Media can simply be defined as a means of conveying or affecting something .But according to Merriam Webster’s media is an instrument for conveying thoughts, emotions and or expressions. So what is media about?
.I is going to look at two of the many subfields of the media as our discipline of discussion .The y is the internet and culture. I must be taken into account that the two are closely related today and they influence one another often. Internet-fields is not having a one way definition because of it is not only diversified but is also very multifaceted .What we then have is various definitions. The internet has been said to be a meta medium (Fagerjord, 2007) orahybridstructures.medium (Sveningson, Loveheim&Berquist, 2003).These are just but few examples of what various people have come to describe the internet. The main point of departure in these examples is the fact that the internet is full of various .Because of this multiplicity of the internet some people have argued that it should be taken as a single medium which is overstretched and that the different parts that make the internet up should be seen as different modes(White Paper,2010).
The varying definitions and character of the internet to the fact that there are different research methods that may be employed in finding more about it. These points further explain why a working definition for it is still difficult to be arrived at. Eventually we have various internet concepts which are mostly not agreeing different researchers.
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The issue of the culture as inherent in the internet is found when we look at the definition of the term culture. Culture is defined as the totality of a people’s lives. Those who share A common culture have shared norms ,values ,beliefs and tradition that are developed in the process of their daily interaction with one another in their enviroment.In my view when the two words ,internet and culture ,are put together then we can have a meaning of common perspectives as well as values that are born ,developed and then sustained in the online interactions.
The above observations therefore appeal to the fact that the research on the internet culture should dwell on the Questions of what goes in the process of people being online. What a researcher needs to duel on is what belies the internet communication. However it must be noted that the ideals, values and norms that we find in the internet culture are not static. Internet cultures are changing from time to time. Still there is the problem of diversity in culture among the internet cultures. People from various cultural backgrounds do interact online so talking about the internet culture becomes complicated.
For us to counter the above challenges, we need to come up with rather inclusive methods and techniques in the study if the internet. What is needed is needed here is an imaginative mind to come up with a multifaceted approach to study.
There are various concepts that act as guidelines to our study of media as a discipline. The first is that messages of media are conceived within these contexts economical, political, social, aesthetical and lastly historical contexts. Another media concept is that the interpretative meaning- making process in the reception of the massages characterized by between the recipient, the text and the culture (Trowler, 1996). The third concept is that there is uniqueness in the language of the media. Its language is characterized by different symbols and communication forms which is involved in communication. Media’s role in the peoples understanding of the reality of life is another concept. Lastly we have the concept that media messages are constructed. In my understanding this means that the messages in the media have their sources in the society as a whole. Those who communicate the messages do get them from the society of which they are part.
It must be noted that the media as just like other areas of study has its theories. We look at these theories together with their proponents. The media theories and theorists are many but I am going to talk about a few of them. The first theory I am going to discuss is the theory of gratifications model. It states that different people use the media in various ways so as to get different types of pleasures and to fulfill different types of needs. This theory whose originators included Katz goes ahead to explain that these people may get varied fulfillments from the same program.
The next theory we are going to look at is the theory of media audiences Effects Research .Among the followers of the theory were Barthes and Roland. It is used to refer to a second order of importance with a long line of concepts widely used and accepted to explain people’s experiences.
Kartz, E (1959). Mass Communication Research and Study.
Trowler (1996). Investigating Mass Media. New York Publishers, New York.
