Definitions
Medium: the means by which information (the message) is transmitted between a sender and a receiver. (The medium is the Message)Mass media: refers to a means of communication that is designed to reach a wide audience.
Message: is any form of communication (information, feeling, idea) passed or transmitted through the media. A message can have more than one meaning. Semantically speaking, the message is the signifier and its meaning(s) is the signified.
Media cascades: The cascade happens when people respond to the behavior of other people by rushing to join them. Sometimes they join because of the reputation of those people - the "reputational cascade" -and sometimes they join because they think that the behavior of others gives them new information-the "informational cascade.
Agenda setting: is the idea that what the public thinks about is set by the media/ The idea that public opinion is set by the media through over- or under-coverage.
The agenda-setting theory of media stated that mass media determine the issues that concern the public rather than the public’s views. Under this theory, the issues that receive the most attention from media become the issues that the public discusses, debates, and demands action on. This means that the media is determining what issues and stories the public thinks about. Therefore, when the media fails to address a particular issue, it becomes marginalized in the minds of the public
Schema: mental structures that an individual uses to organize knowledge and guide cognitive processes and behavior.
Discourse: is a discussion about a topic either in writing or face to face. According to Foucault : the term discourse denote a historically contingent social system that produces knowledge and meaning
Propaganda: is a false images and ideas that are being put out and influencing people minds.
New media:
Means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the internet.
what is new about new Media
1-
The
difference between new and old media is interactions. we can now like and
comment on contents in media, unlike the old media such as TV
2- digitalization 2- convergence 3– virtuality 4- globalization
Digitalization: Converting data into a numerical representation
Convergence: the conversion of text, pictures, or sound, into a digital form that can be processed by a computer. For example, Smartphones (converging camera, music, the internet, books, and all other media together) moreover, reading and translating in the same time using the same device
Hypertextuality: is text that links to other information. By clicking on a link in a hypertext document, a user can quickly jump to different content.
Principles of new media
NUMERICAL REPRESENTATION: New media object is a subject to algorithmic manipulation.
MODULARITY: assembling a large unit from smaller ones for example Microsoft office, you can write and add fonts size, chang the formats and graphics as well
AUTOMATION: (editing) Numerical coding of media and modular structure of a media object allow to automate many operations involved in media creation,manipulation and access.
VARIABILITY: media is not something fix, you can create new version of the same contents A number of different interfaces can be created to the same data. reality is relative.
Audience Theory
Encoding/Decoding (Stuart Hall)
Stuart Hall criticized the traditional linear model of communication which comprises sender-message- receiver. However, he proposes a four-stage model of communication that takes into account the production, circulation, (Distribution or consumption) and reproduction
Production – This is where the encoding, the
construction of a message begins. The production process has its own "discursive"
aspect, as it is also framed by meanings and ideas; by drawing upon society's
dominant ideologies.
Distribution or consumption – For a message to be successfully realized, the encoded messages must be in the form of a meaningful discourse to be meaningfully decoded.
According to Stewart Hall, the message has more than one meaning depending
on the interpretation of the Audience which he categorized in to 3 types
He states that audiences vary in their response to media messages.
Ø This is because they
are influenced by their social position, gender, age, ethnicity, occupation,
experience and beliefs as well as where they are and what they are doing when
they receive a message.
Ø Hall categorized three
kinds of audience response:
1.
A dominant hegemonic reading: interprets the text in terms of the
preferred meaning suggested by the message.
2.
Negotiated code: readers understand the message in general, but they
don’t completely accept it. The audience modifies the message reflecting their
own beliefs and interests.
3. An oppositional reading: the audience understands the meanings of a message while decoding it in a contrary way, so the audience rejects the message.
Media effect
The history of media effects research is characterized by a series of phases marked by fundamental shifts. Each of these phases is associated with particular concepts and historical circumstances that influenced the ideological development of media effects. The media effects are frequently characterized as a three-phase progression.
§ A theory of strong
effects/ The
magic bullet or hypodermic needle' model :
It was based on early observations of the effect of mass media as used by Nazi propaganda and the effects of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. This model suggest that the media were so powerful that the audience was powerless to resist its influence.
§ A model of minimal
effects/ Gratification
theory: 1950
It suggests that Media has no power over audiences. Instead Audiences are highly active in their media usage To fill a certain need and are free to choose what suitst and satisfiy their desires
§ A rediscovery of
strong effects: 1970
This model suggests that Though audiences is still in control of the
selection of media messages they consume, "the way media select, process
and shape content for their own purposes can have a strong influence on how it
is received and interpreted and thus on longer-term consequences"
FOUR MODELS OF MEDIA EFFECTS
The Theories of mass communication have changed dramatically since the early 1900s, largely as a result of changing technology and more sophisticated academic theories and research methods. However, the mass communication field is now marked by four dominant models of media effects; direct effects,conditional effects, cumulative effects, and cognitive automatic effects
- The direct effects model
The direct effects model
focuses on the impact of media content to stimulate fairly automatic and
predictable responses in the audience. The audience is viewed as reacting
involuntarily and automatically to certain features of media content.
- CONDITIONAL EFFECTS
This model focuses on
audience selectivity, social influence, and individual differences. It suggests
that Media effects are not uniform;
different people can be affected quite differently by the same media content.
- CUMULATIVE EFFECTS
The cumulative effects
model focuses on the repetition of some
themes, images, and frames across media content that override the ability of
the audience to avoid exposure
- COGNITIVE-TRANSACTIONAL MODEL
This model focuses on the mental
organization of knowledge—the schema and its processing. Schematic processing,
though, can be automatic or controlled.
Ø
Controlled
processing: Assumes that individuals, by
selectively exposing themselves to the media. Therefore, users can be
influenced only by media content that they selectively consume and selectively
interpret.
Activate
their previous schema existing in his/her mind to interpret media content does not allow the media to affect individuals.
Ø
Automatic
processing - Activate certain schemas through
priming. Media provides a context for public discussion of an issue, setting
the stage for audience understanding.
Example: Media reporting may be very strong such as in the World Cup or election campaigns, making it almost impossible for audiences to ignore the event.
What is The role of social media in shaping our perceptions of social reality and social relation ?
Social media has become an outlet through which people can stay connected to each others, entertain themselves, and get information that satisfy their needs. In the current world, the advanced technologies and the invention of devices such as smartphones, have facilitated the use of these platforms and turned us into an a large consumers of social media.Therefore, this overexposure to social media has contributed in shaping our social reality and social relationship.
Social media plays an important role in shaping our social reality in many ways. One way is, society members rely on social media as their primary source of getting credible information, be it news, entertainment, or education. This has given the social media the power to sow ideas in the public sphere. Ideas such as how society should be functioning, determining the norms of beauty, and what it meant to be good and bad. Therefore, social media, in that sense is influencing the society’s way of thinking and the social reality is set by what social media provide.
Social media have also shaped our social relationship. The way how we interact within our societies has changed with the use of social media. For example, nowadays people use texting as an alternative to face to face conversation. Moreover, meetings are taking place in platforms such as Skype and Google meet instead of a physical meeting in real life. Finally, expressing feelings have shifted to be emojis or stickers. All these factors contributed in shaping our social relation in the way how it is nowadays.
To sum up, social media has become a necessity in our
contemporary world to communicate, entertain, and to get information, but also
it has become a powerful tool that shapes our social reality and social
relation. Whether young or old, you just cannot escape from the influence of
social media.
