13E New and Digital Media: end of unit question

We have reached the end of our unit introducing New and Digital Media and looking at the internet. Using your notes and anything relevant from the NDM stories you have read and posted online answer the following question:

There are always concerns about new technology. In your view, what are the possible benefits and problems attached to the Internet? 

You must include the following:

• An introduction
• Both sides of the argument
• At least three theorists or theories (e.g. Pareto's Law)
• Your opinion

Feel free to discuss the question with the person next to you but you MUST answer on your blog and be prepared to discuss your response at the end of the lesson.

If your essay is not finished in the lesson (all four bullet points need to be covered), you must finish it for homework - due Tuesday 7 January.

AND a reminder of your ongoing homework - a New and Digital Media story every week leading up to your exam in June. This morning we've seen big news from the USA regarding the Edward Snowden case - a great example of contemporary debate concerning new and digital media.

Critical Investigation Task #6

Critical Investigation - First Draft

The following needs to be completed by...

• Monday 6 January 2014

• Complete the first draft of your Critical Investigation.


• It must be a word processed 2,000 word essay (PLUS quotes - with a precise word count included at the end).


• Also, include correctly set out references, quotes and footnotes. Footnotes should take the following form - Author Surname, Author First Name Initial (Year of Publication), Page Number(s). e.g...Lacey, N. (2009). p. 122. They should not appear all together at the end of the essay but at the foot of the page where they appear.


• Where the next reference is from the same text and the same page use ibid. (in italics). This means 'in the same place' in Latin. If it's from the same text but a different page you include the new page reference too. e.g. ibid. p23.


• A full bibliography must be submitted. (See Critical Investigation Task #2 for help with this). Books should be listed in alphabetical order, by author's surname. If you're using the referencing system in Microsoft Word then all this will be done for you. Alternatively, you can use BibMe to help you do this correctly, using the APA format for books. e.g. Lacey, N. (2009). Image and Representation (2nd ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Here's a good example of a bibliography.


• Two copies are necessary. Hand in a hard copy (on paper) 1.5 on the deadline day, and this needs to have one and a half line spacing. Also paste it up on your blog.

If you're in any doubt about what this all should look like then please check out some of the finished grade 'A' and 'B' essays from: (2013) (2012) (2011), (2010), (2009), (2008), (2007), (2006). But remember that those from 2009 and earlier were for a different specification and had to be 3,000 words, unlike yours (which should be 2,000).

They will be helpful, though, when thinking about how to write your essay (what to include in the introduction and conclusion, how to structure the work, how to set out quotes, the correct tone, and how much research to include - they each contain between 20 and 40 footnotes - you should aim for at least 30.)

But please ensure that all writing is done in your own words. Plagiarism is a very serious business and anyone found simply copying from other sources (either students or books/websites) will be in serious trouble. And you will be found out if you do! We're not stupid - we know how you write, and we know very well what was in the previous studies (and there are numerous online checkers, er Google, that we can feed your work into to see if it has been plagiarised).

This is the big one so no excuses and good luck!

Critical Investigation Task #5

Up-to-the-minute additional web research


Although books carry more authority, the internet is an excellent resource and you should be searching regularly to identify additional ideas and references related to your Critical Investigation.

In particular, you will find up-to-the-minute, current information and opinion about your topic and this always scores highly with the examiners so it's important to continue online research all the way through until you hand in your final essay. A great example just this week: Beyonce releases a new album that bypasses traditional music promotion AND makes a point in the feminism debate - that fits many of our critical investigations and is just one story from the last week. Another crucial platform that you really ought to cover - New Media and Digital Technology - is constantly changing and you're already finding stories for that topic weekly for the exam too!

Remember, key places to keep track of this are...

• A Level Media Studies subscription sites - we have paid for you to have free access to both the MediaMagazine (search the archive or browse through past copies), and MediaEdu (spend time, in particular, looking at the theory, new media and key concepts resources)...both are excellent and contain information pitched just right at your level of understanding. Passwords are here: MediaEdu and MediaMagazine. 
• broadsheet newspaper sites, especially MediaGuardian (it's essential you get into the habit of reading this every week, preferably on a Monday), and the Independent Media;
• media education sites - the biggest and best is MCS; but there's also Media Literacy, Film Education, Screen Online...
• film review sites like IMDb (use the 'external reviews' link on the sidebar whenever you're on a chosen film) and Rotten Tomatoes;
• film magazines online like Sight & Sound, GuardianFilm, Empire, and Senses of Cinema;
• Wikipedia, naturally: a useful starting point for any web search, but make sure you avoid referencing this directly...it makes you look like a beginner. Provides, however, a good overview and, essentially, a list of 'References' and 'External Links' at the end of each entry;
• the best student essays from 2012, from 2011, from 2010, from 2009, from 2008, and from 2007: in particular, look at their quotes (usually highlighted by a footnote number) and bibliographies (at the end of each essay) as they will have often identified some of the best quotes for your topic. But, as ever, be wary of the temptation to plagiarise - you should only 'borrow' a key quote from another person's essay if it's completely relevant and fully referenced! Remember: it is incredibly easy to tell when an essay takes a sentence or paragraph from another writer.

Over the holiday and into January, continue with your internet research, using the Google Search Tips you've been shown to help you refine your searches and, of course, the Google academic search engine: Google Scholar.

Task: Post up AT LEAST 20 additional quotes, with full article titles (and hyperlinked web addresses) and a brief explanation about each one saying how it's linked to your study. Due: January.

Exemplar Critical Investigations

Use these from 2013 to help you in terms of style/presentation/use of quotes/footnotes/bibliographies, etc.

13E: New and Digital Media

I hope you've got your new and digital media story ready to share for Tuesday's lesson - there is so much out there, this article about Trinity Mirror's new website Ampp3d being a good example.

Once we've gone around the class discussing our NDM articles, you need to answer the following questions on your blog to finish off Pareto's Law:

1) What is Pareto's Law? Sum it up in a paragraph.

2) What other industries or examples can you apply the 80/20 rule to?

3) List three arguments in FAVOUR of Pareto's Law applying to the internet:

4) List three arguments AGAINST Pareto's Law applying to the internet:

Finally, answer the following question:

5) Even if Pareto's Law applies to internet ownership, does it still apply to the content we read online?

If you don't get a chance to finish this in the lesson, complete for homework - due on Tuesday.

NDM - starter read for 13E

The New and Digital Media articles just keep on coming - here's a follow up to the Elan Gale hoax in today's Guardian (original hoax article here).

We'll be looking at Pareto's Law today but have a read of this article to get started.

Don't forget your weekly homework: a New and Digital Media story published each week.

Critical Investigation Task #4

Essay plan

Produce a detailed essay plan for your critical investigation, covering everything that you hope to include in your submission. Break your ideas and research down into sections and paragraphs with headings, summaries and a list of references that you hope to include at each step. You may also want to plan a rough word count for each section, remembering you are aiming for 2,000 words (not including quotes). You can see some decent ones from previous years by clicking on Sonam or Jaleesa from 2012.

Make sure that you label each point you hope to include by linking it to Key Concepts (MIGRAIN) and Wider Contexts (SHEP). (You could just include the initial letter in brackets). This way you can see whether you have covered everything that you need to in an even way. Also, ensure that you think about where you will include theories/theorists, issues/debates and media keywords. (Keep the 'Essential Word Dictionary' handy). You may find that the tasks we have completed recently help you to plan certain sections too.

This will make writing your essay MUCH easier. However, it is a big task as it requires you to read through all your research very carefully and plan what you should include and what isn't relevant. This is the key academic skill that universities teach - expect it to be difficult and take time! You could also browse through each other's blogs as there may be some overlapping areas of research you could share with each other.

You may want to produce this plan as a straightforward series of bullet points or as a more complex mindmap. If it's the latter you may have to do it by hand and then scan it in before posting it up on your blog. Or you may want to try out an online mind-mapping tool like bubbl.

Deadline: Friday 13 December

Note: You must get your essay plan approved by your teacher before Christmas so you are able to write the draft over the holidays.

13E Homework - Weekly New and Digital Media story

Your ongoing homework from now until your exam in June is to find a weekly New and Digital Media story online and post it to your MEST3 exam blog. 

We'll be starting lessons off by picking someone to present their story so it's vital you keep up-to-date. 

By the exam, you should have 25+ stories on the blog, each of which gives you a recent example to refer to in exam answers.

So, to recap: each week, you must find, read, summarise and comment upon AT LEAST one New and Digital Media story (A/B candidates will do more). The best sources to begin with are...

• The Guardian: Digital Media 
• The Guardian: Technology
• The Guardian: Newspapers
• The Guardian: News Corporation
• The Telegraph: Technology
• The Independent: Technology

...but don't stick exclusively to these throughout the year. Find your own too.

For each story...

• Provide the title and link;
• Include an image or graphic;
• Summarise the story in your own words;
• Produce a list of bullet points of any key data/statistical information;
• Comment on the story: What's your view? (At least one paragraph).

Remember: you could be presenting to class next week so NEED to keep up-to-date!

Critical Investigation Task #3

Historical text analysis and research

Research a historical text that you can use to compare with your contemporary one (that is the main focus of your investigation). By 'historical' we mean anything pre-2000 but the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or even 80s might be more fruitful because they pre-date many of the important changes that have occurred more recently (such as the gains for women as a result of feminism; or greater equality for ethnic minorities now that we are - arguably - a more inclusive and multi-cultural society; or the ground-breaking developments in new media/digital technology). The purpose here is to be able to demonstrate...

• how society and the issue you are investigating has changed over the years and how these changes are reflected in different media texts, or - to put it another way...
• how popular culture reflects the 'spirit of the age' or zeitgeist

Ideally, you will watch at least one film/TV programme/video game/music video from the past, make notes on it and research it in Media/Film Studies textbooks and on the internet. The best option is to watch/play the whole text on DVD/online or otherwise you might be able to see extracts on YouTube. Answer the following questions:

• How is it similar/different to your main text?
• How does this show how the genre/society/issue has changed?

Through this you will become aware of developments in the genre you are researching. This task is designed to make sure you have a range of texts to refer to in your critical investigation essay (you'll need at least five including your main text and the historical text you analyse in this task). Remember: you should be able to link them to the wider contexts that were/are present at the time. It's also worth noting that you will be rewarded for considering your topic across different platforms.

If you can't get hold of an original copy of the text it's not the end of the world - you will be stuck doing secondary research. Just make sure you do plenty of it and find out information from a few different sources.

As ever, list your historical text(s), research, textual analysis and links/bibliography in a detailed blog post (or simply add to your ongoing Notes and Quotes post).

Due: Thursday 5 December

Y13E Cover p5/6, Monday 2/12/12

Please stay in the classroom and get on with your Critical Investigations. Mr Babu will register/supervise you. 

You should have completed Task#1 (detailed analysis of two texts) for homework for today's lesson...

http://mediamacguffin13.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/critical-investigation-task-1.html?m=1

...I'll be checking this tomorrow morning, p1. 

This week you need to complete Task#2 (additional reading/bibliography) which is due in a week, on Monday 9/12 p5...

http://mediamacguffin13.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/critical-investigation-task-2.html?m=1

Y13D Cover p3/4, Monday 2/12/12

Stay in the classroom - Mr Babu will register/monitor you. 

Watch and make notes on 'The Virtual Revolution' Episode 2 (wear headphones when you do this)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFeJaEhUGs8&sns=em

After each ten minute section, type up your detailed notes on your blog, then watch/make notes on the next section. Do not leave it until the end of the entire programme to post up your notes. Please complete this for homework. 

You must also make sure you've done your Marxism/pluralism (audience power) essay. You need to hand in a paper copy and for it to be on your blog for your next Media lesson on Thursday. 

And don't forget this week's two NDM stories also need to be on your blog.