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My Review of McLuhans, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Marshal McLuhans book, Understanding Media-The Extension of Man gives the us the reader great an insight into the ideas of media theories that could be useful for people studying these subjects or areas.
The book itself is from 1964 a while before the development of new media technologies that we so freely enjoy today. This however does not seem to affect the relevance that this book has to people living in the present day.
"the medium is the message" McLuhans ideas that a study of the media should be concentrated on the media or medium itself rather than what content this media can project outwards to viewer.
In this light McLuhan suggests that it does not matter what the ‘content’ being shown but just the medium.
"a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence." from McLuhan that explains how a media will create an environment however and whatever this content will be, it will still have an identical effect on the viewer. This is an interesting point of view that I am not entirely sure I can agree with as this would presume that violent shows for children would leave them feeling identical as an educational style show.
His ideas portray meaning of what we think about as ‘space’ this is a questionable subject that Marshal McLuhan has touched upon. Space could be considered as many things, as the world around us that we live in and the objects we use.
"If clothing is an extension of our private skins to store and channel our own heat and energy, housing is a collective means of achieving the same end for the family or group"
McLuhan explores the idea that everything is an extension of the physical body including such items as our clothes or houses. “Any invention or technology is an extension or self-amputation of our physical bodies".
This explains that possibly that new technologies such as the internet are intact just an extension of our bodies. This considered means things you can think of a “walled city itself an extension of our skins, as much as housing and clothing". When this is thought about the idea of a house being like our skin does make sense in my view as it is almost apart of you and is generally a protective layer around you as is your skin.
McLuhan suggests that there is “hot” and “cool” media.
"Any hot medium allows of less participation than a cool one, as a lecture makes for less participation than a seminar, and a book for less than a dialogue."
McLuhan has said that a “hot” medium is “high definition” that it is intensifying to user and demanding attention from them, this attention will not be an active or interactive role with the media. The “hot” medium such as Films will lure the viewer in taking their attention for the full length. A “cool” media will need more of an active participation with the viewer as it is less intensifying and not just entirely speechless attention demanding material.
Overall this book is very useful and provides great theories and ideas, not that all of them are agreeable in my view but it has given interesting values to reflect upon.
Tags: culture media society technology
Smart Mobs Review
I decided to read Smart Mobs as it is a book that is relevant to both of the media theory options that I have taken; Activism and Participation.
The title ‘Smart Mobs’ is a play on words, mobs being an abbreviation for smart mobile networks, as well as a reference to a large group of people (a mob).
Within the book Rheingold talks about how mobile technology will continue you to shape the behaviour of society. For me, this is an important consideration as I am part of the generation that has grown up with the use of a mobile phone, so there has never been the need to question what life would be like without one and therefore it isn’t always easy to see how it has changed society. Smart Mobs looks at the possibilities that have already and will continue to occur as mobile communication devices develop further.
Some of the topics Rheingold covers may seem like observations that anyone in touch with modern technology could make, such as increased wireless access and applications such as Google maps giving mass participators (or mobs) more freedom and power. He takes examples, such as the 1999 anti-globalisation protests in Seattle, to show how the increased use of social-networking websites, as well as the improved functionality of mobile devices, have made activism and participation all the more possible in modern society. This is particularly interesting in light of the recent G20 protests, which I studied in relation to the media theory units.
Smart Mobs is a good insight into how society will continue to change as a result of mobile communication devices becoming integrated more and more into everyday life and its requirements.
Tags: activism citizenship internet media-participation mobilecommunication mobs smartmobs society technology
Review:Distant Voices
John Pilger’s career has touched on many areas including film-making and journalism and this collection of essays covers a huge range of topics from social to institutional issues, all with the common theme of ‘Distant Voices’. Pilger writes about the lives of people that goes unheard in modern society, or, alternatively, presents these stories to his audiences in a different light.
From his sceptical veiws on a post-Thatcher Britain, to laying his life on the line to uncover the atrocities being committed in East Timor in 1993 by the Indonesians, Pilger’s essays are written in the style of a professional journalist, but his humanity has not been forsaken by this academic approach. The relatively one-sided nature of his essays is forgiven by his depth of research and the passion that even an experienced journalist cannot keep buried.
‘ “The people are really rather afraid of being swamped by an alien culture?: the sum of [Margaret Thatcher’s] message was that racism was safe by her ’ is a good example of this, in his essay discussing racism in Britain under Thatcher’s administration.
He also analyses the role of the media and journalists in particular in the reporting of modern warfare, taking the first Gulf War as an example. (When writing these essays between 1991-1993). His statement that ‘the very notion of the journalist as a teller of truths unpalatable of ruling elites, as whistle-blower in the public interest, has fatally eroded’ is another example of his own personal perspective on changing values in British media and war reporting, but also how ‘the ruling elites’ have learnt lessons and worked on people’s fears to sway popular opinion in their favour.
One example of this is what Pilger describes as a ‘secular myth’ that during the Vietnam war, the media as a whole was against it. This allegedly lead to the sway in public opinion and eventually, to withdrawal and was described by many as a defeat. He says however, this was not the case, that the reporting was merely on the poor management and inefficiency of the American military in their handling of the situation.
In Pilger’s discussions of war reporting, he also demonstrates, the impossible task of reporting on a conflict without at the very least seeming to raise one particular side to a level that makes the war justified, to the extreme of participating in propaganda for one side against another.
This book has so many qualities. It is informative, without losing any sense of passion; its essay structure allows pick and put down approach or taking whole chapters at a time. For example, Invisible Britain, the chapter assessing Britain under Thatcher, includes topics on the miners, health care system etc. It is also intense and descriptive without seeming to drag out the stories, or needlessly over-emphasising a single issue, or perspective on a topic.
Tags: journalism politics society war
Culture and Power -A review by Mark Maltby
A media, culture and society reader.
This reader is split into three parts, containing between them 15 publications from various noteworthy contributors. The first part discusses key theoretical developments in media studies.
In one publication in the first part, Sarah Franklin, Celia Lury and Jackie Stacey discuss key issues in the history of feminism and their complex development with regards to cultural studies. Political influences feature heavily; because the timeframe within which the book is set between 1985-1991, it discusses issues such as economic cutbacks by Margaret Thatcher’s government as being a primary cause of the uneven development of womens studies.
The relationship between Media and Ethnicity and Identity is scrutinised by Thomas K Fitzgerald. He discusses the culture of Cook Islanders; the inhabitants of a group of self-governing, pacific islands in free association with New Zealand. Looking at the history of their relationship with New Zealand, he examines the identity of the islanders and the effects media has had on their affirmation to either New Zealand or their Island, and on traditional cultures such as the Maori language, food, dress, naming and ceremonies. His research shows that ethnic identity within a multicultural environment is possible without assuming there must be a corresponding separate culture.
The first part of this book also examines the differences between cinema, seen as high art, and television, seen as mass, or low culture.
Entitled ‘The Audience and Everyday Life’, the second part of the book spotlights the results of recent research around the audiences.
Klaus Bruhn Jensen looks at the Politics of Polysemy, that is, different ways in which audiences interpret media texts, depending on their conventions and cultural backgrounds. Although the potential exists for polysemy to be a characteristic in the construction of the text, Jensen focuses on the polysemy of reception when assessing the power of media and audiences, in particular, American news programs.
In the latter part of the second section, Susan Kippax looks at women as an audience. She discusses the differences between male and female participation in the arts, focusing on how tradition has seen women as being actively encouraged by society to become involved in the arts, possibly as an entertaining past time, whilst males are usually seen to be encouraged to participate in more practical tasks. She looks at how women can be alienated from the public sphere, and yet are still underrepresented in the areas in which they have a keen appreciation.
The final section of the book looks at the public sphere. It examines the role of the media in the production and distribution of information, ideas and images within the context of its national political and social position, and with regard to the effects upon and consequences for citizenship.
John DH Downing examines the press in Europe of the late 80’s, using case studies to document the progress made in particular by the West German anti nuclear media over other large western European nations. Colin Sparks discusses the media influence on society, considering how capitalist democracy essentially controls the popular western press, and the democratically elected governments can and do use popular media such as tabloid press to their advantage, if not always immediately apparent.
I found that this book provided and interesting, if a little dated, view of ideologies and theories of several respected members of the academic world, with regards to media influence on culture and indeed cultural influence on media. Whilst still relevant, what cannot be ignored is that there will always be new and varied theories which will either complement or contradict those written here. It would be interesting to see something a little more up to date, given the recent political and financial developments taking place across much of the developed world.
Children & Self-Regulation
"What will be the fate of childhood in the twenty-first century? WIll children increasingly be living 'meida childhoods', dominated by the eledctronic screen? Will; their growing access to 'adult' media help to abolish the distinctions between childhoop and adulthood? Or will the advent of new media technologies widen the gaps betwen the generateions still further? " (p191)
The boundaries between generations has become further blurred. Children are acting like immature adults, and are more in the know than we want to believe.
"These broader changes - both in ideas about childhood and in the realities of children's lives - have been echoed and to some extent reinforced by changes in the media environment of children.
Here again, traditional distinctions are being eroded, while new gaps are opening up. Children are increasingly gaining access to 'adult' media, and being 'empowered' as consumers in their own right." (p192)
Children's knowledge of the media is making them grow up and away from adults.
"The assertion that children need protection from harm is the most familiar of children's rights; and, as we have seen, it is strongly emphasised in the UN Convention and in most similar definitions of children's rights." (p200)
Constant idea that children need protecting from the media when that isn't always the case.
"The growing accessibility of new distribution technologies significantly undermines the possibility of regulation, both at the level of government and (increasingly) in the home.
On both philosophical and pragmatic grounds, therefore, we need to move towards a system that provides for and supports self-regulation - not just by parents, but also by children themselves." (p200)
Being able to download films means there is greater access but less restriction. We now have to leave the regulation in the hands of the consumer.
"The existence in Britain of an '18' certificate in film and video classification, for example, is an absurd denial of what majority of teenagers (and many younger children) know about the media - and indeed about the world in general.
In my view, there is no justification for legally preventing teenagers from gaining access to material that is avilable to adults, on the grounds that it is morally harmful or a negative influence on their behaviour." (p200)
Children or youths are going to see the 'harmful' media somewhere or another so it's no point putting in place ridiculously high certification ratings that no-one is going to listen to.
The 'Impressionable' Youth
"My own research with children aged between eight and twelve, largely onfirms this picture, although it also begins to suggest other questions. In out interviews we encountered a considerable degree of scepticism,- and indeed cynicism - about television advertising. The children were clearly aware of the persuasive functions of advertising, and the potential for deception. Many described how advertisers would attempt to 'make things look better than they are'." (p152)
Children understand the con of the media - and are more media savvy than adults like to think.
"The children came to know a great deal about the process of production, speculating how the actors were recruited and auditioned, and how much they were paid.
They questioned the way in which allegedly 'real' people were used in ads; they complained about bad acting and poor dubbing; they asserted that surveys and 'before-and-after' tests were merely faked; and they drew attention to 'camera tricks' achieved via editing or special effects." (p152)
Children have an inate, almost 'insider' knowledge of mdia screen stricks, which makes them less impressionable than adults would like to think they are.
Older than their Age
"On one hand, most obviously, there is a post-Romantic notion of the child as innocent and vulnerable, as requiring protection from the unnatural influences of the adult world." (p125)
There is an old view that children need protecting from the adult world. Can children decide what they want or need protection from? At what age can they begin to make these decisions and essentially begin to self-regulate?
"Rather than simply condemning screen violence, therefore, it makes sense to begin by asking why people - and children in particular - actively choose to watch it.
Research on such issues typically seeks to answer this question by recouse to a pathalogical conception of the viewer. A taste for violence is seen to be a symptom of sexual immaturity, lack of intelligence, or more fundamental personality defects. Ultimately, it would seem that people only watch this stuff because there is something fundamentally wrong with them." (p137)
When children are younger, watching violence on-screen is seen as a way to grow up and appear older to their peers. It gives them a greater social standing. Once they are old enough to watch them according to the certificate rating, they often choose not to watch them.
Free Time?
"Historians have argued that children's leisure time has been increasingly privatised and subjected to adult supervision over the past fifty years. Broadly speaking, the principal location of children's leisure time has moved from public spaces (such as the street) to family spaces (the domestic living room) to private spaces (the bedroom).
Anxiety about 'stranger danger', traffic and other threats to children has encouraged parents to furnish the home (and particularly the child's bedroom) as a diverting, technologically rich alternative to the perceived risks of the outside world." (p70)
Parents now encourage children's free time to be spent at home, and more increasingly home alone.
Tags: dissertation society
Cyber Knowledge
"Far from being passive victims of the media, children are seen here to possess a powerful form of 'media literacy', a spontaneous natural wisdom that is somehow denied to adults. In particular, new media technologies are seen to provide children with new opportunities for creativity, for community and for self-fulfillment.
While some have voiced concern about this growing generation gap in media use, others have celebrated these new media as a means for 'empowerment' or even 'liberation'for children.
Far from urging adults to reassert their authortity over the young, advocates of this view typically call on adults to 'listen to' - and 'catch up with' - their children." (p41)
Technology is a mystery to many adults - children have grown up with it: adapting and changing as it grows and develops.
"Like television, computers are seen to undermine rationality, morality and social coherence, and to generate confusion and chaos. Despite his technological determinism, it seems to percieve little difference between these 'old' and 'new' technologies." (p42)
Technology is seen to be the root of all social evil!
"In the home, television was seen both as a new way of bringing the family together, and as something which would undermine natural family interaction." (p43)
Television creates family time by removing family interraction.
"Computer games, for example, are excused of causing imitative violence - and, it is argued, the more 'realistic' graphic effects become, the more likely they are to encourage 'copy-cat' behaviour." (p43)
Media has a negative behavioural influence. Films have the 'video nasties'... the internet have?
"Far from destroying 'natural' human relationships and forms of learning, digital technology will liberate children's innate spontaneity and imagination." (p44)
Computers and the internet makes artists and authors of us all.
"Children are seen to possess a natural, spontaneous creativity, which is somehow (perhaps paradocically_ released by the machine; and, at the same time, they are seen as vulnerable, innocent and in need of protection from the damage that the technology will inevitably inflict on them." (p45)
Children have creative control and social freedom using the internet but are apparently still vulnerable to it's evils.
"Unlike their parents, who are portrayed as incompetent 'technophobes', children are seen to possess an intuitive, spontaneous relationship with digital technology. 'For many kids' we are told, 'using technology is as natural as breathing.' (Tapscott, 1998, p17). It is this technology that is seen as the means of their empowerment. Children have become 'active', but only because technology has permitted them to do so." (p47)
The internet promotes active users & increases personal (though not interpersonal?) skills.
"Across the world there is apassionate love affair between children and computers... And more than wanting it, they seem to know that in a deep way it already belongs to them. They know that they can master it more easily than their parents.
They know they are the computer generation." (p48)
(Papert, 'The Connected Family', 1996, p1)
Children know they have control over the internet. They are growing up with an inate knowledge of how it works, and that it works for them.
"Katz challenges the idea that sexual content in th emedia is necessarily harmful for simply a way a distracting attention from its more fundamental (and more intractable) causes.
He reminds is of the fact that new technologies have effectively undermined the possibility of centralized control; and that great deal of children's (and youth) culture is by definition bound to be subversive.
Our aim, he argues, should not be to prevent children gaining access to such material, but to enable them to cope with it." (p50)
Necessarily evil - need to have the evils there so that children can learn about them and have the choice to avoid them.
"The internet... is finally enabling children to move out of adult control." (p50)
The internet give children they need to grow up and out of the family unit. It creates natural interest and inquisitve-ness because more information in available there is a more of a want to know.
"Adults will have to abandon their function as role models and educators, and accept the fact that they must 'catch up' with their children." (p52)
Children are now adopting the role of th educator as their knowledge of current technology and the internet exceeds that of their parent's.
Television killing Childhood
"Human experience becomes 'homogenized'; although since children themselves do not necessarily understand what they watch, television creates a kind of 'pseudosophistication', which in turn leads adults to treat children as more grown up than they really are.
...Books' focus... present a further pressure on children to to grow up before their time." (p22)
Children are forced to grow up too fast? Adult influence and pressure wants children to act in a grown up state so they can take on more responsibility - especially in the home (especially with big families).
"While problems such as drug-taking and teenage pregnancy have, Marie Winn ('Children without Childhood') argues, always existed among lower social classes, they are now becoming widespread among middle-class children. Winn is dismayed at the blurring of boundaries between adults and children, and the fact that 'children look, talk and behave in ways that do not seem very childlike.' (Winn, 1984, p71).
Using extensive amounts of anecdotal testimony, she argues that most parent are either unconcerned, ignorant or fantalistic in the face of their own powerlessness to alter this situation." (p23)
There is a lack of control over children - this has lead to 'bad' adult behaviour, or an increase in adult behaviour in children that are perhaps old enough to act in that sense.
"[Parents] have little chance of controlling their children's exposure to every variety orf adult sexuality, every permutation and combination of human brutality and violence, every aspect of sickness, disease and suffering, every frightening possibility for naturala dn man-made disaster that might impinge on an innocent and care-free childhood. There is always the television set waiting to undo all their careful plans." (p23)(Winn, 1984, p42)
Television is the evil behind the death of childhood? No matter how much control we try to enforce on our children they will always manage to consume the media somewhere or somehow else and get the information and influence.