Introduction To Mass Communication-Week 1

Day 1---

The class started at precisely 11 am on Monday, the 7th of June 2010. The lesson kicked off with a simple introduction from everyone of us. Then Miss Zee proceed with the first slide of the day.

Transmitting the message is pretty much a no-brainer. We have the source, the message and the receiver. From the source, the message is encoded before it reaches the channel. Encoding is basically how the message is sent or packaged. When the message passed through the channel, it is then decoded. As for the process of receiving the message, we have the receiver, feedback, and noise.

We got on to interruptions, or also known as noise. There are two types of noises, environmental noise and semantic noise. An example of environmental noise is, lets say a scenario where you are at a concert, with the music blasting deafeningly, and you received a call but you couldn't grasp what the caller is saying due to the loud music. Meanwhile, a semantic noise is basically language barrier.

As we went on, we learned about the different settings of communication. Interpersonal communication,  machine assisted interpersonal communication and mass communications. A teacher in a classroom teaching the students is a fine example of interpersonal communication where the messages pinpoints specific targets and physical presence is available. An example of machine assisted communications is the omnipotent and highly accessible internet.

I learned about the traditional media of mass communications which are the newspapers, magazines, billboards and televisions. These traditional media organizations share some common characteristics; from their formal organizational structure, the many gatekeepers that filters the materials going to the public, and their large operating expenses which leads to the competition for profits. Meanwhile, the modern media for mass communications, is none other than the internet. 

Convergence.

That was a new vocabulary for the day. Convergence simply means "coming together or uniting". There are three types of convergence.Corporate convergence is when companies acquires assets extending the range of activities. Operational convergence is owner of several media properties combine operations and device convergence simply means one mechanism contains functions of  two or more devices. This is one of the emerging trends in mass media. Other trends include increased audience control, mobile media, multiple platforms and user generated accounts.

Day 2---

We proceeded to a new chapter on Tuesday,8th of June 2010. Perspectives on Mass Communications, which involves paradigms, functional analysis and critical/cultural studies. Paradigms are models guiding how we think. Paradigms are useful because they provide a perspective to examine mass communications as well as generates concept to understand media behavior.

Functional analysis simply means functional approach which is something is best understood by examining how it is used. For mass media, this means examining how audiences interact with media and how they use the media.Macroanalysis is how media functions for the society as a whole and microanalysis is how media functions for the individual. Meanwhile, critical/cultural studies contrasts with functional approach. It is more qualitative and humanistic. Its also examines different concepts, idealogies, cultures, politics, and social structure as related to the role of media in the society.

These are brief summaries of what i have learnt in the first week's lectures.