Communication:
the transmission of a message from a source
to a receiver.
- Requires response of others.
*The process of creating shared meaning
Communication occurs when...
A source sends a message through a medium to a receiver producing some effect.
Feedback:
the response.
Interpersonal Communication:
communication between two or a few people.
- There's no clearly identifiable source or receiver because they are all sources and receivers
- Ex: You invite a friend for lunch.
Encoding:
transformed into an understandable sign and symbol system.
- Speaking, writing, printing, and filming a TV program
Decoding:
the signs and symbols are interpreted.
- Listening, reading, or watching that TV show
Osgood-Schramm Model:
demonstrates ongoing and reciprocal nature of the communication process.
- There's no source, receiver, or feedback because they are all sources and receivers
Noise:
anything that interferes with successful communication.
- Biases, pages torn from an article, literal noise
Medium:
the means of sending information.
- Carries encoded messages
- Sound waves = medium bc it carries our voice and the telephone is a medium
Mass Medium (Media):
when the medium is a technology that carries messages to a large number of people
- Radio conveys sound of music and news
- Each medium = basis of a giant industry, but other related and supporting industries also serve them/us
Mass Communication:
process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audiences.
- Feedback comes too late to enable corrections or alterations in communication that fails
- Ex: Livitan-Lloyed produces Modern Family
Schramm's Model of Mass Communication:
feedback is represented by a dotted line labeled delayed inferential feedback.
Inferential Feedback:
feedback that's indirect rather than direct.
- Sources must wait to receive and it may only by as simple as if the people have received it, not whether they liked it or not
Carey's Cultural Definition of Communication:
Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed".
- Communication = foundation of culture
Culture:
the learned behavior of members of a given social group.
- Creation and maintenance or a more/less common culture occurs through communication
- Limits our options and provides useful guidelines for behavior
The Dominant (or mainstream) Culture:
the one that seems to hold sway with the majority of the people.
- Liberation from the limitations imposed by culture resides in challenging existing patterns and creating our own.
Bounded Cultures:
cultures within cultures; subcultures; co-cultures.
- Ex: Italian Americans; being from the South
- Because of our cultural understandings of these categories, each expression communicates something about our expectations of these places.
Mass Media as Cultural Storytellers
- A culture's values and beliefs resides in the stories it tells.
- Our stories help define our realities, shaping the way we think, feel, and act.
Mass Communication as Cultural Forum
- Mass communication has become a primary forum for the debate of our culture.
- The 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
Smartphone:
a device with an advanced operating system.
Technological Determinism:
to some thinkers, it's machines and their development that drive economic and cultural change.
The Role of Technology
- Others see technology as more neutral and claim that the way people use technology is what gives it significance.
- Technology doesn't relieve us of our obligation to use mass communication responsibly and wisely.
The Role of Money
- Money alters communication
- Shifts the balance of power; tends to make audience's products rather than consumers.
- Media industries are businesses.
Media Literacy:
the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication.
The Gutenberg Revolution
- Invented the printing press - allowed mass communication.
- The first Gutenberg Bible appeared in 1456
- Printed materials were the first mass-produced product, speeding the development and entrenchment of capitalism.
- Printing had given ordinary peopl
Literacy:
the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use written symbols.
The Industrial Revolution
- Printing and its libraries of science and mathematics became one of the engines driving the Industrial Rev.
- Industrialization reduced the time necessary to complete work - it created leisure time.
7 Fundamental Elements of Media Literacy:
Media Literacy includes these characteristics:
1. Critical thinking skill enabling audience to develop independent judgments about media content.
2. An understanding of process of mass communication.
3. Awareness of impact of media on indiv. and society.
Multiple Points of Access:
to approach media content from a variety of directions and derive from it many levels of analyzing.
- Use in order to learn to appreciate media content.
- We control meaning making for our own enjoyment.
Media Literacy Skills
1. Ability/willingness to make effort to understand content, pay attention, and filter our noise.
2. An understanding/respect for the power of media messages.
3. Ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content & to act
Third-Person Effect:
the common attitude that others are influenced by media messages and we aren't.
- We disregard media's power through this effect.
Genre:
categories of expression within the different media.
- Ex: documentary, evening news, horror movie, etc.
Conventions:
each genre is characterized by certain distinctive, standardized style elements.
- Ex: the conventions of an evening news include a short, upbeat, introductory theme and two good looking people sitting at a desk.
- Knowledge of these conventions = importa
Production Values:
the choice of lighting, editing, special effects, music, camera angle, location on a page, and size and placement of a headline.