Melody Pickens

The world wide web holds a plethora of information that is at the fingertips of any user. However, how will the internet benefit democracy? Will it allow for constituents to be more active in democracy? With the wide accessibility to the world wide web, it does encourage participation in politics. The internet provides information on candidates for offices, allow for constituents to contact their government officials much easier via email. Citizens can also pre-register for voting and support their favorite candidates with online donations. The internet has created a well-educated population that have an easier time participating in politics. However, there are arguments that despite the accessibility of the internet, there is relatively low participation in e-politics . This suggests that, while accessibility to politics is at an all-time high, people just aren't educated in it and they have no interest. The argument behind this is that there needs to be education in ord...

Video games have become an integral part of today's society. As the generations age, there is a larger gap between the technological abilities. However, video games is something that all younger generations can relate to. Roughly 91% of the population participates in video games, whether it be the brand new and insanely popular Fortnite , or games as simple as Candy Crush , most of the population has participated in gaming in some way. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense that products utilize these games to market their products? Product placement in video games can be as subtle as the picture above. This is simply a MarioKart game that offers a Mercedes vehicle option. However, product placement can be as blatant as the image below. While Barack Obama was running for President, advertisements in video games would feature Obama and remind players that early voting has begun. Product placement's desired effect in video games is that it will be a subconscious remind...

Today, television has become an every-day part of people's lives. Television streams thousands of shows to homes, but how do producers know what shows their audiences want to watch? Well, that's where television ratings come into play. One of the most popular rating systems is the Nielsen Rating System , which uses a box that is connected to the television to record data of what shows families are watching. This example of statistical sampling, which is also used during elections to determine candidate popularity, has become the most popular example of how to measure TV ratings. The Nielsen technique used roughly 5,000 households as a representative sample to measure what shows are being watched, who in the family is watching them, and how frequently they watch the show or series. One reason for the rating system is to determine what shows the general public are interested in. In order to increase ratings and views on the show, the producers of the show need to unde...

A book that I will never get tired of and one that has been beyond inspirational to me in my life was I Am Malala , which is a story of Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl who spoke up for girl’s rights and, more specifically, their right to education. In the book, Malala talks about her school and her father’s impact on her love of education. However, once the Taliban took control of her town, her school was forced to shut down and women no longer had access to education. With this, Malala began to protest under a pseudonym. However, the Taliban discovered her identity. They stopped her bus one morning, boarded, asked for her, then proceeded to shoot Malala in the head. After surviving this, Malala began speaking out all over the world about women’s rights and their right to education. She also began advocating for education protection in countries controlled my militants.  Image Source Malala has created a campaign to fund the fight for women’s education rights....

Without the mass media, I personally would not be aware of many current events throughout the United States and the world. Media is constantly being updated, whether it be first-hand accounts on social media of who’s going to the Super Bowl, a journalist reporting on the government shutdown, or an online news site giving the latest update on net neutrality, there is constantly something to learn from the mass media. In the past 24 hours, I have learned a lot of relevant information from the mass media. One thing that was brought to my attention and stands prevalent is the recent news about who will be going to the 2018 Super Bowl. Last night, the Eagles crushed the Vikings in a 7-38 win. Furthermore, the Patriots won a close game against the Jaguars in a 20-24 win. Therefore, Super Bowl LII   will be a repeat of the 2005 Super Bowl where the Eagles will be playing against the Patriots. One topic that has been discussed a lot in recent days is the government sh...