RA#2

            Survey and Write-up Results

          As other researchers have tried to give a correct answer to the puzzling question “are people better informed in the informed society?” they have been unsuccessful. Linda Jackson proposed the “yes” answer in giving a thorough response in how technological advancements, Internet, and particularly the computer, has had a positive effect on the “cognitive and visual skills” (pg 366). On the opposing side stood Bauerlein answering “no” to this question in the defense that newer technology has casted children to greatly rely on the computer to do the research for them, therefore not allowing them the opportunity to go out and physically experience the history in the making. Having seen both opinions, I came up with a few questions that would help answer my own hypothesis: through spending time listening, watching, or reading any form of media, citizens do become better informed about current events and political issues.

            In order to perform this survey, I wrote out three simple questions that have been covered by the Internet, TV, radio, and newspapers. The last question gives a rough estimate of the amount of weekly hours spent incorporating either of these forms of media into their lives.

Survey Questions

"Are People Better Informed In the Information Society?"

1. Who is our current governor or California? (Write down his/her name or circle "I don't know").

______________________________                            or                       I don't know 

2. List at least two people running for governor of the state of California (or circle "I don't know"). 

_______________________________

_______________________________                         or                        I don't know 

3. What month is the next Election Day for California's Governor? (choose one) 

a. October

b. November 

c. December 

d. January 

4. How many hours a week do you roughly spend…

-       On the Internet ______

-       Watching TV ______ Total: _______

-       Listening to the Radio ______

-       Reading the Newspaper/Magazine ______

          The survey was conducted in a written form so the students would not have the opportunity to look up the answer online. In this way, the answer had to be directly from recalling the information the students have heard mentioned through whichever form of media. As they recorded their answers I would collect the pieces of paper and keep a chart of my own on the correlation between the number of correct answers and the total of hours spent being informed through the media. From a total of roughly 8,000 college students, a class of 40 students was chosen to be the sample of the population, leaving us with only .5% of accurate results.
Results

Question 1	36 people answered correctly – Arnold Schwarzenegger	4 people answered  “I don’t know”
Question 2	22 people were able to name TWO governor candidates	18 people were either only able to name ONE or answered “I don’t know”
Question 3	30 people answered correctly - November	10 people answered incorrectly
Question 4	31 people (77.5%) spend 7 or MORE hours a week engaging in some sort of media.	9 people (22.5%) spend 6 hours or LESS a week engaging in some sort of media.

          Through these results, there was a greater amount of correct answers or known information; out of 120 answers, 94 were answered correctly, and 78% of the sample population spends a higher amount of time using some sort of media. Connecting the amount of correct answers to the hours spent using some sort of media shows that there is a correlation between engaging in media and being informed. Weather the use of media is directed towards giving political information or simply to entertain, there are many announcements, ads, commercials, or photographs in the all these forms of media that quickly portray the answer to these questions. So being a part of an informational society does broadcast information through the various sources of media people use, giving, in this case, student important current events surrounding them.  

Survey Questions

"Are People Better Informed 

in the Information Society?"

1. Who is our current governor or California? (write down his/her name or circle "I don't know").

________________________________     


or   


I don't know 


2. List at least two people running for governor of the state of California (or circle "I don't know"). 

_______________________________

_______________________________           


or 

I don't know 


3. What month is the next Election Day for California's Governor? (choose one) 

a. October
b. November 
c. December 
d. January 



4. How many hours a week do you roughly spend...
     - Watching TV ______
     - On the Internet ______
     - Reading the Newspaper/Magazine ______

Unit 6, Issue 18

"Are People Better Informed in the Information Society?"

As I first read this title my first thought was "yes...more information leads to more knowledge". But through the readings and viewing both Jackson's and Bauerlein's point of view, i wasn't so quick to answer. I stopped to think what information is really being found through the various sources of information, which continues to expand by the minute (figuratively speaking). 

Through the reading, i stand pretty neutral to my answer, and here's why. As Jackson highlighted, all the new forms of technology - particularly computers - have enhanced a new of learning, especially for students. I would imagine it is much more interesting to be hands on doing the work in a way that looks appealing, such as seeing it on a screen in front of you where the student has control of the pace and what they are learning, than sitting in lecture to try to listen and pay attention to the teacher for however long straight; they lose the control of "stop, pause, and rewind" with a teacher. Or in a more realistic situation, instead of summer's being spend sitting around doing nothing, the computer can be a very useful tool to continue practicing the subject. Through the higher grade levels, the more research needs to be done. Internet has provided a great amount of information available to student to not only search specific topics, but also read news and current events. Now i would say there is a downside to this - internet can be distracting! With so many forms of communication through the internet itself, its so easy for a student to log on to "facebook, messenger, email, youtube, or even reading articles on event that has nothing to do with the subject one is researching, etc." and find ENTERTAINMENT which strays the attention away from the actual research they should be doing. So from experience i can say it takes a lot of self control! 

Through recognizing the distraction internet and other technological advancements can really be to students, Bauerlein brings up a good point. I would even say all these advancements have cause us to be lazy in our knowledge because its not so mush about memorizing anymore, instead its about having direct access to look anything up when needed. It is true that even say 20 years ago, having to put the effort to read the newspaper and listen to the news on the radio placed a higher amount of curiosity and sense of WANTING to LEARN. But this isn't true for everyone. 

So i cant really say its made the information society has not made people better informed, but for the most part its made people rely solely on technology to do the work for them. 

RA#1

October 12, 2010

Al Jazeera Network,

The quality of a story is portrayed through the accuracy, honesty, and unbiased, thorough facts and observations. Through your online news page, in my opinion, you have been able to pinpoint what it means to be a good quality network. The detail of your website has captured the importance, not only of events occurring in your country, but around the world. You have organized your website, not only to be an outlet of news, but also a source of receiving feedback and opinion of the people, keeping in touch with the voice of crowd.

The essence of interest is the most important to gain and keep one’s attention. Through the headline readings portraying international news, you have used photographs and distinct words to call people in wanting to know more. Below the main headlines for “today”, the column of videos gives direct visual of current events, which in many occasions allows people to retain that information in a stronger manner as opposed to simply reading the articles.  Your news bulletin contains direct footage of your news broadcast on impacting stories, changing day by day. Going into depth, you share particular stories that you feel have a stronger root, being unable to express that importance in a simple headline. Through being an outlet for news, you also keep a blog divided in sections of interest, such as “Americas, Asia, and the Middle East”. By reviewing the opinions before being posted, you have been able to keep order according to your community rules, along with avoiding conflict through mislead and abusive words. 

Your headlines have come to show the integrity of publishing factual news. A particular story dated October 9, 2010, titled “Chile Rescue Shaft ‘Reaches’ Miners”, accompanied by a photograph of the miners awaiting their rescue, was written with such emotion and detail to fully allow the reader to engage in the event presently taking place in Chile. There were quotes from the Reporter, Health Minister, Engineer in charge, and the President of Chile, all giving the story a deeper feeling in knowing the direct words of these very important and influential men  - particularly for this situation. The detail in giving precise dates, Doctors orders for the miners through this process of being rescued, hours left to see the face of these men again, and the crowd of family and journalist/camera crew from around the world sleeping in tents outside the mine, where they now call “Camp Hope”, gives the reader an anticipated feeling in wanting to stay in touch with every hour that passes awaiting the rescue. But in reading the note “All 33 of us are well inside the shelter” from the eldest miner Mario Gomez, after two weeks of having pronounced dead was the moment that made this entire story come to life. Comparing the writing of this story to the article “Celebration in Chile Drill Reaches Minors” dated October 9, 2010 Fox News, I was able to clearly see the difference in how you portray detail and emotion instead of simply giving the factual information.

To formally conclude this letter, I would simply like to thank you for your hard work in covering the various amounts of stories from around the world. You have heard the voice of the people and taken into account the importance of focusing solely in being honest and accurate in each story, with of course having facts to support your information, constantly staying observant to the truth happening around us.

Respectfully,

Haley Y. Alvarado

International Perspectives on Local/Global Issues

In comparing the different sources of International News, it was hard to stick to one particular topic. But I was able to choose one genera and keep the headlines focused on that - the Middle East. There were various stories being portrayed but here a few i found interesting.

Australian Network - 

http://australianetwork.com - the story titled "Taliban in 'secret talks' with Karzai"

Qatar Network - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/10/20101071254383435.html

Russian Network - 

http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/29-09-2010/115132-america_afghanistan-0/

England Network - 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11482626

 

Vietnam Network -

 http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20100702170644.aspx

Although these five stories are tied in by the same factor of all being headlines containing some sort of information or story about the Middle East, i noticed each news station portrayed the headlines differently. BBC had a wide variety of news on its home page - it does not cover only news from England. They had the US, Canada, Latin America, the UK, Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, South Asia, and of course Europe. As i searched the rest of the networks, i noticed the variety decreased. Quatar news had stories from Africa, Americas, Asia-Pacific, Central and South Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Yet when getting to the Russian network "Pravada", the main headline were Russia and the rest of the world bundled in one category. The Japanese website also mainly focused on strictly Japan with their "world" category still focusing on Asian countries such as Vietnam and China. The "Vietnam News" portrayed only news from Vietnam, but the other website "thanhniewnnews.com" had a few headlines on Obama and Australian stories, but none the less very few. 

From this i picked up that BBC would probably be the network with the most variety, and in some way knows how to get its viewers interested by portraying so many stories. The other networks do tend to primarily tell important news from their own countries - and "www.nht.org.jp" is even in Japanese!

Fox Article Posting

"Fox Primary: Complicated, Contractual"

Looking through the perspective of Fox, they have a great deal laid out for them. They have the information at the tip of their fingers, of course with the cost of having them on payroll for being in contract with them. Is that high price worth to pay? In the competitive world, it most certainly is! They are the first to broadcast direct information from these influential faces who constantly come out with new ideas, headlines, and movements to change the country we live in. I'm sure they make up for all their expenses through the hours people spend watching their news and following their stories day in and day out. Journalist that work for Fox greatly benefit because they have easy access to get information from candidates as they also belong to the company, they get easy entry to any event, and nonetheless must get paid well for working for such a influential and successful company. As long as they are doing their job, Fox continues to broadcast great stories, keeping the CEO, Board of Directors, and News Producers happy. 

But what about every other news broadcast out there? CNN, MBC, NBC, ABC, etc. are all still valid news  stations that don't have the right to a scoop of the story because of contract these people hold with Fox. Journalist aren't able to do publish precise articles because of the lack of resources on these stories. And to have to even ask Fox for permission to do their work is pure degrading towards the company, making them inferior and look "less qualified" than Fox. 

As for the Candidates, I believe their main focus is simply being heard. They care more for the public and their response, the stories being exposed, and the time frame, than WHERE they are being seen. To be in a secure contract with a company that will expose them give them the security that they will be seen and heard. This doesn't make it fair to all other companies, but unfortunately other companies just might now afford to hold on to such high figures. 

But to conclude, Fox doesn't feel a threat to as many voices stand against what they are doing because at the end, they have no competition and they are the one's making the money. I do believe other companies should fight for the equal rights that pertain to ALL as news broadcasters.