what is communication?
what is theory?
why do marriages fail?
brainstorm
no communication
Dr. John Gotoman is a communications professor. He has 4 reasons why people get divorced. If he talks to the couple for 5 minutes. He can know if the message will survive 90% right.
What is communication?
"Communication is a systemic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings."
1) Systemic = when we talk to someone we are walking into a person's system of meaning
every person has background, cultural, male/female, education, money
2) Process - communication is always changing with new context, new meanings and new information.
3) Meaning - we create meaning all the time. we create meaning through symbols
- If I point a chair, people know it is a chair. a referent
- What is love/courage/loyalty?
many concepts and symbols are abstract
definition of symbol:
symbols are abstract, arbitrary and ambiguous representations of other things.
we need to evaluate how other people are hearing something.
What is theory?
"A theory offers an account of what something is, how it works, what is produces or causes to happen, and what should be the case."
4 goals of theory:
1) Description - ability to describe a process of using symbols to represent things.
2) Explanation: an effort to clarify how and why something works.
- Dr. John Gottman's theory of why people separate in a relationship.
a) Someone is critical of the other (criticism)
b) defensiveness - using excuses
c) Contempt - being mean, calling your girlfriend or boyfriend bad names, sarcasm, ridicule
d) Stonewalling (slang in English) means "I don't care"
3) Understanding - combination of prediction and control. theories allow us to understand how t predict the future.
4) Reform (this is controversial in universities)
- This means the theory should have the goal to change society for the better.
How do we test a theory?
1) Is it testable?
2) Scope: how much does the theory describe and explain.
3) Parsimony: is it appropriately simple?
4) Utility: is the theory useful?
5) Heroism: means-does it create new ideas and new thoughts?
Kenneth Burke (1895-1993)
He had no formal education
self-taught
he study philosophy, sociology, communication, economics, linguistics, literary criticism, and theology
He taught at Harvard, Princeton and University of Chicago
Identification - in order to get identification you have to get 2 things
1) Substance = the essence each person has that is different that everyone else.
Tension that we are all human but we all have differences.
2) Consubstantiation = how do we see the similarities between all of us. the attempt to identify with each other.
Burke's major idea is GUILT
Guilt = defined as any tension, discomfort, shame, or unhappy feelings humans can experience.
Why are we driven by guilt?
1) Hierarchy = titles, economic status, hierarchy will follow you and create demands on you.
2) Perfection = why is it that humans idealize perfection?
3) The Negative - every idea we think of has a negative side to it.
Can you love your kids too much?
Mother is over protective, then the child will group up right.
Burke says there are 2 ways to get rid of guilty (purge)
1) Mortification - blames yourself or acknowledge failure.
2) Victimage = identify a cause
Burke's famous sentence
"Human's that learn language are symbol making, symbol using and symbol missing animal inventors of the negative separated from our natural condition by tools of our own making fueled by hierarchy acquiring foreknowledge of death and rotten perfection"
Hierarchy - driven to categorize, define, and order
Perfection - the desire to name something by its 'proper' name, or to language in its distinctive way is trying to be perfect.
Theory of constructivism
A theory that explains describes and predicts individual thought.
Created by a man named George Kelly in 1950s.
People develop complex structures in order to understand each other.
Explain the theory through 3 main ideas.
1) Cognitive schemata = many systems in your brain that help you structure all the information you are taking in.
How do we organize information?
How do we file?
A) Prototypes - clearest case or best example of a category. judgements
example: we see things as the best or the worst and we compare quickly.
B) Personal Constructs - Bipolar dimensions (swing from extreme to extreme) of judgment.
Example: as soon as we meet someone, we start a personal construct of what that person is rich/poor, beautiful/not beautiful.
C) Stereotypes = predictive generalizations about people and experiences.
Sometimes stereotype are completely wrong.
D) Scripts = guides to action - views of what is appropriate and expected.
2) Cognitive Complexity
How elaborate or complex is person's interpretative process?
"We don't take food those kind of people".
A) Differentiation - measured by how many distinct interpretations an individual uses in a situation
B) Abstraction - the extent through which we interpret personality, internal motives and character, psychological conditions.
C) Organization - the degree to which individual notice and are able to make sense of contradictory information and interpretations.
3) Summary of 1 and 2.
Person Centered Communication = taking in consideration their emotional background, context of situation.
We need a complex view of people
Communication questions of today. How complex is your view of something?
Due date
November 27th
Internet
Media Convergence and Foundations of the Internet
(The god of Janus, Greek God. the god of beginnings)
Technology
1) Janus-faced (example: Hammer-- build house or hit people)
2) Tech trumps ideology
3) Tech has no telos (where the technology goes)
Question:
1) What are the frictions or tensions between centralization and decentralization?
Media convergence:
Terminology:
There are different definitions for "document"
Examples: documentation, genre(style of tech), media type
Economies of Scale: when producing more copies of the same product is economical
Economies of Scope: when producing different products is economical. Here convergence is an advantage.
Technology: Manuscript (handmade), Printing, Photography, Digital(symbolic)
Economies of Scale: low, high, media, high
Economies of Scope: low, low, media, high
DOCUMENT
Meanings = are always constructed by observers
1) Cultural Codes: all forms of expression depend on some shared understanding, language.
Convergence is cultural convergence.
2) Media Types: Different types of expression have evolved: diagrams, art, and images.
3) Physical Media: paper, film, tape, and bits. Anything perceived as a document has cultural, media type and physical elements.
Convergence (coming together) in effect is the ability to per ate inner-dependently.
(In other words, these 3 forces need to come together for us to comprehend or understand)
Key definitions of the Internet
Internet - It is the architectural foundation or code
Math is the foundation of the Internet
Cyberspace - heterotopias = describes places and spaces that function as "otherness"
can be describes as a non-space
example: when you are on the telephone you in a heterotopias
Net Culture = is the arena or platform for 2 opposing movements which are conformity versus resistance
What are the predictions about Social Impact?
* The Internet will create a Utopian global community.
* Too much information, much of it is not reliable.
* False Communities, less face-to-face interactivity
* Unequal access to the Internet will create new class distinctions
"Net neutrality' = belief in an equal Internet
Technical Developments
1) digital technology
- digitizing traditional media forms.
2) Micro technology
Smaller and lighter tools, such as laptops and personal devices (phones, tables)
Moore's Law = the amount of transistors in a microchip double every 2 years.
3) Fiber Optic Cable
the ability to carry information much faster.
Development of Internet
1) U.S.Military - government planned it in 1950 for national security
2) In the latter 1960s: Defense Department launched ARPANET (ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY OF DEFENSE) for military research.
3) Built to be decentralized to protect security
4) the most important development was email and bulletin boards.
Business development
* 1982: National Science Foundation network was launched
* late 1980s was the end of the Cold War with Russia
* 1993: multimedia became a capability and a reality
1998: over 100,000 networks and 36 million servers (hosts were on the network)
* companies seek to turn Internet users into consumers through advertising and E-commerce Taobao
* government and non-profit communities are producing information, documents and services on the Internet
How is the Internet different from other forms of media?
1) Interactive - read-write culture
Readers and producers.
2) Multiple channels of delivery for Traditional Mass media. people can listen to the music and read magazines at the same time.
E-Commerce:
the good:
-24 hour service
-discounts
-no geographical borders.
Convenience of online catalogues.
The bad:
- Fraud (corruption explicitly means government fraud)
- technology glitches (there is something wrong with the technology)
- Lack of customer service
- Too many service duplications (copies)
who will own the Internet?
Big corporation?
Computer companies?
ISPs?
Phone companies?
Baidu or Google search engines?
TV networks/
should the Internet be governed?
Is so, who should control it?
can the public interest be protected ad maintained?
Possibilities for Democratic dialogue
* Wide access for all people
* decentralized social network
* Development from bottom-up instead of top-bottom.
* Major involvement of amateurs = means for the love of something
* Massive sharing and storage of useful information
possibilities for Static Dialogue
* Increase of cyberspace garbage (spam)
* Misinformation
* Concerns about security, child protection, hateful actions
* Knowledge gap between users and those without access. Unfair advantage.
Propaganda and agnotology
Edward Bernays:Farther of Public relations
Public relations
* Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the communication between an organization and its publics.
* Edward Bernays defined public relations as a “management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organization… followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance"
Publics Targeting
- Publics targeting
- A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be general, nationwide or worldwide audience but it is more often a segment of a population, Marketers often refer to economy-Driven "demographics," such as "black males 18-49," it in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach, For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads." There is also a psychographic grouping based on fitness level, eating preferences, "adrenaline junkies," etc…
Edward Bernays
- Bernay's Uncle was Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis.
- Bernays thought manipulation was necessary in society
- He helped popularize Freud's ideas of the unconscious.
- if we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? the recent practice of propaganda
- He called this scientific technique of opinion-molding the 'engineering of consent'
- in 1923, he opened a public relations firm and wrote a book called Crystallizing Public Opinion that same year.
His techniques
- Bernays used indirect ways to manipulate public opinion, One of his favorite technique was to use 3rd parties to influence people.
- Bernays had a client, a company that wanted to sell more bacon.
how can he sell more bacon to the Public?
- Bernays got enough doctors to tell the public that eating a heavy breakfast of eggs and bacon was good for your health.
Bernays was alive during the beginning of the age of Mass Production?
- There must be a technique for the mass distribution of ideas.
- Bernays wrote propaganda in 1928.
- "the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in society."
- Those who manipulated this unseen mechanic of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.
- “in almost every
Famous Campaigns
- in the 1920s, working for the American Tobacco Company, he sent a group of young models to match in the New York City parade.
- he then told the press that a group of women's right matchers would light "Torches of Freedom".
- on his signal, the models lit lucky strike cigarettes in front of the eager photographers
- the New York Times (1 April 1929)
Homework
Look up the word ''media spin"
PR must "create news…in order to appeal to the instincts and fundamental emotions of the public"
- spin
- What does it mean to "spin" in the media?
- To turn around
- To produce, fabricate, or evolve in a manner suggestive of spinning thread: to spin a bale of sailing ships and bygone days.
- How do messages spin? Who is spinning the information?
read-culture-propaganda
read-wirte=agnotology
Agnotology
- is the study of culturally indexed ignorance or doubt, particularly the publishing of inaccurate or misleading scientific data.
- word invented by Robert Proctor. agnosis in Greek means "not cowing" or "unknown".
- Examples of culturally induced ignorance is
1) media neglect
2) corporate or government secrecy, document destruction
3) cigarette industry manufactures doubt about the dangers of smoking under science. Produce research about everything but tobacco hazards.
- companies against climate change or global warming want to crate denial by publishing false information that leads a person to start with a different set of assumptions.
Agnotologic Capitalism
- political economy should be named agnotologic capitalism because the systemic production and maintenance of ignorance is major factor that leads to "bubble economies"
- Housing bubble
- .com bubble
- Derivatives bubble
Disinformation versus Misinformation
- Disinformation = information that is false or not true. Information that is intentionally false.
- Misinformation = inaccurate information that is spread unintentionally.
- Disinformation = black propaganda, intention is to make people believe in something
- Misinformation example:
How to know what is BS
- The Analytic - Synthetic distinction
- Analytic = true by virtue of their meaning
- Synthetic = true by how their meaning relates to the world.
- Analytic proposition = a proposition whose predicate concept is contained in its subject concept.
- Synthetic proposition = a proposition whose predicate concept is not contained in its subject concept.
EXAMPLEA
Analytic proposition=
- "All bachelors are unmarried."
- "all triangles have their angles."
Synthetic proposition =
- "all bachelors are unhappy.
- "all creatures with hearts have kidneys.
- "creatures with hearts" and "have kidneys"; even if every creature with a heart also has kidneys, the concept "creature with a heart" does not contain the concept "has kidneys."
How can you verify a statement?
- verify = to price is something is correct.
- What can be verified?
- "the New York Times is the oct powerful newspaper in the world"
- "the New York Times sells the most newspaper in the world."
Tautology
- 'never say never' is an example of a tautology, a concept which reverts meaning upon itself.
- If the injunction is to not say 'never', the thought is violated wit the first 'never' of the phrase.
- The concept of word games and word play precedes written language itself
- Some other tautologies include;
- "don't ever take advice" (which itself is advice)
- "all generalizations are false" (which is itself a generalization) or
- the paired;
- "the statement below is true"
- "the statement about is true"
Wikipedia
propaganda
agnotology
The Internet: The Intersections of Conformity and Resistance.
Techniques of empire in a Digital Age Techniques of the Multitude in a Digital Age.
architecture code = Internet
heterotopias = Cyberspace
non-place
Net Culture
- The decentralized characteristics of the Internet creates conformity and resistance.
Words to understand
- Dromology(speed) = Whomever posses the territory, controls it.
Monsanto
food company (GMO): using genes to make seeds.
- Disintermediation = removing the intermediaries (gatekeepers) in the supply chain.
Disintermediation
- Example:
- post office > email
- central media > blogs (Han Han)
- copyright monopoly > P2P architecture
- banks > digital decentralized money
peer-to-peer
Part 1. Empire in a Digital Age
- what is empire? It has changed many times.
- Empires come and go.
- Contemporary definition is the alliance of corporate and State power.
Important Events in Global Political Economy
- After World War 3: Bretton Woods agreement is formed.
- What was Bretton Woods?
- Two main features:
1) Maintain currency exchange rate by tying each currency to U.S. dollar $.
2) Gold was linked to the U.S. dollar at 35$ an ounce.
Bretton Woods Agreement becomes a problem
- Because of Vietnam War (expensive), U.S. cannot meet their balance of payments. Countries start to be frightened that the U.S. cannot pay. Countries start asking for gold.
Countries asking for gold in 1971
- Switzerland asks to transfer $50 million of paper dollars into gold.
- France acquired $191 million of gold.
The Nixon Shock
- President Rechard Nixon end Bretton Woods.
- 1) imposes taxes on all Imports
2) Ends the convertibility to gold.
3) The world moved to Flexible rates.
4) Money is not tied to gold. Currencies become FIAT currencies.
World is in a Currency War
- GDP = Gross Domestic Product
- GDP = Investments + government spending + consumer spending + net exports.
- Every Country is trying to Devalue their currency to sell more exports.
Finance Capital becomes Dominant
- Debt temporarily solves the problems for populations with credit cards and speculative bubbles.
- World is debt saturated. People cannot take anymore debt out.
- Banks want to create more debt because they make big fees (profit) with the transactions. They also speculate.
ZIRP
zero% interest rate policy.
Shadow Banking System
- FIRE Economy = Finance, insurance, real estate 25-30% of economy.
- FIRE economy takes over real production economy.
- Finance Capital generates value through circulation of signs.
- This is achieved through derivatives.
- Banks hide their debts off their balance sheets. They do not mark to market their liabilities.
The Aura of the Digital
- The Use of Agnotology to keep the finance system alive. The only way financial instruments can stay alive is for people to believe in the system.
Derivatives
- Credit default swaps (insurance)
- Mortgage backed securities (housing)
High Frequency Trading or Algo-Trading
- The use of fast computers and complex algorithms to trade securities at an extremely fast pace.
- Make money based on speed.
- Create price manipulation to steer price, then make money by shorting the market.
HFT
Programs
Automatic Marke makers
Wikipedia
PART 2: The Multitude in a Digital Age
-what is the multitude?
- it is a concept that describes the unmediated, collective social subject. It is a non-mystified form of democracy.
- The multitude is described by Baruch Spinoza as the fear of the majority population, which is the limit of sovereign power.
Multitude in cyberspace
- Hacker- someone who tinkers or experiments with something to turn it into something else.
- Hacktivist - hacker + activist = to use digital tools for the pursuit of political ends.
- Culture Jamming - to disrupt or subvert media culture.
- Cryptography - means "hidden secret" + "writing"
- cryto-anarchy - employing encryption to and cryptography to make economic arrangements to circumvent intermediates.
RICHARD STALLMAN - SOFTWARE FREEDOM ACTIVIST
Richard Stallman's 4 levels of software freedom.
- Freedom 0 = "have the ability to run the software however one wishes."
- Freedom 1 = study the source code and change it so the software does the computing the way you wish.
- These freedoms give individual control 1 user at a time. but this is not enough because a lot of people don't know how to pro harm so we need collective control.
- Freedom 2 = is the freedom to help others. is to provide exact copies of software.
- Freedom 3 = is to distribute copies of your modified version.
- keep source code open and free so people can change it.
Bitcoin
- Decentralized digital Global Currency
- Has no central issuer. Instead it users peer-to-peer technology and a distributed algorithm.
3 lessons to Study
1) Constructivism
2) propaganda and agnotology
3) Convergence and Internet
by
first1117 (student)
