Week 11 Media Culture Class

This week class can be said is not boring as most of the time is just watch video clips. Beside that, the video clip is quite interesting too. The university that show in the video clip is very fun and cool as every student get a new PDA to use. There are many functions too. It is really fun.

Possibility To Reshape New Culture Via New Technology

From my opinion, I think that new culture can be reshaped through new technology. This is because our lives are always affect by the things around us. People always invent new technology to upgrade our living standard. Culture can be said as the way we live. The purpose of creating new technology is to improve our livestyle, so sure we will use it. After that, we will get use to the new technology if it is useful, and obselete the old technology. People always tend to get an easier lifestyle to live. As this going on, our culture will be influenced by it too. Some old and trouble culture will become unnecessary and being forced out.

Culture Influences Through Technology

Nowsaday, our technology has become very advance as many countries invent many new technology to increase our standard of lives. As the new technology appear, our culture will get affect by it too.
In this world, the letter culture is slowly become extinct because of the invention of email. Last time, the old generation always write letters to each other to communicate with their freinds and family. After the email appear in public's life, many people start to use email to communicate. Email is faster because we no need to wait for the posmen to send the letter. We also can save the money as we no need to buy the stamp for sending the letter.
Besides that, last time people likes to find pen-pal and write letter for them but now we can easily get new friends from the internet. This is also the contribution of technology.

Week 10 Media Culture Class

This week, I have watched a very boring video clip titled "The Power Of Nightmare". I feel very sleepy because I cannot understand what this video clip is talking about. I hope next time no need to watch this kind of video clip.

Media Imperialism

In the documantary titled "The Power of Nightmares (Part-3 Shadow In The Caves)" shown in the class, this episode addresses the actual rise of al-Qaeda. Curtis argues that, after their failed revolutions, bin Laden and Zawahiri had little or no popular support, let alone a serious complex organisation of terrorists, and were dependent upon independent operatives to carry out their new call for jihad. The film instead argues that in order to prosecute bin Laden in absentia for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings, US prosecutors had to prove he was the head of a criminal organisation responsible for the bombings. They find a former associate of bin Laden, Jamal al-Fadl, and pay him to testify that bin Laden was the head of a massive terrorist organisation called "al-Qaeda". With the September 11th attacks, Neo-Conservatives in the new Republican government of George W. Bush use this created concept of an organisation to justify another crusade against a new evil enemy, leading to the launch of the War on Terrorism.

The media imperialism is a theory stating that smaller or weaker countries are losing their indentity or being swallowed up by bigger countries due to force feeding media from larger countries. From this video clip, U.S. is the larger countries which tries to attack Iraq which is weaker country by using the dirty trick to make a reason to attack their enemy for getting benifits from this matter. They control the media to spread only the news that is benefit to themselve.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_power_of_nightmares#Part_3:_.22The_Shadows_in_the_Cave.22

Week 9 Media Culture Class

I have learn many new concepts in media culture study. McLuhan's Tetrad Of Media concept is very interesting. I also know how to differentiate cool and hot media.

McLuhan's Tetrad Of Media In Media

As I have learned from the notes, McLuhan developed his idea about media in a simple concept titled "Tetrad Of Media". This concept included four laws which are enhances, obsoles, retrieves, and reverses.
I choose instant messaging as an example to explain McLuhan's Tetrad Of Media. First, by using instant messaging in our lives, we have enhanced in the terms of voice and words because we can chat with people in the form of words or voices. Second, instant messaging makes signal smoke and letter obsolete because it is faster and easier to use. Third, our sense of communication have retrieved as instant messaging let us communicate with people no matter where they are. The last part which is the reverse part, instant messaging will cause people get into many troubles like disturb by strangers.