Throughout the course of this assignment, we have discovered just how diverse our field is. We have been put in a rather advantageous position where we literally have the pick of the litter in terms of our future job prospects. While some may find this freeing, others may find the variety of choices disconcerting and also difficult to decide his or her path.
Despite this, as a team, we embrace the multifariousness of media and believe this is exactly what attracted us to our majors in the first place. Below are some of what we believe are our key findings throughout this process:
History
Philosopher and poet George Santayana once argued “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. In this statement he captures the idea that if artists don’t know what has been done before, we enter a realm of repetition and not innovating. Furthermore, not knowing the history of your field leaves you incapable of appreciating the strides that your industry has made. Thus, as we set out to explore the various aspects of media we emphasized including the history of media, video games and platforms such as Facebook. With these articles we aimed to clarify what has been done and where we ought to start as we start as future pioneer of the media industry. Knowing some parts of the industry's history also gave us a holistic view of our field and moved us away from the highly glamorized aspects to the more studious components of the field.
 |
| Image Source |
In comparison to taking math and science classes, taking a communication or media based class may seem like a waste of time to some, but in reality those classes are beneficial to any career path. Having successful interpersonal communication or even successful media communication in the workplace will set you apart from the average employee. Many schools offer a variety of communication classes that are beneficial to whatever skill you wish to take away. At Michigan State University, there’s well over 25 different communication class options ranging from Interpersonal Communication to Leadership and Group Communication. Taking one of the many options of communication classes offered will set you up for success in whatever you wish to do because communication is necessary in any setting.
Career
With a vast number of jobs in media and communication, choosing a college degree can be stressful. Which one do I chose? What jobs will it lead to? Allow me to fill you in. With media and especially communications being so incredibly diverse, it’d take pages on pages explaining every single possible job. Sufficiently covering all of the bases and then going into some minor details will be most appropriate and beneficial here.
Career Focus:
|
Media
|
Communications
|
Jobs:
|
telecommunications, television and radio broadcasting, motion picture/video production, publishing, directing, marketing, advertising, graphic design, etcetera.
|
writing and editing, internal communications, public relations, publicity, customer relations, journalism, counseling, etcetera.
|
Degrees:
|
Advertising, Media and Information
|
Communication, Journalism
|
 |
| Image Source |
Communication is a powerful tool, without the ability to communicate, people would not be people but similar to machines. Social media can be very helpful for people and governments but can also be a thorn in the side for governments. Relating to one of the posts that Victoria wrote, social media can allow people who are not on the scene to be able to understand and talk about their views. Social media allows people to have social groups to talk to. The recent presidential election is also a good example. Throughout the use of social media, people talk about the presidential election and sometimes present their political standpoints. People may also be scrutinized because of what they have said on their social media.
The influence of Social Media is another matter that we have tried to explore as it is a medium that is rather close to our hearts as millennials. Social Media has spawned the rise of privacy issues, as well as cyber bullying and short-term memory loss. Nonetheless, we feel that the good outweighs the bad, as social media’s instantaneity has offered us opportunities that was never possible before. For instance, as Victoria has discovered, Social Media has actually played an important role during the 2015 Nepal Earthquake in getting people the urgent assistance that they needed.
 |
| Image Source |
Throughout this entire process, we’ve also discovered various issues that have subsisted the media industry as of late.
The first thing we felt was imperative to note was that advertisements are carefully crafted to impact consumer behavior, through the use of various tactics such as love and sexuality or fear. Also, with the rise of social media came more creative ways of advertising, which allowed brands to customize or personalize their ads. We have explored both of these here and here.)
Another point of contention the controversy over video game violence; whether violent video games causes people to be violent. Curtis has delved into this controversy here and here. While it is still up for the debate, we have offered the point of view that there is little correlation here.
Indeed, we cannot leave this out the impact of media on our 2016 Presidential elections. In the first week, Victoria scrutinized the role of media in democracies, while Emily explored media influence on our political behavior. After the shocking results of the election, there were waves of protests around the country, where social media was used to coordinate the large groups of people. It is also important to note that this doesn’t just happen in America, but around the world as well.
We hope that our blog has helped you attain a better understanding of the world of media while we concurrently seek answers to that for ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment