Lesson 4 - Media and Materiality

Question 1

Why do we need media?

Answer 1

-It is necessary for culture to exist

• It creates memory and shapes our perception of the world

Question 2

Name 2 contrasting media models.

Answer 2

1.: UPS model of communication

2.: Medium is the message (Marshall McLuhan)

Question 3

What does the UPS model of communication say and what are its problems?

Answer 3

-only the message is important
-content exists independent of its carrier
-Content is unpacked like a package from United Parcel Service

Problems: -Intention can not be received in the way it should be
(Emojis, etc.)

-Medium influences message (phone vs cinema)

-Doesn’t acknowledge social and environmental impact of materiality

Question 4

What does the “Medium is the Message”-model by Marshall McLuhan say?

Answer 4

-medium > message

-More important that we read than what we read

-Content < How you say it

Question 5

What is the Semiotic Approach?

Answer 5

-Media produce reality, rather than simply record it

-Media are constitutive/creative
(Events have to be translated into signs, which are then interpreted by an audience = Encoding vs Decoding)

Question 6

“For that we have to think of media not just as technologies but as ___” (Hall)

Answer 6

technologies within specific social, political and economic circumstances

Question 7

What is Mediology?

Answer 7

Combination of UPS and Marshall McLuhan

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All the invisible in-between structures (people, tech, laws, etc.)

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Awareness of who has the power to determine a message