Special Topics In Communications

Communication is defined as creating symbol systems that can be used to exchange and express information and meanings. The different ways that individuals, groups and societies use these expressions to make sense of daily life is know as their culture. Culture itself can be divided into two classifications. Culture spelled with a capital C is usually associated with art such as classical music, opera, ballet and art museums. These examples can also be called “high culture”. Culture with a lowercase c represents the way people live through fashion, sports, religion, education and history.

Each culture is a different audience. Mass media takes the audience in consideration to provide information that is relevant to them. Media will target people based on age, gender and race to produce programming or text that each will relate to.

When the popular teen drama Dawson’s Creek first aired in 1997, I was 17. The program was intended to reach out to my age group on issues that were important to us. For about a year and a half I was a Dawson’s Creek expert, knowing in detail about the characters and the storylines. Soon after high school I grew restless with the show. I realized it no longer appealed to me because I had grown out of the show. The same network has since come out with programs for the college age group that I now watch. Networks know that they must change just as fast as their audience to keep them.

There are many types of mass media today that are available to a large number of people on a daily basis. Sources of mass media and mass communications include newspapers, movies, television programs, radio, books and magazines. Of these mediums, the Internet is the fast growing type of mass communication.

I first began using America Online in 1999 for chat rooms. I would go in the rooms and talk to people my age that lived in my area. It was a new way to communicate with people about whatever I wanted. I then noticed people using the chat rooms for a source of spreading their ideas about racism, sexism and general malaise. I believe that most output from the Internet is positive. The Internet is a convenient tool for education, news, entertainment, business and personal communication. Although with a resource with large, hate groups are also going to try and spread their message to the masses.