Beyond and After Media Literacy –
Media Competence – Building Civil Society
Faculdade Caspar Líbero São Paulo Feb 2012
Thomas A. Bauer, Dr. O. Univ. Prof.
Department of Communication
Faculty of Social Sciences
University Vienna / Austria
www.thomasbauer.at
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MEDIA – THE SYMBOLIC-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR
THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF COMMUNICATION
1.
Essentialist / Cognitivist Concepts Theorize Communication
as a Universal Code of Action (Interaction, Transaction)
In the Interest of Cosmological Practice as a Connective System of
Remarkable Characters (“Musts”, Rules, Procedures, Rights and Obligations,
Functions, Effects)
Relating them to the Features of Power, Precedence, Authority and Success:
Information, Knowledge, Action, Position
Repeating the Ground-Model of Relation: Expectation of and Fulfilling of
Action: Role Models (as culturally ritualized habits of social order)
- in cultural framing (partner-partner-model)
- or in professional framing (journalism-audience, producerconsumer model, industrially taylorized model)
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MEDIA – THE SYMBOLIC-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR
THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF COMMUNICATION
Connecting (Just by First-Level-Observation of Practice)
Media to Communication and Communication to Media
Understanding Media is then verifying it as real object functionally related to
communication as a real object
framing the cultural phenomenon as a self-explaining, in-itself-closed
objective structure (in theory of practice and in practice of theory),
as an instrument (metaphors: tool, platform, agency, system, procedural
operation) used in the interest of those models of (repeating) social
order and have to be
- controlled (in public practice: media politics, media economy, media
governance etc.
- and observed (in theoretical research: media order, systems
development
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MASS-MEDIA CULTURE – MEDIA MASS-CULTURE - THE CODE
OF MEDIA SOCIETY
The model of hierarchical and industrial society?
MassMediaCommunication:
Journalism: organizational system for distribution of information
and news shaping public opinion (technology & organisational
strategy (system of trust) media in an industrial manner
professionalism of production (technological perfection)
against ignorant / dependent audience?
shaping the responsibility for mutual understanding: socialized
use of media through professionalism / quality in context of
production, media literacy (capacity, skills) in context of
consumption (media education)
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MASS-MEDIA CULTURE – MEDIA MASS-CULTURE: THE CODE
OF MEDIA SOCIETY
Beyond hierarchical and industrial society?
MediaMassCommunication:
Social Media: network organism for sharing information, news,
conversation and diverse meaning
- media as a network (community building)
- casual, instant, ubiqitious option to get and stay connected
- producer-consumer-model becoming obsolete
- sharing the capacity/responsibility/habit for mutual understanding
in context of construction of reality: professionalism and media
competence as connected system of trust (from hierarchy to
heterarchy, from distribution of news to social balance of
communication right/duty/responsibility
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MEDIA – THE SYMBOLIC-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR
THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF COMMUNICATION
2.
Constructivist - Hermeneutical Concepts Theorize
Communication
following the interest of understanding the cultural programs, the notionmodels in behind of -, and the competence motifs of - constructing reality
(competence:
supposition of ability, capacity, habitus, responsibility, moral commitment)
human competence motif: definition against uncertainty (selfconfidence)
social competence motif: sociability as a moment of trust (selfawareness)
cultural competence motif: decisionability of meaning (semantic and
pragmatic paradigms of notion, models of knowledge, cultural programs)
against unexpected surprise
organizational competence motif: selectiveness against need as a proof of
sovereignty (models of proof
as references of experience)
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
technical competence motif: feasibility and causality of syntactic
MEDIA – THE SYMBOLIC-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR
THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF COMMUNICATION
Constructivist / Interpretative Concepts Theorize Communication
as a Universal Code of Observation
-
in relation to oneself (identity concept)
in relation to natural, social, cultural and symbolic environment (concept
of ambient and of generalized other)
in relation to constructability of meaning (concept of value of difference)
in relation to the situational, social, cultural or organizational setting
deciding the meaning of mutual observation (media concept)
in reference to the system of symbolic interaction (concept of
socialization of diversity and difference)
(V. Flusser, S.J. Schmidt, J. Mitterer, A. Schütz, G.H. Mead, Th. Luckmann, J. Habermas)
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
MEDIA – THE SYMBOLIC-CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT FOR
THE SOCIAL PRACTICE OF COMMUNICATION
Connecting Media to Communication and Communication to
Media by Observing the Observation (Next Level Observation)
In Constructivist Perspective Any Construction is Related /
Mediated to the Social, Cultural, or Symbolic Environment
Understanding Media then is
Framing the construction of reality through the Media Code (Media
Perspective) of any Communication: Mediality as the modus of
sociability/ society, the conditional moment of decision on opinion,
meaning and sense
Understanding Communication as Doing the Media in the Interest of
Constructing Meaning
in a adaptive / repressive interest of usage: socialized practice
in an elaborated / emancipative interest of usage: social social
practice
(H. M .Enzensberger, A. Hepp, F. Krotz, B. Bernstein, J. Habermas, Thomas A. Bauer, St. Hall,
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
Cultural Studies authors)
MEDIA CULTURE – THE SYMBOLIC ENVIRONMENT FOR
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
MEDIA COMPETENCE - A Cultural Good of Communication
The Communication Education and Development Programme for the Civil
Society: A Public Value Concept
- Sovereignty: Downsizing of organizational / institutional / economical
technological overkill within the practice of social communication
- Authenticity: Upgrading the meaning of individuality as a source of difference
for the dialogical /dialectic construction of meaning
- Diversity: The social usage of media – the condition of creative habitus
- Participation: Make usage of media becoming a factor in construction of
public meaning beyond ritualized practices of unification / uniformation
- Emancipation: Society is, what its communication is like – critical observation
and reflection of communication – the emancipative principle of social change
(N. Chomsky, P. Bourdieu, M. de Certeau, M. Castells, J. Piaget, Th. A. Bauer, D. Baacke)
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
UNDERSTANDING MEDIA CHANGE
The Cultural Studies Thesis
 Social Change: The concept of understanding reality: Change does
not happen to the reality and to its observation; it happens through
observation and is the structure of reality
 Media Change (economically driven, technologically performed) is
the cultural / relational and communicational performance of social
change – it mirrors the paradigms of change (action and
observation) in mind, attitude, habit and behaviour.
 The question is not, what is the media impact (effect) in change ,
the question is, how changing discourse rules ( effect the use of
media (cf. M. Foucault)?
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
CULTURAL PERSEPCTIVES OF MEDIALITY
Media - Identity :
How to save/develop the authenticity of real self under conditions
of mediated relation?
Media - Ecology :
How to save/preserve/develop the emancipative resources of social
communication against the repressive mechanism of technicity and
economy
Media Competence:
How to use media as an agency of realizing individuality under
conditions of a media organized society?
Media Culture:
How does the everyday usage of media effect the culture of sociability?
Media Learning:
What attitudes are we able to develop, in order to create an societal
learning process out of it (media competence)?
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
UNDERSTANDING MEDIA COMPETENCE
Competence Models in general
 Competence - a normative term:
is directed to social agreements of social and individual values
 Competence - a critical term:
is directed to distinction between systems demands of
assimilation and and challenge of accommodation
 Competence – a pragmatic term:
is directed to the possibility of learning and of development.
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
UNDERSTANDING COMPETENCE
MEDIA COMPETENCE IS CULTURAL GOOD
The term of competence includes aspects:
 Ability (to know what operations and how to do them in case
of – skills)
 Capacity (to have the cognitive, affective and active means and
preparedness: skills)
 Responsibility (to be conscious of what it means for oneself
and/or for others: consequences and possible effects
 Moral Commitment (to be aware of the implicated values when
making personal decisions)
 In media knowledge, media participation and media usage
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at
Exemplaric Back-Ground Referencies





















Baacke, Dieter (1997): Medienkompetenz. Tübingen: Niemeyer Verlag
Bauer, Thomas A. (2011): In Zukunft mehr Kommunikation. Gesellschaft im Spiegel des Medienwandels. In: Koschnik,
Wolfgang J. (ed.): Focus Jahrbuch 2010, S. 1 – 83
Bauer, Thomas A. (2011): O valor publico da Media Literacy. In Líbero 27, p. 9 – 21, São Paulo:: FCL
Bourdieu, Pierre (1998): Praktische Vernunft. Zur Theorie des Handelns. Frankfurt: siuhrkamp
Bernstein, Basil: Elaborated and Restricted Codes: Their Origins and some Consequences. In: Gumperz, J.J. / Hymes, D (ed.):
The Ethnography of Communication. In: American Anthropologist. Special Publication, 66, 1964,/6, Part II, S. 55- 69
Castells, Manuel (2001): Der Aufstieg der Netzwerkgesellschaft. Opladen : Leske + Budrich.
Castells, Manuel (2005): Die Internet-Galaxie: Internet, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Wiesbaden: Verlag f. Sozialwissenschaft
Certeau, Michel de (1989): Die Kunst des Handelns. Berlin
Chomsky, Noam (1972): Aspekte der Syntax-Theorie. Frankfurt: suhrkamp
Enzensberger, Hans M. (1970): Baukasten zu einer Theorie der Medien. In: Kursbuch 20,: suhrkamp, p. 159 – 186
Foucault, Michel (1974): Die Ordnung der Dinge. Eine Archäologie der Humanwissenschaften. Frankfurt: suhrkamp
Hall, Stuart Hall, Stuart.(1993): Encoding, Decoding. In: During, S.: The Cultural Studies Reader. London: Routledge
Habermas, Jürgen Habermas, Jürgen (1981): Thorie des kommunikativen Handelns (1981): Bd 1: Handlungsrealität und
gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. Bd 2: Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft. Frankfurt: suhrkamp
Hepp, Andreas (2008): Netzwerke der Medien. – Netzwerke des Alltags: Medienalltag in der Netzwerkgesellschaft. In Thomas,
Tanja (ed): Medienkultur und soziales Handeln. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, p. 63 - 89
Horkheimer, Max / Adorno, Theodor W. (1969 / 2003): Dialektik der Aufklärung. Philosophische Fragmente. Frankfurt: Fischer
Krotz, Friedrich: Mediatisirung von Alltag, Kultur und Gesellschaft. Ein gesellschaftlicher Metaprozess wird besichtigt.
Wiesbaden 2001
Mead, George Herbert (1973): Geist, Identität und Gesellschaft Frankfurt: suhrkam
Luhmann, Niklas (2004): Die Realität der Masenmedien. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften ( 3 ed.)
Piaget, Jean (1947): La représentation du monde chez l’enfant. Pariis: Presses Universitaires de France
Schmidt, Siegfried J. (2003): Geschichten und Diskurse. Abschied vom Konstruktivismus. Frankfurt
Schütz, Alfred / Luckmann, Thomas 1984) : Strukturen der Lebenswelt. Bd 2. Frankfurt/M.: suhrkamp
thomas.bauer@univie.ac.at