Wikipedia Assignment, Part II

My Wikipedia project on the Mickey’s Mellerdrammer was a very interesting experience. I’ve used wikipedia many times before in the past to look up information, but this was my first time actually creating or editing an article. I choose the stub article Mickey’s Mellerdrammer because I felt the article was controversial enough that the Disney corporation or Disney fans may edit the article to portray Disney in more favorable light.

Going in to this project I had this notion that since anyone could potentially edit a Wikipedia article the data and details were not always accurate. And for the most part this project confirmed that for me. When it comes to absolute verifiable facts like; “Columbus discovered the New World in 1492″ Wikipedia is for the most part very accurate. And the sources that validate those facts provide more reliable details than the actual articles themselves.

I always suspected that any controversial subjects were often changed back and forth with competing views on the subject, as of 5.5.2008 no edits have been made to my article.

One of the parts of the assignment I’m most interested in seeing how it develops over the long term; is the link to Mickey’s Mellerdrammer to the Uncle Tom’s Cabin wikipedia article. The Uncle Tom’s cabin wikipedia article is considered by wikipedia to be one of the best wikipedia articles published by the wiki communiuty; “Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community.” As of 5.5.2008 no one has removed my linkage to Mickey’s Mellerdrammer; which I consider pretty cool since wikipedia considers it such a good article. My little linkage I guess is my little contribution to an important article.

Overall the whole process was a really good experience. The Media Wiki application and other wiki applications are being used more and more in the workplace (Mine included) and knowing the Wiki markup formatting, and process is helpful. Knowing that the not everything you read on Wikipedia is free of bias or is 100% accurate, is a valuable lesson any student researching a project should be aware of, and therefore wikipedia should be used as a general source for basic or common facts. Wikipedia should not be used as the only or primary reference for research projects.

Why didn’t non-violent protesting catch on?

Last class we discussed the civil rights movement and the changes in American society and its global impact. My question is…if MLK was inspired by Ghandi non-violent protest to end British rule in India as a model for change in the United States. Both of which were successful, why hasn’t this approach to change caught on or been more successful. The world is still for the most part changing in places as a result of violence and armed conflict. With the exception of a few places like South Africa, and its push to end appartied we rarely see non-violent protesting as succesful as it was in India and during the civil rights era.

Just something to think about…

Assignment #4: We know What You Want!

Mass medias relationship with advertising is strong linked. There the rise of both Mass media and advertising come along at the same time (late 1800’s to present). Mass Media needs the help of ads to make a profit, and ads need mass media to gets its products noticed.

Long before todays Internet behavioral ad rendering (searching autos.com for a BMW rendders ads for BMW or competitors) Mass media and advirtisers have been specializing in targeting its products to specific consumers groups

The ad below from Collectors Weekly in 1909 targets a specific audience group; the hunter or outdoorsmen. The likely hood that this would appear in a womens magazine or publication is unlikely.

This next ad below from 5.4.2008 on www.outdoor.com illustrates that the approach has little changed today. Advertisers continue to target specific groups based on the audience of the specific mass media audience.

The ad below from Country life in 1911 shows the target marketing approach continues.

Today a Google search for backpacking will bring up “sponsored links” on the left hand side of the Google search page. Notice in the image below on the right how retailers for backpacks show up under “sponsored links”

As you can see from the images above from the early 1900’s to today advertising approaches remain tied to mass media, and remain targeted to the same audiences those forms of mass media attempt to serve.