Week 1: Introduction to Media and Society (chapter 1&2)1. (a) Can you describe the information problem that we are facing? Information-saturated cultureGrowth is accelerating: now more people are producing information than ever before; the technology now exists to provide easy-to-use platform to share informationHigh degree of exposure: we increase the time we spend w/ media messages each year.Keeping up: Multitask.(b) What is automaticity: automatic processing of information, without conscious level. A state where our minds operate without any conscious effort from us. Thuswe can perform even complicated tasks routinely without even thinking about them.(c) How did automaticity develop in society? Saving effort vs. missing messages(d) What are the advantages and disadvantages of automaticity?Advantages: helps us get through a great many decisions with almost no effort.Disadvantages: we are overwhelmed and begin to think that the value of any one message is almost nothing, so we make poor exposing ourselves to more and more messages, we are paying less attention to them. The more time peoplespend with the media in general, the less likely they are to learn from any one message.(e) When do we consciously process information that is derived from the media?Need of some kinds of informationHave a clear idea about what information we want to access, then use search engines to sort through all the information available on the Internet and alert us toparticular sites that will provide the most useful information for our needs.(f) How do advertisers and producers try to get around automaticity?Reinforce of certain behavior patternsAdvertisers program an uneasy self-consciousness into our minds so that we areon the lookout for products that will make us look, feel, and smell better.2. (a) What are the two ways we use the media? Ritualistic and instrumentalWhich of these uses is more common? Ritualistic is more common(b) What is the difference between automaticity and ritualistic media consumption? Ritualistic is more of a habit, content doesn’t matter, and goals aredivorced from content, where as with automaticity we don’t pay attention to the message (c) How does our ritualistic use of media affect the way broadcasting is scheduled? How does the concept of inertia in viewing fit into those scheduling decisions? Once broadcasters know what kind of audience to cater to, they can create content that those specific audiences will be drawn to. Inertia comes in when audiences may have many choices available to them, but only stick with watching a few channels because they know what kind of content they will consume.3. (a) What is media literacy? a set of perspectives (we should have multiple perspectives to use as reference when trying to get the big picture of the media, can’t do it solely from our vantage point), multidimensional (We need to acquire information on cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, and moral dimensions), continuum(everyone has some degree of media literacy).A set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the massmedia to interpret the meaning of the message we encounter (b) What are the three building blocks of media literacy?Personal Locus: composed of goals and drives. Goals shape the information processing tasks by determining what gets filtered in and whatgets ignored. When your locus in weak, you will default to media control, where you allow the media to exercise a high degree of control over exposures and information processing. The more you know about your personal locus, the more you make conscious decisions.Knowledge structure: sets of organized information in your memory. Information is the essential ingredient in knowledge structures. But some information is rather superficial. Information is piecemeal and transitory, but knowledge is structured, organized, and of more enduring significance.Information resides in the messages, whereas knowledge resides in a person’s mind.Skills: tools for construct knowledge structures.(b) How can media literacy help us with regards to media consumption?Media literacy is multidimensional; cognitive, emotional, aesthetic, moral. Your media literacy perspective needs to include information from all four domains.Media literacy is a continuum, not a category. We can’t say someone has no literacy or fully literate. The strength of a person’s perspective is based on the number and quality of knowledge structure.(c) What are the skills that media literacy requires?Analysis—breaking down a message into meaningful elements;Evaluation—judging the value of an element by comparing message element to some standard;Grouping—determining which elements are alike or different in some way;Induction—inferring pattern across a small set of elements, then generalizing the pattern to all elements in the set;Deduction—using general principles to explain particulars;Synthesis—assembling elements into a new structure;`Abstracting—creating a brief, clear and accurate description capturing the essence of a message in a smaller number of words than the message itself;(d) What are the advantages of developing a higher degree of media literacy? regain control, increased variety, more self-programmingWith increase in media literacy, first, your appetite for a wider variety of media messages will grow. Second, you learn more about how to programyour own mental codes. Third, you are able to exercise more control over the media.4. (e) what are the arguments that someone skeptical about media literacy would be likely to make?Impossible undesirable and ineffectiveWeek 2 (and a little of 3): Media Audiences (chapter 3&4)1. (a) What is the difference between subliminal and subconscious processing?can be perceived or notSubconscious message—can have an impactSubliminal message—attentional; transported; self-reflexive(b) Are we influenced by subliminal content? no(c) Are we influenced by subconscious content? yes(d) What is the difference between exposure and attention?Exposure: physical exposure, perceptual exposure and psychological exposureAttention: a person must first clear all three of the exposure hurdles. It is rare for a media message to achieve attention.(e) In what four states do people process media messages? Be able to explain each.Automatic state: people are in environments where they are exposed to media messages but are not aware of those messages. Message elements are physically perceived