Communication Theory

Communication Theory
Write a five-page paper (double-spaced, 12-inch font) in which you take your discussion beyond the level covered in class, do not repeat arguments presented in class, and use outside references to strengthen and refine your arguments. Choose one of the following four topics:
1. In the area of knowledge of human behavior, some of the major claims made by Pinker and Wieseltier are in the following areas: 1. the status of the sciences and the humanities as knowledge sources; 2. the contributions and value of scientific knowledge vs. humanistic knowledge; 3. the relation between the sciences and the humanities; 4. the ability of the sciences to increase our knowledge of the subject matter of the humanities; and 5. the issue of scientism. Choose three of these areas, and it is acceptable but not imperative to emphasize overlaps among the three areas you have chosen. How accurately do Pinker and Wieseltier represent the position of the other in these areas? Which thinker presents the strongest arguments to support his position in these areas, Pinker or Wieseltier? For accounts of the two positions, you can refer to the articles by Pinker and Wieseltier that are class materials plus Science vs. the Humanities, Round III New Republic, BY STEVEN PINKER AND LEON WIESELTIER which can be accessed at https://www.newrepublic.com/article/114754/steven-pinker-leon-wieseltier-debate-science-vs-humanities

2. Who owns what we post online? Do we have any reasonable expectation of privacy online? Should we, or is privacy an outmoded concept? New media technologies, social networks, and mobile devices increasingly mean we live and communicate online and in public. Corporations are starting to collect, analyze, and use this personal communication, especially to advertise to us. Google recently combined its privacy policy for all Google services (Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, etc.) in order to create “user profiles” that are then sold to third party advertisers, so Google “can provide more relevant ads” and personalize your search results. Facebook systematically collects user information in order to “personalize” your ad experience and target you with advertising based on your profile, posts, and network of connections. Mobile devices, like Apple’s iPhone, collect personal information, even down to the exact location of the user at all times, and social communications on the smart phone (internet use, apps, texts, pictures, etc.). Advertisers, and cultural studies theorists, see these new technologies and access to new aspects of our personal communication as a positive, participatory change, allowing advertisers to deliver ads users will find relevant, informative, and useful, and giving users a chance to participate in their ad exposer, rather than the one-size-fits-all model of mass media. Political economic and communication ethics critics, in contrast, suggest that our private lives and personal communication are being commodified for corporate profit, creating a new “personal information economy” at the expense of our private lives and communication, which are increasingly devalued. And Jaron Lanier believes that commodification for corporate profit is justifiable only when the person from whom the data is gathered is monetarily compensated.

Using political economy theory, cultural studies, Lanier?s approach, and/or communication ethics (or some combination thereof) defend or critique in rational and ethical terms the collection and sale of personal information by digital media corporations, and the use of that information by advertisers to target ads and personalize content. You must focus specifically on targeted advertising by one particular organization or site: e.g. social networks (like Facebook), digital services (like Google), mobile devices and apps (like smart phones with GPS technology), and/or any online site that attracts user participation and sharing in order to sell or profit from that user-generated content through advertising. Should self-posted, personal information and online privacy be defended? Is privacy an analogue concept that has no place in the digital age? Or do we need to regulate and control the personal information market, and how might that be done? Or rather do we have to make a choice between an advertising supported Internet and expectations of privacy?

3. Choose an example of family communication that you are personally familiar with in which there has been conflict. Briefly describe the conflict. How can theorizing produce knowledge that can help to improve the situation? What would you need to know in order to effectively deal with this conflict? Which type of theorizing (positivist, interpretivist, critical) would be most helpful and useful in comparison to the other two types? Why? Are there any available theories within the approach you have chosen that can effectively assist you in your knowledge quest? Are there any aspects of interpersonal communication that make one metatheoretical perspective more or less suitable for dealing with interpersonal communication conflict?
4. Focus on one of the following four killings of young African American males by police officers or vigilantes: Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin. Using relevant research, interviews, and accounts as a foundation, present an argument that either supports or disputes the idea that racial schemata were involved in the particular killing and in the verdict rendered by judges and juries on the accused. Would a white person have been shot if the situation was similar in all major respects other than race? If a white person had been killed under similar circumstances, would the verdict have been the same? Is the race of the shooters relevant? What are your recommendations based on your understanding of schemata, in particular, and communication, in general, for minimizing these types of killings?

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂