Overview
1. Have student research behavioral targeting applications, such as the one used on Facebook, now Meta https://www.facebook.com/business/ads/ad-targeting where businesses can target a specific audience by location, demographics, interests, behavior, and connections. Why are these new techniques of concern to the public? Should the government be more proactive in enacting legislation to prevent the use of sophisticated tools that invade people’s privacy and can also perpetuate social inequality?
2. Compare newspaper articles to television news, entertainment “news” to news programs, and television shows, music videos, and video games to our society. How do media represent reality? What do you learn about society from media?
3. How is the media used to depict war, especially in the more recent war in the Ukraine? How do embedded journalists change our perception of war? What about the armed forces commercials? What do they tell their audience about the armed forces and war?
This semester there will be eight journaling assignments, allowing you a personal space to communicate with me the instructor about meeting the objectives of weekly topics and assignments. This allows personal reflection but must include integration and analysis of the assigned readings and other assignments. Grading criteria are that you will post a weekly 500 plus word, about 1-page single spaced, written assignment answering the weekly posted questions, do not repeat the questions but do number your responses to questions and write each answer in a paragraphs, following the CRAAP guidelines by the due date. I expect minimally one reference to the text or other academic publication be cited (I prefer APA) with a full reference at the end of the post. Assignments are written for this class and integrate material from assigned readings (and videos if assigned). Spell and grammar check your posts prior to posting. Paste your entry DO NOT ADD AS AN ATTACHMENT. Journal entries are worth 25 points each, Total 200 points. Journal entries are graded within 72 hours of the due date