Prosumer

Sadly but quickly the entire term have come to an end. The professor finished the lesson of ecology analysis with "Prosumer", which is a combination of producer + consumer, hence the word "prosumer". Another way to describe the prosumer system is DIY (Do It Yourself) with examples such as; e-banking services and self checkout. A pro about prosumers is that you can save time and it is more efficient with cases such as online banking since you do not have to wait in line and everything can be done with a click away.

A con about this is that companies can cut jobs and people will be forced to be unemployed since it can decrease the expenses of companies. Also, some people may prefer to be served instead of the idea of self-serving but that depends on the person. The professor also touched upon DIY such as setting a store on Etsy (An online marketplace that sells handmade items). I, coincidentally have an online store there selling handmade charms (My Store)

The way i see it with my online store is that it is a good start-up for crafters who don't have a huge budget to start up a physical store and it lowers the workload for me as customers will check out themselves instead of me being attentive 24 hours in order to keep updated to what is happening in my store.

Medium Theory

The medium theory states that each medium of communication has relatively fixed characteristics that influence communication in a particular manner and that all media are extension of some of human faculty psychic or physically. An example would be that car is an extension of feet.

I have actually never thought of mediums like that because i only thought about the part where a medium helps us to complete any tasks easier. The most interaction between us and the medium is definitely the World Wide Web and the internet. We now use the internet everyday, every hour, and even every minute because that is how we have learned to communicate faster and with less effort. In a way, the internet's real message is the ability to extend human sight, speech and memory to an unprecedented degree. Moving on to the categories of hot or cool medium - which is another interesting way to categorize because hot medium is technology whose message fully engages the senses (ex. Simulation games)

while cool medium is technology whose message is multi-vocal and open ended (ex. TV, telephone)

Participatory Media

Participatory media is essentially media where the everyone including the audience take part analyzing and producing. As of now, i am taking part in participatory media by writing this blog! Other modes of participatory media includes "sharing", podcasts, vlogging (video blogs), forums (media communities) etc. One type of participatory media that i liked was fan fiction.

I was already familiar with fan fiction before this lecture and it brings back memories of when i read them (i no longer read them anymore). It is basically short stories or even series written by the fans of a particular show, movie, book, or about a real person. They can sometimes be even more interesting that the actual story line the writer produced and it sort of gives an alternative to what could have happened. Fan fiction usually revolves around romance more than plot twists and it could be between a guy/girl, guy/guy, and girl/girl - also known as slash fan fiction.

Although I use to read anime fan fiction, fan fiction covers a lot - i even read fan fic of these singers that i was obsessed a while ago. I think fan fiction is still a hype because new shows and movies come out every year and therefore fans have more characters to like and write more stories about them. Even people who don't prefer reading it can see them as memes now a days since memes are more dominant.

Monster Culture

I found that the topic "monster culture" was the most interesting part of this week's lecture because this is the hype right now in the media. TV shows such as AMC's hit Walking Dead and Vampire Diaries are very popular at the moment and so are movies such as World War Z, Warm Bodies, and of course, Twilight. Almost every part of the Twilight series has a net worth of 700 million each and that just shows how popular "monsters" are in today's world.

Thesis VI: Fear of the monster is really a kind of desire

This thesis points out that the our fear of consuming or watching these monster movies/shows is actually a kind of desire. I remember the time when i went to watch World War Z at the theater, the most famous scene was probably the part when all the zombies were "piling" over the wall that was built to keep them out.

I was terrified at this scene but couldn't help myself in watching what will happen next. Whenever i want to watch a zombie movie, i know that i won't get to sleep peacefully at night for a week but i still insist to watch it and so this enforces Thesis VI of how fear of the monster is really a kind of desire.

 

Cultivation Analysis

Cultivation analysis is first proposed by George Gerbner and it claims that individuals who watch heavy amounts of television are hyper conscious to issues of danger and violence in their everyday lives. Sadly, there is some truth to this because it is humans are motivated by fear, and when they sense fear they will believe that is is more prevalent in society and when it comes to responsibility, they push it away and put the blame on a scapegoat.

Just think about World War II when the Nazis were systematically exterminating Jews due to antisemitism and other reasons that lead to the decision that someone is responsible for the mess. That blame was brought upon the entire Jewish race and the only way it was made possible was because the population had fear plus the persuasive speeches that their leader has made.

Reception Analysis

The meaning of reception analysis was a little confusing at first, so after watching the lecture, i did some searches on the definition and came to the conclusion that reception analysis (from the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication approach) is the interpretation of the meaning based on one's background and experiences. Therefore, the meanings don't come from the text itself but from how one perceives it based on the relationship of the reader and the text.

To be honest, the first time i watched "No Woman, No Drive", a mockery video by Hisham Fageeh on the ban of woman driving in Saudi Arabia (which i had no knowledge of at first), i actually thought that the artist was enforcing the idea that woman should not drive because of lyrics such as "queens don’t drive, but you can cook me dinner that I will share with you" and “Your feet is your only carriage but only inside the house and when I say it I mean it”.

My experience of watching this video just confirms what the encoding/decoding model of communication approach. Due to the fact that i did not know about the ban on woman driving, i did not interpret this video as a parody or a mockery whereas to others that know about the ban clearly understands that this video is making fun of the ridiculous ban in Saudi Arabia. Therefore the meaning is not inherent in the video but rather the relationship of the viewer's experiences to the video.

Sexual Stereotypes in the Media

The depiction of heterosexuality and homosexuality is often the "norm" where heterosexual couples are seen as the loving couples and same-sex couples are seen as hyper sexual all the time. Often, when homosexuals are portrayed on TV shows or films, it is usually a comedic and made for people to laugh at. One show in particular that i am familiar with is Little Britain - A British character-based comedy show that shows the snippets of daily lives of different people (all main characters played by two actors only) in "Little" Britain.

One of the most loved character is Daffyd, who is dubs himself as the "only gay in the village" and is always seen as the most comical part of the show where they basically make fun of gays. The surprising thing about this character is that the actor that plays Daffyd is a homosexual himself. Which makes me think sometimes if he feels bad doing this himself, since comedians tend to take nothing seriously because their job is make people laugh.

Daffyed, played by Matt Lucas, is always seen wearing tight, revealing, and disturbing clothing on the show and although it is for comedic effect, it shows that the media portrays homosexuals as abnormal and deviant. No matter what the sexual orientation one has, they are still human beings with dignity and deserves to be respected in the media as well.