Comm 203:Most interesting thing in class to date.

The one thing I have found most interesting in this class was when we went over the five key concepts and questions to media literacy.As a class, we have learned that being media literate gives us a framework to "access,analyze,evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms." It also helps us to build and understanding of the actual roles that media plays in society.When we learned to analyze advertisements and as well as other forms of media such as videos,pictures, and songs we used five key concepts and questions to gain a better understanding. I found this method very creative and easy to use in analyzing media. I think that it helps our minds develop and open up to newer and different ideas that we may have not even thought about before. There is nothing better than building a mind more open to ideas that are different from your own perspectives about the world and how to read things.

Five Core Concepts
1.All media messages are constructed
2.Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
3.Different people experience the same message differently
4.Media have embedded values and points of view
5.Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.

Five Key Questions
1.Who created this message?
2.What techniques are used to attract my attention?
3.How might different people understand this message differently from me?
4.What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
5.Why was this message sent?

We learned that using these core concepts and questions can help us in analyzing ads and gain better understanding of the various messages being sent. We did a project using this method in order to analyze advertisements as well as other media. My project focused on how to analyze an advertisement. In the project, I went through each step and thought carefully about each concept and question for every possible answer i could find in what the message was saying. I just think that this was the most interesting thing in class to date because it taught me how to open up and think in different ways in order to read messages in media.I am very much enjoying this class to date and look forward to each class. I enjoy the lectures because they are so open and allow us to discuss our thoughts freely.