A Cultural Approach to Communication 2024 PDF

MEDIA SOCIETY CULTURE SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY MEDIA INDUSTRY AUDIENCES VIDEO GAMES NEWS COMMERCIALS POPULAR CULTURE INTERNET FACEBOOK TWITTER ECHO CHAMBERS DEMOCRACY CAPITALISM TELEVISION RADIO FILMS NEWSPAPERS INSTAGRAM METAVERSE PUBLIC AGENDA POLITICS GLOBAL MEDIA MARKETI...

MEDIA SOCIETY CULTURE SOCIAL MEDIA IDENTITY MEDIA INDUSTRY AUDIENCES VIDEO GAMES NEWS COMMERCIALS POPULAR CULTURE INTERNET FACEBOOK TWITTER ECHO CHAMBERS DEMOCRACY CAPITALISM TELEVISION RADIO FILMS NEWSPAPERS INSTAGRAM METAVERSE PUBLIC AGENDA POLITICS GLOBAL MEDIA MARKETING INEQUALITY CONSUMER CITIZEN GENDER CLASS ETHNICITY RACE DIGITAL DIVIDE AMAZON GOOGLE APPLE SNAPCHAT SIGNAL TRUTH WEBSITE PLATFORMS ALGORITHMS AI ELON MUSK OUTLINE of the COURSE Definition of communication Rise of media – sort of short history of media Radio, Tv, Cinema-cinema with sound.... May be printing press Media effects—several theories Powerful media powerless audience??? Audience– how do they perceive? Media and inequality Gender, class, ethnicity Media and pop culture Media industry Who owns what with what consequences? Media and global politics—media/cultural imperialism Cyberspace and digital divide—is internet equal? Algorithms AI İnternet and identity – who are we on social media? Are we real?  A CULTURAL APPROACH TO COMMUNICATION James Carey Why do we communicate? The word 'communication' has been derived from the Latin word, 'Communicare' which means to impart or participate or to transmit. The word 'Communicare' is derived from the root 'Communis' which means to make common or to share. Uses of communication in 2 different senses: 1. transmission view 2. ritual view of communication  Transmission view: sending, giving information to others. İt is formed thru the metaphors of geography and transportation. Movement of goods and people and information Goes back to 19th century Movement of goods, people and information Transmission of signals or messages over distances for the purpose of control Although the messages were centrally produced and controlled thru monopolization of writing and print, it had to be distributed if they were to have an effect Transportation and communication were inseparably linked Transmission view (con’t) Communication is a process whereby messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of space and people This view is originated in religion Let’s explain this  Transmission view (cont’d) Age of exploration and discovery 18th century: not only political and mercantilistic. Also religious An attempt to establish and extend the «Kingdom of God» Missionaries in far off places «movement in space could be redemptive» For the purposes of spreading the Christian message farther and faster Transmission view (cont’d) Telegraph disrupted the linkage between transportation and communication How? (—same purpose, not only to share the price of pork, but… Christianized technology Soon as the forces of science and secularization gained ground the religious metaphor lost and technology of communication became significant SAMUEL MORSE 1844  Telegraph became a very critical instrument of capitalism and colonialism.. Ritual view: sharing, participating, association, commonness, community—> communication Not the extension of messages in space but maintainance of society in time. Not the sending of information but the representation of shared beliefs that draws people together in fellowship and commonality. Construction and maintenance of an ordered and meaningful cultural world. Ritual view (Cont’d) We see it in music, dance, architecture, language, literature,… Let’s try to understand newspaper both as transmission and ritual view…. newspaper Newspaper as example: in transmission view: İnstrument of disseminating news and knowledge News as enlihgting or obscuring reality Newspaper example (cont’d) Newspaper as in ritual view: As attending a situation where nothing is learned, but in which a particular view is confirmed. Why do we read Hürriyet, but not Zaman? Or why do we read Yeni Şafak, but not Birgün?? Newspaper reading is a ritual act Presentation of reality??? «news is not information, but drama»  Now let’s work on the same analogy for Facebook… or Instagram… Transmission vs. ritual?? Definition of communication Therefore; Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed. Several parts of this definition: 1. Symbolic process of production 2. Maintained 3. Repaired 4. Transformed Communication (cont’d) Symbolic production of reality First, there is a real world of objects and events that we observe. Second, there is language that name these objects and events in the real world which create descriptions of them Not just reflection of reality. Rather reality is produced by communication (construction of reality ) Communication (cont’d) Example: news about two children stealing bread from the bakery We can frame it as robbery We can frame it as consequence of hunger and poverty Two different constructions of reality of the same news story. Communication (cont’d) Mostly we assume that there is an order to existence and human mind may discover and describe it. However the idea in the definition of communication is that reality is not there to discover. World is not strictly ordered. Order is imposed by human mind. That is what we mean by construction Communication (cont’d) Think of a 6 year-old child. How can you teach him how to go to his school from home? How can you orient him? Home and school – two distinct places child recognizes independently. But what about the distance, the road? Communication (cont’d) Think of a 6 year-old child. How can you teach him how to go to his school from home? How can you orient him? Home and school – two distinct places child recognizes independently. But what about the distance, the road? It is trackless desert for the child. No signs so far Options: Let the child discover by trail and error Have the child follow an adult Draw a map by arranging lines, Street signs, names shops Representing this trackless desert in a symbolic form  We use signs to make sense of the unknown Like language, architecture, music, poetry, literature...... Or the words, images we receive from media  NIGERIA and NEW ZEALAND Let’s have poll Communication (cont’d) Map –capable of guiding behavior, transforming undifferentiated space into a known and understood space We can produce maps by producing music, poems, films, architecture, fashion… Symbols that guide us can be oral, visual, kinesthetic We read novels to understand history, we study folk music to understand a small tribe in PNG,.. That is what we mean by symbolic production of reality Communication (cont’d) Communication is a process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed. What do we mean by «maintained»? We not only produce reality, but we have to maintain it for new generations. İt must be regenerated Religion, education…. Communication (cont’d) Communication is a process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed Repaired: Politics, religion…news, social media… Communication (cont’d) Communication is a process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed Transformed: Language…science.. representations are accepted or rejected by the majority of people and the dominant ideology is gradually changed. Views change, eg women’s role in society, smoking, youth, the environment, religion.