Time to get it together

I think I've finally decided on the tack my independent research is likely to go. It's taken me a while, only because I had other things going on and, well, I really didn't know where to start. But I've been doing a bit of reading, research, and thinking, and I believe I might be able to start pinning down the intended reach of my education.

I've talked to Dr. Bernt a bit and it seems that whatever I end up doing should mirror what I intend to do for my thesis. And it seems that I'm setting myself up to do a content analysis – something I'm somewhat reluctant to do. This is why: I'm awful with numbers, and I don't think I really know how to do a content analysis. I mean, I know how to do a CA, but I don't know if I'm well-versed in the technique to depend on one for the backbone of my thesis.

Sometimes I wish I could just do a long-form article on methamphetamine users in rural Ohio and be done with it.

But that's too easy, right?

Oh, lest I forget – here's my idea for a thesis/research:

In the magazine industry, there are two different "universes" of magazines, the consumer press and the specialized business press. Your consumer magazines are the Time, Gourmet, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, etc. Everyone knows these brands and the nature of the advertising contained therein. But what then of magazines such as Concrete Monthly*, Nation's Restaurant News, Bathtub Quarterly*, and so forth. These magazines are sometimes geared towards the same audience, or rather, they occupy the same theme of content, albeit geared for different audiences. Take for example, Gourmet magazine and Nation's Restaurant News - both are written for those with an interest in food, but one is geared for the consumer, the other foodservice professionals.

Thinking of that, then, how does the advertising content compare between the two? Do these magazines contain the same advertising/content ratios? What of the nature of the advertising?

Obviously, I can't be too specific in the kinds of magazines I plan on looking at. I'm going to have to go towards broad categories such as "Food/Foodservice/Hospitality," "Business/Entrepreneurialship," etc.

But I think this may be a start. And I'm a bit scared.

*I made these up. Duh.

Moving along now...

I don't have much to add, other than that I've been busy with teaching Journalism 221, a beginner graphic design course, and getting stuff together for Southeast Ohio, which I will be doing writing and design work for. Other than that, I've been riding my bike lots, and trying not to lose my mind.

I am going to Chicago on 4/20. Consider me pumped.

Daydream Nation, et. al.

I am what you may call "stoked," "pumped," or "effing thrilled." It was just announced that Sonic Youth will be performing the entirety of Daydream Nation in its entirety at this summer's Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.

Did I mention that I am just plain excited about this news? Now if only Medicine came back to deafen me with some white noise...

Check it out for yourself.

Spring Break

Many thanks to Allison's brother Bradford for the lift home to Cincinnati. The Saab 9000 is still in an inoperable state – not for long, however.

I am planning on spending spring break doing absolutely nothing. After the past couple of weeks spent in a whirlwind of typing, reading, and crying, I am going to relish this week and half of idleness. Of course, being a Thomas, I am incapable of pure laziness, but I'm going to try. But I've already set myself up for failure as a laze. I plan on completing the following tasks before school starts back up on 3/26/07.

1. Read Cormac McCarthy's The Road in its entirety.
2. Get 300-400 miles in on the bike – or at least ride as much as I can.
3. Visit a city that is not in Ohio for a two to three-day duration.
4. Maybe starting sketching out a thesis?
5. Get my resume all patched up and maybe submit it to a job or two.

Tangents in research

Thinking of communication theories, such as semiotics and agenda-setting processes, where the media constructs the public ideology through the inclusion or exclusion of information, I started then to think of how the reality that the public perceives is in itself, the reality that the media has created. The media, intentionally or unintentionally (it doesn't really matter) takes information in from a number of sources – the standard procedure of reportage. Then through the newsroom process the information is filtered, bestowed a weight or degree of importance, and then dispersed to the audience.

The problem then, does the information that the media filters out as being unimportant to the needs of the audience, or more prominent (articles on the front page, bold-faced headlines, etc.), and thus more "important," contribute to the an artificial reality for the audience, who is fed this information?


Think then of how society places value on news stories. Many of us perceive the actions of a handful of bad-acting celebrities as being more "important" to the sum value of culture than we do other news stories, such as information on Iraq, politics, business, the local community, et cetera. But here is the chicken-and-the-egg question: Does the media set the agenda and thus the audience demands for information, i.e. is the media the root cause of this phenomena? Or is the media responding to the desires of the audience, i.e. the media is giving the audience what it wants?

It seems that it's all just a big construction - this little world of ours.

Or maybe I'm just reading to much about the Westley-MacLean model of communication, or reading too much Umberto Eco and other hyperrealists.

Whatever.

Everyone should check out this site (all two of you...)

http://allisonmgrant.blogspot.com/

It's my girlfriend's blog. She takes pictures of awesome things and is going to school in Chicago to learn how to operate her camera in an efficient manner.

I really like this one, but then again, I really like them all,

That early morning thaw
rings sharp on the faces
of the diggers
as their bootheels sink
softly into the cold
soil of the partially
frozen field.
Bright red hands and noses exposed
for hours signal the
duration of their day.

Their toil untamped by
frost or hail – these
laborers are creaky in
the joint and mouth.
Where once talk of
sport and leisure once
leapt, now only comes
talk of the weather.
Their limbs are barometers.

Maybe someday, could be tomorrow
their arduous work, that lonely work
will fall to another crew.
As life has a definite
conclusion, but no sturdy digger
ever leaves a job unfinished.
For if one departs, another will
surely take his place – such is
the nature of that business.

When the cold snaps
and the ground thaws out of
its muddy slumber, a new host
of men come out to labor.
Swinging tools like pendulums
and scarring the ground, they
lay down the framework for
our and their own departure.