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In this book, we examine the history and business of mass media, and discuss the media as a central force In shaping our culture and our democracy. A. Critical process for Investigating media industries and Issues. L. Address key Ideas Including communication, culture, mass media, and mass communication. N. Investigating important periods In communication history: the oral, Whiten, print, electric, and digital eras. Ill. Examine the development of a mass medium from emergence to convergence. Lb. Learn about how convergence has changed our relationship to media v. Look at the central role of storytelling in media and culture. . Discuss two models for organizing and categorizing culture: a skyscraper and a map. Evil. Trace important cultural values in both the modern and postmodern societies. Viii. Study media literacy and the five stages of the critical process: description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. Often, culture is narrowly associated with art, the unique forms of creative expression that give pleasure and set standards about what Is true, good, and beautiful. (Can be viewed more broadly as the ways In which people live and represent themselves at particular historical time.
Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey Information and meaning (e. G. Languages, more code, motion pictures, and one-zero binary computer codes). A. Culture, therefore, Is a process that delivers the values of society through products or other meaning making forms. B. Culture inks individuals to their society by providing both shared and contested values and the mass media help circulate those values. There eras, which all still operate to some degree, are oral, written, print, electronic, digital. A.
The mass media are the culture industries-the channels f communication-that produce and distribute songs, novels, TV shows, newspaper, movies, video games, internet services, and other cultural products to large numbers of people. Mass communication: the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to large and diverse audiences through media channels as old and distinctive as the printed book and as converged as the internet. A. Hastened by the growth of Industry and modern technology, mass communication accompanied the shift or rural populations to urban settings and the rise of a consumer culture.
In digital communication, images, texts, and sounds are converted onto electronic signals( represented as varied combinations of binary number-ones and zeroes) that are then reassembled( decoded) as a precise reproduction of, say, a TV picture, a magazine article, a song, or a telephone voice. Sender (authors, producers, and organizations) transmit messages (programs, texts, images, sounds, and ads) through a mass media channel (newspapers, books, magazines, radio, television, or the internet) to large groups of receivers. . In process, gatekeeper function as message filters. Media gatekeeper make decisions about what messages actually get produced for particular receivers. I. The process also allows for dieback, In which citizens and consumers, If they choose, return messages to senders or gatekeepers through letters to the editor, phone calls, email, we postings, or talk shows. Elective exposure: people typically seek messages and produce meanings that correspond to their own cultural beliefs, values, and interests. Tag in the development of media-convergence- a term that media critic and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. Medium: an intervening substance through which something is conveyed or reanimated. Media innovations typically go through four stages. A. Emergence, or novelty, stage. I. Inventors and technicians try to solve a particular problem, such as making pictures move, transmitting messages form ship to shore, or sending mail electronically. . Entrepreneurial stage I. Inventors and investors determine a practical and marketable use for the new device. C. Mass medium stage I. Businesses figure out how to market the new device or medium as a consumer product. D. Convergence stage I. Older media are reconfigured in various forms on newer media. Convergence: a ERM that media critics and analysts use when describing all the changes that have occurred over the past decade, and are still occurring, in media content and within media companies. A.
The first definition of media convergence involves the technological merging of content across different media channels. B. Cross platform: describes a business model that involves consolidating various media holdings, such as cable connections, phone services, television transmissions, and internet access, under one corporate umbrella. Our varied media institutions and outlets are basically in the narrative-or storytelling business. Media stories put events in context, helping us to better understand both daily lives and the larger world. Culture as a hierarchy, represented by a skyscraper model, and culture as a process, represented by a map model. Skyscraper High culture Good taste, high education, and supported by wealthy patrons and corporate donors, is associated with fine art, which is available primarily in libraries, theaters, and museums. Low culture Which is aligned with the questionable tastes of the masses, which enjoy the commercial Junk circulated by the mass media, such as reality TV, celebrity gossip Web sites, and violent action films.