J. Funk, D. Buchman, Jennifer A. Jenks, Heidi Bechtoldt
{"title":"An Evidence-Based Approach to Examining the Impact of Playing Violent Video and Computer Games","authors":"J. Funk, D. Buchman, Jennifer A. Jenks, Heidi Bechtoldt","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.4.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.4.001","url":null,"abstract":"Video and computer (“electronic”) games have attained lasting status as a preferred leisure activity, and games with violence often achieve great popularity. There has been wide speculation that playing violent electronic games is harmful for children, but only minimal empirical work. A body of research is needed to provide a base for media education for consumers and for policy makers. This article presents findings from a program of research. The goal of the program is to systematically accumulate data to establish relationships between playing violent electronic games and aspects of children's personality and behavior. Significant negative relationships have been identified between a preference for violent games and various outcome measures including self-perceptions of academic performance and behavior. However, such relationships are not found in every study. We have proposed that some children may be more susceptible to being affected by game-playing. In future studies, these possible “high risk” players deserve special attention. Understanding how children experience playing a violent electronic game is another question that may be critical to understanding game impact.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127067947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Content Analysis of Image Restoration in Northern Ireland: Public Communication Strategies of Political Parties","authors":"A. O'leary, M. El-Nawaway","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.3.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.3.004","url":null,"abstract":"This case study applies image restoration theory to a content analysis of speeches and articles by the leaders of two Irish political parties, Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Specifically, it investigates how each party promoted its image through use of peaceful and antagonistic language from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998 to its suspension in February 2000. This case study found that the UUP used more peaceful and more antagonistic language than Sinn Fein, that Sinn Fein used more image-promoting language than UUP, and that Sinn Fein's use of antagonistic tones increased from the beginning to the end of the period in question.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127916517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond Demographic Variables: Using Psychographic Research to Narrate the Story of Internet Users","authors":"Mohan J. Dutta-Bergman","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.3.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.3.002","url":null,"abstract":"Much attention has been paid to the demographic correlates of Internet use, which show that richer and more educated individuals are more likely to use the Internet than less educated and lower income individuals. As well, the Internet user is more likely to be male than female and is typically younger than the non-user. Fewer studies have been conducted about the role of psychographics in Internet use. Based on the attitudes, interests, and opinions of individuals, psychographic variables provide insights into the lifestyle clusters that encompass a certain behavior. Innovativeness, opinion leadership, consumerism, community involvement, and health consciousness are examined in this article to construct a descriptive narrative of Internet use. Innovativeness emerged as the strongest psychographic contributor to Internet use.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"89 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124243760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Media Education's Present and Future: A Survey of Teachers.","authors":"Bradford L. Yates","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.3.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.3.003","url":null,"abstract":"Public and private elementary and secondary school teachers in a small southeastern city in the United States at the close of the 20 th century were surveyed to assess the current state of media education. The resulting case study attempts to determine whether changes have occurred in media education, given the increase in educator awareness of media education benefits, media literacy advocacy groups, media education resources, and changes in technology. Specific areas of inquiry include the importance of teaching media literacy, competency to teach media literacy, teachers' perceptions of students' media skills and understanding, and barriers to media education. Results indicate an overwhelming support for media education goals and values; however, only two-thirds of the respondents reported addressing media in the classroom. Lack of time and materials were reported as the most common barriers to media education.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"150 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114704322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"From Subhuman to Superhuman: Images of First Nations Peoples in Comic Books","authors":"Cornel D. Pewewardy","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.2.004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.2.004","url":null,"abstract":"This article chronicles the ways in which First Nations peoples are portrayed in comic books in the United States. Rendered first as subhuman and then as superhuman, First Nations peoples were consistently presented as different in comics. The superhuman characteristics that are occasionally attributed to First Nations representatives in 20 th century media are, ideologically, not much different from the subhuman characteristics attributed to First Nations representatives in the 19 th century. Both superhuman and subhuman portrayals serve to exclude, isolate, and deframe First Nations peoples from a common humanity. A critical analysis of this phenomenon can provide students with powerful insights into the challenges that educators face as critical multicultural educators and points the way to creating oppositional pedagogies.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127371338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Manufacturing Nationalism: Post-September 11 Discourse in United States Media","authors":"S. Burney","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.2.003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.2.003","url":null,"abstract":"Using Chomsky's notion of the manufacture of consent as well as Said's critiques of Orientalism and culture and imperialism, this article presents a theory and way of looking at post September 11 discourse in United States media as a hegemonic, state-oriented manufacturing of nationalism. Story and memory, images, words and icons, ritual, spectacle, advertising, and commercialism are deployed subliminally to construct self-serving nationalist mythologies. These grand narratives of nationalism evoke meanings and ideologies, which produce an us/them nationalist discourse that demonizes and dehumanizes the other. The US[A]/ THEM discourse deflects attention elsewhere from key critical and moral issues raised by the United States war against terrorism.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129011290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How First-Year College Students Read Popular Science : An Experiment In Teaching Media Literacy Skills","authors":"Kate M. Manuel","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.2.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.2.002","url":null,"abstract":"Over the course of three consecutive quarters during the 2000–2001 academic year, 63 students enrolled in an information literacy course at a western American public university were required to conduct a close reading of an article from Popular Science after preliminary instruction in key information and media literacy concepts. Students' responses to questions about (1) the nature of the information and documentation presented by the text, (2) the purpose and intended audience of the text, and (3) the authorship and point of view of the text were examined to see to what degree students were able to think critically about these articles. Findings suggest that, even after basic instruction in information and media literacy skills, many students have difficulties identifying problems (biases, authors' lack of credentials, lack of sources, etc.) with information resources largely because of the ways in which they typically misread texts and make mistaken inferences from them. This article provides quantitative and qualitative descriptions of students' misreadings and mistaken inferences; discusses possible explanations for students' difficulties in interpreting texts; and examines the implications of these difficulties for information literacy and media literacy education.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"189 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116344082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contaminations and Hybrids: Indigenous Identity and Resistance to Global Media","authors":"S. Olson","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.2.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.2.001","url":null,"abstract":"Postcolonial theory has noted how the dissemination of transnational media has accelerated the hybridization of culture (","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125899305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Defensive Dialogues: Native American Mascots, Anti-Indianism, and Educational Institutions","authors":"C. King","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.1.001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.1.001","url":null,"abstract":"Exploring the arguments and practices employed by educational institutions to defend the continued use of Native American names, logos, and imagery, this article argues that such efforts derive from and promote anti-Indianism. After an outline of the scope and significance of anti-Indianism, the common arguments advanced in defense of mascots are discussed. The central strategies employed by educational institutions in an effort to preserve “their” Indians are identified, with particular emphasis on misrecognition, possessiveness, compromise, denial, deferral, endorsement, and terror. The significance of these anti-Indian practices for Native Americans is addressed, and suggestions are made about ways to critically read such enactments of Indianness.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"81 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126018255","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"McFreedom? Packaging Democracy for Student Consumption","authors":"Tony L. Talbert","doi":"10.3138/SIM.2.1.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3138/SIM.2.1.002","url":null,"abstract":"High school students are increasingly being exposed to the concept of “packaged democracy” in social studies textbooks, curricula, and learning resources. Democracy is defined in pleasing and palatable images that promote the narrow economic, political, and socio-cultural interests of corporate giants. Very little space is devoted to critical thought and analytical inquiry about the differences between popular-democracy (i.e., freedom, majority rule, protection of minority rights, free and open elections) and market-democracy principles (i.e., unrestrained consumption, efficiency, power and access based on wealth and free/open trade). This article examines how social education teachers and students are being offered packaged democracy for mass consumption in two social studies textbooks published by McGraw-Hill.","PeriodicalId":206087,"journal":{"name":"Simile: Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education","volume":"112 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2002-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116072382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}