Exercise 1: The :30 second candidate

Although each of us are consumers of commercial messages produced for the mass media, few of us have the opportunity to produce such messages. A website created by PBS allows users to create their own political advertisement. Go to the PBS website for the :30 Second Candidate (http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/) and click on "Tricks of the Trade." This section allows you to view and manipulate an advertisement for or against a fictional political candidate. After exploring the various options, reflect on what this website teaches you about the production of mass mediated messages.

Exercise 2: CMC Scholarship

Computer mediated communication is one of the "hot" areas of contemporary communication research. Although research on CMC is published in nearly all communication journals, a wealth of information on the topic can also be found in the Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine. Visit the website for the magazine (http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/) and review an article of interest. Be prepared to summarize the article for your classmates.