Topic Brainstorming and Link-hunt for blogs analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture

Topic Brainstorming and Link-hunt for blogs analyzing gender/race/class/sexuality/etc in an area of interest of pop culture
Due: Friday, July 9th by 1pm

Gather Links on 5 of the topics you listed on your brainstorming sheet.
Try searching for words/phrases with the specific area of pop culture you're trying to find.
Examples:
feminist analysis "big love"
feminist analysis twilight
feminism "Lady Gaga"

For each of the five blog posts you find, include the following info:
Title of blog post (which should be  be linked to the URL by clicking on the link button in the new post at the top of the editing box, then type the title of the site for the page you have found, and copy and paste the URL into the link field by "web adddress," then click "OK.")
Date of Blog Post
Paste the URL of blog post below the linked title (yes, it's a second time)
Author of Blog Post (or username if that's all that's included for the author)
Title of blog that the post originated from (not the post's title, but the bigger body of blogging-work)

Example of the appropriate format:
HBO declares "Women's Studies" major
[date of post]
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2009/04/15/hbo_womens_studies/index.html
Judy Berman
Salon.com
(However, you'll have five different posts, formatted as in the above example, contained in ONE blog post on your blog)

Statcounter reports to show the new group of bloggers! Maymester 2010! We have an amazing number of readers from all over the world!

Map of Recent Visitors

Visitors from the last week

Yearly Visitors

All images are reports on this group of blogs from Statcounter.com

Final Project Option for Summer Session B (in lieu of a written 3rd blog post assignment)

Your final project will be due by Saturday at 5pm if you choose this option.

Unlike the written assignments posted to your blogs, you'll have the option to work with as many of your classmates as you'd like.

If you choose this option, I'll need the names of the students working on each project during the final class on August 7th (due to the extended due date and the Records and Registration grade-deadline of Monday the 11th for Summer Session B, I need to know which blog posts will have written assignments so I can grade them on Friday :o).

The format will need to be in the form of a video (a slide show set to music would also work...but you'll need to be able to upload it in a format that is compatible with YouTube. Each group member will then post the project to his/her individual blogs using the instructions from YouTube (it's just a copy and paste maneuver).

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture:

Choose a media format/genre (some examples):

* TV Program
* Radio Show
* Film
* Music Video
* Magazine
* Video Game
* (Aspect of) Athletic Event
* Fashion
* Public Education & Corporation

Choose a subject/audience:

For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:

* Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
* Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
* Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty.)
* Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism?)

Use images from other texts/videos/images/audio to create a commentary on a preexisting element of popular culture. Make sure you cite these external sources in your video in the "credits" using MLA citations at the end.


* Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly.)

Remember that you need to make it clear that your production is a critique of gender (and other categories and biases too, where applicable) and ensure your project is inspired by a particular author's (or multiple authors) points. For example, a video montage of reality TV show-clips with text/voice-overs illustrating Ouellette and Hay's argument about Reality TV would clearly be linkable to their piece as the basis of your critique.

There is no write-up for this project; however, you must have a title and all group members must be cited in the credits along with all sources of information and inspiration.

Summer 2008 Bloggers!

• Shadrac C- Shadrac's Gender and pop Culture Blog
• Bob D- Bob's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Linda E- Linda's World of Gender & Pop. Culture (My Blog)
• Stef H - Stef's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Brian H- Brian's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Maria H - Maria's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Colin J - Colin's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• MaKaila K- Gender & Pop Culture Blogs
• Rebekah L.- Down with Prince Charming!
• Misbah M - missy mood info
• Ratika M - Ratika's Gender & Pop Culture Blog
• Ruthy T- Blue Jeans and Coca-Cola
• Ryan T. - Ryan's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Aneka W. - Aneka's Gender and Pop Culture Blog
• Barbara Z - Rebel with a Culture Blog

Spring 2008 May not have been blogging....

So, this past spring, I didn't have my Gender & Pop Culture class blogging...primarily because I had two sections of them and there was no way I'd make it through the semester reading 58 blogs (I would have been in a land of "Help!!! I have no eyesight!!!).

However, the Spring 2008 students did create some outstanding work! There were awesome and insightful papers (but, I won't be posting those), a killer graffiti project (well, two of them...and I'll post the article :o) as well as some very creative and clever final projects!


As I get to them, I'll keep posting :o)

The Final Project: Transforming an Area of Pop Culture!

You will need to narrow your scope of popular culture:

Choose a media format/genre (some examples):

• TV Program
• Radio Show
• Film
• Music Video
• Magazine
• Video Game
• (Aspect of) Athletic Event
• Fashion
• Public Education & Corporation

Choose a subject/audience:

For example, create a satirical cartoon, cable news program, reality show, televised sporting event, parenting magazine, a game show, children’s entertainment (from Scooby Doo to High School Musical), part of the fashion world (runway modeling or the next season’s "Look Book"); if corporate-edu-consumer-training is your interest, think of a revised Chanel One, corporate sponsored events, curriculum, or major capital project-funding , such as the construction of stadiums and theaters, perhaps target one of these areas in a Colbert-Styled "The WØrd" or a set of segments from The Soup.

If you choose to work within movies/films, a "trailer" would be the right length and format
for envisioning this assignment.

Based on your chosen genre/format:

• Give your production/publication a name— be original and creative!
• Identity the assumptions that underlie the messages you want to send.
• Specifically, identify the messages that you see being disseminated by an analogous/similar form of media that relate to gender, sexuality, race, class, etc. (i.e. current fashion magazines send the message that being female involves striving for ‘ideal’ physical beauty.)
• Create visual images and text (whether written or spoken) that accurately work off these assumptions. (What message(s) do you want to send about, sexuality, racism, sexism, and/or classism?)
• Write, enact, portray (in the format suited for the genre you’ve chosen- video, image, etc) that address existing norms, ideals, and messages about gender, either directly or indirectly. (i.e. an article about males and eating disorders addresses gender directly while an article about the CEO of a Fortune 500 company who happens to be a woman addresses it indirectly.)

Blog Post #4: Gia Option - Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty (Due November 27th)

Blog Post #4: Gia Option (Due November 27th)

Diana Crane’s "Gender and Hegemony in Fashion Magazines" (citing Kellner’s argument) contends that the hegemony in fashion magazines and the interpretation of the images by the audiences, is ultimately defined by a hegemony of conflict (as opposed to homogeneity and sameness underpinning the hegemonic depictions of beauty).

Using the film Gia, your analysis should address one of the following options using the notion of hegemony through conflict as your method for analyzing the film:

Option 1
Analyze Gia through the genre of the fairy tale

Gia’s narrative throughout the film has the distinctly fairytale-styled tone and form. Instead of understanding Gia as the antithesis of a fairytale, analyze the film as the quintessential fairytale (like a fable with a human cast of characters and a fairytale that proposes conflicting messages about gender, sexuality, and beauty).

You might first wish to focus on the fairly tale narrative in the background of the film-- and where Gia’s narration veers off the path of the normative tale, as well as where Gia’s tale seems to conflict with the depictions that are shown simultaneously in the film.

Given the formulaic plot and style of fairytales, you don’t need to specify a particular fairytale for this option. Fairytales and fashion magazines highlight cultural ideals for two distinct age groups of women; however, they’re not two distinctly different messages. If you understand Gia as a success story (given the idealized notion of "woman" in the context of popular culture and specifically the representations in the film), how can you rethink the dominant notions of success & "happily ever after" as gendered constructs? What are the messages sent to women and young girls?

Option 2
Analyze Gia within the framework of property/intellectual property

Using both the examples and context of Gia, in what ways can "property" be defined (multiple formats and multiple definitions). What does this set of definitions illuminate about the notion of intellectual property? How can this concept be understood as a gendered construct of property?

• What could be considered property? How do competing definitions of "property" result in conflicting notions of "ownership"?
• How can intellectual property be (re)understood in relation to gender, class, race, corporate interests, advertising, media, etc?
• Analyze the conflicting notions of property and ownership of this sort, and how it illustrates power and empowerment.
• What does your analysis illuminate about "conventional" legal definitions of intellectual property?
• How does Gia’s modeling career illustrate hegemony through conflict when viewed through the concepts of embodied ideals and property?

Similar to the issues of "reality TV" and Workout, Gia is a fictionalized biography; therefore, it may be useful to remember that this depiction is not entirely fiction, but that we can never know (as the audience) what Gia did/didn’t experience during her life.

Angelina Jolie plays Gia Carnagie, who was considered the "first supermodel" (by the makers of the film, but clearly not everyone...i.e. Janice Dickenson) in the US and the film is a fictionalized depiction of her life. Keep this categorical grey area in mind when analyzing this film as a cultural text.

Blog Post #3: Workout Option - Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty (Due November 13th)

Blog Post #3: Workout Option
Bodies for sale! Embodied Cultural-Material Products of Sexuality and Beauty

Using the 4th episode of Season 2 of Workout, your objective is to analyze the links and fissures between gender and sexuality. Using one character of your choice (one person as focus; however, interactions with other characters are certainly great places for analysis) your job is to investigate the ways in which the character is portrayed in relation to gendered and sexual identity-based norms, ideals, and stereotypes. Focus your analysis on the multiple (often conflicting) ways an individual ‘character’ disseminates messages about gender and sexuality.

• Specifically, use the readings to locate and define concepts of gender and sexuality-based norms/ideals/stereotypes.
  
• How does the character "fit" the concepts related to normative definitions of masculinity and femininity?
  
• What traits are included and omitted when portraying an ideal or non-ideal/pathological masculine and/or feminine subject?
  
• How does your character disrupt the relationship between gender and sexuality vis-à-vis stereotypes/norms/ideals about sexuality and masculinity and femininity (i.e. when the "butch/femme" dichotomy is disrupted)?
  
• How do these categories of analysis illustrate media constructions of your chosen character and hegemonic norms and expectations when they intersect with gender?
  
• Although the show is labeled "reality," don’t get wrapped up in the fake/real issues or the potential ideas and issues of the scripting and editing of the show
  

Blog Post #2: Collage of Gendered Advert-tainment in Pop Culture

For the assignment, you have several options to choose from listed below (each numbered section is a separate assignment choice/route—just chose one). You also can perform this assignment without the glue, paper, and scanner by using digital pictures/images/etc to create your collage. Below those options are the basic requirements for the assessment of your work.

1. The “ideal” and the “self”—Using the collage that you developed in class as the first part of the assignment, create a collage that illustrates how you differ from this gendered ideal (the difference that you illustrate could be focused on any one of a number of areas from the way you actually live your life, your perception of yourself in relation to these ads, etc).

2. Conflict in media messages about gender—After creating your collage in class, look for conflicting messages sent by the images. You can use any source of media for this collage (so think about using your favorite/love to hate TV show, music genre, video game, movie, sport, etc—it’s not necessary to still use ads), in order to illustrate a few key strands of contradiction/conflict/paradoxical expectations. These “key strands” should help support an overall argument that is specific about the focus of the collage and illustrate the ways in which conflicting messages are powerful sources of information about hegemonic beliefs about gender and consumption, social ideals, and/or normative gendered behavior, actions, lifestyles, etc.

3. (Dis)embodied gendered objectification in images of masculinity and femininity—If “sex sells” is cliché and trite, so commonplace in the media that sexualized bodies appearing in advertisements barely merit notice, then it’s time to look at the concept and take notice of what it means when “sex” is “selling” something. How does this concept appear in the images of men and women when sex is being used to sell? It’ll help to remember that sex and related objectification is relevant for both men and women. Make sure you include both the masculine and feminine representations in your collage or, if you choose to focus on one, directly analyze the ramifications of the one you chose (i.e. femininity) on the other (i.e. masculinity). Additionally, sex is not always overtly sexual, so stay open to the many ways that a person can be commodified/objectified in the images you find while creating your collage.

See the notes blog for more from class...

http://gpcnotes.blogspot.com/2007/10/puffs-of-gendered-sort.html

The Students Have Submitted Their First Blog Posts: Online Toy Shopping Field Work: Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism

For the students' blogs, choose from the links at the right (sidebar).

The students have posted their first blog post. The following is the
assignment they were given to focus their blog posts on the messages about
gender that are disseminated by toys. Although this specific assignment is
different from the "each student chose a topic" format for the previous
semester's blog project, the class has developed just as diverse a collection of
blogs and responses to this assignment as the previous class.

Online Toy Shopping Field Work: Gendered Consumers/Engendering Consumerism Assignment:

Analyze the role that toys (and products marketed for children) play in the gendered socialization of children using the products marketed to them.
In order to address the assignment, go “shopping” (online or in a store) as if you were purchasing toys/clothing/food/etc for the child, whose biography was created by one of your classmates, and then analyze what you find in relation to gender and children’s socialization.

Questions to consider:

• What messages are sent to children about “boys” and “girls” through their toys?
• How do toys facilitate the understanding of normative gender roles and stereotypes in childhood?
• If toys are cultural products that are considered benign and ‘innocent’ by virtue of their target demographic group, how do toys represent powerful methods of information dissemination (think of the arguments we read in the pieces by Lull, Henley & Freeman, and Hall)?
• Look at the age-ranges for the toys you’ve found, what messages are being sent? How can toys relate to an issue/value/aspect of adulthood? Try to find a gender-neutral toy that would appeal to the child you’ve been shopping for…how did it work out?

Semester has been over, yet I still need a way to archive the students' blogs!

Does anyone have any suggestions for storing 27 blogs (archival) that won't require massive copying and pasting? I know that google won't keep blogs without updates online once they've hit a certain number of days without new posts; therefore, I feel like the clock is ticking and I'd hate to lose their work! AHHH!

Please email me or post a comment here with suggestions. Any help would be super-appreciated!

Blogging in College: The Gender & Pop Culture Blog Experiment

Gender Representation in Advertisements
Memoirs of Mi Mente
Pop Culture Blogging
jcb
What are we really laughing about?
Jess B
`These pretzels are making me thirsty`...
Mark
Thoughts from Tara: South Park
Tara
Gender and Desperate Housewives
Kristin
The Typical Woman in America: how women are portrayed in music, magazines, and reality TV
Darling C.
Emerging Music (?) of the 21st Century
Amanda
Pat’s Blog
digioac2
Model Behavior
Erin
Get Your Blog On
Kristian
You know what really grinds my gears
Kyle
`Idol`-ology: Gender and Reality Television
Amanda Ganza
Gender Representation in Advertisements
Memoirs of Mi Mente
Pop Culture Blogging
jcb
What are we really laughing about?
Jess B
`These pretzels are making me thirsty`...
Mark
Thoughts from Tara: South Park
Tara
Gender and Desperate Housewives
Kristin
The Typical Woman in America: how women are portrayed in music, magazines, and reality TV
Darling C.
Emerging Music (?) of the 21st Century
Amanda
Pat’s Blog
digioac2
Model Behavior
Erin
Get Your Blog On
Kristian
You know what really grinds my gears
Kyle
`Idol`-ology: Gender and Reality Television
Amanda Ganza
Gender, Race, and Class in Scrubs
dgolazeski
Spencer’s Blog
Spencer
Michelle’s Pop Culture Analysis
Michelle
More than Just Cartoons
Mr. Leo Mahaga
The Oprah Phenomenon
Meli
Celebrities..... Why are they so damn special!?
Tony Mojo
Beauty and the Geek
Devon
A Blurred Reality
Jen Mur
Nooch’s Net Nook
Miss Nooch
Female `Stardom` Presented by the Media
Katelyn
Desperate for Desperate Housewives
Lizzaydizay
Britney Like Whoa!
PRlNCESSJESSS`s
Nicole’s Grey’s Anatomy Blog
Nicole
Gender and Race through Flavor of Love and Celebreality
Melissa

Final Blog Presentations

Final Blog Presentations
Gender & Pop Culture Spring 2007 (WGS 220-05)
April 26 (Alex A-Dan G) &
April 30 (Spencer H-Melissa Z)

· Above any other goal for these presentations, I want you to show off! You've worked hard all semester and here's your chance to show the class your awesome blogs!

· You should have any material needed to illustrate the ''focus'' of your presentation on your blog for the presentation.

· Plan to present for 5-10 minutes. If this length sounds long, don't worry, the blog as your visual aid will take up more time than you may think)

· For everyone's sake (maintaining interest & attention) don't write out your entire presentation word-for-word. 3X5 cards with key words and phrases, or an outline are ideal reference methods for presentations

· Make sure your blog is neat & tidy for your presentation. Don’t worry about your final post being on the blog if it’s due after the date of your presentation (i.e. if you’re presenting on Thursday). Because you will need to have your blog “cleaned up” and readable for your final review as well as your presentation, once you’ve done it for the presentation you’ll be ready for your final review too.

· Citations from course readings are not required for this presentation. However, you should create a separate ‘presentation post’ if any video dips, links to sites, etc are necessary for your presentation.

· Adding this post-element is up to your judgment (whether it’s necessary for the presentation & is completely optional

Notes:
The focus that’s probably most conducive to the presentation is the one that entails an explanation and analysis of the evolution of your understanding of your blog topic (i.e. shifting from watching a show for entertainment to the course’s analytical focus on gender).

You must be in class both days regardless of whether you’re presenting!

Monday is our last class (SOCS is wrong about the existence of a final exam and lists a time and date for this course) - there is no final!!! I’ve requested the exam to be removed several times over the last two months— so please disregard this date/time/location that’s listed for the course on SOCS

Final Blog Post Assignment

Final Blog Post Assignment
Gender & Pop Culture (WGS 220 05)
Spring 2007
Due Friday, April 27, 2007

See “Options for Final Blog Posts” to choose your focus before writing this final post assignment.

• Make sure that the focus you've chosen can be clearly analyzed in relation to your blogs topic
• Read the comments that your blog buddy wrote for you before beginning this assignment
• Your chosen focus should be conducive to a "final wrap up" for your blog and its topic
• Posts must cite a course reading that is from a source you haven't yet used in a previous blog post
• Posts can be a bit longer than previous posts; however, keep it focused on your thesis (your argument will be about your topic in relation to your focus) and keep the length at 8 paragraphs or less
• Each Paragraph must be related to your argument and support that argument (remember the 1st post when I gave you the simple guide to analysis via the SOCS assessment?)

• If you are concerned about how to make this assignment meet the requirements, please see the "Guide to the Blog Post" resource I created. It covers the thesis, relating paragraphs to the thesis, contextualizing quotes, using the appropriate quote/source, how to integrate them, and also includes a visual diagram for your post (helpful if you’re a more visual learner).
  
  Reminder: Office hours are after class in Bliss 117 on Monday from the end of class until 12:30 or 1:00 pm (set up an appointment if you have a class that meets directly after GPC if you’d like to meet with me at a different time/day)

Blog Buddies: The 2nd Part of the Assignment

Gender & Pop Culture

Blog Buddy Work

Part 2

Due: April 20, 2007

Follow-up (2^nd Part of Assignment) to Blog Buddy Handout

Do not complete this assignment until the handout from the first part has been finished. Remember to get the first part of the assignment back to your partner in time for your partner to have it for his/her own use.

Your partner will turn in your paper copy of the April 12^th (1^st part of the assignment) handout in class on April 19^th.

This assignment should be completed online and must be done by Friday April 20^th.

Directions:

• On your Blog, create a new post entitled “Blog buddy work with [your partner’s first name and last initial], author of [title of your Blog buddy’s Blog].” In the link field (below the title of the post) enter the address of your buddy’s Blog.

• You will be able to edit this post at any time by clicking on “customize” and then “edit posts” or click directly on “manage posts” from the dashboard. You can start out with simply copying and pasting the questions listed (the numbered list) below “for your buddy’s Blog” to the body of the post.

• Your partner will provide you with feedback in the comments section (“post a comment”) of this post, and you will do the same for your partner on her/his Blog in the post s/he created for the Blog buddy work.

• Create a “new comment” for each part of this assignment under the “For Your Blog Buddy” heading. The assignment doesn’t need to be completed in one sitting…the use of multiple comments will facilitate this process so that nothing you have to communicate to your Blog buddy gets inadvertently deleted.

• On April 20^th, make sure you copy and paste your buddy’s comments (from the comment section of the post you created on your Blog) and paste them into a new post entitled “Feedback from [your partner’s first name and last initial], author of [title of his/her Blog]” and include the address of the buddy’s Blog in the link field here too.

For Your Buddy’s Blog:

1. Where has your Blog buddy shown strong analytical work (be specific—is it a particular post, a type of analysis, a site for analysis that seemed to click more so than others, etc)?

2. How could your Blog buddy use this strength for the final Blog post and presentation?

3. Think about the following statements in relation to your Blog buddy’s Blog and then provide feedback on each area (constructive praise/criticism):

The Blog is on a topic that has been clearly evident in the Blog posts throughout the semester

The Blog is on a topic that seems to interest my Blog buddy

My Blog buddy’s topic is one that has produced a good set of posts that were analytical used gender as a primary category of analysis

The posts make analytical arguments. The posts are understandable and each post logically outlines and supports the argument presented. The posts were clear, provided insight, evidence, and analysis to connect the topic with the assignment for each of the posts

The sources cited in each post are relevant to the topic and help to aid the understanding of the argument and/or assisted in proving the argument.

The quotes used illustrate a broad range of course readings throughout the semester.

The quotes were clear and succinct; additionally, the material was presented so that I could differentiate the Blog buddy’s ideas from that of the author cited.

4. Finally, complete the following:

I thought it was great when you...

I found it confusing when you…

You’re really great at…

I wish you could focus (more) on/alter/edit/explain/expand on/etc these three things…

(Basically, when you read the Blog posts, what do you wish your buddy had done differently, more of, etc?)

Blog Buddies: The 1st part of the buddy work from April 12th

Blog Buddy Work

April 12, 2007

During Class on Thursday

Your name__________________________

Your Blog Topic__________________________

Your Blog Buddy’s Name__________________________

Your Blog Buddy’s Topic__________________________

For Your “Buddy’s Blog”

What are the first 4 ideas that you think of in relation to your partner’s topic?

(Just the first 4 images, concepts, words, phrases, etc)

1. ____________________________________________

2. _____________________________________________

3. _____________________________________________

4. _____________________________________________

What areas of your buddy’s topic are you still in need of further information?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

What can your buddy tell you about his/her topic that you need to know?

(Now would be a great time to ask him/her)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Depending on how familiar you are with your partners’ topic, you may need to visit the Research Team’s Blog to get more information on his/her topic and/or for examples of analysis of the topic.

1. What social norms and ideals about gender and sexuality are produced in this site of popular culture? How are they produced?

2. What gendered identities are produced through this topic (both male and female) and what factors are producing them? Feel free to list, outline, etc.

3. What identities are privileged and which are disadvantaged (some may be considered both depending on the context)? What hierarchies do you see being produced? Feel free to list, outline, etc.

4. How does this site within popular culture have power in society to create, reinforce, and/or destroy norms and hierarchies?

5. What images and messages are produced that are empowering (or more empowering than others)?

For Your Blog Topic

What have you been the most comfortable/confident (related to content, not technology) when writing about your topic?

What has been your greatest difficulty?

Reread the questions that were asked about your Blog buddy’s topic. On a separate sheet of paper, answer these questions about your topic?

Ideally, what would you like to see your Blog Buddy Help you with the most?

Return to the sheet of paper where you addressed your topic. Put a star next to the responses that you don’t feel (or didn’t feel when responding) confident with the response you gave.

For the responses you marked, how can your buddy specifically help (or try to help) you?

Give your Blog buddy has this sheet and your responses on the other sheet of paper to bring home at the end of class.

*Make sure you give your buddy this information as soon as possible, so s/he has it for his/her own information and because this part must be completed before proceeding to the second part of the blog buddy work (sending via email).

*Your partner will turn this sheet in to me on April 19th (in class), and the second part will be completed on the blogs (instructions about this are included in the second part of the assignment) by Friday, April 20th.

The next step will be sent to you via email & will ask you to evaluate your buddy’s Blog by giving her/him constructive advice/critiques.

List of the Blog Buddies (aka blog partners)

	Blog URL	Blog Title	Screenname	Topic (Specific & General Categories)
1	http://alexalgarin.blogspot.com/	Gender Representation in Advertisments	Memoirs of Mi Mente	Advertising	Ads
	http://genpopculture.blogspot.com/	Michelle's Pop Culture Analysis	Michelle	Advertising	Ads
2	http://ihatethecword.blogspot.com/	Celebrities..... why are they so damn special!?	Tony Mojo	Celebrities	Celebs
	http://femalestardom.blogspot.com/	Female "Stardom" Presented by the Media	Katelyn	Hollywood Female Ideology	Celebs
3	http://bittersweetsym-phonies.blogspot.com/	Emerging Music (?) of the 21st Century	Amanda	Emo Music	Music
	http://agpopculture.blogspot.com/	"Idol"-ology: Gender and Reality Television	Amanda Ganza	American Idol	TV
	http://britneylikewoah.blogspot.com/	Britney Like Woah!	PRlNCESSJESSS's	Britney Spears	Music
4	http://noochnetnook.blogspot.com/	Nooch's Net Nook	Miss Nooch	Da Ali G Show	TV
	http://spencersfavoriteclass.blogspot.com/	Spencer's Blog	Spencer	The Office	TV
5	http://wgsgenderpopculture.blogspot.com/	Beauty and the Geek	Devon	Beauty and the Geek	TV
	http://eduff.blogspot.com/	Model Behavior	Erin	America's Next Top Model	TV
6	http://realpopculture.blogspot.com/	A Blurred Reality	Jen Mur	The Girls Next Door	TV
	http://genderpop.blogspot.com/	Gender and Race through Flavor of Love and Celebreality	Melissa	Flavor of Love	TV
7	http://dgolazeski.blogspot.com	Gender, Race, and Class in Scrubs	dgolazeski	Scrubs	TV
	http://nicolespopcultureblog.blogspot.com	Nicole's Grey's Anatomy Blog	Nicole	Grey's Anatomy	TV
8	http://kje-pop.blogspot.com/	Get Your Blog On	Kristian	Professional Sports (or not a topic)	Sports
	http://grindzmygearz.blogspot.com/	You know what really grinds my gears	Kyle	South Park (or not a topic)	TV
9	http://wgspopculture.blogspot.com/	What are we really laughing about?	Jess B	Family Guy	TV
	http://digioac2.blogspot.com/	Pat's Blog	Digioac2	Family Guy	TV
10	http://tarasthoughts-tara.blogspot.com/	Thoughts from Tara: South Park	Tara	South Park	TV
	http://astoldbyleo.blogspot.com/	More Than Just Cartoons	Mr. Leo Mahaga	Gender and Anime	TV
11	http://popcultureblogg.blogspot.com/	Pop Culture Blogging	jcb	24 Disney Girls Next Door (not clear what the topic is)	TV
	http://markpopculture.blogspot.com/	"These pretzels are making me thirsty"...	Mark	Seinfeld	TV
12	http://darlinggender.blogspot.com/	The Typical Woman in America: how women are portrayed in music, magazines, and reality t.v	Darling C.	Women in multiple forms of media	Media
	http://melisthoughtswgs.blogspot.com/	The Oprah Phenomenon	Meli	Oprah	TV
13	http://genderdesperatehousewives.blogspot.com/	Gender & Desperate Housewives	Kristin	Desperate Housewives	TV
	http://lizsiegel.blogspot.com/	Desperate for Desperate Housewives	Lizzaydizay	Desperate Housewives	TV

The semester is quickly coming to an end!

The agenda for the remainder of the big blog experiment is on the class notes page.
The website home for the class has also been updated recently & I've divided the class into partners (or "blog buddies" as they've been coined) to give content related feedback on their blogs. The list of blog buddies has been emailed to the class, but will also be posted here too (shortly!).

Agenda for the rest of the semester:
Monday, April 9	Ch 39, “The Pornography Debates: Beyond Cause and Effect,” 406-416
Blog Buddies will be assigned via email w/ time for work w/ Blog buddy during Thursday's Class
Thursday, April 12	Read through your blog buddy's blog before class today
	Zia, “Where Race and Gender Meet: Racism, Hate Crimes, and Pornography,” 496-498
Friday, April 13	No Blog post this week- just work with your blog-partner to give feedback and apply feedback from partner
Monday, April 16	Lee, “The New Girls Network: Women, Technology, and Feminism,” 248-251
Thursday, April 19	Haraway, Ch 7, "Facts, Witnesses, & Consequences," 267-271
Friday, April 20	Blog Buddy Work
Monday, April 23	Workshop in Class Important! Preparing for the final presentations & final Blog post.
Thursday, April 26	Final Presentation of Blog Project – Individual Presentations (4-26 & 4-30) Alphabetically: Alex A- Dan G
Friday, April 27	Final Blog Post: Wrapping up the analysis (further details will be posted to SOCS & the main Blog)
Monday, April 30	Final Presentation of Blog Project – Individual Presentations (4-26 & 4-30) Alphabetically: Spencer H- Melissa Z

This week in class...

♦ Before Monday (4/2/07): Click on the technorati link that you added to your blog to check to see if the page that appears on technorati lists your blog (see "IF IT DOESN'T SHOW YOUR BLOG ON TECHNORATI" below the week's agenda for more instructions).

♦ Monday (4/2/07): The first reading is one we didn't have time to get to last week (but was on the syllabus for last week's classes)

Ch 38, "Hidden Politics: Discursive and Institutional Policing of Rap Music," 396-405 (GRCM)

Ch 14, "Who(se) Am I? The Identity and Image of Women in Hip-Hop," 136-148 (GRCM)

Ragonese, "Riot Grrrrls Castrate 'Cock Rock' in New York," 27-31

♦ Before Thursday (4/5/07):Deadline for applying teamwork to blog is BY THE BEGINNING OF CLASS (10 am) on this date! The readings for this class are included below the teamwork instructions/guidelines.

Choose one item from one team (just one element of one team's work needs to be completed for this assignment, which we discussed on Thursday, during class).

If you need help, contact the appropriate team's liaison for assistance.

Each team's work is on each team's blog (the links for the aforementioned blogs can be found on the big blog, on your team's blog, and on my "professor-blog")

Even if you don't need the liaison's assistance it's your responsibility to email the liaison from the group whose work you used for your own blog. The liaison will need to bring this list to class today (so be kind to her/him and email the liaison in advance of class-not at 1 am the night before class--or right before class--so get this work finished asap so you can email the team's liaison and everything will be fine for Thursday on your end and the liaison's).

Only 2 don'ts:

Don't use your own team's work

Don't state you used work from a team that you used for a previous blog assignment (i.e. research team & blog posts or collages, creative team and collages for post 3, etc).

This work must be evident on your blog as distinct from each of your other assignments--it doesn't need to be it's own post (but it can be--if you wanted to create an audio or video element, etc) b/c if you used Digg from the buzz team (for example) you wouldn't need to post something to your blog to do the "Digg" digging. You'd contact the liaison if you need help with digging (in this example), but if not, you'd digg the classes' work and related articles as the Buzz team showed you how to do on the day of presentations, and then you'd contact the liaison to let her/him know you used his/her team's work for this assignment.

♦Thursday (4/5/07):

Coates, “Moms Don’t Rock: The Popular Demonization of Courtney Love,” 319-333 (SOCS)
Satrapi, "Kim Wilde," 126-134 (SOCS)

IF IT DOESN'T SHOW YOUR BLOG ON TECHNORATI (when you click the technorati link that's on your blog):

(it may show Amanda's blog when you click the link due to the id in the code that was originally emailed to you-- when you inserted your URL where you were supposed to, it was still linked to her account based on this id)

1. You will need to click "claim blog" link on the left side of the screen (do it when you realize, "hey, this blog isn't mine!)

2. Go through the setup instructions to create a technorati account...sorry...but it's necessary!

3. Once the account is created, click on the "blogs" link (or tab) and enter your blog's URL address in the applicable field.

4. Select the embedded claim (one on the right side of the screen) After that's selected, you will be given some code- click on the code and make sure it's selected/highlighted (control and a = select all). Then copy (control and c).

5. Go back to your blog (it may help if you do this in two tabs or two windows) and click on the little icon next to the technorati button *that looks like some tools- hammer/wrench combo) you'll see the technorati code you pasted earlier in the semester. You can also do this in the "layouts" by clicking edit on the appropriate page section).

6. Delete all of the original technorati code (be careful that you don't delete the stat counter code if you placed it in the same "page element" as the technorati code).

7. Paste (control v) the new code in the page element and then click the "save changes" button (at the bottom of the editing window).

8. Go back to technorati and click "release the spiders" and it will check your blog for the unique id that you just added in the code automatically...then it will take you to the final screen...yay!

9. Make sure that you select the check boxes for "search this blog" and "blogs that link here." Whether you want to select the photo and profile check boxes are up to you. Then select all of the code (control a) below the check boxes. Copy this code (control c).

10. Go back to your blog (or the layouts page for your blog). Click the "edit" link where the page element for technorati is located (or the little icon w/ tools shown if you're viewing your blog's page normally and are logged in). Paste the code (control v) and save the changes. Finally, go to your blog's page (if you were on page elements from the layout link on the "dashboard" if you select the little tool button, then you'll be on the blog when you've saved your changes). Hold the shift key while you click the refresh button in your internet browser (this forces the page to really be reloaded - just pressing refresh rarely shows the updated page- especially if you use internet explorer--the blue "e" browser). If you see your new technorati button and the settings you chose, then you did it!

♦ After Thursday's class, the self-evaluations and the team member evaluation will be on SOCS for the liaison- this eval will be online from Thursday at 10 am until Sunday at Midnight.

♦I'm still contemplating the second round of group-work as well as the subject for this Friday's scheduled blog post...

The 3rd Blog Post due by Friday 3/30/07

To recap the 3rd blog post assignment (that can be turned in by this Friday), find examples from your topic to analyze the ways that your topic is a part of popular culture and disseminates both counter-hegemonic and hegemonic messages.

Look at the conflicts in these messages and use the readings from the course to get you thinking about what to look for in your own topic, and also to support your claim(s) about the(se) message(s).

Please keep this post clear and concise (and make sure you hit "enter" two times to mark the beginning of a new paragraph b/c tabs don't always show up on the blog and a single "enter" makes the paragraph differentiation tough to decipher). 3 or 4 paragraphs are ideal for this assignment and make sure you cite sources appropriately (both from course readings and from your examples for your topic).

Dugg, on Digg after a Mobile Blog Post Image of the Buzz Team Presenting on Digg.com in class

The buzz team is digging on digg in class!

tags