Synthesis Essay
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sythesis_essay_-_teacher_remarks.docx
Synthesis Essay
Crystal Jefferson
June 9, 2013
WRTG 101
Annemarie J Chiarini
Synthesis essay
Every multimedia medium enables a unique method of discourse by offering a different orientation for expression, sensibility, and thought.According to McLuhan in the article ‘The media is the metaphor’ identifies medium as the message. Forms of media do not denote specific or concrete statements regarding the environment or world but are rather metaphors, which work to enforce various reality definitions. Whether an individual or group is experiencing the immediate environment or the world using a speech, printed words or television, media-metaphors classify, sequence, and argue the case concerning how the world is in reality (McLuhan, 2003; Postman, 2005). Comment by Annmarie Chiarini: Read your paper out loud to ensure clear and accurate sentence structure Comment by Annmarie Chiarini: “ ->use these quotes Comment by Annmarie Chiarini: Where is your thesis? From Drew University’s website: A research paper with a weak thesis (such as: "media images of women help to shape women's sense of how they should look") will organize its findings to show how this is so without having to spend much time discussing other arguments (in this case, other things that also help to shape women's sense of how they should look). A paper with a strong thesis (such as "the media is the single most important factor in shaping women's sense of how they should look") will spend more time discussing arguments that it rejects (in this case, each paragraph will show how the media is more influential than other factors in that particular aspect of women's sense of how they should look").
Postman uses the term “conversation” metaphorically referring to all the technologies and techniques that permit individuals to pass across messages. Every culture is regarded as a conversation or corporation of conversations in symbolic modes. Postman seeks to show how the various public discourse forms can regulate content of multimedia message. Television has had an effect in delivery of news in the sense that “news of the day” does not exist if media is not available to provide it with expression. Lack of a technology to communicate a message results in people not paying attention to it thus without any medium to create form, news of the day does not exist (Postman, 2005). In the article “The Transition to Digital Journalism” Gomez writes that a lot of journalists enter this profession because of the love of telling stories. Gomez raises concerns that digital media, such as television will bring doom to narrative as a result of constant eruption of information which, lack context. This factor is affecting delivery of news by making many people lack attention span to seek in-depth news.
Quayle believes in “The method of the medium is in motion” that television news has the potential to support higher public discourse level. An individual’s body is irrelevant in as compared to the ideas in writing when addressing an audience. However, this is not the case in television as the body shape and other physical features are very relevant. In television, visual imagery is largely responsible for conducting discourse (Quayle, 2010). Television offers discourse in images rather than words. Quayle agrees with Postman by stating that looking at the evidence gathered from broadcast and cable news which was not available at the time Postman wrote “Amusing Ourselves to Death”, the method in television medium including its production is in good motion in addition to a hope in the form of public discourse in this electronic age (Postman, 2005). Comment by Annmarie Chiarini: Carefully craft the topic sentences to each paragraph because instead of simply introducing the material for the paragraph that will follow, they will also link back to the thesis and assert that this information is essential because...
News of the day is perceived as a fragment of the technological imagination. As a media event, people attend to these event fragments because o f the various media whose forms are suitable for a fragmented conservation. This change has had a significant irreversible effect of shifting public discourse as more than one media cannot possess the same ideas. Grabowicz agrees that a story can be fragmented into narrative series which are organized as topics where individuals can explore according to personal interests. It is possible to tell different aspects of a story in different multimedia formats such as video, graphics, and photo slideshows, or audio that makes storytelling more engaging. According to a study conducted by Newspaper Northwestern University's Media Management Center and Association of America Foundation, individuals require background information, context of the information in addition to visuals such as graphics or photos to make information interesting (Grabowicz, 12013).
In the article “An Apology to the 4G generation” Kelley notes how Postman predicted the way images in television which are changing very fast will lure many people from reading print text and thinking and shorten their attention spans (Kelley, 2012). According to Postman, thinking part of an individual’s brain would atrophy leading to a state where the state of the mind is somewhat analogue. According to Kelley, rebuilding one’s attention span can greatly improve thinking, learning and ability to communicate (Kelley, 2012).
Postman writes that television is currently at its trivial age with the best things being junk. The author claims delivery of news through television is most dangerous when presenting important cultural conversations. In “Amusing Ourselves to Death”Postman shares that a news show is a basically for entertainment purposes and not intended for reflection or education purposes (Postman, 2005). Quayle is of the position that more does not necessarily mean that better with reference to more junk news delivered on television than before. Quayle notes that according to Postman, subject matter in television is perceived as entertainment (supra-ideology of all television discourse) regardless of the point of view.
However, Quayle disagrees with this claim by stating that in order to experience the reality of the present day life, it is necessary to go through the television age (Quayle, 2010). Postman’s claim that television serves people right by presenting junk entertainment and wrongly by serving people with important discourse like science, news, religion, politics, commerce or education is misleading (Postman, 2005). According to Quayle, Postman used a sample size which was very small to prematurely conclude the potential of television as a medium of delivering news. Twenty-five years later after “Amusing Ourselves to Death” was wrote, the news space for television news broadcast is full of news content just by taking a look at the business news sub-category (Quayle, 2010).
In the article “The Media and the Middle East”, the author notes that a lot of information originates from various news media or various entertainment industries. The author notes how important it is to develop awareness regarding the manner in which multimedia shapes an individual’s view point. Equally important is knowledge or awareness of how news is made. According to journalists, “if it bleeds, it leads” meaning wars, accidents, explosions among other tragic events make cover page headlines or top stories in television news because they boost the ratings. This is the main reason why headline news is usually characterized by crisis stories with less emphasis on context and culture. This makes it hard for an average person to realize that they are not getting context of the news.
Postman failed to predict the multiple directions that television is at the moment evolving or audience fragmentation which is creating smart viewers. As a result of the rapid evolution in communication, programmers are changing to methods that expand outside the common thought field. In addition, as the industry continues to fragment at a faster pace, very few of the observed multimedia characteristics, technologies or attributes of the multimedia technology will remain intact. The fragmentations within the changing methods will result in a medium that will be in motion in various directions simultaneously resulting in a television format that can diminish or raise public discourse level.
In addition to the feedback above, this is a checklist of ten crucial items:
1. Check your outline to see if this is the best organization. I think you can reorganize your ideas, but you should start by revising your thesis and strengthening the claim that you want to make. This will help you avoid the impression that you are simply summarizing various articles instead of developing one main point by using sources to support the claims that you make about that one main point.
2. Check your thesis to see if you are satisfied with it.
3. Check your topic sentences and revise them if you think they could be more focused and compelling.
4. Work on the grammar and writing style as noted above.
5. Cite all your sources properly (in-text plus references page). This version of the essay has not been put through Turnitin.com yet, so I have no way of knowing if you are plagiarizing. I remind all students of this, so just do a review of your sources, and if you have given credit to the authors, you have no need to be concerned.
6. Put quotation marks around keywords that are copied directly if the number is less than 40. Indent them if there are more than 40 directly copied words.
7. In this version of the essay, you have used the correct sources.
8. After checking the word count to be sure that you have written 1,000-1,200 words, put the final version of this essay into the Essay #2 slot in the Assignment Folder. It is connected to the Gradebook. The due date is Sunday .
9. Review the late policy to motivate you to submit the work on time.
10. We don’t have time for me to review another set of rough drafts, but I can answer any questions that you may have about my advice to improve your assignment.
Reference
Grabowicz, P. (2013). “The Transition to Digital Storytelling,” Accessed on June 7, 2013 from http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/digital-transform/multimedia- storytelling/
Kelley, M. (2012). “An Apology to the 4G Generation,” Accessed on June 7, 2013 from http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/13/opinion/an-apology-to-the-4g-generation/
McLuhan, M. (2003). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Critical Edition. Gingko Press.
Postman, N. (2005). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Penguin Books.
Quayle, M. (2010). The Method of the Medium is in Motion.
“The Media and the Middle East,” Accessed on June 7, 2013 from http://www.teachmideast.org/essays/26-stereotypes/49-the-media-and-the-middle-east
