Forms, Power, and Structures in the Digital Age: BAPR 1 COMMUNICATION

Media

Technological and formally organized means of transmitting messages, fundamental to societal organization and change.

Modern Reality

“Nothing ‘outside’ media anymore” in our daily lives.

Medium

Vehicle for carrying meaning, characterized by its technology, form, manner of use, or social definition.

Medium

Has unique characteristics that shape how messages are transmitted and received.

Print, Film, and Broadcasting

Traditional Media inclusion.

Media Forms

Specific application within broader technologies (books, magazines, online news, social networking).

Platforms

Online sites offering social media services where producers consumers meet (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs).

Network Effects

Platforms gain value as more people use them.

Economic Power

It derives from Network Effects.

Network Effects

Reduce likelihood of new platforms entering the market.

Platforms

Determine access to information through search and recommendation algorithms.

Morphosis

The evolution of media systems through digitalization.

Digitalization

Allows all information formats to be carried with equal efficiency.

Convergence

Media technologies becoming more alike, blurring traditional boundaries.

Hybridization

Creates overlapping communication forms: mass, interpersonal, mass, self-communication.

Agenda-Setting

Media tells audiences what to think about, determining perceived main issues.

Framing

How media package information to encourage interpretations.

Media Agenda

Influences public agenda, which influences policy agenda.

Mediatization

Society becomes dependent on media and their logic.

Non-Media Actors

Must adapt to media rules to perform their roles.

Politicians, Institutions

Non-Media actors.

Technological Determinism

The medium’s character has causal influence beyond content.

Hot Media

High definition/data (Print, Radio).

Hot Media

Medium that requires less participation.

Cool Media

Low definition/data (Television, Telephone).

Cool Media

Medium that requires active participation.

Proprietor Influence

Media owners have ultimate power over content inclusion/exclusion.

Proprietor Influence

The contents of media always reflect the interest of those who finance them.

Social Control/Censorship

Content monitoring “in the public interest”.

Centralized Broadcasting

Easier to control than decentralized publishing.

Media Accountability

Media answer to society for quality and consequences.

Core Activity

Production and distribution of knowledge (information, culture, ideas).

Public Interest Expectations

Promote democracy, publication freedom, information diversity.

Dual Market Financing

Consumer market (subscriptions) and advertising market (audience access).

Integration

Media channels increasingly used for politics, work, family, and religion.