MMC2000Exam #1 Book Outline: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ,6 ,7 I. Chapter 1: Mass Communications, Culture, and Media LiteracyA. What is Mass Communication?1. Media is fully saturated into our every day lives, defining us, and shaping our realities through mass communication 2. Communication: transmissions of a message from a source to a receiver a) Answers these questions:1) Who?2) Says what?3) Through which channel?4) To whom?5) With what effect?b) A source sends a message through a medium to a receiver producing some effectc) Communication requires response of others; must be sharing of meaning for communication to occur3. Feedback: response to a message; also a message, making the receiver a source4. Communication is a process of shared meaning5. Interpersonal communication: communication between two or a few people; shows there is no clearly identifiable source or receiver6. All participants in communication are working to create meaning by encoding and decoding messagesa) Encoding: message is first transformed into understandable sign and symbol system; includes speaking, writing, printing, and filmingb) Decoding: once the message is received; signs and symbols are interpreted; occurs with listening, reading, or watching7. Osgood-Shramm model: demonstrated the ongoing and reciprocal nature of communication process; no source or receiver is identified because both participants are encoding and decoding messages; no feedback because each message is presumed to be in reciprocation of other messages8. Noise: anything that interferes with successful communication; can be actual noise or biases that lead to incorrect decoding9. Medium: means of sending information or messages10. Mass medium: when the medium is a technology that carries messages to a large number of peoplea) Plural of medium is mediab) Includes radio, TV, books, magazines, newspapers, movies, sound recordings, cell phones, and computer networksc) Each medium is the basis of a giant industry11. Mass communication: process of creating shared meaning between mass media and their audiences 12. Inferential feedback: indirect feedback; executives can only infer what audiences think about their program and what they must do to improve 13. Interpersonal communication is more personalized and even daring whereas mass communication has a sort of “conservatism” in order to please the masses14. Cultural definition of communication: “communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed”a) Implies communication and reality are intertwinedB. What is Culture?1. Culture: learned behavior of members of a given social groupa) Culture is the learned, socially acquired traditions and lifestyles of members of a societyb) Culture lends significance to human experience by serving from and organizing it; forms through which people make sense of their livesc) Culture is a medium evolved by humans to survived) Culture is LEARNEDe) Creation and maintenance of common culture occurs through (mass) communication2. Limiting effects of culturea) Limits our options and provides useful guidelines for behaviorb) Provides information that helps us decide what's good or bad, right or wrong, etc.c) Prevents people from moving past patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, or acting3. Although media can often effect culture negatively, as in promoting the idea of a “perfect body image,” their motives are strictly financial 4. Dominant culture (mainstream culture): one that seems to hold sway with the majority of people; that which is normative5. Bounded culture (co-culture): groups with specific but not dominant cultures; can be used to differentiate us from others; ex. Italian-Americana) Can also lead to division, such as American’s singling out Muslim-Americans after 9/116. THE definition of culture: culture is the world made meaningful; it is socially constructed and maintained through communication. It limits as well as liberates us; it differentiates and unites us. It defines our realities and thereby shapes the ways we think, feel, and actC. Mass Communication and Culture1. Together we allow mass communication to occur, and contribute to the creation and maintenance of culturea) For people in the media industries, they must professionally and ethically create and transmit contentb) For people in audience, they must behave as critical and thoughtful for consumers2. Mass media acts as cultural storytellers, serving as sites of observation about self and societya) Audiences must question these stories and properly interpret them to shape culture in a positive way 3. Mass communication has become the primary forum for debate about our culture between industries and audiencesD. Scope and Nature of Mass Media1. Majority of Americans, although consumers, do not trust the media2. Role of mediaa) Technological determinism: belief that machines and their development drive economic and cultural changeb) Technology’s influence is determined by how much power it is given by people and cultures that use itc) At the very least, technology changes the basis elements of communication3. Role of moneya) Money alters communication by shifting balance of power; makes audience products rather than consumersb) When a newspaper selling advertising, the process of mass communication has changed from audience and media creating meaning together, to selling those readers to a third participant – advertisers 1) Some people thought this made voices of advertisers more important than them2) Others thought this expanded media broadening and deepening communicationE. Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy1. Media literacy: ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication 2. Literate culture: culture that employs written language a) Transformed by the printing press3. Oral or preliterate culture: cultures without written language a) Meaning of language is specific and local; creates closeness and independenceb) Knowledge must be passed on orally, giving certain people specific power and responsibility c) Memory is crucial1) Griots: “talking chiefs” who provide oral histories of their peopled) Myth and history are intertwined4. Alphabets began to be formed over 5000 years agoa) Ideogrammatic alphabet: picture-based; required huge number of symbols to convey the simplest ideab) Syllable alphabet: alphabet employing sequence of vowels and
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