Transcript MediaNowx - Matt`s Media Research

Media Now: The Changing Media
(Straubhaar & LaRose)
Notes and Terms
Terminology
• MASS MEDIA: A one-to-many communication
delivered through an electronic or mechanical
channel.
• INFORMATION SOCIETY: A society in which
the exchange of information is the
predominant economic activity.
• CONVERGENCE: The integration of mass
media, computers, and telecommunications.
Convergence
• Transmitting information digitally facilitates
media convergence.
– “Digital communication technology converts
sound, pictures, and text into computer-readable
formats by changing them into strings of
electronic 1s and 0s that carry information in
encoded form” (p. 5/6).
Convergence
• The switch to digital transmission has also
caused convergence within media industries
that often manifest themselves as company
mergers.
– Example: “Cable TV giant Comcast now offers
high speed Internet connections and telephone
service to its subscribers” (p. 7).
Regulation
• Regulation refers to government oversight of
media ownership.
– Telecommunications Act of 1996: Federal legislation
that deregulated mass media.
• “In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress stripped
away the regulations that had protected publishing,
broadcasting, cable television, telephone, and other media
companies from competition with one another. With the
new law, lawmakers hoped to spark competition, improve
service, and lower prices in all communications media. But
so far, the main impact has been a flurry of corporate
mergers, buyouts, and bankruptcies, whereas the consumer
benefits appear slowly” (p. 11).
Media Evolution
• Pre-agricultural Society – The Tribal Epoch
– Nomadic hunting and gathering.
– Written language doesn’t exist. Oral and gestural
communication are the only way to transmit ideas
between people.
• Agricultural Society – The Literate Epoch
– Farm life that included growing food, keeping
livestock, mining, fishing, and logging.
– Writing existed, but was accessible only to elite
scholars and priests.
Media Evolution
• Industrial Society – The Print Epoch
– The Industrial Revolution drew people to
urban/industrial centers where factory workers
and machines reproduced standardized products.
– Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing
press in 1450 was the model for the forthcoming
industrial revolution of the 1700s because the
printing press reproduced its standardized product
in a sequential fashion much like the industrial
factory would later do.
Media Evolution
• Information Society – The Electronic Epoch
– Characterized by an economy that is based
primarily upon the movement of information.
– Occurred in the West simultaneous with the rise
of television as a medium.
– The computer is the ultimate medium in an
information society because its sole purpose is to
process information.
SMCR
• SMCR stand for Sender, Message, Channel,
Receiver.
–
–
–
–
–
Source: Originates the message.
Message: Content of communication.
Encoder: Translates the message into a form that can be trasmitted.
Channel: The medium or conduit used to carry the message in transit.
Decoder: Translates the message into a form that is readable by the
Receiver.
– Receiver: Destination of the message.
– Feedback: Regulates the flow of communication.
– Noise: Distracting information that is not meaningful to message.
“New Media”
• New Media are…
– Digital: Transmitted through binary code (“0s &
1s”)
– Interactive: Allows feedback from the receiver to
be used by the source to continually modify the
message as it is being delivered to the receiver.
– Audience Generated: Permits the public to
engage in the creation and dissemination of
mediated messages.
Additional Terms
• Gatekeepers: Individuals or groups that
decide what will appear on the media.
• Mediated: Communication transmitted
through a channel.
• Narrowcasting: Targets media to specific
segments of the audience.