This is a blog about my teaching, research and service with some occasional personal comments thrown in. These are my notes on a variety of topics. If you want to follow my blog posts on a specific topic, then see the Table of Contents in the right-hand column. While I try to work in the realm of facts, logic and moral absolutes, if there are any opinions expressed here, they are my own. -WilliamHartPhD
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“American Oxygen” from Rihanna’s upcoming eighth studio album. Get “American Oxygen” now: TIDAL: http://bit.ly/1zcgMB0 iTunes: http://bit.ly/1EaIZqx Google Play: http://bit.ly/1zcgMB5 Amazon: http://bit.ly/1EaIZqC Follow Rihanna: http://bit.ly/1zcgMB6 http://on.fb.me/1EaIXyV http://bit.ly/1zcgMB9 http://bit.ly/1EaIZqD Music video by Rihanna performing American Oxygen. (C) 2015 Westbury Road Entertainment. Distributed by Roc Nation Records
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[ 60sR at http://bit.ly/1GwZTmU ] In "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury imagined a world of media and entertainment saturation. He envisioned a place where critical thought and engagement with the world had given way to boredom and distraction. 60sR wondered: Was the guy a psychic? Or just paranoid? Find out in this 60second Recap®.
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Liked at April 26, 2015 at 02:46PM
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
The study began with the observation of the way that President Bush talked about the enemy and how editorial cartoonists subsequently depicted the Taliban and bin Laden.
In short, our study found that people (U.S. leaders and editorial cartoonist, in this case) continued to use the dehumanizing visual metaphors identified by Keen -- enemy-as-animal, enemy-as-barbarian, enemy-as-criminal, etc.
We closed our book chapter with the following important note.
Does this process of dehumanization continue?
President Jimmy Carter interview from April 9, 2013. Korea = "Axis of Evil"?
Why is it that during times of war people see the enemy of as animals, as monsters, as barbarians, as devil or death? Put differently, why do people dehumanize the enemy? What purpose does it serve?
Social psychologist Sam Keen offers some answers in his book and a doc based on the book. Here's the beginning of the doc. I'd encourage you to see the rest.
How do we dehumanize? Why do we dehumanize? Why do we make the enemy less than human?
According to Keen, there are a dozen or so common ways that the enemy is seen.
Enemy-as-Animal,
Enemy-as-Barbarian,
Enemy-as-Death,
Enemy-as-Enemy-of-God,
Enemy-as-Criminal,
Enemy-as-All-the-Same
etc.
Keen argues that the enemy is dehumanized because it justifies the killing of the enemy. If the enemy is not a civilized human like us, then, according to Keen, the guilt associated with killing then enemy is greatly lessened and killing is easier.
During World War II the Nazis dehumanized Jewish people. Notice the dehumanization of Jewish people in the Nazi propaganda film called the "Eternal Jews". Watch at least the first five minutes of the film. What was the purpose of this dehumanization of Jewish people?
Just in a 5 minute clip from about 13:45 to 18:37, what dehumanizing metaphors are used?
If you are interested, for more a detailed study of the dehumanizing metaphors used in The Eternal Jew, see:
Hassencahl F. & Hart, W. B. (March, 2013).A fantasy-theme analysis of Der Ewige Jude(The Eternal Jew): From WWII Nazi propaganda to YouTube today.A paper presented at the national Popular Culture Association convention, Washington, DC.
Note: See in relationship between dehumanizing an enemy in war time andracism?
Spot any dehumanization in the following U.S. training film from World War II?
The following is a 1945 World War II propaganda film released by the U.S. War Department entitled "Know Your Enemy: Japan" Who watched this film? What was the purpose of the film?
We've discussed previously experiments and surveys as research methods. Here's a third research method, a third way to answer some research questions. In experiments you study subjects. In surveys you study respondents. What do you study in textual analysis?
What is textual analysis?
“A research method that uses measurement techniques to classify and evaluate the characteristics of spoken, written, artistic, and electronic documents”(FBFK).
What are the various types of texts analyzed in textual analysis? What is a text?
Written --letters, diaries, transcriptions, books, tweets, newspaper articles, etc.
Audio -- conversations, lyrics, etc.
Visual -- paintings, photographs, architecture, etc.
Broadcasts -- film scripts, news casts, etc.
Texts are the communication media which carry meaning.
Question: What is not a text?
Two important types of textual analysis: rhetorical criticism and content analysis relevant to mass media.
Steps in using this method…
1. Select text(s)
2. Unit of Analysis (what specifically are you going to study? Example: specific words, parts of an image, etc.
3. Categories… put into nominal categories
4. Coding … analyze text
5. Summarize
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NOTE: If for some reason your browser does not show the above news stories, then see the stories on Dr. Hart's Storify account at http://storify.com/WilliamHartPhD#stories. You may also want to consider updating your browser (Explorer or Chrome).
What does Friedman mean when he says the world is flat?
What are the 3 eras of globalization according to Friedman?
How does this connect with our earlier coverage of globalization?
Is Friedman right? Pankaj Ghemawat: Actually, the world isn't flat.
Key terms: globalization, social media, anti-globalization movement, What is globaloney? How is Ghemawat using the term?
In the past this term referred to an unrealistic foreign policy or global outlook. That fits Ghemawat's usage, but Ghemawat is more specific. How? See 'globaloney' definitions below.
Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?
For example, the Internet can be used to speak to power and cause social change. In the quote below McPhail notes the role blogs played in challenging power in 2002.
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
So, in the United States the Internet can be used to speak to power, but what about in other countries. For the Internet to play a strong role, there would need to be a substantial amount of Internet users in a country. What sort of growth is there for Internet use around the world? According to McPhail (2nd edition),
Quote originally taken from 2nd edition of Global Communication.
The 3rd edition of McPhail has some interesting, updated numbers. What changes do you note?
So, Internet use is certainly on the rise around the world, more so in some countries than in others.
------
On the world stage, the Internet, specifically social media, has been credited with building revolutions in countries and bringing down dictators.
Take for example, protests in the former-Soviet republic of Moldova in 2009. It was called "Moldova’s Twitter Revolution."
More recently though, when one thinks of social media and revolution, one thinks of the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring is "a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010."
A Map of Arab Spring Countries
(Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, image created by Kwamikagami)
Countries highlighted in black are countries in which the government was overthrown. From left to right the countries are Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. Countries highlighted in other colors are countries in which some protesting occurred.
For a sense of the role social media played in Tunisia, see the following news clip.
What exactly did social media do Tunisia? What was the role of social media?
Let's move from a specific example to a broader discussion about the role of social media has played in the Arab Spring. Some say that social media is insignificant and others say social media play a few important roles in revolution. What are both sides of the argument and what are the arguments on both sides. Why, for example, would some say "no, social media doesn't play a role"? To help answer these questions see the Zuckerman video below.
See specifically the presentation from 4:45 to 8:45 and the remainder if interested.
Note: Zuckerman is co-founded international blogging community Global Voices. Check it out of you are interested.
Think of the Internet as the hardware and the World Wide Web as the software that runs on the Internet. The Web is not the hardware. It is collection of interconnected web pages that exist on the Internet.
Now, how did the Internet evolve as a medium of communication from email in the late '60 and early '70s to the web-based communication tools that we have today?
Update to Zuckerman video:
If we can think of the 1990s as the decade of the World Wide Web (web pages, blogs, etc.), we can think of 2000-2010 as the decade of social media. The decade got off to a slow start, but by...
2004: Facebook founded.
2005: YouTube founded. Note the strong social/sharing aspect of YT.
2006: Twitter founded.
etc.
Now, with an explanation of how the Internet works and how it evolved as a communication tool (e.g. social media), let's look how the Internet plays an important role in global communication (see next post).
A survey usually begins with some demographic questions or "items". Since there are sometimes no questions marks, it would be best to refer to them as items.
Demographics questions/items:
“survey questions that inquire about respondents’ personal characteristics, such as name, age, gender, education”(FBFK).
What demographic questions do you ask?
Only ask demographics that will help you interpret results. Careful with long surveys. Why?
Once you are finished with your demographic questions, next you need to ask questions that help you answer your specific research question(s). You need to ask questions that measure your independent and dependent variables.
What are the general types of questions (or “items”) that can appear on a survey?
With a survey you are usually measuring what a respondent knows, their likes or dislikes or some aspect of their past behaviors.
If you were writing a survey on social media use, what would be some examples questions/items you may put on your survey? Knowledge? Attitude? Behavior?
Do you just have your respondents choose among some predetermined choices or do you leave them some space to respond in whatever why they choose? Put another way, what are close-ended and open-ended survey questions?
Closed-ended items
Scales-- e.g., Likert scale
Use stats to analyze responses to each item and stats to summarize findings
Open-ended items
Words-- Transcribe responses and use textual analysis to summarize findings
Once you have finished a draft of your survey questions, you'll need to go back and proof-read. As you are checking spelling and grammar, also keep the following in mind.
What are some tips on wording survey items?
Keep items short.
Avoid loading or leading questions.
“Don’t you think rich professors should be denied a pay raise?”
A research method in which respondents representing a specific population are asked questions concerning their knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors (based on FBFK).
What are the general steps in constructing and giving a survey?
Identify the purpose of the survey
What is the ultimate purpose of a survey in a research study?
Determine who to ask and what to ask.
Write survey
Give survey
Let participants know if there are any risks.
Let participants know their rights.
Right to not participate, to stop participating, etc.
Thank the participants.
Tally results
Report results
What information should be included on a survey (excluding survey questions)?
Title: A Study of Social Media Use by College Students
Who: Dr. Hart, Department of Mass Communications & Journalism
Where: Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA
Any Questions: Send to Dr. Hart
Statement of Purpose:
This study seeks your opinion about methods courses for a research study. Your responses are anonymous. Thank You.
Rights: In addition, if for whatever reason you do not feel comfortable responding to any or all items, please leave it(them) blank.
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NOTE: If for some reason your browser does not show the above news stories, then see the stories on Dr. Hart's Storify account at http://storify.com/WilliamHartPhD#stories. You may also want to consider updating your browser (Explorer or Chrome).
NOTE: If for some reason your browser does not show the above news stories, then see the stories on Dr. Hart's Storify account at http://storify.com/WilliamHartPhD#stories. You may also want to consider updating your browser (Explorer or Chrome).
A case study is a method of teaching in which students are presented with a problematic scenario or case. A case is an example or illustration of a problem or challenge.
Case studies are some times used in law classes and some times in public relations classes, for example.
After an international case is presented there is a common method used in PR courses.
Define/describe the PR problem.
Give ways for addressing or solving this problem.
List resources needed for implementing solution(s).
Give a timetable for implementation.
State expected impact of solution.
How did you use intercultural skills?
Intercultural skills to keep in mind when working through the international P.R. case
Be mindful
Be thoughtful, aware of differences
Be patience
It may be difficult at first
Be open-minded
Consider other ways of doing things, other views
Be tolerance of ambiguity
Things may not make sense. Be comfortable with uncertainty
Now, let's do a case or three.
Check out the following news videos about three back-to-back incidents between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan in early 2012. As you are watching these, starting thinking about the above info. What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?
Afghan Massacre: Video From Shooting Scene (ABC Evening News - Mar. 2012)
What would you do to build a better relationship between the U.S. military and the people of Afghanistan?
Also, now go through the method given above (i.e., 1. Define/describe the P.R. problem, etc.). Also don't forget to think about how you'd use your intercultural skills in doing this P.R. work.
Let's pretend that we are doing some public relations/advertising work for the U.S. State Department. They want us to (1) promote a good image of the U.S. abroad and (2) promote tourism to the U.S.
What could we do? How would we do that?
Where would we do that? Let's say we focus on places where people first have contact with the U.S., in airports and in U.S embassies abroad.
As for the what, how about we put together a short video to be shown in the airports and embassies.
Think very carefully about what you would be in that video and why.
No, no. Don't read on. Seriously, think about what you'd put in the video and why.
O.K., now read on.
---
This above scenario actually played out few years back. It actually happened. Let's see how your ideas match up with those actually carried out. Let's look at a series of videos.
A CNN News Report
The Actual Video Shown in Airports and Embassies
(See at least the first minute and the last minute to get a good feel for the video.)
The Making of the Portraits of America Video
Do you think this "Portraits of America" video was effective, based upon what you've see above?
Would you have done anything differently?
A campaign is “an operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose: an advertising campaign for a new product; a candidate's political campaign” (American Heritage Dictionary)
An advertising campaign for a certain new product could contain a "series of operations" like
putting out press releases to the news media,
putting ads in newspapers and
posting a viral video on YouTube about the new product.
The purpose of all these "operations" is to encourage purchase of the product.
Now, what about going global?
According to McPhail,
"There are three strategic models for planning global campaigns: standardized, adaptive, and country-specific. In the standardized model, strategy is formed at the global headquarters and implemented in all operating areas [same or very similar in all countries]. In the adaptive model, a basic strategy [given from head-quarters] is adapted appropriately for each country where it will be implemented. In a country-specific model, the strategic planning is shaped to fit one country [,more grass-roots]" (Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends)
Let's say we are doing advertising for the multinational corporation, McDonald's. As part of the campaign that we are managing, they want 30 second TV ads for their new salads. They want to sell salads (or localized versions of salads) around the world in many different countries. Using each of the above models, how would this be done? See any benefits or drawbacks to each approach? What about in terms of costs and effectiveness?
Advertising and public relations are playing an increasing role in international communication. They've certainly gone global.
Let's start with some basic dictionary definitions.
Advertising: “The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media” (The American Heritage Dictionary).
Public Relations (P.R.): “The methods and activities employed to establish and promote a favorable relationship with the public” (The American Heritage Dictionary).
The basic dictionary definitions need a little modifying.
Add to the advertising definition, the key purpose of advertising: to persuade people to purchase. "Attraction public attention" is a good first step, but not the ultimate goal.
Add to the P.R. definition, the idea of establishing, promoting and maintaining a relationship. Secondly, add an "s" to the end of public. What are the key publics that a company needs to have a good relationship with? Externally: the government/law makers, other companies, customers, the media, etc. Internally: investors, employees, etc.
With some basics out of the way, let's go global with advertising and P.R.
In his book, Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends, Thomas McPhail offers three key reasons why there has been a growth in international advertising and P.R. Why has advertising and public relations gone global?
"1. Corporations themselves are going increasingly global and taking their advertising agencies with them. This includes communication corporations as well as other sectors such as transportation, food, beverages, natural resources, credit cards, etc.
2. As multimedia outlets -- from privatized radio and television networks in Europe to new media and print outlets in Latin America -- expand, they require successful advertising campaigns in order to generate the revenues and attract new customers necessary to succeed as viable commercial enterprises.
3. The growth of satellite-delivered broadcasting channels, along with a rapid expansion of cable systems and networks, have in turn generated demand for increased use of advertising agencies in order to develop a sufficient customer base for either the new services themselves, or the problems they advertise."
Note that the first reason focuses on general companies, the second reason focuses on media companies that provide content and the third reason focuses on the media hardware companies.
Somebody who edits photos is a photo doctor. A photo doctor diagnoses a photo and then prescribes a treatment for a photo disease.
For example, diagnose the photo to the right. What's the problem with it? What photo disease does it have?
It is underexposed. Is that your diagnosis? In your favorite photo editing software, how would you treat that disease?
A medical doctor uses a variety of tools to treat medical problems (e.g., a scalpel). As a photo doctor, what tools would you use?
As you begin your internship as a new photo doctor, I'd suggest you start with a small set of "diseases" that you can diagnose (recognize) and treat (fix) and a small set of tools to learn how to use. As you progress as a photo doctor, become an expert in treating more diseases and learn how to use additional tools.
I'd suggest you start with a set of photo diseases like below and learn the 2-5 general steps that are usually needed to treat the disease.
For steps on how to treat the photo disease listed above and many more, see Digital Photo Doctor. The book takes a similar metaphorical approach. Check out the book. You should be able to get it for $5 or less.
Of course, you could also do a YouTube search for helpful photo editing tutorials that deal with the disease you want to treat.
As a beginning photo doctor, you should also start learning how to use a small set of of photo editing tools and techniques. Here are some basic photo doctor tools and techniques that you'd need to treat the previously listed photo diseases.
When learning how to treat the diseases and how to use the tools, I'd recommend that you learn how to use the tools at a general level so that you can move from one photo editing software to another. Don't get to caught up in the key-strokes used in specific software (e.g., press Shft+Ctrl+U to desaturate in Photoshop).
Speaking of photo editing software, I'd recommend GIMP, a free photo editing software package that you download to your computer (see info video). I'd also recommend Pixlr.com, a free, powerful, photo-editing site that allows you to edit photos right within your browser. Go to Pixlr.com right now and try some the things discussed above.
As for free photo editing apps, I'd recommend Pixlr Express (Apple | Android), Photoshop Express (Apple | Android), Aviary (Apple | Android) and Snapseed (Apple | Android). If I had to choose just one app, it would be Pixlr Express. I like the number and type of editing tools. However, I'm starting to warm up to Snapseed. With Snapseed I especially like slide user interface and the "Selective Adjustment" tool which allows for some dodging and burning. What's dodging and burning, again? See above.
Do recognize the limitation of photo editing apps. The apps do not even come close to all that photo editing software can do on a desktop or laptop.
Cosmetic Photo Surgery
The above discussion may leave the impression that the only thing you can do with photo editing tools is fix or treat photo diseases or problems (e.g., underexposure). However, photo editing tools are not just used to treat a disease, but can also be used to “beautify” or modify the photo You could think of this a cosmetic photo surgery. You are not really fixing a problem with the photo, you are adding to it.
You could turn a color photo to black and white and then colorize only one item in the photo.
If you wanted to do an experiment, there are three general ways for doing it.
First, a quick question: Based on name alone, which do you think is the worst form of experimental design? Why?
Now let's look at each.
The diagrams in these slides explain how to do the different types of experimental designs.
Read these slides from left to right, starting with the random assignment of subjects into the treatment and control groups. For each design, what are the steps after the random assignment? That is, how do you do these types of experiments?
So, Post-test ONLY Control is a good design, but there is a problem. Are we sure that the IV caused a change in the DV? How would a pre-test help?
Again, this is a good experimental design. However, there is a potential problem with this too. Before the pre-test helped. Now, the pre-test could be a problem. How's it a problem?
How does the Solomon Four Group design help control for the possible influence of the pre-test?
The above designs are sub-types of full experiments with one independent variable.
However, what if you wanted to have more than on IV in your study? How would you design an experiment for that?
Now, let's wrap up with a look at the "worst" designs.
If these are the "worst" designs why are we talking about them? When would you use them? Better than nothin'?
Which is better a quasi-experimental design or a pre-experimental design? Why? What standard are you using to judge whether one is "better" than another?
Speaking of experiments, catch the film reference in the last slide?
When you think of a person doing science, doing research, doing an experiment, what images pop into your mind?
Have film and television shaped your view of science and of experiments?
Hey, I feel a research question coming on. We could research that.
If it is not the Frankenstein movies that have shaped your image of scientists doing experiments, what movies or television shows have?
An experiment is a research methodology for determining the causal effects of one or more independent variables on a dependent variable, while controlling for all intervening variables.
Experiments are only one of the possible research methodologies you could use to answer your research questions. Surveys and interviews, for example, are other research methodologies. There are benefits and drawbacks when considering which research method to use to answer a research question. What are some benefits that experiments have, but surveys do not? What is it that experiments can do, that surveys cannot?
What is meant by causal relationship or causal effect?
Or put another way, to be able to say one thing caused another, what would need to be true?
Independent variable comes before the dependent variable.
Independent and dependent variables are meaningfully related.
Changes in DV must be the result of changes in IV (and not anything else)
Watch the clip below.
Correlation vs. Causality: Freakonomics Movie
What is experimental control?
The ability to rule out alternative explanations for the results, controlling for all intervening variables.
You want the IV to be the only thing causing a change in the DV.
NOTE: If for some reason your browser does not show the above news stories, then see the stories on Dr. Hart's Storify account at http://storify.com/WilliamHartPhD#stories. You may also want to consider updating your browser (Explorer or Chrome).
So, dehumanization of the enemy was done in the past all over the world. Does it still happen in the 21st century? That's the question that my co-author and I asked in our study of editorial cartoons of bin Laden and the Taliban after the events of 9/11.
(pp. 137-155). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
by Sam Keen
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel
)
How does this connect with our earlier coverage of globalization?
by Ghemawat
Other than helping individuals to communicate, what grander social role does the Internet play?
In their book, Global Journalism: Topical Issues and Media Systems (4th Edition), de Beer and Merrill 
offer their own explanation for the expansion of international advertising and public relations.
For steps on how to treat the photo disease listed above and many more, see Digital Photo Doctor. The book takes a similar metaphorical approach. Check out the book. You should be able to get it for $5 or less.
