Likes And Dislikes

3). What was it about this class that you liked? What do you think needs improvement?

What I liked most about this class was its independence in the assignments. Unlike most class settings where there are very specific guidelines as to what we may write about this class kept it somewhat open-ended.

For instance, the weekly posts usually had one question where we got to choose a concept from the book and write about it. What this did was not only give me some freedom, but it also motivated me to read and find something that no one else talked about and make it interesting.

Plus, with this sort of freedom I noticed that multiple perspectives were given by my peers about topics I had read but had not written about myself. This was a strategic way for us to get the book’s topics covered without each person having to write about each topic within the text.

Lastly, what I think needs improvement is not this class per se, but the financial state of the college. I would have liked to do the public speech assignment (I miss that butterfly-stomach feeling), but I understand why it was not possible due to budget cuts and furloughs. I have never been in an SJSU online class and would have liked to have met you, my brilliant peers. Honestly, there are some excellent writers in this group!

Creating Celebrities: You've Got the Power

Immediately when I read this question “active listening” came to mind. Without a doubt Trenholm, I am sure, could have gone on for pages about this topic alone. The only reason she did not is because she had to cover a much broader view of communication.

The reason I feel that this topic would take up an entire book to adequately cover is because I feel it is the most important aspect of communication. This is why some people have all the friends they do, and why some have no friends at all. People do not listen. I do not think that it is because everyone loves to talk so much. It is because they do not know how to listen, and instead they resort to talking. In this unfortunate mix relationships end before they are ever started. There is so much that we can learn about each other if we just ask, then ask some more.

My advice is this: bring up Youtube and put on a clip from any David Letterman interview. Look at the nonverbal behavior of the star as they enter the talk show. Then notice how the celebrity loves talking about themselves. Just as that celebrity loves the attention, our friends and family love that attention as well! Give it to them some time, and make them feel special, because they are.

Nonverbally Speaking...

1). What concept/s in this class have you found most interesting? What was it about the concept/s that you found interesting?

The most interesting topic I found in this class was nonverbal behavior. Through reading through some excellent journals I realize that nonverbal behavior can also be the most noticeable.

Today I had my final in Tae Kwon Do at San Jose State. We had to perform skits that we wrote in groups, and enact them for the class. Some groups did serious ones while others made up parodies while incorporating moves and techniques we have learned. One group in particular brought to mind the subject of nonverbal behavior.

Their skit had no lines or dialogue except their kihap, or yell they made, when they would strike. Their leader would direct them with short, one-syllable Korean words. The confidence and discipline this team leader showed told so much more about himself than words could have. His focus, precision, and discipline in those four minutes showed hours upon hours of training he had done in the past.

All of this one could gather from just observing his movements. All of this could be seen from his nonverbal behavior.

Conflicts of Interest

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.

In chapter eleven, Trenholm writes about ethics in the media, and how to harness the potential for conflicts of interest within a news company. How can a reporter report the facts in an unbiased manner when they are human beings with emotions, opinions and belief systems?

There is mentioned an example of a reporter sending one hundred and sixty wired hangers to politicians to appeal to a pro-abortion issue. Another reporter was seen demonstrating in an activist rally. Some speculate that these actions paint reporting the news with a pre-mature skew, because the reporters have conflicts of interest. Perhaps the solution is accountability.

With some organizations the act of omission is the same as a lie. Put it so that if there is evidence for blatant and willful neglect to report a balanced and reasonably accurate event then legal action will ensue. This is something that should be taken more seriously because of the power and influence that is wielded in a short news segment.

This solution does not deprive a news reporter of their personal views or opinion. What it does do is further ensure a more accurate report which can legally protect a news agency, the subject(s), and the reporter themselves.

The TV Is Warming Up

2). Do you agree with Marshall McLuhan that the medium is the message, i.e. that the format or logic of a medium is as important as its content and, in fact, determines what content will be broadcast through that channel? Evaluate his idea that television is a cool medium.



I have to agree with Marshall McLuhans concept of the medium being the message. I also have to disagree with McLuhan’s assessment of TV being a cold medium, in the context of modern television.

First, like nonverbal communication, the medium tells something to the receiver before they even find out what the message is. You may or may not have heard of the new movie “The Messenger” which depicts the lives of army personnel who have to deliver news of soldier’s deaths to the soldier’s family. They deliver the news in person. Several times parents or loved ones who see these uniformed and solemn-looking men approach already know that the news is bad. They perceive the message by deducting from the medium, which is a message within itself, much like nonverbal communication. Once within sight the message is already communicating before a word is spoken.

McLuhan’s assessment of television being a cold medium, meaning more participatory, was truer during his time then it is now. I disagree with it in the context of modern television I do understand that this “hot” and “cool” are on a continuum, leaving me to say that it is simply less cold today. The reason being that TV now may present a realistic and participatory spin with shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, but in my opinion the evidence showing how the judges responses are pre-written casts doubt on these being different than scripted movies.

Plus, with commercials now using the same soundtracks, camera lens, dramatic effects, visually stunning animation I would say that TV has become much more an appeal to the visual senses, and leaves much less room for conscious efforts at pieces details together.

Cyberspace: A Tool, Not A Solution

1). Have you made friendships that exist exclusively in cyberspace? If so, how are they different from f2f relationships? If you have not formed cyber relationships, why not?

I have formed cyber relationships before, but have not retained them exclusively to cyberspace. This I have done for two reasons. First, online interactions do not lead to meaningful friendships in and of themselves. Secondly, because I am a person by nature I wish to avoid potentially deceptive or false relationships from coming to fruition.

I applaud technology for making it easier for friends to meet and to stay in contact with one another. While I agree that this technology is handy for people to meet, I do not think it is a healthy medium to interact in exclusively.

My point being that there is so many subjective and ambiguous features to this interaction that a real meaningful and grounded relationship could not possibly come from it.

Texts or emails are void of one very important characteristic- nonverbal behavior. In my opinion only pseudo-relationships can be formed from solely online interaction, not full, healthy ones.

Secondly, I am cautious of this medium because it is too easy for one to deceive the other. Face-to-face relationships are already ripe with obstacles leading to potential pitfalls. Cyberspace increases the “pitfall” percentage dramatically.

These are some of the reasons why I use cyberspace as a means, not an end, to relationships.

Disclosure and Its Risk

3). Pick one concept from the assigned reading, that we have no already discussed, that you found useful or interesting, and discuss it.

Disclosure is something that everyone does at some level. This is why I find it very interesting. Because disclosure can be such a sensitive tool it is important to use in a controlled environment where you can minimize potential fallout. Following is an example I experienced about the wrong way to disclose.

I am sure that everyone in this class has come across people who prefer to admit everything about themselves, even when it is not asked of them. I remember riding the light rail and I could hear a lady talking to a man she had just met, and going into sordid detail about her illnesses, family situation, drug addiction, and even her love life.

Perhaps if she spoke in hushed tones it would have been slightly more couth, but I was in the back row and could hear every syllable, as could all fifteen people between her and I.

While disclosure is a healthy mechanism which is meant to draw people together through empathy and understanding, it can also serve to our detriment if that information ends up in the wrong ears. In this lady’s case, hers was not a controlled environment where she could manage the intake of her private information.

Who knows how that information could later return to haunt her from the now sixteen random individuals now loose with her information in the city?