I recently gave a presentation on Agenda Setting Theory in a course on Communication Theories & Frameworks. It is a fairly straightforward theory that addresses the ways in which issues covered by the media influences public opinion, which in turn influences policy. All the same, I thought I would throw some artifacts online for prosperity and the next person who needs to explain how the media is responsible for everything.

Here is a video of my PowerPoint presentation:

Here is an overly designed handout that summarizes the theory and some of its applications.

In this presentation I played one of my favorite scenes from the West Wing, which should be enjoyed with or without this presentation. Enjoy!

What do LOLcats and silent film have in common? More than you might imagine.

This week gnovis, an academic journal focused on new media and technology, published its Spring issue. According to the editor, this issue is particularly “cute.” From his overview:

“wants moar: visual media’s use of text in LOLcats and silent film,” by Jed R. Brubaker, continues the trend of comparative historical analysis of media forms, but using texts that are infinitely more… well… cute. LOLcats, popular on the Internet since 2007, are photos of housecats with comical captions. Brubaker’s analysis compares the captions used in LOLcats to intertitles from the silent film era.

Yes, this is my first solo publication at the graduate level, and I am thrilled that it is on something that never fails to make me smile. (more…)

Do you Twitter?

It was really fun to read about Boo’s thoughts on Twitter after having inundated her for a month with everything I saw that somehow included the word “Twitter.” I should have just sent her a link to a Google search. I forced myself on Boo when I discovered that she had been working on a paper about the use of Twitter by presidential candidates. This is interesting for sure, but I was surprised at her personal conclusion:

In other words, micro-blogging serves its purpose. I get that. And I think it’ll be interesting to see if it ends up filling a gap in investigative journalism or allowing organizers to keep a step ahead of the police trying to shut them down, or making conferences run more smoothly than they typically do. But as a service that supposedly offers some value to my life, I just don’t see it.

So, I think I’ll keep my tweets to myself for now.

Maybe I came on too strong.

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The academic blogosphere is a bit tame right now as we are all making our way through finals. This, of course, applies to me. This means hours in the library, scratching away at my papers, and always welcoming a distraction, which I am now sharing with you.

The question for the day: What would life be like if Facebook was actually played out in real life?

The answer (enjoy!):

Coincidentally, this video was posted to my Facebook wall by Raf.