Imprints 11

Web Links

Media

Choose a cluster:

• Why Investigate Media?
• Radio
• Advertising and Marketing
• Television
• Movies
• News
• Computer-based Media
  

Why Investigate Media?
Looking at the Media (essay by Cam MacPherson)

• Media Awareness Network
  This page from the Media Awareness Network tells four stories of how youth activists have challenged the media. Ask your students to use these stories as models and develop their own campaign to challenge an aspect of the media over an issue that concerns them.
• Center for Media and Public Affairs
  This American Web site offers several studies reflecting representation in the media-of sex, violence, politics, and race. Visual imagery of some pieces on this site can be mature, so you may want to read articles with students. Discuss the parameters and conclusions of one study, and what the study reveals. Encourage students to choose an area of representation that they wish to investigate and complete their own media-monitoring study.
• ABC's of Media Literacy
  As a class, visit this site and discuss some of the terms listed here. Discuss terms that have been included, and any students think should be added.
• Media Literacy Glossary
  Provide students with a print out of this site-a media glossary-and encourage them to add to it as the unit progresses.

• McLuhan Background
  Encourage students to read the information on McLuhan on this Web page to increase their understanding of this media icon. Students can also click on the “aphorisms” link and discuss some of these in small groups.
• McLuhan Speaks
  At this site, choose some of McLuhan's quotes to play for students. Discuss as a class, applying these concepts and ideas to media texts students are familiar with.
• McLuhan's Best-Known Concepts
  This Web site cleverly uses graphics to display some of McLuhan's "best-known concepts and aphorisms." Invite students to choose one saying and report on its meaning to the class. Students could also investigate other McLuhan links on this site.

Radio
The Psychological Power of Radio (essay by Tim Crook)

• Orson Welles on Radio
  This site examines Orson Welles' radio background and mentions the 1938 panic created by The War of the Worlds .
• Dracula on Radio
  This site is a sound extract from the radio production of Bram Stoker's Dracula . Have your students listen to the extract and discuss whether they enjoyed it and what appeal radio has over TV, books, or movies.
• Great Plays
  Use this Web page to check for upcoming radio plays on CBC, or to order the plays on CD. Discuss why radio plays are an enduring media format.

• Selling Air
  This Web page from the Tucson Weekly includes an editorial about selling radio time, and an interview with a talk show host. Encourage students to read one of these and discuss the information in small groups.
• Book Lists
  The original interview parodies the popularity of top ten book lists. Students can visit this Web site and consider the popularity of the book list format. Encourage students to create their own real (or parodied) top ten book list.

• Betty Quan
  This Web page includes brief biographical information about Betty Quan from the Playwrights Union of Canada.

• Jean Kilbourne
  Students can learn more about Jean Kilbourne at her home page. Encourage students to investigate the various parts of this site and develop a profile that reflects Kilbourne's work and interests.
• Get a Life
  On this Web page, by clicking the "next" button, your students can read a comic book (25 frames) that encourages them to be critical of the media. The comic book, designed for teenagers, is about the airing of Channel 1 News in classrooms across the United States. The comic raises several issues, some similar to Kilbourne's, and will provoke good discussion about what students expect from TV, and what advertisers want from consumers. Encourage students to consider how the artists have used text and graphics effectively to deliver a message.
• Adbusters
  Encourage students to visit the Web site for this popular magazine and read several articles. Discuss the magazine's mandate and how students feel about its articles.

• Common Advertising Strategies
  This Web page from the Media Awareness Network lists some common advertising strategies. Discuss these as a class, and encourage students to suggest examples of commercials they have seen that represent each strategy. Would students add any other strategies to this list?
• Food Advertising Strategies
  Similar to the above link, and from the same source, this Web page looks at food ads. Similar activities can be completed.
• Advertising Codes
  This Web site includes information about Canadian advertising codes. Discuss these codes as a class, and how these codes affect advertisers, their clients, and their customers.

• Remembering Al Pittman
  This tribute to Al Pittman, who died in 2001, provides students with some information on this popular writer.
• ComicFan Magazine
  This online magazine offers a wealth of information about comic books; however, it does include advertising and mature visual material, so we recommend that you visit it and select appropriate stories for students. Discuss how far comic books have come since Pittman's youth, and how they remain the same. Encourage students to investigate other comic book Web sites, and choose one of interest to them to share with classmates.
• Classic Comic Book Ads
  This terrific Web site includes classic ads from comic books. As a class read the introductory statement by the creator of this site, then discuss whether students agree with him. View several of the ads, comparing their impact and effectiveness. This link may be revisited as students read the next selection, "The Sea-Monkey Lady."

• The Sea-Monkey Worship Page
  This Web site is Barclay's tribute to everything sea monkeys! Challenge students to analyse one media text on this site or linked to this site, looking at implicit and explicit messages and persuasive techniques.
• Sea Monkey Mania
  Students can visit this Web site and explore its links, considering its purpose and audience, and implicit and explicit messages.
• Basic Black Shows
  Students can visit this archive of Basic Black radio shows, review shows listed on several dates, and choose a show to listen to that interests them. They might compare other Arthur Black interviews to the interview with Barclay.
  • Challenge students to find the Basic Black Radio One Web page and investigate its links. They can use the information they uncover to develop a profile for Black.

• Native American Sports Mascots
  This article has a similar message to Augustine's article. Have the students read this article and discuss how it is similar or different to Augustine's.
  • Encourage students to read other articles by Kenneth Brook, as well as his mission statement on his home page.
  • Discuss how the Internet can be used as a tool to spread one's ideas and beliefs. Do students think there need to be any rules regulating Internet content or use? Discuss.
• Sports Logos
  Students could visit this commercial Web site and search for what they consider the most effective logo. They can share their choice with the class, explaining why they think it is effective. Note that this is a commercial site and students should be aware of its purpose. Discuss the use of logos, and encourage students to develop personal logos to represent themselves.

Television
Television: The Collective Imagination (article by Derrick de Kerckhove)

• Derrick de Kerchhove
  This site provides students with information about de Kerckhove, who is the director of the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto.
• TV Turnoff Network
  This site provides information about an organization that encourages reading over watching TV. Invite students to write an essay in response to the information and ideas on this site. How do they feel about this issue?

• Format Guide for Game Shows
  Discuss the formula or rules for creating game shows included on this Web site. Students can create their own game show by following these guidelines.

Movies
What Would You Change? (article by Claudia Puig)

• Puig's Reviews
  Encourage students to visit this review site and locate other writings by Claudia Puig. They can read several for movies they have enjoyed and discuss how her opinion compares to their own.
  • Challenge students to read several reviews of the same movie by different authors. Students can then compare and contrast viewpoints, and consider how any bias or agenda of the author or magazine might affect the review.
• Test Screenings
  Students can visit this Web site and click on the article "Behind-the-Scenes" to find out about test screenings. Encourage students to also review the information on publicity and advertising that are linked through that article.
  • Ask students to read the historical information about movie posters in the article "Publicity and Advertising" and discuss the differences in modern and classic film posters, examining several samples of each.
  • Ask students: if you had a job in a publicity department for a movie studio, what aspect of publicity do you think you would enjoy most? Least?
• Testing...Testing...
  Students can read this article and create three questions that require more than yes/no answers. Their peers can respond to these questions.

• A Review of The Grapes of Wrath
  Students can visit this Web page to read a contemporary review of The Grapes of Wrath . What clues reveal that it is a contemporary review?
  • They might then search for movie reviews written at the time the movie was first released. Discuss how attitudes to movies can change over time-using examples of popular adult movies from ten years ago as well as contemporary movies.
  • Challenge interested students to complete an Independent Study Unit that examines movies over a set period (one or two generations, twenty or ten years) and how audience's expectations change.
• A Review of It's a Wonderful Life
  This Web page offers a history of the movie, as well as a review. Discuss the information on this page. Ask students: Do you think a favourable movie review is necessary for a movie's success? In judging a movie's worth, is its long-term popularity as important as its lack of short-term success?
  • Encourage students to read other reviews by this author-links are provided on this page-and compare their style.
• A Review of A Raisin in the Sun
  Students can visit this Web page to read a review of the movie. As a class, discuss the format of this and the other reviews they have read. Which style or format of review do they prefer? Why?
  • For all of these movies, ask students if from what they have read they wish to view the movie. Why or why not?
  • Students can choose one style of film review as a model and write a review of a movie they have just seen.
• Leonard Maltin's Movie Picks
  Students can visit this Web site to read more capsule reviews by Maltin (three of his capsule reviews are included in "Screen Scenes"), organized into a list of the 100 "must-see films of the 20th century." Discuss what criteria Maltin may have used to choose these movies, and how "must-see films" may differ from "greatest films."
  • Students can compare these capsule reviews and choose one movie they wish to watch. They can then write their own capsule review of this movie.
  • Challenge students to develop their own list of 20 must-see movies from the past ten years. They should identify their criteria and reasoning as they share their list.

• Nunnally Johnson
  Students can visit this Web page to find out about the career (the filmogrophy) of Nunnally Johnson, the screenwriter for The Grapes of Wrath . Students could use the organizing buttons at the left of the screen to sort Johnson's films by genre, awards, ratings, votes, et cetera. Discuss the purpose, audience, and creators of this Web site.
  • Encourage students to link to Johnson's biography through this page, and then discuss the quotations and what these reveal about Johnson's personality and how he felt about Hollywood.
  • Challenge students to use the alphabet link at the bottom of the biography page to find the biographies and then the filmographies of other people connected with these three screen scenes. For example, by choosing the letter G at the bottom of Johnson's biography, they can call up a long list of names, scroll through it to find Frances Goodrich (one of the screenwriters for It's a Wonderful Life ), and then click on Goodrich's filmography link to find out about her career. Students could also input the name in the search field of this site to find filmographies and biographies.

News
Just the Facts (diary by Sue Kanhai)

• CBC news Students can scroll through the current news stories and determine what a new researcher may have done to help with this newscast.
• NewsWatch Canada
  This Web site reports on NewsWatch Canada's independent research into the "diversity and thoroughness of news coverage in Canada's media." Encourage students to explore the articles and links on this site.
  • Discuss the site's mandate and a few of the articles. Invite students to complete their own media-monitoring study.

• An Obituary of Everett Soop
  Students can read the obituary and use a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between the article by Melting Tallow and the obituary.
• Winds of Change
  Students can read articles from the back issues of Winds of Change magazine. Discuss several articles as a group.
• Sweetgrass News
  Students can search this Web site for articles by Paul Melting Tallow. Encourage students to search for other media texts which give First Nations' People a voice.
  • Discuss how many groups are finding a voice using the Internet and other media texts.

Computer-based Media
"Cyberanchor" Delivers All the E-News That's Fit to Click (newspaper article by Ann Perry)

• Ananova's Site
  Students can visit Ananova's site, scroll through the news stories, and decide whether the stories are relevant. Then they can 'meet' Ananova and discuss whether she is how they pictured her to look and whether or not she deserves all the publicity.

• Raised on the Net
  This Web site provides the survey results of University students who were investigating the validity of Tapscott's conclusions about the Net Generation. Students can read the results of this survey, and then conduct their own research project on the same topic.
• Tapscott's Books
  Students can visit this site to find out about other books Tapscott has written. Discuss Tapscott's areas of interest, and his target market. Encourage students to use the links on this page to find out more about Tapscott.
• Growing Up Digital
  Visit this Tapscott Web site and print out some of the material for students to read, or some letters and notes from the forums. Note, because of the links from this site, it is not suitable for students to use independently.

• Survey
  Students can visit this site to read the results of a 1999 survey, and then conduct their own survey about how often their fellow students play video games. Students can write up their results in a similar manner.
  • Discuss the usefulness of surveys and how surveys can be misused or misrepresented.
• Poll Archive of BioWare
  Canadian company BioWare has some interesting polls about video games that students might enjoy. Note that this is a commercial Web site with a message board and far flung links.

• Gaming Editorial
  Print out the article on this Web page to discuss with students the issues it raises. Students, assuming the roles of Peters and the author of "Women in the Gaming Industry," could create a series of e-mails discussing the issue.
• Cool Jobs 4 Girls
  This site profiles women who are in non-traditional jobs. Students can read a few profiles and then interview a woman who is in a non-traditional job. They can share the results of their interview with the class.
  Note: this link opens to a page that offers many choices of possible careers students can find out more about. However, in linking to these sites, some are no longer active. Encourage students to persevere and check out all the links. They can also check out other parts of the site to read about non-traditional jobs for females, the issues that surround these jobs, and so on.