While it might prove provocative to assert that culture is a purely nonmaterial symbol system –especially given the predominant role that mass media does play in the production of the highly symbol-laden of contemporary cultures, it is best argued that it is an inherently fallacious claim. Culture has both material use –values and the nonmaterial sign values. Even Alexander has argued for the development of cultural sociology which is premised upon the idea of an “anonymous” culture (124) –similar to the one found in both functional and post-modern theories, has maintained that material forms of culture, like technology, have been the “anti signs” of cultural analysis. Swidler’s article highlights material technology as an approach to social media, as such is an aspect of culture. Schudson, on the other hand, considerers technology as a form of material culture and material object, and can also be heavily laden with symbolic meaning to mass media. Postmodern theory tends to obviate a discussion of technologies of mass media as given “the material variable par excellence”, and quickly move into an analysis of what they described as free floating and autonomous.
Sociology Approach to Mass Media
It is evident that conceptions of culture make a blanket assumption about the existence and importance of mass media technologies in contemporary societies. The mass media is everywhere in postmodern theory though it is rarely treated with analytical significance as a technologically grounded phenomenon derived from the material world. This omission represents a serious flaw in the theories of the postmodern. It is, however, necessary to explore science communication with a social media perspective. There is a technological imperative that underlies postmodern theories, and particularly their conceptions of culture. It is also especially important given the reliance on mass media in the theories of the postmodern. As Alexander suggests, the process by which mass mediated information, symbols and images are disseminated, “is only possible on the basis of technologies. The way in which technologies work structures and limits what is possible as mass communication. This has to be taken into account in any theory of the mass media. The emphasis on technology also has to b considered in postmodern theories that rely instrumentally on mass media.
Furthermore, drawing up insights from socio-psychology and the sociology of science, this media sociological approach views the relation between science and the media from the perspective that science and scientific legitimating are not constituted a prior distribution to the public; on the contrary, they are achieved (Scheufele 103). The media sociological perspective starts from the assumptions of the technological trajectory with a predestined teleology. On the contrary; it starts from the dynamic of a technology movement strategic actors who mobilize support for particular representations. For instance, they employ ideologies to construct a particular future.
Piece of Mass Media
In the wake of a disaster, both mainstream media sites and social websites attempt to inform victims and their families and collect information. Generating knowledge through validation of data is critical for maintaining credibility in both spheres (Collins, 54). During emergencies, participants tend to go to familiar sites whereby they have existing social networked. Unfortunately, these sites are rarely equipped for the demands of victims and their loved ones. For researchers and practitioners, then the scope of design and usability problems extend far beyond simply understanding the use of multiple online spaces and limitations that arise from the impact of the disaster itself.
A disaster may severely damage communication infrastructure and limit access to social web tools. It may displace victims not only from their homes but also from their cities and towns. Coupled with the fact that users must find and reconnect fragmented information across the web, lack of access presents significant challenges in architecture system that perform the tasks of translation more effectively. There is a mechanical basis that underlies postmodern speculations, and especially their originations of society. It is likewise particularly vital given the dependence on broad communications in the hypotheses of the postmodern
Participants in the social web are already implicitly and explicitly pointing out the means by which the collective intelligence of online communities can calm this challenge. The social media is responsive. The issues of communications as examined from the standpoint of medications, social cues, networking, and issues of authenticity. Developing into these concepts is crucial for designing viable technologically mediated systems for the social web and particular for this individual and groups responding to disaster and crisis. Across the social web, actors from assemblages, that might exist only or a short time to respond to specific events.
Tracing the contemporary connection is a vulnerable understanding on how people accomplish activities. As Collins states, this work “has been and continues to be essential in shaping our understanding of the internet, its impacts on culture and cultures impact on the Internet”(79). Such understanding can lead to improved systems, processes and interfaces. Embedding architects as participants within communities of practice amenable us to build for scenarios that we have experienced. It might uproot casualties from their homes as well as from their urban areas and towns. In this way the way the clients must discover and reconnect divided data over the web. Within a product team or research group, the illustrations for these activities can lead to a shared knowledge of the relationship between people and technologies.
In conclusion individuals in the social web are not satisfied with static spaces in which the implementations of channels behavior should be. Instead, activities such as tagging, labeling, organizing and moving content are fundamental to the social experiences individuals on new demand. People who want to communicate the need to have relevant content and one another. In media, a system that balances the structured and structured, the rigid and the flexible, are the ones that have most chances of success. In recognizing these instances of connectedness, the researcher can begin to map who these actors are, where they are participating, for example from the comfort of their homes from the middle of disasters and what events are affecting their participation. Tracing the actors will within this participatory experience help them visualize system collisions and communication misfire and pinpoint usability issues.
Works Cited
Alexander, Victoria D. Sociology of the Arts. Wiley-Blackwell, 2003.
Scheufele, D. A. (1999). Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of communication, 49(1), 103-122.
Collins, R. (2004). Rituals of solidarity and security in the wake of terrorist attack. Sociological Theory, 22(1), 53-87.
