MCommToday

Power in the Information Age involves the capacity to govern big data, network infrastructures and platforms to modify attitudes and belief systems… Over the last two decades, with the onset of the information and communication technologies (ICTs), social scholars believe that humanity has reached a new era called the Information Age or the Digital Age. The Information Age began with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989 by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee and has surged forward and evolved with the invention of personal computers and other digital devices by companies like Microsoft and Apple, thus permitting access to information easier, faster, and available to a wider user, a global one. The Information Age is continuously changing, pervasive in nature, and is characterized by a global turn in power relations (Flor, 2009). Access to information and, as a result, to communication and media is considered power in the Information Age. Power in the Informa...

   Multimedia can be defined as the synergy of content forms such as texts, audio, animation, video and others: a combination of different forms of content into a single presentation and is also delivered electronically… The term "multimedia" was first introduced by singer and artist Bob Goldstein to promote the opening of his show called "Lightworks at L'Oursin" on July 1966 at Southampton, Long Island. Since then, the term and context of multimedia has taken on various meanings, including presentations that consist of multi-projector slide shows, timed to an audio track. Multimedia can be defined as the synergy of content forms such as texts, audio, animation, video and others: a combination of different forms of content into a single presentation and is also delivered electronically. Multimedia differs a lot from media that utilizes only basic computer displays like static content, wherein texts are only displayed, or the traditional printed material such as...

The Internet has radically transformed the media and communication landscape. This was made possible because of the integration of various technologies… Toward the end of the twentieth century, the rise of the Internet gave way to the era in which most people have the means to access a massive flow of information. Considered the most popular expression of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the Internet can be simply defined as a worldwide system of computer networks, a sort of interconnected ‘network of networks’ that transmits data by means of packet switching using the standard internet protocol (IP). The Internet has radically transformed the media and communication landscape. This was made possible because of the integration of various technologies that paved the way for the invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio and computer. The Internet, in fact, has a worldwide reach and offers a dynamic structure for communication and information creation and disse...

The ComDev model aims to deal with the imperative problem of lack of participation of the poor in their own development. ComDev involves comprehending the culture and beliefs that shape the life of people… Communication for Development (ComDev) involves a participatory communication approach that aims to harness the goals, effects and sustainability of development projects, allowing for knowledgeable decision making, information sharing, stakeholders awareness and engagement. ComDev is needed to introduce more inclusive communication services by associating participatory approaches that employ media and digital solutions that can be used by farmers and rural communities. The ComDev model aims to deal with the imperative problem of lack of participation of the poor in their own development. ComDev involves comprehending the culture and beliefs that shape the life of people, their values and immediate surroundings. The ComDev approach also involves engaging communities and i...

Cultivation theory suggests that long term exposure to television can cause media users to presume that reality reflects the steadfast, contorted and often violent messages the television usually depicts… Cultivation theory was developed by Hungarian-American communication scholar George Gerbner in the 1960s. Cultivation theory posits that media users’ views of reality are affected by long term exposure to media channels, most specially by the television. The theory also suggests that because of the long term exposure to television, media users presume that reality reflects the steadfast, contorted and often violent messages the television usually depicts. Gerbner coined the term “Mean World Syndrome”, which outlines how high TV exposure makes media users consider the world as more treacherous than it really is. The important concepts of the Cultivation theory are the following: . Television as storyteller of modern society : cultivation theory suggests that the TV has become th...

In his Prison Notebooks , Antonio Gramsci analyzed the powerful role of the media and popular culture in the creation of cultural hegemony by the political and economic elite over the… Hegemony came from the Greek word hegemonia, dominance over, which was employed to characterize relations between city/states. It was the Italian communist and theorist Antonio Gramsci who developed the concept of cultural hegemony in the 1930s. His discussions about hegemony were focused to comprehend the survival of the capitalist state in the most developed Western countries. Hegemony, according to Gramsci, is the process through which the political and economic elites maintain power over the subordinate groups not only by coercion or force but by means of instilling their (the elite) societal worldviews in institutions like education, religion and,  most of all,  the media.  Antonio Gramsci suggested that the elite’s worldview is pervasive in all types of institutions, making their b...

While in the past, communication was considered a simple transmission of a message from the source to the receiver by means of a channel, over the years more theories emerged, underlining the intricacies of communication interactions… Communication theories are valuable frameworks that help both scholars and communicators to understand relationships between the components of the communication process. Furthermore, these theories can help systematize information and explicate complex communication interactions. It is vital to have knowledge of the key types of communication theories to be able to understand, study and improve communication in various contexts and at all levels. Awareness of communication theories not only can help communicators and organizations design effective and successful information campaigns but can also help people become good communicators. Key Types of Communication Theories . Media Richness Theory (MRT) - developed in the 1980’s by Richard L. Daft and Robe...