Exam 1 Study Guide

Also refer to the Media & Culture study support materials
Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
Ch. 4
Ch. 5
Ch. 6

 

Ch. 1

Mass media as a cultural industry
Oral, Written, Print, Electronic, Digital eras of communication
Plato, Socrates, alphabet
Manuscript culture
Printing Press and Gutenberg and all the cultural ramifications
Culture with a small c
Culture as a hierarchy vs. culture as a map
First amendment
Postmodern and modern
Linear model of communication
Cultural model of communication
3 stages of mass media (novelty, entrepreneurial, mass media)
Selective exposure
Historical development of media communication
Telegraph and the implications of its development
Popular culture as it relates to democracy
Media convergence
The 5 steps of the critical process
Democracy, communication, and the public sphere
Oligopoly
In textbook:  All Boxes:Covering War (p. 14) Sleeper Curve (p. 20); Bedouins, Camels, Transistors and Coke (p. 30). 
ALL charts, tables, and timeline

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Ch. 2
Leonard Kleinrock and packet switching
Centralized, decentralized and distributed networks
ARPANet
Unix
Usenet
National Science Foundation
CERN
Tim Berners-Lee
Hypertext markup language (HTML)
WWW
NetDay
Framing the Internet as an educational tool to create “critical mass”: “let the advertising begin”
ISPs; AOL
Browsers; Mosaic; Netscape, Internet Explorer and Windows 95
Search engines and directories
Email and instant messaging
Spam
Datamining & Cookies
Keylogging & phishing & Spyware
Hacking
Digital Divide
1996 Telecommunications Act
Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0
Linux
Opt-in/opt-out
Communications Decency Act
3 stages of mass media (novelty, entrepreneurial, mass media), as they apply to the Internet
Development of digital technologies
Fiber optic cable
Blogs, wikis
AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, & Google  and Internet ownership
Apple vs. Google
Google as an advertising and media conglomerate
Google’s prospects for growth
Media Convergence
In Textbook:  All Boxes: Search Engines and their Commercial Bias (p. 59); China's Great Firewall (p. 61), Net Neutraliity (p. 65)
ALL charts, tables, and timeline

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Ch. 3
3 stages of mass media (novelty, entrepreneurial, mass media), as they apply to sound recording.
Martinville and lamp black
Edison and tinfoil cylinder
Edison and wax cylinder
First words Edison recorded
"Tele," "phono," "graph"
Dictaphone; ediphone
Berliner and flat disks, gramophone
Enrico Caruso
Format war in 1948, 1949, and 1953 compromise
Other format wars
Popular music as popular culture
Crooning
Rock and roll
Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Buddy Holly
Alan Freed
Cover music, Pat Boone and LIttle Richard
Cover music and Ray Charles
Muddied waters
Conservative social forces in 1950s
Motown
Rolling Stones, Beatles, British invasion
Punk
Mainstream rock
Folk
Hip-hop & gangsta rap
Grunge
Electronica
Artists royalties and the economics of the sound recording business
Oligopoly vs. monopoly
History of records
Audiotape, cassettes, stereo
DAT, CDRs, CDRWs, Audio DVDs and Super Audio CD
Analog vs. digital
MP3, Napster
War between recording industry and radio industry
Juke box and its relevance to both sound recording and radio
Competition from TV
Console systems and component systems
Payola
Ed Sullivan
Independent labels
Radio stations and licensing fees
Music sharing and online piracy
Popular culture and youth disrupting boundaries
78, 33 1/3; 45 formats
Big 4 music companies: Sony/BMG, Warner, Universal, EMI
New forms of radio distribution:  Radio Head, Ninch inch Nails distribute independently
In Textbook:  All Boxes: The Rise of MP3s and Digital Downloading (p. 78); In the Jungle, the Unjust Jungle (p. 100)
ALL charts, tables, and timeline

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Ch. 4
3 stages of mass media (novelty, entrepreneurial, mass media), as they apply to radio
Telegraph
Samuel Morse, Morse Code, Maxwell, Hertz
Electromagnetic waves
Marconi, Popov, Tesla, Fessendon, de Forest, Armstrong
Audion tube
Media industry adapts
Radio acts of 1912, 1927, 1934
Telecommunication Act of 1996 (as it relates to radio)
Titanic, 1912
Broadcasting vs. point-to-point
Wires vs. Wireless
Hobbyists in the ‘wireless age’
RCA (AT&T, GE + Westinghouse)
David Sarnoff
British Marconi and American Marconi
The United States and commercial broadcasting
Educational Radio
Broadcasting (the term)
First radio advertisements
Clear Channels (WHO, etc)
BCA, AT&T
Red and Blue Networks
CBS, Paley, & option time
ABC
Frank Conrad
The golden age of radio (dates, culture, etc.)
Radio soaps
Amos n’ Andy
War of the Worlds

Consensus narratives
Hindenburg disaster
Transistor radios
FM vs. AM
Public interest, convenience, or necessity
NPR and noncommercial radio
Payola
Top 40; jukeboxes and Todd Storz
Radio formats (all of them)
Drive time
Low power FM
Radio syndication and conglomeration
BBC
NPR
Clear Channel (the company)
Contemporary Radio and niche marketing
FCC Ownership constraints
Radio and democracy
Pandora.com
In Textbook:  All Boxes-- Host: the Origins of Talk Radio (p. 128); Comparing Commercial and Noncommercial Radio (p. 133.
ALL charts, tables, and timeline

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Ch. 5
Philo Farnsworth and Vladimir Zworkin
Cathode ray tube
TV programming history
David Sarnoff, RCA, and NBC
TV Freeze, 1948-52
4X3 aspect ratio and NTSC standard

Early news programming and the Camel News Hour
Sponsored programming and Milton Berle/Buick
The move from sponsored programs to spot ads
Sylvester “Pat” Weaver and what he did towards ending single sponsorship
Spectaculars
Quiz show scandals
Charles Van Doren
Nat King Cole
The “network era”
90-minute programmes; Late Night shows.
Network programming—past and present (in terms of audience reach)
Affiliated stations and station ownership
Super stations/independent stations/TBS
Deficit financing
Average cost of a drama, a 1/2 hr comedy and a reality show
Above the line and Below the line costs
Syndicated programming
and stripped shows
First run vs. off-network syndication
Independent TV producers and how they make their money
Fringe time
VCR and Betamax
DVR/Tivo and time shifting
HDTV
CPB
Children’s programming
Disney and ABC
TV and democracy
O&Os
Newton Minow and “vast wasteland” speech (leading to PBS)
New networks: Fox CW, ION, MyNetworkTV
Satellites, VCRs, New networks, and new FCC regulations lead to a waning network audience
The Internet and the way television is adapting through Hulu, etc.
In Textbook:  All Boxes: Digital TV Takes Over (p. 149); TV and the State of Storytelling (p. 163); Bringing TV Shows and Movies to the Web (p. 170)
ALL charts, tables, and timeline

Ch. 6
History of cable (from wireless to wired)
CATV (Community Antenna TV)
Broadcast towers and cable lines
Arthur C. Clarke and the development of satellites
Geosynchronous orbit
Headend
First 3 satellites launched: Explorer I, Echo, and Telstar
Footprint
2,500 satellites

 

To do well on the exams (copied from the syllabus):

  • Come to class, listen attentively, and take good notes.   Draw pictures to help you remember what is being discussed. Make your notes as interactive and memorable as possible. PPT slides will be available before class.
  • Read the book. Read the assigned chapter before the corresponding lecture, but it may also work to read the chapter immediately after the lecture.  In any case, you should re-read assigned chapters, or key elements of these chapters, right before the exams.
  • Complete the 1-page review question papers. These are due at the beginning of every class.
  • Take notes on all the videos screened in class.
  • Find a study mate. Make friends with someone else in class, or establish a study group with three or four peers. If you do miss a class, find good notes from your friend or group, but also have them talk through their notes (don't just photocopy your friend's notes and expect to have all the information covered in class--it's likely you won't understand key elements). NEVER ASK YOUR PROFESSOR FOR NOTES.
  • Know, in detail, every element listed on the study guides.  
  • Go over the review questions in the back of each textbook chapter.
  • Know each bolded term in every chapter.
  • Visit the mediaculture.com web site to use the review resources and take the sample tests.  The questions on these tests are much more simple than you will find on the exams, and are only meant to be one more way to help you get to know the material covered in this course.
  • Take the exams. If you don't show up for an exam, you've missed the opportunity to take it.  If there is an emergency, you also have to provide notification (e.g., phone, email) in advance.  For example, if there is a funeral that you have to attend, email your obligation immediately, before the exam.  Makeups will not be granted unless you satisfy these requirements.
  • PLEASE NOTE: There will be no extra credit assignments offered, so take each exam seriously, read the book chapters and outside readings, complete the two projects, attend class, and provide thoughtful comments in class.




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