Soc 133: Media/Culture/Power
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Web log for Sociology 133
Summer Session 2002
UC Santa Barbara
Instructor: Molly Moloney
Teaching Assistant: Joy Hylton
Molly's Office Hours:
Monday 4:30-6:30 p.m. Ellison 2724
Joy's Office Hours:
Wednesday 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Ellison 4720
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
Summer 2003
Looking for the blog for the current quarter (Summer 2003) of Soc 133, Media/Culture/Power?
It's at mediaculturepower.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Final Exam
So, the final exam is almost here! Don't forget to bring a bluebook and a pink parscore scantron tonight. I'll be around Ellison (either my office or the computer lab down the hall) from about 4 until the exam tonight. So, if you've got last minute issues, feel free to pop in.
Jeff O. has offered to share his notes on the soap opera articles. They're avaialbe here. They might be helpful for a last minute refresher. Thanks Jeff!
Good luck everyone. I've really had a great time working with you all this quarter.
-- Molly
Monday, July 22, 2002
More Updates on Media Industry
Miscellaneous Articles from this weekend which may be of interest . . .
From Kathryn: An interesting article about AOL entitledAOL Time Warner Named in Shareholder Suit . (Thanks Kathryn)
The Dean of the School of Journalism at Berkeley writes about the relationship between media mergers/conglomeration and the economic scandals at Enron, WorldCom, etc. in this editorial.
There's some major restructuring going on at AOL-Time Warner as described here.
Final Exam
The end of the quarter is approaching amazingly quickly. The Final Exam is on Wednesday July 31 (the last day of class). That's less than 10 days away! So, make sure that you are up-to-date on all of the reading and that you are asking questions about anything in the reading that you don't understand. (Or anything in lecture for that matter). The final will have pretty much the same format as the midterm did.
The midterm will be passed back in class today. I highly recommend that everyone makes some time to look over the exam to see what you got right and wrong (both Joy and I have copies of the exam that you can look at). The final is cumulative (though heavily weighted toward the second half) and some of the same issues from the midterm will appear again.
Tuesday, July 16, 2002
McChesney on World Com
An interesting interview published today on Salon.com. They speak with Robert McChesney (who we've read in this class, and will be reading more of later in the quarter) about deregulation, Michael Powell, the FCC, and the recent corporate scandals in the telecommunications industry (especially World Com/MCI).
Homework 3: Media Violence
The next homework assignment is due Monday July 22. There are two versions of the assignment: one for groups 1-3, one for groups 4-6. Make sure you have the correct assignment. If you have any questions about it, ask me or Joy.
Monday, July 15, 2002
More on Clear Channel
There's a new article in today's LA Times about Clear Channel Communications, here. (You may need to do their free registration to access it). The bulk of the article is an interview with the company's president. It would be interesting to read his responses alongside that of the company's critics (such as in the Boelhert articles below).
(Thanks to Joy for finding this!)
Monday, July 08, 2002
Fan Films
Some links for those of you interested in fan films (most of the links I could find were for Star Wars-- if you know of others let me know):
A great article at Salon.com about the fan film phenomenon
Atom Films, and the Star Wars fan film awards
More Star Wars fan films
An article about the audience for fan films
A google directory of major SW fan film sites
Midterm
The midterm is a week from today! We'll be doing some reviewing in class this Wednesday. Try to be caught up with the reading, so that we can go over whatever is confusing. Bring questions to the review. Talk to me after class (or email me) if you want to set up an appointment for later in the week.
Bring with you to the midterm a Parscore (Pink) Scantron and a Blue Book. (Make sure you plan ahead-- all of the on campus stores which sell these things close around 5 p.m. or earlier).
Monday, July 01, 2002
Fan Fiction Homework Assignment
For your second homework assignment, I'd like for you to look at some fan fiction. Monday's reading/class will focus on this topic, as a case study to accompany our examination of Bottom-up approaches to media-culture.
Below are a few links that will direct you towards some examples of fan fiction. It's an understatement to say that there's a LOT of fan fiction out there. It varies greatly in terms of tone, style, and quality. So, look around a little while to find something that interests you. Try to at least glance through a few different examples to get some small sense of the range. Bring the story you select, your 1-2 page response, and the assignment sheet with you to class on Monday. (There are extra copies of the assignment outside of my office in Ellison).
http://members.aol.com/ksnicholas/fanfic/
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Online_Writing/Fiction/Fan_Fiction/?tc=1
http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Online_Writing/Fiction/Fan_Fiction/Television/
http://www.fanfiction.net/
UPDATE: If you choose a very long story, then you don't have to print the whole thing out-- just print a few pages to give a sense of what you read. (But, read the whole thing!)
Office Hours
This week, Joy's regular Wednesday office hours will be rescheduled for Tuesday (same time, same place), due to the 4th of July Holiday. If Tuesday doesn't work for you, just let me know. I (Molly) can make an appointment with you to meet on Wednesday or sometime later in the week (to discuss the homework assignment or the class in general).
Midterm
Just a friendly reminder that the midterm will be two weeks from today (it's on July 15). Summer session flies by, so be careful and don't get behind!
Magazines
As I'll be announcing in class, I'm asking everyone to bring a magazine with you to class on Tuesday July 9. We're going to be analyzing these in class on that day. It doesn't have to be a new magazine; if you have something sitting on the coffee table, bring that.
