Weekly analysis week 5

This week’s weekly analysis is about the wonderful technology of Twitter. Twitter is the latest and greatest piece of technology that people use to communicate or share they’re lives. People caught on to this new communication tool because of its simplicity. According to Twitter (2009), “People are eager to connect with other people and Twitter makes that simple. Twitter asks one question, "What are you doing?" Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web. Twitter's core technology is a device agnostic message routing system with rudimentary social networking features. By accepting messages from sms, web, mobile web, instant message, or from third party API projects, Twitter makes it easy for folks to stay connected.” Twitter has rapidly become one of the most widely used social networking tools. There are celebrities that use this and are followed by millions all over the world. You can be watching your favorite team play and while one of the star players is in the locker room at half time, he posts what he should have done on one play or how he thinks he is performing. Twitter is also seen on many of the more modern television shows and movies. When the protests were going on in Iran, the citizens were posting what was currently going on over there. This became very useful over there because the government began to disconnect all means of communication. As long as Twitter keeps things simple and intuitive, their user environment will continue to grow. I personally don’t use the social networking tools; however I know as time goes by and as technology grows I will am sure that I will be “tweeting” like the rest of the world. Until then, I will continue to post to this blog and use email and my cell phone.

Twitter (2009). Why do so many people seem to like twitter? Retrieved from
http://twitter.com/about#about.

Journal Article Analysis

I believe the intended audience for this article is someone who would be interested in the earlier days of mass production of popular culture products. This could be someone who is conducting research on this topic to someone who is just interested about where nylon came from and what made is so popular. The article keeps referencing back to the late 1920’s and how this new technology or product came popular.
This article begins off as a study of ideologies that have contributed to the significance of mass culture. The article then uses an example of this from the mass production of nylon. Susan Smulyan , the author of this article “makes visible the ways in which race, class, gender, nationhood, and consumption both emerge in and are developed through popular culture”. (2007) She then goes into detail about the technology behind nylon and what made it so popular. Nylon was primarily used for stockings that were worn on women’s legs. She then explains that how not only the scientific creation of nylon was important but, also how the advertisement and consumers were just as important. As the marketability of this product grew, the product would be researched even more to see what they could get out of it. The research that was conducted found that nylon was the consumer’s replacement for silk. The article then goes in and describes how the DuPont cooperation keeps advertising nylon to the consumers and keeps gaining more and more power. Smulyan’s study showed how cooperation’s like DuPont gained more power over consumers. “This case study aptly demonstrates Smulyan’s overall argument that mid century conflicts between producers and consumers of popular products show the increasing power of producers in controlling the language about, and the multiple meanings of goods (Smulyan, 2008). The style of this article was not logically organized. It would be discussing one topic and then jump right into another one. Besides the back and fourth of topics, the test was fairly easy to ready. I found that I would have to reread every couple sentences to get a grasp on what was being written. An example of this is how Smulyan would be discussing her research in one sentence and in the very next sentence she would be discussing the research of the DuPont cooperation.
The key idea I took away from this article is no matter how much or how hard the consumer argues or disagrees with a producer, the producer will most likely wind up on top because they have all of the power.



Reference
Smulyan, S. (2007). Popular ideologies: Mass culture of mid-century. Technology and Culture,
49(4), 1077-1079. Retrieved from OhioLINK electronic journal finder.

Weekly Written Analysis 4

This week’s weekly analysis is about summer blockbusters. Summer time is the season where all of the biggest movies hit the movie theatres. Every year all of these movies are competing against each other to become the biggest summer blockbuster of the year. I have noticed over the past couple of years that some of the summer blockbusters have been movies about older comics, cartoons, and movies like; Spiderman, Batman, and Superman. This year is no different. According to (summerblockbusters.com, 2008), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the top money maker so far this summer. The movie has taken in approximately $339,221,800. Star Trek and X-Men are two other summer blockbusters that are in the top five of total sales, according to (summerblockbusters.com, 2008). Another one that has yet to come out this summer is the new GI Joe movie. This is another throw back movie like Transformers that will probably draw a huge audience. Some people even make going to these new summer blockbusters a ritual. They will go see them as soon as they are being showed at the theatre which is usually at midnight of the day it will be debuted. All of these summer blockbusters are brining back Hero’s and Villain’s from the past. There has got to be a lot of people in their late 20’s to mid 30’s that are remembering their favorite GI Joe and Transformer Hero and Villain. Summer blockbusters will continue to be a big hit during the summer time. It just depends on what type of movie will be claiming the top spot.


Rapid internet services. (2008). Summer blockbusters. Retrieved from

http://www.summerblockbusters.com/.

Weekly Written Analysis 3

This week’s weekly analysis is about one of the most popular and most used pieces of technology, the cell phone. Almost everyone owns a cell phone these days. I even see young children carrying one or using one from time to time. The only generation of people I don’t see using them very much is the elderly. This is primarily because they lived through the prime of their lives without all of this technology. Cell phones have come a long way from the bulky satellite ones used in the 1980’s to the tiny multi purpose ones that are used today. Cell phones today come in all sorts of sizes and can do many things like emailing, texting, music, games, navigation, etc. Oh yeah, phone calls can also be made from them. They also have all sorts of accessories that can be added to them. Blue Tooth and memory cards are just a couple of examples of some of the accessories that can be used with cell phones today. Cell phones have become so popular that some people have rituals in which they will purchase the newest and coolest phone out there as soon as it is released for sale. A great example of this is the Iphone. Thousands of people wait for Apple to open their doors so that they can be one of the first people to own the latest and greatest cell phone. The cell phone technology will continue to grow as technology grows as a whole, kids that are using them will keep getting younger, and the rituals of buying the newest phone will continue to expand.

Icon Analysis

The first contemporary icon I chose is college football. I chose this icon because it is one of the most popular sports, especially in the fall. During this time of year when college football is on, people either can’t get enough of it or are completely sick of it. This icon means about 5 to 6 months of excitement and enjoyment to me. I will watch college football everyday during the season. This icon means a lot to me and it is my favorite past time.
The second contemporary icon I chose is ESPN. I chose this icon because is has dominated sports media for a long time. This sports network becomes a normal routine in people’s everyday lives, whether it be turning it on first thing in the morning or looking up the latest updates on their website. This icon is very important to me. I have been watching ESPN since I can remember and I will continue to do so.
The third contemporary icon I chose is gossip magazines. I chose this icon because they are all over the newsstands. The same topics or gossip is posted on dozens of magazines on a weekly basis, if not more. These magazines are everywhere where magazines are sold. This icon does not mean very much to me at all. I chose this one because my fiancé is obsessed with them. She buys a couple of them a week and I can see how from her how much people like them.

Weekly Written Analysis 2

This week’s analysis of popular culture that caught my interest is Tiger Woods. He is the best golfer in the world and he just won his sixty-eighth tournament of his career. Tiger is always in sports news when he is playing. He is in a number of different commercials, is sponsored by Nike, has his own clothing line trough Nike, and even has a video game named after him. He has made this sport something so popular. Many people thought that would never happen but, we have Tiger to thank for that. I know golf can be very boring to watch but, that’s not the case when he is playing. Over the weekend I found myself watching some of the tournament that he was hosting and playing in. While watching this, I became a bigger Tiger Woods fan and I respect him so much more as a person. He honored kids, the Military, and Veterans at his tournament he was hosting. They were all allowed to get into this event for free and he made a big deal about all of them. Just seeing how sincere he was about kids and the military was something great to see. He said at the beginning of the tournament that he would donate whatever he wins to his own charity. Well, he won the event and donated all 1.1 million of it to his charity, The Tiger Woods Foundation. I am a veteran myself and after watching this great person over the weekend, Tiger Woods will always be a popular culture icon to me.

Weekly written analysis 1

For this week’s popular culture issue that is making the news and catching my interest is no other than Michael Jackson’s death. I’m sure everyone is either sick of this issue or they can’t get enough of it. I found myself heavily interested in it in the beginning but, now I think I am finally paying attention to other things. The topic of his death brings on an assortment of conversations like his great music to his bizarre personal life. I have tried to avoid conversations about his personal life and have tried to focus the majority of the conversations on his monumental accomplishments. It’s been over ten days since Michael’s passing and it is still one of the biggest popular culture things going on. I am 27 years old and I cannot recall one person that has gained this much attention for such a long period of time. This should make each and every one of us appreciate what this man has accomplished is his life. In closing, for those of you who have celebrated his death and focused on his positive parts of life, thank you! For those of you who have focused on the negative parts of this life, dig deep down and try to be positive about this tragic death of a popular culture icon.

Popular Culture

Popular culture to me is a group of people or a type of people that are in the mainstream spotlight and are looked up to by a large amount of people. An example of this can be the recent tragic death of Michael Jackson. The world is being consumed by this pop icons death. I have found myself humming his songs in my head and watching the news for breaking news on his death.
I believe that understanding popular culture in a business environment will help a person succeed. In every type of career field there are different people that are going to be interested in different things. That is why it is good to have an understanding of popular culture in a business environment. This is how I am able to relate to most of my co-workers, whether it is about sports, music, or TV. That is how I feel like I am able to succeed at my career.
I would choose a football as a popular culture artifact. A football is recognizable by almost everyone and it is the most popular sport in the United States. People of all ages have seen football on TV or played it throughout their lives. I chose a football because that is one of my favorite hobbies. I watch it almost everyday during the season and it creates great social gatherings. Football has been apart of my life since I can remember, especially being from Columbus, Ohio. I believe this popular culture artifact will be around for a long time to come.