Knowledge+and+the+Medium

=Knowledge=


 * Knowledge** itself can be difficult to define, however most knowledge comes in the form of a message. Depending on how different people interpret that message, different ideas of knowledge will be developed. A message must go through a series of steps before it is actually heard and interrupted by a person. Wilbur Schramm developed the Source-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) model, which breaks down the switching over of information as a message passed through various stages. First all messages come from a //Source// the original basis of the communication, this can be a person. Then there is the //Message// or the actual content of information, from there it is encoded or broken into code in order to travel. The //Channel// is the medium that transmits the message to the decoder which transmits the information out of code so it could be understood by our senses. A decoder can be anything from a radio, telephone, or television. Finally, there is the //Receiver//, the person that is either viewing of listening to the message, which provides feedback to the original source. The SMCR model is a long complicated process, and if something occurs in anyone of those stages, and message meaning can be altered (Straubhaar and Larose 2004, 20). Western society is faced with many different sources and medium types, therefore knowledge becomes subjective there is so many view points and assumptions to be made. Due to the methods of the media, the society is knowledgeable, but is all that knowledge correct? How much of what is learned true and how much of it is propaganda.

The Frankfurt school specializes in the study of mass culture, and their primary belief is that the entire globe passes through the filter of the culture industry which is based on the belief that there is actually a culture industry behind all media. The culture industry is responsible for creating and maintaining ideologies for the mass community, which is no longer able to differentiate the real world from the fantasy world that mass media has created. (Sturken and Cartwright 2001, 165) Living in a world with a tremendous amount of media sources whether they are print based or orally based can be responsible for sources of biases and false knowledge. Industrial capitalism encourages masses to believe in ideologies of the powerful hegemonic forces or the ruling classes. Those who are considered to be a ruling class or those responsible for the production of a media message are those who are in control of the knowledge in the society. The people in charge of newspapers, books, and television stations are able to manage the knowledge distributed through out our society.

Western culture is most likely the most knowledgeable due to the plentiful supply of oral, printed and digital mediations, anything that is desired to know can easily be learned. This is a rich aspect of today’s culture that can easily be taken for granted. Though western society is surrounded with communication of all types of mediations it is up to the receiver to interpret each message to there full potential in order to make the most knowledgeable interpretations. Though information is shared and passed around so easily, that does not ensure that all that information is accurate. All things considered, the world is brought closer together with the accessibility of vast communication, living in a “global village” as the great McLuhan once said. //

// =Works Cited=

Joseph STRAUBHAAR and Robert LaROSE (2004). //Media Now. Understanding Media, Culture and Technology//. 4th edition. Belmont: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning.

McLuhan Marshall (1969). “The Playboy Interview ‘ Marshall McLuhan’” Online at: http://hein.ifi.uio.no/gisle/overload/mcluhan/pb.html, consulted October 9th, 2004.

STURKEN and CARTWRIGHT (2003). Practices of Looking, an Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford University Press.