Walking towards the classroom with rows of tables, I scanned the faces of parents and students scattered across the room. Even after reading through emails packed with information about our class schedules, classroom expectations, and detailed bios on our guest speakers, I had no idea what to expect. Nevertheless, I was excited for an opportunity to converse with students enthusiastic about humanities. This past week, I’ve deepened my understanding of civic media and communications through Professor Rogelio’s class.
The first two days consisted of lessons that demonstrated media’s potential to influence and shape society’s thoughts and opinions. Through watching a clip from the movie, “They Live”, we learned that through creative marketing and physical appeal, media is able to voice different messages. These messages are worded and appealed in ways that target people with specific experiences. For example, a billboard advertising a trip to the Caribbean used a woman as a sex symbol to influence male consumers to purchase tickets.
“They Live” shows us the inevitable influence of the media. However, Stuart Hall, a sociologist/cultural theorist, proposed an encoding/decoding model. He led with the belief that people can think independently and withstand heavy influence from the media. Media can also branch into civic media, which is the incorporation of technologies and practices to work towards common good. By exploring the definition of civic, we learned the history of democratic culture and its connection to communication. Throughout the years, the way communication supports democracy has changed over time. Zuckerman’s idea of thin and thick participatory civics shows how various peoples share, support, and bring awareness to specific causes.
Visuals and graphic design is what makes media stand out. Graphic design communicates a clear message through color, images,and typography. By analyzing various graphic designs, the audience can receive the designer’s message. Visuals serve as powerful tools for activism and advocacy. They create emotional impact, create unification in movements, and shape public perception by reinforcing or challenging dominant frames. In other words, visuals are able to reframe narratives and shift public perception. There are different formats when incorporating visuals with activism. This includes data visualizations, infographics, and zines. Du Bois, American socialist and writer, created unique data visualizations to showcase institutionalized racism to the world. His data visualizations consist of unique shapes, shading, and colors, creating a simplified explanation of complex research topics.
The assigned group project gives me a space to apply my new knowledge of civic engagement and graphic design. Working with an amazing team, we delved into the topic of beauty/ influencer culture and how it has been reducing the “third-space” for younger generations. We plan to create a zine with an aesthetic and cohesive design that attracts parents to learn more about this topic.
The AYA Communications 101 class has served as a platform to express my creativity and build my leadership and teamwork skills. I look forward to learning more about civic engagement, communication, and how our generation can unify and speak up for change.
Communicating Change 