Media&Communications

[mediacommunications]

Audience Consuming Media Content

An audience are receivers of media information. Walter Ong once said that the audience, unless physically present, is always imagined. When we imagine our audience, such as their reactions, we think about the media or medium that will fit the delivery of our message to reach our desired expectation from our audience. This is because media objects produce profit. However, it does not have to be in a financial aspect but it can also be an attentional profit. For example, if you are a speaker, you gain attention from your audience. However, it does not necessarily mean that our audience will react how we expected them to (Mohabeer).

In the 1960s, Dallas Smythe described a phenomenon called ‘Audience Commodity’ whereby audiences are perceived not just as giving attention to a form of media but individuals who work for the right to have that media as well. Despite the audience not having any interest in the commercials or ads played on screens, they have no choice but to engage in it, cultivating them into the market, that is, they are getting the rest of the media content as a reward when they do so. However, it does not mean that consuming media content, changes an audience perspective, instead it broadens their minds, giving them an idea of what to think about (Mohabeer). For example, you have no clue about animal cruelty but a makeup ad says that their product is animal cruelty free. This ad may or may not make you do your own research on the benefits of using animal cruelty free products.

[mediacommunications]

Representation Equals Reality

Everything we believe to be real is not actually real if it were not for representation. What is representation? According to the Media & Communication in Canada textbook by Mike Gasher, David Skinner and Natalie Coulter, representation is the act of encoding ideas into a media of communication using signification -- a detailed process of thinking about representation/using signs to make meaning. For example, a picture of a car crash is a representation of that crash (Gasher et al. 61). 

In other words, representation is asking, “What do these media mean?” and language, for example, helps for interpretation because it was influenced by our environment and therefore contributes to how our society thinks, acts and operates. However, the reason why words make sense to us is due to redundancy and repetition; it is through this that we automatically understand the meaning behind a word. For example, the reason why we know that water is something we drink and not eat is because through redundancy and repetition, our minds automatically know that it is liquid. That being said, without repetition, there is no such thing as representation; without representation, there is no reality (Mohabeer).

[mediacommunications]

The Renaissance Period & Print

According to Merriam Webster, the Renaissance was the transitional movement in Europe between medieval and modern times from 14th century Italy to the 17th century. It was during this period that marked the rebirth of Greek and Roman arts, literature and thought as well as the beginnings of modern science whereby logic with the help of the Church, helped to understand a broader way of interacting with the world. However, through this period, Renaissance men, such as Galileo, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and etc., separated themselves from the ideas of the Church; developed modern ways of thinking about the world; and brought them to the Enlightenment -- a philosophical movement in the late 17th century and 18th century that took emphasis on reason and individualism. It was also through the Renaissance when people began to view the relationship between media and society through THE PRINTING PRESS. 

The Printing Press, developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s changed the world from an oral society to a literate ‘linear’ society whereby people can print the same copy multiple times instead of having someone hand write it for days. A shift in the monopoly of knowledge also occurred because the Printing Press allowed the printing of more books where not only the rich and the ones who find it necessary to learn to read and write (e.g. monks) but also the less fortunate gained access to books. Through print, there was control across space and a lack of redundancy in that people could carry the material anywhere. Unlike an oral society, if a speech was forgotten, we cannot go back to it and even if we go to the person who delivered the speech, it is unlikely that they would give you the exact speech word for word. However, in a literate society, if you forget what you read, you can go back to the same material without the words or sentence structure ever changing. 

HOW TO USE THE GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS?

During the French Revolution, when people realized that kings and queens were taking advantage of their authority through unreasonable treatment (e.g. taxing servants), print allowed people to challenge them through discreet printing of a “mass reproduction of pamphlets” that was distributed across space to spread the information which formed a literate society. If print did not exist yet at that time, people would have had to form an oral society where they should gather together as one to possess similar understanding. That being said, the Renaissance period played a huge role in how we think about our world today. 

[mediacommunications]

New Media Exist Due to Traditional Media

Today, new media may have dominated our society; however, without traditional media, new media would have never existed. According to Harold Innis’ assertion, new media has as its content the dominating media that came before which means that traditional media, although it may seem irrelevant nowadays, are just being upgraded to fit into the digital space (Mohabeer). For example, speech came first followed by written or physical books and currently, e-books and audiobooks exist. 

In fact, the idea of creating new media would not have entered the inventors’ mind without the inconvenience brought by traditional media. For example, carrying five physical textbooks, three notebooks, three pens, a newspaper and a wallet. These things are now digitalized and can fit into our digital devices which makes it more convenient; however, it still contains similar content with its predecessors. For example, our laptops possess notepads where we can type notes while an earlier version is using a physical notebook with a pen. However, we can use both as a diary to write down how we feel or what happened today. 

[mediacommunications]

America & Canada’s Different Approaches to Media

There is a distinction present in American and Canadian media whereby America possesses an administrative approach while Canada uses a critical one. 

ADMINISTRATIVE APPROACH

Effects of media on individuals are taken into considerations

Relies on the government's knowledge 

Concerned with the aggregate behaviour people as a collective society 

Favours positivism (scientific explanations/logic)

This approach asks the question, “How does the media effect people?” To question the media’s effect on people is vital because COMMUNICATION AS TRANSMISSION or EXCHANGE is the central idea of the administrative approach wherein the sender holds the authority to create an effect to the receiver successfully. 

For example: How do I sell you a statement hoodie with the word geek? 

As a sender, I craft the word geek to the hoodie (message) and try to get the receiver to buy it (effect). In other words, the administrative approach is focused on getting people to purchase the product which means that it is necessary for you to know who your targets are; how they can reach and understand your message by creating a pattern within society (Mohabeer). 

CRITICAL APPROACH

Cause and effects of media on individuals are not considered (NON-LINEAR)

Sees the bigger picture in social and systemic matters

Believes that power unequal in society

Intersection of communication and power in society

Empirical (relies on observations/experiences; not theory based)

In contrast to the administrative approach, the critical approach is based on asking more questions to understand the meaning behind the message in order for it to be applied as it uses COMMUNICATION AS TRANSFORMATION or CONTEXT which asks the question, “What do people do with media?” A good example would be from my professor: the word fire (Mohabeer).

Sender - someone with panicked voice 

Message - word fire (with panic)

Receiver - you in the same room as sender

Meaning - when you try to makes sense of what the sender’s panicked voice with the word fire meant

Application/use - when you understood the meaning behind the panic and decide to run (CONTEXT)

You might wonder why it helps to be critical in Canada. Well, it is because Canada is concerned with its political economy and has always been critical of itself due to the colonization of the British and French. In other words, most Canadians do not really understand what being a Canadian really means because we all come from different backgrounds and mother tongues. Therefore, possessing a critical approach allows Canadians to understand each other more (Mohabeer). 

[mediacommunications]

Mass Media is Everywhere!

     What first comes to mind when thinking about the word 'media'? Is it the physical or e-books you read? Your laptop? Papers? As an artist, different types of art medium (singular for 'media') is what I imagine such as different kinds of paints (acrylic, watercolour, oil, etc.), chalk, sketching pads, art charcoal, canvas, etc. because in art classes, the word media/medium is always brought up by instructors with the words such as, “Choose the medium to use” or “Explain why you have chosen the medium that you used and why it was effective” which explains the reason behind my limited knowledge about media as a whole.  

     If you read the title of this post, however, it is something I never consciously considered before I enrolled in my Media and Communications class. Media and mass media have slightly distinct definitions. According to the textbook Media and Communication in Canada: Networks, Culture, Technology, Audiences by Mike Gasher, David Skinner and Natalie Coulter, media is the plural of medium -- any vehicle that conveys information whereby language and pictures are examples of it. Since the word ‘mass’ means “large in scale”, mass media is any kind of vehicle that conveys information on a large scale which means that if not everything, most of what we can see and touch is a form of mass media because it captures the attention of numerous people. This includes stained-glass windows, posters and buildings (Gasher et al.13). We might as well add an example coming from my professor: a road communicates an organized system of travelling from one place to another (Mohabeer). 

     Therefore, as someone from Winnipeg, Manitoba, furniture stores means purchasing a thick fluffy blanket with hot cocoa in hand for comfort during the harsh and cold winter weather. Similarly, a stop sign communicates drivers to stop their vehicle and look from their left to their right side to check if another vehicle is near before driving forward. That being said, we can spot different types of mass media everywhere!

[mediacommunications]

Who Am I

Hi, I am Tricia Perfas, 18, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I am one of the majority of Manitobans who would describe Winnipeg as living inside a real life freezer. I have to admit that I do dread the moments when the temperature drops to negative 40 degrees Celsius. But I have to say that the snow does not bother me much because I do enjoy watching the snowfall every now and then.

I have been admitted to the Bachelor of Arts program at Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, British Columbia and plan to major in Digital Media Studies. I am passionate about anything that involves art such as painting, sketching and photography as well as fashion. Therefore, due to the rapidly evolving modern world, I believe this course will be able to help me incorporate my creative skills into the digital spectrum. This blog will showcase my knowledge and understanding about Media and Communications as well as its impacts -- may it be positive or negative-- on our ever changing world.