MediaSynth-F15: #1 Media Exposure

It seems you pay a lot of attention to you online exposure to media. But our exposure to media in real life is not limited to just a laptop but various of posters, ads on vans, for example. These are on the street and, unless you stay at home all day long, it's inevitable to expose yourself to those media. It's a interesting to read your reflection your reaction to those media but I think you can realize more on the street.

I liked how you noticed and documented a bunch of different media that you saw in your day. From logos to comic books, it was nice to see what media other people noticed and what caught their eye. I also liked how your journal was a good list of all the media you saw and how you reacted to it and what about it caught your eye. It was also written in a way that made it feel real and an honest reflection of the thoughts that crossed your mind when you saw it which was great. I know you touched a bit on why you thought these ads caught your eye and the decisions behind it but I think it might have been interesting to hear more about that or for you to change an ad you saw or heard that didn't really catch your eye into something you think would get people's attention.

I really liked how you focused on a lot of media that doesn't immediately jump to mind as media. One source of media that you identified, the sidebar of other animes that the site think would appeal to you, definitely would not have immediately struck me as an advertisement. This is probably due to the fact that I don't see it as the shows advertising to me, but instead as a third party which makes it feel less like the show is throwing itself at me and more like a kind suggestion from a friend. I also like how you identified Facebook sharing as a kind of media. For a similar reason as to what I said before, this had never struck me as media advertisement. You also did a great job in pointing out the media that doesn't seem like media that we discussed in class, like the glass bowls and the jewelry art piece.

My only small suggestion would be to have a little transition in between your points. The main idea of unconventional media is a great topic but the examples are in three separate categories which means it doesn't flow very well with no transitions.

Overall it really touched on a lot of the key points we discussed in class and helped me get a better idea about what media is and how different people look at media with different points of view.

I am happy to critique this project, but at the moment I can not see it. All that is showing is the title and short description. I will check this project again soon and see if it has been uploaded, so that I can provide any helpful feedback I might have.

I enjoyed your take on the topic, saying that media exposure is a conglomeration of many different brands or topics. However, I also thought that the advertisements should have been addressed more afterwards. It would have been nice to see some kind connection to why this conglomeration of media types may be significant in today's world, or in the importance of that single piece of media on a widespread of users.

Your project offers a good balance of media description and analysis. Especially interesting was your insight that there was a lot of media forced into your life, regardless of your interests (or disinterests). This was especially apparent because of your emphasis elsewhere on content you were passionate about, which gives readers a sense of the jarring transition when you are interrupted by unwanted ads. Good job on giving background on your followed YouTube channels and games as well.

However, I would have liked to see more of a narrative aspect of your journal, in order to add some continuity to the media encounters and allow the audience to more closely follow your transitions between content. You should have taken a little emphasis away from describing all the different YouTube channels and videos and perhaps widened your focus to other media.

All in all, focused and personalized project with some interesting insight.

The variety shown among your selections was really helpful in supporting the overall theme from your reflection, that there is so much media in the physical world you are constantly exposed to, including anything from navigation tools to slogans. The way you laid out these encounters and associated each with a time also helped to envision the sequence of events that led you from one to another. Many of your descriptions also go beyond mere physical characteristics, but also mention what emotional response the media managed to invoke.

Though the presentation requirements were left to interpretation, I still would've liked to see some pictures or screenshots of things you encountered, as this would have allowed readers to better experience those emotional responses you mentioned.

Still, your project is well organized and offers valuable insight on the volume of media we encounter and its emotional impact.

Your narrative style was very intriguing. At first it gave off a tone of being attacked and chased, especially with the black background setting the mood. You've made the advertisements hostile, yet you've also understood their role and look back a little more kindly on the older styles of advertising. However, you seem a little too hung up on ads. Most of us made the common mistake of simply counting the brands around us, but unlike most of us, you've considered how they were presented to you, with all the promise of false bounties and belief that you will like what they suggest simply because of an algorithm.

I thought it was so interesting how you discussed media fading into the environment so that even if we are aware that it is there, we don't really pay attention to it. Is this type of media (like the bus ad, for example) even effective, if we barely notice it?
I agree with the comment above. What about other media sources besides advertisements? You made great comments about the ads you encountered, but maybe including some of your interactions with electronic media, for example, would provide a more comprehensive picture of the media we are exposed to each day!
Your journal was well organized and well presented. I enjoyed it!

I find it very interesting that you mentioned AdBlock. We all have some form of it on out computers, but that doesn't mean that advertisements don't make it in. It does get a little confusing at first since it feels like I am thrown into this barrage of photos and there is no indication as to what I am supposed to look at for some photos that are more obscure. I also misunderstood the ads in the music (which AdBlock can't always block) and thought that you were just considering your music as a part of the media.

I really like how you talked about a wide variety of media, ranging from logos to ads to social media. Your journal was very clear and easy to read as well. I think some pictures could've made your journal a lot better, but even just as text it was very informative about your thought process and what intrigued you.

Your analysis was very clear and had good variety. On the other hand, it would have been nice to see other sorts of media you might've used, such as Facebook, online games, etc. I really liked how you even included text from cars, very cool.

I really liked how you categorized media into three categories and gave examples of each. There's obviously media like Facebook and Twitter, which we are aware of and consciously interact with. I'd never really thought about media that we are so used to we don't even notice it anymore. Do you think this type of media is still effective, if we barely notice? Why do we start to tune it out? And when media is hidden (like in the posters or in the background of your game), what purpose is it intended to fill?
Your journal was well organized and interesting. I enjoyed it!

You definitely paid more attention to the media around you more than I did. I would probably have overlooked the chalk on the ground. I definitely wouldn't have noticed the Facebook link for the gummy bears, but it's awesome that you learned a lot from following the link. Maybe differentiating what you would have typically noticed from what you made an effort to pay attention to on that day would have been interesting? It would really show what you tend to pay attention to in the media around you and why. Your project was really detailed though!

I agree with Rachel. It's great that you pointed out how hard it was to notice these things even though you've passed by them so often in the past. It's easy to relate to the feeling of having no time. There's no time to look at all this stuff around us. Also, if there's no interest, there's no way anything (except for this class maybe) will make you look at it. It's amazing how hard we try to ignore the things that are thrown at us. I like how you mention we expect rewards for viewing media that we don't want to view. Getting fake currency for viewing ads in games resonates with me a lot. I really liked the attitude of the narrative - it really flowed well. I guess since all of this media really didn't interest you, I would be rather curious to see what kinds of things you like to look at (maybe media you keep close to you, etc.).

This journal was very well organized! I had a clear sense of context for each experience. I did feel like the journal often lost sight of the intent of the assignment, and when it did focus on interaction with media instead of day-to-day tasks, it lacked a degree of depth that I'd hoped to see. I also pretty keenly noticed the lack of images in the journal - even just a screencap can bring a lot of worthwhile information. There was definitely a strong sense of structure and description that I think could really have been used to better suit the assignment's requests. The text posted separately from the .doc was a good reflection on your experiences though! I think that sort of commentary was spot on for the assignment.
Consisely, I'd say less description of routine tasks (waking up wanting more sleep, putting phone in pocket) and more reflections like the one separate from the file would be a solid path!

I like how you discussed both sound and visual media as well as on-screen and real-life content. However, I noticed that when you were in your house you took note of mainly online content (except for your posters) and when you were outside you documented mainly physical forms of media. Since you mentioned listening to a podcast for a class while at home, I was wondering if you did any other homework that day, such as reading a book? Or when you were outside did you access Facebook or Snapchat on your phone? It might be interesting to address this pattern if it does exist, or even discuss why you might not have noticed different forms of media in different settings even if it does not.

I think it was interesting how you included the juggling group in your discussion. At first I was a bit confused as to why it would be considered media, but then you compared it to video games and explained that juggling provides an experience and causes participants to feel some sort of emotion. However, is simply passing by the juggling club a form of media? Perhaps if they were putting on a show then watching them would count. But then again, maybe them simply juggling in such a public space is acting like an advertisement. I'm still not totally convinced they count as media, so maybe discussing their location and purpose would help convince others like me of your point of view.

This journal offered a specific, structured approach to the media they consumed, which I found organized and easily understandable. Some of the comments seemed dismissive, which I admittedly bristled at a bit, but more importantly seemed very objective. I definitely think there's merit in reading spending time reflecting on pieces (especially the one encountered on the street that responded to cell signals) as opposed to visually noting them and swiftly moving on. The final reflection on their media experience reflected in depth about their experiences with media, and was worded well. It definitely met the requirements of the assignment and came to interesting conclusions about the experience.

I very much like the setting and premise of your piece, giving us a view of the view of media outside of our immediate view, and showing that while its different from what we see every day, its also the same in that its nearly unavoidable.

I thought your reflection could use work, specifically the conclusion. I felt it was quite lofty and out of place relative to the rest of the piece.

Lastly, I like how your recorded your feelings of disgust regarding the ads with political nature and how you showed their obvious sensational nature.

I think it's a great project. It gives different functions of media and different perspectives to see media. Also, some critical points like privacy are raised. The reflection is very critical.

Maybe you can include something other than electronic media, such as things you encounter in real life. Then the project might be more comprehensive.

I liked how you had a diverse set of examples of media and I agree with what you said about how people are noticing less of it. I found it interesting that you followed the Haribo link to the facebook page, but when I thought about it, I realized that I might have done that too if I had noticed it.

I was impressed with the sheer amount of logos and branding that you noticed throughout your day. Like you said, it was like a list of most of the things that surround us in daily life. Maybe more visual representations of other kinds of media would have been nice.

I love how you delved deep into the meaning and intent behind the media you encountered, as well as the process of consuming it. You clearly thought deeply about what goes into both the creation and consumption of the media that surrounds us all. Also, the way you higlighted the media in each picture using color over a black-and-white background is brilliant.

On the other hand, your selection seemed a bit limited. You only focused on advertisements, while there are plenty more sources of media out there. However, I can understand why you may have limited your selection to allow for deeper discussion.

Overall, the presentation is fantastic and I enjoyed reading your journal.

I love the way you presented the media you interacted with. It truly felt like a story with conflict and cause and effect, not just a list of interactions. I also like how you subtly mentioned how some of the media you interact with is just part of your daily routine (I can definitely relate to the morning Reddit session), yet you also mentioned the disruptions that changed your routine and how you responded to them by consuming even more media, albeit media designed to solve your problem, not to sell you something.

On the other hand, your coverage seemed very high-level, missing the subtle pieces of media that we usually ignore. Even in the pictures you posted, you can see a plethora of ads and other small pieces of media, yet you only focused on the high level aspects of the websites you visited.

Overall, the presentation was fantastic and I really enjoyed reading your journal. Looking forward to see what you create in the future!

The image cloud was a really nice way of visualizing media interactions and made a lot of sense to me considering most media we respond to on a daily basis is also visual. However, it is unclear to me whether these images are representative of all media you experienced in a day, or things you may have seen just on the internet. The internet is surely a huge source of media interaction in our lives, but focusing on just the internet wouldn't be a holistic look at media exposure. "The media" contains a vast range of things and it would make more sense to me to include more of a range of things.

In our summary, I liked that you looked at common media tropes, like smiling happy people and sexuality. I think another thing to consider would be "shock value". Think when you look at a clickbait article titled something like "10 things you can actually eat, number 8 will amaze you!" In addition to other commonalities in medias, I think you could have reflected more on the kind of worldview these things create, or how you personally responded to these media influences in your day.

Hi!
Although you seem to not care too much about brands, do you think that mere recognition of a brand makes you more inclined to re-purchase a specific product? For example, even though your toothpaste and toothbrush don't match, do you find yourself purchasing the same brand of toothpaste each time? I also find it odd that the recommended articles you see on a particular page are irrelevant to the original content. In today's world where all of your data is collected and analyzed to give you a personalized surfing experience, would you prefer to see relevant pages? Or would that count as a privacy infringement?
On another note, the sketches were really adorable and I think really captured our nonchalance toward the media we're bombarded with everyday.

I thought you did a really nice job of comparing your experiences in media with and without the absence of your phone. For instance, I thought it was very interesting how you said you knew there were ads all around on the subways and billboards but had not noticed what they were advertising until you put your phone away. I imagine you used your phone to take these photos though; I wonder if you've considered how integral cell phones are in our lives!

Additionally, I found what you said about targeted media interesting when you said that media is sometimes annoying but sometimes relevant and compelling like an ad for Beats Headphones when one is considering what brand of headphones to buy. I would be interested to see if you would still pay attention to relevant ads like this when you are still using your cell phone.

Hello,
I definitely find it interesting and very relevant that you brought up the idea of media collecting and analyzing our "data" for future usage, and how it is often considered an infringement on our privacy. However, I believe there is more to media than just marketing and consumer personalization; much of media is also intent on spreading a message, be it political or simply comedic (memes, for example?). Media is often a form of self-expression, in addition to a way through which we can advertise products and services.

Your note about receipts (specifically expiration dates) being media surprised me, until thought it over and realized it's a very true form of media that most people don't even think of as such.

I thought it was interesting that you chose to focus specifically on media on your trip to the Andy Warhol museum. You were going to a place to consume a specific type of media but then encountered either unrelated media or unusual forms of media.

I enjoyed reading this piece and the lack of structure, in contrast to that first comment up there. Overly structural reading is what makes my eyes glaze over immediately, especially when it comes to content that is more or less predictable. So I applaud the freeform prose here. Similar to the lack of structure in text is the mash of pictures of the media you encountered, which I thought accentuates the writing rather well. There is certainly a style to it, which is balanced by the occasional sprinkles of slightly more formal paragraphs, like the one preceding the Qualcomm image. The jump back to the fun, quiz mode might be abrupt but I'd say it works.

So yup, I think this was a fun read and it was positively enjoyable. The only real room for improvement might be the exit - the end didn't exactly go out with a bang (which it doesn't actually need to but..), and I think it might've done with a bit of flair. That's all, really. I think this was great!

The project is very structured, which makes for an easy and clear reading. If I had to make a suggestion, I would recommend maybe breaking out of the structure here and there (or even just in tone) to keep the reading more interesting. The stiff, formal text makes the project sound somewhat less personal, though this is perhaps only a matter of taste, since I prefer to play around with my work. There is a good mix of different types of media present, both outdoors and indoors, which is nice. It might be improved with more examples, though one can only encounter so many noteworthy forms of media in a day.

This piece decided to document the media they saw throughout the day in chronological order. Something interesting that I think the format highlights is how media has an effect of being part of our daily routine, namely the instance where they checked their rss feed. Something I saw which was interesting was the decision to consider Facebook's messanger as a piece of media, something which relates to our discussion in class (ie. I wouldn't call a telephone media, so I have similar feelings about calling the chat service messanger media). That aside, chronicling media as it was seen throughout the day and giving a short blurb with each piece helped to describe what you thought was their intended purpose and illustrated their prevalence in our everyday routine.

This entry was laid out in a way that highlighted the sheer magnitude of media, specifically logos, seen throughout the course of the day. The initial images served to highlight where these sorts of media are found, with the document supplementing it by discussing the exact distribution of the media. Something about this piece that really impressed me was the sheer size of the information compiled, which I think further emphasized the amount of media that one saw in just one hour of looking for it.

I like how your story telling style made your presentation flow really well into the reflection. Within the story, by mentioning how frequently you use Craig Street, you make the point of ignoring media more obvious. And having to ignore it while doing the assignment emphasizes how frequently media jumps out at us as well as how often we ignore it. You also view the situation from a producer's standpoint, followed by a somewhat brutally honest truth that I think extends to most people. Because we have so much media, we are in a position to choose what we want to see and ignore the rest. Something I think would extend your presentation further would be 1-2 examples of the media you do pay attention to on Craig Street. Overall, I think your conclusion makes a good point that even if the media presented looks cool, sometimes if we're just not interested, then we're just not interested.

I would have liked a bit more from your reflection. After reading your piece, I was wondering to myself "Why are so many ads appearing together?", and I was hoping you'd address that.

I very much liked your observation that not only is media in the form of advertisements near omnipresent in our society, but also that they are sometimes purposely made to stand together.

Content aside, I think some of your sentences were quite confusing at times, requiring me to reread several times. Also I think your formatting with the images causing the text to wrap in a single thin column seemed less than desirable.

I think your presentation was very interesting and encompassed a lot of media. The juggling group in particular, I believe, is intriguing because I wouldn't have considered it media, but after reading your explanation and thinking about it, I agree with you. To me, in a way its similar to performance art, and it does have an effect, maybe not on everyone, but still some people. What's more, it could be a self-expression for the people juggling. I am slightly confused about how you mentioned Facebook and Twitter, because I thought that WeChat was similar, but I don't really know it that well. I think an explanation would add to your reflection for the people who do not know about WeChat. Overall, I liked how you included not only online examples, but also posters, books, music, and even the juggling group. I think you did a really good job of noticing the media around you and the conclusion in your reflection expanded my thoughts on "What is Media."

I like how you have questions about things that we normally don't pay attention to, such as the 'Share this on facebook/twitter/google+/etc' buttons and the suggested videos on websites as your Detective Conan one.

I also enjoy how you added 'Do advertisers even design the ads with the idea in mind that most people will probably overlook them?' because that is a great question to bring up and now that you mention it, I really want to know the answer to this.

When I first saw the shelf with the glass on it, I initially wondered why you pictured this in this journal because I wouldn't think of that as media in the slightest, however after reading the passage along with it ('Sometimes, media is a means of refining skill to create more media.') it made me rethink my initial feelings. The fact that this happened indicates what we discussed in class, that we all have different opinions of what media is and your journal brought out that discussion within me.

With that, I really like the message that your journal was displaying and the fact that you did what I didn't do, and included media that's not on a screen.

I would advise however to read through your post before posting it a bit to catch some potential grammatical and punctuational errors such as typing 'of' instead of 'or' or 'he' instead of 'the' just to be a bit more clear like was discussed today.

I really like how you carefully documented your media experiences throughout your day. There is a clear timeline to be seen here. And I also like how your journal demonstrates the amount of boredom and multitasking we go through when engaging with even the media we choose to associate with. Your journal really makes me wonder how short our attention spans have really become.

One criticism I have however is that there was not much focus on the ads or other irrelevant things that were on the pages you visited (although I see you have ad-block on). For example on the side bars of your facebook page could have had a little more attention and love from you. As well as maybe an analysis on the 'Featured Shows' on crunchyroll or the buttons on the twitch page because these are forms of media that we see on screens constantly but are always ignored and it might have been insightful to read what you had to think about these widely ignored forms of media.

But all in all I really enjoyed reading through your journal:)

I like the primary insight you've made in your journal entry! We tend to treat brands as being in isolation, but that is not true at all. As the media landscape evolves, new media becomes some forsaken chimera of older media, a trend that you demonstrate through multiple sources. The journal makes me think of other ways brands can intermingle besides promotion. Television crossovers, most prominently, comes to mind.

I have little to criticize about the topic of your journal, but I would like to see the journal be better organized. I am not entirely sure how the IDeATe gallery's markup works, but I think it is a better tool for presenting images than as you have them in a Word document. If you would rather stick with Word, then page composition with text wrapping and image location would need to be considered slightly more.

The internet provides a vast amount of media for consumption or analysis, and it's interesting to see your perspective on what media presented is appealing to you; the contrast between your attraction to online quizzes and trivia and disconnect between Qualcomm on social media presents a viewpoint on not only media analysis but also on other social sciences.

One of the expectations from this journal is identifying otherwise overlooked sources of media. Did you recognize any media outside of the sources listed just by meandering around campus? If not, why not?

On a technical note, I felt that journal was personal from the use of vernacular language and lack of structure. While this assignment was not the most formal, I would have preferred it if the journal was presented with more structure, using more visible headers or a timeline-esque order.

I really like how you combined the photos into a collage and how you color coded the collage to your analysis.

I really like the description you put with your photos. I felt like I was really going through the day with you. I think what you could have added was more photos, videos, or even audio to support your description.