Fun exercise for my nonverbal (SPE-145) students

This is a fun collection of images of presidents kissing their spouses from Foreign Policy.  Check out the postures and facial displays -- do they match up to what the captions say?

For my nonverbal communication students (SPE-145): BP #3

Blog Post Three, Nonverbal Communication 

For your third blog post, I would like you to do some discreet and careful observation of people in a public place, such as a restaurant or the library.  Do not stare.  Do not be rude.  Do not frighten people.  BUT -- pick a couple or a set of friends that you can see but not hear.

Try to figure out what is going on between them based on the body language.  This exercise requires you to be careful observers and to use precision with your language.   You cannot just say "she seemed to like him because of her body language."  What specific things do the people do in terms of posture, gesture, and proxemics give you clues about what is going on?  We'll never know the full story -- but what I hope to learn is how well you can observe in detail and how many concepts you have acquired in class. As always: 350 words using a third-person essay format, appropriate grammar and spelling, demonstrating that you are learning something.

By the way, here's one of my grading filters:  if a post could be written by just anyone of the street who happens upon my prompt, it is barely an average post.  If the post uses material from lecture and the text, it reflects that someone has acquired new knowledge...which is, of course, the point of the whole exercise.

This post is due at the start of class (3pm) on March 6th.

Blog Post #3: For my SPE-370 (Visual Rhetoric) students

For my SPE-370 (Visual Rhetoric) students 

For your next post, please think about the relationship between writing, visuality and the human body.  Go to the website website devoted to the movie "Helvetica," and read a bit on the history of type.  Then take the totally unscientific and fun quiz to determine what font best reflects your personality.  Write about your font, and about the relationship between writing, visuality and the body.  As always: 350 words, in the form of a properly structured essay.  Use the third person declarative voice.  Use proper grammar and spelling.  Apply the concepts we've covered in class. Show off your creativity, your new knowledge and your analytical skills.

This post is due Tuesday March 6th at 1:30pm. 

Blogging Assignment For My Mass Media Students (SPE-212)

For My 212 Mass Media Students: 

For Post #3, you need to purchase a magazine you would not normally read.  Read it carefully.  Read the articles AND look at the ads.  What can you learn about the magazine's demographic strategy through signaling alone?  Then find the information posted by the magazine's publisher online intended for potential advertisers.  This information will be under a tab such as "about us," "advertise with us," or "media kit."  Use this information to further analyze the magazine's demographic strategy, and how well it matches your preliminary assessment.  As always: 350 words, using concepts and vocabulary from class, appropriate grammar, the third-person voice, and proper argumentative structure.

SPE 212-010 Deadline: Wednesday, February 29th, 3pm.
SPE-212-020 Deadline: Thursday, March 2nd, 9:30am 

For my Media (and former New Media Students):

Advertisers are using technology to track and target us like never before.  We've talked about this, and we've talked about how certain consumers might get offers when others might not.  Here's an article from Forbes that showcases just how closely we are monitored. Target knew a woman was pregnant before her father did.

SPE-145 Blog Post Assignment

For my SPE-145 Nonverbal Communication Students 

For your next post, please analyze the proxemics of some environmental space.  This could be your dorm room, a room in your parental home, a space on campus or another space you find.  Please include a picture with your post.  Analyze the space and its proxemics both from the way people can relate to one another AND the way the space is experienced by a human in the space.

As always: 350 words, proper grammar and spelling, application of vocabulary and concepts from class and appropriate essay structure.

This is due at the start of class (3pm) on Tuesday, February 21st. 

SPE-370 Blog Post Assignment for Feb. 21st

For my SPE-370 Visual Rhetoric Students

For your next post, please choose a cartoon from any cartoonist, and analyze their use of line and shadow, and other techniques of representation. I want you to use a black and white cartoon so you spend as much time and effort as possible on the basics of lines and technique.

As always: 350 words, proper grammar and spelling, application of vocabulary and concepts from class, appropriate essay structure.

This is due at the start of class (1:30) on Tuesday, February 21st. 

SPE-212 Blog Post Assignment due Feb. 14th

For my SPE-212 (Mass Media) Students: 

For your next post, please to go CNN.com and Al Jazeera English on line, and watch each network's version of the same topic.  You might need to browse their sites a bit to find coverage of a the same event or issue, but this should not be difficult.  Then compare and contrast the coverage -- do you sense political or international bias?  Is it an unfair bias, or merely a discernible point of view?  How else are they similar or dissimilar?  If you have time and would like to -- check out yet another network's coverage, or a newspaper's coverage.  As always: 350 words, using proper grammar and spelling, vocabulary and concepts from class and appropriate structure for a mini essay.

SPE-212-010 MW 3pm: deadline= 3pm, Wednesday, Feb. 15th
SPE-212-020 TH 9:30am: deadline = 9:30am Tuesday, Feb. 14th

For My visual rhetoric students (SPE-370)

Hi everyone -- here's that case I was telling you about Thursday involving the man with a law degree being misidentified by an eyewitness. I wish I'd been able to properly turn on my video camera on Thursday so we could compare your accounts with the videotape....but I think the exercise was beneficial nonetheless.
 

For my Mass Media (SPE-212) students: Big Changes at P&G

We will talk more about this when we reach the advertising chapter, but this news about Procter & Gamble is very significant.  P&G has historically been one of the biggest spenders on advertising in the world.  Social media is changing the game.

For my 212 Students....you millenials, you.

Hi folks...just in time: a research report on what advertisers know about how to appeal to your demographic . Media Post, by the way, is one of the trade websites that I highly, highly recommend for students who eventually want to work in the mass media industry.

Ad Targeting for politicians

Remember: in a commercial media system, the audience is the commodity -- you, your attention, your "eyeballs," as they say, are what is sought, bought and sold.  The primary candidates in in Florida used research to figure out where to place their ads to read fellow republicans.