Hip Hop Wars by Tricia Rose
One of my favorite parts of this interview is when Tricia Rose refers to hip-hop as being "In the ICU," which is a great metaphor and way to make her thoughts stand out. Hip-hop today doesn't have the same meaning it used to. Every song is about drinking, drugs, weapons, murder, sex, and jail. Most of the songs are very repetitive. I agree with the author that hip-hop is "dumbed down" so it's less complicated to understand. The lyrics and the content of older songs are just so much better. I mean I listen to current hip-hop, but it's not the same. The songs are also played a lot more than they used to be on the radio. I feel like everytime I change the station, the same song is playing that I just heard.
Something I don't understand is why women MC's have to either appear as sexual or really tough. Why can't they just be themselves and have fun like the male mc's get to do? I think it's ridiculous.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" by Marc Prensky
"Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" by Marc Prensky
This article was very interesting to me because I've never really thought about the educational system and how it should be changing. The author brings up many good points in this article. I thought it was very clever of him to come up with the terms "Digital Natives" and "Digital Immigrants" to represent past generations and today's generation. Technology really is like learning another language to people who know nothing about it. Going a little off track, this article reminds me of when my parents finally both got a cell phone and I how I taught them to text and it took them awhile to get the hang of it, but now they text me all of the time. I think the main point the author is trying to make is that the biggest problem facing education today is "Our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language."
Another thing that caught my eye in this article was how it mentioned that Digital Natives like to parallel process and multi-task and the Digital Immigrants don't believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music because they (the Immigrants) can't. I don't really agree with either of these. I think it depends on the person and how each individual thinks and learns. I know a lot of people who can sit in front of the TV and get their homework done just as fast as if they were sitting alone in a room with no noise. I, on the other hand can't do that. If I were to sit in front of the TV or try and listen to music while I'm trying to do homework it would take me about three times as long to get it done because I always find myself either getting sucked into whatever I'm watching; or singing along with the music I'm listening to and I get to distracted.
An example the author used was the Monkey Wrench Conspiracy which was a computer game made so that the mechanical engineers could learn the new Computer-Aided design (CAD) system easier and more fun. This marketing technique proved to be very effective and now it's used by engineering students all over the world.
This article was very interesting to me because I've never really thought about the educational system and how it should be changing. The author brings up many good points in this article. I thought it was very clever of him to come up with the terms "Digital Natives" and "Digital Immigrants" to represent past generations and today's generation. Technology really is like learning another language to people who know nothing about it. Going a little off track, this article reminds me of when my parents finally both got a cell phone and I how I taught them to text and it took them awhile to get the hang of it, but now they text me all of the time. I think the main point the author is trying to make is that the biggest problem facing education today is "Our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language."
Another thing that caught my eye in this article was how it mentioned that Digital Natives like to parallel process and multi-task and the Digital Immigrants don't believe their students can learn successfully while watching TV or listening to music because they (the Immigrants) can't. I don't really agree with either of these. I think it depends on the person and how each individual thinks and learns. I know a lot of people who can sit in front of the TV and get their homework done just as fast as if they were sitting alone in a room with no noise. I, on the other hand can't do that. If I were to sit in front of the TV or try and listen to music while I'm trying to do homework it would take me about three times as long to get it done because I always find myself either getting sucked into whatever I'm watching; or singing along with the music I'm listening to and I get to distracted.
An example the author used was the Monkey Wrench Conspiracy which was a computer game made so that the mechanical engineers could learn the new Computer-Aided design (CAD) system easier and more fun. This marketing technique proved to be very effective and now it's used by engineering students all over the world.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Rise And Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine
"The teenager is the symbol of Americans' rising aspirations, the repository of hopes, the one who will realize the American dream. And inevitably, the teenager is a disappointment, whose combination of adult capacities and juvenile irresponsibility sows personal heartbreak and social chaos."
"The teenage years have been defined as, at once, the best and freest of life and a time of near madness and despair." I absolutely loved how this was worded. I think it perfectly describes a teenager in that one short sentance.
Basically what Thomas Hine is trying to say is that being a teenager is one of the hardest times emotionally that you will face in life and it can be traumitizing. Teenagers aren't given the credit they deserve and are looked down upon by many people. Teengagers have a lot on their plate; trying to fit in: "to the universe, the world, the economy, social circle, and family." According to Anna Freud not very many people can even remember the experience of being a teenager because our concious mind suppresses it because it's such a painful and traumatic time in our lives.
"The teenage years have been defined as, at once, the best and freest of life and a time of near madness and despair." I absolutely loved how this was worded. I think it perfectly describes a teenager in that one short sentance.
Basically what Thomas Hine is trying to say is that being a teenager is one of the hardest times emotionally that you will face in life and it can be traumitizing. Teenagers aren't given the credit they deserve and are looked down upon by many people. Teengagers have a lot on their plate; trying to fit in: "to the universe, the world, the economy, social circle, and family." According to Anna Freud not very many people can even remember the experience of being a teenager because our concious mind suppresses it because it's such a painful and traumatic time in our lives.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
media literacy
The first thing I did while googling media literacy was take a quiz called how media literate are you? (http://www.justthink.org/about/how-media-literate-r-u) It grades you on a scale of one to six (I was a four), and it labels you as an animal. I am apparently a media moth; I have interest in the world, but I am very gullible.
The mass media affects how we perceive and understand the world and people around us, from what we wear, eat and buy to how we relate to ourselves and others. In the 21st century, the ability to interpret and create media is a form of literacy as basic as reading and writing.
One article I found interesting was screen violence and how children respond to it (http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article576.html). The authors listed six characteristics of violence in film and how likely children are to imitate these acts.
"In the privacy of our living rooms we made a devil's bargain with the advertising industry: Give us an endless flow of free programs and we'll let you spend 12 minutes of every hour promoting consumption. For a long time, it seemed to work. The ads grated on our nerves but it was a small price to pay for 'free' television." "What we didn't realize when we made our pact with the advertisers was that their agenda would eventually become the heart and soul of television. We have allowed the most powerful communications tool ever invented to become the command center of a consumer society defining our lives and culture the way family, community and spiritual values once did." (Kalle Lasn, a co-founder of the Canadian media criticism and environmentalist magazine Adbusters) (http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/rr3.php)
The mass media affects how we perceive and understand the world and people around us, from what we wear, eat and buy to how we relate to ourselves and others. In the 21st century, the ability to interpret and create media is a form of literacy as basic as reading and writing.
One article I found interesting was screen violence and how children respond to it (http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article576.html). The authors listed six characteristics of violence in film and how likely children are to imitate these acts.
"In the privacy of our living rooms we made a devil's bargain with the advertising industry: Give us an endless flow of free programs and we'll let you spend 12 minutes of every hour promoting consumption. For a long time, it seemed to work. The ads grated on our nerves but it was a small price to pay for 'free' television." "What we didn't realize when we made our pact with the advertisers was that their agenda would eventually become the heart and soul of television. We have allowed the most powerful communications tool ever invented to become the command center of a consumer society defining our lives and culture the way family, community and spiritual values once did." (Kalle Lasn, a co-founder of the Canadian media criticism and environmentalist magazine Adbusters) (http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/rr3.php)
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