I'm not sure if my TOK presentation topic is ok or not

[life_is_beautiful]

The real life situation is that people's views get influenced easily by the media.

Here are some of the knowledge issues that I've thought of:

-How can we know what is really beautiful(is it too broad)?

-How does the media influence people's views?

-How can we know if the media is biased and misleading in terms of defining beauty?

-Does the media shape society, or does society shape the media?

The thing is I'm not sure how I can present it i.e. in what format and how to approach from different perspectives.

Would it be too boring if I simply do a powerpoint with a video and a small discussion?

Any ideas please?

[Ruan Chun Xian]

Firstly beauty is a bit of a cliched topic.

Secondly, it's not exactly about using differing perspective (though you do have to argue different perspectives), it's more about presenting all the areas of knowledge, ways of knowing and problems of knowledge that are associated with your topic.

So for something like beauty, you would be talking about WOKs like perception, emotion, AOK of language, social science (culture). The media part could deal with ethics, bias, culture again etc. So think in TOK terms, it will make sure you go on the right track and don't ramble about something that isn't related to TOK

[Sandwich]

What you might want to consider doing is picking a more specific area along the lines of the media influencing people's views.

For instance, I wanted to do something very similar and finally wound up discussing charities - why donate to them, how they persuade us to donate to them, and how to make an informed choice in donating to them. I actually really enjoyed it, purely I think because it was something not many people usually consider, so I felt I was genuinely telling people about something kinda new to them (and me!)

If you pick something you're interested in which is slightly off the mainstream, you should find it a lot easier. Also remember it's quite a short presentation! Dealing with something massive like society defining the media or the media defining society is perhaps setting your targets a little high. If I were you I'd think of something along the lines of the media question but a more specific example, or section of the media.

Something which would interest me a lot might be car adverts, perfume adverts or alcohol adverts... they're always so obscure! Yet obviously they think they appeal to people (and presumably do appeal to people!). I don't know how much you could get out of it, but looking at those and working out which areas of knowledge/ways of knowing they appeal to in order to indirectly get across their viewpoint (apart from naming the product at the end, it's pretty indirect if you ask me!).

Just a thought O: Do be careful not to take on something too large, though. You'll either end up omitting something or alternatively go over time, for which they do deduct marks.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I thought I'd add that a powerpoint & a short video clip (no more than 1-2mins) actually improved the 'interest rating' or whatever you want to call it of all the presentations I watched Not make it boring. Provided you do them right, visual interest is always excellent. Although of course the aim is less entertainment on this one and more getting the marks even if people fall asleep

Edited May 21, 2009 by Sandwich

[life_is_beautiful]

Thank you so much guys:D your ideas helped a lot.

Yes I agree that it is a pretty cliched topic, it's just that my partner and I couldn't come up with anything else that's TOK related.

We might change twist our topic a little but we're still not sure. Thanks again!