As I was visiting my classmates' blogs this week, I was grateful for their honesty and willingness to share conflicted thoughts about media consumption and the role these media play in our respective lives.
Full disclosure: I don't know any programming languages (and kind of freaked out when I couldn't access the ning, because I assumed I had screwed up). I'm not on Facebook. I've dabbled with blogging, but have never allowed the blog to go public. I don't own a smartphone, though we've agreed to upgrade and get them soon. (Progress! Perhaps there's hope for me.)
Most of these choices are conscious ones, to maintain anonymity and privacy. The idea of cultivating an online persona to participate in these activities sounded a bit dishonest. Further, I find contradiction in Americans' reverence for privacy and the overwhelming popularity of media that allow users to broadcast the details of their lives online. I'm still not certain what I think about my own relationship to these media. As a classmate articulated in her diagram, technologies can both unite and isolate users. Is time spent building relationships between one's own online persona and those personas others create for themselves time worth spending? I'm still not sure.
Perhaps I'm starting this class from a different place than many of my classmates. As an undergraduate, I majored in advertising and interned with my university's office of communication as well as a couple of local Ad/PR firms. After graduation, I worked in PR and publishing for eight years. So, I appreciate media, as a consumer and also as a producer. And seeing these sides of it makes me appreciate some of the forces at work. I was interested to see that several classmates brought up issues related to advertising in their diagrams. It's a powerful force in media and I think its influence will be interesting to observe in the context of this class.
I feel as though at the end of the first week, I've collected a bunch of scattered thoughts. I hope I can better organize them and inform myself and my choices after this semester. I'm very interested in practice and the application of theory in the workplace. I'm also looking forward to using ning and the wiki site more. Similarly, I believe working with the definitions and theoretical language while trying to uphold the professional writing ethos of clear, concise prose will be a challenging and worthwhile exercise.
Monday, January 31, 2011
About that Diagram
I chose radio for the diagramming assignment for a couple of reasons.
First, I like it quite a lot. I listen to public radio frequently, and have become fond of one of the new independent radio stations as well.
Second, I see radio existing at an interesting place in a media spectrum. Because it is audio-only, radio constrains users in terms of the messages it can deliver because it's audio-only. Listeners often are engaged in at least one other task while listening to radio, whether driving, working or cleaning, so those preparing messages transmitted by radio must compete with already divided attention. Yet for these disadvantages, radio and radio personalities can be tremendously influential. Listeners actively seek Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Dr. Laura, and their local baseball announcers' broadcasts.
Corporate radio dominates much of the commercial radio marketplace, with Clear Channel stations reaching hundreds of millions of listeners. The artists whose music makes the cut are guaranteed massive exposure and that exposure influences the tastes of Americans nation-wide.
Radio is also evolving. Radio stations, even little indie stations, are offering links to iTunes on their websites, so listeners can purchase the songs they've heard on air. This affiliation links these stations' independent stance with one of the largest forces in music today. However, there are independent and pirate radio stations, college stations and online stations that also exist and broadcast the work of local artists, too.
So, I see radio as existing at a convergence of commercialism and independence, traditional models and innovation, passivity and devotion among listeners. I included in my diagram some of these contradictions, and I hope to further explore some of these themes in the coming weeks.
First, I like it quite a lot. I listen to public radio frequently, and have become fond of one of the new independent radio stations as well.
Second, I see radio existing at an interesting place in a media spectrum. Because it is audio-only, radio constrains users in terms of the messages it can deliver because it's audio-only. Listeners often are engaged in at least one other task while listening to radio, whether driving, working or cleaning, so those preparing messages transmitted by radio must compete with already divided attention. Yet for these disadvantages, radio and radio personalities can be tremendously influential. Listeners actively seek Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Dr. Laura, and their local baseball announcers' broadcasts.
Corporate radio dominates much of the commercial radio marketplace, with Clear Channel stations reaching hundreds of millions of listeners. The artists whose music makes the cut are guaranteed massive exposure and that exposure influences the tastes of Americans nation-wide.
Radio is also evolving. Radio stations, even little indie stations, are offering links to iTunes on their websites, so listeners can purchase the songs they've heard on air. This affiliation links these stations' independent stance with one of the largest forces in music today. However, there are independent and pirate radio stations, college stations and online stations that also exist and broadcast the work of local artists, too.
So, I see radio as existing at a convergence of commercialism and independence, traditional models and innovation, passivity and devotion among listeners. I included in my diagram some of these contradictions, and I hope to further explore some of these themes in the coming weeks.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Diagramming a Medium
I put together a few thoughts about the forces that impact radio and affect those who use the medium. Facts and figures are courtesy of Nielsen and National Public Radio. (My apologies to fans of 80s music for borrowing the song title!)
Friday, January 21, 2011
test post
Media Morsels is the blog home for Kim Baker, graduate student at UW Milwaukee, for Media Cultures.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)