COMS 203: New Media Course Overview & Intro to Modern Media

A series of flashcards covering key concepts from the COMS 203 lecture on New Media and Economies of Attention.

What does William James suggest about experience in relation to attention?

William James states that our experience is what we agree to attend to.

What risk does Tim Wu highlight in modern life?

Tim Wu points out that we may live lives that are less our own than we imagine.

What notable statistic is associated with Meta's market capitalization?

Meta's market capitalization is approximately $1.6 trillion.

How does Meta offer its core product, and what does that imply about its business model?

Meta gives away its core product for free, indicating it sells user attention as an advertising commodity.

What was the primary audience of newspapers before the advent of penny papers like The Sun?

The primary audience was professionals and political elites.

Who was Benjamin Day, and what innovation did he introduce in 1833?

Benjamin Day was the proprietor of The New York Sun who introduced a penny paper model aimed at the general public.

What was Benjamin Day's breakthrough business model?

He adopted a model of selling newspapers at a loss to gain profit from advertising.

What did the penny press accomplish in terms of audience reach?

The penny press normalized a media economy that widened readership and helped produce a public.

What transformation occurred with the shift from information-based to ad-based media?

The transition led to a primary aim of selling advertisements rather than simply informing readers.

What psychological tactic did advertising leverage according to the notes?

Advertising conditions attention and behavior through engineered cues, emotional responses, and habits.

How is the attention economy defined according to Herbert A. Simon?

An attention economy is where the wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.

What does Shoshana Zuboff say about the new economic order regarding human experience?

She states it treats human experience as raw material for extraction, prediction, and sales.

What distinguishes capturing attention from producing attention?

Capturing attention seizes existing interest while producing attention trains interest through cues and conditioning.

How is 'surveillance capitalism' described?

Surveillance capitalism is an economic order that views human experience as a resource for extraction and sales.

What are the key components introduced in next week's lecture topic?

Next week will cover networks and how they transform attention economies politically and personally.