Mediated Exam

Georges Méliès

A pioneering filmmaker known for fantasy films, special effects, and cinematic tricks.

Lumière Brothers

Early cinema pioneers known for films of everyday life and for developing a motion-picture camera and projector.

Kinetoscope

An early motion-picture viewing device associated with Edison and Dickson; one person typically watched through a peephole.

Persistence of vision

The traditional explanation that rapidly presented still images are perceived as continuous motion.

Trick photography

Early film techniques such as stopping and restarting the camera, double exposure, superimposition, and stop-motion effects.

Hollywood Studio System

A system in which major studios controlled much of film production, distribution, and exhibition.

Vertical integration

When a company controls multiple stages of an industry's process, such as producing, distributing, and exhibiting movies.

Star system

A studio practice of promoting actors as major attractions to draw audiences to films.

Tentpole

A major movie expected to earn substantial revenue and support other studio business activities.

Windowing

Releasing a movie through different distribution platforms at different times, such as theaters followed by streaming.

Oligopoly

A market dominated by a small number of powerful companies.

Freemium

A business model that offers basic access for free and charges for premium features or services.

Pandemic impact on movie industry

The COVID-19 pandemic closed theaters, delayed productions, postponed releases, and accelerated streaming and changes to release windows.

Relationship between movies and television

Movies and TV compete for audiences but also cooperate through licensing, promotion, and distribution.

Hollywood strikes

The 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes involved disputes over pay, streaming residuals, working conditions, and AI protections.

SAG-AFTRA

A union representing actors and other media professionals.

Daguerreotype

An early photographic process developed by Louis Daguerre that produced images on treated metal plates.

Eadweard Muybridge

A photographer known for sequential photographs of movement, including a galloping horse.

Kodak

George Eastman's company helped popularize photography with simpler cameras and consumer photographic film.

Digital photography

Photography in which images are captured electronically and stored as digital files.

AI-generated image

An image created substantially or entirely by an artificial intelligence system rather than captured as a conventional photograph.

Deepfake

Synthetic or manipulated media that makes a person appear to say or do something they did not.

Photojournalism ethics

Principles such as accuracy, authenticity, context, privacy, dignity, and transparency in news photography.

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)

An older display technology in which an electron beam strikes a phosphorescent screen to produce an image.

Gutenberg Press

A movable-type printing system developed in 15th-century Europe that helped books and ideas circulate more widely.

Functions of print media

To inform, entertain, preserve culture, spread knowledge, persuade, and support public debate.

Function of magazines

To serve specialized audiences with information and entertainment while providing targeted advertising.

Mass-market paperback

An inexpensive, compact paperback book designed for wide distribution and a broad readership.

Book banning

Restricting access to a book, often in a school, library, or institution.

Book burning

Physically destroying books, often to suppress ideas or express ideological opposition.

Post-literacy

A cultural condition in which sustained reading becomes less central as audiovisual and other media become more dominant.

Deep reading

Careful, sustained reading that supports comprehension of complex ideas and arguments.

Early radio

Radio developed from wireless communication into a major medium for news, music, entertainment, and mass communication.

Broadcasting

Sending audio or audiovisual content from a source to a large audience, often simultaneously.

Radio Act of 1927

A U.S. law that established federal radio regulation and created the Federal Radio Commission to help manage broadcasting and frequencies.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

The U.S. agency established in 1934 that regulates interstate and international communications, including broadcasting.

Broadcast television

Television traditionally transmitted over the air using radio-frequency signals.

Cable television

Television delivered through cable infrastructure, expanding the number and variety of available channels.

Growth of TV in the United States

Television ownership expanded rapidly after World War II, especially during the late 1940s and 1950s.

Telecommunications Act of 1996

A major U.S. law that updated telecommunications regulation and changed competition and media-ownership rules.

Time shifting

Watching or listening to a program at a different time from its original scheduled broadcast.

Evolution of audio recording technology

Audio evolved from mechanical recordings to records and tapes, CDs, digital files, and online streaming.

Tin Pan Alley

A New York City popular-song publishing and songwriting industry prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Payola

Undisclosed payment to influence music airplay or promotion.

Napster

A peer-to-peer music-sharing service that became famous around 1999 and challenged traditional music distribution and copyright practices.

Spotify

A music-streaming service offering on-demand access to a large catalog through free and paid tiers.

Music streaming

Listening to audio delivered over the internet without needing to permanently download the entire file first.

Algorithm

A set of rules or computational processes used to analyze information and produce outputs or recommendations.

Algorithmic recommendation

A system that suggests content based on signals such as user behavior, preferences, and engagement.

Spotify Syndrome

The concern that personalized music recommendations can make listening convenient but may reduce unexpected discovery by repeatedly suggesting similar music.

Podcast

A digital audio program, often episodic, distributed online for on-demand listening; some podcasts also include video.

Podcast versus traditional radio

Podcasts are usually available on demand and can be independently produced, while traditional radio has historically relied on scheduled broadcasting.

Meme

An idea, image, phrase, or format that spreads between people and is often copied or modified.

Cultural transmission

The process by which ideas, behaviors, and cultural practices spread from person to person.

Virality

The rapid spread of content through a network.

Participatory culture

A media culture in which audiences actively create, remix, and share content rather than only consuming it.

Meme functions

Memes can communicate humor, identity, emotions, social commentary, and political messages.

Yuval Noah Harari: AI and civilization

Harari argues that AI may affect the underlying systems of language, information, trust, and cooperation that organize human society.

AI's impact on trust

AI can produce convincing synthetic text, images, and videos, making it harder to judge what information is authentic.

Rose Horowitch: post-literate era

The article considers whether civilization can sustain intellectual and cultural life if sustained reading becomes less common.

Why deep reading matters

Deep reading helps people engage with complex arguments, maintain attention, interpret information, and think critically.

Alexis Beneviste: history and meaning of memes

The reading explores memes as cultural ideas and formats that spread through copying, variation, and adaptation.

Nell Geraets: algorithm of fear

The reading examines how YouTube creators, recommendation systems, and audience-engagement incentives shape digital horror entertainment.

How YouTube algorithms affect creators

Recommendations can help creators reach audiences, while platform incentives may encourage changes to titles, thumbnails, pacing, and content to attract views and retain attention.

The Daily: Hollywood's AI moment

The podcast examines AI's creative possibilities and its effects on jobs, consent, compensation, copyright, and the future of Hollywood.

Generative AI

AI that produces new content, such as text, images, audio, video, or other material.

AI-assisted production

Using AI tools to help with existing production work, such as editing assistance, audio cleanup, or visual effects.

AI and actors' likenesses

A key concern is whether a person's face, voice, or performance can be digitally replicated or reused without appropriate consent and compensation.

AI and copyright

Questions include how training data is used, who owns generated work, and how creators should be credited or compensated.

Benefits of AI in Hollywood

AI may support creative experimentation, visual effects, and some production tasks or lower certain costs.

Risks of AI in Hollywood

Potential risks include job displacement, unauthorized use of likenesses, copyright disputes, and reduced trust in media.

Tin Pan Alley versus Napster

Tin Pan Alley represents an earlier commercial song-publishing industry; Napster represents digital peer-to-peer music sharing that challenged traditional distribution.

Broadcasting versus streaming

Broadcasting sends programs to audiences through a transmission system, often on a schedule; streaming delivers media online, often on demand.

Book banning versus book burning

Banning restricts access to a book; burning physically destroys books.

Photo editing versus AI-generated imagery

Photo editing changes an existing image; AI-generated imagery creates new image content using an AI system.

Why algorithms can limit discovery

They may repeatedly recommend content similar to what users already consume, reducing exposure to unfamiliar options.

Why memes spread online

They are easy to copy, adapt, remix, and share, allowing people to communicate recognizable ideas quickly.

Market consolidation

When ownership or control becomes concentrated among fewer companies, potentially increasing their market power.

The Radio Act of 1927 versus the FCC

The 1927 act created the Federal Radio Commission; the FCC was established in 1934 and replaced that commission.