What is a “Public?”

Topic of the Week (2) COMM 2322                     

What is a “Public”?  

 According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the term public is “a group of people having common interests or characteristics; specifically: the group at which a particular activity or enterprise aims.”

                Any social person is involved in publics. Publics can be friends, co-workers, club members, political groups, groups on a University Campus, and much more. Some of the publics I am involved in are church, clubs on campus, organizations, even friendships. My friends and I have the same interests and we are often involved in the same kinds of things. Does that constitute us as a public? I think it does.

                WSEU- WSEU is Southeastern University’s radio station. I am the event coordinator this semester and I work with staff and other leaders to promote the station on campus. We have the same goal, vision, and are working together on a daily basis to reach that goal. We are all informed about the same kind of things on campus and work to inform one another.

                Church- I have attended Church my whole life. It is definitely a public in my life and probably one of the most influential and important ones. The group of people in church have similar interest and characteristics. We believe in the same things and we all care about helping the community and sharing our faith with others.

                I wonder if I could even argue that being an American makes me part of a public. I think most Americans are interested in what is going on in America and most certainly affected by it. Though some of our political views may vary we still share a common bond that we live out daily, if we are aware of the connection or not.  For Example, the tragic day of September 11^th, 2001 not only affected the families and people directly involved. No, it affected every American; we all stopped, froze, and stood in terror and disbelief.

 

Reaction to NewsU Course

Topic of the Week (1) COMM 2322

NewsU: Understanding Media: Processes and Principles

                        Poynter News University but together a course on understanding the uses and effects of the media that was not only informant, but quite enjoyable as well. I really liked watching the different commercials and trying to figure out which advertisement technique it was. The lesson took me over an hour but I really enjoyed it.

            I was honestly quite surprised by all the different media techniques that the course covered. I have done some research on advertisement and understanding the media before but I still had a hard time guessing the right technique with some of the examples. Towards the end of the course you watch a commercial and try to figure out the technique. It took me more tries then it should have to guess the right one.

            Understanding the media is a complicated process in the fact that the media is so complicated itself. I really liked how this course was simple. I liked the way we didn’t have to read paragraph after paragraph but rather got to see examples.

            I will probably go into the media work field someday so all this information was useful for me. The one thing that I didn’t like is that I wish the information was more accessible after the course. For example if I could print out a summary sheet of the information after it was complete because it sometimes takes me more than once to retain the information. I really liked the information on “hidden messages”. I would like to know more about that and be able to identify it with all commercials I see.

Effective Blog Comments

Topic of the Week (3) COMM 4333 & COMM 2322

Blogging Comments are Essential

            I think blog comments are an essential part of blogs. Blog comments offer interaction and feedback. Leaving comments on other blogs help bloggers learn from one another and show appreciation for what blogs have to say. Comments are a big part of what makes blogging interactive and social. Comments also help the blogger to know how their message is being received. Is it portrayed clearly, do people agree or disagree, and does another blogger have more insight to offer on the certain subject.

Effective Blog Comments

            In my opinion I think blog comments should be polite. Criticism and disagreeing are okay but present your comment in a kind and respectful way. Make sure your criticism is constructive. When comments are harsh and rude users are just abusing the right to comment on people’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Another thing is to just be genuine when leaving comments. If you like a blog be specific about what you liked, encourage the blogger with your comment, and express how the information benefited you. I know as a blogger myself posts can really take a lot of research and time, so a little appreciation is always welcome. Effective blog comments give FEEDBACK to the blogger and that is really important for such a social network.

So in my opinion just to some up my main thoughts:

Be polite

Be constructive

Be specific

Give Feedback

Show appreciation