This lesson introduces media as tools for storing and sharing information, then explores how technologies have changed the ways people communicate. It also explains technophilia and how the printing press expanded the reach of written communication.
At the most basic level, media are tools for storing and sharing information. A medium can help preserve a message and make it available to other people, whether nearby or far away. Cave paintings, writing systems, books, radios, and mobile phones can all serve as media because they help people communicate meaning.
All flashcards
What are media in the basic sense?
Media are tools for storing and sharing information. They can preserve messages and make them available to others.
What is technophilia?
Technophilia is the embrace of technologies and their incorporation into many parts of life, especially social life.
What distinguishes mass media from basic media?
Mass media use technology to distribute communication to a potentially very large number of receivers.
Why can locally produced films attract audiences despite limited production resources?
They may engage with familiar desires, fears, identities, norms, and values.
How did Bollywood's themes change as the industry developed?
Films more often depicted professional, highly educated, and affluent characters rather than working-class and marginalized people.
Quiz questions
What distinguishes mass media from communication between one sender and a small number of receivers?Answer: Mass media use technology to reach a potentially very large number of receivers.
How can cultural context affect a media message?Answer: It can shape the message's themes and influence how audiences interpret it.
Why may Ghanaian video films appeal to local audiences despite rough editing and uneven production values?Answer: They can address familiar local concerns, identities, norms, and values.
According to anthropologist Tejaswini Ganti, what wider change was connected to Bollywood's development?Answer: Economic shifts in the 1990s and growing emphasis on global trade and middle-class consumerism.
Which change in film characters accompanied Bollywood's development?Answer: Films more often featured affluent, highly educated professionals.
Based on Introduction to Anthropology by Jennifer Hasty, David G. Lewis, Marjorie M. Snipes (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.