Media Studies 200: Intro to Media Studies
Intended for 60 undergraduate students
Fall 2025 at the University of Victoria
M and Th, 10 - 11:20am | 1.5 units | prereq: AWR
Taught by Jentery Sayers (he | him) | jentery@uvic.ca
Office hours: Th, 12-1pm, in CLE D331
Teaching assistant (marking): Maya Wei Yan Linsley (she | any)
Worksheet 3 covers the first half of Module 3: Approaches. Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, November 6th at 10am, but there’s a grace period until Thursday, November 13th at 10am. See details below, under “When to Submit It.”
The worksheet is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use handouts, the course website, my slides, your notes, recordings of class sessions, the library, and the internet to address the prompts.
Please cite your source materials, including any AI tools you use and all media you mention in your responses. See “Citing Your Sources” below for details.
Please download the worksheet (DOCX format) to complete it in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Pages for Mac.
This open-book worksheet contains five prompts. You should respond to four of them. If you respond to all five, then we will mark the first four.
Each response is worth 25 points for a total of 100 points.
Some prompts ask you to create media. Please attach your audio, image, or video files to your response in Brightspace. Do not use YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Google Drive, or any other non-Brightspace platform to submit files.
Prompt 1. Select a social media trend that appeared in the news between January 2020 and November 2025. Next, find examples of that news coverage across three different venues: 1) a public broadcaster, 2) a private broadcaster, and 3) an independent podcast or vlog that isn’t affiliated with a public or private broadcaster. Copy the URL for each example and paste all three into your worksheet. Now use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Media Effects” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) identify and describe the social media trend, 2) explain how people, including journalists, vloggers, and podcasters, interpreted the trend to have A) direct effects, B) minimal effects, and C) third-person effects, 3) apply one effects theory (see pages 3 and 4 of the “Media Effects” handout) to explain the trend’s significance, and 4) share what you learned about media effects research from this exercise.
Do not select the Kia challenge or devious licks trend, which we discussed in class. Your trend should be specific. For instance, TikTok is a platform, and short-form content is a format, but the Kia challenge is a trend.
Don’t forget to include a URL for each of your three examples.
Prompt 2. Select a generative AI tool that produces text, images, audio, and/or video. Next, provide an example of how people interact with it and the sort of content it produces. This example can be drawn from the internet or based on your own interactions with the tool. Now use no more than 350 words, including terminology from the “Ownership Effects” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) identify the tool and who owns it, 2) describe it and some of its uses, 3) identify one use that you believe should be regulated either in Canada or globally, 4) explain why that use should be regulated and how it could be regulated (see five types of regulation on page 3 of the “Ownership Effects” handout), and 5) share what you learned about ownership effects research from this exercise.
Don’t forget to attach or embed your example of how people interact with the tool and the sort of content it produces.
Prompt 3. Select an app you’re familiar with and then use 350 words, including terminology from the “Culture” handout and “Communication” and “Media” modules, to: 1) identify a specific community or subculture who is active on the app, 2) explain how the app’s design addresses, supports, and appeals to that community or subculture, 3) describe the habits of belief, perception, and performance you associate with the group’s activity on the app, and 4) share what you learned about media habits and cultures from this exercise. Feel free to include videos or screen caps of the app to support your writing, but do not share any private posts or content.
You can be a member of the community or subculture you’re examining; however, membership is not an expectation of this prompt. Feel free to focus on a website instead of an app if you wish.
We recommend being as specific as possible when identifying a community or subculture. They should share a specific set of interests, goals, stories, or identities. For instance, “Instagram users” and “Generation Z” would be too broad for this exercise.
Prompt 4. Select a local small business or non-profit and imagine ways to rebrand it to attract customers or charitable donations. Next, create three of the following types of media to demonstrate the potential of your proposed rebrand and attach those media to your response: image, audio, text, video, and interface. Now use 350 words, including terminology from the “Media Aesthetics” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) identify the small business or non-profit and describe what it does, 2) describe your rebrand’s aesthetic and its approach to composition, interaction, and experience, 3) identify your intended audience and explain why your rebrand’s aesthetic would resonate with them as well as the small business or non-profit, and 4) share what you learned about media aesthetics from this exercise.
You’re welcome to use languages other than English in your rebranding. If you’re unsure where to start, then consider some of the following aspects of a typical rebranding: core messaging, web and social media presence, content creation, local / IRL presence, visual and sonic identity (including logos and consistency), customer sentiment and testimonies, memorable feelings and experiences, and engaging storytelling. Not all rebrands are about “modernizing” or “professionalizing” a business or non-profit. They may emphasize what makes a business or organization welcoming or unique.
Don’t forget to attach media files to demonstrate the promise of your proposed rebrand.
Prompt 5. Imagine you work for a game company. Your boss asks you to make a puzzle for a cooperative mystery game that people could play at home or in escape rooms. The puzzle should be set at the scene of a mystery, and its solution should also solve the mystery (like a “whodunnit”). Players will assume the role of amateur sleuths. You should use images and text (audio and video are optional) to produce however many clues you wish according to three constraints: 1) your clues should include an icon, an index, and a symbol, 2) at least two clues should be “true,” and 3) at least one clue should be a “red herring.”
Now use 350 words, including terminology from the “Meaning and Semiotics” handout and “Media” and “Communication” modules, to: 1) describe the puzzle, the scene of the mystery, and your clues, 2) identify your icon, index, and symbol, 3) share the solution to your puzzle and the mystery, 4) explain what you anticipate players would do to decode the clues and solve the mystery, and 5) share what you learned about media and semiotics from this exercise.
A true clue helps players solve a puzzle. A red herring misleads or distracts them from solving the puzzle. You are welcome to add any other elements you wish, as long as you include all the elements above.
Be sure to attach all the media for your clues to your response. That way, we can access them and try the puzzle ourselves!
We will use the following rubric, based on UVic’s official grading system, to assess your responses.
1 point will be deducted for every 25 words over the prescribed word count.
10 points will be deducted from the overall mark if no references are included at the end of the worksheet (see “Citing Your Sources”).
5 points will be deducted from the overall mark if the references at the end of the worksheet are not formatted according to an established citation style (see “Citing Your Sources”).
The total of these points (0-100) will constitute 20% of your final mark in this course.
You do not need to meet the word count in each response to earn a high mark.
We recommend using prose (paragraphs) rather than point form in your responses. Prose is more synthetic and will allow you to make connections.
You should also avoid repetition within responses and across them. I do not recommend writing about the same topic or theme in every response (e.g., four responses about video games, TikTok, or a particular fandom).
We do not recommend relying on generative AI or other AI tools to write your responses to this assignment. AI-generated responses tend to be generic, and they lack self-reflection, which is an element of every prompt in this worksheet. AI results can also be biased and inaccurate. It is your responsibility to ensure that the information you use from AI is accurate. You should also pay attention to the privacy of your data. Many AI tools will incorporate and use any content you share, so be careful not to unintentionally share copyrighted materials, original work, or personal information. In short, relying on AI could create more work for you in the end.
All sources, including AI tools, must be properly cited. (Language for this policy was drawn from language used at the University of Washington.)
Please do not forget to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. This includes course handouts but also any AI tools if you use them. You are welcome to use your preferred citation style (MLA, Chicago, or APA, e.g.).
Please submit a DOCX, ODT, PAGES, or PDF file containing your answers and references along with any media files you were prompted to attach or embed.
A response to Worksheet 3 is due by 10am on Thursday, November 6th, but there is a grace period. If you submit your response by Friday, November 7th at 10am, there will be no penalty, and we will provide our usual written feedback in a letter to you. If you submit your response after 10am on the 7th but before 10am on Thursday, November 13th, there will be no penalty either; however, we will provide only number grades (no written feedback) for your responses alongside your overall mark for the worksheet. We will deduct five points for every business day we receive Worksheet 3 after 10am on Thursday, November 13th. We will close the submission portal for Worksheet 3 at 10am on Thursday, November 20th, and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. We will not accept any submissions by email.