Gillian Rose tackles the concept of discourse and discourse analysis in her book Visual Methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials that was published in 2001. She characterizes discourse in general as “groups of statements which structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking”
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Assignment 8 – Critical Perspectives on Social Media
Whereas Assignment 7 was centered on the positive aspects of social media and user generated content, this assignment focuses more on the critical perspective on social media. In this discussion, the concept of participatory culture is instrumental to understand. Participatory culture is characterized by “low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement” (Fuchs, 2014, p.
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Assignment 7 – From Viral Media to Spreadable Media
The concepts of viral and spreadable media are deeply intertwined with the current media landscape. Douglas Rushkoff wrote about the phenomenon of viral media in his book Media virus! Hidden agendas in popular culture back in 1994. According to him the mediasphere is the only frontier in modern culture left to expand (Rushkoff, 1994, p.
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Assignment 6 – Persuasion and Rhetoric in Advertising
In his article, Simons (2001) defines persuasion as “human communication designed to influence the autonomous judgements and actions of others [and] as a form of attempted influence […] it aims to alter the way others think, feel or act” (Simons, 2001, p. 7). He further elaborates on this definition by stating that persuasion always predisposes
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Assignment 5 – Television Commercials in the 1950s and 1960s
Methodology – Semiotics Machin (2007) describes a method that can be used to analyze the way in which social actors are represented in imagery – such as advertisements – in Chapter 6 of his Introduction to Multimodal Analysis. Based on this semiotic approach, I have used a similar method to analyze a historic TV commercial from the 1950s
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Assignment 4 – Discourse Analysis II
Methodology Discourse analysis II is a method that concerns itself with the production of human subjects through institutional discourses (Rose, p. 164). A central piece of literature for Discourse Analysis II is Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of a Prison as it examines the prison as an institution with a certain discourse and therefore power to produce
Assignment 2 – Cultural Branding
According to Holt (2004) a person or a brand becomes iconic when it is regarded as “the most compelling symbol of a set of ideas or values that society deems important” (p. 1). He elaborates further on this concept by claiming that the circulation of cultural icons is part of our economy thanks to mass
Assignment 1 – Semiotics
Semiotics The term semiotics originates from the Greek word sémeion which means sign. According to Saussure, it is the science that “studies the life of signs within society” (Berger, 2010, p. 5) and it is part of social psychology. Semiotic theory can offer an explanation of how to find meaning in everyday life, the media and the message we receive