Digital Media Culture

Digital media is a major factor in contemporary western cultures.  Electronic media is an apart of the average Americans daily activity. It is because of digital technology that we are able to access and communicate at a faster speed. In addition, it enables us to access more information that is constantly stored in the digital cyberspace. However, everyone doesn’t have access to this information. There will always be some sort of digital divide in which the rich are separated from the poor. According to Trend, “nearly 97 percent of the world’s population remains unconnected to the net for lack of money, access, or knowledge.”

  Some would argue the cyber space offers the world a democratic essence: In the sense that people have the freedom to express themselves. The internet can be a medium in which people can say and post as they please. However, the information on the internet never true erases and will always exist.

In many ways the internet is very much fragmented. Those who have access to this digital world have access to a lot of information. As Virilio would argue, because there is too much information it creates some type of information bomb. The information bomb is when one becomes overload with the information; therefore they rely on others to manage the information for them.

The internet only exists in a world of capitalism. The internet is a capitalist driven environment. We must remember the media is a place of profit.  We are constantly exposed to the marketing world. In fact many ads are targeted to us based off where we explore on the web: The biggest defender would be Facebook.

Digital media is often overlooked on the power it holds over people. Facebook claims the user’s privacy is very important to them. However if privacy is so important, why does Facebook have the right to access the user’s personal content and information?  I never thought twice of reading contracts I agreed to. But being a multimedia major, I am learning to become more and more media literate. I know anyone and everyone can pretty much post any online doesn’t necessarily mean it is true.  When one agrees to the terms of service of Facebook, the individual is handing over their property rights.  After reading Facebook’s terms of service, I learned signing the contract gives Facebook access to individual’s personal content and information.   Facebook can evaluate personal pages, contents, and data for any reason. Facebook can even use this information to make a profit of my personal page.

Learning more about digital media has now has me question the amount of information I will post on my personal account. It is important to know the terms of the service because it gives away my intellectual property rights. As a beginning photographer, I have posted my images on my page. Unfortunately, I lost control of some of my right to my intellectual property. 

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Television Culture

You had a long day at work and can’t wait to get home. You walk in the door, kick off your shoes; grab a bite to eat, and what the first thing you do? More likely if you live in America you tune into the television. Television has become more and more of a daily routine in our lives. It is far more than a social habit or social gathering.  For the guys, you are more likely to turn on the sports just to stay in tune with the guy at work.  As for the women, you know you have to watch the most talked about show with your girlfriends to stay in the social loop.

There are at least one billion televisions set worldwide, watched by more than 2.5 billion people per day in over 160 countries. 99 % of Americans households at least own one television or more (Barker, 335)

Television is a powerful source of knowledge of the world and continues to connect people. It has a way of constructing “social knowledge, social imagery, through which we perceive the worlds” (Barker, 315).

Television today remains the most widely accessible media.The world is increasing influences by products of the media. Media can be seen as a way of manipulating the audience and is a constant source of advertisements.

Television can be broken down into four terms or concepts. First, the text, relationship of text and audience, the political economy, and patterns of cultural meanings.  For instance, the text we can find in a local news programs.  The news is run primarily on text and stories. News is often heavily influencing fear onto the public life. 70 % of news programs surround violence, shootings, or convictions.

Television messages carry several meaning and not two people withdrawal the same message. Each culture and individuals can interpret it in different.  However, the text from the media comes for a structured dominant class.  Audiences do not reproduce or create textual meaning, but they produce meaning.

According, to Schlesinger, television news doesn’t reflect reality, but rather putting reality together. The news is a select program in which the agenda setter have selected and constructed their representation of reality. Agenda setter is those that have dominant power and control media. Media is often viewed from the eyes (perspective) of the dominant class.

For instance, during the Gulf War, journalists were not able to report freely. This goes against America’s freedom of speech.  The news coverage of that time was limited on what they could show. “Only 1 percent of the visual images of television were of death an injury” (Barker, 320).  Television was indeed offering inadequate information of the war.  Television is primary an informational source but it doesn’t always supply the whole truth.

Television is pretty much nothing without its audience. The viewer’s control to some extent of what is shown on television. According to Barker, the active audiences are the producers of meaning from within their own cultural context.  Audience need to understand the context in which they withdrawal form TV in order to watch it.

Television has become more localized. When television was introduced in china by a government, it was placed in hope to form social control over the citizens. However, television has increased diversity of the culture and political sentiments in china. It offered alternate views of life of cultures.  “Television has become a cultural forum of competing ideas” (Barker, 332).

Meyrowitz believes televisions in many ways have enforced identity amongst people. The mass media has given people are source of identity to identify with.  Whether that is displayed gender roles or what is in style for fashion.

Cultural Space

The meaning of space and place are constructed by those with power in a given society. These powers were formed by the political economy of global cities, urban regeneration, the growth of postmodern cities, the ideas that cities can be read as texts, and the growth and extension of cybercities.  As Gideon’s argues, human activities are the fundamental to understanding social and cultural life. Barker further explains the roles in which humans give each room within a house a specific characteristic and roles. For instance, the den within most households is the relaxing and social room. The den is the room where people come to gather and bond.  Space is nothing without time. As Einstein’s theory claims, the theory of relatively, space, and time are not to be thought of separate entities but as inextricably interwoven. Both space and time are required for the other to occur.

Another important construction of place is the roles of gender. The roles of genders vary over space and have different meanings. For example, places of work are generally dominated by males. However, the rise of masculinity started to create change as the modern world approached. Cities space generally gave women the space for growth and emergence in this man’s world.

The growths of cities were based on the people who held power. For instance, the Lagos and their buildings symbolized the emergence of capitalism. However, that power was taken over by the poor and the economy faced a downturn in 1980’s.  The separation of classes widens and the city wall grew higher.

Which led me to think of how the economy continues to change. The economy is changing not only here in the United States, but nationally as well.  It seems as though the space of the poor and wealthy continue to separate. United States, itself at times functions like 50 different countries. Weber believed urban life would bring about modern industrial democracy and the emergence of the “iron cage” of bureaucratic organizations. On the other hand, Marx thought urban life would bring productivity. Marx believed it could bring forth poverty, indifference, and squalor. Urban life could offer some escape from control on traditional norms.

Post Modernism

Until now, our class was discussing the enlightenment period. The enlightenment period encouraged scientific technology in order to rebuild society and increase knowledge. However, post modernism is quite different from the enlightenment period. Enlightenment is the very need to control everything with use of technology and science. It eliminates multiple ways of thinking claims to be the foundation of truth. For instance, the enlightenment displayed truths that are universal, but post modernism displays social-historical linguistics that specifies truth. According to Nietzsche, truth isn’t a question of discovery, but the construction of interpretation on what the world takes to be true.

The difference between post modernism and modernism is hard to determine nowadays. Post modernism stresses the after structuralism. Its primary focus is on the relation of language and significance in the differences. Modernism is the change and uncertainty in which certain knowledge is found. Modernism simply opposes traditions.

Post modernisms are Ideologies which are opposed to modernism. Postmodernism takes traditional ideas and concepts in a nontraditional way and is opposed to structure. In addition, it refers to historical and sociological instances. Modernism is the enlightenment from  philosophers such as Rousseau , Bacon,  Marx, Weber, and Habermas, and the list goes on. According to philosopher Gidden, modernity began as early as the Middle Ages. Modernity is the process of change, innovation, and dynamism. Modernity occurs with industrialism, surveillance, capitalism, and military power. With these four powers, the  dynamic structures grow and change into the modern world .

According to Giddeon, dynamism of modernity comes from separation of time and space. In other words, meanings are shaped by social influences by forms in relation of absent others. Modernization are “ all solids melts into air”(Marx). Modernization is a combination of industrialism, capitalism, surveillance, and nation state.

In all things in life we could find the good and bad. Modernism can be positive in how  it brings forth rapid change and create new individualism. We happen to live in a society in which identity is built upon preexisting knowledge’s. However, the negatives of modernism are steering away from traditions, the pressure of promised technology, and unfolding of oneself.

Giddeon viewed modernism as a risk culture. The risk plays a crucial and central role in people’s life.  Modernism offered ambiguity, doubt, risk, and continual change. I personally look for to changes, but at the same time constant changes scare me.  For instance, technology has taken so many careers and yet created new ones. Machines have make certain job absolute. In other ways technology has made it possible for people to further educate themselves and connect with each other. It seems as though today people constantly need to adapt. If a person happens to be a laggard they will get left behind!!!!