Visual Sociology at QC

… or: welcome to Soc 240: Visual Sociology! I am very excited about teaching this class once again at Queens College, and hope you will share my passion for visual sociological exploration during this semester. We will use this blog as our main class site, for announcements, readings and assignments, and you will also work on your own personal blogs throughout the semester. Check out the class blogroll on the left hand side and start exploring your fellow classmates’ blogs.

Here is a summary of announcements made in class today:

PRESENTATIONS

The schedule of presentations is posted below. Your presentations should be in powerpoint format (talk to me if you intend to use a different software so we can make sure it’s available in our classroom!) and focus on your field research and findings. Just imagine you would create this presentation for yourself: what is your topic and why did you choose it? what is most interesting to talk about / to present / to discuss from your project? What did you find out and how does that relate to your hypothesis and/or what you read about the topic? You can add facts and arguments from your background research but please don’t make us listen to a reading of your literature review. Also, make it a *visual* presentation: use your pictures, images you used during research and you are welcome to add others (respect copyright and privacy, of course). You have 5 min for your presentation.

Please post your presentation on the discussion board on Blackboard, on the day of your presentation by noon, so I can upload it on the computer in the classroom in time.

Please contact me if you want to include video in the presentation (if we didn’t talk about it today already).

I expect all students to be present on both presentation days. You will be assigned a “buddy” for comments and discussion, so everyone will be busy on both days!

You are welcome to bring food to share on the day of the presentations.

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FINAL PAPERS

Your final papers are due on May 19 at noon. You will have to post your paper on Blackboard (on the relevant discussion board which will go up on May 17) AND leave a hard copy in my mailbox in the sociology department. The handout for the format of the final paper is posted here.

May 12

Amaru and Devin            The Significance and Meaning of Tattoos

Lorena                                 Tattoo Culture in America

Halie and Rachel              Greek Community: Hazing Rituals as Part of the Pledging Process

Nisha                                     Bullying in and beyond High School

Stephanie                            Men’s Views of Masculinity and Homosexuality

Edtricia                                 Uncharted Territory: African-American Museums in New York City

Nalicia                                  Ethnic Foods in NYC: Halal Street Vendors

Elizabeth & Kanwal    The Varied Influence of American Culture on Mexican and Pakistani Weddings

Lila and Lindsey                      Cupcake Culture in New York City

May 17

Caitlyn                    Mario and the Princess: Developers and Gamers of Adult Video Games

Julia                         Women in Music Videos

Veronica                Attitudes toward Underground and Mainstream Hip-Hop

Bianca & Christine                Body Image and Gender among Dance Groups

Helen                       Beauty and Gender / Ethnicity / Religion

Lauren & Sarah           Attitudes tow. Women’s Beauty by Age and Gender

Zhuoxi                    Effect of Mass Media on Perception of Beauty

Parker                                     Busking in New York’s Subway

Mohamed ?

FSA images

Lange: Migrant Mother

My Lai Massacre

Don McCullin

For this Wednesday, please complete the readings posted for April 26 here (plus the film review I handed out in class).

Also, please post a few pictures and some fieldnotes from your research on your blogs so we can talk about your projects in detail on Wednesday in class.

Announcement of a new online journal on visual academics!

Welcome to Audiovisual Thinking

We are happy to announce the launch and Call for Videos of the online journal Audiovisual Thinking, the world’s first journal of academic videos.

Audiovisual Thinking is a pioneering forum where academics and educators can articulate, conceptualize and disseminate their research about audiovisuality and audiovisual culture through the medium of video.

International in scope and multidisciplinary in approach, the purpose of Audiovisual Thinking is to develop and promote academic thinking in and about all aspects of audiovisuality and audiovisual culture.

Advised by a board of leading academics and thinkers in the fields of audiovisuality, communication and the media and hosted by Copenhagen University, the journal seeks to set the standard for academic audiovisual essays now and in the future.

Video submissions are welcome from all fields of study and, as one would expect, the main criteria for submissions are that the discussion and thinking are conveyed through audiovisual means.

The call for videos is now open!

For more information, please contact the editors: Inge (on behalf of the editorial board)  inges@hum.ku.dk

The message below is from the folks at the Media Consortium about paid internships in summer and fall. Have a look and maybe some of you are inspired to apply?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi all,
I’m incredibly excited to announce that applications are now open for Summer and Fall 2010 sessions of our Independent Media Internship program. IMI is a full-time program that places undergrad and graduate students committed to smart, independent journalism with Media Consortium members for 3 months. The Media Consortium provides interns with a $2,000 stipend for their work.

This is an incredible opportunity for young media makers to gain valuable experience. If you know of a student or recent graduate who should apply, please encourage them to apply here: http://www.themediaconsortium.org/internship-application/. We also encourage you to forward this on to other listservs, etc.

NOTE: This application form is open to both Summer and Fall 2010 applicants. Please help us spread the word far and wide!

Interns will be placed with the following places for the Summer session:

Women’s Media Center
The Nation Institute
Applied Research Center
Campus Progress

If there are any questions, contact jeanne@themediaconsortium.com

ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM:
TMC’s Independent Media Internship program places students and recent grads who are passionate about independent media with TMC member outlets. The program is geared towards hands-on learning and mentorship in a variety of media fields (audio, video, print, online). We’re investing in our sector’s future by nurturing tomorrow’s journalists.
TMC will fund interns through a stipend of $2,000 over twelve 32-hour work weeks. Over this three month period, interns will complete one or more major editorial projects, have weekly duties (including fact-checking, research, writing and media production) and meet with top editors and reporters for mentoring sessions.

Applicants must have a minimum of 3 years of college or have completed undergrad or grad school within the last year. We are place a high priority on maintaining a non-discriminatory environment and recruiting interns from diverse background.

Erin Polgreen
Senior Program Associate
The Media Consortium

erin@themediaconsortium.com

More Propaganda

Posters from World War II

Posters of World War II in the Truman Libraray

Posters from the USSR

Erroll Morris in the NYT

Part 1: It Was All Started by a Mouse

Part 2: Thought Experiment #2

Please find the reading for this Wednesday posted under “readings” on this page.

As discussed in class today, you should start your fieldwork this week (if you haven’t done so yet). There will be another journal entry due next week with fieldnotes and your first pictures / visuals from your project.

Also, make sure to complete all missing blog entries — I will grade your blogs for the second time by the end of next week.

Please check this post for the Student Technology Survey.

Trailer for “Exit through the Gift Shop”

Banksy: The Punking of Paris Hilton

Benksy: Palestinian Wall

PROPAGANDA

* Leni Riefenstahl

Prologue to “Olympia” (start at 4:30min)

Olympia “Diving Scene”

Interactive website by PBS’ Culture Shock on Leni Riefenstahl