Media Production And Communication Under Technopoly

In a mediated world, media has significantly powerful influence and control over humans. Various types of media are constantly updating due to the drive of technology, and extend or even consolidate this control. Unfortunately, people often lack of critical thinking on technologies when enjoying their advantage. Based on the theory of media ecology, this thesis aims to critically examine the influence and control of media technologies. The seemingly neutral media technologies are likely to possess influent value concepts. In order to have media benefit humans and the society, it is necessary to conduct a newly ethical consideration on media in the new media era.Different from traditional media effect research, media ecology emphasizes on the invisible influence of the media form exerted on humans. Media ecology invites us to explore relationships: relationships between media and individuals, relationships between media and the structures of society, and, ultimately, relationships between media environments. In chapter two, the media ecology perspective and academic background will be introduced, and the core principles and books of several representative scholars will also be evaluated.In chapter three, the media technology's evolution history and social impact of different media will first be explored. Sequentially, the trend of media convergence will be explicitly analyzed: Media convergence has been gradually changing the media industry rules, which therefore calls for a reformation on media economy. The definition of media convergence and its tech advantage will be integrated in this part.In chapter four,"relationships"the media ecology concerns will be addressed in different angels. In terms of relationship between media and individuals, the discussion focuses on privacy issue. Personal usage and dependence on the Internet triggers a'private crisis'in the New Media Era. More importantly, the Internet alters the concepts of privacy. In terms of relationship between media and the structures of society, popular culture is the concern. While media promote the popular culture, it also gaps between populace and upper class. In terms of relationships between media environments, copyright issue will be discussed. The orderly competition among traditional media industry has been broken up by the Internet. Media copyright is challenged by the sharing spirit of Internet.The conclusions will be drawn in chapter five, and some advice will be brought up for further research in this area in the future.