Throughout this course and final project, I found myself being pushed in ways of thinking and problem solving that I have never tried before. I think it was an absolute brilliant idea to have each of us work on a form of media that would benefit our everyday lives in a professional or personal way. Since I was building a text that would ultimately reflect an image of my band, I was placed in a position of challenging myself to make something that would be beneficial for any projects I may have in the long-term. I don't think I could have taken a better summer course to fit my interest especially since I have recently accepted that the music industry is almost solely based on some sort digital media and imagery.

I originally wanted to build a website for myself and The Rice Cakes but then realized that that sort of project was a much more in-depth endeavor than I had the time to develop in a sufficient way in just 3 days. So, I instead decided to use a Tumblr, a program that like website construction, also uses complex versions of coding, and it would help me practice for when I do begin learning about how to built a bigger site. It was the first time in a few years that I felt like a digital immigrant; confused and unsure of this new form of digital media I discovered. I had trouble understanding the program features at first, but once I learned how to do one application, the entire sit became so much easier to comprehend as a whole.

The purpose of building a Tumblr for my band was necessary for a number of reasons but most importantly I want it to be a place in which friends, family, and fans, can access news and information in an accessible manner. The Tumblr is composed of a blog format where the media is both produced and consumed by our audience in that they can comment on our posts or they can repost our content. It provides us with a positive way of connecting and communicating with our audience by sharing the many things we have planned for the future of the band. Already, I have met a group of kids who having been following us on our Tumblr who are planning on coming to our shows.

The next necessary aspect to ad to my Tumblr was make a make links within the site itself that would allow any visitors to connect to other forms of social networks and media such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube to name a few. Since my band as been active for about four years, we have a large amount of content. So my challenge was finding a good way to organize it as to not confuse people. I wanted to streamline all of the content so that people can explore the site and ad us to the social network of their choosing if they would like. For example, some people that are following us on Twitter are also following us on Tumblr. I think that connection between us and our audience will continue to grow and develop through our use of various media sites.

The actual process of building the Tumblr was reasonably difficult in term on my little knowledge of the way the site works. I already had a crash course in Voicethread a few days before, so I was prepared to challenge a new program. The more difficult aspect of bringing the Tumblr to life was applying a creative edge that would reflect our ideology as band, one that is welcoming and filled with excitement about music, art, and culture . The image and ethos we portray as a band contains the idea of a genuine DIY approach, an encouragement of community and fun at our shows, and a love of original art. For example, I wanted the background of the Tumblr to reflect a creativity that we share as a group. So, I scanned a bunch of little characters we all drew and combined them into a collage of sorts. I am hoping when people see the images of our drawings, they will feel that it reflects our personalities and musical style. The format of the Tumblr will be inviting to everyone who visits and they will maybe want to stay and check out the page or come back the next day and see what new content we have uploaded.

Before this course, I was definitely conscious of the idea that the education system is in need of some major changes and improvement. But after having spent the last week living and breathing a new pedagogy that encourages the use of media and technology within the educational sphere, I feel as though something drastic has to occur. As Sir Ken Robinson film revealed, we seem to be living in a society that has socially constructed teachers and students to teach and learn respectively in a very out-of-date and traditional way. The framework will continue to disillusion kids who find that their everyday lives are affected by the media they consume and create. I now feel like I have a better understanding of youth culture and I especially have much more knowledge concerning the new programs and ideology the educational system needs. The paradigm needs to change in it's entirety. Perhaps encouraging students to use blogs like Tumblr would encourage them to share and explore new ideas with their teachers and peers. I think the one of the most important ideas we can foster in youth culture is the need to constantly question and critically think about the world all of us.

Media and Ideology: Thoughts on Croteau

I really struggled with this article. I appreciate and understand Croteau's overview of the various ways in which the media functions in our society, but I also feel that many of the issues she is discussing are, in a way, slightly skimmed over. For example, when she briefly discusses that Eminem was nominated for a Grammy for his controversial album Marshall Mathers LP, she speaks of one type of media coverage of the issue. There was a lot of positive hip hop media feedback about that album even considering the often disturbing themes and subject matter Eminem was dealing with. Eminem's purpose was to grind gears and piss people off but in many ways he was playing with the connotations of language in the discourse of modern slang. My point is, Eminem was a huge media issue when that album was released and all the attention it got, bad and good, furthered the success of the album. I think it's difficult for me to read such striking example as Croteau pointed out with Eminem without much explanation of the different types of media ideologies that affect the dominant ideology as a whole.

It's an interesting line we walk when talking about the dominant culture and overwhelming mass media. She explains at one point that many of the producers of media suggest that their perspectives "reflect the norms and ideas of the public" and than she pairs that statement with the obvious quality that mass media companies are looking to make money in any way shape or form. I think it's hard to discuss media ideology as one large thing because in this modern age of technology, the media has been broken into several ideologies. Every person that participates in online activities is in one way or another contributing to the mass media of our culture. Each Tweet and Facebook post is read by others that surround us in various social networking sites. In a way, each individual is a walking site of ideology and even more specifically media ideology.

I really enjoyed Croteau's idea that "there are multiple definitions of reality" in relation to the intentions and consequences of the large quantities of media that exist in our culture. Because we have multiple realities, we have multiple perspectives that affect each person's world view. We all have agency, and therefore are capable of utilizing mental tools to disassemble the problematic aspects media ideology. I wish Croteau had touched a bit more on the propaganda qualities of media coverage, and the ways in which the political sphere takes advantage of almost every single media outlet in our to do things like campaign for a presidency.

Overall, I had a hard time grasping certain parts of the text that seemed to be maybe a bit general but I also enjoyed her analysis of mainstream ideologies as a whole because it is nearly impossible to go in to such detail when she is merely introducing the ideas that make up media literacy.

First day!

Today was such a great start to this kind of workshop. Lesley, I really think you have a way of getting people extremely excited about media analysis, it's contagious.

I like the small group. It is one of the first experiences I've had in a class room where every person speaks. It's almost silly to say, but I talk a lot in most of my classes, especially when I'm surrounded by silent students who can't wait to leave. But, with all of you, I feel so intellectually stimulated because I feel like we all truly care about the issues and ideas we are discussing. That makes learning fun.

I think it's important that we all come from such diverse backgrounds and met for the first time in this class. We all are currently in very different professions which allows for a plethora of insight even if we often share similar ideas. I think all of our perspectives combined will bring about some amazing analysis of the various texts we will be looking at throughout the course.

Sorry this was written so late! I played a show in MA, just got home. Yes, it's 3am.

I'm a Digital Native...Sorta

At this point, I would pretty much consider myself a digital native. I use all sorts of digital media and social networking in order to promote my band in any way I can. Like most media, the music industry and promotion is almost entirely driven by the internet. It is the easiest way to connect with literally millions of people because so much of the current American population has internet access and utilizes devises such as smart phones in order to "stay connected" to friends, news, and popular music. I would consider myself internet savvy, but at the same time I think I'm still fairly foreign to the cell phone. I've had the same phone for 5 years. Almost everyone else I know has had a different phone every year. I don't know how to use T9. Every text takes at least a minute, you might as well call me if you would like to communicate with me through a phone.
In terms of websites and social media, I am very comfortable using Facebook and Tumblr. I have spent alot of time learning about these websites and am now able to post regularly on them but it has taken me a long time to get there. I find these sites helpful when I am touring with the Rice Cakes in that I can keep all of our friends, family, and fans up-to-date on any and all news. If any one is ever wondering, "I wonder what state the Rice Cakes are in today" they can find the answer to that on our various social networking sites.
I also have found myself using the internet to keep myself updated on news throughout the world. A friend of mine turned me on to Al Jazeera this past year and it is my goto, non-biased, news network. I enjoying reading and viewing news on this website because it's focus is the news as it actually exists, not in the propaganda forms in comes in throughout the US.

Here's video of me playing an acoustic version of the song "She Loves You" by the Beatles. I was on tour in April in California and this video was filmed by my boyfriend Paul on my friends balcony overlooking LA. It was a super pretty setting, you can see the city lights in the background, like little stars.

Hello there bloggers,
Roz Raskin here. I'm a RIC Women's Studies major super interested in media literacy especially when concerned with music and popular culture.
My orginial plan for my future in high school invloved me going to SUNY Purchase in NY and majoring in environmental science. But, I decided to apply to RIC when I thought that the band I was in at the time was going to last forever. Of course, a few months into my first semester RIC the band broke up.
After the initial break up, I decided that I was going to make my decision to stay in RI entirely worthwhile. I started my own band, Roz Raskin and the Rice Cakes my freshman year and shortly after developed an interest in gender studies which led me to my Women's Studies major. Ever since, I've been extremely happy with the way things have turned out. I am currently teaching piano, taking the classes I really want to be taking, and playing in the band I love

My band just finished raising over $2000 to film a music video using a website called Kickstarter, a fundraising website. Here's the Kickstarter video our friend Paul Medeiros filmed.

Object Lessons by Deborah L. Tolman

I always get excited in this class when we study issues that are as ground-breaking as the subject matter of Tolman's piece.
I found Tolman's article to be perhaps one of the most profound of this class. I think she has happened upon some unexplored territory.
Female sexuality, in dominant American culture (and Western thought as a whole) is often seen as deviant and taboo which makes the issue controversial and virtually unspoken of.
Tolman explains in her article that the image of a "good girl" isn't in fact good. The idea of being good is accompanied by assumptions of asexuality, lack of desire, and need for romance. Thus, there is a blatant double standard. Men are seen as animalistic and sex-crazed and that is accepted as 'normal' male behavior in our patriarchal society. If man desires sexual pleasure he is refered to as a 'player' where as woman who desires sexual pleasure is called a "slut".

I enjoyed her interview of Isabel, especially taking into account Isabels being white and of middle class standing. Teenagers are of course consciously familiar with the idea that Raby called "the storm" or the explosion into adolescence and angst that young people experience. A huge aspect of the "the storm" is the experimentation and often the discovery of sex. Isabel was struggling to find her sexuality in the world and kept speaking about not being attracted to men and saying things like "I don't fantasize about having sex". I have to say that I think Tolman's perspective was a bit harsh on Isabel, essentially assuming that the girl hadn't been truely freed within herself sexually. I definitely believe that a prevailing vision of women as only objectified women is in fact internationalized by much women in the American population. But asexuality isn't a bad thing and is just as natural as being extremely sexual. Check out this site on asexuality, it is very imformative. Asexual

Isabel, amongst young girls in popular culture, isn't expected to masturbate or at least not discuss it publicly in the way men are allowed. Male masturbation is humorous right? There is every term in the world for it; beating your meat, flogging the dolphin, etc. Off hand I can't think of any terminology for female masturbation because NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT! I heard open conversation about it for the first time a performance of The Vagina Monologues when I saw it at RIC a few years back. No adults ever discussed it with me in high school.

I think this is an exceptional version of the 'good girl' and man, are her teeth white.

Miller and Teens and Social Media Findings

I found Vincent Miller's article New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture very challenging and hard to understand. After reading it through a few times I think I have a better understanding but overall his writing was dense.

Things I Understand:
Miller began his article with a description of phatic culture or "namely a flattening of social bonds as we move into ‘networked sociality’ and a similar ‘flattening’ of communication in these networks towards the non-dialogic and non-informational". I think Miller is describing how the use of internet as a source of sustaining relationships has changed the form and foundation of relationships. I don't understand his use of 'dialogic' in his explanation of phatic culture, maybe we can discuss that in class.
Miller also divided his article in to for distinct sections:
1) Firstly, he expalined "blogging culture and its relationship to the social contexts of individualization". He writes about the power of individualization and the separatedness of American culture and how the internet support the individual nature of people allowing relationships online to become fleeting and even temporary. At the same time, these relationships can be extremely open and trusting yet often through rapid and continuous communication.

2)Secondly, Miller discussed "the social networking profile within the contexts of ‘network sociality’ and the rise of database culture". The idea is that relationships have become ""informational" and not "narative". This is seen in profile on MySpace in which a person describes "likes or dislikes" or maybe "single or in a relationships". Photos have also become a strong component in formulation of relations between to people and even commenting on thoose photos on sites like Facebook.

3)The third section on Miller articles was concerned with "microblogging, connected presence and the ascendancy of phatic culture". The online world using "objects" such as Facebook to fulfill easy access to communication in a "postsocial" environment.

4)Lastly, Miller explains "the usefulness of phatic media". I think that it was extremely important that he cover this subject considering the information in the article wasn't exactly a positive analysis of current mass media culture. In a way, this fast information highway is a successful marketing tool, a way to bring succinct messages to the public. I understand that these new platforms of communication are speedy but I don't exactly understand the value behind it besides the gains made by capitalism and consumerism.

I grew up with the internet and as a an "internet native (as Morrison and McMillan would call me) much of my communication between friends and even family is through email, Facebook, and MySpace. Although I am an avid internet user I sat in shock when I read in Teens and Social Media that "93% of teenagers are online". Is that only shocking to me? Only seven percent of the teen population isn't involved? I am also blown away that a landline is still the most common way teens communicate. I figured that since cell phones have become so popular landlines could be almost obsolete. I wonder what the reasons of this are. Maybe there is a comfort in using a family line from the house or the fact that a landline almost always has service?

Before I entered this class, I also had no idea how popular blogging was/is. "Half of all online teens (49%) now read the online journals or blogs of others, up from 38% in 2004". Holy cow!
I also love how the article took into account that the most active teens online are often the most active offline. Perhaps a stereotype of "the teen online" has entered my mind in some way, picturing a kid who has no life outside of the internet.

Sometimes when I'm online, I find myself thinking about what I would have be doing with my time if I was a teen in the 1980's. I don't have any time to be bored because I can always log on and be entertained by a video, a conversation, or a song someone uploaded to a music site.

I didn't know how much money people can make on blogs. This video was very informative!
click here