Chapter 5 Q.1

I picked up a Consumer Reports : Cars magazine and was a bit overwhelmed with how much there was to "decode". The whole thing was full of facts, qualifications, and ratings. I shamefully say I am a guy who just isn't into cars enough to purchase a $6.99 magazine about them. However, I was able to paint a picture of someone who would. 

There is every car known to man, or at least available for purchase in this magazine. At first i thought it is for someone who is looking to make a new car purchase. Then I asked the people in my hall who had ever read the magazine. Most had and some even had a subscription. These are not guys who are about to make a $30,000 car purchase. My picture of the subscriber is a dreamer. Someone who goes straight to the Porsche section and says "Oh yeah, the Boxter got best ranking again. Sweet ride." Particularly a man who thinks he knows cars, when he really just likes looking at them. A student making his way through school imagining a huge salary. There of course is nothing wrong with this, I just think no one really uses the information, just likes to feel updated on what supposedly is hot. There are no advertisements other than nice pictures of the cars and pages with phone numbers to call to have cars appraised and help with buying or selling a used vehicle. These pages are separate from the magazine, so all the mag offers is number ranking for each car on how they feel about it specs. 

I can't describe physical characteristics of this man, but the mindset is to escape into a dream garage of any car you want. 1 out of every 10 readers is using it for a purchase, the rest for eye candy. 

Chapter 5 Q.2

Personally, the electronic media hasn’t changed my experience with magazines at all.  I read what my family has a subscription too and not much more.  I know many magazines are available online, even most without a subscription, but with so many other things available on a computer, why would I spend time trying to read articles? There are more suitable channels such as yahoo and msn that give plenty of information and entertainment. With magazines being so definite, so specific to a hobbyists needs then it is worth the payment of a subscription to be mailed to the door.  The Sony reader is a nice idea, but time will tell whether people actually want to pay money to be able to read what they want with out the use of paper.  

Chapter 1 Q.2

2 months ago, I would have said television was the most effective form of mass media in the realm of both entertainment and persuasion, but now being a busy college student I see that TV is more foreign than I thought it could ever be.  The internet is the new best way to inform and entertain.  I look at my email and the homepage has all the biggest information right there whether  I want to see it or not. If I want to watch any certain part of a film, I could see it on Youtube. Its wireless, all I need is a wi-fi connection (which is all over campus) and I can get what I want. It's free! Newspapers and TV news may have more local updates, but I can search most local newspapers online now and cut out the printed paper all together. It's simple, easy and effective to only have a computer and be able to be connected to such a number of outlets in the world. 

The exception is persuasion. A computer screen does nothing for convincing me. It can entertain and inform, but nothing I see on the internet will convince me. Not everything is more believable in paper print, but newspapers and journals have a higher standard that I can better believe and trust to help me make my decisions. I am not about to live on a computer, I need all resources, but if I had to choose only one, it would certainly be the internet and the computer.

Chapter 4 Q.2

Textbooks are bad enough reading the endless lines of heavy textbooks. I can’t even begin to imagine staring at a luminescent 13-inch screen to get the same information.  I have tried it. I have read the scripture on my iPod touch for a few nights and after even a few minutes my eyes and mind are exhausted.  Even now there are options that make both channels available, but if I could I would prefer paper over a lighted screen any day. It’s a luxury to see everything on the internet if I forgot my books or honestly had to much to carry from class to class, but with my schedule it is very simple to schedule what books I need at one time to make my load light. Some will use it, but most will not. Electronic viewing will never become the only medium for text; there will always be paperback and bindings to which we will decode messages. It has simply been around too long to go away. 

Chapter 3 Q.2

Every night when I walk home from wherever or whatever I was doing I look into room 1002 of budge hall and see a boy glued to the TV screen.  He’s not the only one. I have friends from my high school who is now a professional videogame player. I honestly can’t truly call him a friend, as I never see him. He wouldn’t even play games with his friends because it would bring down his skill. 

         More realistically though, most people can play games and have a social life. Anyone who thinks we will one day all stare at our computer screens on Facebook is silly and small-minded. You have to have friends to make Facebook interesting. You have to do things, post happenings, pictures and relationship changes to make it interesting. Us as an active people, movie watchers, hikers, swimmers, and partiers post what we do for others to read. It will not consume our lives, only become a part of it. 

Chapter 3 Q.1

The only Japanese movie that is ever made is full of ninjas, fighting and Kong Fu. Stereotype! Obviously there are many genres similar to the US, perhaps the only ones that appear on American screens is action.  Forget foreign films, the whole comedy circuit is run by humorous stereotypes used as mockery or sarcasm. Even in interpersonal communication people who are stereotyped laugh about stereotypes about themselves. It’s everywhere!

            Stereotypes can be negative, and perhaps most of the time are, but the kind I enjoy are for comedy. One of my favorite movies of all time is Airplane! The movie is riddled with views of certain ethnicities and their tendencies in a humorous way. Black people talking “jive”, obviously the only way they talk, as well as religious monks cornering people, even attacking them. I am not saying stereotyping can be true, but if used correctly it can be hilarious, even to those being stereotyped. Singles Ward? Need I say more? 

Chapter 1 Q.1

The basic communication model consists of a sender and a receiver. Each has there own jobs to be able to create and understand the message. Newspaper and magazines put there information into text form making the receiver use their eyes, while radio works the ears, and television makes viewer really work hard and use both eyes and ears.

A message sent whether through the mail or airwaves is always from a sender (producer, writer) to a receiver (the average consumer). Then, what makes the process a complete circle is the feedback. Newspaper articles and magazines send out information in text form and readers can usually comment on the articles in a letter back to the publishers or even a blog on their company website. Radio stations offer a direct channel for listeners to call in with suggestions or comments on the discussion of the day. Television, however, is much more an intrapersonal experience. Feedback can be transfered from viewer to viewer, then intercepted by the producers of the entertainment, but it is certainly has the least feedback included in it's process. 

Noise is much more prevalent on television than any other source. Commercials, immediate interruptions for news updates, and more senses are at work to decode the messages which creates a noisier atmosphere. More possibility for mechanical and audio error, as well as the wide range of entertainment offered can often disrupt the channel on which the information is being sent. 

The Model works best for radio situations. It is simply the closest form of interpersonal communication on a broader scale. While magazines and television decide what should be in the media, much of the radio talk shows and music playlist are determined by feedback from it's listeners. Receivers have to have a chance to complete the circle with feedback and visual and textual media are doomed to be slow and often don't even have a source for criticism at all.