Module 1: The Changing Landscape of Communication PDF

COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication Module 1 The Changing Landscape of Communication Introduction As we survey the changing landscape of communication, we are confronted by the differentiation between orali...

COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication Module 1 The Changing Landscape of Communication Introduction As we survey the changing landscape of communication, we are confronted by the differentiation between orality and literacy. However, this introductory exploration of the evolution of communication – its linguistic and cultural aspects and technological ways and means (media) – advocates a dialogic approach to the dichotomies between various perspectives and practices in telling a story. In the disparities and variance of storytelling, there is an interconnectedness between medium(s) of communication (i.e. media convergence). Rather than pitting oral cultures against literate cultures, and traditional media against new media, we will consider the dialogic relationships between these variant cultures of communication and, in the process, discover that orality informs literacy (and vice versa) and that new media emerged from traditional media, which facilitates the convergence of traditional and new media resulting in the blurring of genres. JAVIER | AY2324SEM2 COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication The importance of orality-literacy1 studies in acquiring a critical perspective in communication (which in turn entails the understanding of human identity concerning the environment and everyone in it) sets the stage for our venture into inquiring how media and communication work and how they shape culture and society. We start with Walter Ong (2002), who articulates the dialogic relationship between orality and literacy: It is useful to approach orality and literacy synchronically2, by comparing oral cultures and chirographic (i.e. writing) cultures that coexist at a given period of time. But it is absolutely essential to approach them also diachronically or historically, by comparing successive periods with one another. Human society first formed itself with the aid of oral speech, becoming literate very late in its history, and at first only in certain groups. Homo sapiens has been in existence for between 30,000 and 50,000 years. The earliest script dates from only 6,000 years ago. A diachronic study of orality and literacy and of the various stages in the evolution from one to the other sets up a frame of reference in which it is possible to understand better not only pristine oral culture and subsequent writing culture but also the print culture that brings writing to a new peak and the electronic culture which builds on both writing and print. In this diachronic framework, past and present, Homer and television, can illuminate one another. (p. 2) Humans developed oral communication first, and then written communication. Communication is generally understood as creating shared meaning among two or more people (Baran, 2013), and every communication situation involves expression and interpretation (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2001). Thus, we can say that, in a given communication situation, there is an interchanging of roles between communicators — the sender and the receiver — in the exchange of messages, and communication is an oscillating process of messaging between expresser and interpreter. 1 Primary oral culture is a culture with no knowledge whatsoever of writing or even of the possibility of writing (i.e. literacy) (Ong, 1980). The technologizing of the word began in writing but later applied to words rendered in various media (e.g. television, radio) as media can be considered as tools of inscription in the new literacies (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008). 2 In linguistics, concerned with something as it exists at one point in time, as in synchronic language. Often contrasted with diachronic, concerned with the way in which something, as in diachronic language, has developed and evolved through time. (Oxford Dictionary of English, 2015) JAVIER | AY2324SEM2  COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication Learning Outcomes After studying this module, you should be able to: 1. Trace the evolution of communication and media, 2. Discuss the role and power of communication in shaping culture and society, and 3. Apply a dialogic perspective on communication and media in your role as shapers of culture and influencers of society. 1.0 Orality and Literacy Before we gained sophistication in organizing our knowledge about the world (and ourselves), our ancestors sought to understand the workings of their environment by storytelling. Lacking the knowledge (e.g. writing) and tools (e.g. pen and paper) of literacy, the practice of orality in storytelling was the only way to disseminate, and consume, information (Ong, 2002). At some point in history, humankind nonetheless began to draw and write, ushering in the age of literary storytelling. Eventually, “technologizing the word” became more and more sophisticated with the introduction of tools that aided in the demands of far more advanced thought processing necessary to address economic needs and other societal complexities. From the monastic scriptoriums to Gutenberg's printing press, from the abacus to computers, audio recording, moving image solutions (e.g. TV, cinema), humankind has continually sought to better the practice of storytelling by inventing and reinventing (i.e. innovating) the ways and means of communication. However, taking into account humankind’s evolving nature of knowing and understanding, orality remained in some cultures and societies despite the emergence of literacy. This has resulted in polarities between what is thought of as traditional and old, and what is new and ‘state of the art’. Given the disparities between cultures of storytelling (i.e. oral vs. literary), some questions arise: Is literacy better than orality? Is a primarily oral culture inferior to a literate culture? Is orality out and literacy is in? 2.0 Traditional Media, Mass Media, New Media We pick up from the early developments of communication where storytelling progressed from oral cultures towards literacy when words became technologized. We learned that the tools of inscription (e.g. pen/paper, movable printers, video camera) revolutionized 9  COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication storytelling, enabling storytellers to disseminate their stories to a larger audience across vast distances. Thus, media (i.e. tools for communication) play an important role in the permanence and mobility of culture among individuals, groups, and communities. Culture, as the learned behavior of members of a particular social group, can be constructed. As such, it can unite or divide a community. Culture is underpinned by language as an instrument for the collection of knowledge and its distribution (Baran, 2013). Culture and language aid us in classifying our experiences. In the process, it scaffolds our understanding of the world around us. Culture cannot exist in the absence of communication, and communication is language. As such, power can shift from those who can share their stories to a larger group through the use of mass media technologies, whether traditional or new. In other words, our stories help define our culture, but the goal of civilized society is to shape culture professionally and ethically. The ethical dimension in the creation of culture is very important. This is because the power to influence communities and societies can shift from those who can show others their special talent to those who can write and read them. It also means that the power to disseminate information is afforded by the development of modern writing, which can help in constructing a uniform meaning and language, enabling communication to spread over greater distances and long periods. The power shifts in disseminating information and cultures are fueled by accessibility to the mediated means of communication (e.g. television, radio, print, internet). 3.0 Media Convergence and Blurring of Genres The previous discussion suggests that media convergence is not new. Among traditional media, there was a kind of media convergence that emerged when newspapers shared content and channels with radio news and vice versa. In the age of MTV, radio, and TV would synchronize broadcasts to promote newly released albums or singles. However, the convergence of media at this time was limited only to having the same message content. It is digital technology that has made possible the merging of text, audio, and video in ways that blur the conventional boundaries between media. Indeed, media convergence is technically defined as the coming together of telecommunications, computing, and broadcasting into a single digital bit-stream (Collins, 1998; Gate, 2000) such as multimedia content accessed through mobile digital systems (e.g. smart 9  COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication phone, tablets). The Dialogism of Convergent Media We started this module by investigating the dichotomy between the oral and literary practice of storytelling, how cultures are shaped by such communicative practices, and the media or inscriptive technologies that emerged from such practices. We explored how storytelling, which underpins the processing of knowledge and dissemination of cultures, progressed into several modes and media of communication and how these tools of information production and consumption have the potential to inform each other despite their disparities. And we discovered that societies and cultures are built on both the old and the new, the past and the present, and the crude and the highly developed. There is a dialogic relationship among media in their convergent form (i.e. multimedia, new media). According to Bakhtin (1981), past cultural works (e.g. literature) are continually informed by the present versions of the same cultural work (and vice versa), not as a matter of influence but as a continuous dialogue that oscillates both ways. As Spicheva (2014) puts it, "All the manifestations of culture are combined in this digital Universe which merges the past, the present, and future manifestations of the communicative thought in a gigantic historical supertext" (p. 82). Timeline of the Changing Landscape of Communication I. Reality is argued to be non-existent without meaning, with the latter to be impossible without language (Saussure, 1916). A. Hence, our reality is claimed to be influenced by our language and vice versa. B. The ultimate purpose of communication therefore is to maintain culture (Baran, 2013). C. The in-depth history of humanity can be seen through the evolution of communication. II. The history of communication started with an exclusively oral system of communication. A. People relied on memorized chants and mythologies to understand the world. 1. Mnemonic formulas were used to aid in memorization. 2. Sentence structures were redundant, also to aid in memorization. 3. Ideas were close to one’s immediate surroundings as an exclusively oral language cannot distance itself from abstract ideas. 4. People’s mindsets were more focused on the present than the past due to the 9 COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication limitations of human memory. 5. The main mode of communication is highly somatic, and people heavily rely on gestures to instill information (1-5 from Ong, 2002). B. At some point in history, humankind began to draw and write, ushering in the age of literary storytelling. C. The Oral Era of communication eventually ended when agrarian settlements had to account for assets (Poe, 2010). During the 7th to 13th centuries, religion was an authoritative source of enlightenment. D. Early handwritten books were written 1000 years before the printing press was invented. E. Books were written on animal skin and are mostly religious in nature. F. Books were not mass produced, hence they were not very accessible. III. The printing press was invented at the end of the 13th century, shortly before the Renaissance Period. A. Publishing companies began producing secular books for knowledge. B. Books became more accessible. C. The Renaissance Period, brought about by the sudden shift of enlightenment, paved the way to inventions that would later revolutionize communication. IV. By 1775 humanity’s perception of the world expanded due to its first opportunity to communicate in long distances. A. The industrial revolution came with the invention of the steam train. B. The railway system improved the postal services. C. People began writing letters for long-distance communication. 1. Correspondence in long-distance communication then took more time and effort than it does today. 2. Letter-writing has a more rigid structure than long-distance messages today. V. During the 1800’s, long-distance communication and mass media were made more efficient. A. Joseph Henry invented the electric telegraph in 1831, which was then further improved by Samuel FB Morse in 1837. B. High-speed presses made newspapers cheaper. C. The contemporary telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell (1849). VI. In the 1900’s people have become constant consumers of mass media due to technological innovations brought about by the post-war era. A. Commercial broadcasting hit the waves in the 1920s. B. The radio became the main source of entertainment in households. 9 COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication C. Television made its official debut at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. D. The cell phone was invented by Dr. Martin Cooper (1973). E. The growing economy after the war strengthened the purchasing power of the masses, and mass media followed suit by bombarding every mass media production with advertisements. VII. The digital era in the 21st Century gave birth to a globalized culture, and humanity’s perception of the world is now at its widest. A. The internet, first invented in 1967 for military purposes, became an accessible commodity. B. The smartphone was invented, along with its social media and blogging applications. 1. Long-distance communication became instant, and its message construction became less rigid due to certain features of new communication applications. 2. People can now communicate and engage in activities with other people regardless of their location. 3. Mass media became more accessible and portable. VIII. Communication technology has come a long way, and so has the culture of society. A. We started with a smaller perception of the world as we had to understand it with the limitations of human memory as our “library” of information. B. Eventually we found ways to memorialize knowledge through books and written documents, giving us more time and “mental space” to understand abstract ideas. 1. Books (and human consciousness therefore) were more focused on religion at first during the Middle Ages. 2. Eventually secular books gave more avenues for enlightenment during the Renaissance Period. C. The enlightenment by the Renaissance Period resulted in innovations that revolutionized communication, among other things. D. The range of communication widened through the development of long-distance communication and mass media, and as communication widened its scope, so has our view of the world. E. Our mode of communication has become more sophisticated with the development of modern communication tools to aid in the demands of a more advanced thought- processing needed to address economic and societal complexities. F. Today, modern social media applications have globalized our culture, as we are now constant consumers of mass media both of local and international origin. 9 COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication G. Media propagated the awareness and understanding of the presence of cultural diversity by providing content that shows a glimpse, and not the entirety, of these other cultures. H. This emphasizes the heterogeneity of cultural groups and the often conflictual nature of cultural boundaries. I. The fluidity and changing nature of culture make it contestable as exemplified by multicultural and hybrid identities. J. Culture is not just the expression of local communal lives; we need to view it in the context of history, politics, and social context. K. It encourages us to “move beyond hegemonic definitions of culture as ‘shared and transmitted from generation to generation’ that assumes that we will experience a ‘common culture’ and… is passed down from one generation to the next in a linear and seemingly static fashion” (Baran, 2013). L. Media affects our perception of a culture by eliciting negative or positive perceptions, which may lead to generalizing a certain culture and/or accepting what seemed to be taboo in the past because of what is presented by the media. M. If you were to look at the features of the communication media we constantly consume, who do you think are we now? *III-VIII (Poe, 2010; University of Minnesota Libraries, 2016). References (for the timeline): Baran, S. (2013). Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture. New York, NY, USA: McGraw Hill. Ong, W. (2002). Orality and Literacy. London, UK: Routledge Poe, M.T. (2010). A History of Communications: Media and Society from the Evolution of Speech to the Internet. USA: Cambridge University Press. University of Minnesota Libraries. (2016, September 29). Communication: History and Forms. Retrieved July 29, 2020, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/communication/chapter/1-1- communication-history-and-forms/ Conclusion In this module, we traced the evolution of communication from oral to written form and the development of media from traditional to new and convergent media. We learned about oral storytelling as an early form of communication. As technology advanced, new tools of inscription (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008) and dissemination (e.g. mass media) were introduced, which increased the influence of our stories from our immediate communities to larger societies 9  COMM 10 - Critical Perspectives in Communication and cultures, with far-reaching effects. Whoever wields control over mass media has the power to dominate, raising ethical issues in the practice of communication. However, the advent of digital media (i.e. multimedia, new media), through the introduction of the internet, has made it possible for ordinary individuals to disseminate their own stories, thus creating counter-cultures and altering to some extent the power relations in communication and media practice and in society as a whole. Communication practice today is multifaceted and complex, and we are called upon to develop a more critical understanding of the role of communication in addressing various challenges confronting society and in building a better world for all. Readings: Baran, S. J. (2014). Introduction to Mass Communication: Media Literacy and Culture (8th ed.). New York, NY, USA: McGraw Hill. Ong, W. (2002). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (30th Anniversary ed.). London, UK: Routledge. References Bakhtin, M. (1981). The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. (M. Holquist, Ed.) Texas, USA: University of Texas Press. Coiro, J., Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., and Leu, D. (2008). Central issues in new literacies and new literacies research. In J. Coiro, M. Knobel, C. Lankshear, & D. Leu (Eds.), Handbook of Research on New Literacies. New York, NY, USA: Routledge. Gate, A. (2000). Convergence and competition: Technological change, industry concentration and competition policy in the telecommunications sector. University of Toronto Facul-ty of Law Review, 58(2), 83-117. Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture. New York, New York, USA: New York University Press. Kress, G., and Van Leeuwen, T. (2001). Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication. London, UK: Hodder Education. Latzer, M. (2014). Media convergence. In R. Towse, & C. Handke (Eds.). Handbook of the Digital Creative Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Spicheva, D. (2014). Image communication in virtual reality culture. 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