Intro to Communications Book Notes Media does not move our emotions entertain us etc without us mutually participating in it o They do all of that with us through mass communications Mass media is one of the central cultural forces in society Lasswell expressed the basic elements of the communication process a source sends a message through a medium to a receiver producing some effect Communication is the process of creating shared meaning Schramm created a chart for the communication process based on Osgood s ideas This is a depiction of interpersonal communication no clear identified source or receiver decoded interpreted encoder decoded interpreted encoded message message a source sends a messagethrough a mediumto a receiver producing some effect messagedecoded interpreted encodedmessagedecoded interpreted encoder Chart above demonstrates the ongoing and reciprocal communication process o Encoder message is depicted in words and symbols Includes speaking writing printing etc o Decoder message is decoded from symbols and signs into a message Listening reading or watching television o Both people participating in communication are encoding and decoding Noise refers to anything that interferes with successful communication o Biases are also considered noise Encoded messages are carried by a medium o Medium the means of sending information o Examples sound waves are a medium because they carry voice to friends across Mass medium when the medium of a message is carried using technology to a large the room number of people o Example newspapers and radio shows The plural of medium is media o Mass media and media are used interchangeably to refer to the communication industries themselves Mass communication the process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audiences Inferential feedback indirect rather than direct feedback from communication o Example television executives must wait a minimum of a day to discover ratings for new programs Called inferential feedback because executives can only infer what they must do to improve the television show Mass communications are subject to inferential feedback usually from critics Differences between individual elements of interpersonal and mass communication change the nature of the communication process o The immediacy of feedback in interpersonal communications allow communicators to experiment with different approaches to the communication process o The distance between mass communication and participants means that feedback comes too late which creates communication conservatism Personalization and specificity is difficult Tends to be more constrained and less free Carey s cultural definition of communication a symbolic process whereby reality is produced maintained repaired and transformed o Communication and reality are linked o Foundation for our culture o Truest purpose is to maintain our ever evolving fragile cultures What is Culture o Culture the learned behavior of members of a given social group o All definitions of culture recognize that culture is learned Creation and maintenance of cultures occurs through communication including mass communication Examples Grandparents recipes are written and passed down political campaigns teachers teaching etc o Culture serves to help us categorize and classify our experiences Cultures learned traditions and values can be seen as pattered repetitive ways of thinking feeling and acting Provides us with meaningful distinctions between right and wrong Examples little girls see heroines and princesses as thin and beautiful where male villains are fat and mean The idea that you have to be thin and beautiful versus fat and beautiful is inbreeded in young children s minds from television shows and advertisements o Dominant culture aka mainstream culture is the culture that seems to hold sway with the majority of people Often openly challenged the south and the suburbs o Bounded cultures aka co cultures smaller cultures within national cultures like When these subcategories are mentioned we have predisposed ideas of what will be within each one Example You are heading to Georgia you expect people to be nice say yes ma am and no sir open doors for people etc where that would not be the norm in the north o Became a problem after 9 11 where a bounded cultural group of people were targeted as the enemy within the united states strictly because of their cultural belief system o Culture is constructed and maintained but communication or miscommunication can turn differentiation into division Mass Communication and Culture o Together everyone allows mass communication to occur and contribute to the creation and maintenance of our culture o Cultural values and beliefs reside in the stories we tell Who is the good guy or bad guy How many good guys dress in black Are the villains chubby o Stories help define our realities shape the way we think act and feel We use stories to entertain but also to learn about the world around us understand values the way things work and how the pieces fit together o We as the audience have a responsibility to question the tellers and their stories We should interpret stories in ways consistent with larger and more important cultural values and truths Example after Katrina newspapers used the word looting when referring to a black male carrying food in chest high water and then used the word finding when referring to white people doing the same exact thing o Mass communication has become a primary forum for the debate about our culture Most powerful voices in the forum have the most power to shape our definitions and understandings The forum is only as good fair and honest as those who participate in it Scope and Nature of Mass Media smart phones o 86 of all adults in America own cell phones but half of those Americans own Smartphone a device with an advanced operating system Cell phone users annually download approximately 18 billion applications o 33 of the world s population regularly access the internet o Global music listeners legally buy more than 1 5 billion pieces of recorded music o If Facebook were a country by counting all of the users it would be the third largest nation in the world after China and India o Technological determinism machines and their development drive economic and cultural change technology Changes in the cultural landscape were the inevitable result of new o Some say the way we use technology is what gives it significance
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