Media in Human Society Interaction - Essay Example

Media is "messages that are distributed through the technologies, principally text in books, study guides and computer networks; sound in audio-tapesand broadcast: pictures in video-tapes and broadcast; text, sound and/or pictures in a teleconference." (worldbank.org, glossary). Steven Totsoy in "Towards a framework of Audience Studies" gave five fields of audience research; combining these with the above definition of media one can conveniently categorizes media into six forms which are:- a. Media relying on reading material like printed media i.e. books and newspapers. b. Media relying on audio only, like radio and recorder etc. c. Media relying on auditory and visual aspects like theater, opera concert and dance etc. d. Media relying on visual aspect only like museum, gallery, exhibition, photography and display etc. e. Media relying on mixed auditory and visual aspects like TV, film and video etc. f. Media relying on new media resources like World Wide Web, internet, multimedia and new media technologies. These six forms independently or in tandem act to create a media environment. On the other hand ecology can be defined as (Ask.com, dictionary):- a. Science of relationships between organization and their environments. b. The branch of sociology that is concerned with studying relationship between human groups and their physical and social environments. c. The study of the determined effects of modern civilization on the environments with view toward prevention or reversal theory conservation. The rider clause in all the definitions is that ecology is the study of relationship between environments primarily social and physical with the human beings. As the physical and social environments have their effect on human society, similarly, in today's era, environments created by media also play an important role on the psyche human society. Therefore, it would not be far from truth if we call the study of relationship between environment created by media and the society as "media ecology". According to the Media Ecology Association, media ecology can be defined as "the study of media environments, the idea that technology and techniques, modes of information and codes of communication play a leading role in human affairs." Therefore, in this discourse an effort will be made to understand media ecology by addressing following three aspects:- a. Relationship between different forms of media to form an environment. b. Relation ship between media and humans and how they interact. c. The effects on media environment on human society. There is a strong interconnectivity between different forms of media. Their effectiveness is along two strings. One is their indigenous and the second is an ability to complement the other form of media. Therefore, each media enables to form two types of environment. One which is formed by a particular media itself and the second one is formed by complementing the other forms of media. To elucidate the above point further, we take example of 9/11. We suppose that when the unfortunate incident of 9/11 took place there was only print media available. We can imagine that apart from the people who got affected, there would not be many who could have known the incident immediately. By the time print media would have conveyed the extent of havoc created by the terrorists, too much time would have been lost to create an atmosphere for global response. Still with graphic details and good script an atmosphere could have been created but for short duration. Too less and too late. Now we include radio (audio media) in the scenario. The explicit detail given in newspaper with live commentary of what all was going on would have created an atmosphere more focused on the event. Add TV (auditory - visual media) to the situation. Continuous pouring of live scenes on TV, descriptive account on radio and detailed news and views in print media created an atmosphere which was bound to last longer than what only one of the forms of media was in operation. The atmosphere is more fueled by the availability of new media technologies which lead to a sustainable atmosphere. This persistent atmosphere transformed into an environment which had led to War on Terrorism. The combination of all forms of media has created an environment in which the behavior of societies have undergone paradigm shift. The media environment after 9/11 created due to the interconnectivity of various forms of media, which had chalked out the course of 21st century, can be summarized as:- a. Each form of media generates an atmosphere which is limited in nature and scope. b. The sustainable atmosphere in a society can only be obtained by combining more than one media forms. c. When a society is subjected to such a sustainable atmosphere than an environment is created which is primarily driven by combination of different forms of media. d. The study of behavior of societies in such a media environment is the essence of media ecology. The importance of relationship between different forms of media cannot be denied as is evident from above discussion. But the most complex/ complicated factor in media ecology is "human being". Human beings are living in a society and thus are thinking / behaving as per their societal grooming. Important point to remember is that media ecology is the making of human beings and it is not vice versa. Therefore, there has to be predisposed perception about media in the human beings living in a particular society. To understand this aspect we should understand the principles of media literacy which are (Literacy Resource Guide, 1989):- a. All media are constructions. These constructions are made to understand a point / event. Moreover these are made in consonance with the opinion of an individual or group of people and may help in making an opinion but should not be taken as the only opinion. b. The media construct reality. Therefore, at times the reality might not be productive. c. Audiences negotiate meaning in media. Each individual has his own perception about life. This is as per his experience in life, his interaction in the society living in and the opportunities he has in his life. It will be these factors which will greatly influence the understanding of what media is communicating to him. A relevant example is that of terrorist. Irrespective what ever we say about terrorist acts it is his ability to negotiate the meaning as per his perceptions which will matter in the end. d. Media have commercial implications. It has to work and thus be financially viable entity. These commercial implications at times compromise the facts even at the cost of the generation of negative environment. e. Media contain ideological and value messages. These messages thus reinforce the existing environment and do not bring about change. That is to say audience negotiates the meaning as per their understanding. From above it is evident that environment created by media is basically restricted due to the above five principles. In other words, it is the already existing perception of an individual that would let him interpret from media environment rather than media environment molding his behavior. This point of view is valid when we are taking an individual of a society and subject him to media environment. But what if society as a whole is subjected to it As both the elements under discussion are complex i.e. human society and media environment we should try to understand their complexity to establish the relationship resultantly understanding media ecology. Human society constitutes many colors of life. It includes sociological, physical, cultural, political and economical etc factors. To simplify, we can tie up these entire factor into a terminology as "psychological aspects". Unfortunately the world is not at all homogenous as far as these "psychological aspects" are concerned. Resultantly we are living in a world of multi faceted societies. These societies have developed their psychological aptitude over a period of time as per their experience of physical and social environment. When media environment enveloped these societies the outcome / reaction was bound to be different for different societies. To understand this complexity we suppose that the world consist of three types of societies having different psychological make up as they had been nurturing in different physical and social environment. We call them P1, P2 and P3. Since these societies have developed there psychological make up because of different environments they are living in, therefore to be conscious of the role of these environment we say that the societies are at present the product of their existing psychological make up and the existing environment. We call these environments in three different societies as E1, E2 and E3. Remember that at this point of time we are considering these societies as isolated i.e. non interactive with each other. So these three hypothetical societies can then be best defined as P1E1, P2E2 and P3E3. Here we introduce the next complexity i.e. media environment, call it M. If we keep the M as constant that is the media environment to which the societies are exposed to is same then there are two possibilities:- a. All societies merge with the M and transform into a new society over a period of time like P1E1M, P2E2M and P3E3M. b. Second possibility is that these societies interact with each other. In that case there can be numerous possibilities. As each society is different it will take the impact of M differently. When they interact with each other either one of them dominates the other or they share their behavior and adjust or evolve to form a new society altogether. We should also not forget that the media environment is in itself the outcome of sum of six forms as mentioned earlier. Also all the societies might not be subjected to all six forms or even if all six forms are present their quality might vary from one society to other. This would add to innumerable possibilities to a and b above. Before we go on to what is held in future for us in existing media environment following conclusions must be kept in mind:- a. Media environment is a combination of six different forms of media. b. These forms are having their own sphere of influence but their influence increase exponentially if they are used in complementary way. c. Media environment at times is individually interpreted as per the perception. d. Media environment can have a societal change only when it reaches and penetrates individual perception of bulk of individuals in society. e. The relation ship between human beings/ societies and media environment will be complex. f. Due to complex nature of the interaction any change in the media environment will not be as existing environment plus one change. Instead, it will be a paradigm shift as a minor change in a complex system tends to bring major changes. (Chaos Theory). As McLuhan, speaking of the changes technology brings to society noted that, "it is the framework itself that changes with technology, and not just the picture within the frame." The near future of human society interaction with media environment does not seem to be very bright. There is completely lack of even distribution of media forms through out the world. There are societies which are subjected to full spectrum of media environment e.g. western societies. On the other hand there are societies which are not subjected to even the most primitive media form e.g. African continent. This situation will stretch the world into three categories. There will be societies progressing and developed. These societies will be living in a true world of media ecology. Since they will have an access to all forms of media there opinion will be molded and they will be driven as a society by media environment. The second type will be the ones totally opposite to the first type. They will be primitive and under developed. These societies neither know nor do they have an access to any form of media. These societies although might be backward but will be living on live and let live policy. Therefore, they will not be of any consequence for the first type. To what ever media environment they will be subjected to will be hardly enough to bring the change. The third type is in the middle of the two mentioned above. These types have a limited access to the media forms. They are capable of generating a media environment of own but are also unable to guard against the media environment generated by first type. The accessibility of highly developed media environment in the third category of society will not only side line the media environment of the third category but will also influence the society as a whole. From here it will be difficult to proceed on the lines of domino effect. The situation can take any turn for good or for worse. It will depend on the flexibility and adaptability of all societies. References Dictionary, Ask.com [On Line] http://www,ask.com/refernce/dictionary/ahdict/66187/ecology 7 Jan 2007 World Bank Glossary, [On Line] http://www1.worldbank.org/disted/glossary.html 7 Jan 2007 De Zepetnek,T, Web Journal , Toward a Framework of Audience Studies [On Line], 6 Jan 07 Meyrowitz, J. "Taking McLuhan and medium theory' seriously: technological change and the evolution of education"; In Stephen T. Kerr (ed.), Technology and the Future of Schooling. Ninety-fifth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II. Chicago, IL: The National Society for the Study of Education, 1996, p. 80. McLuhan, M. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, 1964, p. 219. Lias, E.J. Future Mind. Boston: Little, Brown, 1982. Literacy Resource Guide Ontario, Ministry of Education 1989 pp 8-9 Read More