Intro to Media Exam 1 (Rutgers, Jordan)

SECTION 1: WHAT IS MEDIA STUDIES?

Communication

The creation and use of symbol systems that convey information and meaning

Aspects of Comm: Message

Here's communication from my mother; she's inviting us to dinner. (letter, text)

Aspects of Comm: System

Communication is a growing industry, so it might be a good major. (for transmitting or exchanging info)

Aspects of Comm: Industry

communications industry, broadly defined, the business of conveying information. EX: Radio, television, newspapers, etc.

Components of Communication

Sender, Message, Medium. Receiver, Feedback

SENDER - communication process

The message originates from the sender, who must be clearly identified to the intended audience.

MESSAGE in communication process

the set of symbols that the sender transmits

MEDIUM of communication

The method used to send a message.

EX: a letter is a method of written communication and a meeting is a method of verbal communication.

RECEIVER - communication process

the person who reads, hears, or sees and processes the information contained in the message or advertisement

NOISE in the communication process

any force that interferes with effective communication

FEEDBACK in communication process

the part of the receiver's response communicated back to the sender

symbolic environment

socially-constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior

Linear Model

Source --> message --> receiver

Who says what? through what channel? to whom? with what effect?

Constitutive Model of Communication

View of communication as a process that produces and reproduces meaning.

-------> message ----->

Encoder Decoder

Interpreter Interpreter

Decoder Encoder

<-------- message <---------

Cultural model

The perspective that communication is directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time and the representation of shared beliefs.

Focus is on how meaning is produced rather than on how messages are transmitted.

Meaning emerges from:

1. The creator's vision

2. The industry's control of production and distribution processes

3. The audiences' fragmented responses

Convergence

The merging of content across different media channels - the magazine articles, radio programs, songs, TV shows, video games, and movies now available on the internet through laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

Reg def: the state of separate elements joining or coming together

SECTION 2: WHAT DOES MODERN MEDIA LOOK LIKE ?

Mass communication

the communication of a concept or message to large audiences

Components of Mass communication

Platform - Television, Internet, etc

Content - Reality, Drama, News, etc.

Mode - Audio, Video, etc.

Portability - Hand held, Desktop, etc.

Media and Culture: High Culture

High culture encompasses the cultural objects of aesthetic value, which a society collectively esteem as exemplary art. It may also include intellectual works considered to be of supreme philosophical, historical, or literary value, as well as the education which cultivates such aesthetic and intellectual pursuits.

Media and Culture: Low Culture

"Low culture" is a derogatory term for forms of popular culture that have mass appeal. Examples being Reality television, escapist fiction, kitsch, slapstick, camp, toilet humor, yellow journalism, pornography, and exploitation films are often cited examples of low culture.

Postmodern Culture

Postmodern culture is a far reaching term describing a range of activities, events, and perspectives relating to art, architecture, the humanities, and the social sciences beginning in the second half of the twentieth century. ... Additionally, postmodern culture stands for more than the current state of society.

Eras of the evolution of Mass communication

Print - newspapers

Electronic - Telegraph, Radio, Film television

Digital - Cable television, Internet, Email, Social media

WHO IS VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE IN THE "MODERN AUDIENCE"

Media Industry Structures

Monopoly, Oligopoly, Limited Competition

Oligopoly

A few firms dominate an industry

EX: Music - Sony, Universal, Warner

Cultural Imperialism

-The dominance of one culture over another.

EX: American media are shaping the cultures and identities of other nations. American styles in fashion and food, as well as media fare, dominate the global market.

Hegemony (media)

-Media hegemony is a perceived process by which certain values and ways of thought promulgated through the mass media become dominant in society.

-It is seen in particular as reinforcing the capitalist system.

Synergy (media)

-Synergy is defined as the interaction between two or more organizations to produce a combined effect greater than what could be achieved on their own.

-In contrast cross media convergence is where a media product is promoted across other media platforms.

Monopoly

-One company dominates production and distribution

-EX: a city that has only one newspaper (or, for a while, cable company)

-A newspaper cannot own a broadcast or cable company in the same city

Limited Competition

-In media economics, a market with many producers and sellers but only a few differentiable products within a particular category; sometimes called monopolistic competition

-EX: Broadcast Television - Most media companies have skirted monopoly charges by purchasing diverse types of media rather than trying to control just one medium

Media Conglomerates

-Companies that control a large number of media sources across several types of media outlets.

Economics of Media

Visible and Invisible Audiences

Visible audiences

About 1/4 of the social media audience are visible observers. They contribute to the impressions and other other measurements marketers look for. Marketers use these things to measure to social media engagement online.

THE ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE OF TODAYS MEDIA INDUSTRIES

Bechdel Test

-A measure of the representation of women in fiction. It asks whether a work.

-Features at least two women (with names) who talk to each other about something other than a man.

-Fewer than half of the 89 films that have won Academy Awards for best picture have passed the Bechdel Test.

Internet

A global network connecting millions of computers, making it possible to exchange information.

Defense department origins

Origins of Email, ARPAnet, Ray Tomlinson

Invisible Audiences

About three-fourths of the social media audience are just silent observers: they contribute to impressions, but don't factor into the other measurement that marketers care about. However, some of this invisible audience might just be sharing the posts on the so-called "dark social" channels such as emails, IMs, or texting, making it extremely difficult to measure engagement accurately.

The origins of email

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network was an early packet-switching network and the first network to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the Internet

TCP/IP Protocol Suite

- The Internet protocol suite is the conceptual model and set of communications protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks.

Expansion to general public

-Hashtags

-Chat forums

-MSM messenger

-Search engines

-Dial-up modem

Hastags

A hashtag is a type of metadata tag used on social networks such as Twitter and other microblogging services, allowing users to apply dynamic, user-generated tagging which makes it possible for others to easily find messages with a specific theme or content

Chat forums

The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging from real-time online chat and online interaction with strangers to fully immersive graphical social environments

Search Engines

a database website that allows the user to locate links to specific information given search criteria, such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing

Dial-up Modem

A communication device that converts a computer's digital signals into analog signals before transmission over telephone lines.

Semantic Web

The ultimate goal of Semantic Web is to make the machine to understand the Internet data. To enable the encoding of semantics with the data, well-known technologies are RDF and OWL. These technologies formally represent the meaning involved in information

SOUND RECORDING - FROM MUSIC TO PODCASTS

Privacy and the Internet

-Cookies

-Spyware

-Data-Mining

-E-Commerce

-Opt-In/Opt-Out

Cookies

Information profiles that are automatically collected and transferred between computer servers whenever users access website. Cooking can be used to create marketing profiles to target users for advertising. Most commercial websites require the user to accept cookies in order to gain access to the site.

Spyware

Information gathering software that is often secretly bundled with free downloaded software. Can be used to send pop-up ads to users' screens, enable unauthorized parties to collect personal/account data, plan a malicious click-fraud program on computer, which generates phony clicks on web ads that force an advertiser to pay for each click.

data mining definition

The nontrivial process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable patterns in data stored in structured databases.

Opt-ins and opt-outs

The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This ability is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as, e-mail marketing, or direct mail. A list of those who have opted out is called a Robinson list.

technological affordances

properties or characteristics of technology that make possible - or encourage - certain types of practices; recognizes human agency

Legislation

Data protection

Regulation of obscene/indecent content

THE ORIGINS OF BROADCASTING

Precursors to Radio technology 1

Telegraph- the first practical system for sending electrical impulses from a transmitter through a cable to a reception point

- Limitations : Unable to transmit the human voice, Ships at sea had no contact with the rest of the world

Net neutrality

-Refers to the principle that every website and every user - whether a multinational corporation or an individual - has the right to the same Internet speed and access.

Precursor to Radio technology 2

Morse Code - an alphabet or code in which letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals of light or sound.

Radio

James Maxwell, Heinrich Hurtz, Guglielmo Marconi, Lee DeForest, Reginald Fessenden

Radio as Mass Media

-Affiliates

-Top 40 Format

-AM/FM

-Payola

Affiliates (local)

the entity that contracts with major organizations, agreeing to carry the majority of the organization's programs

Top 40 format

the first radio format, in which stations played the forty most popular hits in a given week as measured by record sales

AM and FM radio

-AM radio is amplitude modulated, meaning that the amplitude of the carrier frequency is varying in the same manner as the audio signal you are transmitting.

-FM radio is frequency modulated, meaning that the frequency of the carrier frequency is varying in the same manner as the audio signal you are transmitting.

Payola

Payola is the word used to describe the act of a record label or other interested party paying a radio station to play a certain artist (either in cash or in goods). The practice has obvious implications: when money changes hands in exchange for radio play, certain artists get more exposure than others.

TELEVISION BROADCASTING AND CABLE (PART 1: HISTORY AND REGULATION)

Sponsorship Model

One-time norm of the television industry in which one advertiser was associated with a program, paying all the costs of production as well as fees to the network and advertising agency.

Scarcity Principle

opportunities seem more valuable to us when they are less available

Educational/Informational Television (EI)

Core programming is specifically designed to serve the educational and informational needs of children 16 years of age and under, including the child's intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs

LEGISLATION

Wireless Ship Act of 1910

All major US seagoing ships carrying more than 50 passengers and traveling more than 200 miles off the coast be equipped with wireless equipment with a one hundred mile range

Radio act of 1912

-Amateur radio operators increasingly cramming the airwaves

-Radio recognized as a critical tool for communication during times of crisis

-Broadcasting deemed a "natural resource"

Radio act of 1927

-Move from narrowcasting to broadcasting

-Want more frequency space and less interference

-Stations get licenses to operate on the frequency - they do not OWN the frequency

-Created the Federal Radio Commission (which later became the Federal Communication Commission)

-Radio networks receive licenses to "serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity"

-Companies can no longer force affiliates to carry their program

Communication act of 1934

The Communications Act of 1934 combined and organized federal regulation of telephone, telegraph, and radio communications. The Act created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to oversee and regulate these industries.

Federal Radio Commission

a body established in 1927 to oversee radio licenses and negotiate channel problems

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Independent regulatory body created by Congress in 1934

-Charged with administering the licensing processterm-81

-Those accepting licenses must agree to serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity" in return Cable and satellite are not bound to serve the public interest because they do not use the broadcast airwaves to distribute content

Radio Act of 1934

-the public owns the airwaves

-broadcast stations serve the public interest

-creates the FCC

Children's Television Act of 1990

comprehensive FCC regulating television broadcast intended for audience composed largely of children:

• limits number of minutes of advertising per hours in children's television to 10.5 on weekends and 12 on weekdays (before, during and after programming meant for children 12 years and older)

• requires broadcasters to serve the educational needs of children including positive development (FCC stipulated 3 hours per week of edu. programming for children up to 17)

• outlaws program length commercials (when a product associated with the program is advertised in the program or attached at the end)

• established safe harbor for broadcasting indecency now at 10 p.m. - 6 a.m.

The Three-Hour-Rule (1997)

The Three-Hour Rule processing guideline is an outgrowth of the 1990 Children's Television Act (CTA) - a Congressional law stipulating that broadcasters must serve the child audience as part of their public interest obligations (CTA, 1990)

Telecommunications Act of 1996

Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminates most ownership restrictions on radio

-Now several enormous radio corporations dominate the dial

-Clear Channel

-iHeartMedia

-Furthers the trend away from local media

Part 2: Regulation of obscene/indecent content

CIPA : The Children's Internet Protection Act (2000)

-Why the E-Rate made this relevant

-To understand CIPA, you must first understand E-rate

-E-rate is a federally funded program that provides significant discounts to assist K-12 schools and libraries to help fund telecommunications services and technology

Part 1: Regulation of obscene/indecent content

COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT OF 1996 (CDA)

- It was the first notable attempt by the United States Congress to term-69regulate pornographic material on the Internet.

CHILD ONLINE PROTECTION ACT 1998 (COPA)

Regulations meant to eliminate indecent and obscene content

Part 3: Regulation of obscene/indecent content

COPPA - Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (1998)

-The key is "knowingly"

- The rule applies to operators of commercial websites and online services (including mobile apps) directed to children under 13 that collect, use, or disclose personal information from children.

FCC vs. Pacifica

George Carlin's comedy routine entitled "filthy words" broadcast on an NYC radio program as part of a program about societal attitudes toward language

-John Douglas files an FCC complaint saying it was on while he was in the car with his 15 year old son

-FCC sends Pacifica a letter of reprimand

-Goes to the Supreme Court

FCC vs Pacifica Ruling

Supreme Court rules in favor of the FCC saying 1. The "uniquely pervasive" nature of these broadcasts allows them to seep into the "privacy of the home" and 2. broadcasts are "uniquely accessible to children" whose "vocabulary can be enlarged in an instant" by hearing indecent or profane language

Data protection

- (2018) European Union's General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR)

-Requires informed consent before data is collected from any user. Standard default for global internet companies.

NOTABLE PEOPLE

Heinrich Hurtz

In November 1886 Heinrich Hertz became the first person to transmit and receive controlled radio waves. ... His research was focused solely on discovering if James Clerk Maxwell's 1864 theory of electromagnetism was correct.

Ray Tomlinson

Raymond Samuel Tomlinson was a pioneering American computer programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971; he is internationally known and credited as the inventor of email.

Reginald Fessenden

Fessenden is best known for his pioneering work developing radio technology, including the foundations of amplitude modulation (AM) radio. His achievements included the first transmission of speech by radio (1900), and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean (1906)term-70

Guglielmo Marconi

1894: Guglielmo Marconi set about making wireless technology

-Found that connecting the transmitter and receiver to the ground greatly increased the distance over which he could send signals

-Patented his invention and set up a business.

-His invention was focused on Morse code for military and commercial ships.

-Marconi is often called the Father of Radio but he borrowed heavily from work of Nikola Tesla, who inventions were recognized by the US Supreme Court when they overturned Marconi's wireless and deemed Tesla the "Inventor of Radio"

James Maxwell

-Discovered electromagnetic waves; realized light was a type of electromagnetic wave

-The unification of light and electrical phenomena led his prediction of the existence of radio waves.

Lee De forest

Lee de Forest, American inventor of the Audion vacuum tube, wterm-72hterm-71ich made possible live radio broadcasting and became the key component of all radio, telephone, radar, television, and computer systems before the invention of the transistor in 1947

-Patent battles ensue in 1906, Reginald Fessenden successfully sends shore to ship communication

-The communication was not Morse Code

Samuel Morse

United States portrait painter who patented the telegraph and developed the Morse code (1791-1872)