Mid-term Review COM 327 February 26, 2013

1. Mid-term ReviewCOM 327February 26, 2013

2. Strategies… For studying: For writing:

3. Theoretical Foundations #1:Communication as Culture James Carey. “A cultural approach to communication.” Key concepts: • Ritual vs transmission model of communication Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society Political Economy

4. Communication as Culture Carey’s theories were rooted in media & cultural studies. Raymond Williams: “Culture is ordinary” – culture is what we do every day. Culture is created through communication. Marshall McLuhan: “Medium is the message” – the ‘content’ of communication is inseparable from the media used to deliver it. Erving Goffman: “Dramaturgical” view of communication – we perform different versions of our selves under different communicational contexts (e.g. at work vs at school vs at the game) Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society Political Economy

5. Theoretical Foundations #2:New Media Henry Jenkins. “The cultural logic of media convergence.” Key concepts: • Convergence • Participatory culture Matt Ratto. “Critical making: Conceptual and material studies in technology and social life.” Key concepts: • Critical making Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society Political Economy

6. New Media The study of ‘mass’ media is defined by concerns for what effects” the messages will have on audiences. The study of ‘Web 2.0’ technologies is defined by how different groups of society use specific digital tools in specific ways... We not only consume culture, we participate in & help construct it. Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society Political Economy

7. Identity & Representation #1:Reading Culture Stuart Hall. “Encoding/decoding.” Key concepts: • Cultural studies • Encoding/decoding • Dominant/hegemonic vs counter-hegemonic reading Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

8. Reading Culture Hall used Marxist theory (society is characterized by struggle between ruling elite & working classes) to frame communication as a political struggle over meaning. 1) Mass media serves the ruling class, BUT - 2) People have the power to interpret media in ways that do not align with, and can be resistant to, the dominant ideology. Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

9. Identity & Representation #2Cinema and the Gaze Laura Mulvey. “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.” Key concepts: • the male gaze • feminist theory Alexander Doty. “Introduction” to Flaming Classics Key concepts: • queer theory • sex vs gender • heteronormativity • homoeroticism Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

10. Cinema and the Gaze Mainstream media is deeply heteronormative: • historically made for male pleasure • dominated by heterosexual relationships Just like people in real life, we should not assume characters are straight just because they act straight. Queer and feminist readings provide means for marginalized & oppressed groups to identify with mainstream media. Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

11. Identity & Representation #3:Colonialism & Imperialism KA Ono & DT Buescher. “Deciphering Pocahontas: Unpacking the commodification of a Native American woman.” Key concepts: • Cipher • Cultural imperialism • Appropriation • Noble savage • Commodification Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

12. Colonialism & Imperialism Mainstream media commodifies racial & ethnic identities, historical figures & practices Reel Injun: Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans through the years says less about Native Americans, and more about the dominant (white) culture’s changing views on American history, colonization, and progress Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

13. Identity & Representation #4:Playing with Ourselves Helen Kennedy “Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo?” Key concepts: • Playing asvs playing with an avatar • Interactivity (games) vs viewing (tv/movies) Tanner Higgin “Blackless Fantasy” Key concepts: • Race & ethnicity as avatar “color choice” in games Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

14. Playing with Ourselves Commercial games, like other mainstream media, reflect dominant ideological understandings & stereotypes about race and gender But since games are INTERACTIVE, ‘avatars’ become powerful tools for reflecting on & performing identities (i.e. Kennedy’s notion that the guy playing as Lara in Tomb Raider becomes “in drag” or “transgendered”) Identity & Representation Theoretical Foundations Surveillance Society Political Economy

15. Surveillance Society #1:Watching Me Watching You Mark Andrejevic. “Surveillance in the digital enclosure.” Key concepts: • ‘cloud’ vs ‘enclosure’ • Surveillance society • Panopticon Surveillance Society Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Political Economy

16. Watching Me Watching You In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Michel Foucault wrote that the modern individual is so used to being watched because s/he watches themselves, constantly. ‘The cloud’ separates us from our data & commodifies it. We don’t ‘own’ our data any more and have little say over who / what it is sold to. Surveillance Society Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Political Economy

17. Surveillance Society #2:‘I Agree’ F. Chee, N. Taylor & S. de Castell. “Remediating research ethics.” Key concepts: • Big Data • EULA • Digital literacy Surveillance Society Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Political Economy

18. ‘I Agree’ End User License Agreements typically contain clauses that say that the company (Google, Facebook, Blizzard, etc) can give data collected on & about you away to a “third party” without your knowledge. What does “digital literacy” mean under these kinds of conditions? Why is digital literacy itself not much of a solution? Surveillance Society Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Political Economy

19. Political Economy #1:Political Economy and Mass Media Dallas Smythe. “On the audience commodity and its work.” Key concepts: • Consciousness industry RW McChesney. “Global media, neoliberalism, and imperialism.” Key concepts: • Neoliberalism • Corporate ownership of media Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

20. Political Economy and Mass Media Neoliberalism is the ideology that says that all aspects of society (education, healthcare, law, etc) should be dictated by market forces, aka “the bottom line”. The concentration of media ownership in a small number of huge companies is a serious threat to democracy. Means that whether in entertainment or news, only the views of the dominant/ruling class are communicated. Smythe argued that we are doing ‘work’ on behalf of corporations by watching tv commercials. In the economic relationship between tv producers, advertisers, and viewers, the audience is the commodity. Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

21. Political Economy #2:Working for Play N. Dyer-Witherford & G. de Peuter. “‘EA Spouse’ and the crisis of video game labour.” Key concepts: • Immaterial labor • Affective labor • Precarious labor • Playbor Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

22. Working for Play New media industries (like lots of forms of work) demand that workers put in extra time, work longer hours, represent the company when they’re not working, and ‘love their job’. The shift from material labor to immaterial labor means that jobs are less secure, workers have fewer rights, and corporations are less accountable to their workers than in the past. Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

23. Political Economy #3:Global Haves and Have-nots Lisa Nakamura. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Key concepts: • Gold farming • Racialization L. Guo, S-H Hsu, A. Holton & S.H. Jeong. “A case study of the Foxconn suicides. • Framing Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

24. Global Haves and Have-nots Both ‘gold farming’ and the attention to the Foxconn suicides emphasize how our leisure (games, smartphones, etc) depends on the precarious, dangerous and often ‘invisible’ labor of workers on the other side of the world. Nakamura’s work shows how online gaming becomes “racialized”, as Western players mock & dehumanize “Chinese” gold farmers. The Foxconn piece shows how corporate-owned media outlets frame them less as an issue about globalization & labor, and more about China’s human rights & the mental health of workers. Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

25. Political Economy #4:Let’s be Friends Christian Fuchs. “The political economy of privacy on Facebook.” Key concepts: • Liberal vs Contextual Privacy Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

26. Let’s be Friends Facebook relies on the unpaid (and ‘affective’) labor of users Facebook (like MMOGs) require individual users to protect themselves from harm & surveillance Political Economy Theoretical Foundations Identity & Representation Surveillance Society

27. Question Set #1: • - Theoretical Foundations • - Identity & Representation • Convergence • Participatory culture • Critical making • Cultural studies • Encoding/decoding • Dominant vs counter-hegemonic reading • Male gaze • Feminist theory • Queer theory • Sex vs gender • Heteronormativity • Homoeroticism • Cipher • Cultural imperialism • Noble savage • Commodification • Interactivity vs viewing • Question Set #2: • - Surveillance Society • - Political Economy • ‘Cloud’ vs ‘enclosure’ • Surveillance society • Panopticon • Big Data • EULA • Digital literacy • Consciousness industry • Neoliberalism • Corporate ownership of media • Immaterial labor • Affective labor • Precarious labor • Playbor • Gold farming • Racialization • Framing • Liberal vs Contextual Privacy

28. In groups: Choose 4 terms -- 2 from each side. For each term: Define the term in your own words State what main author(s) it’s associated with State what other terms & concepts it is related to (anywhere across the course) Illustrate the term with examples from everyday life & current movies/tv shows/games