Sunday, May 30, 2004
Sunday, May 23, 2004
writing task 5 - corporate and political subversion
OK, it's time to get on your soapbox ... time to get political and angry about all those mean, greedy and cold hearted people in the world who tread upon us 'bleeding hearts'.
There have been a couple of interesting issues in the media lately that you will research and form your own views about. These issues relate to politics, media manipulation, and the ideal of free speech. Make sure you take the time to read critically and try to understand how the presentation of the issue might be biased.
1. Michael Moore and his latest film Fahernheit 9/11
Research the controversy over Moore's new film. What groups are involved? What are people saying about it? Why has there been this reaction to the film? What were Moore's reasons for making the film? What are his critics saying? What award did the film recently win?(approx. 150 words)
Michael Moore's website
Moore's mission: get Bush (the age)
2. Super Size Me! - overweight culture and the fast-food lifestyle.
Morgan Spurlock ate McDonalds every meal for a month. WHY? Find out what the deal is and why he did it. What point is he trying to make? What happended to Spurlock during the filming? What is being said about the film by critics? How has McDonalds responded? What other problems/controversey has McDonalds been involved in the past? (approx 150 words)
Check out these links to get you started on this one:
Mac attack (the age)
Eyes on the fries (the age)
The good burghers of Macca's (the age)
Super Size Me website
3. Culturejamming and the art of the sniggle
What other kinds of subversive political or anit-commercial activity can you find online? There are thousands of websites, blogs, ezines, games, etc. that satirise (poke fun at) politicans and corporations. This kind of social comment is often called sniggling or culture jamming, and has become a popular way of getting an 'alternative' message across in the media. See what you can find.
What kinds of subversive activities could you become involved in? What needs changing in your local area? At school? How would you go about conducting a campaign to comment on and change whatever the problem might be? How successful do you think you would likey be? (150 words)
Begin with the following links, but you may also want to try searching for relevant terms:
Adbusters Culturejammers
Subvertise.org
Sniggle.net - the culture jammer's encyclopedia
Corporate Watch
CORPwatch
When you have finished the above tasks, have a look at this example of satire
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There have been a couple of interesting issues in the media lately that you will research and form your own views about. These issues relate to politics, media manipulation, and the ideal of free speech. Make sure you take the time to read critically and try to understand how the presentation of the issue might be biased.
1. Michael Moore and his latest film Fahernheit 9/11
Research the controversy over Moore's new film. What groups are involved? What are people saying about it? Why has there been this reaction to the film? What were Moore's reasons for making the film? What are his critics saying? What award did the film recently win?(approx. 150 words)
Michael Moore's website
Moore's mission: get Bush (the age)
2. Super Size Me! - overweight culture and the fast-food lifestyle.
Morgan Spurlock ate McDonalds every meal for a month. WHY? Find out what the deal is and why he did it. What point is he trying to make? What happended to Spurlock during the filming? What is being said about the film by critics? How has McDonalds responded? What other problems/controversey has McDonalds been involved in the past? (approx 150 words)
Check out these links to get you started on this one:
Mac attack (the age)
Eyes on the fries (the age)
The good burghers of Macca's (the age)
Super Size Me website
3. Culturejamming and the art of the sniggle
What other kinds of subversive political or anit-commercial activity can you find online? There are thousands of websites, blogs, ezines, games, etc. that satirise (poke fun at) politicans and corporations. This kind of social comment is often called sniggling or culture jamming, and has become a popular way of getting an 'alternative' message across in the media. See what you can find.
What kinds of subversive activities could you become involved in? What needs changing in your local area? At school? How would you go about conducting a campaign to comment on and change whatever the problem might be? How successful do you think you would likey be? (150 words)
Begin with the following links, but you may also want to try searching for relevant terms:
Adbusters Culturejammers
Subvertise.org
Sniggle.net - the culture jammer's encyclopedia
Corporate Watch
CORPwatch
When you have finished the above tasks, have a look at this example of satire
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Sunday, May 16, 2004
Writing Task 4 - Micronations
OK, this week we are looking at 'mirconations'.
Rather than me going on about it - you will first conduct an investigation and then perhaps some other things ...
1. Browse the links below and answer the following questions,
a. What is a micronation?
b. Why do people create them? What are some different reasons?
c. What are the common characteristics of micronations?
2. Find a couple of 'good' micronation examples and 'review' them. Write a report on what you find.
3. Can you find any micronations existing within 'Australia'?
4. What issues exist for 'nations' (online or otherwise) that exist within other 'nations' (land based or geographic) - for a hint look here?
You have a week to finish this writing task
The micronations page
The League of Micronations
Micronations on the web
Yahoo Listing of Micronations
United Micronations
The Commonwealth of Micronations
Micro-nations.org
Nova Roma
The Kingdom of Talossa
The Holy Empire of Reunion
Diplomatically-Challenged Coins
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Rather than me going on about it - you will first conduct an investigation and then perhaps some other things ...
1. Browse the links below and answer the following questions,
a. What is a micronation?
b. Why do people create them? What are some different reasons?
c. What are the common characteristics of micronations?
2. Find a couple of 'good' micronation examples and 'review' them. Write a report on what you find.
3. Can you find any micronations existing within 'Australia'?
4. What issues exist for 'nations' (online or otherwise) that exist within other 'nations' (land based or geographic) - for a hint look here?
You have a week to finish this writing task
The micronations page
The League of Micronations
Micronations on the web
Yahoo Listing of Micronations
United Micronations
The Commonwealth of Micronations
Micro-nations.org
Nova Roma
The Kingdom of Talossa
The Holy Empire of Reunion
Diplomatically-Challenged Coins
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Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Open night stuff
First of all, thanks to those who have given up their time and come to Open night (I hope you enjoy the pizza!)
You have a couple of options tonight.
1. You should be doing a little (or a lot, depending on where you are up to)of your class work, i.e. your writing tasks 1, 2 and 3. Remember that you have a week to complete each one.
2. When you have finished (or when you get tired of the above) you can have a go at altering your blog template. Now you need to be CAREFUL what you change as you can muck up your blog if you are not careful.
OK, then that should keep you going for hours.
Where's the pizza?
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You have a couple of options tonight.
1. You should be doing a little (or a lot, depending on where you are up to)of your class work, i.e. your writing tasks 1, 2 and 3. Remember that you have a week to complete each one.
2. When you have finished (or when you get tired of the above) you can have a go at altering your blog template. Now you need to be CAREFUL what you change as you can muck up your blog if you are not careful.
a. Colours are the easiest thing to change. I suggest you have a look at the blogger help stuff first and read up on how to change colours in fonts and in backgrounds.
This is not difficult, but you need to be careful. Don't change anything you are not sure about - and make sure you use the PREVIEW button to check what things will look like.
Check out the two 'html colour code websites' (below). These will give you the html colour codes you will need if you are going to change your blog colours.
Colormatch 5K is an excellent way to get the exact colour you want - and the colours that match or look the best with other colours. Just drag the sliding bars to mix the colour you want!
Web Color Reference is another option - html colours are displayed and you can just pick the one you want, making note of the code.
OK, then that should keep you going for hours.
Where's the pizza?
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Thursday, May 06, 2004
Writing Task 3 - free write your RRRs off
OK, folks this week I am not going to give you a set topic so you will be able to choose your own.
1. Choose FOUR TOPICS and write about 150 words on each. Post each on your blog and remember to include links to SOMETHING related to what you are writing about.
2. To get some writing ideas, have a look at the websites below. Remember that you need four topics to write on.
3. As part of this exercise, visit another blog from this class and comment on what has been written - CONSTRUCTIVELY - you might offer some feedback or share something that relates to what someone else has written. REMEMBER THAT WE ARE ALL LEARNING TO WRITE BETTER. BE KIND.
Total word count: 500-700 words
Time limit: one week - due end of week 4
Journal Topics
http://www.berkeleyprep.org/lower/fourth/writing/journal_writing.htm
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1860.html
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html
http://www.mrbuck.crosswinds.net/JournalWritingTopics.html
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/jourtops.txt
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1. Choose FOUR TOPICS and write about 150 words on each. Post each on your blog and remember to include links to SOMETHING related to what you are writing about.
2. To get some writing ideas, have a look at the websites below. Remember that you need four topics to write on.
3. As part of this exercise, visit another blog from this class and comment on what has been written - CONSTRUCTIVELY - you might offer some feedback or share something that relates to what someone else has written. REMEMBER THAT WE ARE ALL LEARNING TO WRITE BETTER. BE KIND.
Total word count: 500-700 words
Time limit: one week - due end of week 4
Journal Topics
http://www.berkeleyprep.org/lower/fourth/writing/journal_writing.htm
http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/1860.html
http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html
http://www.mrbuck.crosswinds.net/JournalWritingTopics.html
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rayser3/jourtops.txt
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