Digital Communication: New Media Literacies

Increasingly in today’s world, the media we use to receive and create messages are forms of digital, computerized communication. This includes communication via the internet, mobile phones (including text messaging), instant messaging, and digital still and video imaging devices.

Some of the functions of this kind of communication are:

• CREATING AND MAINTAINING SOCIAL BONDS.   Some of the most significant uses of this kind of communication are through “social media” sites such as Facebook, where we share a great deal of personal information. These may also include relationship-building sites such as online dating.

• SEEKING NEWS AND INFORMATION.   Many of us also use the internet to receive much of our news of the world through news sites (journalism), either text- or video-based. We also use the internet to do research online, either through Google searches or through academic databases.

• ENGAGING IN COMMERCE.   Many people shop online, completing transactions without ever physically entering a store. Others use digital media as platforms from which to market and sell their products.

• ARTISTIC EXPRESSION.   The internet has become an important outlet for artistic media, ranging from the work of independent artists who can distribute their work directly to their audience without having to go through corporate distributors (such as record companies).
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• ENTERTAINMENT.   Television and films can now be viewed at your convenience through your digital devices rather than in the more traditional media channels, and new forms of entertainment made especially for the web (such as webisodes) are also developing.

• CREATING AND PARTICIPATING IN COMMUNITIES. Many people have used the web to find other people with shared interests and experiences and to work together to achieve a common purpose. No longer do you have to be in the same place, geographically, to be part of a community. In fact, you can be part of many different online communities depending upon special interests.

• SELF-EXPRESSION AND PERSUASION. Blogs have become a prime way for people to share their ideas, beliefs and interests. Websites, and especially blogging, have also become an important form of persuasion in our digital “public sphere” since it is a significant way that individuals and groups try to influence the beliefs and attitudes of others about social and political issues.

Social media and natural disasters

Spring break is over, and I return to my blog. In the past few days, Japan has endured one of the strongest earthquakes in its history, been deluged by a tsunami, and is now threatened with nuclear meltdown. Similarly, the images and news from Japan have riveted us here in America to our screens (whether television or computers) as we've had perhaps the largest-scale media coverage of such a natural disaster in history. Professional journalists and amateur photographers, videographers and bloggers alike have reported their stories and images in the most vivid ways possible.

A recent New York Times article by Jennifer Preston examines some of the concerted efforts to coordinate this first-hand news sharing by an organization called Global Voices, "a volunteer-driven organization and platform that works with bloggers all over the world to translate, aggregate and link to online content." Preston writes:

Soon after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on Friday, the volunteer bloggers for Global Voices in East Asia put together special coverage of the devastation, sharing citizen videos and translating posts on Twitter, including calls for help from people stranded on the upper floors of buildings. Over the weekend, with fears fueled by the prospect of a second explosion at a nuclear plant, they monitored the conversation on the social Web, reporting how people were exchanging information to keep safe and questioning the use of nuclear energy in an earthquake-prone region.

“Our job is to curate the conversation that is happening all over the Internet with people who really understand what is going on,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, a former Tokyo bureau chief for CNN who founded Global Voices with Ethan Zuckerman, a technologist and Africa expert, while they were fellows at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. “We amplify, contextualize and translate what these conversations are and why they are relevant.”

In this era of new spreadable media, sometimes good things happen as a result. Michael Martinez of CNN reports on a Japanese student in California who discovered that her family, who lived in one of the communities hardest-hit by the tsunami, was safe--by seeing their message in a YouTube video.


Bradley Blackburn of ABC News reports on the role of social media in communicating about the disaster and, in some cases, responding to it. Similarly, Dorian Benkoil writes on PBS' MediaShift about how rich and multifaceted information flow about Japan's events have been:

The past few days, sitting at home and in my office in New York, it felt like I had more information and contacts at my fingertips than I did then as a reporter in Japan. The morning I learned of the quake, I had a TV connected to digital cable, an iPad, a Blackberry and a web-connected computer in my living room.

I flipped among ABC, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, CNN, and BBC on TV. An iPad app gave me video of quake alerts in English and other languages from Japanese national broadcaster NHK. I dipped into the Twitter and Facebook streams.

A photo slideshow on the front page of the New York Times only a few hours after the quake gave a sense of not just the depth of destruction but also the geographic breadth. The towns being mentioned in captions spanned multiple prefectures (similar to states).

I was able to watch Japanese TV network TBS live via a Ustream link I was referred to in a "Japan Quake" page assembled by my New York-based friend and media colleague Sree Sreenivasan.

Benkoil continued,

Some connections were possible this time only because of technology. I was able to observe New Jersey-based relatives of my Tokyo-based translator friend express love and relief that she and her family in Japan were safe. My friends in the U.S. and elsewhere used Facebook, Twitter and text messages to ask me about my loved ones in Japan, which let me reply in a way that was much easier to handle than in the previous era.

The media and communication technology of course do not change the scope of the disaster but do change the way we are able to experience and share it.

Perhaps most importantly, social media have become a primary channel for raising awareness and gathering funds for relief efforts. An article by Matt Wilson of Ragan.com provided an early summary of where to go if you would like to help, discussing how Twitter, Facebook and text messaging are being used to spearhead relief fundraising, and AFP reports that Zynga, the company behind the "FarmVille" game (a Facebook app), raised $1 million within 36 hours for Save the Children's Japan relief efforts:

Zynga asked users to donate money through the purchase of virtual goods in FarmVille, CityVille, FrontierVille and its other games. All of the proceeds from the purchase of sweet potatoes in CityVille, radishes in FarmVille or kobe cows in FrontierVille are going towards Save the Children's relief efforts.

Apple has set up an option on iTunes to allow users to donate from $5 to $200 to the American Red Cross and the Red Cross has launched a campaign on Facebook through the social media giant's Causes function.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are also raising funds for the Japanese crisis by accepting $10 donations via text message.

To donate to the Salvation Army, which has had a presence in Japan since 1895, text "Japan" or "Quake" to 80888.

Text "RedCross" to 90999 to donate to its fund set up in response to the disaster. The American Red Cross is coordinating with its Japanese counterpart, which is leading the organization's efforts in the disaster area.

WRITING A COLLEGE RESEARCH PAPER

If you are a freshman in college, writing a research paper may seem overwhelming at first.

However, once you understand that it can easily be broken down into a sequence of steps, it becomes much more manageable.

There are really just a few main steps to the process! Learn these simple steps, and your writing will begin to come more easily.

CONCEPTUALIZING

GATHERING

ORGANIZING/STRUCTURING

WEAVING

WRITING MECHANICS

CONCEPTUALIZING involves deciding on a topic and developing research questions. As you do research, you will also continue conceptualizing as you zoom in on the perspective and central focus for your paper. This will lead to your framing: deciding on your paper’s thesis and its subset of main points, which will form the backbone of your paper’s structure.

GATHERING: Researching and finding information has never been easier, using electronic and print sources. Be sure to use a variety of sources from the academic databases on the library website and do not rely exclusively on “Googled” web material.

When researching, what you are seeking is supporting evidence for your main points, though what you learn may also help you to adjust your main points.

The key is filtering and critically evaluating the information you’ve found (assessing its credibility) to make certain that it is the most appropriate for your needs.

Learning to take good notes and to document your sources as you do so will help you tremendously in the long run.

ORGANIZING AND STRUCTURING is simply a matter of taking your frame--that “backbone” or blueprint of thesis and main points—and using it to create an outline. Then the outline guide becomes a formula to assist you in “weaving” (incorporating other peoples’ information and ideas into your framework).

A. You should always have an introductory paragraph or section that opens with (1) an attention-getting opener to engage and hook your reader. Then you clearly (2) state your thesis. The third component of the introduction is (3) a brief preview of your upcoming main points.

B. The body of your paper will consist of a series of sections built around your main points. Three main points is ideal, so most bodies have three sections. You may use headers for each section if desired.

The main point should be clearly stated at the beginning of each section, and then the remainder of the section includes the supporting evidence for that main point. Supporting evidence may include examples, statistics or other facts, and other support from experts found in your research.

C. The final paragraph or section of your paper will be your conclusion. This should begin with (1) a summary review of your main points, then lead to (2) a restatement of your thesis, and close with (3) a memorable closing which leaves the reader thinking about your paper and its ideas long after it has been put away.

WEAVING. One important component of academic integrity is learning how to incorporate other peoples’ ideas and information while still maintaining your own writing “voice".
This is perhaps the hardest thing for young writers to learn. The key to keep in mind when synthesizing and integrating your research materials into your paper is to always

(1) Introduce and attribute the source of the ideas, no matter whether you quoted directly or paraphrased. This means including in your writing the name(s) of the people who originated the ideas, using phrases like “According to Livingston, …” or “As Livingston noted,….”

(2) Paraphrase (put the ideas in your own words) wherever possible. ONLY USE QUOTES SPARINGLY — quotes should only be used when the original author’s phrasing or vocabulary is so lyrical or eloquent that you absolutely could not do it justice if you paraphrased it. If you use quotes, always introduce and attribute them and then comment upon them. Never let quotes just stand alone in your paper.

(3) Whether the information is quoted or paraphrased, the sources must always be cited using one of the academic citation styles. For this class, we generally use APA style (see www.apastyle.org), but you may also use MLA style. In most cases, this involves placing the author’s name and date of publication, along with page number if applicable, in parentheses at the end of your sentence or paragraph: (Wilson 2008, p. 37). This will then lead the reader to your Works Cited page (similar to a bibliography, though everything listed in the Works Cited page must be cited in parentheses in the text of your paper).

WRITING MECHANICS AND STYLE are the final area of focus. Once you have everything organized in the desired organizational structure, and once you are certain that you have adequately attributed and cited all sources of ideas in your paper, then you can go back through and work on polishing the clarity of your writing style.

• Make sure that all of your sentences are complete and grammatically structured.
• Consider your word choices and phrasing — have you expressed each idea as clearly as you’d like? Have you used the most descriptive and specific words that you could use?
• Doublecheck your punctuation: review your comma placement rules. Avoid either too many or too few commas, which are common errors. Be sure to use semi-colons and colons correctly. Avoid comma splice errors (this is when you insert a comma between two independent clauses, each of which could stand alone as a sentence—in this case, you should replace the comma with a period or a semi-colon).
• Proofread for typos and spelling errors
• Step back, review, and revise your paper several times as needed. The need for revision is not a sign of weak writing; to the contrary, revision is the hallmark of a good writer.

Happy writing!

Advertising in the public interest?

When we think of advertisements and commercials, we generally think of those ads that market various brands, especially the ones that either engrave themselves on our very souls because of their memorable songs (they were jingles back in my childhood days!) or because of their clever and witty characters or style. We talk about the commercials unveiled during the Super Bowl for weeks afterward.

But there is another type of advertisement that is also sometimes quite memorable, though most of us rarely consider that rather than spending millions of dollars for spot during a sporting event, these ads have traditionally run at no cost as a public service provided by the networks or cable companies. These are called Public Service Announcements or PSAs.

PSAs may raise awareness of a public health or safety issue, promote a charitable organization, promote environmental awareness and healthy behaviors, or recruit people to join or support an organization or movement. PSA's developed after WWII as an outgrowth of the War Advertising Council, which later became the Ad Council. For more on the history of PSA's, click here.

Although low-budget PSAa can be deadly boring, those that are created by professional advertising teams can be as clever, witty and beautifully photographed as any corporate commercial. Some notable PSAs have become a central part of popular culture and have left indelible impressions upon us and upon society. Rosie the Riveter (pictured above) was born as part of a public service campaign, as was Smokey the Bear, who stars in the longest-running campaign in Ad Council history:

The "Crying Indian" commercial from the early 1970s is a classic environmental PSA:

According to the Ad Council,

More than four decades ago, the Ad Council partnered with Keep America Beautiful to create a powerful visual image that dramatized how litter and other forms of pollution were hurting the environment, and how every individual has the responsibility to help protect it. The ad, which featured Native American actor Iron Eyes Cody, "The Crying Indian," first aired on Earth Day in 1971. Created by ad agency Marstellar, Inc., the campaign used the line, "People Start Pollution. People can stop it." The ad became one of the most memorable and successful campaigns in advertising history and was named one of the top 100 advertising campaigns of the 20th Century by Ad Age Magazine.

And who can forget this anti-drug PSA from the late 1980s?

The Crash Test Dummies were the stars of the seat belt commercials of the 1980s-1990s, made memorable by such PSAs as "Game Show":

Here is a recent British PSA that is quite clever, part of a larger campaign aimed to make drivers more aware of bicyclists:

I'll end with an especially moving Ad Council campaign from 2001 aimed at creating unity in a nation divided by racism, immigration fears, and particularly the fear of foreigners after 9/11. As the Ad Council explains,

Following the tragedies of September 11th, the Ad Council and Austin-based ad agency GSD&M sought to celebrate the ideals that keep this country strong by highlighting the nation's extraordinary diversity. Showing people of all ages, races and religions stating, "I am an American," the ads helped the country to unite in the wake of the terrorist attacks. On the air just ten days after the tragedies, the ads conclude with the American motto, E Pluribus Unum, or "Out of Many, One." The response to these PSAs received by the Ad Council from Americans all over the world was unprecedented.