Module Exercise #2: Media Diary
Order Instructions
Module Exercise #2: Media Diary
50 Points
Purpose: Just how mediated are our lives? This assignment is meant to help you take a critical look at your own media habits and try to analyze just how much media you consume in a given day (or two). While it won’t be a perfect sample, the goal with this assignment is to both keep a written diary of your media consumption and analyze what it means.
Task: This assignment consists of two parts:
A written diary of your media use for three days. These days can be consecutive or non-consecutive. You may also do more if you wish, but you must keep track for at least three days (I recommend using a variety of days with different schedules to get a good read of your time spent with media.) You should start as close as you can to when you wake up and end as close as you can when you go to bed. Do not worry if you can’t get everything – just try to get as much as you can. This is primarily for your notes. The diary should include, for each entry:
The date and time you used the media (or as close as you can figure it)
What media you used (Radio? TV? The Internet? Social Media? Streaming? Video Games? Identify the station, website, etc. as well)
What purpose you wanted to use it for (Entertainment? Information? Something else? You might find the Uses and Gratification material in the Introducing Mass Media lecture and your text helpful.)
How long you used it (or as close as you can figure it)
Were you multitasking or doing something else during? (Were you texting your friend while watching TV? Driving while listening to the radio?)
2. A brief analysis and description of your media usage that must be 2-3 double-spaced pages long. This writeup should consist of:
A summary of your use – tell me if this was typical, non-typical, any other relevant context.
Did you learn anything about how you interacted with media? Did anything surprise you? Which platforms did you find most valuable or trustworthy?
From a media literacy perspective, what did you notice? Think about the five main questions we ask – were there viewpoints that were hidden? Attention-grabbing tactics you noticed a lot? (etc.) Basically, from a critical perspective, how did the media try to get your attention and what did it say (or not say)?
Do you feel compelled to change your media habits? Why or why not?
Criteria: This assignment is worth 50 points. You should hand in both your diary (typed or written and scanned) and the writeup (typed). If either half is missing, you will receive an automatic 0 on that half. The project will be graded accordingly:
Media Diary (30 points): The best media diaries will have data for at least three days with an appropriate number of entries. Your usage and lifestyle will differ, but generally speaking at least 5-7 entries for each day will be sufficient. You should also have entries of the five categories above. An example can be found here: SAMPLE MEDIA DIARY.docx Download SAMPLE MEDIA DIARY.docx, though your finished diary should be much longer. So long as you have at least five entries for each day and information for each category, you will get the full points for this half.
Writeup (25 points): Each of the four questions is worth 5 points. The best answers will be in complete sentences with examples and arguments based on the media diary as well as outside experience and what you have learned in the class if appropriate. You must demonstrate clear thought and argumentation. You can write at least a paragraph for each question. A bulleted list of a few words will not suffice. The remaining 5 points are for spelling and grammar. A point will be taken off for every two spelling or grammar errors.
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