Created on Thursday, 07 October 2010 20:46
“When the media make a star – they make you the sucker.”
'Starsuckers' is one of the most controversial documentaries of 2009 and was released in British cinemas to critical acclaim. It's a shocking exposé of the celebrity-obsessed media that uncovers the real reasons behind people's addiction to fame. It also blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from this addiction.
Part 1
Part 2
Last updated: July 15, 2020 at 17:28 pm
Created on Friday, 17 October 2014 16:40
Facebook's future privacy options:
Alessandro Acquisti is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and Public Policy at the Heinz College, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and a member of Carnegie Mellon CyLab.
Acquisti's research focuses on the economics of privacy. His studies have spearheaded the application of behavioral economics to the analysis of privacy and information, security decision making, and the analysis of privacy risks and disclosure behavior in online social networks.
In this TED Talk, Alessandro Acquisti explains how and why the line between public and private, both online and in real life, has blurred in the past decade and might even be erased in the (near) future. With his thought-provoking, slightly chilling talk, he shares details of recent and ongoing research, including a project that shows how easy it is to match a photograph of a stranger with their sensitive personal information.
What motivates you to share your activities and personal information online? After watching this presentation ask yourself how and why you (still) use the plethora of social media. The preservation of your privacy may very well depend on it.
Source: TED.com
Related:
Facebook's Future Plans for Data Collection Beyond All Imagination
Created on Saturday, 16 August 2014 10:33
Sut Jhally is a Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation. He is one of the world's leading scholars looking at the role played by advertising and popular culture in the processes of social control and identity construction.
His documentary film 'The Codes of Gender' offers an in-depth analysis of how gender is portrayed and performed in advertising. It's a very informative film that will raise viewers' consciousness about the omnipresent codes of gender, that are repeated in concentrated form throughout the media. It will also encourage viewers to question the seeming normality of these codes and understand that these codes, while presented as normal, are insidious, especially for women.
As one reviewer put it:
"Completely engrossing… For a generally jaded viewer such as I, perhaps the best measure of the effectiveness of this work is the fact that it made me see things I hadn't seen before and made me think in new ways, about the ubiquitous images and messages that inundate and inform everyday life."
– Gary Handman | Educational Media Reviews Online
The second video in this playlist is a presentation given by Jeanne Kilbourne, that focuses specifically on how women are portrayed in advertising. After watching these 2 videos you'll probably never look at an ad the same way again.
Source: mediaed.org
Jean Killbourne on The Image Of Women In Advertising
Created on Friday, 17 December 2010 13:32
In this documentary, Robert Llewellyn attempts to discover which of the world’s top four monotheistic religions has the most money. His journey takes him from Canterbury Cathedral to Vatican City and Israel, as he bids to calculate the income and assets of the Anglican Commune, the Catholic Church, Judaism, and Islam.
“As an atheist, I’ve always wondered how much money the faiths keep stuffed under the mattress,” says Llewellyn. In this time of financial crisis, when billions of dollars and pounds are being coughed up to support struggling banks, he feels it is time to discover the financial interests of the world’s biggest monotheistic faiths.
The Vatican for example has its own bank (!!) that's obviously doing very, very well: The Vatican Bank.
In the words of the late, great George Carlin:
