Assignment name - Course: First Assignment - Milestones in Communication Science
Word count: 1309 words
First Assignment
“During the lockdown there were huge protests against the lockdown measures at the Museum Square
of Amsterdam. At the same time there were pop-up parties at different locations in the country. Participants
typically coordinated these mass events with use of messenger services (most notably Whatsapp and Signal)
and internet forums. The police is looking with the justice department into measures to shut down the
channels that are used to organize these meetings. Write an essay about this. You are free to choose your own
perspective but make sure you touch upon the Frankfurt, Birmingham and Toronto School”
During the lockdown period, like many other countries in the world, the Dutch Government imposed
certain lockdown measures, including upon activities on the Museum Square of Amsterdam - which resulted
in much unrest and protests among the citizens. Despite such strict measures from the government as well as
health-related concerns on the pandemic, pop-up parties were organized at different locations in the country,
ranging from professionally hosted to private individually hosted house parties, which attracted considerable
participants who were informed about such events and connected to another by the use of messenger
services. Facing such events, against the threat of another outbreak, the police cooperated with the justice
departments into measures to shut down the channels that are used to organize those meetings. To discuss
the organization of these events and the police’s responses on them, I would hereby discuss and connect
central themes on the use of media for mass communication, their correlating models of communion,
certain approaches and perspective on this, and also the hypothetical view of Frankfurt School of Critical
Theory, Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, and Toronto School of Communication Theory.
This event, undoubtedly, is one example of the use of technology for communication, whether that be
interpersonal or intergroup communication - as regarded by the act of non-linear communication
between different people and different groups of people on a society-wide level, as those events are not
generally announced on official social media platforms but are often spread and promoted through and by
members of niche groups, and were often kept on the level of interpersonal communication to surpass
governmental regulation. For example, the one hosting the events would announce that within their groups
of friends, and those friends would announce - or invite - others within their groups of friends accordingly.
The organization of these events is an example of the mass audience: groups of people with certain
self-identified characteristics grouped together toward an end.
But also, from a governmental perspective, this can also be viewed as an example for mass
communication, as such regulations are imposed on the society at large by the government, and the police’s
investigation here presents an attempt to seize control from the masses and reinforce their authority and
control of the society at large.
These acts of communication, from an expressive/ritual model, can be seen as polysemic, rebellious
against the government’s regulations. To this extent, the ritualistic characteristic of communication can be
seen by “[the] participation, association, fellowship and possession of common faith - the representation of
shared beliefs” (McQuail, Deuze. 2020). These acts can also be projected towards senders and receiver’s
Word count: 1309 words
First Assignment
“During the lockdown there were huge protests against the lockdown measures at the Museum Square
of Amsterdam. At the same time there were pop-up parties at different locations in the country. Participants
typically coordinated these mass events with use of messenger services (most notably Whatsapp and Signal)
and internet forums. The police is looking with the justice department into measures to shut down the
channels that are used to organize these meetings. Write an essay about this. You are free to choose your own
perspective but make sure you touch upon the Frankfurt, Birmingham and Toronto School”
During the lockdown period, like many other countries in the world, the Dutch Government imposed
certain lockdown measures, including upon activities on the Museum Square of Amsterdam - which resulted
in much unrest and protests among the citizens. Despite such strict measures from the government as well as
health-related concerns on the pandemic, pop-up parties were organized at different locations in the country,
ranging from professionally hosted to private individually hosted house parties, which attracted considerable
participants who were informed about such events and connected to another by the use of messenger
services. Facing such events, against the threat of another outbreak, the police cooperated with the justice
departments into measures to shut down the channels that are used to organize those meetings. To discuss
the organization of these events and the police’s responses on them, I would hereby discuss and connect
central themes on the use of media for mass communication, their correlating models of communion,
certain approaches and perspective on this, and also the hypothetical view of Frankfurt School of Critical
Theory, Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, and Toronto School of Communication Theory.
This event, undoubtedly, is one example of the use of technology for communication, whether that be
interpersonal or intergroup communication - as regarded by the act of non-linear communication
between different people and different groups of people on a society-wide level, as those events are not
generally announced on official social media platforms but are often spread and promoted through and by
members of niche groups, and were often kept on the level of interpersonal communication to surpass
governmental regulation. For example, the one hosting the events would announce that within their groups
of friends, and those friends would announce - or invite - others within their groups of friends accordingly.
The organization of these events is an example of the mass audience: groups of people with certain
self-identified characteristics grouped together toward an end.
But also, from a governmental perspective, this can also be viewed as an example for mass
communication, as such regulations are imposed on the society at large by the government, and the police’s
investigation here presents an attempt to seize control from the masses and reinforce their authority and
control of the society at large.
These acts of communication, from an expressive/ritual model, can be seen as polysemic, rebellious
against the government’s regulations. To this extent, the ritualistic characteristic of communication can be
seen by “[the] participation, association, fellowship and possession of common faith - the representation of
shared beliefs” (McQuail, Deuze. 2020). These acts can also be projected towards senders and receiver’s
