Jacky Griswold's review of Weather-The Weather Channel (App and Browser)
Date last edited: 11-21-2024 at 09:47PMClick here to view trailer
Rating: G
Review:App: Weather-The Weather Channel
Developer: The Weather Channel Interactive
Genre: Education
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Primary audience: Ages 4+
Version: 10.69.1
Platform: iPhone iOS 16.0 or later, ipadOS 16.0 0r later, tvOS 14.1 or later, visionOS 1.0 or later.
Cost: Free
Jacqueline Griswold
Com 123
November 14, 2024
Dr. Eugene Gan
The Weather Channel is an App that gives helpful knowledge of the daily weather including 24 hour and weekly predictions. It also offers other services such as news, flu tracker, health videos, an allergy tracker, and air quality index.
It is a free app that be downloaded on androids, iphones, Apple tv, and Apple vision. The Weather Channel is even available in any computer browser. The Weather Channel was founded by John Coleman and Frank Batten in 1982. John Coleman had the idea for a 24-hour weather forecasting.
The First Media Key: Balance
“By keeping an open mind about media and looking at it from all angle, we can have more informed and balanced opinions.” 1 In Dr. Gan’s book, Infinite Bandwidth Encountering Christ In the Media, the author says that balance is incredibly important to form a correct view of something. This pertains to anything in life, and especially in media. It is important to look at media from every angle in order to understand what it is communicating to us. The first step to practicing this key is to pray for the virtue of temperance.
The Weather Channel app succeeds in this media key because not only does it offer weather knowledge, but also information on air quality and seasonal allergies. The app covers a broad scope of weather information as well. Users have access to radar features that show past and future weather patterns, temperatures, and predictions. It allows the user to get the whole picture of what is happening the weather.
Second Media Key: Attitude Awareness
“We’re susceptible to the media’s messages because we’re sensory creatures.” 2 Awareness of what media is telling us is critical in properly analyzing the message or information that it is trying to get across. The first step to putting this into this into practice is praying for prudence.
The Weather Channel succeeds in this by bringing awareness to us. This app alerts its users to weather hazards such as, tornados, hurricanes, hail, sever thunderstorms, and other natural disasters. When severe weather hits, the app sends timely alerts so people have time to react appropriately. 3 “In addition, the app's home screen widget offers forecast alerts for the next three hours, providing quick and convenient access to important information.” 4 This app makes people aware not only of local weather but weather around the world. This app even provides national and local news.
Third Media Key: Dignity of the Human Person
“Media should help us understand our dignity and the dignity of others.” 5 In Dr. Gan’s book, he explains the importance, in every media, of showing respect of the human person, body and soul. Media should promote the beauty of our being since we were created special by God. Our souls and bodies are sacred since we are temples of the Holy Spirit/God. In order to put this media key into practice we must pray for justice.
The Weather Channel promotes the dignity of the human person in an indirect way. By alerting its users to potential threats caused by weather and other disasters, (maybe toxic air due to a factory accident), it promotes the general welfare of human beings. It helps keep families and individuals safe from harm. It saves lives. Even the news clips, that I have seen, are very respectful of other people’s suffering if the story involves an incident such as rescuing a lost hiker trapped in a canyon.
Fourth Media Key: Truth Filled
“When we use media, when we enter online communities and virtual worlds, we mustn’t leave the truth behind.” 6 Media should tell the truth, but it doesn’t always. Often media lies to its audiences and promotes unhealthy or toxic messages. We must remember to keep our critical thinking skills sharp and use common sense to discern if a piece of media is telling the truth. The first step to practicing this is to pray for fortitude.
The Weather Channel app succeeds in this because it tells its users facts. It tells us facts about the weather and how it can possibly affect us. They have a section, on their platform, dedicated to videos that inform people how to take shelter and what to do in serious weather conditions. These videos are based upon fact, not bias. There helpful skin care tips and gardening ideas are designed to help us. As far as I have seen from these videos, except for their the clips about the flu, are not skewed by lies.
Fifth Media Key: Inspiring
“The world we live in is full of signs pointing the way to God. Some of those signs-like the order and beauty of nature-are built into creation. Other signs...are made by us, with God’s help.”7 Media should point to the good, true, and beautiful. It should gives us signs to help us go in the right direction. In order to put this into practice we need to pray for hope.
The Weather Channel is not inspiring in the sense we may think. It is inspiring because firstly, the man who dreamed of creating this useful tool was able to accomplish his dream after facing many challenges. John Coleman and Frank Batten faced malfunctioning technology, difficulty getting advertisers and viewers, and finally the struggle of doing something no one had ever done before, a 24 hour weather broadcast.
Sixth Media Key: Skillfully Developed
“Just as the culture brings expectations with it when it goes to the movies, it likewise brings expectations with it when it goes online.”8 Dr. Gan’s book emphasizes how important skillfully developed media is. Well developed media will be able to speak to us because it uses inspiring music, beautiful cinematography, relatable and empowering dialogue, a well thought out plot, good graphics, and easy navigation tools. The first step to doing this is to pray for the virtue of faith. Faith helps us have hope in ourselves and others around us. It is believing in the Truth and the Good even when circumstances are disparaging.
The Weather Channel app succeeds in this because the app and browser themselves are easy to navigate and look at. Everything is nicely labeled and straight forward. The readings for the weather are right there in front of the user, and they only have to scroll down for more information. The tabs at the top are easy to use. The radar tool is also very easy to look at, at the top of the map the different colors for the radar clouds are labeled so people can tell if there is snow, rain, hail, etc... The only critique I have is that sometimes, at least with the browser, it buffers and glitches.
Seventh Media Key: Motivated and Relative to Experience
“It should reflect our experience of the human condition.” 9 This is what all media needs to do and unfortunately it does not always relate to the human experience. Being able to relate to our stories, our joys and sorrows helps us understand our own condition more and lets us know we are not alone in this fight.
The Weather Channel app, despite it being a tool, does succeed in this. The stories that it posts share the real struggles and joys of people all around the world. These videos can help connect us to others across continents through our experiences. They can inspire us or give us hope. The app also offers videos that give advice on how to decorate your house a certain way, how to improve skin health and how to plant your garden. The first step to doing this is to pray for the virtue of charity.
Conclusion:
In conclusion the Weather Channel app does a wonderful job at following the seven media keys, along with being a useful tool that anyone can use, it also helps enrich lives by alerting people to threats and dangers caused by weather. It also promotes healthy living styles with fun and useful information videos that they post on their app. Finally, the channel also keeps people informed with the news, the Weather Channel app has many benefits rolled into one package.
Sources:
Dr. Eugene Gan, Infinite Bandwidth Encountering Christ in the Media, (Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road Publishing, 2010).
WQADabc, "Weather Channel Celebrates 40 Years."
Appisfree, "The Weather Channel-Radar." February 6, 2024.
Seven Keys:Balanced:
Attitude:
Personal:
Truth-filled:
Inspired:
Skillfully Made:
Experienced:
Overall Rating:
7/35
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