3. Sociology Websites that Successfully Integrate Media

The Sociological Cinema  is a great website that successfully incorporates sociological issues and concepts with media. The website was created by three sociologists from the University of Maryland, who wanted to help other sociologists creatively use media in the classroom. I think it is vital to use media in sociology because it gives a real-world perspective of social issues rather than just reading statistics or a specific theory.

The website has an extensive archive and navigating the site is straightforward and easy to use. I like that there is a search engine at the main page, and you can type whatever topic you are interested in and will load video submissions that are related to the topic. For example, I typed 'inequality' in the search engine and found the submission titled, Single and Unequal. The Sociological Cinema gives a brief description of the video and pointers on how to start a class discussion from watching the video. The article was  originally published by Jason DeParle of the New York Times, which discusses the class inequalities that single parents face in this economy. 

Interestingly, the video compares the story Jessica Shairer, a single parent of three children and her boss Chris Faulkner. Schairer explains how difficult it is for her to raise her children and only makes about 25,000 a year which barely covers the bills. Then the video cuts to Faulkner’s, who's family environment is very different from Schairer's. She is able to have her kids in extra-curricular activities and can comfortably provide for her children. The fact of the matter is there are more and more single-parent households that are struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately these inequalities can be passed down to their children, in that the children aren't able to participate in activities that can help cultivate and shape them as a student and citizen. Additionally these children miss out on a stable household with two parents guiding the children. Many families experience this every day, but it shouldn't be the norm.

Sources: The Sociological Cinema, New York Times. 

1. Who Am I?: Photo Mosaic

The second assignment was to use the application Photo Mosaic, which was a lot easier to use than Wordle. The only difficult aspect of using this application is that you can't upload all the photos at once and have to upload each photo individually. When you go to the mosaic section customize how you want your mosaic to look like and then go to the 'Chose Your Photos' section. Click the 'Choose Photo' icon and the upload window will pop up. Then you upload all the photos individually. Once all the photos are uploaded, close out the window. Then click 'Chose Photo' icon again and all the uploaded photos will show up. Then just click on the photo you want and it will load in each subsequent cell. This took a little while to figure out, but was the only difficult aspect. There were some issues in trying to come up with photos that best encompassed who I am. Additionally, I had to scan some of the photos which took a little time.

I can see the Photo Mosaic application useful for presentations that try to visually address a sociological concept. Take the concept of globalization; you could use photos of McDonald's or Coca-Cola used in different countries. Furthermore, you could use photos from the FoxConn Factories which produce iPads.

Sources: Big Huge Labs

1. Who Am I?: Using Visual Media Wordle

First Wordle Submission

Second Wordle: Implementing different fonts, sizes, colors

Wordle is a multimedia application that generates word clouds. As a class, we were each assigned to complete a Twenty Statements Test. This test consists of writing down twenty self-descriptors that signify yourself and must be completed as fast as possible. From the test results, we individually created a word cloud on Wordle. There were some difficulties that I encountered using the Wordle application. Sometimes it doesn't open in certain web browsers such as Google Chrome and Firefox. Secondly, you have to make sure you separate each word with commas (short, tall, happy, sad) and phrases have to be hyphenated (blue-eyes, music-lover) before you generate a word cloud or it won’t load. 

If you want to change the font color and font size for certain words, you can't do it in the 'create' section. If you want to implement these changes, you have to go to the advance section (see second Wordle submission). I would say it’s a little difficult and time consuming if you want to make these changes, because you have to tinker around and find the right weight (The format to change the weight of a word would look like, Imaginative: 800) and font color for each word. However, it makes the word cloud more visually appealing. Trying to change the font color proved to be a little tricky, what I figured out is you have to generate (remember you have to be in the advance section and each word must have a weight assigned to it for the word cloud to load) the word cloud, then go to the color section (located on the tool bar) and then choose edit custom palette. Then pick the colors you want, and make sure you write down the call numbers for each color. I found it helpful to write out the words on a piece of paper, then the weight for each word, then use a semicolon and type the call number for each specific color you want to use. Then copy and paste it in the advance section. 

For Example:

Imaginative: 800:ff0066

Student: 350:009900

Wife: 350: 009900

Daughter: 450: 009900

Wordle is a visually appealing program to use. This is a great application to use after reading an assignment and trying to address the main points from a reading, or create a word cloud for a specific theory. Such as the ideology of Marxism, one could create a word cloud with the words: proletariat, bourgeoisie, industrialism, agrarian, false consciousness and much more.  As for coming up with descriptors, it’s always difficult to trying to think 'Who Am I'? I guess it poses some existential dilemmas. I have taken the self-descriptor test before, and still find it difficult to list things about myself. I always seem to run out of descriptors before I even get to #10 and then I really have to think about what descriptors to use.

Sources: Wordle, Big Huge Labs, Simply Psychology