The historic election of Barack Obama to the post of United States President brings to mind the notion that one would like, no matter which candidate one supported, to collect as much memorabilia as possible for posterity’s sake. In fact, it seems that this is what most Americans did. According to Reuters blog, the New York Times printed an extra 50,000 copies of its November 5th issue, and for the first time in a long time, the New York Daily News printed an “afternoon edition” and longer lines than normal were reported at news kiosks in Chicago where people were buying five or more copies of the Tribune and Sun-Times.
I admit that I too wanted to have a piece of history for myself and purchased a NYTimes on my way into work. It just seemed to make sense, that decades from now, it would be nice to have a keepsake, a single relic that indicated the spirit of how people felt the morning after the first African American was elected to this country’s highest office. It got me thinking about a question I pondered earlier, regarding Google’s tool allowing folks to see how some of their favorite sites looked in 2000 as part of their 10 year celebration. How do we record history when our traditional form of memory-keeping is no longer sitting on shelves, behind glass cases or in a scrapbook? There is muchdiscussion about the supposed “demise” of print media. I understand the argument that people read newspapers on their computers and mobile devices, which causes a decrease in demand for the physical printed material. But, that is primarily for the information we seek and then promptly dispose of. What of those editions that capture history or a unified human moment? I find it hard to believe that we’ll someday be capturing our favorite screenshots of web pages to record important, record-breaking, history-making events. That seems cold and not nearly as warm as a tangible, physical archive.
I could be wrong, but I’m nonetheless reluctant to declare the death of print media.
I was pointed to an incredible site that displays internet memes in a very unique fashion. Essentially, a meme comes from the Greek word “mimeme” which means “something imitated” (it is also literally translated from the French word for “same”). We’ve all seen them, either on our favorite blog (or our own blogs) or in an e-mail. A very simple form is someone sends you a list that asks you to list five thoughts no one knows that you had when you were a kid. This person has filled out the list with their own five thoughts, and has essentially tagged you to do the same thing, and pass it along to your contacts. And then they perpetuate this cultural game of digital “telephone”.
The term meme was coined back in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, who referred to things such as jingles, melodies, catch-phrases, rumors, etc. What Dawkins wasn’t referring to (because they really hadn’t yet emerged) are viral videos and other viral digital media. That’s where the Internet Memes site comes in. It displays the release and the phenomenon of each big viral video/song/site in four very innovative ways. I always enjoy seeing new refreshing and engaging ways of displaying information, this site is definitely that.
You can see the history of Internet memes as a timeline, that stretches all the way back to August of 1970, where the term “Internet” was developed to refer to the connections that existed with the early web prototype, ARPANET, maintained by the Department of Defense. You can also view each meme as a pushpin in a map, showing you where in the world these came from. I invite you to check it out. It’s likely you’ll find out something new. I did:
In 1982, the first emoticon was created. It was the beginning of a new way of expressing ourselves, some would even say a new language. And to think, our children have never known a world where they didn’t use their characters to make facial expressions.
One of the things we at The LAMP stress when it comes to a healthy and enriching experience on the Internet is the permanence of things we say and do online. If you say on your blog in 2001(the last year the Avs won the Stanley Cup) that you can’t stand the Colorado Avalanche, it’s likely that someone in 2008 could find this even though you’ve come to your senses by declaring your allegiance to the BEST HOCKEY TEAM IN THE WORLD on your blog.
To illustrate this point, I’d like to point you over to Google’s 10th birthday celebration. By typing in “Colorado Avalanche”, the first entry that comes up is the hockey team’s official website. What Google is allowing you to do is see what it looked like back in 2001 (the farthest their most complete index of the Internet goes). By clicking on the View old version on the Internet Archive, it takes you to the webpage as it looked in 2001 at this time of year. And look! The Avalanche are the Stanley Cup Champions again, just like that!
In all seriousness, what this means is that there are hundreds and thousands of copies made of the Internet (aka indexes) by Google and many other organizations and people. So the next time you think to speak poorly online about the finest run hockey club around, you should remember, it’s nearly impossible to take it back.
Finally was able to make our own Wordle. I took our rss feed and created this interesting tag cloud of our most commonly used terms. This is what we got.
I think it’s pretty cool because it grabs my imagination. (I have to confess that it has the word “media” so prominently in the middle is somewhat validating)
Our take on media literacy is that the more people become media literate - understanding media, critiquing media, creating media - the more engaged they become in their environment and the more active they become in their communities. Media literacy opens up the democratic process to more and more people by giving them the ability to critically think about the messages the media delivers and provides them with a voice to participate in the dialogue of how their society should operate. Taking the power to send messages to the masses out of the hands of the few corporate conglomerates who monopolize it and spreading it amongst those who are now media literate will bring new viewpoints and an increased heterogeneity.
On our YouTube channel, we subscribe to another organization’s channel by the name of Common Craft (leelefever). They are an organization that makes videos that breakdown seemingly complex matters - social media sites, twitter, rss feeds, zombies - in fun and approachable videos. In a way, they are expanding the audiences for the different tools and ideas, bringing more and more people into a dialogue that has usually been reserved for those with time and relevant experience to stay informed. The good folks over at Common Craft have actually posted a very timely video entitled “Electing a US President in Plain English”
It does an excellent job of streamlining a very complex and sadly misunderstood elective system, and what with all the talk from both candidates about making this election about you, the voter, and changing a complex system in Washington D.C., you’d think that they would find this video and the larger issue of media literacy quite in-line with their campaigns’ goals. Well, we at the LAMP are patiently waiting.
After his historic feat yesterday, Barack Obama prepares to give his acceptance speech for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States in front of a reported 75,000 supporters. In a year of unprecedented accomplishments for a presidential election, the spectacle of a party’s nominee addressing his loyal pledges in such an open air manner seems almost a daunting moment of ultra-high expectations. Not just for the DNC, but also for the media covering it.
How does one capture such a massive gathering of political agents and spectators to be broadcast on the small screens of all those Americans tuning in from their living room? Surely, the organizers of this event considered the loss in translation of the scale they propose to the home viewers (and I’m sure, if they had their way, they’d have 10 times the attendees to see this speech). It makes me wonder if perhaps with all of the myriad media formats out there, that TV isn’t the proper way to capture this event. Perhaps somewhere in the new media that are emerging, a more appropriate medium (or mediums) exist. This sets a precedent for future acceptance speeches that should it be successful, generations to come may expect their party’s nominee to speak in front of live audiences this large (at least).
Who knows, there’s only the collective imagination stopping us from watching a presidential hopeful give us their leadership vision via Second Life.
The Presidential Election is nearing a point where it will soon occupy most of our news media portals. Right now, we are on the precipice of the first African American presidential candidate announcing their candidate for Vice President. Following that will be a steamroll of activities (Democractic National Convention, then John McCain’s announcement of his VP, then the GOP Convention, and so on) that will be (if the candidates and news media alike have their ways) an endless chain of stories that culminates in the election of the next President of the United States.
Kids under the age of 18 may not be able to vote, but that doesn’t mean they can’t participate in the election. There are numerous onlinesites out there that provide activities to try to engage youth in the presidential election. I’m skeptical of the aims behind some of these sites that come from major media companies, as I am with most things that come innocuously packaged from media corporations (NBC’s olympic coverage has been the single, greatest branding exercise of any one event and period of time). That being said, I think that some of the election web portals for youth have a real opportunity to engage our children about the election as well as explore the ways media are used to wage presidential campaigns.
Enter scholastic.com.
They have launched an interactive presidential election hub that invites both educators and youth to discuss, explore and critique the 2008 Election. I invite you to do the same. I particularly enjoyed the Create a Campaign Poster under Games and Quizzes, where students are asked to use images and text to convey a political message.
My first love is mapping, as I spent a good portion of my professional life as a cartographer. I understand the power of maps - the ability to display information in a spatial manner that shows relationships, patterns, trends.
Alisa Miller from PRI did a video report on the way news is reported in the US. To say the least, it is illuminating. I encourage all of you to visit the link and watch. I know i plan on going back and rewatching it as soon as i post this.
This year represents the 20th anniversary since Nike launched its now world famous three word slogan. The words “Just do it” serve as a battle cry that rallies the masses to get up from their seats and accomplish great feats (of course, while wearing Nike gear). They are releasing an ad campaign in conjunction with the upcoming Beijing Summer Olympic games commemorating the longstanding motto entitled “Nike:Courage”.
The video of it can be found here and it is (not surprisingly) quite stirring. Juxtaposing an image of a bald, cancer-recovering Lance Armstrong in a hospital bed with that of him atop his cycle, tanned, yellow jersey open, charging fiercely up the side of a French mountaintop is a powerful way to evoke an emotional response to Nike’s thesis. Is Nike appropriating his miraculous feat of a full recovery and an unprecedented six consecutive Tour de France titles with this ad or are they merely celebrating it?
The lifespan of their slogan is another feat that demands mentioning. Since 1988, the company has used the same three words as their mission statement, employing it in most ads and commercials. Their rival company, Adidas, however has gone through several different jingles (its latest being “Impossible is Nothing”). Discovering this raised an interesting question in my head. How many other slogans have other companies gone through since 1988 while Nike had remained loyal to theirs. Coca-Cola has had over a dozen different phrases they used to hawk their wares (it being from Wikipedia, I don’t know how much one can trust the accuracy of the list, but i recognize many of the different ones, which leads me to believe it is somewhat reliable). The same goes for McDonald’s, who had at least 15 different slogans over the past 20 years in the US alone!
One method of advertising (the Nike method of longevity) engenders you to the commodity by having a recognizable and static theme that categorizes how the company would like you to enjoy their product line.Whereas the other (McDonald’s and Coca-Cola’s changing taglines) asks you to keep stride as they constantly redefine how they want you to approach your experience with their merchandise. To us consumers, the latter method might cause a sense of being left out when we are not able to recall the latest slogan, which then leads us to pay greater attention to the company’s advertising. Either one points out the importance of slogans - the ability to boil down your mission statement into a single, catchy phrase. Perhaps, McDonald’s and Coke wish they could stick with just one, like Nike. As it seems, their’s just keeps doing it for them.
This is a “Wordle” cloud. Also known as a ‘cloud tag’, which is a way to label posts on a blog or pictures in a Flickr account and provide readers/viewers an easier way to navigate to content that matches their interest.
Wordle is a site that allows you to take your own blog, any website that has an RSS feed, or a bunch of text and create a cloud. The larger the word, the more instances of it in the blog/feed/text. They also have amassed a gallery of all the clouds that others have created. The one at the top of this post was created by an anonymous user on the term “media literacy”.
I’m fascinated by the use of these clouds. They deliver a message in a very interesting way, boiling down what someone says to content. It completely disregards context, dispatching with any notion of perspective or world view the author may have.
Does it present information in an important, revealing manner? It certainly presents it in an interesting and new way. To demonstrate this, the cloud on the left was generated when someone took Senator Barack Obama’s speech on race in Philadelphia and the one on the right was generated from the text of President George Bush’s 2007 State of the Union address. I think it’s interesting to compare the two. Eye-opening, no. But definitely a new way to engage someone in the discussion.
*due to technical difficulties, I was unable to create a wordle for The LAMP’s website - bummer!
