Going Away, Finally!

Graduated, finally. Fulfilling a dream to go live overseas, what I have always wanted to do, is finally happening. Think I'm still in shock that I have made it. I have finally made it, and I am a little scared, a little nervous, and a lot excited to leave this place, leave everything for another country, another life, another culture, other tastes, smells, people, and places. Stepping out into the unknown, it is what I have always wanted for some reason--reasons really, some that I am aware of, and some reasons that I don't know how they got there in that place in my heart that seeks awareness and the knowledge of other people and places that apparently to some are not intriguing in the least. But there are others out there like me, there already out there, OUT THERE where I want to be, where, thank god, I am finally going to be, so help to get there. I'm tired of all the questions, just let me be, let me do this thing called My Life! Feel like I have been waiting forever for this to be, for me to finally get it all together, I think some never do, so I consider myself lucky. Now I am ready for the next dream...If I have had this dream since for so long and it is finally coming into fruition, then what is next? Ready for the next dream, whatever it is I can accomplish it step by step, day by day, hurdle by hurdle, finishing the race, this little Chickie may not finish first, but I will finish. Just like now, if I don't quit this place I would perish, so that is the final straw, happiness, the pursuit of happiness, personal fulfillment is a personal quest. I've been waiting my whole life so far since childhood for this moment in time, it is pretty momentous I must say...I must say, I must write and put so much into words that has been bottled up for so long. God I just can't wait to be on that damn plane, to land in another place, and stop only to be where I am supposed to be, and that is moving, moving ahead, straight on into the unknown. I don't want to know it for you, or by you, but my experience, my understanding of the world. So much out there to see and learn, taste and smell, and hold and navigate. So I'm blogging, oh yeah! That's where its at, get the nerves out, the anxieties. I'm not afraid at all of what's out there--no that is what I crave--I'm just afraid I might mess it up, and that is only a lack of confidence in myself, in my aptitude and strength, my will and drive to succeed in this life. I will be determined, and I will not perish, but thrive and grow, change and be rearranged my new people, different situations, life experience that I am so privileged to be witness. I'm going to read and write and be open to everything. I am so thrilled, and so blessed!

The Communication Person: A New World Voice For the People by the People

In the "new epoch" we are living, Afrocentric communicationist and theorist Molefi Asante states that "The communication person repudiates cryptic views of humanity." Communication is the "gluon," or basic fundamental particle of society. The "communication person" is the "new world voice", the "holistic" conveyer of a new model, a new formula for postulating a true, all-inclusive view of the "abstract" society. This harkening of an holistic view is an open perspective defined as "characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable (able to be accounted for or understood) by reference to the whole." The "whole" of humanity is the focal point of consideration of Asante's article on Afrocentric communication theory. Not only is Asante postulating a theory of inclusiveness of one more genre of society into European consideration, but he asserts for academia that all the sciences must to do away with analogue, and the inadequate models of analysis of society. Afrocentric communication is comparable to various and certain postulations of feminist theory and queer theory that doubt the validity of the foundational concepts of analysis, questioning the core view of human perspective. Asante and Hooks propose a "new" ethnocentrism that is related to post-colonial theory because the old views, perspectives, postulations, theories, models, formulas, analyzation, assumptions are all outdated, incoherent, inadequate, insufficient, not relative to the new communication person in this new epoch. Asante, among others, is a modern Sophist, recognizing the foundational qualities and conditions of communication, i.e. language, which is the beginning and the end of all thought, production, recognition, consideration, and desire. Asante echos the concepts, ideas, and postulations of modern day theorists Derrida and Foucault. Asante is not an idealist, he comprehends the history of understanding humanity; however, his point now is the assertion of the questioning of "Our conceptualization of humanity" within theoretical communication and formulations. Basically Asante abhors "myopic" considerations of humanity, a view defined by a "lack of imagination, foresight, or intellectual insight." He calls for a new view, a fresh consideration, presenting the facts that support this concept as necessary and vital for communication people that make up our diverse society; ideas for the people, by the people. Asante proposes that communication theory "needs to break away from the boundary of specific social or political systems and reach for universal assumptions which can then be tested by those interested in applying them to particular situations." What must be called into question under the new perspective is "Any society that distorts, hinders or damages the human personality." First and foremost is a contemporary questioning and re-analyzation of the definitions of "society" and even "human," that is basic to Asante's theorization here, which is an immediate connection with post-colonial theory, and a forerunner for the critique of digital rhetoric. An issue leading the race for understanding and critiquing digital rhetoric, as Jenkins clearly exemplifies in Convergence Culture, is the recognition and in-depth analyzation of the communication person and what the communication personal develops, effects, is affected by, and the data and results within.

The Spirit of Free Play

In his article on rhetoric, William A. Covino presents the same sentiments on "play" outlined by Jenkins in Convergence Culture. Covino's article was reminiscent of Jenkins recognition and appraisal of "collective intelligence." Citing modern critic Derrida, Covino quotes, "All play begins with 'the means at hand'...(and) all play cannot escape 'the culture of reference.'" Covino's point is to recognize the ever-evolving nature of rhetoric and the observation and understanding and analyzation of rhetoric. Gone are the days of structuralism and putting everything in a box to be understand in and only in that box, under certain contexts. The constant evolution of language, ideas, manners of discourse, and cause, effects, and situations that demand rhetoric should be centrally understood and taken advantage of as a mantra. Specifically, Covino is postulating "An emergent, interdisciplinary critical theory, fundamentally a theory of discourse that devalues certainty and closure while it celebrates the generative power of the imagination." In observing culture in rhetorical terms, every element should be considered, every bit of evidence, every possible argument and conclusion. Convergence Culture is a witness to Covino's idea that "The spirit of free play informs the ethnographic process." Ethnography, defined via Wikipedia, is "the genre of writing that presents varying degrees of qualitative and quantitative descriptions of human social phenomena, based on field work." Jenkins said himself in his conclusion that his personal experience as a user of media outlets informed and inspired his interest and research. How is it that such a notion as "play" can manifest into a project that produces such evidence, insight, and conclusion as Convergence Culture? Covino quotes Feyerabend: "'Anything goes'....even the most 'unreasonable, nonsensical, unmethodical' play will tend toward a resolution because each of us cannot tolerate a suspended conclusion for very long. Wondering does lead to a determination....'It is possible to retain what one might call the freedom of artistic creation and to use it to the full, not just as a road of escape, but as a necessary means for discovering and perhaps even changing the properties of the world we live in'." As a blogging, collective intelligence community, we fall under the auspices of this idea of considering fully, intelligently, and artistically all the avenues and means of exploring, questioning, observing and deciphering the ever-evolving spirit of free play that is digital rhetoric.

One last note, I resent the fact that Covino quotes Christopher Lasch and Arthur Levine's conclusions that college students today are completely narcissistic, only out to get what they want, and only seek creativity as a 'success formula.' I abhor this point of view as a generalization, even as a I recognize that the current trend of out culture is a fame-oriented one. But a critic must consider and question, just as Covino is postulating, the influence of the "texts of heritage," as Derrida put it wisely. We must consider the repetition of patterns of narcissism in the greater psyche of the history of culture. Seeking fame and fortune did not just come from nowhere! Out of the blue!?

Starving Artists

First, a review of termonology via Wikipedia:

*Matthew Arnold 1822-1888 -English poet, cultural critic

*phenomenology- an approach to philosophy that begins with an exploration of phenomena--what presents itself to us in conscious experience.
"The reflective study of the essence of consciousness as experienced from the first-person point of view" -Edmund Husserl

*structuralism- (humanities/social sciences) theories that share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between different cultures/languages and these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored
--approach in academic disciplines in general that explores the relationships between fundamental principle elements in language, literature, and other fields upon which some higher mental, linguistic, social or cultural "structures" and "social networks" are built
--through these networks meaning is produced with in a particular person, system, or culture--meaning then frames and motivates the actions of individuals and groups

"Liberal humanism has dwindled to the impotent conscience of bourgeois society, gentle, sensitive and inneffectual; structuralism has already more or less vanished into the literary museum" -Terry Eagleton

*Cultural critics, philosophers, thinkers, barbs WRITE. Thinking goes on paper, becomes literature, writing is the medium.
Eagleton says literature is unstable, an illusion...the problem, the issue is in defining literature at one place and time, because language is ever changing, evolving along with the culture it produces.

*Because one element cannot exist without the other, capitalism is a user, the system only works for investment. This is why we have the concept of "starving artist," and see an impotence of the arts in poor society.

"Capitalism's reverential hat-tipping to the arts is obvious hypocrisy, except when it can hang them on its walls as a sound investment....Departments of literature in higher education, then are part of the idealogical apparatus of the modern capitalist state. They are not wholly reliable apparatuses of the modern capitalist state." -Eagleton

Buying into American Idol

Chapter One: First Half

Concept/Idea: Marketing

Terms:

Corporate Convergence, Convergence Strategy, Transmedia, Networks, Marketing Strategies, Media Consumpstion, Reality Television, Programming, Affective Economics, Purchasing Decisions, Quantify, Measure, Commodify, Return on Investment(ROI), Exploitation, Aggressive Targeting, Brand Reputation, Media Touch Points, Consumption Patterns, Loyals/Fans, Impression, Expression, Next Generation Audience, Investment, Exposure, Emotion, Brand Extension, Lovemarks, Brand Loyalty, Active Consumers, Inspirational Customers, Brand Advocates

Arguments:

"New models of marketing seek to expand consumer's emotional, social, and intellectual investments with the goal of shaping consumption patters."

"Affective Economics...a new configuration of marketing theory...which seeks to understand the emotional underpinnings of consumer decision-making as a driving force behind viewing and purchasing decisions."

"New marketing discourse seeks to mold those consumer desires to shape purchasing decisions."

"This emerging discourse of affective economics...[allows] advertisers to tap the power of collective intelligence and direct it toward their own ends, but at the same time allowing consumers to form their own kind of collective bargaining structure that they can use to challenge corporate decisions."

"Affective economics sees active audiences as potentially valuable if they can be courted and won over by advertisers."

"Marketers seek to shape brand reputations across media touch points...[in order to] build a long-term relationship with a brand."

"The strength of a connection [with a brand] is measured in terms of its emotional impact. The experience should not be contained within a single media platform, but should extend across as many media as possible."

"Fans are the central players in a courtship dance between consumers and marketers."

Evidence:

"American Idol turned out to be the first killer application of media convergence--the big new thing that demonstrated the power that lies at the intersection between old and new media."

"FOX Broadcasting Company was receiving more than 20 million telephone calls or text messages per episode casting verdicts on the American Idol contestants."

"An AT&T spokesman explained, "Our venture with FOX has done more to educate the public and get people texting than any marketing activity in this country to date."

"FOX devoted 13.5 hours to American Idol during the crucial May sweeps period, representing nearly one quarter of their total primt-time schedule for the month."

"American Idol was sold to FOX through an aggressive campaign by the Creative Artists Agency, which saw the series as an ideal match for their client, Coca-Cola, and its 12-24-year-old target audience."

"Viewers tend to remain with cable once the fall season starts. So, the broadcast networks are countering by offering more original programming in the summer, with the less-expensive reality televisison programs becoming their best weapon."

"American Idol was from the start not simply a television program but a transmedia franchise." (goes on to list first season winner's RCA Records deal, #1 hit single, radio domination, bestseller American Idol book, concert tour, and movie)

"Early evidence suggests that the most valuable consumers are what the industry calls "loyals," or what we call fans."


"Advertisers are increasingly demanding accountability from media outlets for the degress of actual exposure they receive and for the quality of relationship this creates with their consumers."

"There has been a proliferation of media options--a move from three major networks to a cable environment with hundreds of more specialized channels and the intoduction of alternative forms of home entertainment, including the Internet, video, DVD, and computer and video games."

"The average consumer settled into a pattern of watching ten to fifteen different media outlets."

"As advertisers grow anxious about whether network programming can reach audiences, they are diversifying their advertising budgets and looking to extend their brands across multiple distibution outlets that they hope will allow them to target a diverse selection of smaller niche markets."

"'Monolithic blocks of eyeballs are gone. In their place is a perpetually shifting mosaic of audience microsegments that forces marketers to play an endless game of audience hide-ane-seek.'" Forrester Research

"The biggest hurdle we have to go over...is the integration of the networks, the studios the ad agencies, the advertisers, the talent agencies, and anybody else that's involved in this space."
-Lee Gabler, co-chairman and partner of Creative Artists Agency

"This next-generation audience research focuses attention on what consumers do with media content once it has passed across their eyeballs, seeing each subsequent interaciton as valuable because it reinforces their relationship to the series and , potentially, its sponsors."

"Expression charts attentiveness to programming and advertising, time spent with the program, and the degree of viewer loyalty and affinity to the program and its sponsors."

"The logic of brand extension...the idea that successful brands are built by exploiting multiple contacts between the brand and consumer."

"Coca-Cola sees itself less as a soft drink bottler and more as an entertainment company that actively shapes as well as sponsors sporting events, concerts, movies, and television series."

"'Lovemarks' are more powerful than traditional 'brands' because they command the 'love' as well as the 'respect' of consumers."

"We will use a diverse array of entertainment assets to break into people's hearts and minds" -Coca-Cola president Steven J. Heyes


External Links:

<http://www.2.coca-cola.com/heritage/stories/index.html>

Cokemusic.com

Idol Gossip

In Chapter Two of Convergence Culture Jenkins dedicates a section to "How gossip fuels convergence" in his goal of critiquing "How we are being sold on reality television." Most interestingly Jenkins cites the new wave of understanding by the feminist front on the topic of gossip. Gossip has been reanalyzed and "reappraised." Gossip is not just idle talk anymore, but can be understood in a different light of appreciation and value. Jenkins refers to a writing on the topic by Deborah Jones in 1980. Gossip has always been, for women, a natural coping device, a normality-reinforcing part of life. Jenkins concludes that gossip is "A way of talking about yourself through critiquing the actions and values of others." People innately share information and deliberate with each other. The bigger the pond, the bigger the fish. Cyberspace takes the social circles of gossip to their max potential. In Chapter two of Critical Foundations of Rhetoric, we learn that rhetorical imperatives are determined by the socieity and its values: "Social and cultural values and traditions also must be understood as they pertain to a speaking situation." Language is culture, so a "cultural convergence" is a language convergence, we are just analyzing the different forms that language is able to adopt and lead our lives. This blog, my Facebook account, my friends' email and myspace, they are all gossip portals.

producers vs. consumers

The love/hate relationship between producers and consumers that Jenkins describes in Chapter One "Spoiling Survivor" is classic supply and demand with the integral twist of converging media, and the subsequent control, power, and demand of the consumer. Now, consumers are producers. The grasp of people's attention is a major factor in the love/hate relationship. Jenkins says that "fans exploit convergence to create their own points of contact." Producers and consumers on all sides and at every point of perspective seem to be fighting for the lime light; everyone wants the information first, they fight to get it. Then when the subject becomes boring it is mute. Reading "Survivor Spoiling," I kept waiting for the point were Jenkins made aware to the reader that people do merely watch the television show, instead of searching and stalking the facts before they are presented in the intended fashion. But if you think about it, maybe the pure consumer of the television show does not log on to the blog and participate directly with the spoilers; the show can still be ruined for that individual under many circumstances. The news stations and medium want to know who is spoiling what, and they make news out of the spoilers. So, the pure consumer, who is waiting to watch and enjoy the show in time as intended, has the chance of getting spoiled by the domino effect of information when he goes to check his email, or reads the newspaper, watches the morning news, or water-cooler talk about the said information. With converging medium comes an influx of information and ideas attainable and unavoidable to everyone. The information, once surfaced, is splashed everywhere. So, the love/hate relationship comes full circle, or more accurately is a diagram of arrows pointing back and forth from producer to consumer, then from pure consumer to un-original producer, back to producer, and so forth. It is a never-ending cycle that only begins again with the "new thing" that captures popular attention.