week 2

Question 1

technological determinism

Answer 1

technology determines values, social structure, and history

Question 2

materiality

Answer 2

defines why and how certain issues are important for a company or a business sector

physical aspects of media technology matter but not in a simplistic way, tangible objects, like keyboard, screen, phone

material objects that help determine how it can be used

Question 3

autonomous technology

technological momentum

Answer 3

conceptions and observations about the effect that technology is somehow out of control by human agency
technology influence changes over time as society changes with it
as technology becomes routinized,

Question 4

medium (ecology) theory

Answer 4

see media as more than conduits for the transmission of messages –> social impact

Question 5

Toronto school (McLuhan)

Answer 5

important is not the messages that is carried, but the way the medium itself affects society

e. g., owning a TV that we watch is more important than anything we watch on it.
a. the medium is the message

Question 6

Neil Postman’s theory, influence

Answer 6

rise of TV was the cause of decline in seriousness in public life
appeal to emotions rather than logic, like prints did
a. irrelevance
b. powerlessness
c. sacrificing historical context (no connection between stories)
literacy encourages seriousness, rationality, coherence

Question 7

pseudo-events

hyperreality

Answer 7

events planned for the sole purpose of producing images that can be disseminated or reported –> drawing attention to the press –> celebrities
blurring boundaries between the image and reality, fact and fantasy, representation and original events

Question 8

social constructionism

Answer 8

HUMANS CREATE TECHNOLOGY
technology is made up of inanimate objects, people decide how to use it; social construction of technology, human agents determine how technology is developed and used

Question 9

how is social reality produced

Answer 9

1. through ongoing physical and mental activities
2. over time
3. internalizing values and norms of the culture; being influenced by own characteristics

Question 10

domestication theory

Answer 10

ordinary users appropriate technology of all sorts, bringing it in daily lives

Question 11

history of mediums

Answer 11

1. print
2. telegraph (1840s)
3. telephone (1876)
4. sound recording (1878)
5. film and video (1895)
6. radio broadcasting (between 1900-1920)
7. TV
8. Internet

Question 12

internet

Answer 12

vast network of interconnected computer networks whose underlying technology was developed over a half century

Question 13

social constructionism with an example with sound recording

Answer 13

technology: MP3, streaming
industries: prices, concert attending
content: how music is changing because of technological developments