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Communication As An Academic Field: Introduction To Media & Society Dr. Vincent Manzerolle September 18, 2017

This document provides an overview of communication as an academic field of study. It discusses key events and developments in media from 2016 that demonstrate the concept of convergence. It then outlines the early history of communication technologies like the telegraph that shrank distances over time. The document introduces some founding thinkers in communication studies from the 1940s-1950s like Lasswell, Lazarsfeld, and Shannon and Weaver who developed early models of media effects. It discusses how these early models could be applied to understanding "propaganda" during the 2016 US presidential election. Finally, it outlines the first assignment in the course which involves summarizing an article from an open access academic journal.

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87 views57 pages

Communication As An Academic Field: Introduction To Media & Society Dr. Vincent Manzerolle September 18, 2017

This document provides an overview of communication as an academic field of study. It discusses key events and developments in media from 2016 that demonstrate the concept of convergence. It then outlines the early history of communication technologies like the telegraph that shrank distances over time. The document introduces some founding thinkers in communication studies from the 1940s-1950s like Lasswell, Lazarsfeld, and Shannon and Weaver who developed early models of media effects. It discusses how these early models could be applied to understanding "propaganda" during the 2016 US presidential election. Finally, it outlines the first assignment in the course which involves summarizing an article from an open access academic journal.

Uploaded by

sukayna4ameen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1

COMMUNICATION AS 

AN ACADEMIC FIELD
Introduction to Media & Society

Dr. Vincent Manzerolle

September 18, 2017
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This week…
• Major media “events” of the past year to consider the
“converged” state of media and bring out key chapter 1 themes.
• The history of “shrinking space through time” with new
communication technologies.
• The early history of communication studies as an academic field.
• Different approaches to communication, emphasis on the “social
model.”


Also this week:


• Assignment #1 information at the end of lecture today.
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2016 in review
• News: Trump, Brexit, Zika, Fort McMurray, Orlando mass shooting,
Nice attack, Baghdad bombing, police shootings of Alton Sterling
and Philando Castile, Dallas shooting of police, Standing Rock,
Aleppo, Fidel Castro.
• Entertainment and popular culture: Notable celebrity deaths,
Pokemon Go, Finding Dory, Suicide Squad, Rogue One, Gilmore
Girls, The Tragically Hip, Drake, Arthur memes… (audible sigh)
Harambe.
• Sports: Rio Olympics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Cubs, Euro
2016, Muhammad Ali.
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Convergence
• Important concept from chapter
1, see pages 18-20.
• Captures recent shifts/changes
in media over the last 10-15
years.
• Convergence often refers to
technological convergence, the
merging of formerly separate
mediums.
• Digital technology (“new
media”) allows for this.
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Analog = Discrete Media


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Digital Media = Convergence


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Convergence
• Convergence can also refer to a
convergence of media producers and
consumers, and a more interactive,
participatory media culture.
• Remix and mash-up media culture.
• However, as the textbook authors warn
(see page 9), we must be cautious in
declaring that new media offer us a
utopia of choice, participation, and
democracy.
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Convergence
• … because convergence can also
refer to corporate convergence.
• Corporate convergence, where more
and more of our media and
communications are owned by fewer
and fewer massive companies, is
also on the rise.
• More on this topic in the second half
of the course.
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Shrinking space through time


• All the big media events of 2016 had the function of “shrinking
space through time.” (see page 6)
• This is another important concept to understand the significance
of studying media and communication.
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…. almost 200 years earlier


• Electric “Morse telegraph.”
• Massive growth in mid-1800s, cables across Atlantic Ocean by the
1860s.
• Shrinking space through time.
• Communication free from transportation for the first time.
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The impact of the telegraph


1. Delivery of news: headlines only… and inaccuracies.
2. Emergence of stock markets and “futures” trading.
3. Military and government power.
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Picture of Finn
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War propaganda
• By the start of the twentieth century,
recognition that wars needed to be fought
not only with military strength, but also
media persuasion.
• During World War I, the American
government created the “Committee on
Public Information” – a government
propaganda agency.
• This agency produced newspapers, films,
posters.
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Radio Broadcasting
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World War II propaganda


• German propaganda, created by Joseph
Goebbels, used all forms of media, including
film, radio, literature, and newspapers.
• America countered with their own propaganda,
including Disney cartoons!
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Emergence of the academic field


• New interest in communication as an academic field by the 1940s.
• What is an “academic field”? Teaching and research.
• During this era, emphasis on “media effects.” Connection to war
propaganda and “mass audience” concerns.
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Founding thinkers and researchers


1. Harold Lasswell: 

Psychologist from Yale, who studied propaganda films extensively
to figure out brainwashing effects.
• "Who (says) What (to) Whom (in) What Channel (with) What Effect"
2. Paul Lazarsfeld: 

Sociologist from Columbia who used large-scale statistical surveys
to figure out influence of mass media. Theory of “opinion
leaders” and limited effects. (more in chapter 2 of textbook)
3. Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver: 

Created “mathematical model of communication,” noted on page
12.
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Founding thinkers and researchers


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“Propaganda” and 2016 American presidential election


• “Questionable” news trended on
Facebook throughout the fall.
• This story, about a FBI agent related to
Hillary Clinton e-mails, is fake. There is
no such thing as the “Denver
Guardian.”
• Yet, this trended on Facebook and, as
we know, many will only read the
headline.
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“Propaganda” and 2016 American presidential election


• “Fake news” a major media controversy.
• Beyond Facebook news, other forms of
election “propaganda” could include
individual tweets/statements from
candidates, or even more traditional
television ads:
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Hypododermic Needle Theory


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Two - Step Flow Model


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Two - Step Flow Model


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Applying 1940s/1950s thinking to 2016


• Election “propaganda,” from fake news to Facebook ads.
• Microtargeting Advertisements on Social Media
• Apply early models…
• What would Lasswell say?
• What would Lazarsfeld say?
• Shannon and Weaver’s “mathematical model”?
• Early models limited – simplifying communication.
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Social model of communication


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Key concepts, examples, names


Concepts: Examples:
• Convergence • Telegraph history
• Dimensions of mass media • 2016 election and “propaganda”
• Mathematical model of communication
• New media Names:
• “Shrinking space through time” • Harold Lasswell
• Social model of communication • Paul Lazarsfeld
• Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver
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Assignment #1 – background
• Professors are both teachers and researchers.
• Professors publish research, most commonly: academic books,
articles in academic “journals” (“periodicals”).
• Older model: professors publish articles in journals. These
journals then charge university libraries for print and/or digital
subscriptions. Optional reading on this subject:

cbc.ca/news/technology/academic-publishers-reap-huge-profits-as-libraries-go-
broke-1.3111535
• Newer model: “open access” journals offer articles online, for
free, to everyone. The spirit driving open access is that research
and knowledge are meant to be shared.
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Assignment #1 – instructions
• The first assignment asks you to read and summarize a single
article from a prominent open access journal, The International
Journal of Communication.
• See Blackboard for a detailed assignment instruction sheet and
grading rubric. Read this information carefully.
• Have questions? Ask in lab! Visit office hours!
• Worried about writing? Utilize the Writing Support Desk:

leddy.uwindsor.ca/writing-help-services
• Due October 2 @ 4pm – uploaded to Blackboard for “SafeAssign”
plagiarism check and a hard copy in lecture.
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QUESTIONS?

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