Fall Semester Terminology

Capitalism

An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and the clear separation of capital

Communication

the action of making a message or idea common to two or more people

Convergence

coined to describe the merging, or bring together, of a wide range of previously separate and distinct communication technologies and media

Culture

our way of life

Digital

converting information into the binary language of 1s and 0s

Digital Divide

not everyone having the same access to media systems and technology

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

the merging of computer and transmission technologies

Information Society

where the production, distribution, and consumption of information are the main drivers of the economy

Mass Audience

a large scale audience

Mass Communication

communication on a large scale; production of information to large audiences; allows for greater participation as part of work or leisure; accents interactivity

Mass Media

the vehicles through which mass communication takes place

Media

the plural of medium

Medium

any vehicle that conveys information

New Media

technologies, practices, and institutions designed to facilitate broad participation (interactivity) in information production and exchange on a mass scale

Society

a general term referring to a specific group of people and their interactions with one another and the institutions they have established over time

Web 2.0

promoted to describe the invention of such interactive online applications

Bourgeoisie

new land-owning class; had been working to build a market economy and colonial trade from about the sixteenth century onwards

Commodities

goods sold in the marketplace valued primarily for the earning they can generate through market exchange

Conservative

a political stance oriented to preserving current conditions and power structures rather than adapting to, embracing, or instigating changed, often more egalitarian, conditions

Economies of Scale

efficiencies in costs that can be achieved via repetitions of some aspects of the production and distribution process — reduction of per-unit cost of printing 10,000 books with presses rather than just printing 1,000

Enlightenment

an intellectual approach based on a scientific and rational perspective on the world; championed science over religion, justice over abuse of power

Fake News

particular news items that are totally fabricated OR particular news outlets that a politician or political party sees as generally undermining the message they would like to portray to the public

Ideology

a coherent set of social values, beliefs, and meaning; in Marxist terms, it is a critical concept that refers particularly to dominant or ruling-class values, beliefs, and meanings - what came to be called dominant ideology

Industrial Revolution

the application of growing scientific knowledge to production and industry that began to dominate in the late eighteenth century in Western Europe

Mass Culture

a culture that is largely constructed through mass media and industrial production; people are relatively easily manipulated by the media and satisfied by cheap industrial goods

Renaissance

a transition from a social order where people were subservient to the Church and monarch to one that was more sympathetic to the freedom of individuals and ideas

The Fourth Estate

alongside the other "estates," - the clergy, the nobility, the commons - the press played an important roles a political watchdog, guarding the rights of citizens through publicly reporting on affairs of state

Access to Information

refers to the principle that information collected by governments belongs to the Crown, and citizens must appeal to governments for access to this information (in Canada); freedom of information in the United States

Advertorials

promotional articles in magazines and newspapers thinly disguised as news stories, usually printed in a different typeface and identified by the advertorial label; cross between advertisements and editorial material

Brand Journalism

content that is a deliberate hybrid between journalism and promotion

Contempt of Court

a ruling by which a court of law determines that a person or an organization has disobeyed or contravened the authority of the court

Defamation

injuring a person's good or reputation by means of insults, or interference with the course of justice

Framing

drawing attention to the boundaries a picture, story, or other means of communication places on that to which it refers; boundaries that tend to limit the range of interpretation by audience or privilege particular readings

Freedom of the Press

the constitutional right granted to the press and other media to exercise the right to free speech, usually in the name of public good; the right granted to press and other media owners to pursue market interests unhindered by the state

Gatekeeping

the control of access to media publications or broadcasts that determines which reported events will be covered, according to the identity or character of the media outlet

Mediation

a series of choices about what content to create - how, for what purpose, and for whom, regardless of whether those choices are made consciously or unconsciously

Native advertising

a form of sponsored content published in newspapers and magazines consisting of articles constructed as news stories, carry a label identifying them as sponsored content

News values

the criteria journalists apply to determine whether a particular person or event is newsworthy, and the extent to which the person or event merits news coverage

Public sphere

a place where people can meet to discuss and debate issues and ideas of common concern

Pull technologies

media forms that allow people to seek out content from a seemingly infinite array of options found within a seemingly unlimited range of sources (e.g. the internet)

Push technologies

media forms that present audience members a limited range of content options with a finite number of sources (e.g. conventional television)

Representation

the production or construction of ideas or images in a communicative form; the depiction through language of an idea, event, person, or institution

Signified

the mental concept of what is referred to - for instance, an object as we think of it when we hear a word

Signifier

the physical form of a sign - for instance, symbols such as words

Socialising institutions

those institutions in society, such as the education system, the media, and the family, through which social norms and values are communicated and either reinforced or contested

Unbundling

the breaking up of the content packages assembled by legacy media, such as radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. New media technologies allows users to access individual articles from the website or apps of legacy media organizations themselves or social media

Verification

the process whereby a claim or a statement is authenticated as truthful or factual

Connotative Meaning

implicit, suggesting, implying — a connotation is an implied meaning; words and messages are said to have connotative as well as denotative (explicit) meanings

Content Analysis

a quantitative research method that establishes units of analysis - specified ideas, phrases, illustrations, etc. - and counts them to try to analyze the meaning or perspective of a particular communication, such as a newspaper article or television news story

Decoding

interpreting or meaning-making; one must decode the signs and symbols used to construct media texts

Denotative Meaning

explicit, literal meaning of a communication

Discourse Analysis

in popular usage, all forms of text and talk; in communication studies, text and talk about a particular topic or field of activity

Encoding

placing meaning in a particular code; for instance language, digital signals, song

Icon

a sign that looks like the object it describes (maps, photographs)

Index

a sign related to the object it represents (smoke is an index of fire, sneeze of cold, etc.)

Intertextuality

the idea that the meaning we make of one text depends on the meanings we have drawn from other sets of signs that we have encountered

Polysemic

the idea that a sign may have many meanings; depending on the context, an image of an apple might be interpreted as knowledge, as a computer company, or simply as a fruit

Representation

the production or construction of ideas or images in a communicative form; the depiction through language of an idea, event, person, or institution

Rhetoric

a persuasive form of communication; a research method in which communications are studied as examples of persuasive speech

Semiotics

the study of signs and sign systems and the ways in which they create meaning

Sign

a physical form used in communication to refer to something else and recognized as such; the totality of associations, thoughts, understandings, or meanings brought about by the use of symbols in reference to an object, person, phenomenon, or idea

Social Theory

generally, a representation of the social world — a set of ideas about how the world is organized and functions

Structuralism

a method and theory that emphasizes how the formal elements of a linguistic or social system limit or determine the agency of the individuals that use that system

Symbol

a sign that bears no direct resemblance to what it signifies, such as words. Communication is based on the exchange of systems of symbols from various kinds of language

Agenda-setting function

the process by which priorities are established, usually referring to elite actors or media owners and managers using their influence to shape society's priorities

Audience Commodity

the way in which audiences are packaged for sale to advertisers

Audience Fragmentation

the breakup of traditional television audiences because of the proliferation of TV channels in the last 25-30 years; the increasing draw of the internet has also further fragmented audiences

Birmingham School

the media scholars at Birmingham University in the United Kingdom who developed the Marxist-derived critical school of thought that became cultural studies

British cultural studies

extended a Marxist class analysis to include race, gender, and other elements of cultural history, and asserted the legitimacy of popular culture forms as objects of study

Cultivation analysis

an examination of content for the way in which it may encourage or cultivate a positive attitude in the audience member towards a particular person or perspective

Demographic

related to the statistical study of populations through the identification of characteristics of a given population; a specific group that may be identified through such an analysis

Effects

the direct results of the media influencing human behaviour

Feminist Research

A perspective critical of the character of modern societies for the male domination of women (patriarchy) that has led to profound human inequalities and injustices

Frankfurt School

A school of thought that argued among other things that cultural life in modern times has been profoundly changed by the detrimental impact of capitalist methods of mass production

Functionalist

the term referring to a theory based on the assumption that media function to serve some kind of audience need, and then researchers set out to discover what that need is

Narrowcasting

used in contrast to broadcasting to describe media (largely radio and television) services targeting small or niche audiences with very specific characteristics

Position

The point of view constructed for the viewer through filmic techniques - that is, how the viewer is put in the picture

Primary definers

terms used to define the important elements of a new story; also used to designate those people who are first to assert a meaning to news events

Prosumers

People who are both media producers and media consumers at the same time

Reach

the percentage of audience members who tune into a broadcast program at least once during a specified time period

Reception Analysis

a research method that investigates how and in what context audiences consume media products

Share

the percentage of the average audience that turns into a program or channel over any specified time period

Uses and Gratification Research (U&G)

a theory of media focusing on how audience members use the media (e.g. for information, entertainment, conversation) and what satisfaction they derive from media

Viewing time

the number of hours spent reviewing, expressed over the course of a day, week, or longer period of time

ARPANET

A project that connected computer systems at 5 US universities, enabling information and message exchange between them; a precursor to the internet

Constructivism

a point of view arguing that technology is constructed by members of society and shaped by social forces, giving it both technical and social logic

Critical theory

generally, theoretical perspectives that focus on the ways in which wealth and power are unequally distributed in society

Cyborg

an entity combining biological and technological elements; refers to the symbiotic relationship between humans and Technologies

Deskilling

the simplification of complex tasks into components that are readily mastered by workers, who often are working in conjunction with sophisticated machines

Digital Divide

the (increasing) difference in the development and use of information and communication technology between rich and poor countries, in between the Haves and Have Nots within a society

Digitization

the process by which all forms of information are translated into a common computer language of zeros and ones so that content produced originally for one digital platform can be used on all other platforms

Instrumentalism

a philosophical position whereby an adherent perceives technology as a value-neutral tool that can shorten the path to Natural ends or, alternatively, social goals; technology, from an instrumentalist perspective, is simply a tool for our use

Media Silos

in a converged, multi-platform media environment, specific media platforms (radio, television, newspapers, magazines) that are not converged

Media Convergence

the merging of previously distinct media Technologies through digitization and computer networking; A business strategy by which the media properties of a communication conglomerate work together

Open-source software

Production and development of software that allows users and others to see source code and thereby make adjustments to it to suit their needs

Peer-to-peer system

a form of communication Network in which there is no Central Point; the Internet was developed as a peer-to-peer system, arranged like a web, and which points on the Network are redundantly interconnected

Phishing

a form of online fraud in which computer users are deceived into providing sensitive personal information

Re-intermediation

refers to the reintroduction of intermediaries and digital Communications, resulting from the emergence and growth of corporate aggregators

Scientific management

The study and implementation of methods to maximize the efficiency of workers contributions to production processes; sometimes called Taylorism; Ideally suited to industrialized, mass production processes that combined workers and Machinery in various forms of assembly lines

Socially contingent

A point of view emphasizing that technology arises and takes a particular form reflecting the Dynamics of the society in which it emerges