Youtube Sensationalism...

Twerking Troubles...

A few months ago, a video of a girl whose leg caught on fire after "twerking" was placed on You Tube.  It quickly became a YouTube sensation getting over 9 million hits in less than a month.  It was even said that Miley Cyrus and her VMA Twerking was partly to blame for this poor girls disaster! 

Jimmy Kimmel and Daphne Avalon

It was later revealed that the video was hoax, and the mastermind behind the video was Jimmy Kimmel.  He orchestrated the video and had it placed on YouTube.  A short time after the video became viral, Jimmy Kimmel, along with his co-conspirator stunt woman Daphne Avalon, revealed their hoax. 

Take a look at Kimmel's revelation video:

Once you have seen the video, comment on the hoax on your own blog.  What do you think of the original video and hoax?  Why do you think Jimmy Kimmel created this video?  What do you think he was trying to reveal about YouTube and our society?

Blogging ... the Right Way

Having an online presence can be a lot of fun, but also holds a lot of responsibility!  Here are some key tips to remember when creating posts for your blog.



- Don't divulge personal information: use your FIRST NAME ONLY, don't give any details with regards to contact information, home address, phone numbers, last names of friends or relatives, instant messaging names, age, or birth date.

- No questionable photos of you or anything else: If you wouldn't show it to your grandma, don't post it on the web! Avoid posting photos of yourself.

- Remember the internet is permanent! Anyone on the Internet can easily print out a blog or save it to a computer.

- Use blogging provider sites with clearly stated terms of use, and make sure they can protect the actual blogs, not just the user accounts, with password protection. (Even so, it's better to assume anyone can see it.)

- Avoid trying to "out-do" or compete with other bloggers.

- Keep it clean and positive: Our blogs are reflective of our Catholic values. Sexist, racist, homophobic, or any type of oppressive and offensive language will not be tolerated!

Welcome to a new year...

Welcome to the 2013 grade 10 Media Arts course.  We are happy to have you all as students in this new and exciting school year.  For this blog unit we will be sharing some news, stories and events that involve digital media along with various other forms of media.


As part of your media arts / communications technology course you will be required to create and maintain your own media arts / communications blog. Blogging has quickly become a very popular form of communication and online journaling.


Through this course your will be required to reply to reply to six different media / technology issues or topics that will be posted here for you to respond to on your own blog. Each response must be no less than 300 words and should have discussions relevant to media arts and communication technology. You will also be required to respond to 6 other people's blogs with thoughtful ideas and comments with a 100 words (min). The evaluation for this unit is found in your unit guide. Once you have completed all tasks (which will take you several months) you will submit your unit guide, with a list of the six blogs that you responded to, for evaluation.


Happy Blogging!
Ms. Arturi/Ms. Powell

Hey! You Can't Wear That!

Abercombie and Fitch, a teen clothing retailer, has undergone controversy in the past.  Recently, an interview from 2006 with the company’s executive, Michael Jeffries, re-surfaced.  Please read the following article to find out what the interview was about:

Read this Article!

This issue was also featured on the Ellen Degeneres show.  Watch the following video to see how Ellen feels about this retailer:

Watch Ellen's Video Here!

Many individuals have been speaking out against Jeffries.  People are even being encouraged to sign a petition against the company’s policy.

Check out the following video to learn about what one individual is doing:

Trying to make a change!

Based on the article and the video above, comment on the questions below in a blog post of 300 words.

1.     How do you feel about Michael Jeffries’ view on who should wear Abercrombie and Fitch’s  clothing?

2.     Is it fair/equitable to target a particular group of teens?  Why or why not?

3.     How does this contribute to our already biased perception of what beauty is?

On a Tweet and a Prayer...

Over the past few years, there has been much discussion about how to get our youth more involved in the life of our Church.  Our last Pope, Pope Benedict XVI began his own twitter account to reach out to the younger members of the Catholic faith.  Take a look at the following video clip to learn more about this:

The above video discusses that Pope Benedict was even encouraging people to send him questions about our faith.  In the few months that Pope Benedict XVI was a member of twitter, he made 39 tweets and gained 1.6 million followers.  Our new leader, Pope Francis, also started has a twitter account and has been tweeting regularly.  Read the following short article that talks about Pope Francis’ popularity on twitter:

http://vator.tv/news/2013-03-13-papal-twitter-account-revived-to-announce-new-pope

How do you feel about these attempts to reach out our youth?

In a blog of 300 words, please respond to the following questions:

1. Do you think that having twitter accounts will help attract youth to take a greater role in the life of the Church?
2. What are the benefits of having our Church leader tweet?  Are there any disadvantages?
3. Does your parish take part in the social media world?  If so, please explain.
4. Are there any other ways that the Church can encourage our youth to get more involved?  Do you have any personal experiences related to this?

Social Media – The Good, The Bad and the 'Not-So-Private'

Ah the wonderful world of social media!  It provides us with amazing opportunities to keep in touch with friends and family both near and far.  However, as members of social networking websites, our information is readily accessible and our privacy may be at stake.  Have you ever sat down to think about the types of information you are allowing others to have simply by being a member of a social media website like Facebook or Twitter?  What kinds of things do you post about in your blogs?  Do you post pictures of yourself?  What kinds of images are you allowing others to see? 

Take a look at the following video:

  In a blog of 300 words, reply to the following questions:

1. Are you a member of a social networking website?  Why or why not?
2. Have you checked your privacy settings lately?  Who can see the information that you put out there?
3. What kind of information are you allowing others to have access to?  Have you thought about this before?
4. What kinds of things are safe to post?  Unsafe?  List some unsafe information that you should keep to yourself and not allow others to see online.
5. How can we become more responsible users of social network websites?  Why is this so important?

Twitter Trouble

A couple of months ago, a group of Brampton high school students were suspended for Twitter comments made about teachers after school hours.  The school board deemed the comments as “malicious, explicitly sexual and violent in nature”. 

Some of the suspended students felt that being suspended was an unfair punishment as they felt they should be able to express their opinions freely.

Take a few minutes to watch the following video that was aired on CTV news on Thurs. Nov. 22:

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/brampton-students-suspended-over-twitter-comments-about-teachers-1.1049070

In a blog of 300 words, respond to the following questions:

1. Do you think that Khadijah’s comments about her teacher, that he “lives at home with his mom, eats fish sticks for dinner, and all he talks about is Star Wars” were appropriate?  Explain.
   
   
2. What is your opinion on the suspension of these students?  Was it reasonable for the school board to enforce such a punishment?  Why or why not?
   
   
3. How do you feel about the reaction of the students – that they should be able to share their opinions freely?  Is it okay to post this sort of thing on social media websites like Twitter?