HNR 94-001
"Return unused portion for a full refund if not
completely satisfied."
Jack Goldberg
Do you expect products to perform as advertised? Have you ever felt ripped-off? Do you return products that you feel do not meet advertised performance? Do you expect that some products will not perform as advertised or have the advertised quality but accept that? Why? If products do not meet the advertised quality or performance, is the availability of a full refund sufficient to remove a company from responsibility for "truth in advertising?" What are the responsibilities of a manufacturer and marketer of a product to the consumer? What are the criteria used and who sets them in determining if the marketing for a product is truthful, misleading, or blatantly deceitful? Do (or should) consumers' expectations about an advertised product's quality and performance differ depending upon the product? For example, medicines and medical devices are tested and regulated to insure that they have the effect noted on the label; nutritional supplements and herbal remedies are not. While cosmetics and wrinkle creams are tested for safety, their claims for rejuvenation of skin do not require validation. Why do we, as a public, allow this variable standard? In this seminar we will explore this issue, considering medical, economic, and social perspectives.
HNR 94-002
Botox, Plastic surgery, and the search for the
Fountain of Youth: Whatever happened to "I gotta be me?"
Rance LeFebvre
Have Americans fallen prey to the machinations and whims of Hollywood and the world of advertising? Are we blessed with all of the modern day capabilities to "enhance"our looks, or is the joke on us? Is it OK to be content with who we are and how we look? Do plastic surgery, botox, etc. improve our self esteem and self image, or do we lose something of who we are by trying to look like someone else? Is the pursuit of perfection worth the financial and emotional cost? Is it all just harmless fun, or are we selling our souls for someone else's idea of perfection?
Krishnan Nambiar
The continuing conflicts in the middle east are a serious threat to world peace. Our seminar will review the root causes of the conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis and explore the humanitarian, economic, territorial, religious and political aspects of the conflicts. We will try to develop a workable solution to the crisis in order to bring about peace in the troubled region. The final product will be a report/recommendation to the United Nations.
HNR 04-005
Since the talk shows of the 1980s, reality television has become a major feature of the small screen as evidenced by the meteoric increase of shows such as MTV's Real World, Survivor, American Idol, and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The reality format now plays a major role in production decisions and network strategy. This seminar seeks to explore "reality" as a format by examining the representation of reality within the televisual viewing frame and the exponential growth of these representational programs on broadcast and cable TV, and even beyond - to the worldwide web. Potential topics include: the portrayal of identity, reality on the Internet, the impact of the reality format on the portrayal of global news events (e.g. the embedded reporters during the Iraq war), and the representation of criminality on America's Most Wanted.
Downloading music files from the web without paying for them
has become a widespread practice in the digital age. The Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 states that in order to make copies of copyrighted
material you must obtain a license from the owner of that material. What this
means for those using the web, especially peer-to-peer sharing programs such as
Kaaza and Gnutella is that downloading (=making a copy) a copyrighted item
without permission of the owner or author is illegal. The Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) has sued over 200 people for what it states is
illegal transfer of music, with settlements ranging up to $25,000. All UCD
students and their parents received a letter in September describing the risks
of downloading music and other copyrighted materials without owner permission.
UCD has made it clear that it "will hold you responsible for illegal file
sharing". Consequences range in severity but most often include disabling
your port in the dorm until the matter is resolved.
This seminar will examine the issues and controversy surrounding downloading
music and other copyrighted materials. Where do you stand on this issue? Do you
think the DMCA is unfair? Are downloads really reducing profits of the
recording industry and movie producers? Whose music is it anyway?
HNR
94-007
Truth
or Propaganda?: The Role of Mainstream Media
Mani Tripathi
The last two decades have witnessed an explosion in dedicated
news channels on cable television and internet-based news websites. As a result,
the role of traditional news sources such as newspapers and evening news on
network television has diminished. Has the quality of news reporting improved
or suffered in this process? Has the thin line between fact and opinion been
partially erased by some of the newscasters? In effect, one may ask, "What
constitutes a fact?"
At the same time, the internet has enabled us to read
online newspapers from around the world, without the shipping delay and limited
access that prevailed only about 10 years ago. It has also provided a forum for
non-corporate entities to publish opinions and analyses to a worldwide
audience, as evidenced by thousands of personal websites that contain political
commentary.
Examples in recent history cover the entire spectrum of questionable
behavior. A reporter for New
York Times was caught fabricating entire news stories. The Al-Jazeera television network was
accused of airing hate-filled programs.
The American news media was criticized for towing the Pentagon's line
by relying heavily on "embedded" journalists for reporting on the
Iraq war. A controversy brewed up when Al Franken
wrote a book containing a scathing attack on Fox News. How do individuals choose their sources
of news in this volatile atmosphere?
We will examine these issues and prepare case studies by
researching in-depth a few examples of American and international news
sources. The focus will be on
determining whether standards of reporting can be evaluated based on some
objective criteria. We will
develop our findings into a system for rating a news organization.
Susan Tucker
What are your clothes telling other people about you? Are they saying the same thing to everyone you meet? Would they give the same story in NY as they would in LA? Who determines the language of fashion? Is it Ralph Lauren? Likin Park? Hollywood? Madison Avenue? Your peers? How and why do fashions change over time? Does whatÕs "cool" depend upon your identity? On your perception of yourself? Indeed, how did you decide what to wear today? Who determined your "taste"? In this seminar we will explore, through a critical examination of past and present trends, the sociological, psychological and cultural language of clothing, as well as the roles played by various industries in determining this language.
Testing the Contact
Hypothesis: Does Promoting Racial Diversity Through University Admissions
Really Reduce Stereotypes?
This course will build on the recent University of Michigan case in which the use of racially-customized admissions criteria was challenged as reverse discrimination. Students will examine just how a racially/ethnically diverse (vs. non-diverse) student body affects the experience of undergraduates. In particular, they will look at how it affects stereotypical perceptions of people of different races and ethnicities.
Students will read psychological research on the "contact hypothesis" (which suggests that increasing contact between groups reduces perceived stereotypes) and perform some field and lab experiments of their own. Students will develop some guidelines about admissions criteria and racial/ethnic diversity that will be forwarded to President Dynes and the UC regents.
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