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This course was very fulfilling and rewarding. Dr. Thrift made it as amazing as it was and I can tell how passionate she is about communications and media and it definitely helped me to be more excited about it and helped maximize my learning. I hope to take more classes with her in the future! I was surprised to learn one of my favorite things touched on in the course was different types of public policy and has me considering one day doing some further education related to public policy!

This course has helped me think more critically about the media I consume, like watching television and interacting with social media. It has also helped me become more aware about internet safety and I have changed some settings on my phone to limit access that apps and websites have to my personal information. Academically, I have improved my writing skills thanks to the essay workshops in tutorials and the powerpoint uploaded to D2L about outlining, writing and citations were immensely useful and I have them saved to my computer so I can use them as reference for future classes.

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The news source I use the most is definitely The New York Times. I also noticed that the Apple Daily News catch up is also a source I use, because at least once a day I will get a notification about current events. If I am interested in knowing more, I then either look at NYT or CNN about the event I was notified about or I will read the story available on the Apple News app. I determine if a source is credible by getting news from reputable outlets only. Additionally, I like to read about a story from at least two different outlets. This helps me to catch misinformation and be better informed as a whole, which is important to me. I have also noticed with the enactment of Bill C-18, I am less informed about news and current events than I used to be because a majority of my news came from different news outlets that I had followed on Instagram. I miss being able to have easier access to news.

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I have long been aware that data is tracked on smartphones and helps targeted ads, but only this week when I really tried to pay attention to surveillance did I realize exactly how much I felt like I was being “watched.” One day during the week I was scrolling through Tiktok and saw a video of a real wool sweater handcrafted in Ireland that someone found at the thrift store. I took a screenshot of the tag so I could search the company up later because it looked very well made, and forgot about it. The next day, I saw an advertisement on Instagram for the exact same company. I was actually freaked out by this because I never googled anything related to the company, all I did was like a video and take a screenshot and then got an ad on a completely different app. I also noticed security cameras a lot more, almost everywhere I went. I did not realize how many were present at the University of Calgary.

I believe that my above examples highlight that we do live in a panoptic society. Though not as extreme as the one highlighted in lecture, the prison could be technology, the guards are the tracking that results from using technology, and the prisoners are the users of technology. It has become so intertwined with our lives and essential to a lot of day-to-day functions that it is impossible to completely turn off surveillance. If people are aware of that fact, it may really bother them.

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In this course, I want to learn about everything that seems to be covered in COMS 201 to get a general feel for the field itself because I switched my major to Communications and Media Studies. This course is interesting to me because it covers a variety of topics from history to current events, and it will help me to learn what aspects of this very broad field appeal to me the most. I have an interest in learning more about the advertising and marketing sector of communication studies. I also am interested in the role that communication plays in politics and the general field of political science. The history of the field and how it has changed and developed over time is also very interesting to me because the age we live in is constantly changing and developing technologically, and therefore the way people communicate and connect does as well.

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The first media theory we learned about this week that I resonated with the most is Agenda-Setting Theory. One of the main points of agenda-setting talked about in lecture this week was that “the news does not tell people what to think, but it tells them what to think about” (Thrift, 2023). I find that this actually does happen quite often in our society. News companies are strategic in what events and stories they choose to cover and that is purposeful. With how the news cycle works, something really important can be covered for a day or two, and then the reporters move on to another event and in turn, a vast majority of the population moves on. I believe that news cycles this way intentionally, especially regarding political conflict, like wars or large protests. For example, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war that followed is still ongoing, but it hardly makes main headlines now, which results in less people (myself included) staying informed about it.

The second theory I found most aligned with my own opinions and values is cultivation theory. The main premise of cultivation theory is that media (originally just television) gradually develops a view of social reality that is not accurate, but viewers still assume that it reflects real life (Thrift, 2023). I believe this to be the case not only for film and television, but now also includes social media. In fact, I think cultivation theory is even more prevalent in the social media world because the content the audience interacts with is often from people that they know. Since people tend to only post highlights of their social media accounts, only the good parts of life are represented. This will cause the user to feel like their life is not good because it does not look like another person’s, a lot of times failing to realize that social media is almost exclusively curated content. When I was younger and was beginning to use social media, I felt the same way for years until I was able to realize that almost everything is fake.

References:
Thrift, S. (September, 2023). Week 4 - Audience Studies Pt 1 [Lecture]

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The ad I have chosen for this week’s discussion is the Nike Ad featuring Colin Kaepernick that was released in 2018, which is one of my favourite advertisements of all time. During the 2016 NFL season, Kaepernick started to kneel during the national anthem before football games in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and to protest police brutality against African Americans. As you can imagine, this caused immense controversy with both a lot of support but also a lot of outcry. It was a harmless way to protest and garnered a lot of attention for the cause, which is important for a protest to make real progress. However, it was also seen by many as disrespectful to the American forces to kneel during the anthem. In less than a year, Kaepernick no longer played for the San Francisco 49ers and was effectively blacklisted from playing for any NFL team.

The first meaning that can be taken from the ad is exactly what it says: believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. This can be taken at face value as a general philosophy to live your life, that hope and belief should be guiding reasons for you to do what you do with your life. This statement can also be interpreted as Nike showing their support for a cause, which is very rare for a company that large to do, especially with a situation that became so politically charged. “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything” is now a way to show that Nike supports Kaepernick’s decision to kneel and decide to continue their contract with him and show that they stand with his decision to protest racial injustice, and that more people should stand with him as well.

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Even in the early days of Canada, I found it interesting to learn just how vital communication was in developing the nation. Prime minister John A. MacDonald announced the building of a railroad as part of his national policy. This was not only for economic reasons like the transportation of goods and services, but also as a way of connecting the provinces with each other (Thrift, 2023). With the advancement of the railroad, people were now able to communicate from coast to coast through telegraphs and mail. The Canadian Pacific Railway also helped facilitate the sending of goods, such as crops and other items like clothing all around the country. This was made possible through MacDonald’s imposition of tariffs on imported goods (Thrift, 2023), which incentivized citizens of Canada to participate in their own economy and learn to be self-sustaining . I believe that if Prime Minister MacDonald did not implement these policies, Canada would have taken much longer to succeed as a country and it would probably look very different today.

A second way that media and communication proved to be of key importance in the development of Canada into what as we know it today was the invention of radio. R.B. Bennett created the Broadcasting Act in 1932 for a myriad of reasons, but I found that they all related back to the idea of being Canadian and once again fostering national unity (Thrift, 2023). If there was a concrete way in which content was allowed to be produced and broadcast, then everything was able to be regulated to contribute to the sense of national unity and a sense of “being Canadian.” The interest in protecting Canadian identity on air was in response to how much content was being created by Canada’s neighbor, The United States. I found it interesting to realize that this is something that is still ongoing today, however it is now related more to the film and television sector. Even if Canada implements policies and gives funding for Canadian TV, it is still not enough to compete with American programming.

References:

Thrift, S. (September, 2023). Week 2 - A Brief History of Media [Lecture].

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Media policy is important because in this day and age, media and communications cross borders. Having policies in place to regulate media can be useful in a number of ways, to prevent spread of illegal materials and help to preserve a country's national interests, as well as honour intellectual property conventions, and protect media cultural industries. Policy also can be a tool in unity and fostering a sense of national identity. This is especially important in Canada as it can be more difficult to foster national unity as our population is small when considering how much land mass our country has and people are quite spread out.

Looking at media policy through a Canadian lens throughout this week's lectures helped me develop my own interpretation and thoughts regarding Canadian national policy. The Aird Commission in 1929 produced a report with recommendations to put more Canadian content on air to protect Canadian identity and help foster a sense of unity (Thrift, 2023). This is a value that is still heavily focused on today. Calls to protect Canadian produced content seem to be a recurring trend, which I was able to connect when learning about the Massey-Levesque Commission from 1949-1951. Its function was to find ways to protect the Canadian cultural arts sector and urge the federal government for funding for the arts. However, a downside to federal funding for the arts is that in times of recession, it can be hard to justify that amount of taxpayer dollars to be poured into funding for the arts when it should go into other areas like social spending (Thrift, 2023). Lastly, the Applebaum-Hebert Commission in 1981 and 1982 looked for potential ways to reduce cultural spending. Its findings indicated that a balance between government and private funding would be useful in reducing costs for the federal government while still keeping the arts sector alive (Thrift, 2023).

References:

Thrift, S. (November, 2023). Week 10 - Media Policy (Mon PPT) [Lecture].

Thrift, S. (November, 2023). Week 10 - Media Policy (Wed PPT) [Lecture].

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The road to Warner Bros. using fair trade certified cocoa for their chocolate Harry Potter products would not have happened without the rallying of fan activists. This is a great example of participatory culture. When people use media to create their own community and content, they can use it to mobilize around a certain cause and create change (Thrift, 2023). Rosenberg’s article in The Washington Post mentions that texts that are fantasy or dystopian in genre and deal with villains that are totalitarian and people having limited freedoms are “a powerful source of moral precepts and ideas about how to build a more just world” (Rosenberg, 2015). I believe this is because texts of that nature deal with justice for characters in the book and thus provides more inspiration for its fans to harness and transfer it to make change in the real world. As an avid fan of The Hunger Games for over ten years (my parents made the mistake of letting me read it in the fifth grade), I feel very inspired by characters like Katniss Everdeen and Harry Potter. I believe that my interest in dystopian fiction as a young girl directly correlates to my interests in the field of communications as well as politics, which is a similar experience to countless other fans. If I knew about The Harry Potter Alliance when I was younger, I would have been all over that and I find it really inspiring.

References:
Rosenberg, A. (2015, January 13). How ‘Harry Potter’ fans won a four-year fight against child slavery. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/01/13/how-harry-potter-fans-won-a-four-year-fight-against-child-slavery/
Thrift, S. (October, 2023). Week 5 - Fans, participatory culture, and activism [Lecture]