Understanding Mass Media,
Convergence, and the Importance of
Media Literacy
Week One
MEDIA CONVERGENCE
Media – platforms or vehicles that industries have developed
for the purposes of creating and sending messages
- telephones
- movies
- television
Convergence – takes place when products are typically
linked to one medium show up on many media
- music that you can share across multiple devices
- tweeting about the game during the Super Bowl
MASS COMMUNICATION
Related to a technology and the size of its audience
AUDIENCE
FRAGMENTATION– the
process of dividing
audience members into
segments based on
background and lifestyle
in order to send them
messages targeted to their
specific characteristics
FIGURE 1.1 Audience Fragmentation
3
MASS COMMUNICATION
ELEMENTS OF PRODUCTION
• Thinking about the way communications content is
created
• MASS PRODUCTION PROCESS
Creates the potential for reaching a large number of
diverse, anonymous people at around the same time
• INDUSTRIAL NATURE
Considering the various companies that work together to
create content
MASS COMMUNICATION
ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
• COMMUNICATION
• MESSAGES
• INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
• MEDIATED INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
• MEDIUM
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
SOURCE - ENCODES the
MESSAGE
RECEIVER – DECODES the
MESSAGE
The MESSAGE travels
through a CHANNEL from the
SOURCE to the RECIEVER.
- ex. Voice/sounds waves
FIGURE 1.2 Interpersonal Communication
6
COMPARING ELEMENTS
TABLE 1.1 Comparing Elements Across Different Forms of Communication
7
ELEMENTS OF MASS COMMUNICATION
ON AN INDUSTRIAL SCALE
FIGURE 1.3 Mass Communication
8
MASS MEDIA AND CONVERGENCE
THE THREE C’S OF MASS MEDIA CONVERGENCE
• CONTENT – messages
• CORPORATIONS – The companies that interact to create
and distribute the content
• COMPUTERS – The tool corporations use to disseminate
content
MASS MEDIA AND CONVERGENCE
ANALOG – electronic transmission
accomplished by adding signals of
varying frequency of amplitude to
carrier waves of a given frequency of
alternating electromagnetic current.
DIGITAL – electronic technology
that generates, stores, processes
and transmits data in the form of
strings of 0s and 1s; each of these
digits is referred to as a bit
- Allows for convergence
HOW DO WE USE THE MASS
MEDIA IN OUR DAILY LIVES?
• Enjoyment
• Social currency
• Companionship
• Parasocial interaction
• Surveillance
• Interpretation
HOW DO THE MASS MEDIA
INFLUENCE CULTURE?
CULTURE – ways of life that are passed on to members of a
society through time and that keep the society together
 SUBCULTURES
SOCIETY – large numbers of individuals, groups, and
organizations that live in the same general area and consider
themselves connected to one another through the sharing of
a culture
The Mass media present ideas of the culture…
HOW DO THE MASS MEDIA
INFLUENCE CULTURE?
Identifying and discussing codes of
acceptable behavior
Learning what and who counts in our world
– and why
Determining what others think of us – and
what people “like us” think of others
CRITICISMS OF MASS MEDIA’S
INFLUENCE ON CULTURE
STEREOTYPES – predictable depictions that reflect (and
sometimes create) cultural prejudices
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES – beliefs about who should hold the
greatest power within a culture
MEDIA LITERACY
A MEDIA-LITERATE PERSON IS
• Knowledgeable about the influences that guide media
organizations
• Up-to-date on political issues relating to the media
• Sensitive to ways of seeing media content as a means of
learning about culture
• Sensitive to the ethical dimensions of media activities
• Knowledgeable about scholarship regarding media effects
• Able to enjoy media materials in a sophisticated manner
How to become a more Media Literate
individual
MEDIA LITERACY TOOLS
AND PRINCIPLES
FIGURE 1.4 Principles of Media Literacy
16