Participatory Culture: FACEBOOK

“Human beings live in two different kinds of environments. One is the natural environment and consists of things like air, trees, rivers, and caterpillars. The other is the media environment, which consists of language, numbers, images, holograms, and all of the other symbols, techniques, and machinery that make us what we are” (Postman).

Social Networking, including websites such as “Facebook”, “My Space” and “Twitter”, are all a part of the “media environment” referred to by Neil Postman. These sites are all designed to bring together people who wish to share aspects of their personal lives, make new friends and find old ones, discuss issues, etcetera.

Although Facebook is considered a “social network” I feel that it is more than just that. It allows one to access games, blogs, knowledge communities and many more features; therefore I think that Facebook fits into many categories of “participatory culture”.

“Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and video, and learn more about the people they meet (Facebook)”

The above description pretty much sums up my usage of social networking. My purpose in using Facebook is to become more connected with those around me. It allows me to keep up with both old friends and new ones; I can view their photos, as well as share my own with them. I can see what they are doing on a daily basis through their “statuses”. I can share my ideas and opinions with them through “notes” and “blogs” and I can learn more about them through their personal profiles.

What will they come up with next?!



Works Cited
Facebook. February 2004. 10 October 2009 .
Postman, Neil. The Humanism of Media Ecology. June 2000. 7 October 2009 .

Theory: Epistemology

“Understood quite broadly, epistemology is about the creation and dissemination of knowledge in particular areas of inquiry” (De Rose).

Epistemology studies how we know what we know. Where does this knowledge come from? Does it come from our families and our upbringings? From our peers? From the courses we take? Or does it come from trips and visiting foreign places?

I believe that it comes from all of these places. I believe that our knowledge is shaped by our experiences; from everything going on around us.

I feel that a lot of my knowledge is gained through the media. Media is something that most, if not all, of us come into contact with on a daily basis. Media has had an effect on my knowledge in many ways; two of them being books and television.

Books and novels are media that have definitely had an impact on my knowledge. From the time I was four years old and learned to read, books have been broadening the horizons of my knowledge. “Come and Have Fun”, the first book I ever read, taught me to maintain a balance between play and responsibilities. The “Harry Potter” books made my imagination run wild, and at the same time, taught me about the importance of family, friends and education. There were all of the books in high school English classes that forced me to read the book and relate its contents to other concepts and put my ideas into writing.

The next medium that has influenced my knowledge is television. There are many forms of television that have influenced my learning. One type is reality television. Reality television has taught me ways of life; the ways I do not want to live my life, and the ways that I do want to live my life. I do not want to grow up to be a spoiled rotten “Kristin Cavallari”, but I would like to grow up to become someone like “Lauren Conrad”. Lauren is living her dream, with a career she loves, and a lifestyle she enjoys. The next type of television that has affected my knowledge is News television. The News allows me to see other parts of the globe and what is going on in these places. It informs me of current issues that could have an effect on my life.


Works Cited
De Rose, Keith. Standford Encyclopedia of Psychology: Epistemology. 14 December 2005. 7 October 2009 .

Decoding Advertising

Over the course of a lifetime one will come across many, many advertisements. The purpose of advertising is to promote or sell one’s company, products or message. By coming up with creative and intriguing ideas and putting them into the form of advertising, companies work to gain prospective customers. Once they have these customers hooked, their work is not only for the purpose of gaining more customers but also to keep their current customers loyal.

When looking through a number of advertisements I began to think about denotation and connotation; denotation is what we see, and connotation is the way we see it. Connotation is affected by our personal beliefs and experiences and our cultural values.
The advertisement that I chose to focus on is an advertisement created to promote cigarette sales.

WHAT is seen in this advertisement is a woman smoking a cigarette and some text; that is the denotation of this ad.

HOW I view this advertisement is based on my own upbringings and values. Because both my parents smoke, it is in my nature to hate smoking. I see the addiction that they have for this nasty habit, and it makes me despise smoking and cigarettes. I see this advertisement working to promote cigarette sales and even further than that, it works to promote smoking. In this picture, the smoking woman appears to be happy, implying that smoking is a good thing that makes people happy. This advertisement, although it is so far from the truth, is successful. It works to appeal to the senses of its viewers. “The coolness, the true mildness, the ripe, delicate taste and fragrance…” (Neatorama: smoking ad). This almost sounds as though this advertisement was trying to sell some type of fruit or dessert. In fact, we know that cigarettes are harmful to those smoking as well as everyone around them. Cigarettes do not have a “delicate taste and fragrance”, they have an awful taste and scent that leaves everything in sight smelling just as bad (Neatorama: smoking ad).


Works Cited
Neatorama: smoking ad. 6 October 2009 .
Reilly, Ian. Semiotics! 6 October 2009. 6 October 2009 .

Mass Media

The Oxford Dictionary defines the term “mass media” as “the main means of mass communication, such as television, radio, and newspapers, considered collectively” (Oxford English Dictionary). What is your definition of this term that many often refer to but never really think about?

The definition of the term “mass media” that I like to refer to is “The vehicles such as radio, television, newspapers and internet which deliver news and information to a wide audience” (Reilly). However, this definition is very limited in terms of the technology and media that we use.

The mass media used to be comprised of only eight industries: newspapers, books, magazines, recordings, radio, television, movies and internet. As technology continues to advance, this definition no longer remains so clear cut (Lane). Do you feel that technology and media such as cellular phones should be included in mass media? How about video games such as Xbox 360, that allow us to connect with other gamers around the globe?

In my opinion all of these new developments should be considered part of mass media as they allow for mass communication. An individual with a cell phone has the ability to place a call to almost anywhere in the world, allowing them to deliver news to the citizens of that area. Although the conversation is between only two or three people, this news can then be spread even further through the other elements of the mass media such as television, radio and internet.

Video games do not only allow their players to connect and play against others, but they also share a common message which is the same for every person who plays the game. Everyone who plays Halo will be taken through the same steps and have the same messages and ideas delivered to them; which can be said of any video game.

So you tell me… should these technological devices be considered a part of the mass media?

Media Ecology: The Television

"Television is teaching all the time. It does more educating than the schools and all the institutions of higher learning."--Marshal McLuhan (DeBoer).

The above quotation shows Marshal McLuhan’s belief that television is a form of media that is constantly educating children as well as adults. He believes that we learn more from television than we ever will in any form of schooling. This is a statement that I agree with. Whether we’re watching educational programs on stations such as Discovery Channel, the News which informs us of events taking place in surrounding areas, or reality TV, it is all educational in some form or another.

Programs aired on channels like discovery, show us other areas of the world, and teach us about all the different species, and different ways of life.
The news informs us of the daily happenings. It opens our eyes to the things taking place in our towns, cities, countries and our world.

Although we may not view reality TV as educational, we all learn something from it and it has an impact on our culture. Some may see these people acting out on TV as rude and obnoxious and these viewers learn that this is not the way they wish to live their lives. Others may view these people as ideal, and follow in their ways of living. Either way this has an impact on society and our culture.

Television has also impacted our culture in the sense that it forces us not only to rely on our ears and our hearing, but also on our eyes and our vision. As Marshal McLuhan would say, the television is an extension of the human eyes and ears. It allows us to see and hear the occurrences taking place in other parts of the world (The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan).

Another way that television has affected our culture is by creating a sort of global village. Because of television, internet, the telephone, etcetera, people in all areas of the world are able to connect and communicate with one another. Television is a medium that has caused time and space to collapse in the sense that we can deliver a message, information, pictures and videos from one side of the world to the other in mere seconds. These messages and viewings of other lifestyles around the world affect our culture and the way we live (The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan).

Works Cited
DeBoer, Ron. Ontario Media Literacy. September 2009. 4 October 2009 http://www.angelfire.com/ms/MediaLiteracy/index.html.

The Playboy Interview: Marshal McLuhan. March 1969. 4 October 2009 http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~gisle/links/mcluhan/pb.html.