Marshall McLuhan's Tetrad Diagram

McLuhan developed the idea of using tetrad as a way of understanding the effects of a technology on society. The idea behind them is simple that is to make sure that we ask the same questions in the same way about different media. The four laws, which he framed as questions on which to reflect, are as follows:


What does the technology enhance or intensify?

What does the technology displace or render obsolete?

What does the technology recover that was previously lost?

What does the technology produce or become when pushed to an extreme?

The ideas behind the tetrad are explained in more detail by Anthony Hempell. He describes 

• Enhancement as “the amplification of effects” with a “focus on the practical”. It involves the “creation of vortices of power” and presents a “solution to previous problem”; For example radio amplifies news and music via sound. 
• Retrieval as “the recovery of values and insight” previously “lost or eroded”. It can involve the “transition of ground to figure”; that is, the movement of a phenomenon from the periphery to the center of attention; For example radio reduces the prominence of print and visual. 
• Obsolescence as “the erosion of formerly significant artifacts”. This reverses the transition above causing a “transition of figure to ground” in which some previously important phenomenon is moved to the periphery; For example radio return the spoken word to the forefront. 
• Reversal as “the reverse of enhancement; the unexpected dissatisfaction. Pushed to its limits, the artifact flips on its user” and creates new problems. For example acoustic radio flips into audio-visual TV. 

In conclusion, we often use the word media as a shorthand for mass communication media that bring us news and information. According to McLuhan, all forms of technology act as media, not just those that communicate information. All inventions, artifacts and ideas are media through which human behavior is transformed.







Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrad_of_media_effects
https://www.owenkelly.net/984/mcluhans-tetrads/
http://www.joncallegher.com/blog/applying-mcluhans-tetrad-of-media-effects-to-facebook
https://medium.com/@andrewmcluhan/what-is-a-tetrad-ad92cb44d4af

Sound In Media Culture

SHAKIRA

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born 2 February 1977 is a Colombian singer, songwriter, dancer, and record producer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, with a Lebanese father and Colombian mother, Shakira honors both her Latino and Arabic heritage in her music. She has won 2 Grammy Awards, 7 Latin Grammy Awards and 12 Billboard Latin Music Awards and has been nominated fo a Golden Globe Award. She is known for hits like "Whenever, Wherever" and "Hips Don't Lie". According to Sony, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time and having sold between 50 to 60 million records.

She began performing in school, demonstrating Latin American, Arabic and Rock&Roll influences and belly dancing abilities. She wrote her first song at the age of 8 years old and signed for a record deal at 13 years old. Shakira's first studio album is Magia and Peligro failed to attain commercial success in the 1990s. However, she took the reins of her third album with her major label debut, Pies Descalzos which translates as "bare feet" in 1996. The album sold more than 3 million copies that featured her trademark sound, a blend of Latin, Rock and Arabic musical styles. Most of her music videos shows the Arabic and Hispanic dance moves. After that she came out with her fourth album Donde Estan los Ladrones? which translates as "Where are the thieves?" in 1998. That album reached the top  of Billboard's Latin charts. She became a music superstar in the Spanish language markets and also known for her strong vocals and incredible hip shaking belly dance moves.

She attempt to increase her American fan base at the age of 20 she moved with her family to Miami, Florida and taught herself to write songs in English. In 2001, she released her first English language album, Laundry Service which brought her the success in the United States. The album reached number 3 in the charts and selling more than 200,000 copies in its first week of release. The album's big hits included "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes". Although, she wrote that album in English, she still keeps her musical styles in all of her song on the album. 

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira#Achievements

https://www.biography.com/people/shakira-189151

http://www.explore-hispanic-culture.com/shakira-songs.html

Media Imperialism

Media Imperialism is a theory stating that smaller countries are losing their identity due to the dominance of media from larger nations. It can be equated to small community shops closing down due to large superstores moving in, taking over and having a monopoly. As the larger media corporations begin to take over, smaller media companies are either being forced out or swallowed up. When the majority of media available in one country is that produced by a different, more dominant nation, it is suggested that the culture of that larger nation, along with its interests, displace that of the home country. Many critics argue that there is too much media coverage of the events in a limited number of large nations as opposed to the rest of the world. This coverage may be affected by the dominance of media companies in these larger countries, which have the ability to control the content and amount of coverage on a particular issue. Critics suggest that this dominance has led to important events getting little attention, and biased information and inaccuracy within news stories.

In this entry, I am going to discuss about media imperialism in movies and television. The first example is, the classic film 'Forest Gump' directed by Robert Zemeckis. This film was released in July 1994. This film also won an Oscar for the Best Picture. If you seen this movie, it is about the life of retarded Gump that we can get in touch with many aspects of American social life. In detail, this film was adapted from a novel by Winston Groom and was published in 1986. In the original book. this story is about fantastic fiction filling with iconic senses. However, the film has been delivered with beautiful storyline. The original fantastic and iconic meaning have been removed as well as the rebellious fighting spirit. The character Forrest Gump has been shaped as an 'civilian hero' who was noble morality and his way of earning life pursuing happiness is on the effort to glorify America. The character in the film can be seen as the representative of American which can be testified from the scene that Gump is endowed of congress badge.

Another example is the Hollywood war film 'Saving Private Ryan' directed by Steven Spielberg. This film was released in July 1998, 4 years after Forrest Gump was released. In this film shows a propaganda of American individualism. The story is about the group rescue of individual life. This theme similar to the Jewish traditional principle in the film 'Schindler's List' directed by the same director that is Steven Spielberg and was released in December 1993, who saves one life to ther world entire. basically, Hollywood films always put the mission of saving all the world on the shoulder of an individual.

In the film 'Air Force One' directed by Wolfgang Peterson and was released in July 1997, the image of American President Tim Marshall is a perfect example for protecting our country and reputation. He insists on not compromising over the terrorists. Marshall struggled with those terrorists by himself and then he realized the promise of zero tolerance and save the world. Within this film, American President is eager to expand the liberal democracy, the Christian faith and American concept of family to global people. Regardless, in realistic life, this kind of omnipotent heroism is merely a myth.

Generally speaking, new technology allows more people from around the world to make their voices heard, there are critics who argue that media imperialism is not the threat it once might have been. Access to social media tools has allowed the group of people who might be censored in the past to make their stories more widely known. Even older technologies can be very effective to allow voices in the media landscape.

Source:

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/analysis-of-cultural-imperialism-with-hollywood-films-media-essay.php

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-media-imperialism.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_Crr1fMIo

How Does Mass Media Affect Socialization in Children and Young Adults?

What is Mass Media ?

Mass media is a diversified collection of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. The most common platforms for mass media are newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. All these mass media platforms provide information regarding political issues, social issues, entertainment and news in pop culture.

Nowadays, media has a huge influence on teenagers. It hugely impact all aspects of their life but all is not bad with the media. If used right, media can change lives for good. In this entry I am going to discuss both positive and negative media influence on children and young adults.

The positive factors of how media can influences child's or young adult's life are mass media can help develop awareness. Most teenagers or young adults live a sheltered life, but with exposure to various media they can develop awareness about society. With news channels, magazines, social networking sites, they can realize that there is more to the world than just what is happening around them. They can learn more about things that they didn't know. Mass media also can keeps them informed on recent events within a short amount of time besides keep them entertained with being able to watch live football games or music videos and concerts of their favorite singer. Next, they also can develop social skills. Many teenagers or young adults are socially awkward. Media gives them the chance to groom their social skills and expand their social circle. Not to mention mass media can inspire them. For example when they watches an action flick with a little guidance, they can use the movies as inspiration to take up martial arts training. In general, they look up to celebrities and when a celebrity or their favorite movie star or singer tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen.When your teen watches an action flick, don’t just despair about the violence. With a little guidance, they can use the movie as inspiration! Maybe your teen will decide to take up martial arts training, all thanks to a Bruce Lee movie! Teenagers look up to celebrities, and when a celebrity tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen.When your teen watches an action flick, don’t just despair about the violence. With a little guidance, they can use the movie as inspiration! Maybe your teen will decide to take up martial arts training, all thanks to a Bruce Lee movie! Teenagers look up to celebrities, and when a celebrity tells them to stay off drugs, they just might listen. Furthermore, mass media can develop reading and writing skills. When their favorite celebrity talks of her or his favorite book, the teenagers and young adults might be tempted to grab a book too. Not just that, if they wants to be a part of blogs or chat rooms, they will need to improve their reading and writing skills. Another key point, television can be a powerful teacher too. By watching Sesame Street for example, toddlers can learn valuable lessons about racial harmony, cooperation, kindness, simple arithmetic and the alphabet through an educational format.

Sadly mass media can serve as a negative impact in young adult's life. In this case, at their age of stage, young adult normally want to be accepted by society and the media creates the ideal image that tells them the characteristics are to be accepted and to be able to fit with society. Mass media show them what they should look like or how they can look like their favorite icon or celebrity or where they can buy those things that will make their look right. This is why many young adults especially women deal with anorexia, bulimia, mental illness etc because they want to look like the ideal type that the media display. Nowadays, little girls and young women see these famous people in the media and want to look like them. Moreover, mass media making violence normal. There are a lot of violence in video games and movies nowadays and these young people or teenagers spend several hours every day watching it. More than 1000 studies confirm that exposure to heavy doses of television violence increases aggressive behavior, particularly in boys. Many of them are unable to differentiate between reality and fantasy. This make violence normal for them. This also can led them to bullying and hurting each other.

In conclusion, not all mass media is bad, some mass media can serve as a positive roles in a young person life and there is the negative roles that mass media serve that needs to be changed. Mass media is very powerful and maybe if parents spent more time with their children, it would help decrease the negative influences of mass media.


Source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792691/
https://storify.com/_Mama_Cita_/how-does-mass-media-affect-socialization-in-young
https://www.education.com/reference/article/media-as-influence-socialization/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media
http://www.momjunction.com/articles/positive-and-negative-influences-of-media-on-teenagers_00107975/#gref

How Community Video Can Make Changes In People ?

A good film does more than entertain or fills seats at cinema. It has power to change hearts and minds. The film industry has grown and evolved rapidly since its inception in the early 1900's. Over the years, it has gained the intention of every culture in every part of the world. Film industry is a big business and is much more than entertainment. Film has the capacity to change the world.

In this entry, I will explain about films that have been hugely influential and bringing change in areas from climate change to gay rights.

The first film that I am going to discuss is The Day After Tomorrow directed by Roland Emmerich. This movie is about Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist is largely ignored b U.N officials when presenting his environmental concerns. His research proves true when an enormous superstorm develeops. setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. He then trying to get his son, Sam who is trapped in New York with his friends. Jack and his crew must travel by foot from Philadelphia, braving the elements to get to Sam before it's too late. According to Yale researcher, this film help increase awareness on climate change and encouraged people to consider how their actions could help prevent environmental crisis.

The second film is Philadelphia directed by Jonathan Demme. This movie is about Andrew Beckett who a lawyer hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller, the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face on of his ex employer's top litigators, Belinda Conine. In the early1980s, it can be difficult for anyone who didn't live through the start of the AIDS epidemic to understand just how much stigma , fear and misunderstanding surrounded the disease. When this movie was released in 1993, it helped change perceptions of Americans that felt people who living with AIDS should be placed in quarantine and should be identified with tattoos. This movie was the first Hollywood film to tackle the issue of AIDS and homophobia.

Last but not least, is Rosetta directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne. This movie is about a 17 year old Belgian girl named Rosetta who lives in dilapidated trailer that has no running water, with only her indigent and alcoholic mother for company. After losing her job at a food processing plant, she struggles to find work in a bid to avoid falling into the same traps as her mother, but got rejected at every turn. Only Riquet, who works at a waffle stand, seems to care about Rosetta, but even that budding friendship has a price. The movie not only touched critics, it won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. At the same year Belgian policy maker voted through "Rosetta's Law" to protect the rights of teenager workers in the country.

The conclusion is movies have the capacity to influence society, both locally and globally but the society itself and people's reactions to those trends influence the movies. In other word, the influence can be positive or negative.


Source:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107818/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0200071/
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/10-movies-that-changed-the-world/

The Truman Show

Discuss a scene you find the most profound  in the movie.

Truman Burbank is an insurance salesman leading an idyllic, peaceful life on Seahaven Island. Truman also happens to be a reality star of the most popular live show in television history. The only problem is he doesn't know anything about it. His life was recorded ever since he was born. In fact, the entire island of Seahaven is a massive set surrounded by a protective dome that produces the most sophisticated effects and imagery to mimic the sky, weather and temperature of the real world.

The most profound scene in the movie is the ending part, where he wants to go to somewhere else away from that island. Christoff the director of the show, utilizes his weather program to simulate a storm so that Truman will go back to the port. Truman keep sail the boat and make Christoff angry and increases the wind and turbulance, nearly causing Truman to fall overboard. Knowing that Truman will never back down, Christoff pull the plug on the weather and let Truman sailing until the boat rocked by a strong impact. He sails through the ocean with hope to start a new life but when he hit the wall and punches it, he realize his entire life was fake. Then, he finds a staircase leading to an exit door. As he opened the door, Christoff speaks on the intercom to Truman for the first time. Christoff introduces himself as a creator of a television show that gives hope, joy and an inspiration to millions people. Chirstoff also tries to convince Truman to stay on the show when Truman want to enter the exit door. After all, knowing that he is in a television show that the entire world is watching, he looks up and says, ''In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night." and laughed. He bows down as the show is finished and leaves the set.

Stereotypical Image

Stereotyping is most common form of media representation. To put it simply, a stereotype is the application of one usually negative characteristic to a whole group. Stereotypes are labels that categorize people largely in negative terms, and that can be applied to whole social or cultural groups. These thoughts of beliefs may or may not accurately reflect reality. However, this is only a fundamental psychological definition of a stereotype.

In this entry, I am going to discuss about the stereotypical image in media that caused harm that is the gender stereotyping phenomenon. Difficulties in differentiating gender roles in the modern societies can be a perfect example of the negative stereotypes. A division of gender roles is deeply rooted in the social archetypes. Through the ages men have been considered to be financial providers and career focused meanwhile women have been shown as low position workers or loving wives and mothers and responsible for raising children and doing housework. Nowadays, the differences between gender are not so vast anymore, although females and males are still not equal. Unfortunately, there are many social institutions, such as mass media still use gender stereotypes. The differences between males and females roles are smaller, however they still perpetuates traditional gender stereotypes due to their great influence on people's attitudes. By manipulating the message, media can create a certain image of reality. It is hard to remain objective and insensitive to it's influence.

Commercials are the huge source of gender stereotyping because they are adapted to the specific male or female target. The aim of the modern commercial is not the satisfaction of needs but also their creation. According to Steve Craig's research, women can be presented in commercials in several variants. For example, a housewife obsessed by a steam on a new tablecloth. Mostly women advertise cosmetics, but they also appear in the commercials directed to men. However, male stereotypes are also various. Men are very rarely use for housecleaning commercials, and if they are it is a satirical image or they appear as an experts or to advise women.

Next, the example about stereotypical image in media where no harm has been caused is stereotypes in comedy. Most people motivated themselves to not believe stereotypes, but actually they do believe it because they always see it on television. They seen it over and over on every movie and TV series and they will think that what minorities are in real life. The difference between these two is that one focuses more about gender stereotypes and the other one people thend to over use them even when they don't notice it.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotype
https://www.michigandaily.com/content/stereotypes-comedy-harm-or-humor
http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/

Facebook Experience And Behaviour

Facebook has become the most popular social media network online, for business, social or personal use. I am that kind of  person who have Facebook account and rarely uses it. I only use Facebook for my class discussion group. This is a good thing about Facebook, where we as a student can use it for study. I also use Facebook to shop online because nowadays people use Facebook to promote and sell things online. Some of the items that they sell sometimes I cannot find in any shop. So Facebook is another platform where I can shop "weird" and unique stuff online. I also use Facebook to find part-time or freelance job. There are a few company use Facebook to find new staff for their company. Besides that, I use Facebook to see my favourite celebrities activity online. Sometimes they posted videos or upcoming tour online. Other than that, I use Facebook to check upcoming event near my place. Facebook will tell me what event is going to happen near my area one month before. They also will tell me if that event got cancelled. Sometimes I use Facebook to chat with my pan pal from Japan and Uzbekistan. This is another good things about Facebook where I can connect with people around the world and keep in touch with them. I considered myself as an observer user because I don't really posting status updates or share link page or status from another user because mostly I only browsing others' news or see funny videos online. Critics of Facebook claim that it is a worldwide distraction and even obsession that amounts to nothing except for significant amounts of time wasted. Facebook can distract me from doing my assignments. Normally, before I start doing my assignment I will check Facebook to see update from lecturer but ended up looking at something else for hours. Sometimes, it took me 4 to 5 hours on Facebook. Facebook can be really addictive if you did not control yourself from it.

As a teenager there are many distractions in life, but they can easily become irrelevant if you know how to handle them. Facebook has caused way too many students to become distracted and fall behind in college or even in school. Even though Facebook can be a great way to communicate, it does not benefit anyone to use it.

What media discovery or invention has made the greatest impact on society today?

Inventions are most salient when we can see the historical changes they cause. Some permanently change our lives almost overnight and some disappear as soon as they are patented because these was never a real need for them. Over the last century, there have been thousands of patented ideas around the world and many are exciting and completely life changing.

Computer has made the greatest impact on society today. A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out an arbitrary set of arithmetic or logical operations automatically. The ability of computers to follow generalized sequences of operations, called programs, enable them to perform a wide range of tasks. Historically, computers were human clerks who calculated in accordance with effective methods. These human computers did the sorts of calculation nowadays carried out by electronic computer, and many thousands of them were employed in commerce, government, and research establishments.

Computer has made the greatest impact in our daily life as well as in our social life. Any professional individual like doctors, engineers. businessman etc, undergo a change in their style or working pattern after they get the knowledge of computer. The managerial level becomes less dependent on low level staff like clerks and accountants. Their accessibility to the information increases tremendously. This improves their working patterns, which benefit the organization and ultimately affects the society. In common life also, an individual gets benefit with computer technology. When airports, hospitals, banks, departmental stores have been computerized, people get quick service due to the computer system.

In general, computers have proved almost all the fields whether related to numeric, non numeric or document processing in the developed countries and all the walks of life.


Source: 
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/impact-computer-society-muhammad-ibtehaj-khan