Media 1-3 questions

Term Test #1 (10% of final course mark) : Covers pp. 3-90 in the course textbook and lecture content from Weeks 1-3. Chapter 1 ● M edia literacy ○ an understanding of mass communication developed through the critical process—description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement—that enables a person to become more engaged as a citizen and more discerning as a consumer of mass media products. ● M ass media ○ the industries that produce and distribute songs, video games, movies, novels, news, Internet services, and other cultural products to a large number of people. ● Communication ○ the creation and use of symbol systems that convey information and meaning (e.g., language, traffic lights, clothing, and photographs). ● Culture ○ the forms and systems of expression that individuals, groups, and societies use to make sense of daily life, communicate with other people, and articulate their values. ● Affordances - features of a technology that imply how it can be used. ○ the features or capabilities of a technology that help establish how we use it. ● M ass communication ○ the process of designing cultural messages and stories and delivering them to increasingly large and diverse audiences through mass media channels like newspapers, magazines, movies, radio, and television. ● M asspersonal communication ○ a method of communication that mixes and matches aspects of mass and interpersonal communication. ● M ass nation ○ a society in which a large percentage of a diverse population goes to the same movies, listens to the same Top 40 hits, watches the same TV shows, and trusts the same evening news anchors. ● C onsensus narratives ○ stories that reflect certain values and assumptions about what the world is and should be like; for much of the twentieth century, the impact of the mass media helped establish these stories as well as a mainstream American culture and identity. ● D igital communication ○ converts, or encodes, media content into combinations of ones and zeros (binary code) that are then reassembled, or decoded , when you play a video game on your console, view a picture on Instagram, download a textbook to your laptop, and more. ● Convergence ○ the first definition refers to the technological merging of once distinct and incompatible formats into a single format, which can then be accessed through one device. The second definition refers to the trend of media companies merging together in order to better position themselves for a world in which all media can be digital.

● N iche nation ○ a society in which people navigate a more varied and complex media landscape. Rather than providing widely shared touchstones and consensus narratives, media technologies and media products sort us into narrow niches or subcultures, connecting us to some people but disconnecting us from others. ● P articipatory culture ○ a culture in which it is relatively easy for people to create and share their own content and build connections with others that often reflect and deepen the dynamics of a niche nation. ● M edia environment ○ media as the habitat in which we conduct almost every aspect of our daily lives. ● Text ○ anything that conveys meaning or communicates information; anything people “read” or interpret. ● T echnological determinism ○ a common but sometimes simplistic way of thinking that sees technology as an independent force that appears out of nowhere and changes everything. ● Politics ○ in the context of the cultural approach and our role as media citizens, refers to the process by which power, resources, status, and visibility get distributed in a society—usually unequally. ● Narrative ○ the structure underlying most media products, it includes two components: the story (what happens to whom) and the discourse (how the story is told). ● M odern era ○ The term describes a historical era spanning from roughly the 1800s to the 1950s; coincided with the rise of mass communication industries, which were bound up with the era’s faith in expertise, rationalism, and progress. ● P ostmodern era ○ the term describing a contemporary historical era spanning from roughly the 1950s to the present; a period marked by growing skepticism about expertise and the idea of progress. ● Populism ○ a political approach that pits ordinary people against educated elites and the wealthy; nurtures a variety of movements on both the right and the left. ● C ritical process ○ the process whereby a media-literate person or student studying the forms and practices of media communication employs the techniques of description, analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and engagement. ● Description ○ the first step in the critical process, it involves paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study.

● Communication: the creation and use of symbol systems that convey information and meaning (e.g., language, traffic lights, clothing, and photographs) ● Culture: the forms and systems of expression that individuals, groups, and societies use to make sense of daily life, communicate with other people, and articulate their values ○ a process that delivers the values of a society through products and other meaning-making forms. ● Communication between various people serve as the basis for the creation of different cultures; usually stemming from people with similar beliefs grouping together ● Mass media encourages its consumers to communicate with other consumers in order to expand its popularity and generate more attraction. ○ As a result, cultures may form between people with various views on the media object 3. What are affordances of technology? Give an example from two different media technologies. ● Different technologies have different affordances , which are the features or capabilities of a technology that help establish how we use it. What kind of information does a technology allow us to send, how quickly, in what form, and to whom? Does technology make it possible to store information or not? Does it allow for one-way or two-way communication? ● Examples: “ a large Nordic media organization identified six reliable and valid organizational media affordances: pervasiveness, editability, self-presentation, searchability, visibility, and awareness.” ● Pervasiveness: the ability of the medium to be widely used/common (e.g., almost everyone has Instagram) ● Editability: the ability of the medium (social media) to be personalized, and the capacity it gives its users to make their own content and posts (e.g., your ability to make a Twitter post is because Twitter has editability)

4. Explain what masspersonal communication is and how it incorporates elements of both mass and interpersonal communication. ● Masspersonal communication: a method of communication that mixes and matches aspects of mass and interpersonal communication ● Essentially forms of communication which serve to show more personal messages (interpersonal) but altered in a way so that it is suitable for those other than the original recipient to view (mass) 5. What key technological breakthroughs accompanied the transition to the print and electronic eras? Why were these changes significant? ● Printing press, allowed much easier access to large scale reproduction of written media ○ Previously, written forms were gatekept to the higher (richer) class or those with power as it required expensive materials (at the time) of ink, parchment, and human labor ○ Encouraged widespread literacy ○ Served as a better way to spread ideas ● Telegraph, allowed for long range communication ● Visual & Audio reproductions — radio and film ○ Served as new modes of expression and recording information about the world ○ Lead to the creation of television ■ Established a mass nation (the “mainstream” media) where much of the population (consumers) consumed the same media ■ Established consensus narratives ● Internet Media in Our Digital Era 6. What are the two ways in which convergence has occurred in the digital era? ● The technological merging of once distinct and incompatible formats into a single format, which can then be accessed through one device. ● The trend of media companies merging together in order to better position themselves for a world in which all media can be digital. 7. What has changed us from a mass nation to a niche nation ? What is the impact on consensus narratives ? ● The media technologies we use and the media products we consume now sort us into narrow niches or subcultures through: ○ New viewing practices ■ The availability for us to consume content at our own time and leisure instead of collectively at the same time (eg. Netflix vs. TV shows on cable) ○ Participatory culture ■ Allowing consumers to also become creators in ways to increase engagement with the media and deepen connections ○ Fragmentation ● As people gain different opinions after being exposed to different kinds of media the original (mostly) singular consensus narrative (for a population) has split into indefinitely many through differing world views on various situations ○

citizens and consumers can return messages to senders or gatekeepers - Shortcoming: the overestimated senders’ control over their messages since nothing can guarantee the messages can be encoded properly in the way senders want even it has been crafted carefully - In the cultural approach, every element of the linear model—senders, gatekeepers, messages, channels, and receivers—is an active part of complex cultural conditions and processes, with far more going on than a message moving from point A to point B. The cultural approach has five elements: media texts, technologies, industries, users, and the cultural context within which the other four are embedded. Each individual element focuses our attention on a different aspect of media and its relationship to culture, though ultimately, the model encourages us to analyze the interconnections among these five elements 11. What are the dangers of an overly technologically deterministic approach to thinking about our relationship with the media? - We become cynical and convinced that we have no responsibility or power in terms of media issues, we are less responsible media citizens. Media and the Politics of Culture 12. When we talk about the politics of culture, what does that mean? - It refers to the process by which power, resources, status, and visibility get distributed in the society. Culture is part of that political process. - Society’s values get established and delivered in certain ways and certains kinds of people: determine who can be defined as valuable, normal or irrelevant, abnormal. - We can better understand that role by examining how media represent the world and how our culture encourages us to feel about the media texts we consume. 13. Why are narratives important to media representation? - They determine how a story is told (who tells it, who’s story is told, from whose perspective, what kind of “norm” does it push) 14. Describe the skyscraper model of culture and the historical context that existed when it emerged. The skyscraper model is how society in most of the twentieth century (critics and audiences) perceived the culture around them. Society functions in a hierarchy with superior things at the top and inferior things at the bottom. It can be imagined as a skyscraper with the top of the building high culture and the bottom low culture. Historically the top of the skyscraper things like ballet, art museums and classical literature. The things at the bottom of the hierarchy include things like reality television, pop music, video games. 15. What are the chief differences between modern and postmodern values? Modern era (roughly 1800–1950s) and a postmodern era (roughly 1950s–present). - Each period is characterized by large-scale economic, political, and social developments, as well as the cultural values that became dominant during that time. - These developments include the emergence of mass media and the cultural hierarchies that shaped how people thought about mass media. The modern era coincided with the rise of mass communication industries, which were bound

up with the era’s faith in expertise, rationalism, and progress. To be modern meant valuing the ability of logical and scientific minds to solve problems, which fostered confidence in experts and an assumption that the future would be better than the present. Postmodern era—a period marked by a growing skepticism about expertise and the idea of progress. By the end of the twentieth century, scientific advances were no longer new and miraculous but the “new normal” and expected. As a result, an unquestioning faith in science and a deference to experts has eroded, fueling a growing political and cultural populism—a political approach that pits ordinary people against educated elites and nurtures a variety of movements on both the right and the left. In the postmodern era of the niche nation, powerful hierarchies continue to tell us what media products we should and shouldn’t consume, but they are more likely to reflect the norms and expectations of narrower social groups we identify with Media Literacy in Action: The Critical Process 16. What are the five steps in the critical process? Which of these is the most difficult, and why? - Description: paying close attention, taking notes, and researching the subject under study - Analysis: discovering and focusing on significant patterns that emerge from the description stage - Interpretation: asking and answering “What does that mean?” and “So what?” questions about one’s findings - Evaluation: arriving at a judgment about whether something is good, bad, or mediocre, which involves subordinating one’s personal taste to the critical “bigger picture” resulting from the first three stages - Engagement: taking some action that connects our critical perspective with our role as citizens and watchdogs who question our media institutions, adding our voice to the process of shaping the cultural environment - 17. What is the difference between cynicism and criticism Cynicism is when you believe that everyone is only acting out of self-interest where criticism is expressing judgment of something based on acts of mistakes. The difference is that Cynicism is complacent and intolerant. It doesn’t examine issues the way criticism does. Criticism is “media literate”. Chapter 2 ● Internet ○ the vast network of fiber-optic lines, wireless connections, and satellite systems that links laptops, mobile phones, tablets, game consoles, smart TVs, and a growing array of smart devices to enormous data centers around the world. ● Byte ○ the basic unit used to measure digital information. ● Protocols - “rules” and policies for websites, services and manufacturers. ○ rules established by ARPA that allowed early supercomputers to join the

● Wikis ○ open and collaborative websites where people work together to edit and create content; the best-known example is Wikipedia. ● Sematic Web - uses data and machine learning to tailure searches and “recommend” things to you. ○ version of the web in which web pages and databases are created in such a way that a computer—functioning as something akin to artificial intelligence —can examine the web’s vast quantities of data and automatically provide useful solutions to people’s needs. ● Internet of Things - the Internet is becoming integrated into almost all machines (printers, home security systems, fridges, etc.). ○ technology that allows a growing array of devices—TVs, tablets, smartphones, cars, refrigerators, thermostats, traffic lights, and more—to communicate with each other and with the Internet. ● Gatekeepers ○ newspaper editors, network TV managers, record executives, and other media leaders who have traditionally decided which messages get circulated. ● Misinformation ○ false or misleading information spread by people who assume it’s true. ● Disinformation ○ false or misleading information spread knowingly by people with malicious intent. ● F ilter bubbles ○ spaces where we are exposed only to ideas and opinions that match our existing beliefs. ● C onfirmation bias ○ the tendency to socialize with people similar to ourselves as well as to favor information that conforms to our preexisting beliefs over information that challenges us. ● Analog ○ a category of media products that encode information in ways that existed before binary code, such as records, which play songs using grooves carved into vinyl, or photographs, which are created when chemical processes convert images onto celluloid. ● R emix culture ○ a term used to describe a society in which people are able to create and communicate by mixing, editing, combining, manipulating, or repurposing existing texts. ● GIFs ○ animated images culled from popular culture that are often used in conversations over text or social media. ● R ight of fair use ○ a legal doctrine that permits people to use copyrighted material without permission as long as the use does not compromise the material’s value. ● Deepfakes ○ images or videos that use advanced digital editing technology to create fraudulent but convincing content. ● S urveillance capitalism ○ an increasingly important business model that involves making money by controlling the personal data of millions of users.

● D ata mining ○ the gathering of data by online purveyors of content and merchandise that sometimes raises ethical issues. ● Cookies ○ computer files that automatically collect and transfer information between a website and a user’s browser, which makes revisiting a website easier or more personalized but also makes it possible for companies to track a user’s browser history. ● IP (Internet protocol) address ○ the unique number that every device uses when communicating on the Internet. ● A ddictive design ○ principles developed from research into human behavior modification and used by social media companies to increase the time users spend on their platforms and to make checking for updates and messages a habit. ● S urveillance states ○ societies in which governments conduct systematic mass surveillance on their populations. ● W alled gardens ○ highly managed digital app environments that provide continuous streams of content directly to our feeds in an effort to discourage us from leaving to browse elsewhere; examples include Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. ● N et neutrality ○ the principle that all data being sent across the Internet should be treated the same—that is, it should have the same access to the network and travel across it at the same speed. ● O pt-in policies ○ policies that require websites to gain explicit permission from consumers before the sites can collect browsing history data. ● O pen-source software ○ noncommercial software shared freely and developed collectively on the Internet. ● U niversal access ○ the notion that every citizen, regardless of income or location, should have the opportunity to use and benefit from a technology. ● D igital divide ○ the growing contrast between the “information haves”—those who can afford to purchase a computer and pay for Internet services—and the “information have-nots”—those who may not be able to afford a computer or pay for Internet services. ● 5G ○ the next generation of mobile networking technology that promises download speeds on par with home broadband. The Internet Today 1. What is the Internet, and how is Internet use evolving around the world?

interference, poet and Internet activist John Perry Barlow declared, “We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.”” 4. What factors laid the groundwork for the commercialization of the Internet in the 1990s? ● The end of the Cold War. ● The beliefs of the first people to have access to the internet that it should “be for everyone”. ● CERN scientist Tim Berners-Lee creates HTML, a coding language for allowing websites to display text and images, and allowed for single webpages to be compiled together into one hyperlinked webpage (for example, the fact that “home” and “shop” exist on the same website is because of HTML). HTML is the backbone of all websites, and it led to CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) which allowed for people to design their websites to look nice and user-friendly. 5. What are the key distinctions between the pre-web Internet, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0? ● Web 1.0 - Dial up internet, registry based browser (manually created “directory”, basically a list of all sites), had only 22k sites, still inaccessible to people who didn’t know how to code, “read only”. ● Web 2.0 - Websites are now interactive and not read-only, the browser is now algorithmically based (calculations/code based), there are billions of sites, more multimedia compatible, wikis and user submitted content begin to form, intractable, and cost efficient. ● Web 3.0 - Semantic web (usage of data to tailor searches to people's needs), The INternet of Things (the internet is integrated into almost everything ). Our Complex Digital Environment 6. What are the benefits and complications of unrestricted communication? a. Benefits - Reduce the centralization of the government which control propaganda and information. - Allow free speech and users can challenge the repressive regimes b. Complications - Can be used as a tools for cyberbulling, criminals, authoritarian government and terrorists. - Can be exploited by highly centralized institution for malicious intention 7. What is the relationship between online communities and political polarization? - Online communities have different beliefs, values and people tend to connect with people share the same interests, opinions => People lost connection with those from other communities - Different communities with different beliefs causes the “us-versus-them” mentality => opinion polarization - Creation of “focus bubbles”: echo chambers/algorithms only showing you what you already agree with 8. What are the benefits and complications of remixing?

Benefits: - Helps communication, references art - Allows artists to remix other art - Empower users with their role of creation in mass media Complications - Fights over copyright and royalties - Unrealistic beauty norms - Legal battles - Deepfakes - Spreading news disinformation 9. Why and how do companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google mine our data? Google uses google maps which gathers information by using our location. - Google uses this information to deliver tailored content and hyper-targeted advertisements to each of us. - Controlling our attention helps companies like Google and Facebook collect more data and create opportunities to sell more ads—all essential tactics in the emerging attention economy. For example, Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Facebook Inc.) are designed to mine enormous amounts of data from users through their profiles, likes, and posts. How does it shape their business practices? - These companies created their platforms using the additive design principles to maximize user engagement. By doing so, they are able to collect more information and show the suitable ads that are personalized to consumers' interests. 10. Why and how do governments use digital surveillance technologies? - in order to maintain national security, social order, or political control. - government agencies worldwide have obtained communication logs, web browser histories, and the online records of individual users who thought their online activities were private. In the United States, for example, the USA PATRIOT Act (which became law shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001) grants sweeping powers to law enforcement agencies to intercept individuals’ online communications, including email and browsing records. - China’s Great Firewall, chinese government media censorship, social credit 11. Why and how has the Internet become increasingly closed? - Internet providers and governments creating “walled gardens” (internet ecosystem where certain content is restricted or held back from you by the algorithm) 12. What is net neutrality, and why is it such an important issue? - Net neutrality: the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking

○ devices people use specifically to play video games. ○ 1977: Atari released the 2600 with an 8-bit processor ○ 1983: the wildly popular Nintendo Entertainment System also used an 8-bit processor ○ 1989: Sega Genesis launched the first 16-bit console ○ 1992: 32-bit computers appeared on the market ○ 1993: 64 bits became the new standard ○ 1999: Sega Dreamcast began the 128-bit era ○ Today: 256-bit processors are standard ● Microsoft ○ the first console to feature a built-in hard disk drive ○ the first to be connected to an online service (Xbox Live) ○ the first to have Dolby Digital sound, for a cinematic sound experience ● Gameplay ○ the way in which a game’s rules, rather than its visual or narrative style, structures how players interact with it.

● M assively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) ○ role-playing games set in virtual fantasy worlds that require users to play through an avatar. ● Avatar ○ a graphic interactive “character” situated within the world of a game, such as World of Warcraft . ● M ultiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs)

2. What sparked the creation of mechanical games in both the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries? By the late nineteenth century, the availability of leisure time had sparked the creation of mechanical games. Technology continued to grow, and by the 1950s, computer science students in the United States had developed early versions of the video games we know today. 3. How are classic arcade games and the culture of the arcade similar to today’s popular console games and gaming culture? Over time, digital games evolved from their simplest forms into the four major platforms used for gameplay today: consoles, handheld devices, computers, and the Internet. As these platforms evolved and graphics advanced, distinctive gaming genres emerged and became popular. Arcades were like nurseries for fledgling forms of amusement that would mature into mass entertainment industries during the twentieth century. For example, automated phonographs used in arcade machines evolved into the jukebox, while kinetoscopes in arcades set the stage for the cinema. But the machines most relevant to today’s digital games were more interactive and primitive than the phonograph and the kinetoscope. This portable and mobile gaming convergence is changing the way people look at digital games and their systems. With games no longer confined to arcades or home consoles, the mobile media have gained power as entertainment tools, reaching a wider and more diverse audience. In fact, the Entertainment Software Association reports that 31 percent of gamers play while waiting for an appointment, 27 percent play during a break at work or school, and 16 percent play during a commute. Thus, gaming has become an everyday form of entertainment rather than the niche pursuit of hard-core enthusiasts. 4. What advantages did personal computers have over video game consoles in the late 1980s and much of the 1990s? For a time in the late 1980s and much of the 1990s, personal computers held some clear advantages over console gaming. The versatility of keyboards, compared with the relatively simple early console controllers, allowed for ambitious puzzle-solving games. Moreover, faster processing speeds gave some computer games richer, more detailed 3-D graphics. Many of the most popular early first-person shooter games, like Doom and Quake, were developed for home computers rather than consoles. The Gaming Environment 5. What are some of the main genres within digital gaming? a) Action : - platform games, first-person shooter, fighting, stealth, survival, rhythm b) Adventure c) Action-adventure d) Role-playing e) MMORPG

f) Simulation : - construction/management, life, vehicle g) Strategy : - MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) h) Sports i) Casual Games 6. How are MMORPGs, MOBAs, and virtual worlds built around online social interaction? Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are set in virtual worlds that require users to play through an avatar—a graphic interactive “character” situated within the world of the game—of their own design. The “massively multiplayer” aspect of MMORPGs indicates that digital games—once designed for solo or small-group play—now engage huge numbers of player-participants. Multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) can also have hundreds of thousands of active players worldwide. At the game level, a team of up to five players aims to destroy an opposing team’s structure. Battle royale games, which are a subset of MOBAs, are also multiplayer, but the number of players is limited (usually to a hundred players), since the objective is to be the last player (or team) surviving. All these virtual worlds offer younger players their own age-appropriate environment in which to experiment with virtual socializing, but they have also attracted criticism for their messages of consumerism. In many of these games, children can buy items with virtual currency or, through a premium membership, acquire bling more quickly. Communities of Play 7. How do communities of play—including collective intelligence, interactive live streaming platforms, online fantasy sports, and conventions—enhance the social experience of gaming and make games different from other mass media? The ubiquity of digital games has fostered the development of communities outside games dedicated to gaming in its many forms. This phenomenon is similar to the formation of online and in-person groups devoted to discussing other forms of mass media, such as movies, TV shows, and books. These communities enhance the social experience gained through the games themselves. Gamers, too, collaborate with one another to share shortcuts and “cheats” to solve tasks and quests, and to create their own modifications to games. This sharing of knowledge and ideas is an excellent example of collective intelligence. Interactive Livestreaming Platforms: Gaming Becomes Television, one of the most notable developments in gaming is the extraordinary popularity of interactive live streaming platforms. As live game streaming has intensified, competition has also increased for the big-name professional gamers who draw viewers in with their high level of play and entertaining live dialogue. Live gaming platforms have also extended beyond gameplay, offering live streamed talk shows for teens, comedy. Online fantasy sports games also create communities of play. For decades before the advent of digital games, people used to play in friendly (and technically illegal) “office pool”