Communication, New Media and Everyday Life

by Chalkley, Tony; Brown, Adam; Cinque, Toija; Warren, Brad; Hobbs, Mitchell; Finn, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780195572322
• ISBN10: 0195572327
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The aim of this text is to use stories to describe and explain the journey from 'new media in communication' to 'new media is communication.' In so doing it provides a thorough grounding in communication and new media theory and practice for undergraduate students. The premise that for generation Y and Z, new media can no longer be easily distinguished from communication underpins the text; for them, new media is communication. It therefore encourages the reader to understand how they use 'new' media to do 'old' things. The first section of the book introduces the reader to the building blocks of communication; its basic tools, devices and approaches. The second section takes the ideas and concepts in the first part and applies them to 'new' media. Covered here are topics including ideology in film and television, organisational communication, values in the new digital world and how identity, privacy, deception and truth have been redefined. The third and final part looks at communication today; exploring what it might be like to live in an increasingly digital world.

Author Biography

Tony Chalkley, Lecturer and Discipline Coordinator (Media & Communication), School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin University.Adam Brown, Associate Lecturer, School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin University.Toija Cinque, Lecturer, School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin University.Brad Warren, Lecturer, School of Communication & Creative Arts, Deakin University.Mitchell Hobbs, Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Science, The University of NewcastleMark Finn, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Life and Social Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Media and Society
1. Introduction: What exactly is communication? (basic devices, tools and approaches to 'how we say what it is we have to say')
2. What exactly is media and what is 'new' in new media
3. Subtext, hidden meaning and subliminal messages. Are we really just mass media sponges?
4. 'Tell me a story!' The function of narrative and communication tools in everyday life
5. Non verbal Communication. Why are you acting so defensively?
6. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to apologise. Gender and communication, why and how men and women communicate and why is this 'Mars and Venus' stuff so popular?
7. The role of advertising in designing desire; how do the advertising people use communication to make us want stuff - introducing the idea of semiotics
8. Semiotics - making meaning from signs and symbols
9. Postmodernism. Hyperreality and Simulacra, with a theoretical emphasis on Jameson and Baudrillard.
Part 2: Content and Culture
10. Ideology and Meaning in Film: Life in Surround Sound
11. Organisational/professional communication; some models for understanding the world of work
12. Values, ideals and power in the brave new digital world
13. Constructed reality - dating, selling, deception and crime. What's 'real' now days?
Part 3: Communication and Control
14. 'Be nice or I'll delete you': Social networking and the transformation of social norms
15. Gaming and Gamers
16. Has Captain Jack Sparrow got an i-pod? Piracy, creativity and ownership in the digital age
17. Why is everybody staring? Surveillance society is here to stay
18. Is 'new' media producing 'new' form of semiotics? Reality TV and the construction of self. What would Michel Foucault do if he was in the big brother house?
19. Conclusion; are we 'less' or 'more' in the digital age?