Society has gone from a culture that relied on oral communication to that of one that is dependent on electronics for media and communication. Throughout this history it is arguable that the printing press was man’s greatest mass media achievement although the text focuses more on the inception of the telegraph. The telegraph truly was the onset of electronic media and changed forever the perception of time and space for anyone who was exposed to it.
As radio waves began to pierce the air rather than strings of wires, governments began to discover just how beneficial disseminating there message to a mass population could be. On the other hand, this new media was increasingly difficult to regulate. It makes one think of current issues of censorship, information hacking, identify theft and FCC regulations.
Different cultures tend to come up with their own media. High culture reads old books like Shakespeare and listens to old music like Beethoven. They treasure art as a form of media, not just wall hangings. Folk culture keeps it local such as folk music, blue-grass roots and values communication on a community level. Popular culture is really anything that appeals to the masses and is not limited or regulated by the strict confines of traditional and formal education.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Media Making Chapter 1
Media Making Chapter 1
I thought that was a good point about how 9/11 would have been different if there had been different media available, more or less sophisticated. It’s true that people are always jumping on twitter, like the rescuers of the plane that landed in the Hudson. Or go in the other direction and think about how it would have been different had the TV networks not been broadcasting live as the second plane hit, or if our communication infrastructure had not been prepared to relay the messages on every station of both TV and radio.
It is interesting to hear that a composer would not appreciate something like a phonograph. One would think that anything to Re-Produce a message like a great opera or musical score would be welcomed with open arms. Of course the phonograph has no soul, but the original artists still do and now they get to share it (or sell it) to anyone. The circumstance kind of reminds me of the camera taking away people’s spirits. That somehow this Re-Production takes away from the original rather than mimicking it. It is always interesting, if not frustrating to hear of some people’s resistance to new technology.
Speaking of reproducing, the communication models were covered well in class, but I liked the books example of the Transmission Model when applied to the Columbine Shooting and how this model supported the idea that violent music and video games significantly impacted the resulting tragedy. Whether or not this is true is for another discussion, but it certainly points out that this model will not always yield accurate conclusions. Propaganda can follow this same model for their own end regardless of any empirical evidence.
I thought that was a good point about how 9/11 would have been different if there had been different media available, more or less sophisticated. It’s true that people are always jumping on twitter, like the rescuers of the plane that landed in the Hudson. Or go in the other direction and think about how it would have been different had the TV networks not been broadcasting live as the second plane hit, or if our communication infrastructure had not been prepared to relay the messages on every station of both TV and radio.
It is interesting to hear that a composer would not appreciate something like a phonograph. One would think that anything to Re-Produce a message like a great opera or musical score would be welcomed with open arms. Of course the phonograph has no soul, but the original artists still do and now they get to share it (or sell it) to anyone. The circumstance kind of reminds me of the camera taking away people’s spirits. That somehow this Re-Production takes away from the original rather than mimicking it. It is always interesting, if not frustrating to hear of some people’s resistance to new technology.
Speaking of reproducing, the communication models were covered well in class, but I liked the books example of the Transmission Model when applied to the Columbine Shooting and how this model supported the idea that violent music and video games significantly impacted the resulting tragedy. Whether or not this is true is for another discussion, but it certainly points out that this model will not always yield accurate conclusions. Propaganda can follow this same model for their own end regardless of any empirical evidence.
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