Updated:  10 October, 2003

Internet Students who wish to take the exam with the classroom section on Wed., Oct. 15th at NOON in CB116, but cannot attend the class, should contact Dr. Mc to make specific arrangements.

• Discuss the characteristics of meaning. What elements are necessary for meaning to take place? What is the role of sense-making in this process? And finally, what are the characteristics of meaning (it is emergent, etc.) Why do these understandings of meaning lead your authors to say that content is NOT synonymous with meaning?

• Discuss the theory of Social Bonds. What is gemeinschaft and gesellschaft? Define and discuss each and then apply them to the current controversy over concentration of ownership in the electronic media industry.
  
• Compare and contrast the three research paradigms discussed in class: deterministic (exposure model), functionalist (uses and gratifications and functionalist models), and the interpretive (interactive) model. Address the strengths and weaknesses of each paradigm and why a paradigmatic shift may be necessary in the social scientific examination of mass communications.
  
• What are the theories of selective influence or the limited effects models? Why did they develop? What are their limitations?
  
• How did the concept of mass society influence the development of mass communication research and theory. In what way did those beginnings limit our thinking? In what way did those beginnings limit our thinking?
  
• What are Lasswell and Lippman's Technocracy philosophy of mass communication?  How did Dewey's position oppose it? What flaw is shared by both of these positions?
  
• Describe the ways in which media covered the events of September 11, 2001.  How would you analyze media use during that time from a functional analysis perspective? 
  
• Discuss how modern propaganda may be influencing American society according the Herman and Chomsky model.  Provide at least one current example to support this theory.  
  
• Explain how Information Diffusion Theory works and how it applies to technological innovations and to the transmission of new ideas.  How might it be applied in Iraq today?

STUDY SESSION  Monday, October 13, 2003 7:00 p.m. At Dr. Mc's home. (Maps on Dr. Mc's office door) Bring your notes, a copy of the essays, and a soft drink. Dr. Mc will provide some snacks, but if you would like to bring something as well, please do.  We will try to hold the study session to two hours. NOTE: Please park on only ONE SIDE of the street. If you park on both sides, neighborhood traffic cannot get through and we'll have a police officer knocking at the door.

The best way to study these essays is to write out each of them, then go back and highlight the key concepts, make an outline from that, and memorize the outline! Good luck!

Copyright, 2003

Dr. Janet McMullen

jlmcmullen@una.edu