With the Function paper you will draw your materials from three sources: your media diary, your function readings and lecture notes; and, answering some of these questions way below on this page. You will not answer all of them, but some of the questions will spark memories of your media routines that you can place in your paper in an inspired and organized fashion of about 10-12 full pages.
My wish is that this course has enriched your knowledge so that at least you can tackle some of today’s media controversies from a more sophisticated framework than you possessed starting last September!
Given that we are working within the context of the (still) pandemic, feel free to call me with any questions you might have. My home telephone number is 973-299-1744. (no messages can be left.) However, contacting me by e-mail is best as I routinely answer quickly
See you soon.
Take care.
Donald Allport Bird
Donald Allport Bird, Ph.D.
Professor of Journalism and Communication Studies
One University Plaza
Long Island University, Brooklyn 11201-5372
donald.bird@liu.edu
https://www.liu.edu/george-polk-school-of-communications
http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/journalism
718-488-1153; 718-488-1415; 718-246-6365 (Fax)
Dr. Donald Allport Bird
Credit to Dr. R. Engelman
Revised
PERSONAL MEDIA PROFILE
INTERNET, CYBERSPACE and SOCIAL MEDIA
1. Do you own a cell phone, an I-Phone or a Smart Phone? Why and When do you use it? How? Have you ever come close to being struck by a vehicle as you are crossing a street?
2. Do you have a favorite website?
3. How much and what percentage of your news do you get from the web or favorite blog sites? Do you regularly read blogs, such as The Drudge Report, The Huntington Post, or Slate?
4. Do you video chat or Skype with your friends?
5. Do you regularly use Facebook or MySpace or some other kind of social networking?
6. Do you use Twitter? When and why?
7. Do you maintain your own websites for personal or business uses?
8. How often do you use the internet for your own purchases, such as Crain’s, Amazon.com or E-Bay? What percentage best describes this usage?
9. Do you prefer to use a PC, Apple or Mac, or, I-pad? When, or why?
10.What is the principal use of your computer – word processing, entertainment, business,
other?
11. Do you subscribe to any data bases?
12. Do you use a computer for home-shopping, home-banking, and other consumer services?
12. Draw a rough map of the rooms in which you live, indicating where various communication technologies cited above – telephones, radios, TVs, VCRs, record players, computers, etc. – are located.
1. Which daily or weekly newspapers do you read? Indicate whether you read them occasionally or regularly. Which is your favorite newspaper? Why?
2. Are newspapers your principal source of news? Second or Third?
3. Do you subscribe to or read regularly Time, Newsweek, U.S News & World Report, or any other general-interest news weekly? Do you look at them online?
4. Have you ever read, or heard of, the following magazines of opinion: The Nation, the New Republic, and National Review?
5. Are there any specialized magazines – dealing with sports, computers, minorities, etc. – that you read regularly, or to which you subscribe?
RADIO AND TELEVISION
1. How many radios do you own? How much time would you estimate you spend in an average day listening to the radio? Is the radio usually on at home, at work, and in the car?
2. Indicate your favorite radio station and radio program. What is the main reason you listen to radio?
3. To which radio news reports do you listen? Is radio your principal source of news? Do you rely on radio for emergency reports and fast-breaking stories?
4. Do you ever listen to noncommercial radio stations like WNYC-AM/FM or WBAI-FM? If so, to which programs?
5. How many television sets are there in your household? How much time do you spend in an average day watching TV?
6. Which television news and public affairs programs do you watch regularly? Do you have a favorite network and local news anchors? Is television your principal source of news?
7. Do you ever watch any shows on public TV stations like Channel 13, WNYC-TV, or WNYE-TV? If so, which ones?
8. List your three favorite entertainment shows on television in order of preference.
9. Do you have a favorite television advertisement? Conversely, which ad do you find most irritating or disagreeable? In general, to what extent do you believe your behavior as a consumer is influences by advertising?
10. Do you listen to the radio or watch television while you eat your meals and when you go to bed? If so, does this enhance or hamper communication in your home? Are there conflicts in your home over radio and TV programs?
11. Do you sometimes attend professional sporting events, or do you almost exclusively watch them on TV?
12. Do you subscribe to cable television? What packages do your purchase and why. Do you believe that the extra expense of HBO is worthwhile?
RECORDING/FILM
1. Do you use a telephone answering machine at home? In general, do you consider such machines a convenience or a nuisance?
2. Do you own a portable music device or a “boom box”? At what times or in what situations do you use one or the other?
3. Do you use records, tapes, or compact discs for listening to music at home? Or, do you exclusively use MP3?
4. Roughly how often do you see a film in a movie theater? What was the last movie you went out to see? How often do you use NetFlix?
