Healthy Choice Café Steamers

Deconstruct this commercial using these questions:

Whose message is this? Who created or paid for it? Why?
The commercial was produced for a food manufacturer that produces the Healthy Choice food line.  The manufacture of Healthy Choice Steamers would be the party paying for the commercial.  The purpose of this commercial is to sell Healthy Choice Steamers.

Who is the “target audience”? What is their age, ethnicity, class, profession, interests, etc.? What words, images or sounds suggest this?
The age of the target audience is mid thirties to older adults.  The target audience from this commercial is white America who are professionals along with older adults that are on a budget but want to stay healthy.  The mother wants to be young again which is not only portrayed by the spoken words but by her clothes and hairstyle.  The daughter states that eating these meals is cheaper than other measures of keeping young.

 What is the “text” of the message? (What we actually see and/or hear: written or spoken words, photos, drawings, logos, design, music, sounds, etc.) The words paint a picture of a mother who does not want to grow old, the daughter gives a positive message about the meals but a negative message about her mother’s desired to stay young.  The male who is eating the meal tells how fresh, crisp and delicious the steamers is.

 What is the “subtext” of the message? (What do you think is the hidden or unstated meaning?)
These steamers are good, healthy, affordable for seniors, a good food choice, and can be enjoyed by young and old.

 What kind of lifestyle is presented? How?
The setting is a modern house that appears to be of a professional family.  This family appears to be a couple in their thirties that do not have children.  I found it funny that only one person was eating giving the impression that these meals are quick and easy when the couple cannot take time to eat together.

 What values are expressed?
Healthy eating is a good thing and will help you when you get old.  It is important to stay young at all costs.  While done in a joking form evident by laughing while speaking but also displayed a lack of respect for the mother and her point of view.

 What tools of persuasion are used? See "The language of persuasion"
Repetition-making reference to the mother’s desire to look younger and also the name of the product
Humor- the whole commercial poked fun at the mothers desire to look young and the daughter talked while laughing
Simple solution- eat the product and be healthier and look younger longer

What positive messages are presented? What negative messages are presented?
Eating healthy is good and leads to a better quality of life in later adult years. Negative messages were the silly mother trying everything to look younger and how the daughter viewed the mother as foolish.

 What groups of people does this message empower? What groups does it disempower? How does this serve the media maker's interests?
It empowers people in their thirties to eat healthy and enjoy better health as you become older.  It disempowers the mother who appeared to be foolish for wanting to look younger.  It serves the food manufacturer by promoting their product as being healthy for all and if older people eat the product they will not have to work so hard to look and feel young.

What part of the story is not being told? How and where could you get more information about the untold stories?
The part of the story not being told is the actual nutritional value of the product?  Is it really a healthy choice?  The need for a lifetime healthy lifestyle not just a steamer is needed to help ensure good health as we grow older.  You could research the nutritional content of the meal and compare it to the recommended daily allowance for Americans.  You could look at the actual package, you could go on the internet and search the RDA website for daily allowances.  You could read reviews written by consumers on taste and value of the product.

week 3 activity 1 & 2

Century Link
The Century Link commercial is a cheerful commercial with a upbeat song.  I like the use of the slinkies to make a familiar connection but also to show how all people are connect.  I did have trouble with the message which was not clear to me and I may have missed the message that Quest has merger with Century Link..  I think the deconstruction was on point but critical.  I did not think that the commercial favored one cultural group over another and made a connection between several different commercials.  I would not make a decision to use Quest services solely based on this commercial.
Alltel
I agree that Alltel's commercial contained  stereotypes of both the middle class family and the Latino men.  I think on the surface the commercial is funny and delivers the message of concerns over high cell phone bills.  After I listened to the deconstruction I could see how it could be offensive to the Latino community.   The men were portrayed as loud uneducated and unsophisticated living with a farm animal and three living in one room while the white family had a beautiful house. I also did not see the disclaimer in the commercial and when the terms of the service was pointed out, the message seemed deceitful and a company I would not trust.  I do not agree with the extent the deconstruction went about the white family.   I think that the message would have been the same if a middle class black family replaced the dad, mother and daughter.

DOUBLE JOURNAL 3

Quote

Over the past quarter century, communication technologies have spawned an explosion of ways in which “text,” both written and electronic, has become part of the out-of-class curriculum. This explosion has outpaced our pedagogy, our curricula and methods of instruction, and the definitions of what it means to be literate in a multimedia society. (One major irony in American education is that no philosophy or pedagogy has been developed to take into account the role of visual representation in instruction, while at the same time increasingly large portions of the education budget are being spent on iconic technologies such as computers, video recorders, and video cameras.) These technologies are much more than electronic envelopes for delivering the old curriculum in a marginally new way(Semali, 2001).

Reflection

I agree that while teachers are encouraged to use these new technologies there is a lacking of how to use them to their best use.  When technologies and multimedia are use just for the sake of meeting a requirement or to use a new toy it is the students who suffer and the teacher misses an opportunity to extend learning.  When media literacy is part of the instruction learning is extended to include a personal analysis of the material and to form a personal view that can be used both in and outside of the classroom.  The students who are given this opportunity have a greater sense of how to form views and the forces that are present to steer their thinking in a particular way.  I believe having good analyzing skills make us more award of information and better citizens.

Source:

Semali, L. (2001, November). Defining new literacies in curricular practice. Reading Online, 5(4). Retrieved from: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=semali1/index.html

In a webpage from the John Hopkins University, School of Education the topic of Visual Literacy and the Classroom was discussed.   This article also agreed that the term literacy does not have a concrete definition and there is much debate on what constitutes literacy there is a driving force behind the debate and that is technology.  This article discuss what this means in the classroom and how the valued skills being able to analysis written and visual message will give the student skills that will be used outside the classroom and be carried over into society and culture.

Riesland, E. (2010). Visual literacy and the classroom. Retrieved from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/literacy/articles/visual-literacy-and-the-classroom/

1. What is meant by the term "new literacies" and give me a concrete example of how it should change teachers' understanding of what it means to literate in the digital age.

“New literacies” seem to have many different meaning but it is generally means the shift from the printed world to the use of technologies, visual messages and multimedia.  I think that it is a great opportunity for teachers to build critical  thinking skills by using multimedia examples to show how they are produced and why they are produced.  Giving a student the chance to analyze and form their own opinion is so important in our society today and if we can give them the skills to interpret what they are watching, reading, listening to or viewing they will have a stepup in the world outside school.

2.In your own words explain what this quote means:

    "In the current historical juncture of democratic decline in the United States, ideals and images have become detached from their anchorage in stable and agreed-upon meaning and associations and are now beginning to assume a reality of their own. The self-referential world of the media is one that splinters, obliterates, peripheralizes, partitions and segments social space, time, knowledge, and subjectivity in order to unify, encompass, entrap, totalize and homogenize them through the meta-form of entertainment. What needs to be addressed is the way in which capitalism is able to secure this cultural and ideological totalization and homogenization through its ability to insinuate itself into social practices and private perceptions through various forms of media knowledges. (p. 196)"           

I think this quote means we are presented messages that are the message that the government, political canaditates, marketing firms and manufactures want us to hear, believe and accept as fact without questioning.

3. What does the lack of critical media literacy in schools create?

It creates a student who accepts the influences of media without being able to know what the underlying message is and how to decide if this is a view or idea they want to accept or reject.

4.  Why is it preposterous to claim an absolute definition of " literacy"?

In the article the author Ladislaus Semali, that while one definition would be developed and agreed upon the rapid development and advances of technology and media would make the definition obsolete before it could be accepted.

5. Why does this author advocate a more critical approach to visual literacy? Do you agree? Why or why not?

The author favors a more critical approach to visual literacy, one that goes beyond the impact that visuals have on individuals. Thus, for me, visual literacy refers to multiple abilities to read, view, understand, evaluate, and interpret visual texts including artifacts, images, drawings, or paintings that represent an event, idea, or emotion(Semali, 2010).  I agree with his view because I think that we all need to skills to interpret and evaluate what we are reading, listening, viewing or watching not only to understand but to develop our own opinions, emotions and ability to accept and use the information or reject it and file it as useless. 

Great lesson learned

In these classes we often talk about how to include media and technology into the educational system.  I had a reality check last week,  I went to Ocean City NJ for a short vacation.  I took my laptop and books and planned to spend time each night working on my classes.  I checked before I booked the condo that it had internet availability and he did.  I thought I had a great plan.  I started to open Blackboard and had some trouble but did get it to open but that was about it.  I found out that this island, which is only 6 miles from Atlantic City which has many uses for internet services and uses much technology, had only one internet provider.  The service was poor at best and then I found out the hotel limits speed to make sure no one person uses to much bandwidth.  I could not get anything done and paying for it now having to play caught-up.  I will never forget that not all students have access to a well working internet.

Article Title: Oil Spill: BP Gulf leak could stain President Obama like Iran Hostage crisis destroyed Jimmy Carter

People	Objects	Activities
President Obama	office	listening

1. Based on what you have observed list three things you might infer from the photograph.

President appears to be listening

President does not seem happy lips are tightly shut and forehead wrinkled.

President is not in a suit or wearing a tie seems casual for such an important event.

2. Read the article title and photo caption.

Activity #3: Reading Photographs: Due Sunday Midnight (10 points) Please read the Double Entry Journal reading before completing this assignment! Then Read the information on the following link: Anatomy of a Photograph Next you will conduct your own photo analysis of the two pictures below. Both of these photos appeared on the same day in two different newspapers after the Gulf Coast oil spill. Photo in the New York Daily News: Tuesday June 15, 2010. Caption: President Barack Obama is briefed on the BP oil spill relief efforts in the Gulf Article Title: Oil Spill: BP Gulf leak could stain President Obama like Iran Hostage crisis destroyed Jimmy Carter

.What questions do the caption and article title raise in your mind?

Where is he being briefed does not appear to be the White House books are in the background but also greenery for outside.

President is in casual dress at a time very important action needs to be taken.

what is he doing wrong that will reflect so negative and is being compared to another bad decision by a president

How could he handle the spill better?

Could anything have been done such as federal inspection help prevent this disaster?

Divide the photo into quadrants and study each section to see what new details become visible. Use the chart below to list people objects and activities in the photograph. 

People	Objects	Activities
group of men		laughing and walking appear to be talking
President Obama	in center	smiling and walking casual dress
American ship	ship deck
	oil rig in left background	seems to working without problems

1. Based on what you have observed list three things you might infer from the photograph.

Appears to be a casual positive time.

Picture takes place on american ship with oil rig in the background.

armed guards on ship

3. What questions do the caption and article title raise in your mind?

Why does the government need to take control of claims?

President taking action to help American citizens affected by spill.

Will the government be in the fight for the long run.

4. Which picture gives you more confidence in the presidents leadership abilities? Why?

I like the picture of the President listening.  He seems concerned that he is getting all the facts.  He appears to be displeased yet still invested in the issue.  He appears serious and forming a plan of action.

5. Do you think the editors of these news papers have a liberal or conservative bias? Why? How could you find out?

I would guess that the New York Daily News would be conservative from the caption and title.  I would think that the washington Post would be more liberal from the story title.  I did look information on both papers and found that the new York Daily News is considered to be more liberal,  The opinion of the Washington Post seems to be less clear with some reporting it to be more conservative while others believe it to be more liberal but most state that it is a miiddle of the road paper that takes on any worthy story.  One thing that I did to staart my research on the papers was to see who owns the paper to judge if they represent a certain group,

Double Journal week 2

We know that 75 percent of American adolescents are online (U.S. Census,2002) and 85 percent of all Internet users expect to find key news information online (Horrigan and Rainie, 2002). Yet “the adolescents of the nineties are more isolated and more unsupervised than other generations”(Hersch, 1998). The tools of visual, media, and information literacy must be taught in school because they will (or won’t) be used at home.

I agree that the American adolescent’s life has a large component of internet usage and they want the information instantly. I also agree that adolescents are often using the internet without supervision and often do not have another person to asked about information presented on the web and since instant information is desired the adolescent often does not have anyone to adk about the information. I believe that it is the responsibility of the education system to demonstrate to today’s students how to evaluate the information being presented. Students should be made aware that there are organizations such as political campaigns that have an agenda to slant media to favor their views. Our students need to be given tools to evaluate the information presented and thus have a chance to form their own views rather than the views the photographer or writer wants them to form. Our country has always been free thinkers and our students deserve the tools and skills to be their own free thinkers.

 I choose this video because it is from the media producer point of view and how they get the viewer to feel emotions by setting the scene to achieve the desired outcome. This video illustrates how much planning and science goes into the making of media. Changing the lighting or angle can change the whole emotion of the situation. I think this video is a good illustration to show students how they can be lead to feel or think and why it is important to know how to analysis what they are viewing. I like the use of popular movies to students to show how small changes change the feeling of the video.

 What is semiotics? Semiotics is the study of how the reading of signs and symbols together communicate complicated ideas in the form of codes (Lester, 2000).

 How can teachers capitalize on students preferred literacy behaviors? Design activities that include the use of media and give students opportunities to design projects using media.

 According to this article why is it important for students to learn to analyze the news media? the article states that students who learn to analyze news media are empowered to form their own opinion and can view themselves as a powerful member of society where they can form views and opinions.

 WV CSO: RLA.O.8.1.9. Summarize explicit and implied information from literary and informational texts to recognize the relationships among the facts, ideas, events and concepts (e.g., names, dates, events, organizational patterns, graphical representations as found in photographs, captions, maps, tables or timelines, textual features including table of contents, headings or side bars).

 Source:Abilock, D. (2003, November/December). A seven-power lens on 21st century literacy. DOI: www.infotoday.com/mmschools

Media literacy: keys to interpreting media messages [Web]. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zoah7WsBOJQ

week 2

Week 2 activity 2 The video talked about different ways political campaigns have used different tactics to form political opinion. The video showed a picture of our of most famous presidents Abraham Lincoln and how he was portrayed in negative ways comparing him to the likeness of an ape. I found this surprising because to me it seems that political campaigns have become more negative in recent years. The video points out that campaigns use marketing researchers to present their message. It was stated that it is important to get the message they want out early before the public forms an positive attachment to the person. They also said that scare tactics are a good way to stear public opinion to the side the campaigns wants. They use the threat of income loss, terrorism, and change of life style as motivators to choose one candidate or side over the other. When presenting these negative messages a variety of topics such as race, gender, morals and class status can be used to promote or demote each side. Making the Election About Race By THOMAS B. EDSALL, I do not think the articles or pictures were about racism but is about class warfare and socialism. The right wants the public to believe President Obama is a socialists and the left want the public to believe he is fighting for the middle class. These pictures to me give the message of the right that Obama is for giving lazy poor citizens free money and give the impression that this is the wrong direction for the country. With help of Michelle Obama, Democrats make pitch to middle class

This picture says welcome friend, I am open with nothing to hide, I care about you and her facial expression is friendly and again open. Her hair is casual and her dress is again very oprn without sleeves. We are just like you not the stuffy rich other guy, we know how to have fun and laugh not like the boring other guy. I always listened to the message and then formed my opinions based on my views but never thought about the pictures with the story also stating the intended message. Strauss, G. (2012, September 05). With help of michelle obama, democrats make pitch to middle class. U.S.A Today. Retrieved from http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20120905/NEWS0303/309050005/With-help-Michelle-Obama-Democrats-make-pitch-middle-class?odyssey=mod