Digital School Library

VERUS

Digital School Library

After reading the Digital School Library article, there was quite a bit that I learned. It is very interesting to see how technology is changing so rapidly, with inventions such as Kindle. Personally, I don’t really agree with any of the people who commented on the article. I believe that reading online would be extremely beneficial to our society. This is because it will be very easy to access books, as you wouldn’t have to go to libraries or purchase books every now and then. Furthermore, most students, like Heather Hughes said, do a lot of research as it is on their computer, and get used to it. If the problem is relating to staring at a screen for too long soon as new technologies are introduced, the screen will be improved upon greatly as well. I believe that in the future, everything will be with the use of technology, I think that all books will eventually be published online.

New York Times Article Reflection

Individually, respond in writing on your blog page with the following prompt: "In the New York Times article, the author writes: 'Indeed a manipulated image, which is often more powerful than the sum of its parts, can affect not just visual perception, but opinions as well.' Reflect on this statement. What specific power do photos have to tell the truth? Are there specific guidelines that we should follow? What limitations should there be on image manipulations, posed events, and other types of fakey? What counts as manipulation, and what counts as reasonable editing, cropping or enhancement? "

Yes, I most definitely agree with the author of the New York Times Article; a manipulated image is undoubtedly more powerful than the sum of its parts, and affects both visual perceptions and opinions. Something that helps to understand the power of photos is when in class; Mrs. Ben Ozilio gave the example of a former student who went to this school. He was a nice fellow, however, in The Word (school newspaper), they quoted him for saying something he would never even think of. Over here, in the article, he was quoted saying that one should not bother to recycle, as someone else will obviously step in and recycle for you. The author of that article made a mistake, and quoted the wrong person. As a result, many people around campus started viewing this innocent student in a bad way. Although, in the next version, they sent out an apology letter, it was already too late, all the damage had been done. The same can be applied to manipulated images, as it can unquestionably change other people’s opinions and views towards a particular topic. A good example of this could be that of O.J. Simpson in the Time Magazine (as shown above). In this situation, Time Magazine altered with his skin color in an attempt to make him look more like a criminal. This was extremely unexpected, as I believe Time Magazine only did this to add some personal flavor to the news, to make it sound much more interesting and applicable. I believe that there should be specific guidelines that we should follow, which should include asking questions to yourself such as where the picture is from, who the photographer is, who uploaded it, etc. There most definitely should be limitations on image manipulations, posed events, and other types of “fakeys”; they should be based on to what extent it is published, who the audience is, whether it affects the people/places/etc. involved in a positive or negative way, etc. Nevertheless, I believe it will be extremely hard to monitor these image manipulations, as there is a steady increase in technology and products for digital manipulations. I believe reasonable editing, cropping or enhancement counts as long as it doesn’t affect anyone, a place, the audience, etc. in a negative way. This includes image manipulation of peoples faces, changing a site to make it look better/worse, changing the tones of a person, stereotyping a particular race, etc.

Digital Truth

http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/features/digital.essay.html

Is digital truth important? In what context?

After reading the article posted on the website above, I’ve learned quite a bit about digital truth. Digital Truth is when photographs have been manually manipulated. The article talks about how digital imaging and manipulation of images on the computer goes against “traditional” means of photography. Furthermore, it definitely affects how people view the images and how people see images in newspapers and magazines. Then, the author talks about how the biggest problem with digital truth is that its extremely easy; it’s “a slippery slope is created where minor cleaning up of an image can easily lead to major changes”. He talks about how digital truth can lead to missing realness of a picture, as pictures “enter the realm of fiction”. He ends the article by saying, “Our sense of the truth to be found in images may be changing because of digital manipulation. But we still are waiting for our first great test case of digital truth, that is, digital lying.”

Personally, I feel that in our modern world today, digital truth should be important, however images must be manipulated in order to please the audience. I believe that it is important to present the “truth” rather than what the photographer/digital manipulator sees the picture as. I think that in most contexts, the population deserves to see first hand accounts. For example, I believe that Digital Truth should be important in examples such as the picture shown above. This picture has been digitally changed to make that particular place seem a lot prettier and better than it actually is. I believe that actions, such as these, should definitely be stopped, as it tricks the tourists into believing something wrong. However, at the same time, I personally feel that, if we only saw images, as they were, which weren’t digitally manipulated, our world would be much different. Pictures, brochures, advertisements, magazines, etc. wouldn’t be as appealing and interesting. Our world today, has evolved so much that we only like seeing and reading about what we like, rather than what the truth is, which is why, in some contexts, such as entertainment contexts, digital manipulations should be allowed; for the benefit of the population.

News Evaluation- CNN

I decided to watch CNN news, for about half an hour. Over these 30 minutes, they went over three major news topics. The first one was about bombings in Pakistan. Another major story talked about Israel and the United States beginning to do joint military trainings and exercises. Lastly, the third major story talked about was about a comedian on TV, Soupy Sales dying.

Bombings in Pakistan:

This story talked about how there were bombings in Pakistan where at least 7 people are reported to be dead. A suicide bomber committed this crime, and this bomb was blown near a military facility outside of Islamabad (the capital).

Israel and US combined Military Training:

This story talked about how Israel and the United States started their ‘largest’ ever joint military exercise. This occurred on Wednesday.

Soupy Sales passes away:

This story was centralized around Soupy Sales who was a comedian who came on television for quite a bit. This 83-year old died on Thursday in New York. He was seen many times on popular game shows.

Did the newspapers meet the criteria for what is news? Explain.

I think that the newspapers both met and didn’t meet the criteria for what is news. I believe that the Bombings in Pakistan story definitely meets the criteria for what is news. This is because it was something very surprising, and involved many deaths of innocent people. It is something that people should be informed about, as there is chaos going on in Pakistan. I believe that the Israel and US combined Military Training is considered for what is news, but shouldn’t be a top story/main headline. This is definitely something interesting and something that people should be informed about. Lastly, the story about Soupy Sales and his death is undoubtedly does not meet the criteria for what is news. This is about one man, and shouldn’t be telecasted at all on good news networks, especially like CNN.

What news was relevant or useful to citizens of the local area, including young people? In what way was it useful or relevant?

The bombings in Pakistan doesn’t seem relevant to citizens in Israel. However, the story about Israel and US combining military services and trainings is extremely relevant and useful to the local area (Israel). This is because the story is about the local area. This story seemed pretty useful and extremely relevant to Israelis as they get to hear about their country excels in terms of military. Lastly, I don’t believe that the story about Soupy Sales is useful or relevant to the local area. It might be useful and relevant to fans of Soupy Sales, however that’s about it.

Edward L. Bernays & The Birth of PR

This is a good reading I found on Bernays, who is considered, "The Father of Spin", when we had to read about him. This reading helped me quite a bit to understand the concepts Bernays presented in his book. This filled in the missing gaps presented in the reading we received on October 16 about Bernays. I think everyone should read this as it gives some valuable information in a clear manner.

Here is the link to the book review: http://www.prmuseum.com/bernays/bernays_1915.html

Fox News

Here is an article I found as a follow-up to the video we watched last class. This article talks about how Fox News isn't just bad, it also goes against America with its horrific bias.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218192

And heres a funny photo I found with Fox News and their bias:

Norris-5 Article

Norris-5:

Here is the link to the article I read and did Norris-5 on: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/15/un.world.hunger/index.html

1. Informative vs. Superficial: I’d say this is superficial. This is because the length of the article isn’t too long, and there is a lack of detail present in the article. The article fails to elaborate on various things mentioned. The article is shown to be only half a page long, which already gives us an idea on how much it would lack valuable information.

2. Accurate and truthful vs. False and deceptive: This is pretty much accurate and truthful. I don’t think they would be lying on an issue like this. I personally, also believe that this article is accurate and truthful since they use a variety of different quotes and sources that are reliable. For example, : "It is unacceptable in the 21st Century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Program.

3. Objective vs. Biased: This article seems pretty objective. However, it may seem biased, favoring towards the hungry people. A good example showing this bias is, “The number of hungry spiked as the global economic crisis took hold and governments pumped resources into stabilizing financial markets. The move meant smaller investments in agriculture and food distribution.”

4. Pluralistic vs. Insular Viewpoint: This is definitely pluralistic, as it’s serving a message towards many people out there. There are a lot of key messages that this article is trying to convey. The article also uses quotes that serve messages, such as, "We know what is needed to meet urgent hunger needs- we just need the resources and the international commitment do the job," Sheeran said.

5. Balanced vs. Weighted Side: I’d say this article is pretty much balanced. It talks about the hungry people and what people have done about it. For example, we can see that in the article when, “The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises.”