Google Alerts: Media Meditation #5

As I mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts, I'm currently enrolled in a print journalism class at Champlain College. For our midterm and final projects, we've been assigned to write a news story that pertains to students here at Champlain, and which would be published on our school newspaper's soon to be established website. When we first learned about Google Alerts, I subscribed to one from Champlain College, simply because I couldn't think of anything else to subscribe too at the time. I soon realized, however, that a Champlain College Google Alert could potentially be very helpful in help me find topics for these two stories.



The Brain:

Google Alerts rely heavily on the neocortex. Someone using Google Alerts must having working knowledge of a computer, the internet, and, obviously, they must know how to read. However, depending on what you receive from Google Alerts, I suppose they could stimulate the reptilian and limbic brains as well.

The Eight Shifts:

One particular Google Alert I received was a compilation of sixteen videos that the American School Search offers on their website to "give a better perspective of Champlain College." For the American School Search, this represents an epistemological shift. Instead of bombarding prospective students with facts and statistics, they're able to offer a series of videos to better represent the school. Here's an example:



And here's the specific link with all the videos.

Google Alerts represent a personal shift by making the information search more personal, and much easier. Instead of wading through thousands of websites and being overwhelmed with information, we can simply choose to receive a daily, weekly, or monthly e-mail containing primarily pertinent information.

Google Alerts also suggest an aesthetic shift since anyone with a smart phone has the ability to check their e-mail at any time, or from any place with internet access.

I have questions regarding Google Alerts and how they relate to the economic shift; in what ways does Google benefit from people subscribing to Google alerts?

Using Google Alerts represents a discursive shift because it makes our information search more subjective.

Because any activity on the internet can be monitored, collected, and analyzed, using Google Alerts also signifies a cultural shift.

The Seven Principles:

A Google Alert subscription to Champlain College (or any topic for that matter), can relate to reality construction. Through Google Alerts, I receive both positive and negative news regarding Champlain College. As a result of Google Alerts, I can learn outside information that I might not be aware of otherwise, such as how Champlain is rated on American School Search.

Production Techniques
: it was very easy to set up a Google alert, and very convenient to have the choice of receiving an e-mail monthly, weekly, or daily.

Google alerts pertain to value messages because I can choose what alerts I subscribe to and therefore monitor the value messages that I'm exposed to. This helps me avoid messages from things I don't want to hear about, and focus primarily on subjects that I'm interested in.

Because Google Alerts lets me get news from only the topics I choose, individual meanings are more pertinent and easily determined than they are with other forms of media. I'm much more likely to take meaning away from news regarding something I'm interested in over something I'm uninterested in.

Persuasive Techniques:

Google Alerts offer a form of simple solutions.

Google Alerts employ timing by giving users the option of having an e-mail delivered daily, weekly, or monthly.

Plain folks is used in the video shown above.

This same video also uses a bit of humor with the cheesy music.

The Champlain College symbol can also be found at the end of the video.

Other videos on the American School Search website employ testimonial when they show Mark Crispin Miller speaking at Champlain. This could also be used as an example of scientific evidence since Miller is considered a media expert and guru.