This document entails everything that you need to know for the second essay exam on milestones in communication science. I personally passed the course with an EXCELLENT grade, pretty sure this summary will help you towards that grade too.
Cultural Approach
• Culture is a shared experience and therefore the result of communication. It is constantly
changing but it does follow fixed patterns. The changing is noticeable because of fixed
patterns. Words, fashion is culture based.
• Cultural is communicated through:
◦ Texts
▪ All communication content, contains hidden aspects of culture
◦ Symbols
▪ Something that represents something else by association characterised by shared
connotation. (Written language is symbolic)
◦ Ritual acts
▪ Acts characterised by the presence of procedure or routine. Lectures are procedural
forms of communication. Most communication is procedural (job interview, date,
birthdays).
Critical Cultural Theory – Birmingham school
→ redemption of the popular. Reflection of our taste. Became interesting again to study pop culture
again.
• Focus on how ideology in media texts is read by the audience
• Model of encoding – decoding (Stuart Hall)
◦ Encoding [social context 1]
▪ Grey area is where contexts overlap
◦ Decoding [social context 2]
◦ A receiver can decode a message in different ways;
▪ Preferred: they the message was intended
▪ Negotiated: when there is some cultural difference; some parts are taken as preferred
and some go lost in translation and decoded in a different manner.
▪ Oppositional: huge cultural difference; someone takes a different meaning of a
message then intended.
• Wider view of the social and cultural influences which mediate the experience of the media
• Reception and ritual perspectives thrive
◦ Reception perspective is how people receive a message and why kind of meaning they
give to a message. Why one person gives another meaning than another person. Meaning
is sought in cultural differences.
◦ Ritual perspective is focussing on routine and ritual aspects of communication situations.
We expect things of communication because of the routines.
• “Popularity is a measure of cultural form’s ability to serve audience interest” (Fiske 1987)
◦ We should look at pop culture, which appeal to a lot of people, they are very successful.
New media theory
New media Criticism
• The audience is overwhelmed with an enormous amount of information. Without proper
explanation and guidance, the only goal seems providing people with a simple answer to
every question. Never provoking thought. The result is that it becomes easy to appear wise
and skilful while in fact ignorance and stupidity increase. (PLATO)
◦ Possibly criticising the internet, TV.
◦ Plato criticised the written word
• When new media enters the market there are general themes that people criticise on:
, ◦ Education will suffer because finding information is easier and therefore does not
provoke thought
◦ Information security will be compromised
◦ Authorship will be difficult to authenticate
◦ It will be nothing more than a shallow distraction, devoid of serious purpose and people
will stop interacting with real people.
New media optimism (McQuail)
McQuail’s thoughts on new media are shaped towards the future.
• New aspects of the media landscape (according to McQuail) and therefore we need new
theories;
◦ New channels with new characteristics
◦ Harnessing of the computer
◦ Satellite communication
◦ Trends towards larger audience, internationalisation, globalisation
• Differences according to the dominant paradigm
◦ Authors get increased opportunities
◦ The role of publisher becomes ambiguous
The audience member is no longer part of a mass, but of a self-chosen network
• 4 categories of new media/channels:
◦ Interpersonal communication media
▪ telephone
▪ email
◦ Interactive play media
▪ Video games
▪ Virtual reality devices
◦ Information search media
▪ the internet
▪ google, encyclopedia’s
◦ Collective participatory media
▪ chatrooms
McQuail > new theory vs old theory
• Fundamental changes in the media landscape create need for new theories
• The consequence of digitalisation is the convergence between existing media forms in terms
of their:
◦ organisation
◦ distribution
◦ reception
◦ regulation.
Bordewijk & van Kaam (1986) – new media optimism
• Argument: we need new theories because we have new opportunities.
• Believe that newer times require new theories. New media allow us to do new things in
these communication patterns:
◦ Allocution
▪ Distribution of information from a centre to many receivers
• lectures
• NL alert
◦ Conversation
▪ Individuals interact directly with each other, choosing their own time, place and
topic.
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