A Media Scholars Portfolio
Media, Self, and Society (MSS) is one of eleven College Park Scholars Programs at the University of Maryland. MSS has the ultimate goal of “analyzing the role that various forms of media play in family life, politics, the economy and other elements of society, examining the effects of advancements in the industry.” After three semesters in MSS, I have learned so much on media’s role in my life as well as society’s. At the beginning of my experience in this program there were so many aspects of media that I had little knowledge on how much they affected my life. Over three semesters, my understanding of media’s role changed dramatically as I learned more about relationships with media, media technology, the media industry, media content, all media users, the construction of media, and the influence of media on populations. Inside each of these main aspects of media, we dove much deeper into topics such as mass stigmatization, the emergence of advertising, media as manipulation, fake news, careers in media, media in a crisis, the privacy of information, and much more. After many assignments dealing with the critical analysis of media I am finally able to understand that media affects almost every aspect of our lives whether we know it or not. As the industry advances more and more every day, media and technology’s influence become more apparent and important to daily lives of individuals and society as a whole.
Critical analysis played such a large role in the development of our course over three semesters. As our skills advanced in viewing media through different lenses, our knowledge on the aspects of media grew. One example of a time I employed critical analysis in this program was on media production and content, dealing with entertainment in television. In CPMS101, the spring of my freshman year, we had an assignment called “Super Bowl Ad Analysis.” This assignment revolved around choosing one of the ads that aired during the 2020 Super Bowl and write a critical analysis of the ad. I chose the Google “Loretta” advertisement because it really caught my eye while watching the Super Bowl. By using The ADPLAN analysis framework, I was able to determine the effectiveness of the ad through seeing if engaged the audience, how unique the execution was, if the brand would be remembered, if the viewers thoughts were favorable, and if the ad was consistent with the brand’s history and reputation. The skills that I learned in my experience in MSS, along with this framework allowed me to develop a strong analysis that the “Loretta” ad by Google was very effective and proved to be very favorable in the eyes of the consumer. This assignment and practice in analysis allowed me to see how important the impact of media production and content is on our lives and how it can sometimes be harmful to individuals or society.
Semester One: The Normal College Experience
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Over the past three semesters, I began to be much more perceptive of media, especially in a year full of controversial stories. With COVID-19, protests of the killing of George Floyd, and the presidential election, the news has been packed full of information that is understood differently by everyone. Through different viewpoints comes misunderstanding on particular topics and the creation of media stigmatization or stereotyping of particular social groups in the news. A large example of this that I encountered this year was watching the backlash unfold from the news coverage of the protests following the death of George Floyd. When we were assigned the essay question of describing an example of media stereotyping and stigmatization this topic came immediately to mind. I was able to reflect on how the media coverage of the protests served to amplify difference and divisions through the creation of stereotypes about the African American community. Many people across the nations believed that they were the cause of all the violence sprouting up all over the country because of the portrayal of the media. In this case the media did more harm than help because by presenting only stories of violence surrounding African Americans, and not all of the peaceful protests that were occurring across the nation, new stations were creating stereotypes about this community of people that were completely false.
Semester Two: The Transition
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After gaining the ability to make a critical analysis of media content I was able to see my own role in media. I would call myself a passive consumer of media as well as a producer of media. I am a passive consumer of media because besides liking people’s photos and occasional comments, I am an absorber of media. I scroll past photos on Instagram, posts on Facebook, tweets on Twitter, and stories on Snapchat without must reflection or discussion, I simply like or comment and move on. The opposition to this consumer role is being a critical consumer. In this role consumers take the time to recognize many characteristics and the importance of posts while offering further discussion or information on the topic. This normally occurs when people are very passionate on subjects and want to provide their input online. Not only critical consumers are producers of media, however. As a passive consumer I am also an active producer of media. I post pictures on Instagram and Facebook, I edit videos for YouTube, and even make TikToks with my friends. Many people are producers of media and most of the time do not even realize it because they classify themselves as passive consumers but provide much more to the media network than they think.
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Media, Self, and Society has brought me this realization along with many others. By being in Scholars, it has brought me into contact with people and concepts that challenged my previous beliefs and opinions. Throughout the three semesters we had countless discussions on topics that caused me to examine and reflect on opinions I already had on subjects. Sometimes my beliefs even changed because I realized that I was not as educated on the topic as I thought I was. It is because of in class discussions with my fellow Media Scholars like these I was able to improve my learning. By hearing the ideas of others, I was able to get new viewpoints on subjects that I was less knowledgeable on. With Scholars being a living-learning program, we are able to grow together in the classroom, while also supporting each other in the dorms. By having more time to connect with each other, it leads to a more natural discussion in class and people feel comfortable to share their opinions.
The Scholars Program encourages active contribution by students in academic settings, as well as being part of the larger Scholars community. After three semesters in this program, I can easily say that I have had many opportunities to contribute to the Media Program. In our very first day on campus, we contributed through Service Day where we went to Food & Friends in Washington D.C. to package and prepare specialized meals for families and individuals with life challenging illnesses. We started our Scholars experience by doing good for the community and helping others. Following this we always had the opportunity to contribute whether it was through colloquium discussions to share ideas, projects to share creativity, or field trips to share knowledge. I really enjoyed the field trip to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The exhibits in this museum were really interesting and allowed us to use our media skills to see aspects of media in ways we hadn’t before. The combination of class discussions assigned projects, neat field trips, fun bonding activities, community service, and much more made Scholars an experience like no other and allowed us to improve our learning tremendously.
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My experience in Media, Self, and Society has make impacts on my future in ways beyond what I could ever imagine. I came into college as a busines undeclared major, however the influence of MSS has helped me find the path that leads me to my passions. It gave me the confidence to declare a marketing major and put my focuses on the area of digital advertising and video production. By teaching me about the careers in the media industry I was able to place my interests in video editing and production into a direction that will lead me to a future in this area. The skills I have learned in content creation, media analysis, and critical thinking are all really important aspects in the media industry and I know I will take them into my two more years of college, as well as my professional career. I know the impact and experiences of Scholars will last for my entire professional life and I am very grateful for all the experiences I have had over the past three semesters!
Semester Three: Zoom University
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