The other day I received an email from director of our radio station saying that I got my first “prisoner’s letter”. Knowing that in the radio station people are always creative and fond of teasing and joking, I thought it was a joke. Or maybe it was a warning? Did they have the term “prisoner’s letter” meaning “warning”? Those were my best estimates of what the letter was talking about.
However, the next day, Amy told me that the “prisoner’s letter” was just a letter from a prisoner who listened to our show in the prison and later wrote to us. The moment I heard of this, I felt so flattered by his letter. I felt that I could make myself heard by people. This might not seem a big deal for any of my American peers, but to me, it is a really big thing.
Mr. Prisoner said something funny and cute to both Amy and I. I felt that I had a new friend, although we might not have chance meeting each other. The media connected us together in terms of our show. I felt relieved when people recognized what I did. In that case, I felt I was alive. It might sound weird, but that was how I felt when I was silenced.
Coming all the way from China to the US, I lost my past social network. Often times I felt I was silenced by the lack of connection with people in the States. All I knew was that I had to start a new life which included making friends, studying a brand-new major, and last but not least, making myself heard by people in the States. One of my idols on television is Winfrey Oprah, especially before she becomes so famous that people love talking about her weight loss. I admired her capability to make herself heard and understood by such a great audience that she could change people’s opinions on a variety of issues.
I felt powerful when I was a teacher since I could motivate my students to study hard. I helped them build up a good goal and go for it. To me, that was a medium to communicate my values and beliefs with my audiences---the students. Right now, I find a new medium---radio station, which belongs to practical mass media, that I can express what I think about life and music to the audience.
Under some circumstance when you “gain” something (not necessarily materialistic) from the media, you will really prefer the media. In my case, I would spend more time for the show and try to improve. That might be another application of Uses-and-Gratification Theory. ^_^
11/11/08
Media and the Audiences
Based on the several theories in the Effects Tradition, whether it is a limited-effects theory or a meta-effects one, the theories of media effects have undergone a dramatic change, as the book said---“a curious evolution”.
If you scrutinize the process of the development, you will find that the media change as the audiences become “smarter”. The era of “seeing is believing” ended up with the emergence of mass media. The media changed the way of people’s perception of the world, making their world bigger than they physically had access to. People dared to think more than they used to, and since they saw more of the other side of the world, they became capable of thinking wisely. Thus, they started questioning what they watched and listened from the television, other media as well.
While the audiences became critical and “hard to please”, the media adjusted to accommodate the needs of the audiences, which in return, provided a larger margin of profits to the media owners. People opened their minds, and they continued to rely on the media to keep informed of what happened every day. Therefore, the media were able to flourish into a “mass” one.
I found it interesting that the media catered to the demands of the mass audiences while at the same time the audiences reinforced their reliance on the media and promoted changes to the media. So, rather than referring the media effects to as an evolution, I would like to call it an “inter-evolution” between the media and the audiences since they developed together and interacted with each other to make things really happen.
Education occurred when the media contents were exposed to new audiences. Knowing how the media worked, the audiences became skillful in picking the undesirable contents out and utilized public opinion to block those from the media. In that case, both the media and the audiences “learned”. So did the culture.
Before the media came into existence, the culture was confined to territorial limitations. Culture was static and set. However, the media made the culture diverse. Thanks to the wide accessibility of the mass media, pop culture in China is largely copied from the American one. People from different parts of world communicate effectively without many obstacles. We all watched Sesame Street when we were young. The power of media is ubiquitous. The audiences and the media are going to work in the same way as they did in the previous hundred years. We will see more diverse segments of audience as well as a rising number of media created to satiate the overwhelming needs.
If you scrutinize the process of the development, you will find that the media change as the audiences become “smarter”. The era of “seeing is believing” ended up with the emergence of mass media. The media changed the way of people’s perception of the world, making their world bigger than they physically had access to. People dared to think more than they used to, and since they saw more of the other side of the world, they became capable of thinking wisely. Thus, they started questioning what they watched and listened from the television, other media as well.
While the audiences became critical and “hard to please”, the media adjusted to accommodate the needs of the audiences, which in return, provided a larger margin of profits to the media owners. People opened their minds, and they continued to rely on the media to keep informed of what happened every day. Therefore, the media were able to flourish into a “mass” one.
I found it interesting that the media catered to the demands of the mass audiences while at the same time the audiences reinforced their reliance on the media and promoted changes to the media. So, rather than referring the media effects to as an evolution, I would like to call it an “inter-evolution” between the media and the audiences since they developed together and interacted with each other to make things really happen.
Education occurred when the media contents were exposed to new audiences. Knowing how the media worked, the audiences became skillful in picking the undesirable contents out and utilized public opinion to block those from the media. In that case, both the media and the audiences “learned”. So did the culture.
Before the media came into existence, the culture was confined to territorial limitations. Culture was static and set. However, the media made the culture diverse. Thanks to the wide accessibility of the mass media, pop culture in China is largely copied from the American one. People from different parts of world communicate effectively without many obstacles. We all watched Sesame Street when we were young. The power of media is ubiquitous. The audiences and the media are going to work in the same way as they did in the previous hundred years. We will see more diverse segments of audience as well as a rising number of media created to satiate the overwhelming needs.
11/10/08
What Is Theory
Theory is ubiquitous. It builds a solid foundation for any field of study. A theory is not a guess, hunch, hypothesis, or speculation. It is much more full-blown (Hawking, 1996). However, a theory comes from nowhere but a guess and is a successful one until failing the untiring tests and studies.
A guess is the impetus of a theory. Human history begins with guesses. Human ancestors happened to cook on fire and they guessed they might make the coincidence happen again. The outcome of the guess is that humans use fire to warm the cold and light the dark. As the inquiry process of a theory shows, researchers ask questions, that is, they make guess as the first step. Then the guess combines with evidence from observation, and in length construct answers that evolves into a theory. The process is not linear. Theories may evoke the examination of the question again; they may generate new ideas to collect data (Littlejohn and Foss, 2005).
Starting a guess is essential but not adequate for a theory. A theory reflects the shared understanding of one specific phenomenon. It may not necessarily be identical and different opinions are the essence of theorizing. Theory should be seen as a statement or argument in favor of a particular approach (Littlejohn and Foss, 2005). Instead of being the answer to a phenomenon or approach, theory intrigues researchers to explore the unknowns and eventually uncover the myth.
Theories, as the central factor of both quantitative and qualitative researches, respond to the researches and develop from them. When Lustig noted that all theory should be judged by some aspect of utility (as cited in Keyton, 2006, p.32), the criterion is set as the effectiveness of a theory. A theory remains of no value unless it is successfully applied to the realistic world and makes a change. Take the Magic Bullet theory as an example, the main idea of the theory is that mass media penetrate the audience’s mind and spontaneously create influence. Thus, mass media manipulate the people via media messages. The advertisers utilized the principle to people to engage their feelings in the advertisements and then become a loyal consumer. Although the situation is never that simple anymore, the theory was a success and attracted much interest of the researchers and advertisers.
Epilogue
A theory is a wish that perfection exists. Throughout the human history, people sought for a panacea to salvage all lives and now a theory to uncover all the unknowns. It’s not always a piece of cake to change the complex world into a piece of cake.
Many such theories serve only a small proportion of people called experts instead of the entire population. Theories are too logical for the majority to figure out. If they are only for experts, it’s a waste of time and money to keep making them. Also, as theories happen all along, experts are inclined to get lost in the wood of theories. Thus, they lose their primary goal of putting theories into practice and improving life instead of the reputation of any academic institution.
Reference:
Hawking, Stephen (1996). “The Illustrated A Brief History of Time” (Updated and expanded ed.). New York: Bantam Books, p. 15.
Littlejohn and Foss (2005). “Theories of Human Communication” (Ninth ed.). Belmont: Thomson West, p.6.
Keyton, Joann (2006). “Communication Research: Asking Questions, Finding Answers” (Second ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, p.32.
A guess is the impetus of a theory. Human history begins with guesses. Human ancestors happened to cook on fire and they guessed they might make the coincidence happen again. The outcome of the guess is that humans use fire to warm the cold and light the dark. As the inquiry process of a theory shows, researchers ask questions, that is, they make guess as the first step. Then the guess combines with evidence from observation, and in length construct answers that evolves into a theory. The process is not linear. Theories may evoke the examination of the question again; they may generate new ideas to collect data (Littlejohn and Foss, 2005).
Starting a guess is essential but not adequate for a theory. A theory reflects the shared understanding of one specific phenomenon. It may not necessarily be identical and different opinions are the essence of theorizing. Theory should be seen as a statement or argument in favor of a particular approach (Littlejohn and Foss, 2005). Instead of being the answer to a phenomenon or approach, theory intrigues researchers to explore the unknowns and eventually uncover the myth.
Theories, as the central factor of both quantitative and qualitative researches, respond to the researches and develop from them. When Lustig noted that all theory should be judged by some aspect of utility (as cited in Keyton, 2006, p.32), the criterion is set as the effectiveness of a theory. A theory remains of no value unless it is successfully applied to the realistic world and makes a change. Take the Magic Bullet theory as an example, the main idea of the theory is that mass media penetrate the audience’s mind and spontaneously create influence. Thus, mass media manipulate the people via media messages. The advertisers utilized the principle to people to engage their feelings in the advertisements and then become a loyal consumer. Although the situation is never that simple anymore, the theory was a success and attracted much interest of the researchers and advertisers.
Epilogue
A theory is a wish that perfection exists. Throughout the human history, people sought for a panacea to salvage all lives and now a theory to uncover all the unknowns. It’s not always a piece of cake to change the complex world into a piece of cake.
Many such theories serve only a small proportion of people called experts instead of the entire population. Theories are too logical for the majority to figure out. If they are only for experts, it’s a waste of time and money to keep making them. Also, as theories happen all along, experts are inclined to get lost in the wood of theories. Thus, they lose their primary goal of putting theories into practice and improving life instead of the reputation of any academic institution.
Reference:
Hawking, Stephen (1996). “The Illustrated A Brief History of Time” (Updated and expanded ed.). New York: Bantam Books, p. 15.
Littlejohn and Foss (2005). “Theories of Human Communication” (Ninth ed.). Belmont: Thomson West, p.6.
Keyton, Joann (2006). “Communication Research: Asking Questions, Finding Answers” (Second ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill, p.32.
Nachtwey Wakes the World with Black and White Photographs
Photographers go to the extreme edges of human experience to show people what’s going on. They believe your opinions and your influence matter. They aim their pictures at your best instincts: generosity, a sense of right and wrong, the ability and the willingness to identify with others, the refusal to accept the unacceptable.
I have been a witness and these photos are my testimony.
---James Nachtwey
I don’t want to say how good and striking those photographs are and I don’t even want to say they are any sort of arts. That’s life, not any presentation of stylish arts.
I just want to say something about the developing countries from a perspective of people coming from one of the developing countries.
It’s hard to believe or even to imagine such tragedies could happen in the seemingly flawless world. We have spent so much time considering how we are going to use our salary that we overlook there are people like us suffering in another corner of the world. Jack Nachtwey had spent his salary on his trip to several developing countries. He documented how people there suffer from XDR-TB epidemic. Black and white pictures are indeed powerful. The communication channel is unique. Unlike language, picture is more straightforward and stimulating. Better than any color, black and white displays the bloody truth and calls for the deepest compassion from people.
In those pictures we can see the desire for surviving and hopelessness for it at the same time. You can see people struggling between trying and giving in. Developing countries become powerless when they are faced with such life-threatening issues. Take SARS as an example. China had tried its best to control the situation while it received all the blame and suspicion from other counties and institutions. It’s true that developing countries lack effective measures to protect the people but it’s also notable that developing countries are not the one to blame but to be helped. Or else why we need any international organization like UN and WHO?
I might be a little too extreme on this issue though. My intention is to arouse people’s attention that when you help people in developing countries, don’t think you’re helping people from developing countries, rather, you’re helping your friends. We are sharing the same habitat.
I appreciate what James Nachtwey has done. It’s a fantastic job which requires contribution and courage. Waking the world is not simple work, and calling for action is even harder. Tell someone there’s a serious disease like this in the world. It is a big deal.
I have been a witness and these photos are my testimony.
---James Nachtwey
I don’t want to say how good and striking those photographs are and I don’t even want to say they are any sort of arts. That’s life, not any presentation of stylish arts.
I just want to say something about the developing countries from a perspective of people coming from one of the developing countries.
It’s hard to believe or even to imagine such tragedies could happen in the seemingly flawless world. We have spent so much time considering how we are going to use our salary that we overlook there are people like us suffering in another corner of the world. Jack Nachtwey had spent his salary on his trip to several developing countries. He documented how people there suffer from XDR-TB epidemic. Black and white pictures are indeed powerful. The communication channel is unique. Unlike language, picture is more straightforward and stimulating. Better than any color, black and white displays the bloody truth and calls for the deepest compassion from people.
In those pictures we can see the desire for surviving and hopelessness for it at the same time. You can see people struggling between trying and giving in. Developing countries become powerless when they are faced with such life-threatening issues. Take SARS as an example. China had tried its best to control the situation while it received all the blame and suspicion from other counties and institutions. It’s true that developing countries lack effective measures to protect the people but it’s also notable that developing countries are not the one to blame but to be helped. Or else why we need any international organization like UN and WHO?
I might be a little too extreme on this issue though. My intention is to arouse people’s attention that when you help people in developing countries, don’t think you’re helping people from developing countries, rather, you’re helping your friends. We are sharing the same habitat.
I appreciate what James Nachtwey has done. It’s a fantastic job which requires contribution and courage. Waking the world is not simple work, and calling for action is even harder. Tell someone there’s a serious disease like this in the world. It is a big deal.
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