In examining the methods and historical contexts of espionage on the heels of our discussion of propaganda, it occurs to me that we are really looking at two sides of the same coin. Propaganda involves information manipulation by mass dissemination, while spying covers the flip side information manipulation by precisely targeted absorption. Espionage, as aView Full Page…
Leni Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will”
Hi, everyone! If you’re interested in reading this in preparation for tomorrow’s planned discussion of Riefenstahl’s “Triumph of the Will”, here is the celebrity movie critic Roger Ebert’s review of the film. Ebert brings up two points that we touched upon in class yesterday. Firstly, we talked about the effectiveness of the film as aView Full Page…
Persuading the Public – Propaganda by Britain, US, and Germany July 26, 2010
This week’s topic is about Politics and Propaganda, a fascinating subject about how something like the media can change the way people fundamentally feel about their country and politicians in favor of one party. Propaganda has both a broad definition “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring anView Full Page…
Some Thoughts on “The History of Journalism” July 25, 2010
The Majority of the members or our presentation group are Media Studies Majors, and therefore have had a bit of background in the history of journalism. We have thus decided to individually address some elements addressed (or missed) in Michael Schudson’s chapter “Where News Came From: The History of Journalism.” In order to establish aView Full Page…
Reading Response #2 Posted July 23, 2010
The next RR assignment, due Monday 7/26, has been posted. We’ve also added a writer’s checklist to clarify our expectations and subsequent evaluation of written work. As mentioned, please prepare for Monday’s class by reading both Schudson and Marlin, and by watching the YouTube videos posted in the syllabus for that day.
Emergence of the Public Sphere July 21, 2010
The concept of the public sphere is a metaphor we use to describe the circulation of information and ideas in a large society. It is a “realm,” as some authors have called it, of our social life in which we are able to come out of our houses and talk to others in our communityView Full Page…
No Reading Response This Week July 15, 2010
To give you all more time to work on the paper, prepare for the midterm, and in some cases, put together your blog/presentation work, the reading response due on Monday (7/19) is cancelled and will resume the following week.
Reading Response #1 Posted July 8, 2010
We’ve posted the first reading response assignment. In class, we’ll discuss Heilbroner and Hughes, examine technological determinism and alternative approaches, and touch upon the assignment itself. See you tomorrow!
Welcome! June 14, 2010
Welcome! The first day of class of the History of Information is Wednesday, July 7th, 2010 from 1:00-3:30 in 213 Wheeler Hall. The class is currently full, but we will do everything we can to get as many students into the class as possible. Please be present and on time the first day of class evenView Full Page…