Media Literacy Response--Representation

For this Assignment I have chosen to talk about the news reports of the North Korean Threat that has been the talk of the day for the last few weeks. Below are my sources
Video - Link
News Article - Link
Blog - Link

I would first like to talk about the Video where the news reader talks about the development of Nuclear Technology. The facts and details about the threat released to public was not that much, but it is interesting how the media and articles represent the situation.

The video has a more military view and a response to the situation. The news reporter conveys that the Defense Secretary announced a 50% increase on missiles positioned to defend the US against a North Korean attack. The Hegemony represented here is that every threat needs to have a military response even though United States currently has the most advance military in the Globe. In simple words, the majority of the community agrees preparing for a military response because its a Hegemonic ideology among the society. The news video has given a high priority to this threat by talking about the military response.
It also shows a missile that could reach USA if launched but has a good chance that it might not be a threat because its not tested. Still the image of that picture of the missile in a rally does make an impact of the reality of the situation, and provoke precaution and possibly fear.

The blog was published in February as a response to the Nuclear Blast in North Korea that happened at the same time period. The blog states all the statistics of the immediate situation including pictures, graphs related to the nuclear blast. Most of the pictures are representations of the danger that the country poses to US and its allies. The article uses some rhetoric's to outshine its purpose. It states that if North Korea can launch a third successful nuclear attack then it can also launch an attack on USA or its allies. Ironically there is a graph in the bottom that has a graphical status of the worlds Nuclear Status which shows North Korea at the very last with far less military power than USA.

The News article is a recent post of another glance at North Korea threats. The comparison of this article and the blog mentioned above shows a huge difference. It shows the difference of responses that represent an immediate event and a well evaluated description of the same event a few months later. This news article has a logical and a political description of the reality of the threat. It interestingly brings up the ideologies of the North Korean people that helps the dictator to stay in power. It also brings up the previous actions of the country to rationalize the current situation.

Every article and news video has a way of representating the same situation in different perspectives and sometimes making them ideal according to the timing.

Research Proposal #3

Implications of Breaking the Light Speed Barrier

Introduction

If Light speed is achieved by mankind, what are the social, political and economic implications it will have on the world? 

It has always been in the minds of the scientists that light speed is achievable in the near future. There are sci-fi movies and TV series that support this prediction. It will be ,without doubt, one of the greatest achievements of man kind if the barrier can be broken. Some believe its impossible, but 50 years ago mobile phones were believed to be mere sci-fi gadgets.

In this research I wish to look into the after effects of achieving light speed. For an example, after the telephone was invented the world of communication changed rapidly into what we have now. It also effected our day to day life and is now a part of it. In this research I will be looking in to possible results of breaking the light speed barrier and how it will change the world. The effects are mostly positive considering the benefits of fast transportation, but there is a possibility humans might find a way of destruction through this as we have managed to do it in our past. Nuclear Energy can be given as an example.

Background

I have always been interested in Sci-Fi movies such as StarTrek, Andromeda etc. These fictions always made me think of the reality that awaits us in the future. It will not be accurate as the fictions predict but it will be similar. One of the main interests for me has been space travel; it takes 8 mints for sunlight to reach earth and it takes around 6 hours to reach Pluto. Theoretically, if light speed is achieved, a spaceship can travel to planets such as Pluto within hours. This opens up a wide scope of possibilities to man.

We will be able to travel easily to other planets to do scientific research such as search for life. The missions would take only hours instead of months and years. We would be able to mine for minerals from asteroids,moons and planets. It would also be a possibility for us to terraform other planets to change the atmosphere to sustain life. 

All of these new events would change our economy, political boundaries and social life in unthinkable ways. Imagine talking to your uncle on skype who is in a mining camp in the asteroid belt.

My initial presearching on this topic was a failure because I could not find any articles or books that directly relate to this research. 

Significance

I believe that it is important that we understand all or most of the side effects of a technology before going large about it. The manhattan project was a huge step forward in science and was suppose to shed light to many possibilities towards the benefit of man kind. The first actual application of the technology killed almost 200,000 people instantly, vaporizing them to dust.

As far as scientist can see, achieving light speed does not have ramifications deadly as such of an atomic bomb, but it can effect the economy, politics and social life in many ways.

Mining an asteroid that has mineral such as platinum will enable us to import tons of plutonium to earth. This would change the value of mineral drastically in the market. This will be the same for most of the mining minerals and the effects this would have on the global market would be unpredictable.

Another theoretical application would be the side effects of travelling in light speed. According to the theory of relativity a person traveling at light speed would age slowly than a person living on earth. 

It is important that the society is aware of theories as such these before we openly accept the benefits of the speed of light.

Methodology

As I mentioned earlier my initial presearching was a failure because I could not find any scholarly or popular source that directly contributes to my research. Then I had to approach the topic from different perspectives. I thought of the possible steps we would take if the light speed technology was achieved, such as asteroid mining, terraforming etc. I did presearching on those theoretical concepts so that I can find information to support my research. It has been successful as I found a significant amount of information for the presearching process.

After I evaluate all the sources I will be producing my own outcome of the research.

Potential Setbacks

My research is based on a theoretical idea of a technology which some argue to be impossible. The situation I speak of is unrealistic at the moment. So the information available to me is limited. Even the information that is available to me sometimes take opposite stands that have created arguments in the scientific community. This has made the research very difficult, still just like every brainstorming mind in the scientific community I believe I can speak my own words with the facts that I collect.

References

Sharlanov, Gocho V. "The Speed Of Light And Uncertainty Principle Of The Macro-World." Applied Physics Research 4.4 (2012): 118-125. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

Link

This articles describes the theory of relativity and the effect it has in time on the moving object. This will be used to describe the aging process of a human traveling at light speed.

BELFIORE, MICHAEL. "How To Mine An Asteroid." Popular Mechanics 189.8 (2012): 50-55. MasterFILE Elite. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. 

Link

This articles describes the process of mining an asteroid and effects of selling them on the open market. This shows the ramifications of Asteroid Mining.

Geggel, Laura, Katie Peek, and Miriam Kramer. "Space Metal." Popular Science 281.5 (2012): 60-61. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Web. 5 Apr. 2013.

Link

This article shows a graphical view of minerals in an asteroid that can be used in my argument above.

"Making Planets People-Friendly." Futurist 30.2 (1996): 45. Sociological Collection. Web. 6 Apr. 2013.

Link

This article describes the theoretical concept of terraforming which I have mentioned in the article.

Yahoo Answers
Link
The benefits of traveling at light speed

Representation

The Concept of Representation Before watching the Video
Representation in simple words would be being an icon to demonstrate something that you believe in that you want to show to the community. You can represent anything and you can represent it in many ways. Some of those ways are acceptable and some groups take it to an extreme to when it comes to representation. In general, a person has the rights of representation as long as it does not break the law.

The Concept of Representation After watching the Video
Stuart Hall talks more about the visual representation and the practice of representation. He conveys that representation is the idea of something that was already there but represented through tools of media.
Also he mentions the personalities that represent people or ideologies that 'stand in'. In the end he concludes saying Representation is the way of giving meaning to some image, words, a person or something that stands for a cause or a belief.
My concept does not express much about visual representation but it does say some about iconic representation. The meaning that I have explained covers a wide area and Stuart Hall talks about a narrow area of representation,

Media Literacy & Representation
Media is mainly about representing and presenting information to the public. The portrait they picture creates the representation and its what we are open to in Media. Its important we understand these representations as they are and not what they are re-presented with.
Most representations have an ideology behind it that supports the representation. They are driven by the ideologies and sometimes they can be subjected to hegemony as well. It is vital we learn to filter the information presented/represented to us.
Representation is all around us. It can be as big as a political party or as small as a newspaper headline. They all are re-presenting something that's already there which has been dressed up accordingly by Media.