week 1

Question 1

media

Answer 1

plural of medium; communication media are the different technological processes that facilitate communication between the sender of a message and the receiver of that message

Question 2

interpersonal communication

mass communication

Answer 2

contact with a single person that is likely to know you

contact with a mass audience; little interactions between receivers and senders

Question 3

socialization

social construction of reality

Answer 3

the process whereby we learn and internalize the values, beliefs and norms of our culture and thus develop a sense of self
the process of shaping reality through social interactions; while reality exists we must negotiate the meaning of that reality

Question 4

model of media and the social world

Answer 4

a. industry - commercial nature of media organizations being responsible for most of media content
b. content - reflecting the wide range of media subjects as experienced by users
c. technology - material elements of media, replace traditional means
d. users - actively consume and create content

Question 5

social world

Answer 5

includes variety of social forces and non-media actors that affect the communication process, such as cultural norms and government regulations

Question 6

agency
structure
(tension between commerce and creativity in media)

Answer 6

any recurring pattern of social behavior; describes independent actions, autonomous - individuals decision to act
unintentional and undetermined human action; are constrains –> choices influenced by other things

Question 7

relationships between the media and other social institutions
relationships within media industry
relationships between the media and the public

Answer 7

• ) institutions outside the control of media personnel set certain legal and economic limits within which media industry must operate
• ) tension between structure and agency is related to how much autonomy media personnel have in doing their work
• ) how media and technology influence users, how media users can influence the media industry and the content it produces –> promoting, distributing, criticizing

Question 8

advent of mass media and communication

Answer 8

1. large scale
2. one-way flow of content
3. known sender and anonymous audience

Question 9

digitisation

Answer 9

transformation of an analog signal to a digital signal