Wk 1 – Mass Media: Development and Literacy Assignment Options [due Mon]

Wk 1 – Mass Media: Development and Literacy Assignment Options [due Mon]

Assignment Content

1. 
   Select and
   complete one of the following assignment options to explain the formative influence of mass media on American culture.
   
   Review the Week 1 readings and videos.
   Special notes:
   Media and
   the media are plural and take plural verbs. The use of personal pronouns “we” and “you” are unacceptable in academic writing except when otherwise indicated. The title of the paper is the subject, not the assignment.
   Select and
   complete one of the following assignment options:
   Option A
   Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper in which you answer the following questions:

   • What were the major developments in the evolution of mass media during the last 120 years or so? Discuss at least five forms of major mass media in order of development. Choose from movies, recorded music, radio, television, video games, internet streaming, and social media. Newspapers may be included but only those developments in the last 120 years or so. We are not requesting the history of mass media, mass media developments before 1900, and identification of communications devices that are person to person and not mass media such as the telegraph and telephone.
   • What innovations did each provide to consumers (what was new about them)? How did each medium change the lives and behavior of people after its introduction?
   • What is meant by the term media convergence, and how has it affected everyday life?
   • Conclude with a reflection on why media literacy is important for responsible media consumption today.

   Format your essay according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines. The use of the first person “I” is not called for in this in Option A. Spelling and grammar check your work.
   Note: your first paper will be annotated with regard to formatting, spelling, grammar, and usage, for which you will not be penalized, but you are responsible for applying these notes to subsequent assignments.
   Submit your assignment to the Assignment Files tab.
   Option B
   
   This option may be written in the first person.
   
   Choose three different kinds of cultural products
   you have viewed, read, or used that are examples of distinct forms of mass media. This does not refer to social media platforms, networks, or periodical publications (newspapers, magazines, etc.); it does refer to individual products by name like specific books, TV shows, movies, video games, recordings, etc. you have enjoyed. For example, the biography
   Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow is an example of a cultural product of the mass medium of print publishing. Another example is the cultural product
   The Walking Dead, an AMC TV show.
   Write a 700- to 1,050-word personal essay that describes your three selected cultural products.
   Include a discussion of the following in your essay:

   • In what ways do you think they shape, change, or reinforce the cultural values of our society in general?
   • In what ways did your examples shape, change, or reinforce your own cultural values? You may use the first person to describe.
   • What is media literacy and why is it important?

   Format your essay according to appropriate course-level APA guidelines.
   Note: your first paper will be annotated with regard to formatting, spelling, grammar, and usage, for which you will not be penalized, but you are responsible for applying these notes to subsequent assignments.

   • Submit your assignment to the Assignment Files tab.