Website evaluation

Web Site Evaluation

Thinking about the site

1) Yes, the George Foster Peabody Award.

2) It is not mentioned on the website. But maybe in the company’s vlog.

3) It is important award as it is the oldest achievement award for television and radio.

4) The users of the site are responsible for the content most of the time because the owners or the company do no check the videos being uploaded. It manly when users flag video when that particular video is checked by the YouTube owners. Although this site has certain rules about copyright and all, they are not very successful at implementing them.

5) Although it doesn’t state anywhere, the registered users update their videos all day around. But, YouTube probably updates itself every 2-3 weeks.

6) It is not written on the site.

7) It seems current.

8) It is very easy to navigate. If right phrases are written, then the results can be good.

Thinking about the author of the site

9) Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim are the founders of the site.

10) It talks about their current position in YouTube Company and that’s it.

11) No, because not much is written about the founders of YouTube.

12) No, but we can find it on Wikipedia.

13) The audience is of a huge range; who ever is capable of using internet is the audience.

14) Yes

15) Yes, 15 and over. The ads vary, some are dental ads, marriage ads, telephone ads, movie ads etc.

16) Yes

Thinking About the found at the sites

17) Yes, because this place is like the advertisement for other sites. They can put a upload a bit of the information and for the rest they give a link.

18) Most of the time.

19) It offers all views.

20) The users usually put links.

21) Yes

22) In professionally produced videos. Yes.

23) No

My evaluation

Overall this site-Links me to other sites that are helpful.

Digital School Library

The comment that I agreed most was Phyllis DiBianco. His/Her main point was that computers and books can work side by side. She also added that a library is not necessarily a quiet place, it is a place for debating , studying and collabarating most importantly. This statement is true. It is the same in our school. The best example I can give. In our school, students use technology and books are used side by side. As we read before, google is definitely making us stupid. When we search on Google , it might give us exact information, but when we want a specific detail, it can take forever to find a specific information. Even when we find it on web, it is not guaranteed that the information in truth. This is the case where books can be used to clarify the information we find on web. I also agree with few other comments which talked about certain resources suiting certain people. For example, I can't stare at a LCD screen for too long meaning that I can't read twenty pages of History research even with breaks. I am sure many other people face these kinds of problems. Therefore I get them printed, and that is similar to having a book infront of me. Lets look at the cons of having a library- trees are cut for paper. For technology, LCD screens use much more toxic material. And paper can be recycled and can all the plastic waste be succefully recyled. We also need books, because today in our generation, I know my friends and class mates have shorter attenion span and books can help prevent this. Therefore, I support having library and few computers working side by side. I like turning pages of novels and I don't want my lap top to run out of battery if I am rereading Harry Potter. And we don't want kids as young as 5 years pld to get addicted to computer to technology at a young age. Books are portable and books don't hurt your eyes and they don't run out of battery.

Digital Truth

What does digital truth mean? In my own words I would say, anything captured by a multimedia which has not been modified or manipulated through any computer program. In this case what we capture or record is what we get. So, why is digital truth important? Well, the obvious reason because truth is important. According to me, there are certain areas of life where digital truth is necessary. For example newspapers, factual magazines and anything that is supposed to show us the reality. When truth is digitally manipulated, the reality gets manipulated. So simply, what we are seeing is not the reality. But what happens if we don’t know something has been manipulated. When truth is manipulated then it leads to chaos. This is the danger of being in a world where digital truth can be played around with.

For example, it is often used to create a negative effect, TIME magazine made OJ Simpson’s face darker to create the effect of menace. Another example is when Stalin used to manipulate images for the purpose of indoctrination. These are some of the extreme cases of digital manipulation. Today, we see magazine covers which are air- brushed. Sure, we know that it is airbrushed but still it affects us. Because we are tempted to buy all the acne and anti- aging creams. How do models feel when their images are manipulated? Imperfect don’t you think? What about the young girls who look into these magazines are pressured by the untruth?

It’s not all about the images. It is the same with music industry today. A lot of stars have their voice enhanced when recorded. No offense. But, British dancer/singer George Sampson has his voice enhanced throughout his track ‘Body language’. Lindsay Lohan who short lived in the music industry had obviously manipulated all of her tracks because her live performances have never been as good as her voice on CD. In reality, these singers are fooling their fans and the audience. Where is the justice?

Manhood on the Mat

Wrestler John Cena uses his submission move on his opponet and Booker-T taunts the crowd by waving his hands in front of his face meaning "In your face".

Today, wrestling entertainment programs such WWE and WCW have reduced the role of women and men to just simple, understandable, digestible stereotypes. It is an entertainment industry which begs to stay away from real life and complicated situations. As a result we see wrestlers who love insulting one another, taunting and use intimidation, ridicule and humiliate, bully and like to stay in control. And then we also get the image of woman who constantly trying to outwit each other by participating in face offs which include stripping off your opponents clothes till their undergarments. But, the main focus of the article “Manhood on the Mat” is the role of wrestling entertainment in defining masculinity.

I have seen children at young age watch these programs and I have seen them after imitate these very values like taunting, bullying and the moves. As usual, I will give an example from my experiences in India. In the schools, I have seen a lot male students imitate the values taught in WWE which frequently aired in India. No doubt it is quite popular, because I got to hear about the popular matches that took place every other day. I observed the male students who were the most popular were those who taunted the teachers, indulged in bullying and verbally abused each other. Wrestling entertainment is a make believe world and most of us know that really well. But what should be done if the guidelines of being a “man” have already come into trend? Then either we go with the flow or go against the tide, which will end up some individuals branded as “fag”, “gay” and other such words.

In conclusion, wrestling programs do show a very stereotyped world to the audience, but it certainly did not create the criteria for masculinity; the characteristics of being a “man” have existed since ever. In stories and legends it is the man who has to show courage and achieve tasks in order to become a man or save the family’s honor. A lot of the values were already established. Popular culture just helps in establishing these values, meaning that it makes it more acceptable. For example, former WWE wrestler “Rock” was adored by fans for his insulting remarks. He didn’t make just normal insulting remarks but funny ones. This creates the idea that it is ok to insult like this because it would make you popular and that it is part of being a man. According to me, the stereotypes are created by the people or communities and then the media picks it up and popularizes it and this is why sometimes we don’t know who is mirroring who. Is the media mirroring the people’s ideas or are people’s ideas being affected by the media?

News Program Analysis

News Channel- NDTV- New Delhi Television Limited

- The Maoists realeased some prisoner of wars
- TheCongress won, Rahul Gandhi won some seats PArliament and is trekking around the country as part of his campaign.
-Seagull enters a news studio.
-Mariah Carrey’s Interview promting her latest album
-Salman Khan’s charity and his charity clothing line(Bollywood Star)
-Rabin, Katrina and Deepika- Love Triangle of Bollywood Stars
-Later the weather updates.


I watch this news channel really often and I finally found out why I am hooked to this news channel. I like this news channel for its accuracy in reporting for the events which are important to people. It is now of the most and accurate channels. I was kind of shocked by what I discovered after watching 20 minute worth of news. More than half of the news segments were just gossip and about Bollywood stars having a love triangle and some actor launching his clothing line for charity. The actor, Salman Khan is knows well for his philanthropy. So, to recognize him for such activities is fine but then the news changes its focus to the possibility of him reuniting with his ex-girlfriend. How is that relevant to me or anyone else? The news items before these were about Maoists releasing prisoners of war which were not as detailed as I would have liked them to be. The Second news item was really brief and talked about a popular politician wining seats in the parliament. Then it was celebrity gossip all the way with a segment on how a seagull entered a news studio. Later, it was the boring weather forecast. According to me did not meet the criteria for being a news channel because the news items which were important were not even as detailed as a conventional TV news report. It was disappointing. I am actually starting to understand, Neil Postman’s idea of “Now….then”. Right after watching the two serious news items, I looked at the ads coming up and they lightened my mood. And it is obvious, that the news channel made up the story of the Love Triangle to keep the viewers hooked, because listening to celebrity scandals is considered entertaining.

Do Stereotypes contain truth? Why? How are they formed?

I agree, the stereotypes are definitely based on some measure of truth. Otherwise how are people able to relate the stereotype to the “stereotyped”. According to me stereotypes are like the early descriptions or the very first perceptions of a group. It might have been completely true at some point of time. But it changed as we got more culturally diverse. For example, taking my own nationality Indian; one of the most stereotyped group. We are most mocked for our accent and the truth is majority of Indian do sound like that! How about the fact that people call us cheap? Believe it or not, when I say we ACTUALLY are cheap, I speak on behalf of myself and all the Non Resident Indians I have met till date. In my defense, I can only say that we Indians are not cheap by nature but because of the situations our government puts us in with the awful wages when we are not on our country soil. I guess this is what created the stereotype. At least one quality of the stereotype can be applied each person of the stereotyped group. I don’t think I can say the same for the other stereotyped groups. Sometimes stereotypes can get off hand for example, most Indian-Americans are taxi drivers, gays can’t be manly, Jews are greedy and the most crude is that all Muslims are terrorists. Stereotypes exist in the society for the sole purpose of insulting the group and entertainment. Unfortunately, a stereotype does contain some measure of truth.

Truthfully, a stereotype is of no use and should not even exist. If the person uses it to hurt someone’s feelings then, the person is very narrow minded. But if it is used for entertainment like comedian Russell Peters and Jeff Dunham use it, then I say- go ahead make us laugh. There must be various ways to form stereotypes. A stereotype is sometimes born out of one person’s hatred for a certain group. If that particular person is able to pass his ideas around and uninformed people are not able to differentiate between the truth and the made-up information then the stereotype gets officially instituted. For example, in ‘Mein Kamp’ Hitler said that Jews were greedy and used inaccurate information to brain wash people. In this case the stereotype did not contain any truth. Stereotypes born out of hatred can be harmful. Television can be credited for popularizing stereotypes about African Americans and Homosexuals.

Reaction to DOVE- Real Beauty Campaign

" No wonder our percerption of beauty is distorted"

Dove “Real Beauty” Campaign is a campaign aimed at all ages, all shapes and all colors. It says it is aimed at diffusing the unhealthy and unsecure environment created by the media such as fashion magazines. It helps young girls increase their confidence and self esteem by ignoring the distorted media images. What we see the Dove Corporation doing here is using good values to sell its brand. It is trying to create this positive image of itself among the consumers. By outreaching girls at such a young age it is instituting its name by the roots and gaining their trust. Of course, Dove Corporation is doing this with a motive. It is a very clever marketing strategy which very few can fully carry out. So by creating a positive image of itself among the consumers it is saying, “We love each and every kind of woman or girl, no matter what, because by imparting good values and a positive image the women will buy our products. This quite ironic because our products despite being chemical made provide real beauty.” In a message concerning the campaign, the company said that they would make all necessary changes to pictures to meet professional standards. That can explain why the girls have light makeup on and no acne at all. Before, knowing about advertising strategies, I would choose Dove over any other brand because of its positive image; I thought the “Dove Evolution” was nice. But now, I just feel like I am being used. So, I was using their products because they promoted real beauty, but now I have started to realize there is nothing real about Dove. They don’t even use natural substances in their products.