One more video example

You may be sick of these by this point, but I thought I'd send one more sample video project your way.  This one has some really nice things about it, like a fascinating topic, clever title slides, great research, strong analytical content, and a couple speakers with particularly expressive inflection.  But it also has a few conceptual and technical shortcomings: discontinuity across sections (it's clear that each speaker designed his or her own visuals), some generic and some overly abstract images, unexpected pacing changes (shot length varied significantly), different audio levels between speakers (recorded on different quality mics and in different rooms), and a few zoom/pan problems.

What were your reactions to watching it?

Lecture on Entertainment and Morality

I'm afraid I can't make this lecture due to another obligation, but this sounds like it'll be a fascinating talk.  If you do make it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.


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Arthur A. Raney, a leading media effects scholar, will present the spring 2011 Robert M. Pockrass Memorial Lecture at 7 p.m. Monday, April 4, in Foster Auditorium of Paterno Library at Penn State's University Park campus.

His free public lecture, titled "The Ongoing Morality Play: Media Entertainment and Our Sense of Right and Wrong," is sponsored by the Penn State College of Communications and University Libraries.

Dr. Raney is an associate professor and director of doctoral studies in the School of Communication at Florida State University.  His research examines the psychological processes associated with enjoying media entertainment, addressing the question “how and why do we enjoy what we enjoy?”  More specifically, he also explores the role that moral judgment plays in the enjoyment of dramatic, violent, sports, and interactive content.

His work has been published in many entertainment and media-effects anthologies, as well as Journal of Communication, Media Psychology, Communication Theory, and Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media.  He is also the lead editor of Handbook of Sports and Media.        

The Pockrass Lecture was named after the late Professor Robert M. Pockrass, a member of Penn State's journalism faculty from 1948 to 1977. Pockrass, who specialized in public opinion and popular culture, served as the graduate officer and taught radio news writing for the School of Journalism, which later became the College of Communications. 

Congratulations. This is how rational human beings exchange ideas.

How to determine if you're having a rational argument.

More on the Creative Commons license

Here's a video explaining the purpose and procedures of the Creative Commons license.  It isn't required for this project--and may not be feasible--but it's something worth knowing about.

Note that to use a CC license you need to be using some combination of others' CC material, your own material, or brief elements of copyrighted works allowed under the fair use principle.  You can't use major chunks of copyrighted works and distribute your work under the CC license, however, because you'll be giving people permission to use every aspect of your work.  And you can't legally give them permission to use copyrighted works you've borrowed--even though you're allowed to use it under the TEACH Act of 2002.

Interview Permission Form

Here's a sample permission form you can use to obtain consent to use the words or likeness of interviewees in your video project: Permission Form

Sources to kick-start your brainstorming for the video projects

Selecting a good topic for the video projects can be a challenge, but there are many things worth pursuing.  For example, all of these topics are unique and narrowed, and there is ongoing debate about them in at least some forum: 

• Societal expectations that everyone should go to college
• Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility proposals
• The “CSI Effect”: How forensic investigation dramas distort evidence standards for jury trials
• Societal ramifications of unscheduled but potentially harmful drugs (like Salvia divinorum)
• Effects changes in the Motion Picture Rating System have had on perceptions of acceptable media content
• Language proficiency assessment for Arabic speakers in the military
• Psychology of alien abduction reports
• Immanent domain abuses
• Rise in unclaimed bodies at morgues

 To find a salient topic, consider browsing sources that provide in-depth discussion of contemporary issues, rather than relying on sources with mass market appeal.  Here are a few of those I find helpful when looking for timely topics:

http://www.theatlantic.com/  Excellent discussion of a wide variety of contemporary issues, with authors across the (mainstream) political spectrum.

http://www.slate.com/  Online-only publication, similar in many ways to The Atlantic.  Generally varied authorial perspective; left-leaning positions are slightly more represented.

http://www.salon.com/  Similar to slate.com, but slightly more pop culture driven.  (A bit more of the “what people want to hear” rather than “what informed citizens should know.”)  Still, some thorough discussions of serious contemporary social issues.

http://www.thenation.com/ If you prefer your news and commentary from the left.

http://www.nationalreview.com/ If you prefer your news and commentary from the right.

http://www.ted.com  Great selection of short video presentations from experts on a variety of topics.  The TED conferences that produce these videos are especially popular with early adopters, innovators, futurists, and people who just like learning things.

http://chronicle.com/ The Chronicle of Higher Education does what it says, and is a must-read for anyone looking to understand current trends in academia today.

http://www.pcmag.com While a lot of this is similar to what you’d find on Ars Technica or Gizmodo, PC Magazine has a nice Opinion section that often addresses the cultural ramifications of technology.  I especially appreciate the snarky John Dvorak.

http://www.hbr.org  The Harvard Business Review is a great source for accessible commentary on Corporate America, including issues in management, leadership, business strategy, and the economy.

Intellectual property, copyright, and fair use

The following post deals with avoiding copyright infringement (a legal problem), not plagiarism (an ethical problem).  You may need to cite additional things to meet the standards of academic integrity, in addition to any attribution you may need to do to substantiate fair use.  Also, note that libel and slander are other matters entirely, both of which are not only unethical, but also usually illegal.

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Fair use is a justification for using a portion of a copyrighted work for certain--but not all--educational, news reporting, parody, or cultural criticism purposes without express permission.  (You may also choose to obtain express permission to use larger portions of a work, or to avoid any risk of lawsuit.)  So quoting a small piece of, say, a news article would fall under fair use.  Fair use may also allow you to use a significantly altered work, such as when a DJ samples part of a familiar song to work into a mix.  

Note that the fair use principle does NOT allow you to simply take someone's image from Google Images and use it, even with attribution.  You would have to significantly alter the image, and even then there can be legal disputes.  (You may recall a series of famous Obama posters from the last election, where his face is artistically rendered in red, white, and blue tones.  Yet even this altered image has been the subject of a lawsuit.)

We watched a couple of videos about fair use, which are available here and here and  here.

More information on fair use and the Creative Commons Licenses can be found at www.copyright.psu.edu.  I urge you to read over some of the material in the fair use and Creative Commons sections to help you further understand the things that you will and won't be allowed to use once you leave academia.  Currently, most of your use of copyrighted material for class projects is covered under the TEACH Act of 2002.   

Even though you may be legally covered to use copyrighted material for class projects, you still need to cite the material to meet academic integrity standards.  You can find some information about citing digital files on Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL) here. 

Finally, see more about the intricacies of fair use in the blogosphere here.  (While there is some gray area, realistically most images you see on other people's blogs violate copyright law.)

Submit "best of the blogs" links here

In the comments section below, submit direct links to your two best blog entries (one from each blog).