MassMedia: How is Doing Research Like Being a Detective? (U2-P2) [VID] Fa14

Use the previous posts on theory and research and the video below to answer this question.

How is doing research like being a detective?


Theory: an explanation of how something works based on evidence.
Research: "“Disciplined inquiry...studying something in a planned manner and reporting it so that others can replicate the process” (Frey et al.).

Also note that a researcher does research to test and build theories.

What roles do theory and evidence play in this comparison?

From: The Mentalist




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MassMedia: What is Research? (U2-P1) Fa14

Research is:

“Disciplined inquiry...studying something in a planned manner and reporting it so that others can replicate the process” (Frey et al.)

Keywords: planned, reporting and replicate
What do they mean in this context?

Research, as discussed here, is more than "research" done at the library.  Instead of reading through books and online materials for answers that some other researcher has found, you conduct original research on your own to find the answer.  That is, you conduct an experiment or a survey or a textual analysis or use some other research method to find the answer.  Somebody is not telling you an answer in a book or report, you are finding the answer to your research question on your own.

Two types:

• Scholarly 
• conducted to promote public access to new knowledge
• usually conducted by a professor at a university
• Proprietary
• conducted for a specific audience, results not shared
• usually conducted by a research at a company

Why are results not shared in proprietary research?
Could you give examples of each of the two types?
Which of the two types of research would you be more likely to do in the future?

How does this discussion of research relate to the earlier discussion of science?


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MediaTech: The Invention of Radio - Ken Burns' "Empire of the Air" (U2-Activity) Fa14

Now, a great way of using the previously discussed media tech theories is to apply them to the development of a past media technology, for example radio.  Filmmaker, Ken Burns, told the story of radio in his documentary "Empire of the Air."  Notice the story is not as much about the technology as it is about the people (the innovators).  Media tech is people too.

The documentary is available...
on Amazon (Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio) and on Netflix (instant streaming).

The companion book to the film is also available (Empire of the Air: The Men Who Made Radio)

Did you watch it?

How did the theories previously discussed help to understand the development of radio?

In the documentary, Burns highlights the story of Lee de Forest, for example. How does his story compare to modern-day media tech innovators like Steve Jobs?  Is there a common story for media tech innovators?

Here is a short YouTube video on de Forest's audion.




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MediaTech: Winston's Model and the History of Media Tech (U2-P5) Fa14

Winston's model explains how media technologies develop from ideas to diffusion.  The story begins at the bottom left of the figure and ends at the upper right of the figure.

According to Winston's model a new technology starts (1) as an idea based on science and then (2) develops into early prototypes.  As a technology develops it faces some social pressures ((3) does society see a need for it and (4) will powerful competitors or the government attempt to repress the technology?).  The technology will then (5) diffuse through a society and may (6) spin-off related technologies.

How does this theory help us understand how media technologies develop?  Does it help us understand the future of media technologies?


Source: Media Technology and Society: A History From the Telegrapph to the Internet



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MediaTech: Diffusion of Innovations and the History of Media Tech (U2-P4) Fa14

Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations
“the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”(Rogers).

The graph above shows how people in a society over time adopt an innovation.

At first nobody had a TV in the U.S., but over time...


How does this theory help us understand how media technologies develop?  Does it help us understand the future of media technologies?


Source: Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition



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MediaTech: SCOT, Tech Determinism and the History of Media Tech (U2-P3) Fa14

Ev Rogers and I wrote a book chapter which, in part, explained the Social Construction of Technology and Technological Determinism theories.  We also tied the two theories together.


The chapter appeared in The Changing Conversation in America edited by Eadie and Nelson.



Ev and I wrote about Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) this way:

We said of Technological Determinism:

At the end of the chapter we included a diagram.

There is something missing in the figure.  It was included in the paper we submitted, but left out in the printing.  What is missing?

How do these theories help us understand how media technologies develop?  Do they help us understand the future of media technologies?



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MediaTech: How Do You Learn from the Past to Help Understand the Future? (U2-P2) Fa14

A theory is an explanation for how something works, how something happens.  There are helpful theories that can be used to explain how media technologies have developed (i.e., tell their history). How they came to be.  How they spread in a society.

• Social Construction of Technology
• Technological Determinism
• Diffusion of Innovations
• Winston’s Model Communication Technology Development

These theories can be used to better understand the development of past media technologies (e.g., radio).  They explain how and why certain things happened in a history of a technology.  Let's preview each theory and see how it fits into helping us tell the history of media technologies.



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MediaTech: Why Study the History of Media Tech? (U2-P1) Fa14

Source: Flickr (CC - KN6KS) 

Why Study the History of Media Tech?

• To satisfy our curiosity.
• To gain an appreciation for the work done and the progress made.
• To show a little respect for those who came before us.
• To gain a sense of identity w/ community.
• To learn from the past to help understand the future.

Source: Based on Hart, 1999.











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DigPhotog: MacGyver and Photographers Using #Instagram (U2-P4) Fa14

Ever see the TV series called MacGyver from the 1980s-early 90s?

Here's a question for you: What's the relationship between MacGyver and a photographer using Instagram?

In each episode, MacGyver would get himself into some tight spot and would have get especially creative and use what limited resources he had to work himself out of that tight spot.  Here are a couple of clips.







So again: What's the relationship between MacGyver and a photographer using Instagram?

You are MacGyver and Instagram is the tight spot.  Instgram has limitation, but withn these limitations what can you improvise.  I think good art comes out of being forced to be creative given limited resources.





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DigPhotog: Apps for the Dig Photog Beginner - Flickr, Instagram & Pinterest (U2-P3) Fa14

As beginning digital photogs, there are obvious apps and online services that you should be familiar with and should be using.  Apps and online services like Flickr and Instagram come to mind.  You can use Flickr and Instgram to show off the photography skills you are learning.

However, a little less obvious app/service that you should be using is Pinterest. Pinterest can help in two key ways.  It can help you collect and share photographs from around the web that you like.  It can also help you specifically collect photographs from photog mentors that you should have.  Unlike Flickr and Instagram, Pinterest is designed to help you collect other peoples photos.

In his book, The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography, Miotke suggests that beginning photographers should keep a visual notebook.

"One excellent way to define your goals is to keep a collection of images that inspire you. You could simply write down a list of photo ideas, but as photographers are generally visual people, it’s usually more effective to collect pictures. Subscribe to magazines or visit the library. Look though catalogs, books, and Web sites like BetterPhoto.com—anything with the kind of photographs you enjoy" (Miotke)

I agree.  However, we can use Pinterest and update Miotke's idea of a visual notebook.

There are also photo editing apps/services, but we'll get to those later.



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DigPhotog: Intro to Photography: The 4 Stages of Competence & Photography (U2-P2) Fa14

"TAKING A SHOT"
 The 4 Stages of Competence and Photography

When studying photography you are learning some knowledge/facts and some skills.  For example, you are learning how to compose a photograph.

How do you take a good photograph?  What's the process?  How do you do it?

Learning how to shoot a good photograph is like learning how to shoot a good foul shot in basketball.

Photo by mollyali (flickr.com).
Photo used under Creative Commons license and embedded using  the Flickr share feature.

Whether we are learning how to shoot a basketball, how to study for an exam or how to take a good photograph, we go through some stages.

The Four Stages

1. Unconscious Incompetence - We don't know that we don't know.
We are unaware of what it takes to accomplish a task.  We don't know what it takes to make that foul shot.  We don't know what it takes to get the perfect photograph.

2. Conscious Incompetence - We know that we don't know.
We may not know exactly how to do the task, but we recognize there are things we need to learn.  We become aware that there are certain things we need to do to consistently make that foul shot.  We become aware that there are certain things we need to do to consistently make a good photograph.

3. Conscious Competence - We know that we know.
We are very consciously aware of the steps to doing a task and we can carefully work through the steps of the task.  We know what is needed to make the foul shot and we consciously think through those steps when taking the foul shot.  We know what is needed to make a good photograph and we consciously think through those steps when taking a photograph.

4. Unconscious Competence - We don't know that we know.
We know the task so well, we don't think about it any more.  It has become second nature. We take that shot with little conscious thought.


What was the last skill you remember learning in which you went through these stages?  Can you describe what happened in each stage and when? 

When it comes to photography, what stage are you in now?  What's your goal?

Note: The Four Stages of Competence has been attributed to noted psychologist Abraham Maslow, Gordon Training International and William Howell in intercultural communication.


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DigPhotog: Photo Composition (U2-P1) Fa14

Remember our bumper-sticker saying: "You don't take a photo, you make a photo"?

Put another way: You compose a photograph.  You don't just take it.

Composition is the arrangement of the objects in the photograph or any other work of art.  As a photographer you have some control of this arrangement in your photograph.  You can move objects around.  You can move yourself around to shoot your photograph from a different perspective.  You take some control over your environment and not just take a photo of what you are given.

In general there are rules of composition that are used in art in general and photography specifically.

One of the best online sources for an introduction to the rules (or guidelines) of photo composition can be found at Photoinf.com.  Go to this site and study carefully the six rules of composition discussed there.

Now, how would you apply these rules in your photograph.  Go try it.  Now go take some photos -- I mean go make some photos.

Of course, there is more to composition than the above, but the above are the basics.

For example, Itten's contrasts provide another way of looking at and exploring composition.  For an online exercise using Itten's contrasts, see The 12 Days of Itten’s Contrasts from the Wild Beat blog.


To go beyond the above basics about composition, I'd recommend The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos









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InterculturalCom: Onions, Icebergs and Culture (U2-P4) Fa14

Hofstede has more metaphors.

Do you notice what is at the center of the Tootsie Pop, I mean onion?  What's the significance of being at the center?  Being on the outside layer?

Others have "metaphoricalized" culture as an iceberg.



Like with the onion metaphor where would the different aspects of culture be located?  What would be on the surface (above the water-line)?  What would be below?  What is the significance of something being below the surface?

As a captain of your own ship out of the see of intercultural interactions, what should you be most aware of? What is going to sink your ship?




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InterculturalCom: Ways in Which Cultural Groups Differ (U2-P3) Fa14

What are ways in which cultural groups differ?



According to Gardenswartz and Rowe, cultures vary along the following dimensions...

1. Sense of self & space
2. Comm.style & language
3. Dress & appearance
4. Food & eating habits
5. Time orientation
6. Relationships
7. Values and norms
8. Beliefs and attitudes
9. Mental processing & learning
10. Work habits & practices


Source: Managing Diversity: A Complete Desk Reference & Planning Guide


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InterculturalCom: Hofstede's Computer Metaphor of Culture (U2-P2) Fa14

Geert Hofstede views culture as the software of the mind.


What does that mean?

What is software?

• a list of instructions which tells a computer what to do.

All metaphorical comparisons are not perfect.  How is culture not like software?

If culture is software, who programmed us?


Source: Cultures and Organizations: Software for the Mind, Third Edition



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InterculturalCom: What is Culture? (U2-P1) Fa14

What is Culture?

A 19th century approach to culture:

• cultured: a high state of Western civilization.

Over 200 definitions in the literature.

Culture is "the set of shared knowledge that influences a particular group of peoples' thoughts and behavior" (Hart).

So, if you had to define culture in one word, what would that word be?

Knowledge.

So where is culture?

In our head, our brain?

How did it get there?

We learned it.  Culture is learned and itt is there between our ears.

As members of cultural groups, what knowledge do we learn?

Language, beliefs, values, history, rituals, etc.

Who teaches us the culture?



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GlobalMedia: Media Imperialism & the Mindset of "The Burden" (U2-P4) Sp14

Media Imperialism (Anglo-American Dominance)

Imperialism: “the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online)

Imperialism is justified under “the White Man’s Burden” views. (See 1899 poem by Rudyard Kipling entitled “White Man’s Burden”)

Part of Poem:

"Take up the White Man's burden‑‑
        Send forth the best ye breed‑‑
Go, bind your sons to exile
        To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
       On fluttered folk and wild‑‑
Your new‑caught sullen peoples,
       Half devil and half child."

This is an example of the imperialistic mindset.

This cartoon from 1903 is a follow-up to the poem and the imperialistic, racist mindset.

To where is the "native" being taken?  For what purpose?

And now...
Media Imperialism: “the imbalance and inequality in flow of mass media materials between developed and developing countries, and its subsequent effect on the developing country’s society and culture”(Araby in Frederick,1994).

Can you develop another definition related more to the definition of imperialism above?

Western (American) Media Imperialism.
Q: What American values can be found in its media products?
A: Individualism, materialism, adventurism, etc.

Effects of Media Imperialism?


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GlobalMedia: National Sovereignty and Transborder Data Flow (U2-P3) SP14

Explain the issue of international communication, TDF, and national sovereignty.

Sovereignty: “a country’s right to protect its borders from military aggression; to preserve its natural wealth and resources; and to choose its political, social, economic, and cultural systems without interference by another state”(Frederick, p.121).

TDF (transborder data flow): the flow of banking, insurance, credit and other similar information across national boundaries via mainly computer networks (a.k.a. TBDF).

Some countries “farm” their data management tasks out to other countries (mainly to U.S.). Issues?

Information is power!!

Photo by Paul Keller

Other examples:
Direct Broadcast Satellites (DBS).... spillover
Remote-sensing satellites used to gather information from the Earth’s surface.

Does one country have the right to gather information about another country via remote-sensing satellites?

A Google Map of Google Maps’ Legal Troubles

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GlobalMedia: New World Information & Communication Order (NWICO) (U2-P2) SP14

“New World Information and Communication Order” (NWICO) [a.k.a. NWIO].

• By the early 1970s many nations see the strong need to alleviate/lessen the problems related to international communication (see issues/controversies covered previously). They call for NWICO. They seek a new world policy.
• Controversy about controversies.
• Problem dealt with mainly within UNESCO.
• "UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) – contributes to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations."

‘76-‘78	The Mass Media Declaration calls for “free flow and a wider and more balanced flow of information.”  Declaration was passed, but will to implement was weak.
‘79-‘80	Begins to unravel. Western gov’t & media concerned.  Agreed that MacBride Commission to study world “communication problems.”
‘80-‘83	Western press lobby groups and U.S. press begin to play a stronger role.  Influencing U.S. gov’t.
12/84	U.S. (Reagan administration w/ influence from the Heritage Foundation) withdraws from UNESCO
‘85-	UNESCO’s stance of NWICO wavers.  NWICO dead?  We have a New Order but it is “the order of the advanced industrialized nations” (Mowlana).

2002: UNESCO welcomes back U.S.A.
2011: U.S. withholds funding to UNESCO [video]
2013, Nov.: U.S., Israel lose voting rights at UNESCO over Palestine row


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GlobalMedia: Important Global Communication Issues (U2-P1) SP14

List major global issues (“controversies”) relevant to an understanding of international communication.

• Communication, TDF (transborder data flow), and National Sovereignty^
• Increasing Concentration & Transnationalization
• Deregulation and Privatization
• The “Flow” Controversy
• The “News Values” Controversy (Biases in News)
• Media Imperialism (Anglo-American Dominance)^
• Communication Policies
• Protection and Licensing of Journalists^
• Codes of Ethics for Media Practice
• The Status of Women in INC^
• “New World Information and Communication Order”^

^ To be covered in more detail later.
(Originally based on Frederick, 1993; updated)

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