Part 1: What were 2 points from this week’s reading that stood out to you as particularly important and/or interesting? Why so?
According to Marc Prensky from Media and Society by Michael O'Shaughnessy, Jane Stadler, and Sarah Casey, there are two digital users that Marc Prensky divided: "digital immigrants" and "digital natives". Marc Prensky described them as "two tribes", and he explained that the users under twenty-five, between twenty-five and forty which is "digital natives" have grown up with computers, video games, and the internet so they have no fear of these technologies and technologies are the sources that help them gain entertainment, information and communication. In contrast, for "digital immigrants", technologies are not familiar in the beginning for them, such as older people, tend to be afraid and avoid using technologies but it does no matter when they put their effort into it, the "technophobes" will eliminate. These interesting divides help readers know well about 2 distinct generation.
References
O’shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J., & Casey, S. (2016). Media & Society (6th ed., pp. 109–111). Oxford University Press.
In the book Understanding the Media by Devereux with a chapter titled Media Globalization, he summarized the definition of globalization under four main headings which he followed from Sklair (1999). First is the Global Society approach suggests that we all live in a society with common concerns and possibilities. It highlights the increasing awareness of global phenomena in everyday life and how media plays a key role in raising global awareness. Second is the Global Culture approach argues that cultural homogenization is increasing globally, with diverse societies participating in a new global experience. Third is the World System approach position divides the world into core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral societies, exploiting economies exploited by the capitalist system. Media hardware parts are produced in peripheral societies to meet consumer demand in core societies. Fourth is the Global Capitalism approach posits that capitalism's globalization is primarily driven by transnational corporations. This globalization is influenced by consumerism, promoted by media industries through advertising, sponsorship, and product endorsement, highlighting desirable lifestyles in various media settings. This is important information that lets the reader clearly what is globalization.
References
Devereux, E. (2014). Understanding the Media (3rd ed., pp. 59–67). SAGE.
Part 2: What are hot and cool media?
Hot and Cool media: Hot media is defined as low participation. It means that the audience does not need to get high attention and full engagement in the text because the hot media itself already has plenty of sensory data. While cool media is high in participation which means the sensory data is less valuable the audience needs to get high concentration in the context to be fully aware the context is trying to convey its meaning. Starosielski (2021) adds more weight to this idea by examining the cultural aspects of temperature in the context of media and emphasising how heat and cold may be utilised as tools of subjugation, control, and communication.
References
Starosielski, N. (2021). Media Hot and Cold. Duke University Press EBooks, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478021841-001
In your own words, what does “technological determinism” mean?
"Technological determinism'': As I understand it, technological determinism is the assumption that all technological media is something that will influence changes in society and life, rather than life controlling the function of technology. This speaks to the social dependence and disposition of technology through forms of communication. Similarly, the fact that communication technology communicates in many different directions will cause social life to have different developments.
Marshall McLuhan and Raymond Williams famously disagreed about the power of media technology to shape society. What were their positions? Who do you agree with more?
In view of the power of technology shaping the shape of life, Mc Luhan is a technological determinist, meaning that all changes in today's society are entirely due to technology getting involved. But Raymond Williams challenges the idea that technology is deterministic by emphasizing how human action and cultural usage shape technical advancement (Potts 2011). Raymond believes that the development and shaping of society also depend on many other things such as free will, political system, financial structure, and social-economic factors. So he thinks that Mc Luhan is only looking at one side of the shaping of society, which is technology, while there are many other things that determine social life. In my opinion, I completely agree with Williams' opinion because the shape of society is not only shaped by the development of technology but is only one part of many other important factors that also affect its current society.
References
Potts, L. (2011). Balancing McLuhan With Williams. International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development, 3(2), 53–57. https://doi.org/10.4018/jskd.2011040105
