Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Commodifying Dissent
Here is a good article that touches on the discussion we began yesterday on the cooptation of resistance. Please read it by tomorrow if possible. Enjoy!
graffiti
hi everyone,
i know we talked about graffiti yesterday. i just wanted to share a few images i have captured over the years. both, at least in my opinion, contain loaded political messages. the "smash capitalism" pic was taken in tijuana, mexico. the "BU..SH.." pic was taken in denver the first time i visited the city. it is no longer there however.
i know yesterday we spoke of the power of graffiti, whether it was aesthetically pleasing or not... while i appreciate works like the tank more, i do think there is a lot to be said about the second, more basic work...
let me know what you all think.
roberto
Monday, January 28, 2008
Dove Real Beauty Remix
ryeclifton says: "Someone pointed out that Axe and Dove are both owned by Unilever... yet the two brands have very different views when it comes to women."
Steal This Film
I just finished watching part II of this great film about piracy, intellectual property and the future of culture. Its got lots of famous talking heads, but the best part is how they illustrate media innovations as the main force in cultural development (all using public domain images and footage, by the way). Part I is a little less interesting, focusing mostly on the power of filesharing.
The best part is that the whole movie is free and available for download in a few different formats, and is completely funded by donations.
I'm pretty sure the title is based off Abie Hoffman's Steal This Book all about subversive activity.
The best part is that the whole movie is free and available for download in a few different formats, and is completely funded by donations.
I'm pretty sure the title is based off Abie Hoffman's Steal This Book all about subversive activity.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
I found this website, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=119 , that contains a 'Media Activist Kit'. This kit contains information on how to detect bias in the news, how to communicate with journalists, how to organize a demonstration, information about the media as a business, resources to check accuracy, and local activists in your area. It is a jump start for anyone who is willing to challenge mainstream media and break away from the hegemony it creates. While a lot of the information may seem obvious to those who care about the media, for many people, it is a wakeup call. Because of the hegemony in the media, many people may not even notice the bias and unfairness in the media. This kit is great for those who are looking for a way to fight mainstream media but do not even know where to begin.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
True Majority's Serious Fun Games
Truemajority.com has a section called "Serious Fun" that has the operation game I mentioned in class, in which you "remove President Bush's cabinet." I thought it was a really interesting use of games as propaganda.I also wanted to point to another really interesting in-game performance art piece called dead-in-iraq where an artist recites all of the killed Iraq soldiers in a game called America's Army which was funded by the government.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Gitlin discussion questions
Hi everyone. I know this reading is dense. Here are some questions to guide you through. Please be prepared to discuss them on Monday. And please don’t be frustrated. Once we get some of these complex ideas down we will be moving on to the fun part—enjoying and critiquing radical media products!
1. What does Gitlin mean by ideology and by the statement “the mass media have become core systems for the distribution of ideology”.
2. What does he mean by the statement “Just as people as workers have no voice in what they make, how they make it, or how the product is distributed or used, so do people as producers of meaning have no voice in what the media make of what they say or do, or the context within which the media frame their activities.”
3. What happens when political movements rely on mass media?
4. What is a media frame? And what were some of the frames used in coverage of SDS described in the chapter Preliminaries?
5. According to Gans, what accounts for prevailing frames?
6. How do standard frames shape coverage of insurgent movements?
7. What is the difference between alternate and oppositional?
8. What do salaries and vacation spot preferences of journalists have to do with hegemony?
9. What are some of the prevailing news standards that dictate how news is covered?
10. What does this mean: “Through the everyday workings of journalism, large-scale social conflict is imported into the news institution and reproduced there: reproduced, however, in terms derived from dominant ideology. Discrepant statements about reality are acknowledged—but muffled, softened, blurred, fragmented, domesticated at the same time.”
11. How do political crises influence hegemonic journalistic routines? Think of a contemporary example?
1. What does Gitlin mean by ideology and by the statement “the mass media have become core systems for the distribution of ideology”.
2. What does he mean by the statement “Just as people as workers have no voice in what they make, how they make it, or how the product is distributed or used, so do people as producers of meaning have no voice in what the media make of what they say or do, or the context within which the media frame their activities.”
3. What happens when political movements rely on mass media?
4. What is a media frame? And what were some of the frames used in coverage of SDS described in the chapter Preliminaries?
5. According to Gans, what accounts for prevailing frames?
6. How do standard frames shape coverage of insurgent movements?
7. What is the difference between alternate and oppositional?
8. What do salaries and vacation spot preferences of journalists have to do with hegemony?
9. What are some of the prevailing news standards that dictate how news is covered?
10. What does this mean: “Through the everyday workings of journalism, large-scale social conflict is imported into the news institution and reproduced there: reproduced, however, in terms derived from dominant ideology. Discrepant statements about reality are acknowledged—but muffled, softened, blurred, fragmented, domesticated at the same time.”
11. How do political crises influence hegemonic journalistic routines? Think of a contemporary example?
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Hi
I was just wondering if I could possibly borrow a copy of the book from someone for the readings by Sunday? The bookstore is out and the copy from the library is checked out already. I hope my book comes in the mail really soon but I'm not 100% sure it'll get here before Monday.
Thanks,
Tati
Thanks,
Tati
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Discussion questions for Monday 1-7
According to Downing...
1. What is the impact of small-scale radical media?
2. What is radical media?
3. What are textual poachers (and can you think of some contemporary examples)?
4. Why/how do the terms popular culture and audience contradict each other?
5. What is hegemony? (And can you give some examples?)
6. What is Scott's view of resistance?
1. What is the impact of small-scale radical media?
2. What is radical media?
3. What are textual poachers (and can you think of some contemporary examples)?
4. Why/how do the terms popular culture and audience contradict each other?
5. What is hegemony? (And can you give some examples?)
6. What is Scott's view of resistance?
Syllabus
Activist Media: A historical overview 1960-2008
MCOM 3150
DMST 3900
MW4:00 pm - 5:50 pm
Mass Communications Building 121
Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate
Professor Adrienne Russell
Adrienne.russell@du.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 12:30-1:30 Sturm Hall 216 or by appointment
In studying 1960s-era Students for a Democratic Society, Todd Gitlin demonstrated how the group’s attempts to attract media attention ended with its giving over the movement message to reporters and editors. Today’s alternative cultures use internet and mobile technologies to access and circulate mainstream information, but also to rapidly exchange information that exists outside mainstream media channels. Activist movements today with access to digital tools and networks are no longer dependent on newspapers and broadcast networks to represent them, to disseminate their messages. On the contrary, these wired cultures are developing sophisticated public relations strategies. We are, however, just beginning to see how the proliferation of alternative networks of communication, and the content, practices, and identities they facilitate, interact with traditional political and business organizations, as well as with traditional media products and practices. This course focuses on media activism over the past half-century tied to various movements. We’ll examine the similarities and differences among media strategies with an emphasis on contemporary protest movements and their use of new and old media.
Books
John Downing, Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements
Graham Meikle, Future Active: Media Activism and the Internet
Assignments/Exam
Blog You will receive an invitation via email to join our blog group. Please follow the directions in the email. This is not an extended discussion format as much as it is a graffiti wall and an ongoing exercise in collaborative linking. At least 4 times over the course of the quarter you should contribute to our blog a link and a short review (1 paragraph) of a site, article, example of activist media, art project, news story, or other resource relevant to the reading assignments. Please also post on the blog highlights and links related to your presentation (see below).
Exam
There will be a midterm essay exam.
Presentation In order to integrate diverse material into the course, each student will be asked to present in class an example of media activism (an ad, a website, a video clip, an article, a video game, organization etc.) and present it, explaining how it exemplifies, problematizes, or in some way helps illuminate an issue or idea that we are discussing in the course. The assignment is intentionally not strictly defined. Here are a few guidelines to consider as you plan your presentation: 1) you must show something in class; 2) be prepared to talk to the class about how your media product is related to a particular topic, issue, or theory; 3) consider preparing some questions for the class to encourage involvement in the analysis of your media product; 4) be prepared to speak for at least 10 minutes and not longer than 20 minutes; 5) be absolutely sure to present on the day on which you signed up to present; 6) come talk to me or send me an email if you need help coming up with or refining an idea.
Paper Prospectus
The research prospectus should serve as a plan for your research paper. It should be 3-4 double-spaced pages and should include:
1) a clear statement of your research question;
2) a description of specifically what you are going to look at (ie, audiences/users/producers, media content, media institutions);
3) an outline of the theoretical and empirical literature that will inform your work;
4) a preliminary bibliography.
Final Paper
Choose a theory presented in class or in the readings and apply it to a historical or conteporary activist media product, practice, or phenomenon. Your paper should explore the extent to which your theory is a useful way of understanding your particular object of study.
Your paper should be between 10-15 double-spaced pages and should use either APA or MLA style of bibliographic reference. All papers must build on literature in the field and include a literature review.
Talk to me if you have a different idea about what you would like to research and how you would like to approach your material.
Evaluation
Attendance/Participation 20 percent
Presentation and Blogging 20 percent
Midterm 30 percent
Final Paper and prospectus 30 percent
Schedule
W 1-2 Introduction
M 1-7 Towards a Definition of Alternative/Radical Media: Examining the Relationships between Culture and Politics, Content and Tactics
Reading: Downing 1, 2
W 1-9 Theories and Approaches to Media and Resistance: Networks, Community and and Détournement
Reading: Downing 3, 4, 5
Wikipedia entry Detournment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detournement
Debord, Guy. "A User's Guide to Détournement." http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/detourn.htm
M 1-14 The Whole World is Watching: The relationship between mainstream and activist media in the 60s
Cases: American Civil Rights Movement and Students for a Democratic Society
Reading: Todd Giltin hand out
W 1-16 The History of Memory and Activist Media
Reading: http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/civilrights.html
Downing 7, 8, 9
Film: The Long Nights Journey into Day
M 1-21 MLK Day no class
W 1-23 no class
Radical Media and resistance in everyday life
Reading: Downing 10, 11, 12, 14
M 1-28 The press
Reading: Downing 13, 18, 22
Case studies: Portugual 1974-1975; Samizdot in the former Soviet Republic; and contemporary examples of radical print media
W 1-30 Radio
Reading: Downing 15, 19, 21
Case studies: FIRE; Italian Radiopop and Controradio; KPFA
Guest speaker Margie Thompson of FIRE (not yet confirmed)
http://www.fire.or.cr/indexeng.htm
M 2-4 Video
Reading: Downing 16, 20
W 2-6 Video
Guest speaker Kate Burns and/or Shiela Schroeder (not yet confirmed)
Reading: TBA
M 2-11 no class
W 2-13 Midterm
M 2-18 Introduction to Online activism
Cases: Zapatistas and the global justice movement
Reading: Downing 17, Meikle 1, 2
W 2-20 Power and the Politics of Representation
Reading: Meikle 3,4
M 2-25 Culture Jamming/Hacking
Reading: Meikle 5,6,7
W 2-27 Field trip to Denver Open Media
Reading: TBA
M 3-3 Final presentations
W 3-5 Final presentation
M 3-10 Final presentations
Last day of classes
MCOM 3150
DMST 3900
MW4:00 pm - 5:50 pm
Mass Communications Building 121
Levels: Graduate, Undergraduate
Professor Adrienne Russell
Adrienne.russell@du.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 12:30-1:30 Sturm Hall 216 or by appointment
In studying 1960s-era Students for a Democratic Society, Todd Gitlin demonstrated how the group’s attempts to attract media attention ended with its giving over the movement message to reporters and editors. Today’s alternative cultures use internet and mobile technologies to access and circulate mainstream information, but also to rapidly exchange information that exists outside mainstream media channels. Activist movements today with access to digital tools and networks are no longer dependent on newspapers and broadcast networks to represent them, to disseminate their messages. On the contrary, these wired cultures are developing sophisticated public relations strategies. We are, however, just beginning to see how the proliferation of alternative networks of communication, and the content, practices, and identities they facilitate, interact with traditional political and business organizations, as well as with traditional media products and practices. This course focuses on media activism over the past half-century tied to various movements. We’ll examine the similarities and differences among media strategies with an emphasis on contemporary protest movements and their use of new and old media.
Books
John Downing, Radical Media: Rebellious Communication and Social Movements
Graham Meikle, Future Active: Media Activism and the Internet
Assignments/Exam
Blog You will receive an invitation via email to join our blog group. Please follow the directions in the email. This is not an extended discussion format as much as it is a graffiti wall and an ongoing exercise in collaborative linking. At least 4 times over the course of the quarter you should contribute to our blog a link and a short review (1 paragraph) of a site, article, example of activist media, art project, news story, or other resource relevant to the reading assignments. Please also post on the blog highlights and links related to your presentation (see below).
Exam
There will be a midterm essay exam.
Presentation In order to integrate diverse material into the course, each student will be asked to present in class an example of media activism (an ad, a website, a video clip, an article, a video game, organization etc.) and present it, explaining how it exemplifies, problematizes, or in some way helps illuminate an issue or idea that we are discussing in the course. The assignment is intentionally not strictly defined. Here are a few guidelines to consider as you plan your presentation: 1) you must show something in class; 2) be prepared to talk to the class about how your media product is related to a particular topic, issue, or theory; 3) consider preparing some questions for the class to encourage involvement in the analysis of your media product; 4) be prepared to speak for at least 10 minutes and not longer than 20 minutes; 5) be absolutely sure to present on the day on which you signed up to present; 6) come talk to me or send me an email if you need help coming up with or refining an idea.
Paper Prospectus
The research prospectus should serve as a plan for your research paper. It should be 3-4 double-spaced pages and should include:
1) a clear statement of your research question;
2) a description of specifically what you are going to look at (ie, audiences/users/producers, media content, media institutions);
3) an outline of the theoretical and empirical literature that will inform your work;
4) a preliminary bibliography.
Final Paper
Choose a theory presented in class or in the readings and apply it to a historical or conteporary activist media product, practice, or phenomenon. Your paper should explore the extent to which your theory is a useful way of understanding your particular object of study.
Your paper should be between 10-15 double-spaced pages and should use either APA or MLA style of bibliographic reference. All papers must build on literature in the field and include a literature review.
Talk to me if you have a different idea about what you would like to research and how you would like to approach your material.
Evaluation
Attendance/Participation 20 percent
Presentation and Blogging 20 percent
Midterm 30 percent
Final Paper and prospectus 30 percent
Schedule
W 1-2 Introduction
M 1-7 Towards a Definition of Alternative/Radical Media: Examining the Relationships between Culture and Politics, Content and Tactics
Reading: Downing 1, 2
W 1-9 Theories and Approaches to Media and Resistance: Networks, Community and and Détournement
Reading: Downing 3, 4, 5
Wikipedia entry Detournment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detournement
Debord, Guy. "A User's Guide to Détournement." http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/detourn.htm
M 1-14 The Whole World is Watching: The relationship between mainstream and activist media in the 60s
Cases: American Civil Rights Movement and Students for a Democratic Society
Reading: Todd Giltin hand out
W 1-16 The History of Memory and Activist Media
Reading: http://www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/civilrights.html
Downing 7, 8, 9
Film: The Long Nights Journey into Day
M 1-21 MLK Day no class
W 1-23 no class
Radical Media and resistance in everyday life
Reading: Downing 10, 11, 12, 14
M 1-28 The press
Reading: Downing 13, 18, 22
Case studies: Portugual 1974-1975; Samizdot in the former Soviet Republic; and contemporary examples of radical print media
W 1-30 Radio
Reading: Downing 15, 19, 21
Case studies: FIRE; Italian Radiopop and Controradio; KPFA
Guest speaker Margie Thompson of FIRE (not yet confirmed)
http://www.fire.or.cr/indexeng.htm
M 2-4 Video
Reading: Downing 16, 20
W 2-6 Video
Guest speaker Kate Burns and/or Shiela Schroeder (not yet confirmed)
Reading: TBA
M 2-11 no class
W 2-13 Midterm
M 2-18 Introduction to Online activism
Cases: Zapatistas and the global justice movement
Reading: Downing 17, Meikle 1, 2
W 2-20 Power and the Politics of Representation
Reading: Meikle 3,4
M 2-25 Culture Jamming/Hacking
Reading: Meikle 5,6,7
W 2-27 Field trip to Denver Open Media
Reading: TBA
M 3-3 Final presentations
W 3-5 Final presentation
M 3-10 Final presentations
Last day of classes
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