Final Exam: Whoo-Hoo!

Please answer the following multi-part question in an extended blog post (think the equivalent of 7-9 typed double-spaced pages, give or take) that must be posted to your blog ONLY between 8:45 and 9:15 PM on Thursday, December 21, 2006. Please check your blog's date- and time-stamps now to make sure they are set properly.

Your posts will be evaluated both on the substance of your response (and the extent to which you clearly demonstrate your command over the material we have read, viewed, and discussed over the course of the semester) and also on the style of your post -- do you make effective use of properly embedded links to cite multiple sources and generously reference web-based materials? is your post formatted cleanly, with appropriate paragraph breaks, proper off-setting of extended quotations, and effective and appropriate use of images and videos? is the essay free of egregious spelling and grammatical errors, and written in lively, clear prose? does it move smoothly and logically from one point to another, presenting one coherent extended essay overall?

REMEMBER: this is a Final Exam, in which I am obligated to evaluate your mastery over the material we have covered this semester. The more that you make specific reference to our readings, viewings, lectures, discussions in class, and posts on C-Doc's, and explicitly draw upon and try to integrate the ideas we've explored and debated, the easier it will be for me to make positive judgments about your newfound expertise. In this instance, more is more.

So, ON TO THE QUESTION:

• Briefly describe and evaluate the six mass media models we have discussed over the course of the semester. Choose the one that you think SHOULD be the standard by which we evaluate media performance in a pluralist, democratic polity, and briefly explain why.
• Using that standard, describe and evaluate the performance of Mainstream Media/Big Media, with particular emphasis on recent history and the current state of affairs.
• Using the same standard, evaluate and compare the performance so far of what we have called New Media.
• Now, making logical and reality-based inferences, evaluate the potential for New Media to achieve that standard.

At the same time that you post your blog essay, send me an e-mail with your essay copied into the main message as text. Please put FINAL EXAM: [your last name] in the subject heading. This is to ensure, should there be unexpected Blogger problems, that I will have a record of your exam with the date and time it was submitted. I expect to read and grade exams, and to post final grades for the course, that weekend. I'll then be happy to schedule appointments in the spring semester for anyone who would like to discuss their final exam or their performance in the course. FOR THAT REASON, please do not delete your blog until, at least, February 15, 2007, so that there is a record of your semester's work.

Use the Comments section of this thread to post questions about the final exam: I will answer them here.

PS: Remember that we're meeting Monday in F535 at 8PM, not at our usual times (see below). And, yes, I'll be taking attendance. I'm awfully mean, you know.