Sunday, January 31, 2016
Figurative Language in a Restaurant Review
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| English: This is a tongue (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
L'esprit de l'escalier
 |
| English: View of the staircase Français : Vue de l'escalier (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Where's my Decoder Ring?
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| A four rotor Enigma machine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In this review, I
shall attempt to explore the broad discursive formations of hegemonic masculinity,
and its relation to race, ethnicity and crime. For this, I will situate R.W. Connell’s
concept of hegemonic masculinity in the critically acclaimed HBO TV show, The
Wire (2002-2008), which primarily explores the drug culture and the political
decadence and corruption of the city of Baltimore in early 21st century
America.
My focus shall
be on the reading Connell’s, as well as other theorists’ discussions on hegemonic
masculinities, and focus specifically on locating multiple masculinities in
geography of The Wire. For this, I shall specifically explore the relations
within genders (masculinities) as relations between them, and proffer an
understanding of what I call the patriarchal political-moral economy.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
"Encouraging" Thoughts about Writing Reviews in Hopes of Compensation
New York Times
Any paid news site would be competing with alternative versions of the same articles, delivered by multiple free news sources. "One of the problems is newspapers fired so many journalists and turned them loose to start so many blogs," says Alan Mutter. "They should have executed them. They wouldn't have had competition. But they foolishly let them out alive."
Any paid news site would be competing with alternative versions of the same articles, delivered by multiple free news sources. "One of the problems is newspapers fired so many journalists and turned them loose to start so many blogs," says Alan Mutter. "They should have executed them. They wouldn't have had competition. But they foolishly let them out alive."
Posted at 8:27 AM Dec. 28, 2009
I Smash Your Face with a Power Tweet
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| English: Tweety Bird in his moment of debut with Catstello. Taken from the Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD set. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Twitter Postings: Iterative Design
Summary:
We made a timeline message more punchy, credible, and viral through 5 rounds of redesign.
A few days ago, I posted the announcement of our next usability conferences
to Nielsen Norman Group's timeline on Twitter (@NNgroup). We made a timeline message more punchy, credible, and viral through 5 rounds of redesign.
I don't have all the guidelines for stream-based postings yet, because we're still conducting usability studies (particularly of B2B users, like my audience). But, based on the user sessions I've observed already, I put this posting through 5 rounds of iterative design.
1st Design
Announcing LAS VEGAS and BERLIN as the venues for our
biggest usability conference of the year http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek
Good: City names are highlighted, drawing the
eye. Bad: Starts with the non-information-carrying word "announcing." Of course it's an announcement — otherwise I wouldn't be posting it...
Remember that users tend to read only the first few characters as they scan down a list. Make them count.
2nd Design
LAS VEGAS and BERLIN are the venues for our biggest
usability conference of the year http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek
Good: Frontloading attractive keywords makes this version
more scannable. Bad: We lost the sense of news that "announcing" implied in the previous version.
Because many companies molest their poor followers with repeat postings about the same event, users have become somewhat hardened against event promotions.
3rd Design
LAS VEGAS (October) and BERLIN (November) are the venues for
our biggest usability conference of the year http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek
Good: Adding the months highlights that the conferences are
coming up soon, regaining us some of that sense of news. Also, specificity
is always a plus: it makes users feel like they're getting concrete and useful
info, instead of the blather that characterizes so many B2B websites. Bad: This draft Tweet is 133 characters, leaving only 7 characters for users who want to retweet. This isn't enough to add the customary 11-character attribution (RT@NNgroup), which is a must if we're going to benefit from the viral effect of our followers' followers being made aware of our feed.
(Keeping tweets below 130 characters won't be a long-term guideline because Twitter is redesigning to remove the source attributions from the main message content for repostings. Until this redesign goes live, however, it's best to leave slack in your original postings if you expect followers to share them.)
4th Design
LAS VEGAS (October) and BERLIN (November): venues for our
biggest usability conference of the year http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek
Good: Saved 6 characters by replacing "are the"
with a colon. Full sentences aren't necessary for such short content, which
users are scanning anyway. We're not trying to be the next Hemingway in a
tweet. Also: Fragments fine here. MS Word's squiggles frowning at you? Ignore them.
(Alternatively, I could have used a shorter URL shortcut, but there are benefits to giving people an idea of where the link will lead.)
5th Design
LAS VEGAS (October) and BERLIN (November): venues for our
biggest usability conference ever http://bit.ly/UsabilityWeek
Good: Changed the awkward "biggest of the year"
to the punchier "biggest ever." In addition to being shorter,
"biggest ever" provides two additional benefits: - It's a more compelling
argument for why readers should care and click through to see the
full program
- Growing during a bad
recession is evidence of our strength and promises a positive experience,
which is appealing to audiences who are tired of doom and gloom
This year, I'm producing 33 full-day seminars in Vegas
compared with 31 in 2008, so I could have tried to squeeze in a reference to
"6.5% growth since last year." But even though exact numbers have
higher credibility
than broader assertions, a tweet should be highly focused and not try
to make multiple points.
Expanding by 6.5% during a recession is what evolutionary scientists call a
"costly signal." That is, it's a way of
communicating both the healthy status of usability in general and the high
interest in our conference, which can't be faked: it costs real money to book
more lecture rooms and fly in more speakers. Only a healthy peacock can grow a
big tail. Costly signals are more credible than unsupported boasts — whether you want to attract peahens or Web users. I was particularly interested in communicating a strong position last week, because we're currently recruiting new usability staff. The best people will consider leaving their current jobs only if they're confident of the new company's prospects.
When to Tweet
My last design decision was when to post the message to the
Twitter timeline. My preferred tweeting time is 9:01 a.m. because it
encompasses working hours from California to the U.K. and thus reaches a
majority of our customers. (It's best to post a minute after the hour so you'll
be listed on top of anybody who naively sets their software to release postings
at exactly 9:00.)
In this case, however, German readers and others in continental Europe were
particularly important, because we're going to Berlin for the first time. Thus,
I pulled the posting time forward to 7:51 a.m. Pacific time, which is 4:51 p.m.
in Germany and will still reach Californians who check Twitter during
breakfast. One of the big downsides of stream-based communication compared to email newsletters is the highly ephemeral nature of the postings: Once they scroll off the first screen, they're essentially 6 feet under.
A look at clickthrough statistics for links posted to Twitter vs. those circulated in email newsletters shows a drastically steeper decay function: lots of clicks the first few minutes, and then almost none. In contrast, email continues to generate clicks for days as people work their way through their inboxes.
- Clickthrough decay: Twitter
time passes 10 times faster than email time.
This makes it hard to reach an international customer base
on Twitter, and makes it important to tweak the posting time relative to each
topic's main target. (It's also one of the many reasons I continue to believe
that email is a more powerful medium.)
Text is a UI
It's a common mistake to think that only full-fledged
graphical user interfaces count as interaction design and deserve usability
attention. As our earlier research has shown, URLs
and email both
contribute strongly to the Internet user experience and thus require close
attention to usability to enhance the profitability of a company's Internet
efforts.
In fact, the shorter it is, the more important it is to design text for usability.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Gorgeous Gorgeous Garbage Fire
an aside in an essay in Vox about the 'whiteness' of the Oscars
I would beg to differ on the film's quality, but it's a reasonable hypothesis. After all, every person on Earth will have a different takeaway from watching the exact same film or performance. My masterpiece might be your garbage fire, and that's always fun to argue about.
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| Garbage (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
I would beg to differ on the film's quality, but it's a reasonable hypothesis. After all, every person on Earth will have a different takeaway from watching the exact same film or performance. My masterpiece might be your garbage fire, and that's always fun to argue about.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Rating Movies
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| Guardians of the Galaxy (2008 team) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A cinematic narcoleptic, I routinely fall asleep at the movies. My personal rating system is based on how far I’m into the story before I start to doze off. I fell asleep during every installment of the “Iron Man,” “Hunger Games,” and the “Avengers” franchises. By contrast, I stayed awake all the way through both “Star Trek” reboots with Chris Pine as Kirk, unexpectedly loved “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and mostly stayed awake for the James Bond films with Daniel Craig in the lead. (The exception was “Quantum of Solace,” which put me soundly to sleep by the Opera scene.)
Our Syllabus 2016
O166329F2016
Arts
Reporting and Reviewing
0166-329
TR Spring 2016
Cowell 317 2:40-4:25 p.m.
Dr. Michael Robertson
Office:
Kalmanovitz Hall 119
Phone:
422-6250 (office); 510-836-4870 (home)
Email:
robertson@usfca.edu
Office
Hours:
TR
4:30 - 6 p.m. If you need to see me,
don't hesitate to ask for a time convenient for you.
Required
Texts:
None.
Readings will be handed out or posted online.
Required
Reading:
Read
all assignments before the due date. Identify at least one reviewer or critic
(preferably local) whose work appears regularly in print or online. Follow that
reviewer during the semester. At the end of the semester you will be required
to interview a reviewer and write about it. I assume she/he will be the one
whose work you follow. Be alert for
reviews in any of your sources that illustrate excellence – or mediocrity.
Bring examples to class.
Quizzes:
Quizzes
based on the reading assignments or on class lectures may be given without
prior notice.
Your
Personal Blog and Twitter Account:
Each
student is responsible for creating a personal blog on which you will post your
reviews, using Twitter to link to those reviews. Also, I will give you posting
privileges on the class blog. Several times during the semester you will be
required to post or comment. Additional
extra-credit posts or comments might link to a review and critiques some aspect
of that review. Since most
reviewers/critics invite conversation with their readers via email, you might
also engage in an email exchange with your chosen critic and post that. Several
websites provide free space for blogging. Blogger.com is a popular one. You are
also responsible for creating a Twitter account. After you have written a
review or a blog post, the final part of the assignment is boiling it down to a
single Tweet in which you will include the hashtag #usfreview.
Late
Assignments:
You
do not need to ask my permission to turn in an out‑of‑class assignment after
deadline. However, unless you have a medical excuse, you will be penalized for
turning in a late story. Your mark will be lowered 2/3rds of a letter grade for
the first two days of lateness, 1/3rd of a letter grade for each subsequent two
days. For example, a "B" paper turned in two days late would be
reduced to a "C" grade. If you miss an assignment because of illness,
it is your responsibility to present me with an acceptable medical excuse, find
an alternative assignment and clear it with me.
Attendance:
Regular
class attendance is also expected. Two unexcused absences are allowed, but in‑class
work missed through absence may not be made up although it may be excused. If
you miss class for any reason, it is YOUR responsibility to find out what future
class assignments are. Excused assignments will not be averaged into your
grade; unexcused assignments will be -- as a zero. Excessive absences will
factor into the class participation portion of your grade.
Reminder:
Under
the current policies of the Media Studies Department, a student will not get
credit in the major for any course in which he or she receives a grade of less
than C; that is, a grade of C-minus or lower means you must retake the course.
Academic
misconduct:
Instances
of source fabrication or plagiarism will result in severe sanctions.
Deadlines:
If
you have any handicap or any other physical, emotional or personal problem that
will interfere with your performance, you should discuss it with me by the end
of the first week of the course or as soon as the problem arises. Every effort will be made to accommodate
legitimate problems if they are discussed in a timely fashion. Some chronic problems may receive a
sympathetic hearing but result in no adjustment to expectations for
performance. A semester's-end revelation
of personal problems will not improve your grade.
What
is This Class Really About?
· It
could be a first step in your preparation for a job as editor of an
entertainment section, someone who knows enough about writing reviews and
understands enough about the various art forms so that you can serve as
gatekeeper for your publication’s reviewers. Realistically, such jobs are
increasingly rare.
· It
could be your first step toward a career as an entertainment writer, able to
review performances in your art of choice; to interview artists, experts and
entrepreneurs in that area; to write traditional news stories dealing with that
which happens on your particular beat. Realistically, such jobs are
increasingly rare, at least ones that pay a living wage.
· It
could be your first step toward a career as a genre reviewer, whose only
expertise is reviewing performances, live or recorded. Realistically, such jobs
are increasingly rare.
· Aspiring
to one of the aforementioned careers, in this class you might take your first
step toward making it so, in that I will encourage you to reach out to
publications and websites, offering to write for them for free, thus gaining
credibility and building a professional portfolio. As part of this game plan,
you will create a blog on which you regularly post your reviews, honing your
craft and creating a personal portfolio to which you will point when offering
to write for free. In other words, you will do the work on a regular basis even
though at first no one is willing to publish you, much less pay you.
· Of
course, you may not care about making a career as a reviewer or entertainment
journalist. Your interest may be avocational, not vocational. That is, reviewing
is something you like to do in your free time for your own blog or for some other
platform where fans and enthusiasts gather, thus participating in the public
conversation around a particular art form. You know you’ll never make money at
it, but you enjoy challenging yourself intellectually – disciplining yourself
through thinking and writing – and are content with a reward consisting of
having a few readers who respond to your ideas. This class is also for you. (There
is a weird middle ground in this kind of reviewing. Look at this recent story
in the San Francisco Chronicle about
local amateur restaurant reviewers who are part of Yelp’s Elite Squad.)
· Yet
another benefit of this class – a fine reason for taking it - has nothing to do
with writing. It is that inside this classroom we will have conversations –
cultural conversations - about specific bits of art and the arts in general in
great and personal specificity. That’s right. We will share. When I was
young we made reference to water cooler chatter and cocktail party
conversation, both of which are metaphors acknowledging the fact that the arts
– like sports and like politics – are the stuff of cultural connection and also
of division, and of a way of bridging division. Thus, talking about the arts we
learn about others, about our commonalities and about our points of difference,
about different ways of thinking and feeling, about how there is no one
“correct” way to look at a work of art.
· My
last point is not the least important. You are students in a great Liberal Arts
institution. (Reasonably great. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the
good.) We seek to know widely. We celebrate diversity. What is more diverse
than this great universe of what we call art? We are taught to look outside
ourselves to learn about ourselves. I would like this course to be for you what
I hope it is for me, as a way to interrogate myself, to look in by looking out,
to ask why I feel and think the way I do when exposed to a piece of “art.” Art is a mirror, and that’s thrilling and
sometimes a little frightening. Sometimes
we all see dead people.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completing this course, a
student should be able:
1. To complete all
writing assignments employing correct grammar, spelling, punctuation and
syntax.
2. To understand
enough of the history, the conventions and the contemporary context of the art
forms you are assigned to review so that a well-informed reader would conclude
that you are also well informed. Let me put this another way: I expect you to
know what you don’t know. (In other words, I expect you to “write smart.”)
3. To explain the
decisions you made concerning the structure, the emphasis and the tone of your
reviews on request. In some instances you may spontaneously produce a
provocative and entertaining review without (it may seem to you) stopping to
think, but even in those happy cases I expect you to spend time contemplating
what you have written so that you advance your understanding of those two
elusive categories, what “works” and what doesn’t. Most of us improve our
writing by producing a draft and then rewriting.
4.
To write a news feature on an “arts” topic.
5.
To do an in-person interview with an arts reviewer.
6.
To know when information must be attributed to a source and
how to handle attribution smoothly in a story of any kind, including a review.
7. To understand
the general sources for news (observation, interview, written reports), the necessity of skepticism in processing these
sources; to master the process of verifying information; to exhibit that
understanding in your interview stories.
8.
To use basic AP style rules in the reviews and stories written.
9.
To prepare copy so that it is clean and conforms to
standard copy preparation rules.
10. To
create and maintain a personal blog and Twitter account.
11. To
do one video review – that is, a version of one of your reviews reduced to a
script and spoken in front of a camera. To produce an audio slideshow using
Videolicious. Both will be posted on your blog.
Grades:
Your final grade
will be determined by the average of in‑class writing, out‑of‑class writing,
and final project (70 percent); class participation (10 percent); quizzes (10
percent); blog/Twitter/multimedia (10 percent). Additional credit MAY be given
for work published in the Foghorn or in any other credible publication, either
print or online. In addition to having done adequate research before each
review, observed the art object closely during the performance and in general
“written smart,” the:
A
Student: Has either a gift for writing or works very hard at
clean, clear and concise prose. Has grammar and stylistic skills resulting in
copy that requires little editing. Misses no deadlines and completes all assignments. Participates in class discussions but does
not dominate those discussions or divert them from the subject at hand. By the course's end, this student could function
as an entertainment generalist without supervision. To these criteria, I add: An A story is a story that makes me wish I were still an editor so I
could publish it. A=100-95.
B
Student: Writes basically correct English with flashes of style.
May have some grammar and syntax problems, but problems can be corrected
without major editing. May blow an assignment but is basically a contributing
member of the class. By the course's end, this student could perform basic
functions of an entertainment writer without close supervision. Your basic
bright journalism student who is still learning. B= 94-85.
C
Student: Has problems with the English language that appear to
be correctable with effort by both student and teacher. May have problems with accuracy and attention
to detail. May have problems under deadline pressure. Misses deadlines. Able to
perform basic entertainment newsroom functions if closely supervised. May think
he or she deserves a B because he or she "tried." C=84-75.
D
Student: Has problems with the language that may not be
correctable in this course but can be corrected in future courses. Has basic grammar and syntax errors still
appearing in Assignments at course's end. Could not perform basic entertainment
newsroom functions. Does severe damage to the English language. I will give
people who "try" a D. D=74-65.
Work will be
turned in online. However you submit, it is your responsibility to have a
second copy of the story in your possession until I return the graded original.
Semester Schedule
Week One: January 25
Objective:
An introduction to reviewing. Preparing for restaurant review.
Out of
Class: Read handouts and online essays. Our syllabus will be
posted at the class website and on Canvas, where this weeks readings are
posted.
Assignment: For Thursday, bring to class two restaurant
reviews, one that is an example of good work and one you think is an example of
bad work. Be ready to discuss. A restaurant review of at least 600 words
is due Friday, February 5 (1).
Week Two: February 1
Objective:
Restaurant Review.
Out
of Class:
Week Three: February 8
Objective:
Your Assignment will be reviewing one or more episodes of a television show
chosen by the class. We will explore how an appreciation of a TV genre affects
your appreciation of an example of that genre.
Out of Class: Read assigned handouts
and online material.
Assignment: Look
on Youtube for an excerpt of a TV show you admire. Be ready to share with the
class why you admire it. The TV review
of at least 600 words is due Wednesday, February 17 (2).
Week Four: February 15
Objective:
Preparing for a movie review.
Out of Class: Read what I assign.
* Let's Rate the Ranking Systems of Film
Reviews
Assignment: A movie review of at least 600 words is due
Friday, February 25 (3). It will be accompanied by a video “tweet” – that
is, a very short summary -- of your review. (See the 2009 class video for
inspiration.)
Week Five: February 22
Objectives: Reviewing
a musical performance. Music journalist Gary Moskowitz will visit class.
Out
of Class: Read what I assign.
Assignment: A review of at least 600 words of a musical
performance is due Monday, March 7 (4).
Week Six: February 29
Objectives: Reviewing
a Poetry Slam
Out
of Class: Read what I assign. Free
up the evening of Wednesday, March 9, so that we can go to the Starry Plough
pub in Berkeley.
Assignment:
A review of at least 600 words of the poetry slam is due Wednesday, March 23
(5).
Week
Seven: March 7: Catching up and winding down
Week Eight: March 14: Spring Break
Week
Nine: March 21
Objective:
Fashion as Art. We’ll visit the Oscar de la Renta exhibit
at the DeYoung.
Out
of Class: Read what I assign.
Assignment: A review of at least 600 words of the de la Renta exhibition is due
Tuesday, April 5 (6) plus an audio slideshow using Videolicious.
Week
Ten: March 28
Objective: Reviewing
an on-campus play that will be presented April 7-9. Exploring the extent to
which intensive preparation for a reviewing experience enriches the review. We
will attend an on-campus production. We will visit with the play’s director. If
all goes well, we will talk with cast members and attend a dress rehearsal. We
may even have an in-class acting lesson.
Assignment:
Preparing for the review. A review of at least 600 words is due
Tuesday, April 12, (7).
Out
of Class: Read play script and other assigned material.
Week
Eleven: April 4
Objectives: Play project continues.
Week Twelve: April 11
Objectives: The
Fine Arts. Elitism, classism and the end of beauty. Touring a local art
gallery.
Out
of Class: Read what I assign.
Assignment:
You have 3,000 imaginary dollars to buy art from a local gallery. Your story of
at least 600 words describing your quest. Your
story, including photographs of your purchase(s), is due Monday, April 25 (8).
Week Thirteen: April 18
Objective: An
entertainment “personality” will visit class. An interview will be written on
deadline.
Out
of Class: Read handouts and online material.
Assignment: We
will have a Q&A in class with a guest. Your
story of at least 600 words based on that interview is due 48 hours later (9).
Week Fourteen: April 25
Objectives:
A review video to be posted on your blog. You will reduce one of your reviews
to a one-to-two minute script and do that script on camera. Another opportunity
to play catchup, as needed.
Out
of Class: Read what I assign.
Assignment: Your
video should be posted no later than Monday, May 2 (10).
Week
Fifteen: May 2
Objectives: Interviewing
(I assume) the reviewer or critic whose work you have been following during the
semester.
Out
of Class: Read handouts and online essays.
Assignment: An interview of at least 750 words with
your reviewer of choice is due Wednesday, December 3 (11).
Week
Sixteen: May 9
Objectives:
Final evaluation
There will be a
final exam Tuesday, May 17, 3-5 p.m. It will consist of an in-class essay based
on an in-class performance.
Other possible readings:
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