Melody Pickens

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...

The internet is one of the greatest connectors in the world… As well as one of the greatest dividers. With technology such as the world wide web comes a freedom to the individual. That freedom creates a breeding ground for differences in opinion, especially in one of the most controversial topics today: politics. In the episode 2 of The Virtual Revolution (embedded below), a main focal point is how the internet brought the world together as well as creating division. The best example of this would be within politics. Politics in the world wide web helps to bring together people from all around the world in order to pursue a common cause. For example, in the United States, it has become easier for people who oppose the Keystone Pipeline to band together in protest. It also created a situation where media can be released to educate people on why they oppose this. Furthermore, it is easier to access state representatives to alert them of their constituents’ opinions. Th...