Response Post for Week 3

2. In reference to the part about mass communication being a one-way communication flow mediated and enhanced by technology. R & V said that mass communication used to give little opportunity for immediate feedback from the audience, but new media technologies are changing this. Will these new and evolving media technologies change the way we think about mass communication and lead us into a new paradigm shift?

When thinking about the definition of what a paradigm shift is (a new way of thinking replacing an older one), I definitely believe we are on the cusp of one in relation to the one-way flow of mass communication. Traditional mass-communication may still be a one-way flow with little feedback from audience, but with the growing popularity of interactivity on the Internet, audience opinion has become a very important part of mass communication. This new age, this evolution of media is definitely changing the way mass-communication is accessed. But will this shift our paradigm? Or add a new paradigm for interactive mass-communication?

Think about online newspaper articles, most every story gives readers the opportunity to comment and voice their opinion. Very heated topics such as the idiot Pastor who wanted to burn the Quran on September 11^th, those news articles had thousands of comments from readers. This aspect of engagement with mass communication may be creating a new paradigm. The dictionary definition of interactive is: (of a computer or other electronic device) allowing a two-way flow of information between it and a user, responding to the user’s input.

Although this new age of interactivity is heightening and reducing the use of traditional media, I still know people who read newspapers daily, rather than going to the Internet for their news. I also do not think books will ever be outdated by kindles, or e-books. So, I believe that this interactive mass-communication with create a new paradigm.

Another interesting part of the reading while still on the topic of paradigms was about the direct effects paradigm and the bullet-hypodermic theory. The theory is about injecting audiences with a message that immediately, powerfully and directly causes them to adopt a new opinion or idea. The example given in the book was the War of the Worlds radio show, which is just crazy to think that people actually believed aliens were taking over. I know this theory has been disproven but I can think of a few examples where our society has been completely affected by a message form the mass media. Y2k and Anthrax are two examples that come to mind. Can you guys think of any others?

Tags: interactivity, paradigm, week 3