The Magic of Human Communication

As I started to zone out in the middle of a lecture on Wednesday, Mr. Miller changed voice tone, keeping me engaged, and proceeded to explain the process of human communication. He discussed how an idea stimulates the brain, and if the idea is verbalized, different vibrations occur, travel across the room, etcetera. I started thinking about something that is rarely thought about or discussed-human communication-and how crazy it really is. The fact that our brains can so quickly turn thoughts into a series of vibrations strung together, that the travel almost instantly to a receiver, who hears and processes those vibrations, and then responds, often without hesitation, repeating the process.

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Challenges of a Good Journalist

One of the very first topics we discussed in class was what makes good journalism. More specifically, we talked about the elements and yardsticks, which are guidelines for journalists to follow in order to produce good journalism. One of these guidelines was outlining that for news to be effectively received and understood by an audience, it must be attention holding. Lets face it, not every newsworthy story is interesting. I'll be the first to admit that I would much rather read about a mysterious disappearance than what tax-bill was denied. Thats just part of human nature. My point here is that journalists have a much bigger job than a lot of people realize. It is very common for the most important news to be somewhat boring, and for the not so newsworthy content to be very engaging. This is where good journalism comes in. I am not saying that every story has to keep the reader on the edge of their seat, however, it is a large responsibility of the writer to hold attention long...

the future of technological innovation

As our class discussed how the immersive experience of going to a movie theatre is not yet a reality that is commonly manipulated, I started to wonder how long it would be before society did reach that point. It's a little crazy to think that only a few decades ago, many people didn't even have television in their homes, much less cell phones. While I recognize that still many, many people still do not have easy access to these commodities, it is also crazy to think about what it will be like just a few decades in the future. Will our grandchildren marvel over the fact that we didn't have home cinemas? Will they not know a world without autonomous cars? Do we need to shift our focus on making basic needs more widespread in less developed countries before moving on to futuristic innovations? Maybe, the fact that movies have prevailed as a popular attraction and communication resource despite the internet, pop music, etc. suggests that they will continue to do so through doze...

Response to Desiree

When I read Desiree's blog entry regarding mass communication, I was thoroughly impressed. There was specifically one part that really stood out to me as not only interesting, but very insightful. The third paragraph clearly details a common misunderstanding pertaining to this concept-that the communication type is classified by how many people access, decode, and internalize the message. The truth is, the number of viewers is completely irrelevant when distinguishing a message as mass or group communication. "... it's not uncommon for an individual to misinterpret the message as mass communication equaling more viewers and group communication being equated to less viewers," she wrote. She is completely correct. Simplifying it, mass communication is partly defined by the amount of people it has to potential to reach; not the amount of people it actually reaches. This then got me thinking about potential, and what a powerful concept it really is. Potential is such a ...

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