Dr. Sameh Abdallah - CLC Seminar

Dr. Sameh Abdallah gave a seminar for the College of Language and Communications at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport in Miami. As the managing editor of the Al Ahram Newspaper – Cairo Branch – the main message of his seminar was to give ten journalist tips to the CLC students.

Throughout the seminar, Dr. Sameh Abdallah was able to successfully deliver his main message. As a successful journalist, his advice really did leave an impact, however his delivery was successful in grabbing the audience’s attention at the start of his talk, throughout, and at the end. I believe a reason for his success in grabbing attention was his volume, and the interaction with the audience. He did resort to joking though the seminar, which was good for his target audience – college students. However a majority of the audience was made up of term 1 students, and I believe that is why he resorted to taking a more friendly approach. As term 1 students, a majority of them still have yet to think of their future. I would have preferred for him to be a bit more serious regarding the explanation of some specific points. There were times where I felt like I just wanted him to get to the point of his story then continue his joking around with the audience. I personally was impacted greatly by his talk. It was nice to see a man of his position with his personality. I have been told various times that I am “too weird” and need to change to be able to “deal with the country” so it was comforting to see a successful, grown man acting care free while still being on top of his work. That is what I aspire to be one day, successful while still being true to myself.

The way that he started his speech was different than the way that previous speakers have at our University. Instead of staying behind the podium, seated, he stood up and stood in front of the podium. He was loud and friendly with the way he started, making him stand out from the previous people who have come to talk to us about their professions. His outro was completely different from his intro. While his intro was friendly and inviting, his outro was more serious which I believe was better than his intro because it left the sense of how important the field of journalism is. I do believe that the reason for the effectiveness of his outro was due to how friendly and carefree his intro was.

While he spoke, the he used a mix of Arabic and English. His language in both languages were formal enough to not be slang and also simple enough to be understood at a friendly level of normal conversation.  He did use a few expressions and phrases regarding his tips for journalism. The use of expressions made it easy for the tips to be remembered; furthermore, the expressions also made journalism seem like a fun and interesting field that would be nice to join.

I loved his body language at the beginning of his speech because he was standing and involved in what he was saying. The passion was extremely noticeable, and it made the entire topic seem much more interesting. However his excessive movements were somewhat distracting. I found myself paying more attention to what he was doing and less attention to what he was saying. His facial expressions were extremely energetic, but at points when he was raising his voice his eyes would be open very widely and the entire issue flipped from being friendly to somewhat intense. His volume was very loud, which was good regarding the size of the room and the amount of people. I was sitting in the third row, and at points I felt like he was yelling. His volume would rise unexpectedly and it would startle me at some points, which would distort my thoughts. I had a hard time following what he was saying when he was yelling due to the excessive loudness. Other than that, it was fine, especially considering the fact that his audience was mainly composed of first year college students. I personally am not used to people speaking that loudly in general, but I have noticed hat people in Egypt are used to speaking at high volumes, so maybe it was perfect for the audience before him. His intonation was very precise in both Arabic and English.

As for a visual aid, he had a presentation made up of 10 slides. Each slide only had the tip that he was explaining. The tip was written in a creative way that made the presentation itself eye catching.

Dr. Sameh Abdallah did not depend on his visual aid to give his talk. He read the tip on the slide, drawing attention to the visual aid, and then he explained it in more detail without referring to any notes. He only referred back to the visual aid when he wanted to emphasize the tip again throughout his explanation.

Not a lot of people asked questions; however, he did answer every question asked. I believe that part of the reason why not a lot of questions were asked is because of the fact that some of the students were scared from how he interacted with them. He was rather forceful and insensitive while dealing with shy students.

The Stages of Media - Evolution to Revolution

The table above represents a perspective of how media has changed over the years. It shows an “evolution” of media as it transitioned from Traditional media to New media. Following New media it shows how media was revolutionized as it entered a Digital status.

Prior to the 1990s, media was seen as “Traditional”. It was before the Internet took place and technology started to digitalize media, as we knew it.

Traditional media was generally delivered to the public through a broadcast. Newspapers, Radio and TV channels managed to reach the masses. This form of media also did not have a specific target audience. The main channels were TV, Radio and Print media.

The first companies to be seen as traditional media include Time Warner, Disney and CBC. If you look at the mentioned companies today, you can imagine the drastic changes or “evolution” that each one went through in regards to new media.

The main business model of Traditional Media was through subscription and brand advertising. That was the main concern and main way of getting their image to the public.

The content delivery was seen in a “push” form. By “push” they just constantly pushed out their media content to their consumers.

Consumers had few choices in regards to what to look at. There was a lack of variations in topics.

Traditional Media went through a slow and steady pace of growth.

But eventual there was an evolution, and in the 1990s traditional media became “New” media.

“New” media first came to be in the 1990s. Their delivery was more narrowcast. This is due to the open options of being able to specify their audience more.

As technology changed, so did the main channels that “New” media used to reach their audience. The main channels used were cable, satellite radio, and specialty magazines.

Keep in mind, the changes do not mean that previous channels became obsolete. They are obviously still used today, but in different ways.

Companies that are recognized for using New Media include HBO, Primedia, and Comcast.

The “New” media business model relied heavily on subscription. People subscribed to receive their services.

Like Traditional Media, New Media also had a “push” approach in regards to content delivery. However, their consumers now had many choices in regards to topics.

New Media had an accelerated growth pace. Which is extremely visible due to the fact that media revolutionized in the 2000s.

Digital Media emerged in the 200s. Their target audience was targeted, unlike the previous two eras. Their main channels were the Internet and Mobile Phones. Today we walk around with smart devices on us at all times, allowing digital media to reach us at any time or place.

Examples of companies that dominated digital media are Google and Yahoo.

Unlike the previous two eras, digital media has a “pull” approach in regards to content delivery. Because of their infinite choices, consumers are pulled to digital media. People can now find topics they are interested and ignore anything else.

The growth pace of digital media is rapid.

As we can clearly see today, digital media is on a constant incline. There are new changes on a yearly bases that manage to continuously change the way that we interact with the media.

A huge example should be printed newspapers. People believe that they only continue to exist out of habit for the previous generations. A majority of the people revert to the online versions of news outlets to gain information.

There are many known TV channels that started off as radio channels. Whenever a new media outlet comes to place, old ones adapt to stay used. People who grew up pre 2000 notice this more. There are so any objects that have become obsolete due to the advances in technology.

Six Main Characteristics of New Media

There are six main characteristics of new media found in the book “New Media – A critical Introduction – Second Edition” by Martin Lister, Jon Dovey, Seth Giddings, Iain Grant, and Kieran Kelly.

As media continues to grow and evolve, it is important to be able to understand the characteristics as they change and develop over time. In the book that we studied the main characteristics include the following:

Digital

Interactivity

Hypertextual

Virtual

Networked

Simulated

Digital

Media data is transformed into binary codes. Binary code allows people to access data in a way that is easier and faster. Everything digital is made up of Binary Code – or zeros and ones. The data can be found as an output. As an output form it can be seen as online sources, digital disks, or memory drives. These outputs are to be decoded and received as screen displays.

The opposite of digital is analogue. Analogue refers to the process of storing physical properties in another physical form – like old newspaper archives.

Analogue media is fixed – it does not change. Whereas, digital media is in a constant state of flux. It is constantly flowing, changing, and improving.

Wireless connections between computers, servers, and networks are becoming more common. Despite this, many connections still depend on cables and telephone lines. These connects have to be physically dug into the Earth.

Interactivity

It is a two way form of communication. People are able to make individualized lifestyle choice from endless possibilities offered by the market.

People are no longer just on the receiving end. New media allows consumers and users to get more involved. This can be seen in simple acts like commenting on news pieces or writing a review for a place.

Interactivity includes: hypertextual navigation, immersive navigation, registrational interactivity, interactive communications, and interactivity and problems of textual interpretations.

It is a “key value” characteristic of new media. Interactivity is a powerful representation of user engagement with media texts. It is also a more independent relation to sources of knowledge, individualized media use, and greater choice.

Hypertextual

It is a reference to non-sequential connections between all kinds of data facilitated by the computer. For example the hyperlinks that you’ve seen me use in previous posts.

It is also an important part of the history of computing, especially in the way that hypertexts address ideas about the relation of computer operation systems, software, and databases to the operations of the human mind.

Networked

This characteristic is the availability of sharing content through the internet. This involves consumption. A prime example would be our consumption of media texts, and how now we have a large number of highly differentiated texts available in various ways.

Virtual

This characteristic embodies a virtual world that is created by immersion or engagement in an environment constructed with computer graphics and digital video. The users have control over their interaction. For example video games give people a virtual stage where they can interact and somewhat control their virtual lives to an extent.

Simulation

You could link this to previous points in regards to video games. Simulation games manage to immerse people in a “virtual life” that is represented or simulated through digital technology.

The definition of simulation is any synthetic or counterfeit creation. It is the creation of an artificial world that represents a real one. This is done through a mathematical model, combined with a set of initial conditions, that allows predictions and visualizations as time unfolds.

It takes the place of more established concepts. Simulations can be sued as an imitation or representation of things that are more complex. Today we have flight simulations, driving simulations, and even ship steering simulations – one can be found at the AAST Abu Qir campus in the Maritime department.

Schema

In my university class, New Media, we were given the book “New Media – Critical Introduction – Second Edition” by Martin Lister, Jon Dovey, Seth Giddings Iain Grant, and Kieran Kelly. One of the topics in the first chapter was a schema of the global term “new media’

A Schema is a diagram or an outline.

The schema of the global term New Media included

New textual experiences

New ways of representing the world

New relationships between subjects (users and consumers) and media technologies

New experiences of the relationship between embodiment, identity, and community

New conceptions of the biological body’s relationship to technological media

New patterns of organization and production

New textual experiences:

New textual experiences include new forms of genre and textual format in general. This also includes different kinds of entertainment, pleasure, and patterns of media consumption. Media consumption includes the consumption of computer games, simulations, special effects cinema and more.

On a daily basis we consume. New media gives different way for users or consumers to obtain textual information. For example, the new textual format could include online social media or blogs or more. People now go about text based content in a different way than in the past.

People no longer experience the patience of reading long thought out articles and skim.

Computer games and special effects cinema have also changed the face of consumption. These are just examples of ways that people manage to use “new media” to be thrown into a different experience – or a different way to experience.

New ways of representing the world:

Media offer new representational possibilities and experiences. This includes immersive virtual environments, which are environments that engage the consumer. For example, any interactive games or live simulations could be perceived as a new representation. There is also screen-based interactive multimedia. This could go from using an ATM machine to taking online tests. Everything is based on the selection of the consumers while using a screen.

New relationships between subjects (users and consumers) and media technologies:

The relationship between “subjects” and “media technologies” has changed drastically. There are changes in the use and reception of image and communication media. For example, before, we used to receive information at a timely manner through televised broadcasts or periodical newspapers. Now we gain information instantly. Communication has also become more instant. People are able to reach others from anywhere in the world at any given moment.

Another change is found in the meanings that are invested in media technologies.

New experiences of the relationship between embodiment, identity and community

Shifts are found in the personal and social experience of time, space, and place. Each of the previously stated has implications or effects for the way that we experience ourselves and our place in the world.

New conceptions of the biological body’s relationship to technological media:

There are challenges to see differences between what is real and what is fake – human and artificial. For example, now many sites have text boxes that we need to fill out just to prove that we’re human and not computers. (That was kind of a bad example).

There are also challenges in distinguishing between nature and technology – like those strategically placed palm trees that are actually cellphone towers.

And also, it is hard to differentiate between the body and media as technological prostheses. A prostheses is something prosthetic, to replace a missing part of the body. For example, many people have prosthetic body parts to replace what they have lost.

New patterns of organization and production:

There are wider realignments and integrations found in media culture, industry, economy, access, ownership, control, and regulation

Infographic on Entreprenurial Journalism

This is an Infographic on Entrepreneurial Journalism. It was made as a part of a presentation my group had to give on the topic. I would like to extend credit to my group members, and add the link to their blogs.

Nadeen Alfy - Link to blog

Nermine Aboubasha - Link to blog

You can find more information on the topic in my previous post Entrepreneurial Journalism

Leading Media Critic, Yasser Abd El Aziz, gives an open session to AASTMT CLC students

Mr. Yasser Abd El-Aziz, the leading media critic in Egypt, gave an open session on media ethics to the students of the College of Language and Communication (CLC) at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT) Miami Campus last Monday.

The leading media critic gave his session interactively with the CLC students. He started off by telling a story and had the students decide a punishment for each of the characters. He then asked each student to write a possible news piece regarding the story, read out a few, and pointed out the different ways that meanings can be portrayed through writing.

At the end of the session, Mr. Yasser Abd El-Aziz left time for questions. He happily answered each student in detail. The Dean of CLC praised the leading media critic for his work and contribution to the department.