Lecture 2 - What is social media?
What is Media -
Media is something that someone has created in order to communicate a meaning unto someone else.
–Media is a construct of human organisation.–Media is everything observed in the third person, anything that we don’t experience first hand.
–Is anything created and shared by other people for us to ‘consume’ (Jenkins et al. 2013).
–Media is how we experience the world through other peoples communications
–“The internet, newspapers, magazines, television, etc., considered as a group” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020, p.1).
What is a medium?
If Media is everything, what would be one of those forms of Media?
The Singular form of Media is Medium.
''a Means by which something is communicated or expressed'' (Oxford Dictionaries, 2020)
It is anything created by someone else to communicate meaning
For example me, making a sign that says ''get off my lawn'' is a form of communication that uses a sign as a medium.
"The Medium is the message"
Marshal McLuhan, 1964
This quote is from famous media theorist McLuhan in Understanding Media: The Extension of Man
A medium can convey as much meaning as the actual use of the media
EG My use of a sign on my lawn would be at eye level for those walking past to see, and show that I am angry by going into the effort of making a sign
by putting it on the lawn I am directing it towards the audience I want to appeal to so its telling us something about that message, eg if it was for children, using symbols, different font, sign height may change.
What is Traditional Media
Synonymous with Physical or Print Media
Used to be defined as being backed by large organisations but now no longer the case.
media that has a longstanding Modus Operandi, usually backed by experts, or which no longer present a viable option for being the most consumed media (Meraz, 2009)
Old Formats of media that are now out of favour or are in decline
Old Media Technology has its benefits, in most citing its robustness, longevity and infallibility in comparison to newer technology (BBC, 2019)
What is Analog Media
–Analogue Media is Synonymous with Tradition Media but is not the same.–Analogue Media is Media anything that can be stored without the use of a physical medium.
–This Media is sometimes hard to access because the tools to access it have aged.
–This gives us access to more varied and potentially lost information that can help inform later research and development of newer media technology (De Montfort University, 2019).
What is New Media
Defined as media that is current and being used in a continued way by what is termed Digital Natives (and) Digital Immigrant, individuals who have only known or have digital media as a significant aspect of their lives (Prensky, 2001).–New Media being an all-encompassing term for all media that has come to forefront of use in the modern age, not to confuse New Media with novel new forms of media (the latter being a seemingly impermanent fixture or trend) (Flew, 2014).
What is Digital Media
–Digital Media is similar to New media but not necessarily the same.–Digital media has given rise to new types of media including large amounts of new culture and even becoming offshoots of Traditional Culture and Traditional Media.
–Media that can be stored electronically with 0’s and 1’s!“Digital media is any media which depends on electronic devices for its creation, distribution, view, and storage.” (Pius, 2020, p1)
What is Social Media
–Social Media is media that can be interacted with.–Not necessarily through the internet net but making Media Social.
–Humans could be considered the computing nodes in a social network (Castells, 2009).
–Social Media is different from a social network, the later being a platform for media to be social. Social media is the overarching name for media that is social.
–SNS’s or Social Networking Sites like Facebook and Twitter.
–On social media users have the option to be both consumer and producer of media being hosted on a common platform, termed ‘Prod-user’ by (Bruns, 2008).
–“Websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking” (The Law Commission, 2018, p. 15).
WMD: Wireless Mobile Device
–WMDs are Wireless Mobile Devices or Smartphones.
–A device that can connect to a wireless network and process the incoming information into media that we can understand.
Thought Experiment
–How technology advancements can you think off that have made old ones obsolete?–E.g. Personal Computers have made typewriters obsolete.
