All things media? Emerging communication technologies
and their impact on us and society
College 1 - Introduction
Mass communication
● Public (1)
○ everyone can access
● Technologically mediated (2)
○ tv, news papers etc
● Indirect (3)
○ some journalist or organization sends their messages through your newspaper
● One-sided (4)
○ from the organization to the audience
● Dispersed audience (5) (verspreid publiek)
○ they are all over the place, like people who’re watching a soccer game
We are present in the same room: it's different, not mediated. In principle it's one sided and sort
of public → everyone can come but we would not understand this as public.
In the past communication was mainly focused on mass communication.
Face-to-face communication
● Intentionality / Awareness of all involved persons (1)
○ you serve a person looking their bike → is this communication? No, the person
has no intention of communicating with someone. Maybe if someone is aware
that someone is observing them.
○ If I check my phone → I would not be aware to engage in communication if
another person is just watching me
● Mutual co-orientation (2)
○ We are following certain rules: you are willing to listen to me and vice versa.
● Direct (3)
● Negotiation of meaning (encoding and decoding) (4)
○ You try to make sense of what I’m telling you.
○ In communication its all about meaning
● Exchange of communicator and receiver role, reciprocity (5) (wederkerigheid)
○ we exchange roles: sometimes I’m talking & sometimes you’re talking. We’re
playing pingpong
● Process (dynamic, changing) (6)
● Common code, signs, symbols, and rules of communication (7)
○ I can talk German but we have a code to teach in English
● Multifunctional (8)
○ You’re waiting for the elevators but someone else gets in and says: it's so hot. →
you’re like: why are u not realizing that it is always hot after biking? That's
because he can also be telling you that just to get in contact with you
● Multimodal (9)
, ○ You have to be trained very well to follow all the rules. If you’re not a good actor
it's hard to have it all under control. You sometimes have to adjust to your
situation
Computer-mediated communication
● Human communication
● achieved through, or with the help of,
● computer technology
We have seen an increase in non-human communication → advances in machine learning.
A possibility to communicate through machines.
1 thing will become an issue: the relationships we create through machines. → we form
relationships with artificial machines.
Dimensions of computer - mediated communication
● Mode (text, audio, visual) (1)
○ in beginning: mainly textual → increasing possibilities of audio
○ it shapes communication → we are more aware when we send a video or voice
message instead of a text message
● synchronous vs asynchronous (2)
○ realtime or delayed
■ emails is asynchronous
● public vs. non-public (3)
○ you often make a conscious choice to make something public or not
● dyadic vs. group (4)
○ dyadic = one on one
● anonymous vs. nonymous (5)
○ anonymous = post something without being able to be identified
● professional / work-related vs. private (6)
○ social media
■ linkedin → work-related, how you present yourself there vs on your other
social platforms
Human-machine communication
1. ‘’Process of message exchange between humans and machines,
2. and its associated meaning-making
→ people communicate with machines and try to make sense.
3. relationships,
4. and social behavior
→ we react in a social way to machines.
5. embedded in different layers of social context
● on micro level (people, situation)
○ you and me: we can have relationships with an AI machine
● meso level (organizations)
○ organizations decide to integrate certain software in their daily routines
● macro level (society)
○ impact on for example this course
,Het proces van berichtenuitwisseling tussen mensen en machines, en de bijbehorende
betekenisgeving van betekenis en sociaal gedrag ingebed in verschillende lagen van sociale
context
Technology
‘’A manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge’’
It can be purely digital → something that you can’t touch. It can just be processes that we can’t
see.
Emerging technologies
1. Radical novelty (radicale nieuwigheid)
→ WIFI was also an emergent technology. Or shifting information through files.
2. Relatively fast growth
→ Now every newspaper works with AI.
3. Coherence
→ The process of how a new technology gets integrated. An idea of a certain technology
crystallizes. We’re one of the country’s where most of the households have an internet
connection. Back in the days we had no worries about privacy etc → in that line the term ‘social
media’ emerged. Something that at some point of time was an emerging technology.
4. Potential to have prominent impact on socio-economic domains
→ there can be quite some profits made with this technology.
First: google was just a search… and now their company expanded a lot.
5. Uncertainty and ambiguity (dubbelzinnigheid) in the emergence phase
→ example of Steve Jobs: he failed with an idea. He had to leave the company for a while, because
the technology was too advanced. So there’s the danger that it will fail.
Crucial technological changes
1. Exponential increased in computing power
● our smartphones are way more powerful in their computing part.
● Think about the pictures of the Nokia: the phone where you can barely send an
sms. Until the mid 2000’s this was the best thing to have but today we put it in a
museum.
2. Mobile connectivity
● All the times where people had to go on holiday with a camera: they didn’t even
have a telephone.
○ became so much more affordable
● We’re also more lost if we don't have a smartphone with us: it contains our
whole life
○ in the 90’s when you had an exam you had to go to the library of the
institute to look at a piece of paper to see if you passed the course or not.
That’s a huge difference
3. Datafication; networked information
● Now everything is online
○ Everything we do can be analyzed. Interesting when these data elements
become available in a network. very important!
, ● Huge amounts of data are available to be used to train machines (machine
learning)
4. Miniaturization of sensors, microphones and cameras
● Technology has been made much smaller than before
5. Cloud computing
● If you have a lot of data you have to store them. In machines you need a lot of storage
● Disadvantage: not easy accessible
■ the ‘Cloud’ has freed how, where and when we use certain technologies
→ its not unlimited free
○ Has contributed a lot to datafication. We have become more alert on what this
means → for example for our privacy.
6. Progress in artificial intelligence, machine learning
● Wouldn’t be achieved without datafication. Without turning so much information into
data.
The hype cycle of emerging technologies (critical approach)
There are different phases:
● technology trigger (1)
○ there is a new technology → great!! is gonna be the next new thing
● peak of inflated expectations (2
○ We can do anything with this technology!
■ AI will save the world
■ social media will make us all one big community
● trough of disillusionment (3)
○ Oh no, it didn’t really (at least not that quickly) solve the problems that this tech
was promised to solve.
● slope of enlightenment (4)
○ You reevaluate things → (you’ve made a mistake)
○ And come to a different conclusion
● plateau of productivity (5)
This is from 10 years ago:
● they predicted that mobile phones were robots
and their impact on us and society
College 1 - Introduction
Mass communication
● Public (1)
○ everyone can access
● Technologically mediated (2)
○ tv, news papers etc
● Indirect (3)
○ some journalist or organization sends their messages through your newspaper
● One-sided (4)
○ from the organization to the audience
● Dispersed audience (5) (verspreid publiek)
○ they are all over the place, like people who’re watching a soccer game
We are present in the same room: it's different, not mediated. In principle it's one sided and sort
of public → everyone can come but we would not understand this as public.
In the past communication was mainly focused on mass communication.
Face-to-face communication
● Intentionality / Awareness of all involved persons (1)
○ you serve a person looking their bike → is this communication? No, the person
has no intention of communicating with someone. Maybe if someone is aware
that someone is observing them.
○ If I check my phone → I would not be aware to engage in communication if
another person is just watching me
● Mutual co-orientation (2)
○ We are following certain rules: you are willing to listen to me and vice versa.
● Direct (3)
● Negotiation of meaning (encoding and decoding) (4)
○ You try to make sense of what I’m telling you.
○ In communication its all about meaning
● Exchange of communicator and receiver role, reciprocity (5) (wederkerigheid)
○ we exchange roles: sometimes I’m talking & sometimes you’re talking. We’re
playing pingpong
● Process (dynamic, changing) (6)
● Common code, signs, symbols, and rules of communication (7)
○ I can talk German but we have a code to teach in English
● Multifunctional (8)
○ You’re waiting for the elevators but someone else gets in and says: it's so hot. →
you’re like: why are u not realizing that it is always hot after biking? That's
because he can also be telling you that just to get in contact with you
● Multimodal (9)
, ○ You have to be trained very well to follow all the rules. If you’re not a good actor
it's hard to have it all under control. You sometimes have to adjust to your
situation
Computer-mediated communication
● Human communication
● achieved through, or with the help of,
● computer technology
We have seen an increase in non-human communication → advances in machine learning.
A possibility to communicate through machines.
1 thing will become an issue: the relationships we create through machines. → we form
relationships with artificial machines.
Dimensions of computer - mediated communication
● Mode (text, audio, visual) (1)
○ in beginning: mainly textual → increasing possibilities of audio
○ it shapes communication → we are more aware when we send a video or voice
message instead of a text message
● synchronous vs asynchronous (2)
○ realtime or delayed
■ emails is asynchronous
● public vs. non-public (3)
○ you often make a conscious choice to make something public or not
● dyadic vs. group (4)
○ dyadic = one on one
● anonymous vs. nonymous (5)
○ anonymous = post something without being able to be identified
● professional / work-related vs. private (6)
○ social media
■ linkedin → work-related, how you present yourself there vs on your other
social platforms
Human-machine communication
1. ‘’Process of message exchange between humans and machines,
2. and its associated meaning-making
→ people communicate with machines and try to make sense.
3. relationships,
4. and social behavior
→ we react in a social way to machines.
5. embedded in different layers of social context
● on micro level (people, situation)
○ you and me: we can have relationships with an AI machine
● meso level (organizations)
○ organizations decide to integrate certain software in their daily routines
● macro level (society)
○ impact on for example this course
,Het proces van berichtenuitwisseling tussen mensen en machines, en de bijbehorende
betekenisgeving van betekenis en sociaal gedrag ingebed in verschillende lagen van sociale
context
Technology
‘’A manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge’’
It can be purely digital → something that you can’t touch. It can just be processes that we can’t
see.
Emerging technologies
1. Radical novelty (radicale nieuwigheid)
→ WIFI was also an emergent technology. Or shifting information through files.
2. Relatively fast growth
→ Now every newspaper works with AI.
3. Coherence
→ The process of how a new technology gets integrated. An idea of a certain technology
crystallizes. We’re one of the country’s where most of the households have an internet
connection. Back in the days we had no worries about privacy etc → in that line the term ‘social
media’ emerged. Something that at some point of time was an emerging technology.
4. Potential to have prominent impact on socio-economic domains
→ there can be quite some profits made with this technology.
First: google was just a search… and now their company expanded a lot.
5. Uncertainty and ambiguity (dubbelzinnigheid) in the emergence phase
→ example of Steve Jobs: he failed with an idea. He had to leave the company for a while, because
the technology was too advanced. So there’s the danger that it will fail.
Crucial technological changes
1. Exponential increased in computing power
● our smartphones are way more powerful in their computing part.
● Think about the pictures of the Nokia: the phone where you can barely send an
sms. Until the mid 2000’s this was the best thing to have but today we put it in a
museum.
2. Mobile connectivity
● All the times where people had to go on holiday with a camera: they didn’t even
have a telephone.
○ became so much more affordable
● We’re also more lost if we don't have a smartphone with us: it contains our
whole life
○ in the 90’s when you had an exam you had to go to the library of the
institute to look at a piece of paper to see if you passed the course or not.
That’s a huge difference
3. Datafication; networked information
● Now everything is online
○ Everything we do can be analyzed. Interesting when these data elements
become available in a network. very important!
, ● Huge amounts of data are available to be used to train machines (machine
learning)
4. Miniaturization of sensors, microphones and cameras
● Technology has been made much smaller than before
5. Cloud computing
● If you have a lot of data you have to store them. In machines you need a lot of storage
● Disadvantage: not easy accessible
■ the ‘Cloud’ has freed how, where and when we use certain technologies
→ its not unlimited free
○ Has contributed a lot to datafication. We have become more alert on what this
means → for example for our privacy.
6. Progress in artificial intelligence, machine learning
● Wouldn’t be achieved without datafication. Without turning so much information into
data.
The hype cycle of emerging technologies (critical approach)
There are different phases:
● technology trigger (1)
○ there is a new technology → great!! is gonna be the next new thing
● peak of inflated expectations (2
○ We can do anything with this technology!
■ AI will save the world
■ social media will make us all one big community
● trough of disillusionment (3)
○ Oh no, it didn’t really (at least not that quickly) solve the problems that this tech
was promised to solve.
● slope of enlightenment (4)
○ You reevaluate things → (you’ve made a mistake)
○ And come to a different conclusion
● plateau of productivity (5)
This is from 10 years ago:
● they predicted that mobile phones were robots
