<![CDATA[Thomas Conner - COMM10blogWi16]]>Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:20:04 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Exam question prep: Monday/A03]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2016 20:48:22 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/exam-question-prep-mondaya03To prepare for some end-of-quarter, pre-exam summation and review, let's think about potential exam questions. You will receive the list of possible exam questions during lecture on Monday. But before that — by midnight Sunday! — each student must submit a question they think could be an exam question. What do you think Patrick will ask for a final exam? Better: How could the material we've read best be compared, contrasted, and discussed?

Submit your potential question in the comments section of this post. Do not duplicate questions; read previously submitted ones to make sure yours is not similar.

In class, our discussion leaders will offer some examples and ways to get at some of your answers, and we'll firm up the overall trajectory of the course.
]]><![CDATA[Exam question prep: Wednesday/A04]]>Fri, 26 Feb 2016 20:47:32 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/exam-question-prep-wednesdaya04To prepare for some end-of-quarter, pre-exam summation and review, let's think about potential exam questions. You will receive the list of possible exam questions during lecture on Monday. But before that — by midnight Sunday! — each student must submit a question they think could be an exam question. What do you think Patrick will ask for a final exam? Better: How could the material we've read best be compared, contrasted, and discussed?

Submit your potential question in the comments section of this post. Do not duplicate questions; read previously submitted ones to make sure yours is not similar.

In class, our discussion leaders will offer some examples and ways to get at some of your answers, and we'll firm up the overall trajectory of the course.
]]><![CDATA[Gendered identity categorizing starts early]]>Mon, 22 Feb 2016 17:17:06 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/gendered-identity-categorizing-starts-earlyThe New York Times just published a couple of interesting pieces related to our discussions about gender and identity.
First is this column addressing the uncomfortable (and inappropriate?) experience for parents of very young children when people ask whether those kids have a boyfriend or girlfriend. The author notes something relevant to our class:
And yet every time this question is posed, I hear insidious rumblings. I hear heteronormative expectation: You’re a boy, so naturally, you’ll like girls. I hear the gender indoctrination: Girls aren’t like boys, so you should treat them differently. I hear the premature insertion of sexual politics: Girls aren’t your friends; they’re potential objects of desire.
The other piece, published yesterday, asks, "Why Do We Teach Girls That It's Cute to Be Scared?"

Participation! So, why do we? How could things be done differently?
]]><![CDATA[The world stage of Goffman & Shakespeare]]>Mon, 15 Feb 2016 18:47:55 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/the-world-stage-of-goffman-shakespeareJust saw this nifty 2-minute video posted to Aeon (a great online mag), summing up Goffman's thinking about the performative self!
]]><![CDATA[the Beyoncé bowl]]>Mon, 08 Feb 2016 20:21:31 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/the-beyonce-bowl
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Many of you have mentioned that you watched last night's Super Bowl and its halftime music performances. Some of you likely also have encountered today's deliberations in news media and online about Beyoncé's appearance during that halftime show. Pundits on the notoriously conservative Fox News channel (and other sources) called her appearance "outrageous" based on her presentation of political ideas — namely the Black Lives Matter movement — in both her song and her dancer's costumes.

This is well-timed for our discussion of racial coding and othering in the Hall, Mulvey, and hooks readings.
Go back through news stories and blogs that you've seen commenting on this incident, and consider the discourses in light of these three scholars' views on how black people are portrayed in culture and framed by communication media. Why is the political messaging of, say, the national anthem and/or tributes to veterans deemed suitable to this particular context, while the political messaging of an oppressed class is decried?

This New York Times columnist evaluated the day's histrionics in an astute piece that mentions a historical example of racial imaging of precisely the type Hall discussed in his piece. (Be sure to skim through the comments to that piece, as they starkly illuminate the kinds of discourses circulating around these issues.) A theater director in Berkeley wrote an interesting perspective on the larger cultural issues, too, considering the messaging of the new Beyoncé video, as well. "The Daily Show," of course, responded with commentary that highlights the othering experienced by black Americans: "And as a black person, you walk around every day constantly reminded that you are black." Watch here.
]]><![CDATA[slumming scholarship]]>Mon, 08 Feb 2016 20:01:26 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/slumming-scholarshipPer my discussion in the Monday section today about the move that Stuart Hall and subsequent scholars made to justify the study of popular culture: here's a link to the post on my personal blog about the highbrow vs. lowbrow binary — and the lasting effect it has on America's view of itself and its culture.

Participation! Read the Van Wyck Brooks essay linked there. What do you think about his perspective on American culture? Do we still divide the culture between this binary? For what purpose — what work is that doing, and for whom?
]]><![CDATA[Group Assignment 2: Making a Mystery]]>Fri, 05 Feb 2016 01:01:59 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/-group-assignment-2-making-a-mysteryDirective: For this assignment, groups will design and write a mystery. Mysteries may take any form, but should include both an extended narrative (story) and visual components (film, video, photography, graphic images, etc.). Using theories of signification and the social unconscious from class readings, groups will embed within their mysteries hidden “clues” along the way, presented in both narrative and visual modes. This is intended as a creative project, so groups should feel free to experiment with the assignment.
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Requirements:
  • Mysteries must take place in the “real world” (no science fiction or alternate universes!).
  • Your mystery must include both extended narrative and visual components. While there is no specific length requirement, we do expect the mysteries to be intricately detailed and complex. You may think of crime stories, journalistic exposés, documentaries, week-by-week podcasts (like Serial) as your model (but, again, your mysteries must include both written and visual components).
  • All group members should participate in every aspect of this assignment; do not “divide up” different parts and then try to combine them all at the end. It’s OK for you to delegate tasks to individual group members (for example, if you choose a graphic novel format, some group members may be put in charge of executing the drawings); but all aspects must ultimately be collectively designed.
  • Mysteries must be made openly and fully available online, without passwords.
  • In addition to the mystery itself, each group member must complete a peer review using the following format: (1) write one sentence about each group member’s work on the assignment (including yourself!); (2) pick one group member who think went above and beyond the call of duty, deserving special recognition; (3) if any group members did not participate fully in the assignment, make that clear. Type and print your peer evaluation, and seal it in an envelope. You will collect all group members’ evaluations and hand them in together.

Mysteries are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at the beginning of lecture. As a group, you will hand in (1) the web address for your project, and (2) all group members’ peer evaluations.

]]><![CDATA[gendering: gauchos in elevator shoes]]>Fri, 22 Jan 2016 20:30:39 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/gendering-gauchos-in-elevator-shoes
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Once upon a time, men commonly wore high-heeled shoes. Not necessarily like those pictured here, but definitely big, chunky, elevating heels. This interesting BBC story asks: why did men stop wearing them? (As a rule, that is. In certain contexts, of course, some men still do.)

Participation! Read the story and consider the stated reasons for this change. Put this into conversation with Judith Butler's ideas about gender performativity. What is it about the structure of a shoe that signals gender? How do other elements of fashion contribute to gender construction?
]]><![CDATA[signs, signs, everywhere a sign]]>Wed, 20 Jan 2016 20:47:32 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/signs-signs-everywhere-a-sign
The above song, a one-hit wonder from 1971, is a particularly historically and culturally situated lyrical consideration of signs — in the denotative sense, surely (actual posts and placards containing written messages), but also in various connotative senses.

Semiotics, as outlined in the Danesi reading, can be a lot to get your head around. If you'd like more in-depth background on signs, codes, texts, and more, look to this excellent primer, "Semiotics for Beginners," particularly parts 1, 2, 7, and 9.

Participation! Consider this image below, indicating the appropriate gender of restroom facilities. Does it look more like a man than a woman? Why? What is indexed? What is symbolized?
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]]><![CDATA[Assignment: Group project 1]]>Mon, 18 Jan 2016 20:18:55 GMThttps://www.thomasconner.info/comm10blogwi16/assignment-group-project-1This week you'll complete the first of the course's two group assignments, per the syllabus. Here's a written prompt for that assignment ...
With your designated group, ride the bus south for a while, an hour or more. Each member of the group should be taking field notes as you travel, looking out for interesting things/events that could be understood as instances of institutions, interactions, or interpretation — the three I's that Prof. Anderson referred to.

When taking field notes: jot down whatever strikes you as significant. For example, how is that thing/event being communicated (or, conversely, how is it trying to not communicate)? Who is it communicating to (and who is excluded)? What is surprising or counterintuitive about it? These are examples of questions to consider.

Then, as a group, go through all your notes. Pick out a couple of things to talk about and collectively write at least 500 words for each "I." Don't split up the writing; do it together. If you are wondering: Can I write about the same object/event as an example of more than one "I", the answer is yes, of course! That would be so cool and interesting!

That's all. Remember, try to keep the big questions in mind (what is communication, when/where does it happen, and what are its effects?), and
let whatever is most interesting to you lead your writing.

During lecture on Monday, Jan. 25, you will hand in one typed, double-spaced copy of your group essay (with everyone's names on it), and — stapled to it — each person's notes (with names written clearly on each set of notes).
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