Friday, April 24, 2009

The end.

The end is in sight. Almost blinding which I must say it is beautiful. As I was counting my blogs to make sure I had enough I was looking over all the topics we have gone over this semester and the things I have chose to write about. While yes media is the topic in everything I have written about I have found a lot of similarities in most of them. I think this semester has really opened my eyes up to the realization of how much influence the media does have. We are surrounded by all these influences. When we try to escape them often times a void feeling comes about. I find this so fascinating. That our bodies almost have a dependency on these outlets that most of them were not even around 100 years ago. It is really hard to go with out the computer, cell phone, and TV. But what is more unbelievable is that we almost have to do these things. If I was to give up the computer for a few weeks this semester. My grade would significantly drop in many classes. I have several classes that are paperless. We do not use a single piece of paper all semester every thing is done through blackboard. I can't even imagine how much is going to change by the time my kids are in school.

Friday, April 17, 2009

No logo

I started thinking about the movie/book no logo. I was watching in the film how a couple times to introduce a new topic they put the no logo design in the film several times. As if no logo was a logo. I think companies that establish themselves with a logo as most of them due is really important. For example I have watched in the 3 years I have been at Utah Valley University come up with several slogans and logos attached with all the changes. We got the UVU design with the state of Utah inside the first U. We also have the wolverine going back to the mascot that many colleges rely on. We are starting a relatively new slogan that is called engaged. This is trying to get people thinking of the word engaged associate it with the school and understand what it represents. I think that having a clean simple logo is what gets remembered. Something that can relate to the product. For example how simple is Target's which is just a plain red target. Or there is Nike that has its swoosh. I have noticed the more detailed the symbol or logo is the more often it is forgotten. The book/movie was a good reminder of how influenced we are by brands. And high quality in products is often what is percieved through brand recognition.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

technology

I used to find it so funny to see parents that are so incapable of using electronics. Face it we have all had the teacher that needs the student to turn on the TV, put in a DVD, use the projector etc. I know my parents were decent at using the Internet and when I say decent I mean capable of using e-mail, google, and the everyday needs. My husbands family on the other hand is technology handicapped. It was like a three hour process trying to walk him through the steps on how to set up an e-mail account. It is crazy never using online banking or search engine websites. Text messaging for them is basically like rocket science for them. Well I feel like I am beginning to relate. I find myself knowing less and less with all this new programs and inventions. When we talked in class about web 2.0 and all the applications on google it was a little over my head. I was fascinated and understood the concept but it was a little complex for me. I think with all the access we have now we need to keep up at a rapid pace because everything new is already going out of date. Technology is a wonderful tool that has helped immensly but I swear I am starting to need those books that are titled something like technology for dummies.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Women around the world.

Our presentation I felt opened up some eyes. Beauty is a word that communities and cultures define. Of course some people feel different about the cultural norms. People come in all shapes and sizes but as we look around we can see that conforming to what we perceive as beautiful is considered normal. I found an article about women around the world and where the happiest and most confident women are. I found some things about different regions and what they are commonly known for. For example the Central America has the most plastic surgery's. Whereas Asians have the fewest. I also found that Women from Africa have some of the least amount of confidence. Around the world you can find highs and lows everywhere. Hearing about Bolly Wood and some of their traditions and cultural norms. It is fascinating to see the difference in movies and what they allow and accept. To Americans it would be outrageous to find women not kissing their men but being viewed as rape victims. Also women being so mindless would be an outrage.