Medium is the Message Final Learning Portfolio Post

 

Hey y’all, Max here. Today I’ll be talking about our final project this quarter, which is The Medium is the Message. 

Milestone 1: Welcome Home Text Analysis

For this milestone, we watched a longer than average Apple commercial. It was about 4 minutes long, and was directed by acclaimed director Spike Jonze. For the actual work, we had to analyze the advertisement. We had to unearth who the target audience was, how we interpret it ourselves, and most importantly, how the advertisement reached it’s target audience. I found that this was one of the easier milestones, maybe because we didn’t have to write too much. The question being asked was about how we can apply various strategies to comprehend text, and express an understanding of how text use features. While I think I highlighted most of the big things Apple did to diversify this ad, I think that I was lazy with communicating my understanding of how the texts use different features. 

Milestone 2: Historical Media Analysis

I think that Milestone 2 was difficult in comparison to Milestone 1, but easy in comparison to most of the other milestones. For this particular assignment, we had to take a piece of advertising from the past, and find out the five key questions of media literacy. The five questions are; who created the message, what technique are used to attract my attention, how might people understand this differently from me, what lifestyles, values , and points of view are represented in or omitted from the message, and why was this message sent, for profit or for power. I didn’t spend too much time on this, but I still feel it came out great. The competency ( Have I applied a variety of strategies to comprehend text, and express an understanding of how text uses features? ) was answered here I think, and I don’t think there is much else I could do to make it better.

Milestone 3: Historical Advertising Analysis

This was very similar to milestone 2. The only thing different we had to do this time was find a present perspective, as well as a past one. The only part of this assignment I found challenging was the formatting. It took a while, but I eventually figured out how to properly configure it. The competency questions were challenging, but I think I had them all down in the end. Being able to take a historic perspective was interesting, as the perspective and view back then was so different then it is today. If there is anything that I would change about this, it might be making the message clearer, by changing the text.  

Milestone 4: Team LAUNCH Journal

This milestone was unique, because it was something we worked on throughout the entirety of the medium is the message. It was just a journal that all our group members could contribute to, and share ideas, drafts, designs, and more. It was really helpful, because if it wasn’t there at all, then our project would be a whole lot more difficult. 

This is just one page of notes in the LAUNCH journal.

 

The competency question being assessed was pretty straight forward. I think we made a great launch journal, which helped us with everything. Since the team launch journal was a group assignment that went throughout the medium is the message, my team definitely helped with this. 

Milestone 5: The Medium is the Message Analysis

This may have been the hardest milestone, not because of the assignment, but because of the text we had to read for the assignment. The text (“understanding McLuhan”) was very unfamiliar, and was even made for a grade 12 audience. The text wasn’t so hard to read, as it was to understand. It felt as if the text could have been a whole lot easier to read, but then the people who wrote the book decided to make it way more complicated. As for the actual assignment that we were supposed to do, it wasn’t very difficult. It was just a paragraph explaining how Larry hoped his medium could be his message. We also had to include three examples from “The Gospel according to Larry” and “Understanding McLuhan”. 

I think I did very well here, albeit with some minor errors. I’m certain I answered the competency question correctly, and I even think I exceeded expectations. Even though this was one of the hardest, if not the hardest milestone, I know I did a good job on it. 

Milestone 6: A Deep Cove Advertisement 

For our final milestone (and arguably the most important) we had to make an advertisement for our local business of choice. We had to come together with our groups and make one last advertisement. We had been working on this for most of the Medium is the Message, and all our hard work was finally coming to an end. We also had to say what we contributed when we handed in our final draft. 

The competency assessed was very similar to the launch journal’s. It focused on design, the design process, and how we made an advertisement that helps our business. Designing, developing and creating the ads for Deep Cove Music was a genuinely fun experience, and I was into it every step of the process. Planning the ads were different, as everyone in my group had so many different ideas, so we had to combine them, and that’s how our final draft came to be.  

Our final DCM advertisement draft.

 

The driving question for The Medium is the Message has been How does what we hear, read, and see influence us. This is an interesting question, because there are always things around us that influence us. Whether its big companies trying to sway our opinion on a controversial topic, or if its just an advertisement you see on TV, it is all around us, and it is ever present. Our opinions are always changing, and its not entirely up to ourselves how they’re changing, or why. 

To wrap this all up, I’ll give my own opinion on The Medium is The Message.

This was a fun project for the most part, and I genuinely enjoyed making the drafts for our business. Working with my group could sometimes be painful when they weren’t focused, but I would say that most of the time they put a lot of effort into this project. As for the individual milestones, they were somewhat problematic, but nothing I couldn’t handle. 

While I would sometimes find myself doing multiple drafts of a single milestone, I knew that every draft meant I was learning from a mistake I had previously made. The Medium is the Message has been a great experience and I think I would like to see more projects like this.