MARK THIS: The Importance of Communications

Before entering this class, my parents told me that I should pursue something with Communications. My whole life I was told that I should go to university and major in Communications. If I were to ask one what Communications is, I would get an unclear answer that I never understood. Unsatisfied, I decided to take initiative and search on the internet for a better understanding of what communications actually meant. I came across various websites that informed me of several definitions and explanations, along with information as to what one can pursue with a degree in Communications. After all my questions were answered I knew that my decision was already made for me, which was to major in Communications at McMaster University.

In Dr. Alex Sevigne’s note, Some advice for College and University students, I found this quote that got me excited just by reading it:
“A life in which every experience becomes a possibility for adventure, growth and love”

This quote brings back several memories, most being from high school when life seemed so frustrating, cluttered, and complicated. I remember the speech from my parents, “Honey, you will figure yourself out in University, whether it is your career or the love of your life”. My parents made me believe that when you get into university everything will seem to fall into place. They gave me this hope during high school that university will allow me to open my eyes to new possibilities and expectations.

The more I attend lectures, the greater my excitement is to someday pursue a career in public relations. Communications is truly a very interesting topic. You can extend your definition of Communications to the different ways we communicate each day, whether it includes conversation, body movements, choice of vocabulary or the medium we use to communicate to one another. Communications allows us to open our eyes to a world of possibilities. It does so because the more we become educated about our surroundings, and the type of listener we are, the more capable we become to survive this complicated and worried world.

Also mentioned in Dr. Sevigne’s note is: “Alex, I didn’t understand until maybe the middle of third year. I finally understood that education is about storytelling – the stories of art and science, society and engineering, health and commerce and how they all weave together into the grand story of our lives together.”

While reading this, it connected me back to one of Dr. Sevigne’s lectures when he mentioned that in order to be a good communicator, you must be good at story telling because it is the best way to get a point across. Education is like storytelling because all of what you learn is weaved together to create the story of your life, and storytelling for a communicator creates a confident and well posed image. Storytelling also makes the communicator’s point memorable.

In the media today, specifically music, there are several inspirational songs that talk about the journey of life, victory, happiness, sadness etc. In the following YouTube videos these songs are strong, encouraging and it is important to listen to lyrics very closely. Enjoy.
1. Hopeful By Twista ft. Faith Evans
2. The Climb By Miley Cyrus
3. One step at a time By Jordin sparks


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MARK THIS: Girls dont like boys, Girls like Cars and Money

In the article from the National Post, Low marks keeping Canadian boys out of University: Study it talks about the differences between boys and girls in high school. Boys are not as hard working when it comes to homework, assignments and preparation for tests as girls are. Also, girls are the ones who frequently attend university after high school rather than boys who either go to college or take on trades such as plumbing or electrician. We can clearly identify the differences between both sexes and that their choices differ from one another.

This identification of differences between sexes does not only exist in high school but in everyday communication from one person to another. We have learned in class that communication is not solely based on speaking but our body movements, our interactions to one another, our confrontation and finally our response. Men and women speak very differently. Women tend to talk about problems where as men tend to ignore them and avoid confrontation. Also, differences could include the way men speak to their male friends and how women speak to their female friends. When males talk to their male friends, they often talk about sports and celebrities where as women talk to their female friends about their love life, problems that may occur, and gossip. Furthermore, our selection of words varies between high or low context, for example, in some cultures it is very inappropriate for women to use vulgarity such as cursing. However, if men were to speak in such a way, it wouldn’t change a person’s view of him.

Another distinction between men and women is their body movements such as their walk, stance and physical expressions. Women have more of a feminine walk because they walk with their hips and have their back straight, where as men are slouched and walk more relaxed. A persons’ stance is quite important, if you were to go to Wal-Mart or a grocery store you would see that the majority of the men stand with their back slouched and their head facing downwards and the women have their chest up and their head held high. Physical expressions would be considered hand gestures, the movement of the body when talking in front of an audience or to a family member or a friend.

We could go on stating the differences between men and women, but one thing we should question is how women and men are perceived on television and in movies? If we look at all the television shows we enjoy watching, we can observe that most of the women have the same attributes, such as: fashionable with nice and well kept hair. Men are always wearing casual clothing and most of them look just like an average Joe but with some extra charm.
Men and women are diverse from each other and a great portrayal of this could be shown through media such as advertisements, television shows, movies and even music. One show in particular that significantly identifies the media’s perception of girls and boys can be viewed in the following clip from The Disney Channel, Life with Derek.

Derek and Casey clearly have different mentalities, interests and clothing styles. I feel that this clip depicts a very obvious way that girls and boys, especially teenagers, can be different from one another. The way Derek and Casey communicate with their body and their choice of words show various ways of communication and that there are multiple ways of addressing issues. This episode also shows that Casey works extra hard to earn her high grades where as Derek could care less about failing a test and how it is accepted from his father since he “ never tried hard in high school”.

This can relate back to the article how girls in high school work hard and aim to go to university where not all the boys work as hard, and don’t try to go to university.

Life with Derek:

MARK THIS Economist did you know, that Technology is overpowering our lives!?

The YouTube video, Economist Did you know? Is a very interesting clip that makes the human

mind recalculate their interactions with technology on a daily basis. This clip is brilliant, and it also makes the viewer think about the past, present, and future and how much technology has become a part of us, almost like another finger... or another hand, another necessity.


Can we agree that society relies on the Internet, or more specifically, on technology for everything, which as a result, declines physical human interaction? We can definitely agree and thus become more educated to our actions that we seem to be very oblivious about.
Facebook is another well-known example that proves our obsession, attachment, and addiction to technology. Facebook can go further than just technology; it becomes a habit through our daily rituals and causes our moods to change when we read wall posts or view pictures of friends. But isn't it surreal how a simple website can overpower peoples' lives worldwide? We adapt Facebook in our daily conversations and even give it the short form of ¨FB¨ expecting that everyone should just know what it stands for. We can talk and talk about Facebook, but the essence of it is portrayed through us, the ones who log onto it more than three times a day.

The video brings up very relevant and fascinating points, such as how much a teenager text messages in a day and how many frequent viewers are on pages like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace.
In our lecture we learned of a type of communication that Harold Innis had theorized: Space-binding media, which is a printed or electronic media. It can relate to this clip or the message that is being perceived.

Space- binding media is one of two divisions that Innis divided communication into. It is very easy to work with and it contains a lot of information and makes the message easy to transport. However, it is less durable than time-binding media. So, how does it relate to the clip? The clip itself is a time-binding media because it is electronic which makes it very easy to work with since everything is on the computer. Space-binding media usually includes messages on the radio or television in which the message does make a vast impact towards thousands and thousands of people.

Like this video, it gets their viewers thinking about themselves and how they have become so needy to technology, but a message like this could not stay popular in society for too long, maybe just for a few months or even weeks, then something new will evolve since technology is always creating something bigger and better.

MARK THIS Perez Hilton the communicator that over powers YouTube Videos

After watching the Perez Hilton YouTube video, I’m not sure what I despise more, Brittney Spears, Perez Hilton, or the Circus. Where on earth did this weird and random guy come from? He hates on celebrities and basically creates this world of fun and play, but really just embarrasses all those who are human.

We have learned through our readings and lectures that words have no meaning other than the one you make for it. One thing that just boggles my mind is how people listen to the meaningless words that come from Perez Hiltion's mouth. We can ask ourselves, why does he portray himself this way?

If we were to converse with Perez, would we believe that he is a liable person, someone who wouldn’t gossip about your problems? Or does his representation of himself lead you to believe that the things he says are false? Or does he represent himself in a way that you believe every word he is telling you? There is more than one view we can perceive from this video: negative and positive. On a positive note, Perez Hilton is a great communicator, and obviously he gets his job done which is reflective of the thousands of views on his web page and on his previously watched YouTube videos.

A question that continually comes to mind is: what gives Perez Hilton his power? If we break it down we can actually see how Perez Hilton, the Entertainer, gains this superior hierarchy in the media. First, we have the viewers like you and I, which provides a boost in his role in the media because our curiosity enables us to view all his posted videos, and learn more about him which then bumps up the amount of hits on his web page and videos. After learning more about Perez Hilton, we then become more educated to who he is so when he appears on the radio, we know exactly who he is, what he does, and we would be prepared for his gossip and the '411' on the luxurious lives of celebrities. The media controls us to the extent that we listen to what is popular, and what is popular is the image that the media perceives of Perez Hilton. But is he really that popular? Or do we think that because the media encourages his role as the entertainer, and approves of his strange ways? So if the media accepts Perez Hilton, then it tries to push us as the viewers to approve of him and create reasons as to why he is tolerable and should continue listening to him.

Through the readings in class, specifically the article The Medium is the Message, by Marshall McLuhan, we can relate to the article in which the medium is the context, to Perez Hilton by how all his messages are being portrayed in the media. The medium is essentially his speech, his writing and his thoughts which are all made into his YouTube Videos, his webpage, and his interviews on the radio. The way Perez Hilton communicates all his thoughts is quite remarkable, even though his personality is odd, mysterious and humorous, he does his job right.
We could conclude that maybe a reason why he is accepted through the media is because he always gets his point across whether right or wrong, bad or good, ¨ the content of object is less important than the fact that they exist in culture society.¨ (lecture 4, Intro to comm. Dr. Alex Sévigny)