Author: Kayleigh Lascio

Safety is just as important in the physical world as it is in the digital world. It seems like a lot of digital security practices are common sense…just as obvious as knowing to “look both ways” when crossing the street. When I was in grade school, learning how to be safe on the then-new technology of the world wide web was becoming part of our standard curriculum. It was an entirely new set of safety rules that I had to become familiar with. These rules surely didn’t seem as obvious as they do today. Here is a fun educational “internet safety” video for kids produced in 1999 (I was 8 years old) that teaches these rules just as I learned them growing up.

I have since built upon the foundations of safety and security I learned back then. Of course, I also now have much more vital information to protect, such as financial and health information. I have always seen myself as a careful and private media user, and I think my security measures reflect that. All of my social media accounts are set to “private” and I only add and accept people I know to Facebook, for instance. Also, this may sound a bit old school, but I handwrite all of my passwords in a notebook that I keep in a drawer in my room. I always found this to be a safer approach than keeping them in a Word document or password manager, though I will probably change my mind about this in the near future.

I think my best “security habit” though is just being skeptical of everything sent to me, and not sending my personal information to anyone or anyplace that seems suspicious. For example, last week I was almost a victim of social engineering (which is interesting because I had just finished an updated training module at work all about social engineering).

I received a fake email from an address posing as Apple, similar to the one featured on this site, that read “your account has been suspended.” Below, it told me to follow the link below and re-enter my information. I knew that if it was blatantly asking for my information that it couldn’t be legitimate, and I signed into my Apple account via their normal web site to be sure. I was correct, and I immediately deleted the email.

What I have learned the most from this course is to always be on your game in not just consuming media, but more importantly knowing which information sources and companies to trust, how to safely create my own media and how to preserve my online identity. I will make a few changes to my internet security behaviors, such as using a password manager and encrypting my computer, which I have been taking practically everywhere ever since starting at ASU online.

This class also inspired me to become a more active and more open creator of media, which may get me out of my own “privacy” shell. I found that I really enjoy posting on blogs, and I may start my own someday. Though we must be careful and aware of the dangers in today’s digital world, we should not let that make us paranoid or afraid of publishing, contributing, and sharing our thoughts, ideas, information and creativity with the world.

Warning: Undefined array key "file" in /home/kristyro/public_html/wp-includes/media.php on line 1749

Warning: Undefined array key "file" in /home/kristyro/public_html/wp-includes/media.php on line 1749

Warning: Undefined array key "file" in /home/kristyro/public_html/wp-includes/media.php on line 1749

I love sharing new facts and information, so I was very excited that I would have a chance to become a real Wikipedia editor, and get graded for it! I really enjoyed being introduced to the world of Wikipedia through the training modules. I learned a lot, and it gave me a whole new respect for Wikipedia as a company. I am so happy to see that they hold such high standards, and I admire all of the hard work that the Wikipedia community does, all in the name of delivering free information to our world. I have experience in editing a similar Wiki page, TV Tropes, which is dedicated to recognizing and organizing tropes in fiction, mainly in TV (no surprise that I would be an editor there).

Once the information in the modules was introduced to me, everything was very easy to understand. TV Tropes exclusively uses html editing on their site, so I expected that I would use it when editing the main Wikipedia site. I was happily surprised and relieved that I could use a rich text format. Overall, I experienced no problems editing or citing sources. Although I liked the idea of the sandbox, I did not end up using it. I opted to practice my edits privately through Microsoft Word, and then tweak them as needed while on the “edit” page.

As for choosing an article, it didn’t take long for me to decide that I wanted to edit a page about a vintage television program. I mentioned in my very first blog post that my favorite TV sitcom of all time is Perfect Strangers. I truly enjoy the “culture clash” humor and the classic physical comedy the series is famous for. Being a student interested in media, I had the incredible opportunity to view the unaired pilot episode of the show at the UCLA Film and Television Archive when I visited Los Angeles in June. Bronson Pinchot is also one of my all-time favorite actors. Bronson personally recorded a wonderfully kind and thoughtful video for me via a fun web site called Cameo when I was going through a difficult time. Also, my grandma saw him many years ago in a play, Stones in his Pockets, and in 1988, he visited my mom’s alma mater, Ohio University, to report on a comedy course for Good Morning America (segment starts at 1:30).

When I saw that the Perfect Strangers Wikipedia article had “multiple issues,” I knew I was the right person to help! I made five edits to the article. Each one a different type of contribution.

For my edits, I…
1. Added a photo.
2. Edited text.
3. Added a citation.
4. Added a fact.
5. Removed text AND added a fact with a citation.

Below, I will briefly describe and show the edits I made, along with “before” and “after” photos.

Edit 1: Adding a photo

Another thing I did when I visited Los Angeles in June was locate and take a photo of the building that was used for the exterior shots of Larry and Balki’s apartment building in the first two seasons of the show. There was already a photo of the building posted in the article, but it was taken in 2006, and today, the building looks drastically different. I thought it would be a great idea to update the old photo with a current one that I took myself. I did not need to get permission to use the photo, as it is my own work. I uploaded the photo to Wikimedia Commons, replaced the old photo, and voila! My first Wikipedia edit was complete!

Edit 2: Editing text

For my next edit, I added a piece of information to a sentence that was found in it’s already existing source (citation 5), but was written in a different paragraph. I moved the information to the sentence that had the citation, and shortened the sentence where the piece of information had originally been.

Edit 3: Adding a citation

Being a big fan of the show, I knew that the first season never averaged in the Nielsen top 10 for the entire year. This was likely just phrased wrong, but I still wanted to fix it, and add a citation to back it up. I found a newspaper source with the correct information, I rephrased the sentence, and cited it.

Edit 4: Adding a fact:

In looking for good, reputable sources for my citations, I learned something new! I discovered that the final season, which has only 6 episodes, originally was supposed to have 13 episodes! I thought that was a fun fact, so I worked it into an existing sentence and cited it.

Edit 5: Removed text AND added a fact with a citation.

My last edit was also my trickiest one, but I am very glad I did it. There was only one sentence in the entire article that was flagged as needing a citation, so naturally, I set out to find one. I was unsuccessful, and when I realized that the only “source” for this fact was a so-called “industry insider,” I knew that it was questionable. Taking into consideration Wikipedia’s standards, I felt it was necessary to delete this sentence from the article altogether, so I did. Happily, I found another fact, one that is from a good journalistic source, to replace it, which I also did. I also joined two shorter paragraphs together, so that the content flowed better with my addition in place.

I am very proud of my first Wikipedia edits, and I because I enjoyed this experience so much, I know I am going to be doing many more of them in the future. Am I a “Wikipedia warrior?” I’m not entirely sure, but after my first successful round of edits, I sure feel like one!

I have come up with a phrase that describes what I feel the laws of digital media should uphold: “freedom without sacrifice.” That is, uphold the freedom of knowledge, freedom of speech and freedom of creativity, without sacrificing our privacy or the economy. This can apply to many issues in media law today: copyright and property protection, net neutrality, the list goes on. On paper, it seems like an idealistic pipe dream.

I’ve thought about how the laws of the media mirror the physical laws of real life. The world of media is a place that IS essentially a digital version of the world. It IS a whole other world… as real of a world as the globe itself, and it is governed by laws we must equally obey.

Media as it relates to the law is of utmost importance, and I am concerned about many aspects of it. Privacy in particular is one thing, as I have always been a private person online…and of course, we all want our private information to be secure. Monitoring of creative and informational web content is also of great concern to me. How much monitoring is too much? Net neutrality and “free use” are two things that have been fundamental in keeping the openness of information and entertainment online, but there are still plenty of issues with protection laws that could obstruct these legal doctrines.

Copyright laws have been around well before the DMCA ruled. Protecting a property: a song, a character, a film and ensuring compensation for these properties’ creators and distributors, is, in my opinion, an absolute economic necessity. But how far should it go before works enter the public domain? Apparently, it can go pretty far, if Disney has anything to do with it. They have allegedly managed to influence the extension of US copyright laws in order to retain the rights to Mickey Mouse, particularly his 1928 debut short, Steamboat Willie.

Music copyright laws tend to be even more strict. To relate this problem to my central topic of television, a sizable amount of vintage TV series have yet to see the light of day on DVD or streaming video because of the astronomical costs of distributing music owned by others that were used in these programs. The distribution rights of this music was negotiated decades ago, before anyone could even dream of the idea of watching any episode of a TV show anywhere, at any time. This thoughtful article from Vox explains it all.

However, even public domain works can still fall victim in many ways to copyright laws. Consider the works of William Shakespeare. His numerous works are not copyrighted per say, but individual ideas concerning or inspiring his work may be protected legally. The complexity of copyright laws concerning Shakespeare (which you could apply to many kinds of public domain works) is detailed very well on this entry on the Trademark and Copyright Blog.

My concern with copyright laws is this: art and media should be accessible to everyone, yet creators also need to be fairly paid. The “free use” doctrine has remedied much of this by providing a good middle ground, especially within the realm of the internet. But are we doing a disservice by being stingy about our copyright laws?

As I mentioned earlier, privacy is a big concern of mine. I have always been a careful digital media user. I try to stay as anonymous as possible, likely from the fear that in the digital world, one is NEVER truly anonymous. Therefore, I’m not sure if I will modify my media usage very much. If anything, I will try to open up more, especially once I enter the professional world. The internet has definitely made the world smaller and has made our knowledge greater, yet it has also made things much more complex.

This week, I will focus on a specific media concept known as “the grandmother problem.” This describes how people unknowingly share false information. Though this relates specifically to social media, this is not a new phenomenon. In fact, anyone who has read a newspaper or watched a television program that provided false information and subsequently believed and shared it has fallen victim to a similar “grandmother problem.”

With more media outlets, news sites, and blogs out there with plenty of content to be shared, it can be a challenge as to who to trust and where to find good information. Unfortunately, this is a large reason why “the grandmother problem” is such an issue today. Many times, when our friends and family members share information online, they absolutely mean well. Thus, “the grandmother problem” is essentially, caused by a lack of media literacy.

So, how can we respectfully make our friends and family more media literate when they are facing “the grandmother problem?” What I think is important to remember when approaching anyone is to smile and be friendly. Talk to them gently and do not scold them for what they are doing wrong. Rather, make it be a conversation, NOT a lecture.

After taking into account the above guidelines, here is the approach I would take:

1. I would begin a conversation with them by explaining how I choose articles, videos, etc. to share. I would then perhaps, relate it to an example of something questionable they had posted that I was concerned about. I would then ask them how they choose what they post and share.

2. I would kindly tell them that I too, have fallen victim to believing and sharing false information in the past, and that I’ve learned that it is important to always do my research and check my sources. The key thing to remember is to not make the situation solely about them. Make it about yourself too.

3. I would then happily share with them my knowledge and fascination with media. I will express the concept that WE are media. Sharing content on social media is not just a simple chit-chat with a friend, it actually IS media, and we are all real publishers. What we share affects not just who you converse with, but everyone.

I can only hope that I will have the courage to take my own advice if I need it someday.

With the vast amount of information on television programs and the rich history of the medium itself, it is important to find quality resources that examine the history of vintage TV, not just as a product, but as a relic of the 20th century media landscape. Television history parallels every page of a history book, and there is always something new to learn. Here are, in my opinion and in no particular order, the most comprehensive resources on the cultural and societal influence of vintage TV programming. These resources also cover the largest range of vintage television topics, and give the greatest insight from a variety of reliable sources.

1. It’s About TV
A blog written by historian and writer Mitchell Hadley, this well-crafted, daily-updated site chronicles vintage television through textual analysis, essays and interviews, as well as scans from old issues of TV Guide. The site’s special focus on how vintage television programs mirrored our lives, was also the subject of Hadley’s outstanding book, The Electronic Mirror: What Classic TV Tells Us About Who We Were and Who We Are (and Everything In-Between!).

“Does television drive culture, or reflect it? Did the cathode ray tube of the old RCA console act as a looking glass into the future or a mirror reflecting the present? The answer, as is almost always the case in questions like this, is ‘Yes.’” – Mitchell Hadley

2. The Paley Center for Media
A television and radio archive, museum and organization dedicated to providing the public with knowledge of media’s past, and it’s ever-growing influence. The museum’s two locations provide many public resources, including exhibits, events, discussions, screenings, and a library where one can view the thousands of television programs in their archive.

“The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public.” – The Paley Center for Media, Mission

3. Television Obscurities
Fellow Millennial Robert Jay’s extensive history of television’s most forgotten programs, and the forgotten influence that many obscure and well-known programs have had on our world. The site contains vital information about lost programs and detailed Nielson ratings that cannot be found anywhere else.

“It is my personal belief that our television history is a history of us. Over the decades, television shaped our society while also being influenced by changes within society.” – Robert Jay

4. Encyclopedia of Television
Written and compiled by Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications, this giant four-volume book set, which can be found in the reference sections of many universities and public libraries, is the quintessential resource for all things vintage TV and beyond (though the most recent edition was published in 2005, it’s vintage TV sections stay relevant).

“It is simply indispensable for anyone seeking information or perspective about a medium that has shaped our nation like no other. It is the Britannica for television.” – Jim Longworth, tvparty.com

5. Pioneers of Television
An excellent 16-part television documentary series produced by PBS, “narrated” by over 200 of television’s most influential and popular stars, as they discuss the contributions their programs have made to entertainment and to society. Recollections and firsthand accounts of television’s successes and failures give this series a unique, informative edge.

“Few television programs really challenge the genre into which they are delivered, developing cult followings or fundamentally morphing the expectations of viewers. But the pioneering programs profiled here did more than light up the small screens with hours of entertainment: They confronted our stereotypes, questioned our core values and made whole generations of viewers re-examine the limits of our humanity.”

For this week’s post, I will analyze an article from VOX written by Emily Todd VanDerWerff, which reports on the tremendous success of the TV Special – Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear’s All in the Family and The Jeffersons, which aired on ABC on May 22, 2019.

I chose a story covering this TV special, because it is one of the most recent examples of an effort taken by a major network to not only bring classic shows into the limelight again, but to prove to audiences of 2019 that these shows are timeless, and that they still resonate today. I chose this article because I enjoy Vox’s entertaining explanatory writing style. VanDerWerff’s reporting in this article is very laid back and also quite personal, yet it overall gives the reader a comprehensive idea about the special and it’s performances.

Although I am overall entertained by the article, I do feel confused as to what it’s purpose is. Though VanDerWerff reported on the ratings success of the special, and gave facts and in-text links to support her statements (including links to a page detailing the show’s ratings, as well as a previous VOX interview with Norman Lear), it is also written solely in her perspective. Because much of the article is sprinkled with opinion-based commentary, there is definitely a large amount of bias in it. Given the title and subtitle of the article, one would expect more of an informative piece of journalism. It is instead, a mix of an informative piece and a personal review. Though this mix can seem quite unbalanced, it does provide quality insight, and gives the reader a curiosity to want to watch the special if they hadn’t done so already.

Even with the article’s semi-biased tone, VanDerWerff incorporates several different writing approaches that make her article very interesting to read. She opens the article by asking the reader questions, she shares a personal story that compliments her positive feelings about the special, and she takes a moment to recognize Norman Lear as a pioneer of TV sitcoms. She goes on to do her own analysis of the program and explains it’s significance in it’s attempt to bridge the gap between the 1970s and 2019. She notes that we are still facing many of the same social and political issues that were displayed so prominently in these shows from the 1970s. This especially shows in the special because the source material was virtually unchanged, and not modernized at all for today’s television audiences. She then talks about the performances of the actors and how well they portrayed the original series’ iconic characters. Afterward, she gives her own consensus on the special, reports on the power of nostalgia in recent years, and what Live in Front of a Studio Audience’s success might mean to the future of revisiting classic TV sitcoms live. The article ends with a link for the reader to view the special on Hulu.

One thing that rubbed me the wrong way when reading the text was that VanDerWarff contradicts herself a couple of times. She says in the beginning of the article that she loved the special, but near the end, she states that it is a “clumsy” 90 minutes, and laments at the fact that in this day in age, we are constantly seeing remakes of every TV show and movie. She also goes into depth over the significance of the shows’ social commentary early in the article, yet she later she claims that the special only seemed to serve as a vehicle for nostalgia and celebrity cameos. That being noted, it is difficult to understand what conclusions her biases led her to.

I can make my own conclusion that the goal of the article was to report on Live in Front of a Studio Audience’s success, and how the nostalgia and cultural impact of All in the Family and The Jeffersons made it a ratings winner (and now a 3-time Emmy-Award nominee). Did VanDerWerff achieve that goal? In my opinion, I would say both yes and no. It was uneven in many areas, but I commend the effort she took in taking her personal perspective and applying it to facts to create a piece that could give a reader a comprehensive idea of what makes this unique television tribute a special one.

Is it news or is it opinion? Is an article based on nuanced fact or on personal analysis? It is an understatement that it was challenging to find articles about vintage TV’s influence that are much more than an informational history or a “top ten list.” Here, I share some of my favorite news and opinion articles that I read that center around the impact and appreciation of vintage television.

1. “We Need a TCM For Television.” – by Noel Murray, The AV Club – OPINION

It is very clear when reading this article that the author, Noel Murray and I are kindred spirits. In this item, Murray, distraught at how cable networks neglect vintage TV series, suggests the creation of a channel that reveres classic television the way that the channel Turner Classic Movies reveres older films. This article is an obvious opinion piece, especially when he goes on to describe how he would control the channel and the kinds of programs he thinks should air on it. He also expresses his personal feelings that although it is wonderful that TV in it’s current state is finally getting some respect, he believes that vintage TV should be respected just as much.

2. “New Non-Profit Caters to Classic TV” – by Stefan Blitz, Forces of Geek – NEWS

This article features pop culture author Herbie J. Pilato’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, The Classic TV Preservation Society. This charitable organization’s mission is to educate and enlighten others on the social influence and positive impact of classic TV, on the world and on people as individuals. The article quotes Pilato as he states his values and describes his educational “Classic TV and Self-Esteem” seminars. Because of the article’s informative writing style, structured word choice, and series of quotes by Pilato to support the text, this is clearly a news item.

3. “Why Are These Classic Shows Nowhere To Be Found On Streaming?” – by Josef Adalian, Vulture – OPINION

This analytical piece describes how the economics of today’s streaming media influences which vintage TV shows are featured on streaming channels, and which ones are left out. It describes that it is all in what will attract the most subscriptions, which usually means what attracts a younger demographic, as well as music licensing rights (not vintage TV, sadly). Though there is factual evidence in this piece that support the author’s reasonings, the author has a more relaxed, “personal” style of writing, and there are subjective statements sprinkled all over the place. For example, he describes the lack of vintage programs on streaming channels as a “frustrating problem” for retro TV lovers. Another standout example is when he describes this frustration as a “first-world problem,” especially when there are so many great shows to watch already. These statements prove that this is most certainly an opinion article.

4. “50 Years of Sunny Days on ‘Sesame Street’: Behind the Scenes of TV’s Most Influential Show Ever” – by Marisa Guthrie, The Hollywood Reporter – NEWS

This is a fantastic recent news item that highlights one particular program, Sesame Street, which, because it is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, falls into the “vintage TV” category. This story reports on the series’ longevity and informs readers on the incredible cultural impact the series has made across the world, and how it completely changed the way that all children’s television is made. This is not a piece that is just filled with educated insight, but also with actual written history, proven facts, and quotes from the creators and actors themselves: all fantastic things that can aid in creating a great news article.

One of my favorite subjects is the history and cultural influence of television, and since I am a HUGE fan of classic TV shows from the 1950s through the 1980s, I would like to make this the topic of my blog. Since “classic” can also refer to shows after the 1980s, I will refer to my topic as “Vintage TV and it’s Cultural Significance.”

Unlike many Millennials, I enjoy vintage TV much more than I do current TV. This includes sitcoms, dramas, variety shows, news programs, documentaries and even commercials. It is not only fun and entertaining, but it is also a portal to our past. I am passionate about learning of television’s role in the entertainment of our past, and how it has shaped our society. I am deeply concerned that knowledge of our early television heritage will be lost to future generations because of the general lack of awareness of television’s cultural significance. This is because television, for many years, had been considered a lesser form of art, therefore vintage TV is much less talked about in media.

That’s not to say that the topic of vintage TV’s cultural influence is absent from media. Printed books about early television history and culture have always been plentiful. Filmed documentaries on the subject are few, but when they are produced, they are (in my opinion) fantastic. One standout series is PBS’s Pioneers of Television. This summer, Amazon Prime introduced a new vintage TV web series called Then Again with Herbie J. Pilato. Of course, there are plenty of journalistic pieces written about specific classic TV series and their actors/actresses in newspapers and internet news sites.

In most internet culture however, the subject of vintage TV and the significance of it’s programs is sadly underrepresented, even within the context of television as a whole. For example, there are sites, like this one that list “the 50 best TV shows ever,” which are clearly biased to more current series. It’s hard to think about vintage TV as “niche,” but on the internet, it seems to be treated as such. Nevertheless, there are fantastic sites like the AV Club which highlight older content, and fantastic blogs that celebrate vintage TV’s triumphs like Television Obscurities, MeTV (which is also an over-the-air vintage TV channel), and The Paley Center For Media’s Paley Matters, all of which I read regularly. Message board posts of fellow consumers and television historians on the Home Theater Forum, Radio Discussions and Sitcoms Online are also incredibly interesting to read. The content creators, though not always credible, are generally well-informed, so they offer a lot of interesting insight. If I find a conversation that sparks my interest, I will research and seek out more information.

I hope that one day vintage TV series will be as well revered as a Renoir painting, a Bach composition, or a Clark Gable film. I am greatly looking forward to sharing my thoughts on the matter.