Pavlov 5e, Chapter 1

1. CONVERGING MEDIA:
A NEW INTRODUCTION TO MASS
COMMUNICATION
5th edition
John V Pavlik & Shawn McIntosh
Chapter 1:
Mass Communication and Its Digital
Transformation

2. TELEPHONY: EXPLORING CONVERGENCE
 The telephone played a major
role in changing patterns of
communication
 Adapted telegraphy’s point-to-
point, instantaneous
communication, adding the
element of voice
 Not immediately thought of as an
interpersonal communication
device
 How did the telephone become
what it is today?

3. TELEPHONY: MAKING SENSE OF
CONVERGENCE
 Novelty: New communication devices fascinate us, but often do not
have a clear initial purpose
 Early “mis-application”: Not sure how to use new communication
devices, we test out various ideas
 What is “new” often has deep historical roots: We share similar
information with each other through various communication devices
 Ownership & control: Will industries be privately owned or regulated
by government?

4. 3 TYPES OF CONVERGENCE:
What is convergence?
 The coming together of computing,
telecommunications and media in a digital
environment
Three types:
 Technological
 Economic
 Cultural

5. TECHNOLOGICAL CONVERGENCE
 Rise of digital media and
online communication
networks
 Digital media help change the
way we use technologies

6. ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE
 Merging of Internet or
telecommunication
companies with traditional
media companies
 Corporate umbrella
includes formerly
independent and dissimilar
companies

7. CULTURAL CONVERGENCE
 Globalization of media
content: When an American
television show is popular
in other countries
 Production and distribution
of content: ‘Traditional’
media implies an audience
of passive receivers; new
digital media invites an
active audience who may
make and distribute their
own media.

8. 8 IMPLICATIONS OF CONVERGENCE
 Media organization changes
 Media type changes
 Media content changes
 Media use changes
 Media distribution changes
 Media audience changes
 Media profession changes
 Attitude and value changes

9. MEDIA ORGANIZATION CHANGES
Centralized vs. converged media organizations
Centralized: functions of media - including production,
distribution, marketing & advertising - are controlled by a single
individual or unit
Converged: Functions of media may be de-centralized via the
Internet, inviting more diffuse methods of production, distribution,
marking and advertising

10. MEDIA TYPE CHANGES
How we engage with media in
a state of flux: Where do we
listen to the radio?
Different media are regulated
differently and enjoy
different freedoms and
restrictions

11. MEDIA CONTENT CHANGES
 Traditional content: Broadcast through a pre-determined,
pre-arranged schedule with little if any consultation with
audiences
 On-demand content: Audiences have more control over
when they attend to content
 Digitized content: Through digital production & distribution
methods, content can be available at any time of day
 Wiki content: Audiences contribute to production and
distribution of content

12. MEDIA USE CHANGES
 “24/7” media environment: Always able to be “on”
and “connected”
 Mobile technology: We can take our media
“everywhere”
 Assumes equal access to, and knowledge of,
variety of advanced technologies

13. MEDIA DISTRIBUTION CHANGES
Internet enables a global dialog; content
can be more fluid, dynamic and
rapidly transmitted
Audiences increasingly active in media
use and distribution, bypassing
corporate control, through:
 Viral marketing: Rapid information travel;
Internet equivalent of ‘word-of-mouth’
 Peer-to-peer (P2P): Individual file sharing
 User-generated content: Digital media
enables audiences to develop own content

14. MEDIA AUDIENCE CHANGES
 Traditional mass communication: One way communication
from source  large, anonymous, heterogeneous audience
 Converged audience communication: Interactive model,
able to create and distribute own content, if desired
 ‘Produsers’: How audiences use and consume
contemporary media; can be both passive recipients and
active creators

15. MEDIA PROFESSION CHANGES
 Journalists and advertisers, for example, have
increased competition with rapid changes in
technologies and market place
 Citizen journalism: interactive relationship where
audiences contribute to story content and/or
correction (with no corresponding formal training
in principles of journalism)

16. ATTITUDE AND VALUE CHANGES
 With increased global, digital
communication comes increased
desire for transparency and methods
for gaining trust
 Confusion over traditional notions of
privacy for individuals and
companies
 Behavioral targeting: Advertising
technique drawn from information we
readily share through our digital
footprint
 Cookies: Digital tracking of our web
habits, automatically archived

17. INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION WITHIN
MASS COMMUNICATION
 Interpersonal communication
(traditional): Interactive, face-
to-face, generally one-to-one,
between individuals familiar
with each other
 Mediated interpersonal
communication: Interactive,
generally one-to-one, between
individuals familiar with each
other, through an external
medium, such as a telephone,
IM, text, chatroom, or Twitter,
for example

18. MASS COMMUNICATION
 Mass media: Technologically based means of communicating between
large numbers of people distributed widely over space or time
 Media companies create and distribute content they believe audiences
want; in traditional model, content creators represent and define reality
 Synchronous media: Audiences assemble simultaneously with the
broadcast/event; for example: live TV or radio show
 Asynchronous media: Simultaneous assembly not required; audiences
can attend on own time; for example: Newspaper or magazine reading

19. MASS COMMUNICATION AND CONVERGENCE
In current environment, lines between interpersonal and mass
communication blurred: Each adopts characteristics of the other
Examples:
 Email: a form of mediated interpersonal communication that can also be sent
to mass numbers
 Weblogs (blogs): Individual writing that can also be followed by mass numbers
 Twitter: Individual tweets can be sent to small or mass number of people
 Web: quantity and fragmented nature of websites means a small, dedicated
follow or a mass following

20. FUNCTIONS OF MASS COMMUNICATION
 Surveillance
 Correlation
 Cultural transmission
 Entertainment

21. SURVEILLANCE
 Information about the
processes, issues, events and
other developments in
society; primarily connected
to journalism
 Consequence of surveillance:
potential for too much ‘bad’
news, resulting in apathetic,
disheartened audience

22. CORRELATION
 Ways in which media interpret
events and issues and ascribe
meanings that help
individuals understand roles
within larger society
 Journalism, advertising and
public relations help shape
public opinion; media can
help maintain social stability

23. CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
 Transference of dominant
culture and subculture(s) from
one generation to the next or
to immigrants
 Includes socialization, which
helps people learn the rules of
society
 Potential for homogenized
culture that promotes
mindless consumption

24. ENTERTAINMENT
 Content designed
specifically and exclusively
to entertain
 Critics argue mass media
encourages lowbrow
entertainment and
escapism
 Entertainment can serve to
perpetuate certain
stereotypes

25. THEORIES OF MASS COMMUNICATION
 Transmission
models
 Critical theory
and cultural
studies

26. TRANSMISSION MODELS
 Shannon & Weaver (1949):
information source 
transmitter  channel 
receiver  destination
 Schramm (1954): source
(encodes) 
message/signal
(transmitted directly or via
medium)  destination
(receiver decodes)