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Communication Mediums

• A communication medium is any tool or channel used to transmit messages or information from a sender to a receiver.
• Examples of communication mediums include: print media (newspapers, books, magazines), broadcast media (radio, television), and digital media (social media platforms, websites, mobile applications).

Communication, Mass Communication, and Mass Media

• Communication is the process of exchanging information, ideas, or feelings through symbols, language, or gestures.
• Mass communication is the dissemination of information to large audiences through mediums like television, radio, or the internet.
• Mass media are the tools and platforms used to deliver mass communication (e.g., television networks, newspapers, digital platforms).

Electronic Communication Technologies

• Electronic communication technologies, such as the telegraph, "shrink space through time" by allowing instantaneous information exchange over vast distances.
• These technologies collapsed geographical barriers, reshaping global trade, governance, and relationships.

Sender-Receiver vs. Social Model of Communication

• The sender-receiver model of communication is linear and one-directional, focusing on the transmission of messages from sender to receiver with minimal feedback.
• The social model of communication is interactive and contextual, emphasizing mutual understanding, shared meanings, and the cultural and social contexts in which communication occurs.

Studying Animal and Plant Communication

• Studying non-human communication reveals the diversity of signaling systems for survival and adaptation.
• For instance, trees communicate stress through root networks and chemical signals.
• Animals use vocalizations, body language, and pheromones to convey information.

Grindstaff and Torres Valencia's Approaches

• Grindstaff and Torres Valencia use media representation theories to explore identity construction.
• Their methodology involves seminar-based interviews to gather rich qualitative data.
• This approach emphasizes participant narratives, allowing for in-depth analysis, but may also introduce biases or limit generalizability.

Social Media Engagement

• The provided article reveals how individuals act as both producers and consumers of content on social media.
• It emphasizes societal pressures that shape self-presentation—particularly on platforms like Instagram.

Identity Construction on Social Media

• Identities on social media are constructed through curated content (photos, captions, interactions), platform affordances (filters), and social influences (peer validation).

Key Turning Points in Media Technology Development

• Printing Press: Enabled mass literacy.
• Telegraph: Revolutionized communication by reducing delays.
• Internet: Facilitated global connectivity.
• Social changes were also influenced by economic shifts, political developments, and cultural contexts.

Distinctive Aspects of Media Development in Canada

• Public Broadcasting (CBC) fostered Canadian identity and multiculturalism.
• Indigenous Media promotes language preservation and cultural representation.

Indigenous Language and Culture

• Focusing on Indigenous communication challenges traditional Eurocentric media histories.
• Emphasizes the importance of oral traditions, storytelling, and the resilience of Indigenous cultures in preserving language and identity.

Cultural Genocide and Historical Trauma

• Cultural genocide involves cultural identity erasure (e.g., residential schools).
• Historic trauma transmission encompasses the intergenerational passing of collective trauma.

Role of News Media

• News media inform citizens, hold power accountable, and facilitate public debate.
• Biases, sensationalism, and corporate interests can undermine their democratic role.

How News Media Shape Stories

• Gatekeeping: Controlling which stories are published.
• Framing: Shaping the presentation of issues.
• Objectivity: Aspiring to neutrality, though influenced by cultural and political contexts.

Making Meaning in Media

• Semiotics: the study of signs and their meanings (e.g., a blanket symbolizing comfort or heritage).
• Intertextuality: References between texts that shape interpretations.
• Encoding/Decoding: Audiences interpret media based on cultural contexts.

Media Effects Theories

• Media effects theories explore how media influence behaviors and attitudes (e.g., cultivation theory).
• Limitations include oversimplifying audience engagement and ignoring active interpretation.

Audience as Commodity

• Audiences are viewed as products sold to advertisers.
• This shapes media content and platform design.

Socio-Technical Ensemble Theory

• This theory explains how technology is shaped by social contexts, emphasizing that design decisions reflect societal values.

Design Justice

• Advocates for equitable technology design that addresses the needs of marginalized communities.

Colonialism and Media Inequalities

• Colonialism created global media inequalities, with cultural imperialism dominating media.
• NWICO and NAM sought equitable systems, but challenges remain.

Free Speech

• Supports democracy and individual autonomy
• Faces limitations due to hate speech, censorship, and corporate control.

Algorithms

• Algorithms are step-by-step instructions designed to perform tasks or solve problems.
• In brand marketing, they analyze consumer data to optimize ad targeting.
• Rely on data analytics to collect and analyze information about consumer habits.

Audience Commodity

• Treating target users as market to be sold to advertisers.
• Simple definition: free media advertisement.

Audience Fragmentation

• Audience fragmentation divides audiences into smaller, more specific groups.
• This results from technological advances, increased media diversity, and a shift away from traditional mass media.

Colonialism

• Refers to the historical control of a colonial power over foreign territories.
• This includes governance and cultural and linguistic appropriation.

Connotative Meaning

• Refers to the emotions, associations, or meanings beyond a word's literal definition.

Commodity Fetishism

• Obscures the social and labor origins of goods and instead uses symbolic meanings to mask production.

Culture

• In communications, culture refers to a group's way of life.
• Includes large collections of shared features like knowledge, beliefs, morals, and customs.

Panopticism

• Constant surveillance that shapes self-discipline.
• A social mechanism of control across various sectors like governments, schools, and hospitals.

Public Sphere

• A domain where public opinion is formed.
• Citizens freely assemble and express opinions on matters of general interest.

Reception Analysis

• Media and communication research approach that investigates how audiences interact with media.
• Considers diverse interpretations based on background, experiences, and contexts.
• Understand how audiences actively interpret and make meaning of media messages.

Representation

• Media representations are not neutral reflections of reality but choices made by producers.
• Examines the messages, power dynamics, and potential biases in representations.

Semiotics

• The science of signs and how they convey meaning.
• Signs consist of a signifier (symbol) and signified (concept or idea).
• Classification of signs into icons, indexes, and symbols.

Structuralism

• Framework to analyze media texts, genres, and patterns using fundamental structures.

Technological Determinism

• The theory that technology develops independently of societal forces.
• Technology is seen to drive societal development.

World Systems Theory

• Focuses on relationships between nations in global economics.
• Explains how core countries control or dominate the production and consumption processes of raw materials, commodities or goods.