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Hey all, it seems that there are several requests for the lecture to be posted since I was flying through the slides at a crazily unreasonable speed, LOL. Thank you all for all of your support on the day and also throughout this semester—seriously, this would not have been possible without all of you.
I have annotated some of the key slides so that you could understand my rationale for some of the slides as well as in using some of the quotes I decided to use. I have also included two slides that I asked Keynote to skip while deleting some of the more pointless slides alongside all the media, since they were tools to keep you guys awake in lecture (^__^).
Finally, I want to mention that the readings for white-collar crime are supplementary readings, so if you want to find out more, do the readings. My aim in the lecture was to disspell myths about white-collar crime and introduce it as an object of study, as well as how it relates to the media as much as possible (since this is a ‘crime and media’ course).
In Reading 1, Passas and Goodwin provide an overview of how our neoliberal culture propagates white-collar crime in much more detail by invoking the economic concept of externalities (despite their note that the piece is not about white-collar crime in the beginning, they are talking about it as you will note the chapter’s title, “A Crime by Any Other Name”… Passas is a rather sarcastic bloke, LOL. (^__^)).
In Reading 2, Schlosser shows you the true cost of fast food and how the actions, however criminal, are not really seen as criminal at all. There is blood and gore in true gruesome fashion—decapitations, crushing of heads (I’ve had the misfortune to see images of this in my research and had nightmares for three months straight… not funny), and even mincing of whole human bodies—all classified as accidents and all in the pursuit of cheap and fast food. Oops, I did it again, yes? If you read it, it’ll show you the concepts from readings and lecture in action. By the way, if you are interested, the reading is an extract from the book, Fast Food Nation—a very good book on the abuses of the fast food industry. (^__^)
Alright then, I think that’s enough talk, click the link below to download the lecture in PDF format.
Lecture 10 Abbreviated (Click to Download)
Sorry for not posting this up before the lecture, but here is the final version of today’s session on crime and the media as understood in the Chinese context. Right then, off to do some other stuff now—see you all in tutorials this week and a massive props to all Group Cs out there.
I know that the going isn’t necessarily easy at this moment, but hang in there. I am sure all of you can do it!
Lecture 9 Abbreviated (Click to Download)
Here is the final version of the PowerPoint for the lecture on youth and moral panic.
Also, as I was adding this to the blog’s media library, I realised that I completely forgot to upload the class exercise articles for the forensics journalism article. I’ve been rather forgetful lately… hmm… maybe I should get my brain checked, LOL. (@__@) Either way, here they are:
Forensic Journalism Exercise Articles 1 & 2 (Click to Download)
Forensic Journalism Exercise Articles 3 & 4 (Click to Download)
Right then, see you all tomorrow in class then!
Lecture 7 Abbreviated (Click to Download)
Here is the final revision of the lecture for today on the female paradox. Hope you all had fun today, it was nice to see all of you after a hopefully restful reading week! Right then, looking forward to seeing all of you in tutorials! (^__^)
Lecture 6 Abbreviated (click to download)
Here you all go—a small little file called Lecture 6! This is the lecture version of the file, so make sure to download it if you don’t want to miss a single slide of the lecture!
Also, I thought it may help to clarify some of the more colloquial terms during the lecture just for the hell of it, LOL. So here goes,
RANDOM ENGLISH TIP:
Today’s tip will basically be a quick explanation of some colloquial words used in the lecture today.
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Word 1: Jock (Note that this is more common to American English)
Contextual Definition: For all intents and purposes, the term “jock” is best understood as “athlete”. The term is not neutral in its tonation however, and does carry a negative connotation when used because it generally refers to the “manly man” athletic type. It could also carries the implication that the person is unintelligent and narcissistic as well as a bully and resolves conflict through brute strength. As a final note, this word is only used on males and is generally best realised in educational settings.
Etymology: The term is derived from the word “jockstrap”, which is basically a protective undergarment worn by the male athlete to protect his, uh, precious parts… (@__@)
Notes: This is not the only meaning of the word, however this is the meaning of the word pertaining to the lecture and generally how the word is understood when used as a noun in American English. Nonetheless, be sure to look at context before understanding this word in such a way.
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Word 2: Geek
Contextual Definition: “Geek” is usually used to describe someone who is usually strange and, at times, unlikeable and is known to be “too smart for his own good” or simply over-enthusiastic about certain things. In many ways, it is similar to but not exactly the same as someone who one would call an otaku in Japanese (I believe the colloquial Cantonese term for this type of person is “deen che nam” (電車男), derived from the popular Japanese drama that aired on Hong Kong television).
While the term used to be understood as derogatory, it is generally seen as acceptable today and is sometimes even seen to confer status in certain situations as it could also indicate a person who excels in something. For example, whenever my aunt had computing problems in Boston, she would call on the Geek Squad to troubleshoot.
Etymology: The term probably comes from the Scottish dialect, geck, meaning a “fool” or “freak”. You could see, from this, how it used to be an insult, no?
Notes: The word “nerd” holds the same meaning and is just as popularly used to refer to such a person.
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Will you believe I went on for so long on two simple words?… Sigh… I need to learn to be more concise, LOL.
Lecture 5 Abbreviated (click to download)
Here is the full version of Lecture 5 as seen in lecture! There were some slides that were zoomed by in the lecture due to time restrictions, so be sure to look through the slides again to get a firm grasp of the discussion in this lecture. Enjoy, LOL!
Lecture 4 Abbreviated (click to download)
Hey all, as promised last week, lectures will now be posted before the lecture itself to facilitate in preparations. Here’s the lecture for this week prepared by guest lecturer, Dr Fu King Wa, who will take us through the relationship between media and suicidal behaviour.
There are two versions to the lecture despite the fact that both are in PDF format. The reason for there being two versions is because the original PDF is relatively large (5MB), so another smaller PDF was crafted by stripping down the contents to the absolute barebone essentials for a smaller file (under 1MB).
So, if you are not a fan of those full versions and prefer to get the file on your hard drive by the quickest possible means, then click on the file below. Note that this light version strips the file of most of its images and only those that are deemed important to understanding the lecture have been retained. Download at your own risk!
Lecture 4 Lite (click to download)
Right then, friends, I think I’m going to hit the sack now as my eyes are really terribly heavy. See you all tomorrow! (^__^)
Hi all, thanks to Allison for a very nice reminder and summary of useful resources in the previous post. This post may be a little long, so I have broken it up into three different parts to accommodate those who don’t want to be bogged down by my terribly boring ramblings, LOL. Now then, let’s begin with something that Dr Cho asked me to tell y’all about~
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Don’t OutFOXy OutFOXed, OutFOX it with Google video!
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Dr Cho would like to share with you guys that you could view OutFOXed on Google Video from start to finish. Click here to follow the link.
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Lightening Lecture Sizes with the Power of PDF
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Some of my tutorial members have asked for the file sizes to be reduced because it takes a while to download from this WordPress blog (if you thought downloading the file took long, you should try uploading it… (@__@))
Either way, in light of this, PDF versions of the lectures will be created alongside the Powerpoint versions from now on so that you can choose which you would like to download. The PDF versions of the last three lectures follow below:
Lecture 1 Lite (click to download)
Lecture 2 Lite (click to download)
Lecture 3 Lite (click to download)
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The Basics of Crime and Criminality (Proofed: Sunday, February 7, 2009 10:00 am)
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I have noted that there are some first year students as well as students that are more focused on the media who are taking this course. Because of this, I think that it would be wise for me to introduce some basic elements regarding the concept of crime to those who may be new to the topic. Some of these things may seem obvious to those who major in criminal justice and criminology, but what is obvious to some is sometimes not so apparent to others. So with that, let us begin with a basic understanding of what crime is.
The most basic concept of crime is that it is an act that is officially sanctioned through mechanisms of the state. Thus, crime is primarily defined by the legal status of the act, which is why something can be criminalised, decriminalised and then recriminalised (as is the case for the solicitation of a prosititute in Hong Kong). It is in this way that crimes are specific to the statutes and laws that govern a specific place.
Related to this is the concept of deviance which is a much broader term that encompasses all behaviours that are in violation of some norm or value held by some group (yes, it really is this broad, LOL). Indeed, it is so broad that one could argue that deviance is more culturally-specific than place-specific. For example, Chinese children do not usually call their fathers or mothers by their first name regardless of where they are in the world and doing so would be regarded as deviance for those who subscribe to Chinese cultural values. Certainly, deviance can eventually become crimes through criminalisation while crimes could also become simple deviance through decriminalisation (as is the case with homosexuality in Canada, for example).
Moving the discussion back onto crime, it is important to remember that crime is traditionally divided into two major types. These two categories of crime rely heavily on the belief that social order is achieved because there is consensus for universal norms and values in society. The categories go by the Latin terms mala prohibita and mala in se. I should note that while I personally do not agree with this dichotomy, it is a very basic principle in the study of criminology and criminal justice, which is why I think I should give it some face time.
Mala prohibita roughly translates to “wrong due to prohibition” and constitutes actions that may not seem wrong but is considered wrong because certain laws prohibit the behaviour. Easy examples of crimes that are considered mala prohibita include soliciting for prostitution, unregulated gambling, indecent exposure, and drunk driving (also abbreviated to DUI in North American discourse, meaning Driving Under the Influence).
As you may have noticed, these crimes are generally related to public safety concerns (as in DUI) or violations of certain minor moral and social standards (as in soliciting prostitution). Because mala prohibita crimes normally do not involve any actual harm or intent to harm, they also tend to carry lighter sanctions.
Apart from these crimes, there are also crimes that are considered mala in se which is translated roughly to “wrong in themselves”. These are generally considered crimes that are inherently wrong and universally decried by any civilised community, encompassing acts like murder, theft, rape, and arson. These crimes are usually considered serious offences and tend to bear severe penalties. Indeed, it may have also come to your attention that these are the types of crimes that appear on the news more often than mala prohibita crimes.
Well, I think I’ve gone on for a little too long at this point, so I guess I’ll finish off here.
Before I go though, I should inform you that I have uploaded a Powerpoint lecture that I presented in HKU Open Day 2oo8 because it introduces the three basic theoretical streams of criminology. The lecture is extremely basic and was designed to encourage interaction, thus it may not be as informative as it should be.
Still, there are some very simple theoretical concepts within it and that may help some of the more uninitiated get a better grasp of the subject… (^__^”)
Open Day 2008 Criminology Intro Talk Powerpoint (click to download)
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Feel free to comment or point out any errors in the post as I am sure there may be some (I am normally quite clumsy, LOL)! I will do my best to respond and correct as soon as I can.
Right then, take care and have a good weekend all!
Lecture 3 Abbreviated (click to download)
Here’s the Powerpoint for Lecture 3 friends!
Also, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we will be uploading lecture notes BEFORE the Tuesday lecture starting from Week 5 onwards to facilitate in your preparation for classes (that is the week after this one, since next week is the last lecture). You can see Dr Cho’s original comment here.
Finally, in case you are really hyped about watching Outfoxed but simply cannot wait for the DVD to be returned, then check out this Youtube playlist that contains a very large amount of the clips from the documentary. If you look to the right of the page, you will see a small button that says: “Play All Videos”, click that, sit back, and absorb, LOL.
It should be noted that the YouTube user, Brave New Films, is in fact the copyright holder of Outfoxed; so there is no need to worry about copyright infringement or anything of that sort. (^__^)
Right, I think it’s time to call it a night friends—so good night all!
Lecture 2 Abbreviated (click to download)
So much for a quick upload, LOL. I ended up getting delayed because I have the luck to attempt uploading the Powerpoint presentation at the moment WordPress decides to maintain its servers…. Weeeee~~~~!!!
Right then, now that this is finally up and running, I should get back to entering the survey data into my Excel spreadsheet (yes, SPSS is for wusses, real men use Excel to, uh, well, excel… I guess…)
Anyhow… I look forward to uploading some notes some time later down the week… so look forward to that as I ponder, “What is the point of uploading my typed lecture notes when the original lecture notes have already been uploaded?”…
Either way, don’t forget to do your journals and I look forward to finalising the course list so I can finally return to some of my email spamming habits, LOL.
Ciao friends, or as the Danes say: “Hej Hej”… (pronounced like the English “Hi!”, but repeated twice) Thanks to our Danish explorer Carrie for providing me with the very quick insights into standard Danish greeting protocol, LOL (^__^)
SOCI0067 Crime and the Media 