The Language of the Media 3223-L3SL5

• Homo communicans. Basic terms of theory of communication. The notion of representation.
• Meanings of the medium, examples of natural media. The language as the medium and various forms of textual recordings.
• Media as artefacts; the universal understanding of software and hardware. A brief review of the pre-book media.
• The book; a brief history. The transition from the incunabula to the print; the social repercussions. The elitarian and egalitarian culture. The book; the definition, components of hardware layout and the professions involved in the print.
• The notion of literature. Typology of genres and selected illustrations. Selected vocabulary and characteristic expressions; literary reviews. ‘Outer’ and ‘inner library’.
• The e-book; forms, specificities, pros and cons in comparison to the hardware book.
• Mass media and the wireless world. Acoustic and visual culture. Verbal and averbal messages. Cold and hot media.The press; a brief historic origin. Newspapers, magazines, journals. ‘The white press’ and ‘the yellow press’. Typesetting and page layout. Juxtaposition; the kaleidoscope perception. The content; the typical sections. Analysis of chosen styles; the report and the column. The scope of responsibilities of involved personnel – a selection. The e-newspaper; specificities, pros and cons. The fourth estate. Transparency.
• The early electric media. The telegraph. Morse code.
• Audio records – from Edison’s wax roller to MP3.
• Different hardware media for data storage and reproduction.
• The telephone; a brief history. Terrestrial phone vs. mobile phone. Prepaid and tariff. Multifunctionism of the cellphone. The “all-in-one” feature; a gadget or the essential tool? M-learning. The language of smses. Emoticons. Staying “tuned in” as membership of the Net community.
• Photography – from daguerreotype to the 3D digital camera. “Still” or “frozen time”. The essential photographic parameters and the basic digital camera components. The “language” of photography. The ascetism of monochromatic vs. the hedonism of multicolour image.
• Film – from camera obscura to the 3D image. From ‘the nickel Odeon’ to ‘the dream factory’. The community of the focus. Feature film and documentary film. ‘The credits’; description of selected film-making professions. The specificity of the film language. Editing as the film syntax. Naming exemplary frames and camera operations. The role of the soundtrack and music.
• Film narration and other arts. Ultra medium. Hiperreality. Mainstream and offstream cinema. The beginnings of globalization: interculturalism of the “one-ally-movie”.
• Chosen aspects of globalization. The global village. The globalisation of information and the social consequences. The invisible importance of terrestrial satellites. GPS. Society without walls. Transparency, the loss of privacy. ‘The fourth estate’ and its role in preserving democracy. ‘The golden NASA record’ as the externalization of information.
• Radio; a brief history. The physical principle of radio waves. ‘Marconi’s constellation’ and ‘the radio days’. Orson Wells; ‘The invasion of Martians’ – the legal precedent. Beginnings of the soap opera and jingle. Programme format; typical sections. Passive and active radio. Drive time.
• Television; a brief history. Programme format; typical programmes. Prime time. Satellite, terrestrial and cable TV. TV on demand. TV – window to the world or an idiot box? Propaganda as the political marketing. The commercial. Styles of copywriting. The news industry; BBC and Reuter’s Agency. Transnationalization of information; CNNization of society. The news icon image. The culture icon. “Talking heads”. The reality show. Homo spectator. A witnessing society; the participating and alienated observation.
• The Internet; a brief history and the principle of networking. The hypermedium. E-mail vs snail-mail. Chosen vocabulary; a site, blog, chat, pop-up, banner etc. The e-commerce. The instant generation. Wikipedia, etc. E-learning. Teleworking. Computerization; hardware and software. Informatization of society. Cyberspace and the digital cloud. E –dating. The social networks. Googling as a person’s patchwork profile. Fossilization of one’s personality. Chat; the informalization of language. Protection of intellectual property. Cyberwar.
• Homo ludens vs homo seriosus The “idiot box” and other media examples of the MacDonaldization of culture. The cult of amateurship; culture á rebours.
• The virtual reality; the hyper or parallel reality. Phantomatization. Staying tuned in wireless society. The media as the modern escapism. The media heuristics.
• Artificial Intelligence – fact or metaphor? Positive and negative meaning of reification. Are culture and civilization the same? The future ‘schlock’.