Activist Project

I’ve always been involved with volunteering and fundraising in high school, but there was never a project that I felt very strongly about. When I turned 17 I started donating blood, and continue to on a regular basis. This is my activist project. “Approximately every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood. In fact, according to a recent poll, 52 per cent of Canadians say they, or a family member, have needed blood or blood products for surgery or for medical treatment.” With this information, I know that my blood donation counts. I think I have such a strong connection with blood donating because I’m really patriotic. I know Canada is in need, but often times we give aid to other countries. I think that more Canadians should donate blood, it only takes an hour, and you can save up to three lives. People don’t realize the urgent need for blood Canada is constantly in. My one donation, is one unit of blood, the average liver transplant requires approximately 100 units of blood (Who). I have a B+ blood type that is only common with 9% of the population, if someone with my blood type needed major surgery, they would have trouble getting the required blood because of low amount of people that donate. Donating does not take a lot of time, and it doesn’t hurt. One person can only donate every 56 days, that’s only 6 times a year, which is why more people need to start donating. What if it were you on the operation table?

Works Cited
“Who Needs Blood.” Canadian Blood Services. 26 November 2008. < http://www.bloodservices.ca/centreapps/Internet/UW_V502_MainEngine.nsf/page/E_Who%20Needs%20Blood>.

Participatory Culture

Participatory Culture
I first heard about Post Secret through my high school, and have participated in it ever since. Post Secret is a blog created by Frank Warren to help people. On his blog, Warren posts secrets people send him. People write these secrets on pictures, or post cards, and mail them to Warren. By expressing their secrets Warren feels that they will liberate themselves and inspire others (Frank). There four books that have between them thousands of secrets. Some of the secrets are sad and some are happy, but most of the people that write in are inspired by other’s secrets. They feel better because they’re not the only one with a certain problem, or they feel better when they read a worse secret than theirs, with an author who got through it. The post secret program is really inspiring. The people that participate, and read the secrets are from all over the world, with all types of secrets; it’s nice to see people come together.

Works Cited

“Frank Warren, PostSecret Founder at Depauw University.” [Video]. 16 June 2008. 25 Novemebr 2008.
.


This is a video of many different post secrets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McFVN5VpgVU

Culture Jamming

“Culture jamming is an intriguing form of political communication that has emerged in response to the commercial isolation of public life”
To me, a culture jam is like a metaphor: two or more seemingly unrelated things put together in an effort to show a comparison between the two. Culture jams can be seen in many different forms, such as billboards, videos, music, or posters.
An example I found is shown below. It is a culture jam in music video form that was posted on youtube. It features the song “I’m too sexy” by Right Said Fred. The beginning of the video features popular beauty product slogans, it then goes on the many different pictures and video clips of different models and celebrities. It then contrasts these images with normal women, and their struggle to achieve this. The final picture shows a severely anorexic girl and the L’oreal slogan “Because you’re worth it.”
When L’oreal uses this slogan, it is accompanied by a beautiful model that their target audience would envy. By doing this, women who strive for the model’s Photoshopped perfection will buy L’oreal products. By accompanying the slogan with a picture of an anorexic girl, it questions L’oreal’s ethics. It suggests that L’oreal expects every woman to conform to that image, and that they are aware of the repercussions of their advertisements.

Works Cited
“Real Beauty” [Video]. 25 March 2007. 20 November 2008. .

Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day is an annual event in which people are encouraged to ‘buy nothing.’ This event happens to promote the consumerism in our country. The purpose of the event is prove to people that we spend unnecessarily everyday. We buy coffee every morning even though we have some at home. We decide to walk through the mall and pick up a few things that we don’t need, and often can’t afford. Why do we do this? I personally find this answer in nearly every Sears commercial I listen to. After spending a pre-set amount of money, you receive a free gift, and next week, buy two get the third free. With this mind set, we think it necessary to purchase three spatulas, but we reassure ourselves, “Christmas presents.” Once we see how unnecessarily we spend our money, we are in a better position to make more conscious decisions. They say 5% of the population controls 95% percent of the wealth, most Canadian deny it, but we are in that 5%. Canada is ranked the 15th wealthiest country (according to GDP) with an incredible low population in relation to the countries that rank higher (Rank). The sooner Canadians realize we are part of the problem, the sooner we can fix it.

Works Cited

“Rank Order: GDP (Purchasing Power Parity).” CIA World Factbook. 20 November 2008. 23 November 2008. .

Net Neutrality

The Internet is something my generation has come to rely on. It’s where I start most of my research, where I find most of my entertainment, and how I connect with family and friends. Because I’ve always had the Internet, I’ve never questioned it, or realized how much I appreciated it. When we discussed the ethics on which the Internet is based, I truly realized the potential of the Internet, and how much we need it. Now, we have Network Neutrality, this “prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.” The Internet allows for the marketplace of ideas that major media hegemonies does not. The newspapers and news programs we rely on have obligations to their networks and the corporations that own those networks. The freedom of the Internet allows people to do what I am doing now, to state and publish their opinion. Network Neutrality has been a hot topic during the U.S presidential election. Newly elected president, Barack Obama stated that if “providers start to privilege some applications or websites over others, then the smaller voices get squeezed out and we all lose” (Barack). A lot of our news is already censored by corporate interest, if phone companies control the Internet and corporations become involved, the Internet will no longer be an equal, neutral playing field. Www.SaveTheInternet.com has more information on net neutrality, and information on how you can help save the Internet.


Works Cited
“Barack Obama: On Net Neutrality” [Video]. 14 November 2007. 15 November 2008. .

Media Hegemonies

The ‘market place of ideas’ allows for people to express and publish their ideas. With publishing costs so high however, the average Joe does not have the funds necessary to express and publish his thoughts. To create a balance, journalists from various news agencies are expected to be objective and publish every angle of every story. What it often comes down to however, is corporate interest. With very few corporations controlling the majority of media, the needs of the corporation need to be met first, before news, and before objectivity. Most people probably haven’t heard of News Corp, but are probably effected by them daily. News Corp. owns 47 television stations, 11 film production companies, 28 newspapers, 6 magazines, 45 book publishers including 13 children’s books publishers, as well as a variety of sports teams, radio stations, websites, and other various media companies (Resources). Having this many media companies On January 15th 2008 Canada’s Regulators for Telecommunications (CRTC) announced a policy that ensures that “a person or entity will be permitted to control only two of the three types of media outlets — radio, TV, or newspapers — in a single market” (CRTC). These restrictions prevent a person or corporation from holding a monopoly of media. Though this does not ensure better journalism, it puts forth an effort that will hopefully stop corporate interest from influencing the news that is publish, and that which is cut.

Works Cited
“Resources.” Columbia Journalism Review. 7 August 2008. 8 November 2008. .
“CRTC Imposes Cross-Media Ownership Restrictions.” CBC News. 15 January 2008. 8 November 2008. < http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2008/01/15/crtc.html>.

Fake News

Fake news is the reason it is mandatory for us to take Internet Survey and Research. We are so bombarded with information; we are so busy trying to retain everything that is thrown at us everyday, that we lose sight of what is reality and what is not. In our Internet class we learn how to distinguish between a credible source, and an unreliable source. The overall message I’ve take from that course is that all sources are credible, depending on what you’re looking for, and that all sources have a bias and an agenda. We are the test generation of the information age. We are bombarded with this information and are taught to decipher it. This is the most prominent point for me because of the audience of fake news. An article from the ctv website states that satirical news shows, specifically the Daily Show “has more viewers in the coveted 18-to-31 age demographic than any other nightly news program in the United States” (Janus). If we are the target audience what are we getting from this news? A journalist is ideally objective, whereas these shows are usually quite opinionated. Many young people are discredited because of their lack of interest and involvement in the news and politics, but are we being misinformed? Or are we just not interested in an objective point of view anymore? Personally, an opinionated perspective is something I cherish. Though this is not the accepted, traditional form of news deliverance, I think there is something to be said for this style. With all the information out there, one doesn’t know how to decipher it, when John Stewart puts a spin on it, I better understand the information, and the different perspectives available for me to choose.
Fake news shows often reject the regular news stories we read. Often politically slanted, fake news dismisses PR sugar coating. With the control major corporations have on the media, the media deliver the news, but choose to omit some facts that would damage reputations. I tend to think fake news journalists are the ones that bring up the controversial issues other journalists can’t bring up without fearing job loss.

Works Cited

Janus, Andrea. “Is ‘fake news’ informative? Study Tests Fun vs Facts.” CTV News. 15
September 2008. 1 November 2008. ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080912/news_feature_080912/
20080914?hub=TopStories>.