mid term prroject media amp ethics communication 735
4 pages single space
I upload the assignment outlione and the textbook in the below blank.
MEDIA & ETHICS MID-TERM PROJECT OUTLINE
1. WHAT IS THIS? (i.e. Introduction or Abstract).
This section provides a short (200-300 word) abstract of the entire document that follows. An
abstract allows the reader to know what’s in the document.
2. WHERE IS WISDOM? (or, What is Virtue?)
In this section you define 2 or 3 of the key virtues we’ve been discussing by using an exemplar.
a.
First, define the virtues. Use definitions we’ve read,
and
describe them in your own
words. Make these words your own.
i. Wisdom.
ii. Authenticity
iii. Integrity
b. Next, describe an exemplar. Let’s be humble. Assume that in order to demonstrate
these virtues, we should turn to exemplars: film characters, characters in a novel, a pop
star, a living religious leader (or a past one).
i. Describe what these exemplars do, and how they do it. When it comes to a
virtue like wisdom, consider: What does it look like? What does it sound like?
Does it have a sound? Can you dance to it? Does it inspire a painting, or is it a
painting itself? Does it make you cry, or laugh?
ii. In your description, be sure to describe how this person, this exemplar, engages
their media environment (technology, content, institutions). Ideally, you can
pick someone who is
masterful
in cultivating and exemplifying virtue despite
the limitations of their media environment, and/or because they have mastered
the best affordances of it.
3. GRADE THE YOUR MEDIA!
1
In this section you evaluate and give a
letter grade
to the different elements in your media
environment, and to your media environment as a whole. (OR, you can conceive of this section
as a
review
that you might find on sites like Amazon or Yelp, i.e. with 3 out of 5 stars, etc.) Use
the concepts and proverbs from the book to write this evaluation. Recall that the book is
focused on faulty or misleading assumptions about the relationship between media and virtue,
e.g. information and wisdom, etc.
I recommend splitting this section into three parts: technology, institutions, and content. For
each, provide an example of best practices (an example that is good, something to which you
say YES) and an example of poor practices (something that is not good, to which you say NO).
Assign a letter grade to each. For each example, consider: Does it make the achievement of
virtue harder, or easier? Are some institutions doing better than others? Use the examples and
quotes from the book to help you write this section. What are the assumptions about media and
virtue that are driving these examples?
1
NOTE: I’m using the phrase “the media†because it’s a common term that people use. As media scholars, we
know that “the media†is a misleading phrase because media is plural, not singular.
After describing and evaluating the components of your media environment, provide an
evaluation of the environment
as a whole
. Imagine that the task of media producers, engineers,
entrepreneurs, coders, artists, etc. is to create technologies, content, and institutions that
support the cultivation of the virtues you defined in the previous section. Evaluate how well the
overall media environment does in encouraging and cultivating those virtues. Give an overall
grade to the media environment that we all share collectively.
4. THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!
(i.e. Demonstrate your approach to virtue in the current media environment).
Based on your exemplars’ models, and your assessment/grade of your media environment,
what have
you
decided to
do differently
so that you can better achieve the virtues you aspire
to? Is there a habit you’ve decided to change? A new habit you want to put into place? Is there
something you want to do regularly, or stop doing regularly? Is there a new medium or device
you want to learn to use? This of it this way: When you change your habits, you are saying NO to
something, but you are also saying YES to something else (a different medium, a different way
of using the same medium, a different genre of film you might watch, a different artistic hobby
you want to pick up, etc.).
Show
what it looks like when you take this step. What does it look like to practice these virtues?
How do you have to think about, use, change, or disrupt your media environment and the
various
mediums
that you use? What does it look like? What are you DOING, and with WHAT
items, devices, or materials? Do you need the presence of other persons? Consider the practices
described at the end of each of the main chapters. Is there a poetic transcription you can create
and include in your draft of this project? What can you include to illustrate what you’re doing
differently?
5. GIMME FEEDBACK.
Leave some blank pages at the end so that you can share the document with others and they
can write some comments in it.