Week9 lecture notes com325

Week 9 Lecture Notes COM325
Personal Connections: chapter 2
Blogging: Chap 2 (pages 50 – 57); chapter 3 (pages 82 - 86)
Everybody Writes: Part Four (pages 160- 178)

SocialForces
InfluenceNew
Technology
 We see new technolgy depicted in movies and on TV
 We read about new tech in news and from friends
 People (always) fear the impact of tech on children
 Communication about technology is
 reflective (tell about the communicator and about the
technology)
 productive (generate meaning, new uses for the tech, and
even new tech)
 Examples:
 Invention of telegraph was inspired by urban myth about
“sympathetic needles” that allowed people to communicate
instantly across distance.
 Hypertext was theorized in 1965 by Jurgen Habermas.
 In 1945 a science advisor for President Roosevelt said a new
device was needed to store info that could be easily access
published info

consequences
ofnewmedia
 How people explain the consequences of new media:
technical forces, social forces, or a combo.
 19th Century Americans responded to new technologies
in 2 ways:
 utopian: Tech will bring families together
 dystopian: media will create substitute relationships.
 People feared the telephone would replace visiting.
 People feared the Internet is a marriage wrecker.
 The Internet is depicted as causing social isolation.
Internet and video game users were called junkies or
said to be addicted.

3theoriesabout
theconsequences
ofnewmedia
 Technological Determinism
 When media are new, there is a strong tendency to
view media as causal agents (humans have no power to
resist!).
 Social Construction of Technology
 A view that people are the primary forces of change in
both technology and society
 Social shaping Perspective
 Sees technology and society as continually influencing
one another.

Domestication
oftechnology
 At some point the public accepts and works with new
technology without all the hand wringing about its
impact. The ordinary becomes invisible.
 As time passes, people stop questioning technology and
tech becomes a part of everyday life.
 New technology moves from wild to tame
 New Tech becomes everyday objects embedded in the
practices of daily life.
 Domestication determines where to place devices and
who gets to use them.
 The Internet and mobile phones have been
domesticated.

Technological
Determinism
 Machines change us. We are a passive recipient
transformed by an outside force.
 Focuses on authenticity of identity and the well-being
of relationships
 Popular visions of technology tend toward technological
determinism in history
 Technology is feared until it is used
 Greeks feared writing: Writing would kill memory.
 McLuhan said the “medium is the message” meaning
technologies characteristics are transferred to those
who use them (impact-imprint)

Social
Constructionof
Technology(SCOT)
 Focuses on how tech arises from social processes
 Humans are the agents of change
 New tech comes from
 1- Inventors responding to needs
 2 -Investors who provide resources
 3 - Competitors who drive development
 4 - Government agencies 5-users shape how tech develops
 SCOT focuses on the process of adoption and how the uses
of the technology affect adoption.
 Telegraph, radio, refrigerator, and Internet are all tech re-
envisioned and transformed by the users.
 Costs, access, availability, and marketing affect adoption
of technology.

TheSocial
Influence Theory
 Janet Fulk, 1993. The theory focuses on the influence
of peers on a person’s perception and use of media.
 New media causes fear of moral decline.
 Example: movies were suspected to use subliminal
messages to affect behavior. The Internet brings
cyberbullies and sexual predators.
 Statistic do not support this fear of moral decline.
 Moral Panic: Anxieties over uncontrollable social forces
become the focus of efforts to understand a new
cultural trend.

SocialShaping
ofTechnology
 Middle ground in the theories about how new
technologies interact with society
 Posits that people, technology, and institutions all have
power to influence the development and use of
technology.
 This theory see consequences of technology for social
life as emergent.

ThePublic
Sphere
 Ideal democratic space for rational debate among
informed citizens
 The idea of public sphere came from the liberal,
capitalistic society in the 18th and 19th centuries.
 Came from cultures of open debate in coffee shops of
large European cities
 World War II marked the decline of public sphere
 Radio and TV were said to have killed the public
sphere because broadcasting is one-way with no
serious feedback from the audience.
 Today the audience is not passive.
 We have increased participation through social media
and mobile phones

Socialmediaand
blogginginthe
publicsphere
 When we blog we publically proclaim our network.
 Publically articulated relationships have 4
characteristics.
 1-persistence: info is recorded and accessed later
 2-searchability: people can find the info
 3-replicability: the photos and info can be copied
 4-invisible audiences: You do not know who will read
your profile or information. A later audience may see
your info out of context.
 Social media results in colliding networks.

Dangersfor
bloggers
 Blogger should understand attribution.
 Information should be properly cited
 Seek permission to use information
 Accidental plagiarism can result when information is
not properly connected to original sources.
 Failing to cite the source of info hurts the reputation of
the blogger
 Copyright infringement is expensive: From $200 to
$150,000 for each infringement and the infringer pays
attorney fees and court costs.

Content
Curation
 Information found, collected, and organized using
technology to which new info is added to present fresh
content.
 Curation means getting the info from somewhere else,
not of one’s own creation.
 Credit the original sources to avoid copyright
violations.
 Do not use much from the original source without
permission.

References
 Baym, N. (2015). Personal connections in the digital
age (2nd ed). Malden, MA: Polity Press.
 Handley, A. (2014). Everybody writes: Your go-to guide
to creating ridicoulsly good content (2nd ed.). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
 Rettberg. J.W., (2013). Blogging (2nd ed). Malden,
MA: Polity Press.

Week9 lecture notes com325

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Week9 lecture notes com325