Week 7 politics aside, mailman index, commercial free childhood

This week, I plan to play a clip from NPR about how a mail carrier can tell LOTS about the people on her route. This made me think about, among other things, our discussion on blogging and information mining by marketers on the web, the chapters in 'Feed' that deal with Violet resisting the push marketing on her feed, and how to approach your next project on 'Media Analysis.' 

I'm passing out an addendum to that project's description in class, to clarify how you should proceed.

I'll copy it below the links and videos here.

We also will screen a trailer from Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood's video called 'Consuming Kids' and if there is time, begin looking at the Mark Achbar film 'The Corporation'

here is a link to the NPR mailman index clip:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95664787

and the consuming kids video is here:

Media Analysis  (present)

Individual or group project:  2-3 students per group

Using data collected from the media diet posts on the weblog, Create an analytic interpretation of this data for a creative 10-15  minute in-class presentation. The form of the presentation is open: power-point or keynote lecture, video, audio, performance, web-based.

Your findings should be framed by a thesis statement and supported by collected data, and presented to the class using media creatively. Be prepared for a brief Q & A discussion period after presenting.

Due week 9, Wednesday (oct 29)

 

project addendum:

based on the in-class clips-

(npr’s andrea mailman index, and ccfc consuming kids)

AND, the narrative thread in FEED about targeted marketing,

and how the character Violet tries to thwart  it, (94-104)

 

Present a profile of yourself,

written as though you are a marketer who only has access to your media diet. (extend this to include your mail, credit card purchases, whatever media consumption trail you leave in the public domain)

 

What would they conclude (correctly or incorrectly)

What inferences might they make.

What could they tell about you that you might not want them to know?

Might they jump to conclusions, make assumptions, stereotype?

What products, services, special offers might you be a perfect marketing target for, and what form might that information take in order to most effectively reach you?

 

Write it like you are someone else. Not yourself.

 

Example (but not template)

“The  Subject in question… Mr. G, is most likely  a male between the ages of 30 and 50. He is hypercritical of consumerism, but susceptible to counter-cultural anti-branding. Examples of media that would pass beneath his radar are: (slide of X, Image of Y, clip of Z). He is however an avid consumer of: (Magazine cover A, Logo of radio station B, Local Beer label C) He spends this much money on that, Drives this much for that, etc. etc. His consumer profile suggests he may be exploited with marketing campaigns that target Blah, delivered via morning radio broadcasts, or magazine ads in magazine DaDaDa, including discount coupons or special offers.”