媒介形态理论是“技术决定论”吗?——对媒介技术本质的再思考

对媒介的定位分歧,是媒介形态理论区别于主流传播理论的根源。媒介形态理论学者将媒介本身定位为比传播内容更重要的、影响着社会或文明发展的重要因素,被诸多学者评价为"技术决定论"。但随着社会的发展,将媒介定位为"传播载体"的主流传播学虽发掘了众多的假设与模式,却在应对宏观社会问题上捉襟见肘。媒介形态理论逐渐显示出其研究的合理性。在越来越多的学者开始关注媒介对社会和文化的影响时,媒介形态理论将媒介与内容切割,甚至是将媒介与传播切割的绝对立场开始呈现为一种理论缺陷。媒介究竟是可控的工具,还是不可控的主体?在人类社会越来越由媒介及其相关实践支撑的今天,我们不仅需要分析、审视以往学术界对媒介形态理论的批评,而且需要分析、审视媒介形态理论本身,客观评价媒介。     

媒介技术决定论的生态视角——基于媒介进化小生境理论的思考

每种新的媒介出现都给社会生活带来变化,并促发人们对媒介技术与社会关系的思考。对媒介技术与社会关系的反思,在理论上形成"硬技术决定论"和"软技术决定论"两种观点。保罗.莱文森将媒介放在人类生态的大环境中,阐释了媒介在人类生存的媒介进化小生境理论。基于媒介进化小生境理论,本文认为媒介对社会影响遵循的是生态技术决定论。技术对社会、对人类的影响依据的是技术与生态的融合情况。     

媒介化社会与新闻传播学的文化转向

媒介化社会是人人皆有的生活体验,是从媒介研究视角对现代社会所做的一种宏观概括。社会的媒介化是一个历史过程,并且与媒介技术的发展同步。作为一个预设前提,社会的媒介化是诸多新闻传播学理论的逻辑起点。网络时代的到来丰富了媒介化社会的内涵,也对当下的新闻传播学研究构成挑战。詹姆斯·凯瑞的"传播仪式观"将人类传播活动当作仪式纳入到研究视野,启发我们寻找新的研究路径,这可能最终引起新闻传播学研究的文化转向。     

超越传播——媒介在社会及社会管理中的新定位

今天,媒介的作用已不仅仅局限于信息传播,其对于社会管理的渗入和责任担当,成为学界、业界不容忽视的研究内容.特别是在强调社会管理创新的转型时期,认清媒介化社会中"媒介"的新特性和本质,并重新思考媒介在社会管理中的角色和定位,对于人类社会及媒介自身的发展都显得尤为重要.     

从电视媒介看布尔迪厄的媒介批判理论

法国社会学家布尔迪厄的“场域”理论发展了哈贝马斯公共领域理论。本文着重于用布尔迪厄的媒介批判理论解读电视对文化的影响。首先从电视行业内部循环和竞争导致的同质化论证了电视在当代社会的符号暴力特征。更进一步阐述受商业目的驱使的电视对社会文化的重构和导致的娱乐化趋势。运用布尔迪厄的理论批判看待目前电视媒介的社会影响力,并试着提出解决的途径。     

麦克卢汉媒介理论的当代道德批评

作为20世纪的媒介理论大师,麦克卢汉的媒介即讯息理论、"地球村"概念的提出,以及对媒介是人的延伸的论断和媒介四定律的论述,在当代社会有现实意义。网络媒介发达的今天,媒介面临形态变化和内容的道德批评。本文结合其理论,就当下的媒介形态文化进行道德批评。     

卢曼的后人文主义式媒介系统论

作为系统论社会思想家,卢曼基于"差异即沟通"的定位来理解广义、一般的媒介,并阐发了媒介本身作为"自创生"系统的运作原理,在此基础上解析沟通媒介的社会意义,并考察作为技术性传播系统的大众媒体运作问题。从人与媒介的系统性关系来看,卢曼的媒介-沟通-传播思想包含着去人化、将人视为系统运作而非独立自主个体、强调差异而非理性沟通的观念,是一种后人文主义式的媒介系统论。     

媒介素养与媒介

在媒介素养越来越被关注,甚至成为一种时尚的今天,人们对媒介素养的认知及其未来发展的走向正在面临着一种潜在的困惑和危机。本文将根据英国电影学院多年的研究和实践就这个问题发表了自己的看法。     

传播之“路”上的媒介技术进化与媒介形态演变

随媒介技术的进化演进而来的传播信道,始终处于人类传播活动的核心地位。从不断演进的传播信道角度可将人类社会先后出现的传播形式大体归纳为道路传播、纸路传播和电路传播,与此相对应的媒介形态就有实物媒介、纸质媒介和电子媒介。同时,在媒介技术进化的过程中既暗含着不断演变的媒介时空辩证关系,又意味着传播和媒介的含义逐渐被狭义化的必然之势。因此,本文将以传播信道演进的历史轨迹为主线,并批判地运用麦克卢汉主义的唯技术史观分析人类传播活动的时空辩证关系、梳理三种传播形式和媒介形态的演变历程。     

西方媒介意识形态批判理论的演变脉络

在西方的社会批判、文化批判和媒介批评理论中,意识形态理论以其强烈的批判性又被称之为意识形态批判理论.在过去两个世纪内,在西方的媒介及其文化批判领域,随着不同时期的学者对"意识形态"这个概念的内涵的不同阐释,先后形成了法兰克福学派、伯明翰学派、全球主义以及后现代学派等四种媒介意识形态批判理论形态.     

‘This nation under God’: The broadcast and film commission of the national council of churches and the new medium of television

Throughout American history that form of Protestantism that designates itself and is publicly conceived as “old‐time religion” has regularly been the innovator in the area of media. In stark contrast, its more staid establishment counterpart has tended to be antagonistic to these new media, dismissing them with harsh theological and aesthetic judgments. In this process, the self‐proclaimed theological conservatives actually behaved in remarkably adaptive and imaginative ways, while the self‐proclaimed liberal establishment often acted as the cultural conservator, pressing for the preservation of the status quo. This article seeks to understand why those Protestants who define themselves as “modernist” and “adaptive” have been far less successful in using the media than their conservative “anti‐modernist” counterparts. The focus is upon a case study—the reception of television by the Broadcast and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches. The conclusion is ironic: those Protestants who depended upon “modern,” “social scientific” criterion to guide their television policies fundamentally misunderstood the power of television and its impact upon society.     

Reevaluating “The End of Mass Communication?”

It is hard to imagine a more challenging arena for communication research than that presented by new media and their impact on our society. We have witnessed the fastest evolution in communication technology in human history and, along with it, the evolution of communication conceptions and theories used to assess its impact. More than a decade has passed since Chaffee and Metzger first published their intriguing article “The End of Mass Communication?” and suggested that the new media will change the notions of mass communication and, as a result, the theories used in communication research. Today, we know more about new media and its effect on communication, society, and communication theories. The present article, therefore, sets out to reassess Chaffee and Metzger's claim by describing the development of several core theories of communication research, namely the agenda-setting theory and the notions of media audiences and the Digital Divide, in light of the new media. Our review shows that the role played by communication technologies in social, cultural, political, and economic processes is as central and influential in the new media era as it was in traditional media environment and that, although theories may change to accommodate the changes of the new media environment, researchers are still dealing with the “old” issues of power and resistance, and structure and ownership.     

“互联网+”环境下档案微信建设的SWOT分析——基于全国档案微信公众号的调查

档案微信自推出以来得到越来越多的关注和利用,在“互联网+”时代也面临着前所未有的机遇和挑战。本文基于实际调研,分析了我国档案微信公众号的建设现状,并运用SWOT分析法分析了“互联网+”环境下档案微信建设的内部优势、劣势与外部机会、威胁因素,提出应充分把握时代契机,应用先进技术,明确自身定位,创新服务方式,同时克服自身不足与外部威胁,发挥社交媒体在档案工作中的最大作用。     

Re-presenting Sport: How Instant Replay and Perceived Violence Impact Enjoyment of Mediated Sports

Several long-standing theories intersect in discussing the impact of community characteristics and of the mass media. The structural pluralism model popularized by Tichenor and his colleagues says that social structure influences how mass media operate in communities because they respond to how power is distributed in the social system, whereas the linear model says that the increasing size of a community's population leads to more social differentiation and diversity and corresponding increases in subcultures with their own beliefs, customs, and behaviors. Recently, there has been a concern about how changes in society have led to a decline in organizational activity and the network of relationships and trust that constitute “social capital.” This article examines the impact of population and diversity (using census data) on individuals’ media use, interpersonal discussion and civic engagement (measured in a national survey), and the relationship among these variables. Analysis of a structural model provides evidence that the “linear hypothesis” can be combined with structural pluralism, with size—measured by population—impacting diversity, which influences the relationships that people have with their community. Concurrently, social categories influence people's communication patterns and community relationships, and communication impacts civic engagement.     

Towards an Understanding about Complexities of Alternative Media: Portrayals of Power in Alternative Media This paper was part of a larger dissertation written by the author at University of Missouri-Columbia.

In this study I conducted qualitative content analysis of alternative media in order to uncover the different categories about corporate power presented to activist audiences in social justice movements. I found that there were two dominant categories about corporate power disseminated through alternative media: (1) “traditional” corporate power and (2) hegemonic corporate power. “Traditional” corporate power is based on the idea that corporations dominate resources in society. Hegemonic corporate power is based on the idea that corporations dominate the ideological assumptions in contemporary society. Both of these categories hold significant implications for comprehension and classification of alternative media.     

Narrowmobilization and Tea Party Activism: A Study of Right-Leaning Alternative Media

Past research concerning the theoretical framework of Resistance Performance (RP) has been based on observations of liberal organizations and activists. In the following essay, we engage in a qualitative content analysis of alternative media utilized by conservative “Tea Party” activists to build on the concept of RP. Overall, we discovered that the dominant theme found in much of the content focuses on “purity,” which is considerably different from past RP research that found broad themes of “human rights,” “democracy,” “be the media,” and “principles of unity” embedded within liberal alternative media content. We conclude that the theme of “purity” gives rise to narrowmobilization, which constructs very focused protest communities within right-leaning politics.     

Social Influences on Terrestrial and Satellite Mobile-TV Adoption in Korea: Affiliation,Positive Self-Image,and Perceived Popularity

Mobile TV is a representative product of media convergence. In South Korea, the diffusion of mobile TV has been in high gear, which provides an exemplary case study of mobile-TV adoption. The study examines the relation between the social influence, adopters' individual factors, and the adoption of the 2 different forms of mobile TV: terrestrial and satellite. Factor analysis identified 3 dimensions of social influences, defined respectively as “affiliation,” “positive self-display,” and “perceived popularity.” Results suggest that these 3 social influences differ in degree in relation to the adopters' demographic characteristics and innovativeness. Adoption of terrestrial or satellite mobile TV was predicted by social influence and, in particular, driven by the motivation to maintain a positive self-image. Because of the implications this may have on media management, the article calls for future research on the social construction of new media technology use to assess how individuals become susceptible to social influences and how social influences affect the diffusion of the technology.     

Museums,Corporatism and the Civil Society

Abstract The prevailing worldview in North America is grounded in the belief that continuous economic growth is essential to individual and societal well‐being. One result of the dominance of this worldview is the rise of museum corporatism, characterized by the primacy of economic interests in institutional decision making. This paper provides a critical overview of the growing dominance of marketplace thinking in museum affairs, and argues that this market‐oriented viewpoint is enfeebling or diverting otherwise competent museums from realizing their unique strengths and opportunities as social institutions in civil society. The meaning and implications of the “civil society” are discussed with particular reference to museums, along with several examples of museums and galleries that are currently playing key roles as agents of the civil society. This paper contends that departing from the status quo of marketplace imperatives opens the door to more creative definitions of museums as social institutions. Rather than becoming more like businesses, museums must exploit their uniqueness, resisting the domination of marketplace thinking, and testing alternative means of achieving meaning and sustainability within their communities.     

弥合数字鸿沟促进数字包容:信息社会中图书馆的新使命

为落实联合国2030年可持续发展目标,国际图联与一些国际组织共同发起“图书馆致力数字包容”的共同承诺和“行动呼吁”,国内外图书馆界领导及知名专家学者就“图书馆与数字包容”进行了讨论。饶权指出,随着现代技术的发展,数字鸿沟问题日益突显。中国国家图书馆研究提出建设“全国智慧图书馆体系”的工作思路,以期引领带动各级公共图书馆全面实现智慧转型,在促进数字包容方面发挥更加积极的作用;克里斯汀·麦肯齐阐述了国际图联在支持联合国2030年议程和可持续发展目标方面的工作,特别是目标第16条:“构建和平与包容的社会,使人人享有公正,提高政府机构效率和能力,强调政府和图书馆必须成为数字包容的积极推动者”;杰拉德·莱特纳指出,促进数字包容的任何努力都需要考虑三个方面——互联、内容和能力。缺乏任何一个方面,都不可能完全实现数字包容。图书馆作为社区中心的公共空间、内容的储存空间和门户,以及经验丰富的信息素养教育者,在更广泛的政府战略中都可以发挥自己独特的作用;陈超指出,历史和现实、理论和实践早就告诉我们,公共图书馆肩负着促进人类社会包容性发展的义不容辞的使命。为此公共图书馆必须承担起“弥合数字鸿沟,促进数字包容”的社会责任,让每一个人有机会上网、为每一个人赋能、让每一个人能平等获取信息知识;吴建中认为,我国图书馆界应积极配合国际图联的呼吁与倡议,并发出我国图书馆界强有力的声音。第一,大力宣传我国在保障公民获取基本公共文化服务权益方面的政策及举措。第二,积极推广互联网和数字技术在图书馆的应用。第三,继续提升媒介和信息素养服务的质量;于良芝从个人信息世界的概念出发思考数字鸿沟现象及图书馆的作用,揭示了数字鸿沟的复杂性及社会包容与数字包容的互为条件性,认为这为公共图书馆参与数字包容建设开辟了更广阔的空间;肖珑表示,支持国际图联(IFLA)关于数字包容声明的提出,中国高校图书馆应清醒地认识到信息贫富分化问题的存在,并努力缩小地区差距,保护不同群体利益,促进高等教育的内涵式发展;阿曼达·里德与金·汤普森认为,当危机、变革和挑战来临之际,也是我们努力前行之时,并以一所美国图书馆为例,显示了在新冠疫情这样的危机面前,公共图书馆如何满足当地居民需要,支持社区朝着更加数字包容的社会可持续地发展;金武刚认为,图书馆应当加强科普功能,开发新媒体产品,融入公共传播平台,帮助社会民众辨别网络信息真伪,查询获取正确信息,解决数字包容深层次问题;吴丹与刘静基于技术环境变化的背景,以人与技术的交互为焦点,从“技术→人”与“人→技术”两条路径对数字包容内涵进行扩展并提出了图情领域工作的发展策略。     

Radio,TV and literacy in Mexico

When radio and television are touted as the “greatest media for education” or the “promoting of social change” that the world has ever known, the need of the developing countries of the world for these media is often cited. It is probable that most citizens of the United States think of “developing nations” as those newly‐formed countries of Asia and Africa whose political, social and economic problems often are featured in the day's news reports. However, there are more than a score of developing nations in the western hemisphere, and one of these is right at the back door of the U. S. This country, Mexico, has been using radio and television effectively for a major literacy program since 1965, and the following article describes that program. Dennis Lowry is a doctoral candidate in mass communication in the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Information for this article was gathered during a six‐week study trip to Mexico in the summer of 1968.