Dialogue Forum Winter 2010

Last winter quarter, NCASC conducted our first ever Dialogue Forum. The forum consisted of three graduate students whom are studying in the communication department at Ohio University, and two noble professors both of which are practicing professionals in the Scripps School of Communication. After much deliberation we chose to focus on the study of Gender and Communication. During the hour long dialogue each person shared with our group the current research they are doing in relation to that field of study, bringing light to a whole new dimension of our group, and of our thoughts.

Graduate student Sarah Heiss opened us up with a power point on Gender and Food testing us on our perceptions masculinity and femininity and food! One of her main points was the idea of performance, and what expectations we associate with foods. Light, smaller dishes are associated mostly with women. Meaty, heaping dishes mostly with men. In all, bringing light to the fact that we hold these expectations unconsciously to a degree, pointing them out is food for thought!

Second up, Dr. Raymie Mckerrow discussed the role of power in third-wave feminism. This was one of my favorite topics of the forum. I never recognized the movement modern feminists have moved toward before listening to Dr. Mckerrow. I did not associate girls in tight skirts and four-inch heels as being feminists. Our generation of 'power chicks' in our society are accepted to being 'pretty' and not bra-less lesbians anymore. He noted author Naomi Wolf and her book, "The Beauty Myth" based on third-wave feminism and her depictions of societal structure forming women today. Dr. Mckerrow has not yet finished his research on the topic, but his groundwork is intriguing and delightful to listen in on. He was well-versed on feminism rhetoric and in the future I can only hope I can have a class with him to learn more about his ideas.

Laura Russel, President of GradCo (a graduate student led communication group at OU) spoke with us about teen pregnancy and the interesting bout she had with society's use of finger pointing. The images we see of Jamie Lynn Spears and Bristol Palin on OK magazine, and TV shows like "Teen Mom" on MTV or Lifetime's "Pregnancy Pact", are all mostly negative depictions of teen moms. Laura brought a bright idea to the room when she reminded us all how we look at teen moms and essentially blame them, and only them, for getting pregnant. If you consider our fascination with the driving force of media today it helps formulate why we foresee the girl 'who should have known better'. The father is hardly never represented and we must realize what is triggering this instant judgment on girls in this "scarlet letter" design of our generation.

Our very own advisor, Dr. Jennifer Bute, who teaches classes here at Ohio University each quarter on Gender and Communication, spoke with us on her research concerning infertility. We began discussing our general ideas of infertility and what you might associate with the idea. Immediately everyone began to think about a women, and not being able to get pregnant as a woman's disability. In a similar light to Laura's study, it is noticed that in our society we place so much association with reproduction on the women that men are lost in the shadows. Dr. Bute went on to remind us of our society's structure and expectations within it. Immediately after you are married, the question could be asked as soon as the reception following the wedding, "when are you going to have babies?" She painted an obvious picture about where our thoughts have wandered all this time, beyond all the ages about couples, and the wife bearing baby. She placed images of infertility advertisements and asked us, "How would you answer the question about being pregnant if you were infertile?" The many sad and scary ideas we associate with women, not men, being infertile really makes you think about why we carry associations around with us and the weight of their burden on some people's shoulders.

Lastly, graduate student Jeffery Kuznekoff shared his research on gender and video games. Initially hearing this I wasn't sure what to think, but after his presentation it became clear what bottom lines and barriers he was trying to breech. We realized after he spoke that half a million people a day are online, chatting and connecting with others, by means of video games like Halo. He showed us a few images of women characters in the games and their sexed up construction much to the appeal of the 'men' who are playing these games. He continued to further support his point by letting us listen to a sound clip he conducted of a game being played by a woman, using a few prerecorded positive phrases with a woman's voice which was used when a good play was made by a teammate. This voice said things like, "Great job," or, "Great game guys," and all that was received by these phrases was violent cursing and explicit sexual references. Jeff made quality points about the lack of credibility taken for people who are verbally abusive by means of web connected video games. He made us ask ourselves if we thought that a young boy's mother who allows him to play these games realizes underneath his headphones what conversation is really happening.

The Dialogue Forum on Communication and Gender was a great success. It was well-received by both the participants and the audience. I look forward to hosting another forum in the fall. We really have amazing students and staff for being so willing and open to participating with our group. It was a pleasure to look further into their personal areas of interest articulated by intellect, beyond what we see of them in the classroom.

When I read this, I was reminded of Foucault’s Panopticon. This idea of the panopticon is exactly what was revealed form the Illumination Study. The study was concerned with the productivity of workers rather than the larger body the Panopticon tends to deal with, which includes prisons, hospitals, and schools. The relation of these ideas is outstanding, and I am lead to wonder weather or not Foucault was influenced by these findings.
Sadly, I do not know the answer to this question, but I do believe that both ideas have validity in our world. Both the studies of Psychology and Communications have concluded that this is a phenomenon that occurs in our society. I would suggest that it is completely accurate to say that the influence of someone, or something in some cases, observing your interactions or your backstage self creates an environment where you cannot be completely comfortable, and this is reflected in the way you behave. A few examples include security cameras in drugstores and a supervisor having access to your emails. In the first instance, the cameras you see behind the black bubbles on the ceiling of these establishments are meant to prevent people from stealing. They most often work, because being recorded, and thus being caught for your crime, is a fear many people wish to avoid. In my second example, if an employee is aware his/her supervisor has access to the privacy of emails, that person is likely to not say anything harmful about the company or send personal messages during work hours. Both these likelihoods are not as likely if an employee’s emails are not accessible to the employer.
However, in the age of reality television, this idea has shifted. Shows like The Real World and Big Brother have essentially thrown the idea of the Panopticon and the notion of the Hawthorne Effect out the window. Participants in these show, among many others, do not behave differently after becoming used to the idea of being taped. This behavior is partly the reason reality shows are so successful, we get to witness what most people would not allow the world to see. With this new age of media, it leads me to question how long the Hawthorne Effect will have a place in our society.

Kaleen Kosmo

When I read this, I was reminded of Foucault’s Panopticon. This idea of the panopticon is exactly what was revealed form the Illumination Study. The study was concerned with the productivity of workers rather than the larger body the Panopticon tends to deal with, which includes prisons, hospitals, and schools. The relation of these ideas is outstanding, and I am lead to wonder weather or not Foucault was influenced by these findings.
Sadly, I do not know the answer to this question, but I do believe that both ideas have validity in our world. Both the studies of Psychology and Communications have concluded that this is a phenomenon that occurs in our society. I would suggest that it is completely accurate to say that the influence of someone, or something in some cases, observing your interactions or your backstage self creates an environment where you cannot be completely comfortable, and this is reflected in the way you behave. A few examples include security cameras in drugstores and a supervisor having access to your emails. In the first instance, the cameras you see behind the black bubbles on the ceiling of these establishments are meant to prevent people from stealing. They most often work, because being recorded, and thus being caught for your crime, is a fear many people wish to avoid. In my second example, if an employee is aware his/her supervisor has access to the privacy of emails, that person is likely to not say anything harmful about the company or send personal messages during work hours. Both these likelihoods are not as likely if an employee’s emails are not accessible to the employer.
However, in the age of reality television, this idea has shifted. Shows like The Real World and Big Brother have essentially thrown the idea of the Panopticon and the notion of the Hawthorne Effect out the window. Participants in these show, among many others, do not behave differently after becoming used to the idea of being taped. This behavior is partly the reason reality shows are so successful, we get to witness what most people would not allow the world to see. With this new age of media, it leads me to question how long the Hawthorne Effect will have a place in our society.

Kaeleen Kosmo

I want to examine how gender, principally the female gender, is portrayed in the media. It has been my observation that women are more times than not, and by more times than not I mean potentially 95% of the time, portrayed in either stereotypical roles or as sexualized ones. They are portrayed as nurses, secretaries, and other passive roles like teachers and mothers. Or in advertisements they are seen with minimal clothing passively posed. When women are shown in high-powered roles, like a business owner or renowned doctor, there roles are diluted by their imminent depiction as a promiscuous woman, sexual deviant, or untouchable vixen.

Organizational Communication

http://www.bravotv.com/flipping-out/videos/needing-an-apology

One of my favorite shows has got to be "Flipping Out" with Jeff Lewis on Bravo, also one of my favorite television channels. Last season, there was quite the organizational conflict during episode 8 about how Jeff Lewis, and his business partner, Ryan Brown, were conducting business. Now to get the jist of things, Jeff is very obsessive compulsive and has an extreme talent for flipping houses. In the past he and Ryan were in a serious relationship together and during which they started a business together which they bought houses, fixed them up, and then sold them for profit. They broke up but remained close friends and "flexible" business partners, meaning they made refferals and still worked on particular projects together. As of late, Jeff was suspicious of Ryan deceiving business leads to believe that he was using his famous name, "Jeff Lewis", exclusively made famous from the television series, to essentially build his business . Jeff accused him of leading clients to believe he was apart of the business deal and was helping to design their property. Furthermore, Jeff found out that Ryan was paying money to Google so when people "googled" Jeff Lewis's name, Brown Design would come up first and lead them to Ryan's design website. All-in-all quite the technological breakdown in a new era by means of doing business. Reality television, blogging, entertainment magazines have brought about this entirely different segment of prosperty and lucrative means of a social study. The video expalins more properly the situation itself, but what other questions might this bring to the table for business? What do people think about Twitter pages and could they be the demise of any business by one miss-tweet? Or are these television series, google alerts and strategic technogogical forces a beast to their business sucess or more of a burden to carry on their shoulders that has the potential to bury their business productivity? Thoughts?...

First Blog!

I would like to dedicate this writing source to Ohio University's National Communications Association Student Club and the Academic Committee that we have recently created within our group. The Academic Advancement Committee's focus is on academic pursuits of the students within our club, their interests in higher education, and creating a voice between student and faculty. NCASC will be hosting our first quarterly dialogue forum this winter which will highlight connections to life, theory and communications. We hope to bring in professors from the communications department, graduate students studying communcations, and will be promoting the dialogue as an event open to any student who would like to participate.
The purpose of our blog is to bring awareness about NCASC and most importantly for students and faculty alike to present things they are learning about communications. Essentially, whether it be how communications seems to overlap in an unlikely or unexpected way such as in the classroom or on television, or if there is something happening in your life that applies to what you learned in class that day. At my three years at Ohio University communications has started to mold the way I think, analyze and interpret everyday occassions, and I know my professors would be proud to hear that. Let it be, the documentation of those times in life. And now, I am figuritively placing my imaginary sword on this blog's right and left shoulders. Enjoy!
-Mackenzie Burkhardt
VP NCASC