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