US Army Commercial Targeting Video Gamers

Do you remember the Video Games in the Us Army websites (see post March 30th)?
This is a continuation of the serie..
I am really shocked..I don't know if I am in front of a genial marketing idea or if I am in front of something that is particularly cruel...Perhaps it is both at a time!
Some people may say....what's wrong with this commercial? They have to attract volonteers for the army...it is normal that they try to highlight only the best and more grateful sides of the profession of a soldier....That is right, but..is that all?
I simply wonder if it is normal that someone lies publicly on the state tv, telling to naive guys and girls that...war is like a videogame but, just, for real!
According to me it is necessary to establish a certain kind of regulation on this kind of messages because I believe that a 16-17 year-old guy or girl is too much unaware of real life and, for this reason, he or she can be easily misled.
Am I wrong?
Please...let me know your opinion on this subject
:-)

The Role of Weblogs in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

Research Topic

The aim of this research is to analyse the structure and content of the official weblogs of the main presidential candidates (Obama, Clinton and McCain) in order to measure their effectiveness in attracting and, above all, involving electors. In particular, the situation will be compared to the one of 2004 (during the Bush & Kerry campaign) in order to highlight if and how the phenomenon of the political blogosphere has developed.

Scope of the research and Research Method

In order to gather sufficient material for this research, the three official weblogs of the main candidates have to be analysed during a period of one to two weeks. The choice of the blogs has not been a random one: the web, indeed, offers a great variety of blogs for all three candidates, most of them selfdefining “official”ones. Thus, it seemed to be more appropriate and more objective to focus the research only on the blogs contained in websites with the same formal structure, that means www.hillaryclinton.com, www.barackobama.com and www.johnmaccain.com.

The research is mainly a discourse analysis based on the content of the blogs. Qualitative research prevails the quantitative one, because of the nature of the topic. However quantitative analysis will be present, when significant.

Preliminary Background

Although the phenomenon of weblogs is relatively recent (the first online diaries appeared in the mid-90’s), their popularity has grown at a very impressive speed in the last years, in particular thanks to the development of specific websites aimed at encouraging new bloggers to create their own cyberspace.

Soon the phenomenon left the private domain to cover any kind of topics and goals.

While the internet was becoming more and more invasive in the life of millions of citizens, many politicians started to use the web as a tool to be known and to reach new sympathisers by creating their own websites.

Soon, the addition of a blog to these websites improved the possibility to put in touch politicians (as far as our research is concerned) to their possible electors, letting people foresee a future more democratic society, based on the direct contact and the immediate feedback between politicians and citizens.

During the last presidential campaign, in 2004, the phenomenon seemed to have its first real, even if still perfectible, debut.

Rationale, Object and Questions

Since 2004 many events have changed the perception of American citizens about their politicians. Events such as the chaotic war in Iraq, the scandal of Abu Ghraib and the questionable position of Guantanamo prison have caused an increasing demand for controlling more directly what will be the effective policy adopted by the candidates, once they are elected. Thus, this research is focused in measuring the level of effective contact existing between candidates and citizens and the way in which the blogs create it.

For this purpose, different features of the blogs are analysed: the different symbols, slogans and common myths used by the candidates to attract more electoral audience; the links present in the blogs and connecting to external social network websites, the graphic used, the number of comments present for every post, the kind of comment (are there only supporting or also opposing comments?) and the main audience.

The questions on which this research is based are:

Q1: which are the most evident differences between this campaign and the precedent one?

Q2: are there substantial differences between the democrat and the republican candidates?

Q3: which strategies are used to reach the audience and how feedback is expressed?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis preceding the research foresees an increase and improvement of the use of blogs by the candidates in comparison to 2004. However, a substancial difference will be present among the different sites according to the particular audience to which the candidates seem to address. In particular, the blog of Obama seems to be the one most oriented towards the big population and, particularly, towards young people (perhaps mainly young people of colour?) while the McCain’s one seems to be the less suitable to reach young people and, for this reason, would be, perhaps, more detached.

Given the impressive growth of social network websites (Facebook in primis), it is probable that a huge number of links towards them will be present in all blogs.

Free Tibet protests and reactions in the Us society

Today, on the front page of the New York Times I have found this article...
I think it is an important phenomen, the one that is spreading, little by little in most of US schools and colleges.
In a multicultural society, as the American one, the effects of mass media coverage of "foreign affairs" issues seem to become a real domestic problem.
It is very interesting to me to see how much mass media are accused to biased on BOTH fronts and nothing seems to be more opinable than the truth.
I will passionately follow the development of this debate...will the parts try, finally, to find a compromise trying to be as much objective as possible or will they stubbornly continue to accuse each other?

A voice that should be heard: Shirin Ebadi and the roots of chaos in the Middle East

The Iranian Nobel prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi came, on April the 25^th, to the Hamline University in order to give a public lecture about the origins of chaos in the Middle East region, focusing, in particular, on the historical reasons of today conflicts and on the possible solutions for the future.

In a witty and straightforward speech, Mrs. Ebadi presented the three main causes for the Middle Eastern unrest.

According to her, the first main cause is the non-existence of democracy and the persistent violations of Human Rights in the region. Indeed, the majority of governments in the area are not really elected by the people since the electoral systems affect only superficially the established order (the case of Syria is, at this regard, emblematic!). This distance between governments and citizens brings to a lack of representation and, above all, to a lack of governmental provided security. Among the poorest and desperate people, this situation may lead to the phenomenon of crime and terrorism.

However, a particular that seems to complicate even more this situation is the fact that these non-democratic governments are privileged partners of the US and it is because of this relationship that a sense of anti-Americanism (or, better, an active opposition to the US foreign policy) is spread among the people in the area.

A particular exception is the Islamic Republic of Iran, where, she specifies, the non-democratic establishment in power is not directly connected to the US. According to Mrs. Ebadi, even though Iran is not a democratic state, its political leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seems to attract a lot of young Arab supporters who, while ignoring the real intern condition of the Iranian state, see in him a form of resistance to US power.

To this first cause, Mrs. Ebadi suggests that the US should stop supporting non-democratic states in the region, lowering their diplomatic relations with them and make people of the area acknowledge about the real inner political condition in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While talking about democracy, Mrs Ebadi decided to focus particularly on the conditions of women in the area and on their fundamental role for its future. According to her, the peaceful way of struggle in their daily life should be considered as a pattern for the rebuilding of democracy in those states.

The second main cause for the Middle Eastern unrest is the Israelo-Palestinian conflict: until a solution will not be found, any peace in the area will be possible.

Finally, the third main reason is the invasion of Iraq. Indeed, since 2003 terrorism and fundamentalism have enormously grown while the conflict hase augmented the problems for people that, now, have to face such as hunger, violence and dictatorship.

Continuing her passionate speech, Mrs. Ebadi remembered how the chemical weapons of Iraq have been used during the Iran-Iraq conflict, a conflict in which, she underlines, the US administration supported Saddam’s regime and foreign policy. Why then did this administration decide to attack its old ally? Mrs. Ebadi has not doubt at this regard: Iraqi oil is the answer.

After having discussed about the origins of the chaotic situation in the Middle East, Mrs. Ebadi wanted to talk about human rights in her country, since it is there that her daily struggle against injustice take place.

In Iran, one of the main human rights violations is gender discrimination, which has been introduces after 1979. According to the law, today, the like of a woman worth half of the life of a man. Divorce for a woman is practically impossible, while men can have up to 4 wives at the same time and divorce without a particular reason.

Also the freedom of religion is not assured in the republic and some examples have been provided at this regard. In the capital of Iran, Teheran, no Sunni musk has been build while the illicit relationship (non married) between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man is punishable with death penalty for the latter.

Freedom of speech is not ensured and an active censorship prevent “unconvienient” books to be published.

Notwithstanding all these problems, Mrs. Ebadi is convinced that democracy is a process and comes along with the culture of the people. Reminding to the audience how, before the revolution and the Shah’s government, Iran used to be a democratic state Mrs. Ebadi asserted that, therefore, there is the possibility that democracy will be established again. Nevertheless she warned the audience that democracy is not a merchandize to be exported and, thus, it cannot be established throughout the use of bombs. That is why she proudly opposes to a military and, above all, foreign, intervention.

For more info, click here

An investigation of suicidegirls.com, by Magnet Shoshana

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Mapping the blogosphere: Professional and citizen-based media in the global news arena, by Stephen Reese

1) Research topic and researcher(s): Mapping the blogosphere: Professional and citizen-based media in the global news arena, by Stephen Reese, et.al. in Journalism, 8 (3), pp. 235-261. Retrieved from Communication and Media Complete, on Feb. 13, 2008.

2) Rationale of the study:

To discover how the phenomenon of blogs (mainly intended as citizen-based news sources) and their extension (i.e. the so called blogosphere) affect the boundaries of the public sphere from the (1) journalistic, (2) political and (3) geographic point of view.

In particular the study is aimed at

1. discovering how ‘professional’ media and blogs interact and, in particular, how the latter influence the traditional news sources.

2. evaluating the effects of the blogosphere on the political behaviour of citizens (polarization or uniformity?)

3. establishing the capacity of the blogosphere to overcome national boundaries.

3) Literature review:

As far as the theories underlying Reese’s study are concerned, I have hereby listed the most important assumptions quoting, when needed, the sources.

* The author develops his study starting from Held’s definition of increasing globalized networks as ‘overlapping communities of fate’ (2004).

* That is why he believes that the blogosphere should be analyzed ‘within the larger context of changing global news arena’ in which people seem not to be encouraged to look beyond their national boundaries.

* One of the effects of this more interconnected world seems to be the undermining of old scheme of audience-news providers relation (so called ‘deterritorialization’ of news)

* In particular, the relationship between press and national community seems to be called into question.

* Thus, the author in interested also in the political effects of this change, since it has been argued that transnational forms of political participation have moved to a global public sphere (Morris and Waisbord,2001) and that this has ‘a natural relationship with democracy’ (Giddens, 2000)

* The so called blogosphere (from Habermas’ concept of ‘public sphere’) is a way of thinking the social geography of public communication.

* This conversation of the public has been particularly encouraged, according to Carey (1989) by journalism.

* But where traditionally journalism was charged with mediating public voices, citizens can now hold those conversations among each other; moreover public can now also interact with journalists themselves.

* Thus news practices are changing, becoming more and more interactive (Deuze, 2003)

* Therefore globalization has produced a ‘broader and more fluid journalistic conversation, a new global public sphere with shifting boundaries’.

* The blogosphere might be seen as complementary to professional journalism, in fact e.g. in her analysis of blogs targeting the war in Iraq Wall (2005) discovered that the main part of ‘warblogs’ depended a lot on the traditional professional media.

* From the political point of view, some studies (Adamic and Glance, 2005; Welsch, 2005) suggest that blogosphere increase the polarization of the audience and that bloggers of the same ideal community link to each other in a cycle of ‘mutual affirmation’ (Wall, 2005)

4) Research method:

A combination between content analysis of web networks (blogs’ posts and newstories) and statistical analysis of different variables such as political affiliation of the source, geographic position of the source or type of post published.

5) Subject of study:

The study has been focused on six weblogs concerning news and politics (because of the goals of the research). These six gatekeepers of the news and political commentary blogosphere have been selected both from the liberal and conservative affiliation, and their selection has been based on their authoritative reputation in the blogging communities. These blogs are (LIBERAL) Tallong Points Memo, Atrios, Daily Kos, (CONSERVATIVE) Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan and Little Green Footballs.

Time frame: these six have been monitored during one week (from 6 to 13 February 2005), it might be useful to underline that the week selected was devoid of any major news stories and this to avoid that atypical news could influence the result of the study.

The author analyzed a total of 410 posts across the six (Tallong Points Memo 83, Atrios 61, Daily Kos 54, Instapundit 114, Andrew Sullivan 23 and Little Green Footballs 75).

6) Research finding:

About the relation between traditional media and the blogosphere:

• Contrary to popular speculation, the research shows that most of blog posts do not provide original information: either assemble material from other sources, or conduct some analysis on such material. Only a little number of posts revealed to be an on-the-scene observation. 33.5% of the references of the posts monitored are to other blogs, instead close to half of references are to professional news media. That means that traditional news media and professional journalism still have an important role in the global network.
• About how blogs link to other sites, professional news is references often and taken at face value and used to develop further discussion. That is way blogs should be perceived as complementary to traditional news media: they, indeed spread information, getting more readers involved and interested in news provided by medias.
• About the subjects, the authors of these blogs and newstories are for one half citizens and for the other half they are affiliated with the professional news media. Even though the author recognizes that it is hard to determine a demarcations line between ‘professional’ and simple citizens bloggers

About the relation between blogosphere and political behaviour:

• The research provide a prove of the so called ‘echo-chamber’ effect: liberal blogs are likely to link to blogs of their same political affiliation, and vice versa for the conservative.
• Nevertheless, almost half of the blogs seem to lead to non-political or non-partisan sites thus blogs have actually a role in readers to a broader base of news, non necessarily oriented from the political point of view.

About the capacity of shifting national boundaries:

• Even if theoretically blogs should and could link to other web realities with no regard to national location, the evidence of the research shows that US blogs have not begun to reach much farther than their own national boundaries. Nevertheless, the introduction of ‘global’ sources, e.g. Reuters, is a sign of gradual change towards a locationless blogosphere.
• About this topic, however, I think it is important to remember how difficult it is to identify what should be considered a national or non-national web-based reality. In the article, the author, indeed, has highlighted this obstacle.

7) My position on this scholarly essay

This article is very interesting in the topic, even if the detailed description of the research method has made it a little difficult to follow. The author investigates on how much the digital age is effectively affecting not only our way of perceiving reality, but also the way in which we can interact with it. I have always wondered about how much the freedom of expression allowed by the internet would revolutionize our way of creating and receiving news, but I had never found a study on the subject before.

I think that the research method adopted has been as much objective as possible. Nevertheless I would like to know what will be the result of the research for another country, in which the so called ‘traditional news sources’ do not have the reputation of being particularly reliable. It is the case, for example, of government owned mass media and I am referring to my country, Italy, but I could refer to any other country in which the medias are not considered sufficiently objective. I guess that in that case the capacity of blogs to overcome geographic boundaries would be much higher than the one analysed by Reese.

This is why I strongly believe that the internet and the ‘blogosphere’ is a way to increase the consciousness of citizens about the reality they live in and the methods to improve it.

On the freedom of press

"THE SUBJECT of this Essay is not the so-called Liberty of the Will, so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of Philosophical Necessity; but Civil, or Social Liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.[...]" (On Liberty, John Stuart Mill, Introduction)

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value except to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, it would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many. But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error."(idem, chap. 2)

"[...]ages are no more infallible than individuals; every age having held many opinions which subsequent ages have deemed not only false but absurd; and it is as certain that many opinions, now general, will be rejected by future ages, as it is that many, once general, are rejected by the present." (ibidem)

US Army: video games...fiction or reality?

Please have a look....
from the website www.goarmy.com

"Experience some of what the Army has to offer without leaving your home — and have fun while doing it!"

click here to know more...

The reason why..New Orleans, 2008

I have been asked to write...to post something on my blog....but it's not that easy!
I am not from Minnesota, I am not American...I come from Italy and I am just an exchange student. How does it happen that I am in New Orleans right now? Kind of wierd...i was just arrived at the Hamline, without knowing anybody, when I first heard about the CSI New Orleans. The idea was great: seeing one of the most famous and beautiful cities in the US, living the south, seeing with my own eyes what the hurricane did and doing something good for my spring break. I just applied...
In the meantime, before our leaving, I started to get informed about what ahppened to the citY.
In fact, the news of Katrina's distaster arrived in Europe. in 2005, but I hadn't heard anything else about ever since.After 2 years and a half.....what was left to do?
So...internet, movies...just to have a clue of the reality that I should expect...but only when i came here I COULD REALLY REALIZE.
After a 24-hour-bustrip I am arrived in the ancient Nouvelle Orleans and I've visite the French Quarter as a tourist. The impact of the city, of the music, of the colors was so great that I suddenly fell in love! But the amazement for the discovering of this beauty had to be offset by a similar feeling for the discovering of a total opposite landscape:Lower 9th.
I was told that we were going to the part of the city most affected by the flood. I was told that the levees broke.I was told that a lot of people had lost their house and all their belonging.
But when I saw it I could not believe it....
In front of me there was a huuuuge green plain surrounded, for one side, by an enormous white long white wall. Some trees and a few little houses. Was that a park?Was that a residential area?Where were the houses I'd been told of?Where were the signs of the disaster?
I get off the car...I wanted to undeerstand more...and walking on the grass I could perceive that here and there there were tiles, steps and house basis.....there!the houses were there!
it was full of houses of which only traces were left!
Where were the people?
Where are they now?
The worse thing is that it has not been a natural disaster as I've been told by the media before coming! The engeneers knew!The government knew!The knew that the levees system was not efficient for preventing a flood....but they didn't do anything...
I was angry, sad, all at the same time....I just wanted to do something for those who had lost everything. I wanted to do something....and I've found the reason why I was in New Orleans.
Even if only for a week, even if it would be necessary a governmental intervention in the area...What are the volonteers doing here is essential for the rebuilding of this wonderful city.
I am glad to be here.

Hurricane Katrina: The Drive: New Orleans Lower 9th Ward

Katrina: how music can cross national borders!

Spring break is over, I've been in service learning in New Orleans.
I would like to try and analyse how media trated the disaster of Katrina...little by little:-)
here there is a video that I've really appreciated: that's one of the way Katrina's news reached the Old Continent!

What about my country?

I know, Italy is a little country...but it's my home! Talking about mass media I thought it would be interesting to have a little outlook on different ones.
I linked the video to the source where I found it, the text is in English even though the language is not very politically correct...

Quotations...

The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen. ~Tommy Smothers There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. -- Oscar Wilde Thank you Marina :-)!

A Dutch research about the blogosphere...

http://www.isopeda.nl/thefifthestate.pdf

Thank you Roy!

advertising...look out!

"The story of stuff", a mini documentary by Annie Leonard. Just a little reflection upon the effects of ads in our daily life.

Kind of weird...

I know....9/11 happened, the fear of terrorism, the anxiety of feeling constantly thretened by something or someone....
I can understand everything, but not to find this signal in a public bus...

The War of the Worlds, by Orson Wells

...many people missed or ignored the opening credits of the program, and in the atmosphere of growing tension and anxiety in the days leading up to World War II, took it to be a news broadcast. Contemporary newspapers reported that panic ensued, with people fleeing the area, and others thinking they could smell the poison gas or could see the flashes of the lightning in the distance!

If you want to learn more about this famous track, just click here!

Someone said...

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from self imposed immaturity for which he himself was responsible. Immaturity and dependence are the inability to use one's own intellect without the direction of another. One is responsible for this immaturity and dependence, if its cause is not a lack of intelligence, but a lack of determination and courage to think without the direction of another. Sapere aude! Dare to know! is therefore the slogan of the Enlightenment."

(by Immanuel Kant, Was ist Aufklaerung?)

another movie quotation

from "They live" (1988), by John Carpenter

The power of mass media

quotation from Network (1976), by Sidney Lumet

my first post...

Hi everyone...I'm an Italian student in the US for the semester...
this blog is an experiment...it would like to be a mean to analyse and discuss mass media in all their fonctions and forms...and, above all....it would like to be an observer of media influence in our daily life.
Have a nice day;-)
Elis