Research Paper Topic

A New Language:

Technology's birth and encouragement of a communicative goal of concision.

Research Question

Research topic:

The Appeal of Narratives in the Digital Age: A Look Into the Shifts of Public Interest

Research Project

I'm writing about the drug trafficking and the resulting wars in Mexico. I also want to show how the media portrays this violence.

Favorite blog

My favorite blog is The Bund （http://www.bundpic.com/). It is a magazine in China but also it has a ipad version and release every week as a blog. This blog contains mainly four parts: news, culture, life and fashion. Each part has several worldwide articles and pictures. My reason for loving it is I could easily got the hottest topic which happen every week by just reading its update. And mostly all the materials get my attention and fit my taste. Besides, due to it update weekly, so reading its blog does not take my a lot of time. It's contains refresh my mind and give me a lot of information on media and culture.

Research Question

Question: How does religion and spiritual frameworks affect questions of narrative and narratology?

Catchy Title: Spirituality and the Media: And the Word became Text

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Citizen Journalism has raised, and will continue to raise global awareness. True citizen journalism, if it's defined as journalism that is amateur in nature, and done by someone directly impacted or in the vicinity of a major event, is perhaps the purest form of journalism there is and the paramount of "primary sources". As seen in events such as the Iranian election, where some of the largest sources of information regarding what was happening were tweets or youtube videos uploaded by everyday people, citizen journalism can have a very large impact.

With that in mind, there are two problems with citizen journalism. The first is the ability for it to be transported or mass-communicated. Anyone with a computer with an internet connection and webcam or camera phone is capable of publishing a video on youtube. Unfortunately, the movement of that video (or information) is largely dependent on the people who initially receive it (if anyone receives it at all). Citizen journalism relies on individual citizens to continue to pass the story along, because a video can become an internet sensation and be passed in email chains and facebook posts, OR it can sit on youtube with only 5 views forever.

The second problem is that the amateur content has very little safeguards against bias or falsehood. One must keep in mind, first, that citizen journalism is very often one person's perspective on an event (what would happen, for example, if the filmers of the Neda video instead chose to focus on something else? or completely ignore the woman?). Additionally, because amateur content requires very little effort, is usually not planned well, and does not need to be (and is very often not) professional, it is easy to replicate content and claim it as "citizen journalism." I did not understand this second point until Prof. Fischer asked us in class how we "know" that the Neda video is authentic and not-staged. As a first time-viewer, who knows nothing about the narrative, the video may as well have been staged-- it lacks the credibility to say otherwise.

Research topic

Will the online books and magazines kill the print industry?

Research Question:

How hip hop music/ rap affect the society? not only focus on money, sex...but also more politically

1, America

2, Asia Country (mostly force in Chinese)

3, Differences between

Swarms from Cyberspace: Communication and Collective Action of Hacktivists

Research Question

Using the T-Mobile "Life's for sharing" campaign as an example, what role do flash-mobs play in the creation of a lovemark?  Is that role crucial to what Adorno and Horkheimer coined the 'culture industry,' and why?

Research Topic

Silenced by Technology: The negative effects of technology on communication.

Research Topic

In May 2008 a violent earthquake shook China's Sichuan providence killing hundreds of thousands, including many school children. The Chinese government systemically prohibited the release of data and imagery regarding the earthquake. How did China's citizens use modern communications to circumvent the media restrictions using cellphones and networking sites such as twitter bringing light to the suffering of victims?

Research Question

Name: Syed Shahnawaz

Even though the Pakistani floods had more people affected than the Haiti Earthquake and Indian ocean Tsunami combined, how come it received no where near the media attention as the other two events mentioned above?

(I also e-mailed this question the day it was due)

Research Question

why did the dispute over underage chinese girls participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympics greatly effect the international public?

Research Question

Weimar Culture

How does Weimar Culture impact fashion industry?

Research Question

                                        The Revolution of Micro Media

Is the over-censorization and hidden agendas of today's current media sources causing people to shy away from mass media and turn instead their focus to micro media and social networking?

Research Question

Ending Genocide in Darfur:

Media's Role in Inciting Global Action and Domestic Empowerment.

Research Project

Clicking The “Like” Button:

Global Media And The Popularity Of The World Cup

Research Question

Does the conveyance of news through a textual medium destroy the aura of the content?

Research Question

Are moral/ethical boundaries crossed in the cyber media?

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

The addition of a tiny camera on almost all mobile devices- whether they be cell phones, iPods, or laptop computers- has had a tremendous effect on journalism. Now, anyone can be a reporter, a newscaster, and a news outlet all on their own. Of course, a lot of work and a little bit of luck help too, but it's now just as easy for the common citizen to capture important events as it is a news outlet. Their work may be a little bit more polished and professional, but it doesn't mean it's any better.

As such, citizen journalism is in its prime. And because it's better than its ever been, it has the power to raise global awareness.

My Research Idea

I would like to examine Michael Jackon's death, not just as a loss of a global icon, but a global media event that would not be possible without the advents of technology in the digital age. Because the first news of Jackson's death came from a celebrity gossip website, TMZ.com, and not from a traditional news outlet, this celebrity death is the beginning of a new type of coverage. Jackson's funeral was broadcast live around the world, which was watched by an audience of up to one billion people, also creating another global event.

I will also be examining Freud's writings on mourning and melancholia, in order to make sense of the fan hysteria over the loss of Michael Jackson, especially the twelve suicides that took place around the world after his passing.

Appeal of a Narrative

Name: Shahnawaz Syed


Appeal of Narratives

Humans are social beings, most of our daily activities involve communicating or correlating with others; either physically through direct contact or indirectly using the various forms of communication we have. There are always stories being told or heard, the rate at which these stories or narratives are produced and received has only increased with advancement in technology. Unfortunately, our brains are pretty much the same size they were hundreds of years ago. We are not evolving at a rapid pace, if at all, and thanks to modern medicine; natural selection is barely present. So how do we deal with all this information being flooded into our brains when we can’t possibly absorb everything due to our biological restrictions?

Well, slowly people have adapted to where they have become more selective in what they care about as a society, if something seems uninteresting then it will go right through their ears without ever being taken into consideration. And I can see why this happens! Because it is necessary! This creates a fine line between narratives which are appealing and ones which aren’t. A lot of people have the misconception that somehow our media is changing how we as Americans think what exactly is being delivered to us; they are partially right in a sense but not completely. Yes the attempts to manufacture consent are there and always have been, but people also have the ability to choose for themselves. In an interview; Michael Moore stated that it was because of various political powers that our media is losing its value and that it’s all about big bold pictures and colorful letters, but what he failed to see is that production is directly correlated to demand. Big bold letters are easy to see! Pictures say more than words usually can. Magazines and newspapers use big bold letters now because that is what people prefer.

A prime example of this is the Darfur conflict and violence in Middle East. Hundreds and hundreds of women have been raped or murdered in the past few years in Darfur, yet it is rarely ever mentioned in the news or on TV, but when an attractive Iranian woman was shot shot it was all over the news. I read a comment where someone said that apparently it was due to her westernization and that people care when a westernized Middle Eastern woman is shot. But I personally think that it could be the simple fact that the video of her death was actually recorded using a good quality camera and was posted on YouTube. Last time I checked, YouTube did not have a video of an African woman being killed for her difference in ideology or beliefs, so maybe Africa when modernized will eventually appear on the news. Africa is disconnected in a sense from the rest of the world, it’s very hard to get reporters out there due to the dangers involved.

Also the political parties in America understand that they must deal with one region at a time, if they were to intervene in Darfur right now it will put even more pressure on our already fragile economy, making us venerable to other world powers such as China or Russia. So there is definitely some strategic ignorance being manufactured but if it wasn’t for the high demand it would not be able to survive for long. After 9/11, Middle East and Arabs in general have become a topic of discussion and until something else were to happen; we will have a hard time diverting our limited attention elsewhere. The narrative of Iran and Middle East relates to us directly, they are trying to acquire nuclear weapons which could possibly become a threat to all of us. Even if an all out war in Africa were to break out, it will never reach our borders. This makes the narrative of Neda more appealing than the narrative of Darfur. I am not saying people are selfish and that they only care about things which affect them; it is very possible that if videos such as Neda’s were posted online from Africa, it might spark wide support for intervention. But right now there just isn’t enough awareness about the issue out there.


Sources
1- Moore, Michael (Sept 30 2009).Greed killed the newspapers. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pYp2M4444.Nov 15 2010.
2- Chomsky, Noam (May 21 2009). Manufacturing Consent. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJuqoDvyXOk. Nov 15 2010

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Cyber technology can raise global awareness in many ways. People that use the internet often reference to the it for answers. When one is researching to write a paper or even how to fix something around the house the internet is used for the answers and they never go wrong. As far as we might like to go, cyber technology is very useful and everyone is turning to it. Not only is it cheaper but it is also more convenient and therefore it becomes more useful than any other source out there.
Cyber technology is global as it is and the researcher can find information about anything, from the weather in Australia to the prices of an item in another country.
Cyber technology can raise global awareness because of sites that provide valid information.

TheDis Appeal of Narratives

Throughout our discussions, the class has tried to define narrative in terms of technology and globalization.  From this, I have defined a narrative as "an event or sequence of events that "organizes" an "understanding of time" about the "human experience." (Alexis Thorne)(Abbot 3,4)(Herman 24)  In the context of internet, global media, etc., the way these events are organized is significantly different than they once were.

In the Tsunami article, Wilkes argues that in 2004 "distance in space," i.e geographical distance, had lost it's ability to barrier the travel of news in comparison to 1755. (Wilkes 49)  Because of technology, the spread of news had become faster and  more endurant.

In comparison to the Lisbon earth quake, the Tsunami recieved much more accurate, in depth, wide-spread and impactful news coverage. By this notion,  one could assume that contemporary narratives (especially media events) are better than narratives of the past, which lacked the ability to include all that they do now.

However, the faith in these advancements is what gives that narrative the power to manipulate or deceive.  In our discussions, the class talked about lonelygirl 15, who pretended to be a sad, young girl looking for friends.  We've talked about facebook, and it's collection of personal information and target marketing.  Both examples of deceit, where audiences trusted the reality of the media.  These examples serve as a warning that  individuals and organizations  have power to create mass-deception, just as they do to create mass-awareness. 

Wilkes article includes a picture (figure 4.1 and 4.2) of the aftermath in the Lisbon earthquake, as examples of individual conceptions of the earthquakes aftermath.  The pictures depict "dramatic, visually stirring" renditions of homes being carried away and screaming faces.  He points out that without technology, accuracy was of opinion and depended on the correspondent.   (Wilkes55)  Historically, events and their representation, were subject to the elite and the few, i.e those who could travel, those who could draw, those who were wealthy enough to learn and do both.

Really, not much has changed.  Facebook has an incredible power through their networking capabilities, and while they and lonelygirl15, and the Tsunami are more tied to realistic representations, they still have a plethera of images, videos and mediums to use in order to skew perspective.


Works Cited

Wilke, Jurgen: Historical Perspectives on Media Events: a Comparison of the Lisbon Earthquake in 1755 and the Tsunami Catastrophe in 2004. In: Couldry, Nick (ed.): Media Events in a Global Age, Chapter 4, pp. 45-60.

Abbott: The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.

Herman: The Cambridge Companion to Narrative.

Thorne, Alexis.  Global Media  Narrative Definitions.

Narrative Appeal: Social Constraints of Empathy and Hegemonic Influence

Some blame of the marked disparity between coverage of stories and audience reception of narrative discourses must go to the generally immutable need for receivers of news to identify with a specific character. The emergence of the late Neda Agha-Soltan as a quintessential victim of oppressive an Iranian old guard, was enabled by the dramatic footage captured on video-phones by civilians near her (Fahti, 2009) as well as the fact that the bullet hit her in her torso, not her head, thus preserving her beauty, even in death (Fischer, 2010). While the feminicidios in Ciudad Juarez are most frequently of young, attractive women, evidence of their deaths are generally recognized only upon the discovery of “decomposed bodies...often unidentifiable” (Livingston, 2004, p. 59), so there is a scarcity of photographic journalistic representation of the victims as living people, not just as corpses.

Anthropologist Robin Dunbar formulated a numerical limit to the number of people that an individual is capable of having personal contacts (Bialic, 2007). There must also be a limit to the number of people that an individual can deeply empathize with, as opposed to merely pitying on a rationally moral basis. The latter is seldom as effective as the former in galvanizing support for a cause.

There is also no doubt that the preferences of audience members can be largely influenced by the cumulative manipulation of hegemonic influences, and subsequent reinforcement by group mentality in a viral fashion, as evidenced by the effectiveness of astroturfing. These more surreptitious modes of influencing news content have been criticized in detail by voices such as Chomsky (Achbar, 1992). Proponents of deeper investigations into the murders in Ciudad Juarez suspect that their detractors are “a front for the state government” (Livingston, 2004, p. 64).

References

Achbar, M. (producer). (1992). Manufacturing consent: Noam Chomsky and the media. Retrieved October 16, 2010 from http://www.youtube.com

Bialic, C. (2007, Novermber 16). Sorry, you may have gone over your limit of network friends. The Wall Street Journal, p. B1. Retrieved October 16, 2010 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119518271549595364.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Fahti, N. (2009, June 23). In a death seen around the world, a symbol of Iranian protests. The New York Times, p. A1. Retrieved October 16, 2010 from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/world/middleeast/23neda.html?_r=1

Fischer, A. (2010). Global media narratives in the digital age (lecture). Binghamton University.

Livingston, J. (2004). Murder in Juarez: Gender, sexual violence, and the global assembly line. Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 25, 59-76.

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Citizen journalism is truly a sign of the times. Mediums like YouTube, CNN iReport and twitter make news so much easier to convey to the masses. However, does it really raise global awareness? With the multitude of diversions available on the internet it becomes all too easy to just skip over things that you deem uninteresting. Comparing the amount of videos of YouTube that appeal to entertainment value as opposed to information value. Citizen journalism, nonetheless, may be more affective than traditional journalism. The mass appeal of citizen journalism stretches so much farther than institutionalized journalism due to a feeling of kinship among the bourgeois. Cyber journalism definitely has the potential to raise awareness to the global community but it's so easy to avoid that it almost becomes a space filler. Opening your homepage in your browser probably takes you to Yahoo!, AOL or Google, which all have a link to news somewhere on the page. However, most people tend to immediately load Facebook or twitter.

The answer to the question is yes. Citizen journalism has an overwhelming potential to reach people on a global scale that traditional media can't (or won't) do. Some mainstream media outlets won't even touch some stories that citizen journalism will enthusiastically report. Censorship also plays a great role in the appeal of citizen journalism. Overall, cyber technology really does help the spread of global narratives but it's largely dependent on the audience.

Cyber Technology Can Raise Global Awareness

Today's society is beginning to slack when it comes to paying attention to what is going on in the world. Many students across the country are too immersed in their own lives to pay attention to what is going on in the world around them. Because of the time that is spent studying in the library, television watching, specifically news watching, is not as popular among young adults as it used to be. This trend is not only common among students, though. Adults are spending more time in the office and less time in front of the television. Sure, it is easy to pick up a newspaper, but people simply don't read anymore. This epidemic is becoming a threat to print media, and is lowering the rate of global awareness.

Thankfully, though, one thing still remains in the eyes of Americans. Computers. Without these machines, our society would be lost. We depend solely on the internet to get through our days, to study, and to keep up with what is going on. Because of this, the cyber industry is maintaining global awareness. An AOL home screen for example, flashes news events every day. No, I don't read the newspaper daily, but I tend to click on an interesting story on AOL when i see one. This raise of cyber technology is definitely a plus in the realm of global awareness. Slowly but surely, magazines and newspapers will begin to be taken over by the internet. It's happening already. But thanks to online news, the average person is introduced back into what is going on in the world around them. Whether at work or school, Americans are online. This being said, they are bound to click on global stories when they arise. The person that has never read the newspaper is definitely reading more online than they ever intended to. So yes, global awareness is slacking. But with the help of cyber technology, Americans are able to maintain this awareness.

What is an appealing narrative?/What is the disappeal of narrative?

Not sure which question is on task but see these two as being interrelated.

What is an appealing narrative?
What makes a narrative appealing? I think this is better to work for for me. Although I concede that there may be other elements that make a narrative appealing...what I believe I am focusing on with the response is why is it that some narratives proliferate while others remain unnoticed. Narratives proliferate based on their potential for becoming commodified--how well these narratives can be "sold" to us. When dealing with traditional/major news sources, it is obvious (to the critical mind) that the narratives which are chosen to be aired are always within the realm of corporate interest. So what is appealing to these news sources--is their ability to reinforce the values and identities which serve corporate interest.

When looking at narratives which are proliferated outside of these traditional media organizations, it is not as apparent how it is that one narrative will be chosen over another--what makes it appealing. I would still make the argument that the narratives which are found to be appealing somehow reinforce the values and pre-existing narratives which are already in place in our capitalist centered culture. The story of Neda exemplifies this well--for as we observed in class, what is appealing about Neda is that she is young, beautiful, and most importantly WESTERNIZED! The Iranian protest would have never received as much attention as it did if it was not for the video of her shooting being circulated on Youtube. If Neda has been wearing traditional garb, I do not think that people would have paid her as much attention. Her image represents and symbolizes Western presence. There hundreds of thousands of women in these countries being tortured in much more severe manners--and their stories are not viral on Youtube.

What is the disappeal of narrative?
The disappeal of narrative to me is its structure. Its association with story-telling-- its reliance on "somthing" happening. It is restrictive in that by its form it is already limiting the kinds of information which receive attention. There is no such thing as a narrative which is not hegemonic. Narratives will always leave out other perspectives BECAUSE of their form.

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Both citizen journalism and cyber technology can certainly raise global awareness. One of the reason is that sometimes certain events can occur suddenly. By the time it is shown on television certain information might already have been lost. This would lead to some events being portrayed by media as less significant and at times they might not even show up on the news. Thus citizen journalism plays a key in making people aware of the occurrence of these events. Since usually the people that witness the event is the ones that happen to be there at that time.
Thus cyber technology also plays a key in raising global awareness. With the capabilities of technology through the usage of cell phone and laptops, people are able to capture videos or pictures of the events that occurred. Sometimes these videos are posted on youtube or other social sites, where it becomes available to everyone. The news might spread through people that have viewed it on these social sites, and have told their friends about it. Thus this process sometimes spreads news faster than if you were to read it on a newspaper the next day. And certain news that the media have taught to be less significant previously might suddenly become significant after an increase in global awareness.

Appealing Narrative

A narrative can be appealing to different people for many different reasons. Some people enjoy reading a narrative due to the context that is being written about. Some people enjoy reading a narrative because of the themes, plot, or the relate-ability. People around the world like to read things that relate to there world or intrigues there interests. Whenever i post a link or put up a status on Facebook it is because the topic is interesting to me  and i know that I will get a response from others who go on my page. Usually when a person agrees with what i write on Facebook they "like" my status or are able to make there own comment on what I just wrote. I really enjoy that I am able to do this with my friends because it allows us to share new or old information with one another that matches our specific liking, our wants and our needs. Being able to share your own narrative with different people has helped to expand our world and globalization through different social outlets, websites and through the creativeness of others.

Appealing narrative

The difference between appealing narrative and dis-appealing narrative is narrability. Dis­-appealing narrative lacks in distribution. It is the opposite of appealing narrative, which can be globalized and made well known. Appearing narrative is narratable and dis­-appealing is dis-narratable. Appealing narrative is a discourse, narrative/story or event that attracts people’s attention. It usually is popular and well known, much like common knowledge. People can attach themselves to the event; they feel compassion, relation and empathy to it, which is something that audiences like. Like some global news, it is widely absorbed, and it can be a good conversation topic.

A good story and considerable attention can make the appealing narrative narratable. In the Neda event, a beautiful innocent woman was killed by gunshot. A Western, modern woman, she came from the  “forbidden places” in which women’s status was really low, forbidding them from doing many things. However, the woman joined a politically related event, and her Westernized action created global awareness. Audiences were interested and wanted to know more or to be entertained.  After her untimely passing, people discussed intensively and gathered together to protest.

Another example is in sports. It creates a good appealing narrative. During the Olympics, nations around the world gather to compete in sports. It perfectly displays the beauty of cultural harmony. It is a spot light; people like it, watch it and talk about it. The Olympics appeal to a universal mixture of culture. These kinds of popular global events are appealing narrative that affects people and are part of audiences’ memories.

Works Cited:

Fischer, Annemarie. Class Discussion. “Global Media Narratives,” Binghamton University.

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

In the news media today, there are many important news reports that are not hitting the headlines. In our last class, Fischer was talking about how most people know of the Holocaust but barely anyone knew much of the Darfur crisis but why is that? When looking up pictures on the internet for the Holocaust and the Darfur crisis, there is much more pictures of Holocaust than the Darfur crisis. This shows that not many people know about the Darfur crisis because there is not much news coverage. One of the possible reasons that we discussed in our class is that there is not much coverage because it doesnt directly affect us. But looking back in history, not many people knew about the Nanjing Massacre either. I just did a google image search on the Nanjing Massacre and there were a lot of pictures but still, no one knew much about it. For me, I only knew about it because I was in an Asian Studies class in my freshman year. But before that, I never knew something this horrible even existed. In 1997, there was a best selling non-fiction book called The Rape of Nanking which the author, Iris Cheng, gathered research through American soldier's and missionaries' accounts in the massacre. This started to inform the readers in Western countries about the massacre that was forgotten. This book has also led to a documentary about the Nanking Massacre because more people were aware of it. But before this book, only China and perhaps a few nearby Eastern countries knew about it. It shows that Western countries did not know about it because it did not directly affect them compared to Eastern countries or the primary victim, China. In Japan, the Nanking massacre is not even mentioned in any of their news, books, or even the textbooks used in school as they are trying to erase their ugly. Also, many Japanese believe that the Nanjing Massacre never existed either. The lack of coverage has led to debates of whether the Nanjing Massacre existed and many have debated that there were a lot of fabrications in many of the accounts. With Nanjing Massacre resulting in more than 300,000 victims, more coverage is needed for Darfur to make more people aware of this so the crisis can fully end.

Sources:
Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: the Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York, NY: Basic, 1997. Print.
Jones, Adam. "Gendercide Watch: The Nanjing Massacre." Gendercide Watch - Main Page. 1999-2002. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. .

The Appeal of Narrative

H. Porter Abbott argues a narratee is an author's "intended audience." This suggests that the creator of a narrative does not arbitrarily select their chosen method, but instead crafts their intention around a specific set of receivers that either finds necessity or pleasure in taking in their respective message. As indicated in Jessica Livingston's Murder in Juarez and Barbara J. Key's Globalizing Sport narratives, people are most interested in events within which they feel involvement or that they can feel empathy or compassion for.

Sports, for example, creates the perfect appealing narrative because it is a universal concept with mass culture appeal. The popularity and conformity of the athletic audience creates a captive group of receivers because they are so large and open to the message. The mass murders of women on the bordertown of Juarez Mexico provides frightening insight into human nature, immediate concern for those living in the Juarez area, and general empathy from those living in the United States.

Although there is no guarantee that the intended audience will be the receiver of the message it is the purposefulness of the initial which makes a specific narrative appealing to a specific audience.

A narrative's appeal can be generalized into 3 main categories:

1. Necessity : For such things as school projects (textbook readings), instructional readings/ videos, etc., for events which direcrly impact the individual or the society they live in (eg. 9/11 terrorist attacks)

2. Entertainment : Novels, Movies, and other media people have a non-informative or non-essential interest in

3. Curiosity/ Status : These are grouped in the same category because for some people generally feel a need to find out what's going on. For others, people feel they must have a certain amount of knowledge about the news to keep up with those of similar social status, or to give off a certain image.

Can citizen journalism and/or cyber technology raise global awareness?

Professional journalists are only able to do so much. There are a limited number of such people in the world whose job in life it is to cover news and events. Therefore, it is imperative to rely on ordinary residents to contribute to the news.

Especially in today’s age with advancements in technology, it is too easy for citizens to become journalists to not take advantage of what cell phones and laptops are capable of doing. Since for the most part they own such technology, citizen journalists are just as important to the world as professional ones. As professional journalists are only able to be in one place at what time, the use of citizens as journalists can only help in covering the mass amount of information necessary for global awareness.

Appealing Narrative

These days, for a narrative to be appealing it needs to effect the audience directly or be entertainment related. Michael Jackson's death got coverage for 3 weeks, but the genocide in the Sudan barely gets any attention. People in the U.S. have low interest for 3rd world countries and their problems. But they love actors and actresses, and these stories get extreme amounts of coverage on important news stations. I remember when Britney Spears shaved her head, CNN interrupted their regular programming to discuss this drastic change of hairstyle. It's pretty sad that we hear about some drugged up trash, but do not even really know the death toll in Darfur. An event has to be somewhat close to home for anybody to care. The tsunami was a big deal, because a lot of westerners were over in Thailand when it hit. I'm not going to read about things that don't effect in one way or another. An appealing narrative needs to have narratability, and in order for this, it has to be about things the audience cares about.

Appealing Narrative

There are many factors that determine whether a narrative is considered appealing. The first and most important factor in determining the appeal of a narrative is its narratability. Narratability is a term coined by Gerald Prince that is defined as "worthy of being told" or "that which is susceptible of or calls for narration." If a narrative is interesting or relates to people it can be considered appealing. This also brings up the argument that what is considered appealing is entirely a matter of opinion and how the audience receives it. A narrative that may appeal to one demographic may not appeal to another. A person is much more likely to be interested in a narrative that pertains to something in his or her life then something that is non-related. Another means of determining whether a narrative is appealing or not is in the way the specific narrative is delivered. If a narrative such as a news report is delivered in a very intense and interesting manner it is a lot more likely to catch and keep the attention of viewers then a very boring or monotonous presentation. All of these factors combined create the idea of a narrative that is globally appealing .

Works Cited

Fischer, Annemarie. Class Discussion. 9 November 2010. “Global Media Narratives,” Binghamton University.

What is 'Newsworthy'? Look at Twitter.

At the beginning of the semester we discussed what components of a narrative constitute how easily we relate to it - or care.

What makes a story newsworthy; appealing to both mass and specific audiences?

According to a definition similar to one we discussed in class, there are 5 factors used to determine newsworthiness:

1. Timing
2. Significance
3. Proximity
4. Prominence
5. Human Interest

Aside from the understanding that we discussed in class, we now must consider the web's effect on these influences and how that affects what our generation of media sees as news.

The internet's speed and increasing accessibility forces more (and new arenas for) competition among media corporations. News has to have impact, get out fast and be understood quickly. This new edge of immediacy cuts out many of the stories that in class we regard as "counter narratives."

Social media has further built this haste into our electronic culture and because of its relation to my final project, I have chosen to focus on Twitter as an example.

Twitter is a prime example of our obsession with short, concise communication (the site currently has 175 million registered users). Twitter can be looked at as a model of what media industries have come to determine as newsworthy.

The site describes itself as "a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations."

This is what we do regularly - we pay attention to what is interesting to us - topics that affect our lives: news near (literally) and dear to our own interests and lives, which may mean news we think others would deem newsworthy.

Twitter is a platform on which a user "tweets," defined by the site as "small bursts of information...140 characters in length," short messages (or "headlines").

These "bursts" of information serve as an example of similar bursts of information dispensed by major media corporations meant to consume our attention, inform and entertain us, whether it be on television, radio or the web. These platforms are more attractive than print because they are created and geared towards easy-access, especially in comprehension, retention and circulation.

Twitter provides for all of these: to-the-point messages make for easy comprehension, short messaging allocates for impact, making for high rates of retention and the ability to "retweet" takes care of, and encourages, circulation.

"What Makes a Story Newsworthy? ." MediaCollege.com. Wavelength Media, 2008. Web. 14 Nov 2010.

"About." Twitter. Twitter, 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2010. .

Appealing Narrative

What makes narrative appealing? For a narrative to be appealing it needs to be able to captivate the listeners' interest. This is also one of the problem with media. Sometimes certain news get less coverage than others because it appeals less to audience. Thus for a profit motive, people would pick the one that would get the most viewers. And when this happens quality or detail of the information on certain news will be less than satisfactory. Often this would lead to lack of awareness as well.
The other important factor that makes a narrative appealing is the level of difficulty in understanding the material presented. If the audience is unable to understand what is being conveyed than they will either have no interest in listening or they will lose interest drastically. Thus if that is the case it would probably make not much of a difference whether or not a narrative discourse occurred. The other thing is sequence of events when telling the story. If you telling a something and constantly refer back to things, the chances are the audience will not follow you. Therefore it is of paramount importance that the narrative is able to captivate interest, easily understood, and in some form of sequence.

Appealing Narrative

An appealing narrative, as the term suggests, raising the questions of: Why is it appealing to the public? What constitutes it as an "appealing" narrative? The distinction between an appealing narrative and non-appealing narrative can be made through the comparison of global attraction between the Holocaust and the genocide in Darfur. As indicated through a mini-survey in Professor Fischer’s class, almost all, if not every student had become aware of the Holocaust through school teachings. While this does not constitute appeal in the sense that the students were “drawn” to the incident by their own will (although perhaps many may have), what does constitute appeal is the fact that the Holocaust is written about in thousands of books, academic textbooks, websites, and many more mediums, and is taught to students in school. Intriguingly enough, this dissemination of information occurred during a time where mass communication through means of advanced technology and internet was not present.

Darfur, on the other hand, is an ongoing tragedy to this very day; this very day as in this very day where technology can mass transmit information globally and instantly. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in collaboration with Google has even mapped the destruction on Darfur through integration with their own, Google Maps in a project known as “Mapping Initiatives” (Mapping Initiatives). Indeed, the death toll (still in dispute) of around 400,000 in Darfur does not quite compare with the death toll of over 6,000,000 of the Holocaust, but they are both classified as genocides and both involved a mass killing of humans (Darfur's Real Death Toll). The concept behind an appealing narrative thus asks, “Why is it that so many know about the Holocaust that happened decades ago, yet a fraction of the population know about the genocide in Darfur even with today’s means of mass communication?” Perhaps it could be the distinction between 6,000,000 and 400,000, or perhaps it may be the “third-world country apathy” factor, only research can tell but this is the framework of an appealing narrative.

Today, the appealing narrative of the general public appears to have devolved and become bounded by the realm of entertainment and only life-threatening or globally major issues that directly affect the public. In turn, this appears to have affected news companies as well, as suggested by the following image posted by a Reddit user:

(source: Reddit)

While cruise passengers “suffering” from cold food goes on to make front page articles, the appeal of more severe issues seem to be deteriorating in “media land.” The concept of the appealing narrative thus, not only affects the public, but the content that the media portrays: Why show something that isn’t going to accumulate hits or pageviews?

"Darfur's Real Death Toll." Editorial. Washington Post. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/23/AR2005042301032.html.

"Mapping Initiatives." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.
http://www.ushmm.org/maps/projects/darfur/.

Reddit. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. http://www.reddit.com/.

Appeal v. Disappeal of Narratives

The appeal of global narratives lies entirely in their narratability. For a story to spread and be a master narrative, it needs to have a streamlined reading; a universally understood core text is crucial to the narrative. The need for cultural alignment is crucial so that the narrative is not so different that it runs ignorant or judgemental potential receivers away and instead presents something they can connect with as their 'own story.' For a foreign narrative to be embraced in a westernized country it must be something that is black and white, a right and wrong, a clear opposition easily understood. The narrative must also be relative to the times and what people are interested (or what the media allows people to be interested in by what they choose to publish based on corporate agendas*). Aside from this, there must be some pull at emotion- tragedy, shock, empathy, thrill, excitement.
An appealing narrative that is culturally aligned so that readers aren't turned off the narrative being misunderstood or different. The global spread and communication of the Neda narrative was being helped by her being "western" and understood by the outside world. Within Iran, the culture is far different from the jeans, lack of head covering and overall core text that Neda represents for the Iran movement. Had she been portrayed in the traditional sense of women in Iran, the appeal of the narrative may have been lost. Her appearance and story is relevant to many people's lives and they can understand her struggle. There is also a black and white, right and wrong aspect in the narrative. An innocent, 'helpless', beautiful woman is shot down by a powerful, armed, government enforcer.
The same characteristics can create a disappeal towards a "counternarrative." Without a culturally accepted core text that creates a visual to communicate the main message of the narrative on a global scale, the appeal is lost. An example would be the crisis in Darfur. There is no main image that comes to mind when thinking of the horrible civil conflict in the area even though so much information is available. Without a way to present the information in a black/white, right/wrong way (which is impossible to define in a civil conflict situation) it is hard to create a large following pushing for 'saving' the innocent side. The relevance could be there and the empathy is, but we are losing the generation that lived through similar tragedies such as the Holocaust. Unfortunately, not many people are getting the story or being able to relate to living under such conditions. The geographical remoteness also makes the narrative difficult because there are no foreseeable, instant, hand on solutions for those far away from the situation. Out of sight, out of mind.

Appealing Narratives

An appealing narrative is both captivating and accessible to a global audience. As we discussed in Tuesday’s class, a narrative is widely circulated when it is comprehendible across diverse cultural contexts. Thus, narratives produced in hegemonic languages like English that present a “universal framework that everyone can fill with their own content” (Fischer), have mass appeal. A narrative is deemed ‘successful’ by its ‘recipients’ – people ultimately accept or reject a narrative based on its compliance with and proximity to their cultural beliefs and interests. In her discussion of the global appeal of the ‘sports narrative,’ Barbara J. Keys states, “…sport offered a universal platform for representation [to] provide opportunities for peoples in other parts of the world to claim international power and legitimacy” (186). Thus, the appeal of the sports narrative lies in its provision of a platform for every country, every culture to become a vital participant in the ‘global community’ and have their ‘fifteen minutes of authority’ in front of the global audience.

An ‘unappealing’ narrative counters these traits by lacking communicability across various cultures as well as not allowing ‘global participation’ in the narrative. While it occurred in a distinct region, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami is an ‘appealing, narratable’ narrative for both its ‘shock value’ and the vast impact it had on millions of people around the world. In contrast, an example of an ‘unappealing, non-narratable’ narrative might be a political election in Indonesia, which has little cultural relevance outside of the country/region. In contrast to an unprecedented natural disaster, a political election, unless controversial or groundbreaking (like the election of President Obama), is rather mundane to the global audience.

In her analysis of the feminicidios, Jessica Livingston explores the social and political impediments to the construction and distribution of the maquiladora narrative. If a mass murdering of female factory workers occurred in the United States it would be plastered on the front page of every newspaper for months. But Mexican authorities do not view these events as ‘narratable,’ newsworthy, or even criminal. The implicit Mexican cultural rejection of the feminicidios highlights an important attribute of the ‘narratability’ of an event – it needs to fit into the framework of the storyteller’s culture. Thus, despite its potential mass appeal, feminicidios is not ‘narratable’ because Mexican authorities do not recognize it as a legitimate narrative; their refusal to acknowledge the killings as a ‘problem’ is a quiet approval of the extermination of these ‘disposable’ women who threaten Mexican hegemonic gender roles and traitorously aid American corporate expansion.

Works Cited

Fischer, Annemarie. Class Discussion. 9 November 2010. “Global Media Narratives,” Binghamton University.

Keys, Barbara J. Globalizing Sport. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006. Print.

Livingston, Jessica. “Murder in Juarez: Gender, Sexual Violence, and the Global Assembly Line.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. Vol. 25, No. 1 (2004): pp. 59-76. Web.

What is an appealing narrative

Certain narratives stand out among the others and are highly distributed around the world. These narratives gain popularity and exposure because they are unique or interesting to the viewer. There is something in the narrative that many people find important or relevant to their lives which is why they continue the cycle of distribution by talking about it, posting it online to their friends etc. Another factor making a narrative appealing could be its generic message that is understood by many regardless of their background or origin etc. Narratives relaying a message with a somewhat universal meaning that can be understood easily and without much research or extensive knowledge of the subject; language etc. will be more appealing to a mass audience rather than just a select few. Sports narratives such as the world cup for example are universally appealing because everyone can understand what is going on in the game via body language of the players regardless of if they speak the announcer’s language. Non-appealing narratives dont have these qualities. They may be boring or vague in conveying their message which doesnt spark an interest in the reader to share this information or learn more. Also, if they are confusing or hard to understand and retain they will most likely be over looked.

Option Two: Citizen Journalism

A citizen journalist is a "prod-user." As opposed to consuming media, the audience/user creates "their own text," "establishing the media discourse" on a subject.  (Fischer 3)

In the Neda Video, a citizen uses a cell phone video recorder to capture the death of Neda.  As we discussed in class, the Iranian government would likely never allow, let alone produce, a media text like this video.  It reflects poorly on Ahmadinejad by showing the consequences of his oppression.  This gives the text authority because someone who views the video will believe that it's author is a person whom; a) is against the oppressive force, and b) is doing something about it.

The citizen journalist is often involved with text media through expose, or counter-culture narrative.  Deep-Throat, Bob Woodward, Julian Assange, etc. have all made a career of exposing government scandal and wrong-doing.  Their authority is recognized by the very nature of their motivations. A citizen journalist is trusted and heard by the 'users' because he/she is also a 'user,' and assumed to have similar best-interests.  They become a hero of the people because they are an enemy of the state.

In "The Color Green and the G-Factor," Fischer mentions the Neda author sent the video out of Iran and that more than one person put their life at risk to ensure it's release.  Clearly this, the secret identity of Deep-Throat and the in-hiding life of Julian Assange indicate their value and the reliability of their texts, because...why would anyone care to harm them if it weren't true?