist are either demeaning or empowering. I would have students look at magazine ads, commercials, TV shows, movies, and books to see how people, actors, or characters with disabilities are depicted. Then I would ask them to create a VoiceThread project or a VideoAnt project (depending on whether they wanted to use still images or clips from movies and TV shows) analyzing the media’s representation of those with disabilities. I would then ask them to watch two other students’ projects and respond to their analysis.

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John Byrnes' Media Representation Activity

Using either student selected Youtube copies of contemporary advertisement, or newspaper ads in whatever newspaper the school gets, I would have students begin to not only talk about who is represented within the advertisements in these given ads, but I would also have them begin to reflect on who this ad is meant to speak to. I think students are aware of advertisements actively selling images as well as products, but it would do them some good to reflect. After doing reflection in class, I would have students use some of the methods of representation that they found in their advertisements to create 10-15 second commercials in iMovie. The movies would have to be class appropriate, but they would pair them with a paragraph explanation of how the given representations they use are going to "sell" their given project and image to a given audience.

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Media Representation (Peter Ilten)

For a teaching activity in media representation, I love the idea of assigning a different cultural stereotype to small groups. Each small group would be assigned “femininity,” “masculinity,” “elderly people,” or “socie-economic status.” Specifically, the groups would be looking for these in online advertisements. In these groups, they would search online for different images and representations, both of pictorial online ads, and video ads. Using Voicethread, each student would be responsible for their own set of comments on the whole project. An application like voicethread holds each student accountable for their portion of the work. It provides an incentive both through the ability to play around with technology and through individual accountability. I would then have a “viewing” day in which we watched each groups presentation on the screen. This way, it provides a welcome break to the students who do not like speaking in front of class, even when they have something good to say.

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Media Representation Activity (Jacob Westrum)

Directions: in groups of three look at an ad, each group gets a different ad. Brainstorm three underlying messages being given. Example, "buying this product will make me look like a supermodel".
--- Obviously, this activity can be done with a variety of ad-types, not just beer. I simply chose beer because of how horrifyingly idiotic they are compared to the monopolistic nonsense they're actually selling.

Second part of the activity: share with the large group what three BIG messages you found. As a large group, we look at the trends. What messages are most common? What does this say about us as consumers? Final part of the activity: a simple product search. How well do these products sell. How much of this success can we attribute to the ads? What does it say about US as consumers (again) if we're willing to pay for a mediocre product?

link to the full monty on my blog.

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A classroom activity for students to learn about media representations

by Zach Nyhus

Most young people have access to magazines and newspapers containing advertisements. I would instruct them to pick a social demograph (i.e. children, seniors, the poor, immigrants, the wealthy, etc.) and find three different examples of that demograph being portrayed in advertisements or other print media. (If print media is unavailable, the internet may be used...) The student must write a paragraph description for each of their three examples, explaining how the image is intended to portray the individual, whether or not the image is successful with that intention, and why. I would choose some of the best examples and share them with the class in a group discussion format.

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Media Portrayals of College Life by Emily Meyer

This year I have mostly 12^th grade students, and it would be interesting to have them look at how the media portrays college life.

-According to what you’ve seen on TV and in movies, how do college students spend their time? How much of that time is spent on academics? What types of people are there?

-What larger issues might these media images ignore?

-Talk to someone who’s in college or a recent graduate. What does that person say about the reality of college life?

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Retouched: A Look at Photoshopping Images in Advertising (Activity) by Jack Nilles

This activity gets students thinking about the reality of the images they see in advertising and questioning what altering an advertisement does to one's interpretation of what an advertisement is "saying."

Ensure that each student has computer and Internet access and have them log on to Glenn Feron's portfolio website: http://www.glennferon.com/portfolio1/ . When one clicks on any of the images presented, they are shown a larger picture of the image. If one then scrolls his or her cursor over the larger picture, one sees the unaltered image in its original form. Have the students write a paragraph appraisal for three images presented on Glenn Feron's website (one paragraph per image) in which they discuss what altering the photograph for an advertisement does to the viewer's interpretation of the advertisement, what the picture is trying to sell, and what ideology is being sold.

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Before, During, and After: How many messages are music videos sending our children?? Activity by Leigh Kelner

I am interested in students’ ideas and opinions concerning pop culture and music videos. There are so many different mediums that are representing in music: the artist is conveying one message through their personal image and appearance, their song lyrics are giving another message to listeners, and then a music video is often times a completely different message than that which is conveyed in the lyrics. I think it would be interesting to make students take a sheet of paper and instruct them to draw two vertical lines on the sheet (so that there are three columns). To begin, I would tell them very briefly about a music video that I am going to show them (only giving them the name of the artist/band and the name of the song). It might even be interesting to give them a sheet with the lyrics printed out so they can see it just as text. Then, based on just that information, I want the students to make assumptions about what they think the video will show/be about. If some of them have already seen the video, I will instruct them to recall what they can about it from memory. These assumptions will be made in the far left-hand column. Then, I will show them the music video, telling them to note and write down any themes they see or think are significant and anything that strikes them as important. These observations will go in the middle column. Finally, we will have a discussion about everyone’s beginning assumptions in comparison to what they noticed while watching the music video. After we have an opportunity to discuss as a group the mixed messages being sent (and what they mean in terms of discourse), I will have the students watch the video one more time. These observations will go in the far right corner and will hopefully help them think about the video more critically and what the images, lyrics, and artist they are seeing are trying to convey or sell to them. As an example, Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time” would be an excellent example of an artist, song, and music video that are all sending different messages.

Here is the link to "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears!

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Teaching students about class/race representations in the news by Megan Gorvin

To teach students about the media representations of class, I would assign students to watch news shows, such as their local evening news, FOX news, CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, BBC news, etc. Each student must watch some kind of news for at least ½ hour. While watching, students should keep track or make a list of who the news stories are about and the ethnicity and class of these people: what is the race/class of the people committing crimes, winning an award, making a difference in the community? In class, students will then compare their lists, discuss them, and see if they can find any common themes and any similarities in the ways the people in the news were presented. After this, students will be asked to think about any stereotypes that they are familiar with and compare them to the themes they found in the news. They will be asked to think about and discuss how the stereotypes are supported by the representations of these people in the news and how the news might have been skewed in ways that work to support or reinforce these stereotypes.

What do the cool people drive? by Dan Thompson

Purpose: This activity asks students to analyze automobile ads for as many decades as the teacher can find (either TV commercials or print ads) to appreciate what has changed in how the media represent automobiles - and hopefully why it has changed.

Process: Present students with a number of ads from different decades. Ask them what kinds of vehicles are prized and what aspects of them are emphasized. Is it horsepower? Efficiency? Size? Cup holders?

This could lead to a discussion about whether car ads reflect or suggest what we value in them and what value we place on our vehicles. What will the next generation of automobile ads say? Why will they say that?

Time: Class period
Age: High school

This activity is also to be found on my blog, A Lost Scotsman

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What are stereotypes and where do they come from? by Brittany Stahlman

This activity is meant to get students thinking about stereotypes and how we passively accept them. This can work for any media representation, but I will use moms for my activity. I will tell each student to draw a picture of a mom; they won't have to put their name on it so it will stay anonymous. They will crumple up these pictures and toss them in a pile on the floor or into a hat if the students go too crazy throwing paper. The teacher will then unfold each drawing and make a list of the attributes on the picture. For example, if the mother is wearing a skirt, the teacher will write skirt on the board and put a tally mark beneath it. If another picture has the mother wearing a skirt, the teacher will put another tally mark there. The teacher can do this with as many or as few categories as she wishes. At the end of this assignment, there will most likely be a lot of tally marks in a category. The teacher will then ask students to think of the mothers they know and think about whether they fit into this category or not. The teacher will then ask where these stereotypical images appear. The students will then free write about the differences and similarities between real mothers and media-created mothers.

MediaRepresentations

A classroom activity for students to learn about media representations

by Zach Nyhus