TEXTBOOK: Ch. 1: Mass Communication Culture, and Media Literacy
*communication* Who; what; which; whom; effect
Communication Defined: In its simplest form, *____________________* is the transmission of a message from a source to a receiver. For more than 70 years now, this view of communication has been identified with the writing of political scientist Harold Laswell (1948). He said that a convenient way to describe communication is to answer these questions: -"_____"? -Say "_______"? -Through "_________" channel? -To "_______?" -With what "________?" Expressed in terms of the basic elements of the communication process, communication occurs when a source sends a message through a medium to a receive,r producing some effect.
*multiple points of access*
Elements of Media Literacy: Media scholar Art Silverblatt (2008) identifies 7 fundamental elements of media literacy. To these we will add an 8th. Media literacy includes these characteristics: 1. "A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgments about media content." -Thinking critically about the content we consume is the very essence of media literacy. -Why do we watch what we watch, read what we read, listen to what we listen to? -Is that story you saw on Twitter real? -If we cannot answer these questions, we have taken no responsibility for ourselves or our choices. -As such, we have taken no responsibility for the outcome of those choices. 2. "An understanding of the process of mass communication." -If we know the components of the mass communication process and how they relate to one another, we can form expectations of how they can serve us. -How do the various media industries operate? -What are their obligations to us? -What are the obligations of the audience? -How do different media limit or enhance messages? -Which forms of feedback are most effective, and why? 3. "An awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society." -Writing and the printing press helped change the world and the people in it. -Mass media do the same. -If we ignore the impact of media on our lives, we run the risk of being caught up and carried along by that change rather than controlling or leading it. 4. "Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages." -To consume media messages thoughtfully, we need a foundation on which to base thought and reflection. -If we make meaning, we must possess the tools with which to make it (for example, understanding the intent and impact of film and video conventions, such as camera angles and lighting, or the strategy behind the placement of images on a newspaper's website.) Otherwise, meaning is made for us; the interpretation of media content will then rest with its creator, not with us. 5. "An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives." -How do we know a culture and its people, attitudes, values, concerns, and myths? -We know them through communication. -for modern cultures like ours, media messages increasingly dominate that communication, shaping our understand of and insight into our culture. 6. "The ability to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content." -Media literacy does not mean living the life of a grump, like nothing in the media, or always being suspicious of harmful effects and cultural degradation. -We take high school and college classes to enhance our understanding and appreciation of novels; we can do the same for media texts. Learning enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content includes the ability to us *_________________________* - to approach media content from a variety of directions and derive from it many levels of meaning. Thus, we control meaning making for our own enjoyment or appreciation. For example, we can enjoy any one of the hit movies from the "Hunger Games" trilogy as an action-laden adventure full of explosions, danger, and romance, the perfect holiday blockbuster. But as movie buffs we might see it as a David-and-Goliath, underdog-takes-on-the-powerful-villain tale. Or we might read it as an analogy for what's happening in Americ's contemporary economy of growing income inequality and harshness of life for those near the bottom. Maybe its a history lesson disguised as dystopian fiction, reminding us that our country was born of revolution against those who would rule us. Or maybe it's just a fun was to spend a Saturday night, entertained by the same industry that so delighted us with other special-effects extravaganzas, like "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find The," "doctor Strange," and "Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice." In fact, television programs such as "Blackish," "The Daily Show," "The Simpsons," "Game of Thrones," and "Family Guy" are specifically constructed to appeal to the media literacy skills of sophisticated viewers while providing entertaining fare for less skilled consumers. "Blackish" and "The Daily Show" are produced as television comedies, designed to make people laugh. But they are also intentionally produced to provide more sophisticated, media-literate viewers with opportunities to make personally interesting or relevant meaning. Any one can laugh while watching these programs, but some people can empathize with the daily travails of an upper-middle-class African Americanfamily working to deal with race while they pursue the Amrican dream ("Blackish"), or they can examine the failings and foibles of contemporary politics and journalism ("Daily Show"). 7. "Development of effective and responsible productions skills." -Traditional literacy assumes that people who can read can also write. -Media literacY also makes this assumption. -Our definition of literacy (of either type) calls not only for effective and efficient comprehension of content but also for its effective and efficient "use." -Therefore, media-literate individuals should develop production skills that enable them to create useful media messages. -If you have ever tired to make a narrative home video - one that tells a story - you know that producing content is much more difficult than consuming it. -If you have ever posted to Snapchat or Instagram or uploaded a video to YouTube, you are indeed a media content producer; why not be a good media content producer?
*inferential feedback* indirect; direct
In Schramm's mass communication model, feedback is represented by a dotted line labeled "delayed *_________________________________*." This feedback is _________ rather than _________.
inseparable
Mass communication, mass media, and the culture that shapes us (and that we shape) are __________________.
contested *dominant culture*; *mainstream culture*
Now consider how this situation may have come about. Our parents did not bounce us on their knees when we were babies, telling us that thin was good and fat was bad. Think back, though, to the stories you were told and the television shows and movies you watched growing up. The heroines (or, more often, the beautiful love interests of the heroes) were invariably tall, beautiful, and thin. The bad guys were usually mean and fat. From Disney's depictions of Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Jasmine, and Pocahontas to the impossible dimensions of most video game and comic book heroines, the message is embedded in the conscious (and unconscious) mind of every girl and boy: You can't be too thin or too beautiful! As it is, 69% of women and 65% of girls cite constant pressure from advertising and media to reach unrealistic standards of beauty as a major factor fueling their anxiety about their appearance. And it does not help that these messages are routinely reinforced throughout the culture, for example in the recent explosion of days spas for girls as young as 3 that "honor the feminine" while the little misses are treated "like a Kardashian". This message and millions of others come to us primarily through the media, and although the people who produce these media images are not necessarily selfish or mean, their motives are undeniably financial. Their contribution to our culture's repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting is most certainly not primary among their concerns when preparing their communication. Culture need not only limit. That media representations of female beauty often meet with debate and disagreement points out the fact that culture can be liberating as well. This is so because cultural values can be "________________." In fact, today, we're just as likely to see strong, intelligent female characters who save the day like "Brave"'s Merida, "Mulan"'s Fa Mulan, and "Cloudy with a Chance of meatball"'s Sam Sparks as we are movie princesses who need to be saved by the hero. Especially in a pluralistic, democratic society such as ours, the *_______________________________* (or *______________________________*) - the one that seems to hold sway with the majority of people - is often openly challenged. People do meet, find attractive, like, and love people who do not fit the standard image of beauty. In addition, media sometimes present images that suggest different ideals of beauty and success. Actresses Sofia Vergara, Dascha Polanco, and Mindy Kaling; SINGERS/ACTRESSES beyonce and Jennifer Lopez; and comedian Amy Schumer all represent alternatives to our culture's idealized standards of beauty, and all have undeniable appeal (and power) on the big and small screens. Liberation from the limitations imposed by culture resides in our ability and willingness to learn and use "new" patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting; to challenge existing patterns; and to create our own.
Printed; capitalism
Tradespeople, soldiers, clergy, bakers, and musicians all now had business at the printer's shop. They talked. They learned of things, both in conversation and by reading printed material. As more people learned to read, new ideas germinated and spread, and cross-pollination of ideas occurred. More material from various sources was publishes, and people were freer to read what they wanted when they wanted. Dominant authorities - the Crown and the Church - were now less able to control communication and, therefore, the people. New ideas about the world appeared; new understandings of the existing world flourished. In addition, duplication permitted standardization and preservation. Myth and superstition began to make way for standard, verifiable bodies of knowledge. History, economics, physics,, and chemistry all became part of the culture's intellectual life. Literate cultures were now on the road to modernization. _____________ materials were the first mass-produced product, speeding the development and entrenchment of _______________. We live today in a world built on these changes. Use of the printing press helped fuel the establishment and growth of a large middle class. No longer were societies composed of rulers and subjects; printing sped the rise of democracy. No longer were power and wealth functions of birth; power and wealth could now be created by the industrious. No longer was political discourse limited to accepting the dictates of Crown and Church; printing had given ordinary people a powerful voice. Tech writer Kevin Kelly connected printing directly to freedom and the rule of law: "When technology shifts, it bends the culture. Once, long ago, culture revolved around the spoken word. The oral skills of memorization, recitation, and rhetoric instilled in societies a reverence for the past, the ambiguous, the ornate, and the subjective. Then, about 500 years ago, orality was overthrown by technology. Gutenberg's invention of metallic moveable type elevated writing into a central position in the culture. By means of cheap and perfect copies, text became the engine of change and the foundation of stability. From printing came journalism, science and the mathematics of libraries and law."
*cultural definition of communication* communication; reality foundation
Media theorist James W. Carey (1975) recognized this and offered a *_______________________________* that has had a profound impact on the way communication scientists and others have viewed the relationship between communication and culture. Carey wrote, "communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed." Carey's (1989) definition asserts that ___________________ and ________ are linked. Communication is a process embedded in our everyday lives that informs the way we perceive, understand, and construct our view of reality and the world. Communication is the ___________________ of our culture. Its truest purpose is to maintain ever-evolving, "fragile" cultures; communication is that "sacred ceremony that draws persons together in fellowship and commonality."
*Culture*
What is Culture?: *____________* is the learned behavior of members of a given social group. Many writers and thinkers have offered interesting expansions of this definition. Here are 4 examples, all from anthropologists. These definitions highlight not only what culture "is" but also what culture "does:" -Culture is the learned, socially acquired traditions and lifestyles of the members of a society, including their patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. -Culture lends significance to human experience by selecting from and organizing it. It refers broadly to the forms through which people make sense of their lives, rather than more narrowly to the opera or art of museums. -Culture is the medium evolved by humans to survive. Nothing is free from cultural influences. It is the keystone in civilization's arch and is the medium through which all of life's events must flow. We are culture. -Culture is an historically transmitted patterned of meanings embodied in symbolic forms by means of which [people] communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.
learned
Culture as Socially Constructed Shared Meaning: Virtually all definitions of culture recognize that culture is "_____________." Recall the opening vignette. Even is this scenario does not exactly match your early mornings, you probably recognize its elements. Moreover, all of us are familiar with most, if not every, cultural reference in it. "Transformers," "Rolling Stone", McDonald's, Under Armour, "Garfield," - all are points of reference, things that have some meaning for all of us. How did this come to be? Creation and maintenance of a more or less common culture occurs through communication, including mass communication. When we talk to our friends, when a parent raises a child, when religious leaders instruct their followers, when teachers teach, when grandparents pass on recipes, when politicians campaign, and when media professionals produce content that we read, listen to, or watch, meaning is being shred and culture is being constructed and maintained.
Cultu
Culture can be contested. The makers of Dove soap challenge the culture's narrow image of beauty with its "Real Women Have Curves" campaign, placing images like this on billboards and bus stops across the country, running them in national magazines, and making them the focus of its TV commercials. In 2015, the editors of "Advertising Age" magazine awarded Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty its prize as the Number 1 ad campaign of the 21st century for being "brave, bold, insightful, transparent, and authentic." Not only was it successful, they noted, in advocating that women are in control of their own definitions of beauty, but sales of Dove's products increased from $2.5 billion to $4 billion over the span of the campaign.
*bounded cultures*; *co-cultures*
Defining, Differentiating, Dividing, and Uniting Effects of Culture: Have you ever made the mistake of calling a dolphin, porpoise, or even a whale a fish? Maybe you have heard others do it. This error occurs because when we think of fish, we think "live" in the water" and "swims." Fish are defined by their "aquatic culture." Because water-residing, swimming dolphins, porpoises, and whales share that culture, we sometimes forget that they are mammals, not fish. We, too, are defined by our culture. we are citizens of the U.S.; we are Americans. If we travel to other countries, we will hear ourselves labeled "American," and this label will conjure up stereotypes and expectations in the minds of those who use and hear it. The stereotype, whatever it may be, will probably fit us only incompletely, or perhaps hardly at all - perhaps we are dolphins in a sea full of fish. Nevertheless, being American defines us in innumerable important ways, both to others (more obviously) and to ourselves (less obviously). Within this large, national culture, however, there are many smaller, *___________________________* (or *___________________*). For example, we speak comfortably of Italian neighborhoods, fraternity row, the South, and the suburbs. Because of our cultural understanding of these categories, each expression communicates something about our expectations of these places. We think we can predict with a good deal of certainty the types of restaurants and shops we will find in the Italian neighborhood, even the kind of music we will hear escaping from open windows. We can predict the kinds of clothes and cars we will see on fraternity row, the likely behavior of shop clerks in the South, and the political orientation of the suburb's residents. Moreover the people within these cultures usually identify themselves as members of those bounded cultures. An individual may say, for example, "I am Italian American" or "I'm from the South." These smaller cultures unite groups of people and enable them to see themselves as different from other groups around them. Thus culture also serves to differentiate us from others.
Fo
For example, "Women's Health" recently joined a host of other publications, promising to ban expressions like "bikini body" and "drop 2 sizes" from its covers, and lingerie company Aerie vowed to no longer use photoshopped models in its ads (and saw sales surge). Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev discontinued its promotion of Bud Light as "the perfect beer for removing 'no' from your vocabulary for the night." And in 2016, toy maker Mattel announced that it would begin selling new versions - curvy, petite, and tall - of its formerly anatomically impossible fashion doll Barbie, all in a variety of skin tones, eye colors, and hairstyles. In each case, the cultural conversation - on social media, among friends, and in the mass media - demanded a different, and better, way of talking about women and girls.
*Mass communication* identical; feedback
Mass Communication Defined: We speak, too, of mass communication. *______________________________* is the process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audiences. Schramm recast his and Osgood's general model of communication to help us visualize the particular aspects of the mass communication process. This model and the original Osgood-Schramm model have much in common - interpreters, encoding, decoding, and messages - but it is their differences that are most significant for our understanding of how mass communication differs from other forms of communication. For example, whereas the original model includes "message," the mass communication model offers "many _____________ messages." In addition, the mass communication model specifies "______________," whereas the interpersonal communication model does not. When 2 or a few people communicate face to face, the participants can immediately and clearly recognize the feedback residing in the reciprocal messages (our boring professor can see and hear the students' disenchantment as they listen to the lecture). Things are not nearly as simple in mass communication.
Mass
Mass Communication as Cultural Forum: Imagine a giant courtroom in which we discuss and debate our culture - what it is, and what we want it to be. What do we think about welfare? Single motherhood? Labor unions? Nursing homes? What is the meaning of "successful," "good," "loyal," "moral," "honest," "beautiful," or "patriotic"? We have cultural definitions or understandings of all these things and more. Where do they come from? How do they develop, take shape, and mature? Mass communication has become a primary forum for the debate about our culture. Logically, then, the most powerful voices in the forum have the most power to shape our definitions and understandings. Where should that power reside - with the media industries or with their audiences? If you answer "media industries", you will want members of these industries to act professionally and ethically. If you answer "audiences," you will want individual audience members to be thoughtful and critical of the media messages they consume. The forum is only a good, fair, and honest as those who participate in it.
inseparable *media literacy*
Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy: Cultural and communication are _____________, and mass communication, as we've seen, is a particularly powerful, pervasive, and complex form of communication. Our level of skill in the mass communication process is therefore of utmost importance. This skill is not necessarily a simple one to master (it is much more than booting up the computer, turning on the television, or flipping through the pages of your favorite magazine). But it is, indeed, a learnable skill, one that can be practiced. This skill is *_________________* - the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication. But let's start with the first mass medium, books, and the technology that enabled their spread, the printing press.
realities
Mass Media as Cultural Storytellers: A culture's values and beliefs reside in the stories it tells. Who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? How many of your childhood heroines were even slightly overweight? How many good guys dressed in black? How many heroines lived happily ever after without marrying Prince Charming? Probably not very many. Our stories help define our ______________, shaping the ways we think, feel, and act. "Stories are sites of observations about self and society," explains media theorist Hanno Hardt. "These fictional accounts are the constitutive material signs of a shared conversation." Therefore, the "storytellers" have a responsibility to tell their stories in as professional and ethical a way as possible. At the same time, we, the audience for these stories, also have opportunities and responsibilities. We use these stories not only to be entertained but also to learn about the world around us, to understand the values, the way things work, and how the pieces fit together. we have a responsibility to question the tellers and their stories, to interpret the stories in ways consistent with larger or more important cultural values and truths, to be thoughtful, and to reflect on the stories' meanings and what they say about us and our culture. To do less is to miss an opportunity to construct our own meaning and, thereby, culture.
*third-person effect* *genre* *conventions* *hostile media effect* *production values*
Media Literacy Skills: Consuming media content is simple. Push a button and you have images on a television or music on your car's radio. Come up with enough cash and you can see a movie or buy an e-book. Media-literate consumption, however, requires a number of specific skills: 1. "The ability and willingness to make an effort yo understand content, to pay attention, and to filter out noise." -As we saw earlier, anything that interferes with successful communication is called noise, and much of the noise in the mass communication process results from our own consumption behavior. -When we watch television, often we are also doing other things, such as eating, reading, or chatting on the phone. -We drive while we listen to the radio. -We text while we read. -Obviously, the quality of our meaning making is related to the effort we give it. 2. "An understanding of and respect or the power of media messages." -We are surrounded by mass media from the moment we are born. -Just about every one of us can enjoy them. -Their content is either free or relatively inexpensive. -Much of the content is banal and a bit silly, so it is easy to dismiss media content as beneath serious consideration too simple to have any influence. -We also disregard media's power through the *_____________________________* - the common attitude that others are influence by media messages but that we are not. -That is, we are media literate enough to understand the influence of mass communication on the attitudes, behaviors, and values of others but not self-aware or honest enough to see its influence on our lives. 3. "The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and to act accordingly." -Media content is often designed to touch us at the emotional level. -We enjoy losing ourselves in a good song or in a well-crafted movie or television show; this is among our grate pleasures. -But because we react emotionally to these messages does not mean they don't have serious meanings and implications for our lives. -Television images, for example, are intentionally shot and broadcast for their emotional impact. -Reacting emotionally is appropriate and proper. -But then what? -What do these images tell us about the larger issue at hand? -We can use our feelings as a point of departure for meaning making. -We can ask, "Why does this content make me feel this way?" 4. "The development of heightened expectations of media content." -We all use media to tune out, waste a little time, and provide background noise. -When we decide to watch television, we are more likely to turn on the set and flip channels until we find something passable then we are to read the listings to find a specific program to view. -When we search for online video, we often settle for "the 10 most shared today," or we let Netflix choose for us. -When we expect little from the content before us, we tend to give meaning making little effort and attention. 5. "A knowledge of genre conventions and the ability to recognize when they are being mixed." -The term *____________* refers to the categories of expression within the different media, such as "evening news," "documentary," "horror movie," or "entertainment magazine." -Each genre is characterized by certain distinctive, standardized style elements - the *______________________* of that genre. -The conventions of the evening news, for example, include a short, upbeat introductory theme and one or two good-looking people sitting at a large, modern desk. -When we hear and see these style elements, we expect the evening news. -We can tell a documentary film from an entertainment movie but its more serious tone and a number of talking heads. -We know by their appearance - the use of color, the types of images, and the amount of text on the cover - which magazines offer serous reading and which provide entertainment. -Knowledge of these conventions is important because they cue or direct our meaning making. -For example, we know to accept the details in a documentary film about the Boston Marathon bombings as more credible than those found in "Patriots Day," the 2106 Hollywood movie about the terrorist attack. -This skill is also important for another reason. -Sometimes, in an effort to maximize audiences (and therefore profits) or for creative reasons, media content makers mix genre conventions. -Is "Deepwater Horizon" fact or fiction? -Is Meredith Vieira a journalist, a talk show host, or a show person? -"Extra!" and "E! News" look increasingly like CNN's reporting and the "CBS Evening News." -Reading media texts becomes more difficult as formats are co-opted. 6. "The ability to think critically about media messages, no matter how credible their sources." -It is crucial that media be credible in a democracy in which the people govern because the media are central to the governing process. -This is why the news media are sometimes referred to as the 4th branch of government, complementing the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. -This does not mean, however, that we should accept uncritically everything they report. -But it is often difficult to arrive at the proper balance between wanting to believe and accepting what we see and hear unquestioningly, especially when frequently we are willing to suspend disbelief and are encouraged by the media themselves to see their content as real and credible. -But media-literate people know not to discount "all" news media; they must be careful to avoid the *_____________________________*, the idea that people see media coverage of important topics of interest as less sympathetic to their position, more sympathetic to the opposing position, and generally hostile to their point of fire regardless of the quality of the coverage. -There are indeed very good media sources, just as there are those not deserving of our respect. -Media literacy, as you'll read throughout this text, helps us make that distinction. 7. "A knowledge of the internal language of various media and the ability to understand its effects, no matter how complex." -Just as each media genre has its own distinctive styles and conventions, each medium also has its own specific internal language. -This language is expressed in *_________________________* - the choice of lighting, editing, special effects, music, camera angle, location on the page, and size and placement of headlines. -To be able to read a media text, you must understand its language. -We learn the grammar of this language as early as childhood - for example, we know that when the television image goes "all woosielike," the character is dreaming. -Let's consider 2 versions of the same movie scene. -In the first, a man is driving a car. -Cut to a woman lying tied up on a railroad track. -What is the relationship between the man and the woman? -Where is he going? -With no more information than these 2 shots, you know automatically that he cares for her and is on his way to save her. -Now, here is the second versions. -The man is driving the car. -Fade to black. -Fade back up to the woman on the tracks. -Now what is the relationship between the man and the woman? -Where is he going? -It is less clear that these 2 people even have anything to do with each other. -We construct completely different meanings form exactly the same 2 scenes because the punctuation (the quick cut/fade) differs. -Media texts tend to be more complicated than these 2 scenes. -The better we can handle their grammar, the more we can understand and appreciate texts. -The more we understand texts, the more we can be equal partners with media professionals in meaning making.
*noise* *medium* *mass medium*
Not every model can show all aspects of a process as complex as communication. Missing from this representation is *__________* - anything that interferes with successful communication. Noise is more than screeching or loud music when you are trying to work online. Biases that lead to incorrect decoding, for example, are noise, as is a page torn out of a magazine article you want to read or that spiderweb crack in your smartphone's screen. Encoded messages are carried by a *_____________*, that is, the means of sending information. Sound waves are the medium that carries our voice to friends across the table; the telephone is the medium that carries our voice to friends across town. When the medium is a technology that carries messages to a large number of people - as the Internet carries text, sounds, and images and radio conveys the sound of music and news - we call it a *________________________* (the plural of medium is "media"). The mass media we use regularly include radio, television, books, magazines, newspapers, movies, sound recordings, cell phones, and computer networks. Each medium is the basis of a giant industry, but other related and supporting industries also serve them and us - advertising and public relations, for example. In our culture we use the words "media" and "mass media" interchangeably to refer to the communication industries themselves. We say, "The media entertain" or "The mass media are too conservative (or too liberal.)"
S *binge viewing*
Scope and Nature of Mass Media: No matter how we choose to view the process of mass communication, it is impossible to deny that an enormous portion of our lives is spent interacting with mass media. On a typical Sunday night, about 40 million people in the U.S. will tune in to a prime-time television show. Video viewing is at an all-time high and accounts for more than half of all adult Americans' leisure-time activity. 96% of all U.S. homes have at least one set, and 95% of those homes have high-definition sets. 70% of TV viewers admit to *_______________________*,watching 5 or more episodes of a series in one sitting, and 93% multitask while watching, meaning the average American actually enjoys 31 hours and 28 seconds of activity in any given day. On Facebook alone, 1.8 billion people daily watch more than 100 million hours of video. We listen to nearly 4 hours of music every day, and we spend more than $11 billion a year at the movies, buying just over 1.3 billion tickets. If Facebook were its own country, its 1.8 billion monthly active users would make it the largest in the world. Facebook alone accounts for 6% of all the time the world's Internet users spend online. 63% of American households are home to at least one person who plays video games 3 or more hours a week, and half of all U.S. homes have a game console, averaging 2 per home. Just under 4 billion people across the globe are connected to the internet, 50% of the planet's population and a 918% increased since 2000. 89% of North Americans use the internet, a 196% increase since 2000. Annual global Internet traffic passed the zettabyte (that's 1,000 exabytes, which is 1 billion gigabytes) threshold in 2016 and will reach 2.3 zettabytes per year by 2020. Worldwide Internet traffic has increased five-fold over the past 5 years and will increase three-fold over the next 5 years. That traffic in 2020 will be 95 times greater than it was in 2005. By 2020 nearly a million minutes of video content will cross the Internet every second, and it would take you more than 5 million years to watch all the video that will travel the Internet each month. You can see Americans' media preferences in the next figure and how those preferences have changed over the last few years.
with; to; mass communication; cultural
So it is with people and mass media. The media so fully saturate our everyday lives that we are often unconscious of their presence, not to mention their influence. Media inform us, entertain us, delight us, annoy us. The move our emotions, challenge our intellects, insult our intelligence. Media often reduce us to mere commodities for sale to the highest bidder. Media help define us; they shape our realities. A fundamental theme of this book is that media do none of this alone. They do it "_____" us as well as "____" us through _________________________, and they do it as a central - many critics and scholarly say "the" central - _______________ force in our society.
*literacy*
The Gutenberg Revolution: As it is impossible to overstate the importance of writing, so too is it impossible to overstate the significance of Johannes Gutenberg's development of moveable metal type. Historian S. H. Steinberg (1959) wrote in "Five Hundred Years of Printing": "Neither political, constitutional, ecclesiastical, and economic, nor sociological, philosophical, and literary movements can be fully understood without taking into account the influence the printing press has exerted upon them." Marshall McLuhan expressed his admiration for Gutenberg's innovation by calling his 1962 book "The Gutenberg Galaxy." In it he argued that the advent of print is the key to our modern consciousness, because although *______________* - the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols - had existed since the development of the first alphabets more than 5,000 years ago, it was reserved for very few, the elites. Gutenberg's invention was world-changing because it opened literacy to all; that is, it allowed "mass" communication.
*technological determinism*
The Role of Technology: To some thinkers, it is machines and their development that drive economic and cultural change. This idea is referred to a *_______________________________*. Certainly there can be no doubt that movable type contributed to the Protestant Reformation and the decline of the Catholic Church's power in Europe or that television changed the way members of American families interact. Those who believe in technological determinism would argue that these changes in the cultural landscape were the inevitable result of new technology. But others see technology as more neutral and claim that the way people "use" technology is what gives it significance. This perspective accepts technology as one of many factors that shape economic and cultural change; technology's influence is ultimately determined by how much power it is given by the people and cultures that use it.
The f
The first 3 models assume that the consumer "buys" the product; that is, the consumer is the one with the money and therefore the one who must be satisfied. The last model makes a different assumption. It sees the audience, even though it does not buy anything, as sufficiently important to NBC's profs-making ability to force NBC to consider the audience's interested above others' (even those of advertisers). Which model do you think best represents the economics of U.S. mass media?
response sharing *feedback* reciprocal; ongoing process *interpersonal communication* *encoding*; *decoding*
The idea is straightforward enough, but what if the source is a professor who insists on speaking in a technical language far beyond the receiving students' level of skill? Obviously, communication does not occur. Unlike mere message-sending, communication requires the ___________ of others. Therefore, there must be a "___________" (or correspondence) of meaning for communication to take place. A second problem with this simple model is that it suggests that the receiver passively accepts the source's message. However, if our imaginary students do not comprehend the professor's words, they respond with "Huh?" or look confused or yawn. This response, or *__________________*, is also a message. The receivers (the students) now become a source, sending their own message to the source (the offending professor), who is now a receiver. Hence, communication is a "______________" and "_____________________" with all involved parties more or less engaged in creating shared meaning. Communication, then, is better defined as "the process of creating shared meaning." Communication researcher Wilbur Schramm, using ideas originally developed by psychologist Charles E. Osgood, developed a graphic way to represent the reciprocal nature of communication. This depiction of *_____________________________________* - communication between 2 or a few people - shows that there is no clearly identifiable source or receiver. Rather, because communication is an ongoing and reciprocal process, all the participants, or "interpreters," are working to create meaning by *__________________* and *_____________________* messages. A message is first "encoded", that is, transformed into an understandable sign and symbol system. Speaking is encoding, as are writing, printing, and filming a television program. Once received, the messages is "decoded"; that is, the signs and symbols are interpreted. Decoding occurs through listening, reading, or watching that television show. The Osgood-Schramm model demonstrates the ongoing and reciprocal nature of the communication process. There is, therefore, no source, no receiver, and no feedback. The reason is that, as communication is happening, both interpreters are simultaneously source and receiver. There is no feedback because all messages are presumed to be in reciprocation of other messages. Even when your friend starts a conversation with you, for example, it can be argued that it was your look of interest and willingness that communicated to her that she should speak. In this example, it is improper to label either you or your friend as the source - who really initiated this chat? - and, therefore, it is impossible to identify who is providing feedback to whom.
60
_____% of Americans are involved with media on their smartphone first thing in the morning, even before getting out of bed.