Understanding ‘Medium’ in the Context of the Media Ecology Tradition

Strate, Lance

doi:10.2307/j.ctv36xw4q5.10

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Thus, Goody (1977) notes that the mind that comprehends literate material internalizes that material as part of visual memory, leading to the formalization of oral words. Likewise, Strate (2017) argues that the written word is an external technological condition that mediates oral thinking. Since our interest here is in orality, and since there are cultural expressions (technological, geographical, institutional, organizational and unembellished evidence) of orality available in historical records, this research has gathered some of them as data.…”

Section: Assumptions and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Technology overrule: pre-literate Akan orality and the musket

Wiredu

2023

Africa

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The history of the human–technology relation points to binary (positive and negative) evaluations of technology’s role. One reason for this binary is the limited view of technology in terms of physical and tangible devices. Another is an extreme global view of the relationship, which neglects global diversity. However, technology includes non-physical devices such as speech. Moreover, people hold different intellectual, historical and philological assumptions as the bases for their rule over technology. This article emphasizes the importance of language and global diversity as crucial dimensions of the human–technology relation. It is through language that humans are able to rule over technology, rather than being dominated by it. Taking language as a focal point, I expose the neglect of pre-literate orality as a way of engaging with technology and I espouse an orality perspective on our rule over technology. This perspective foregrounds human mindfulness as a basis for oral engagement with technology. It is developed based on analysis of historical data on oral language use by pre-literate Akan people of Ghana to rule over the musket. The article characterizes technology overrule according to a four-stage process: image recognition, technology reduction, technology reposition and image reproduction.

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Section: Assumptions and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Humans may produce or may not produce as a matter of choice. Therefore, technology is understood not only as bringing-forth an idea (its essence), but also as mediating between humans and production (McLuhan 1964;Strate 2017). Different types of technology media (e.g.…”

Section: Technology and Oralitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Technology overrule: pre-literate Akan orality and the musket

Wiredu

2023

Africa

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Section: Media Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Media ecology is the study of media as media (Strate, 2008). In other words, media ecology deals with how the environments in which we communicate shape how we communicate with each other and how we understand ourselves and others (Strate, 2008;Fry, 2015). This perspective connects to understanding social media as a developmental context within RDS metatheory (Lerner, 2018), but it does not provide any value framework or opposition.…”

Section: Media Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Media Literacy to Confront Far-Right Content: Saying “No” to Neutrality

Burnham¹,

Arbeit²

2023

Human Development

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Current conceptualizations of media literacy do not explicitly state that users should be able to identify and reject hateful, manipulative far-right content. We highlight important principles of relational developmental systems metatheory that are integral to our proposed model of anti-oppressive social media literacy. We critique current theories of digital media literacy for their political neutrality or lack of active opposition, and offer a values- and action-based anti-oppressive framework for social media literacy in pursuit of social justice. We propose a model of anti-oppressive social media literacy in which we outline three potential orientation outcomes: rejection, endorsement, and ambivalence. We describe the implications and potential developmental pathways of each of these orientations in response to far-right content. We also highlight multiple layers of bidirectional mutually influential individual ← → context relations that may influence the development of social media users’ orientation to far-right content online. In conclusion, we discuss strengths, limitations and future directions for studying our proposed theory of anti-oppressive social media literacy.

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“…This study draws from media ecology, an intellectual tradition that sees media as environments comprising a complex set of relationships between media, symbols, and culture (Strate, 2017). While over 60 years old, this tradition offers critical insights into the contemporary media environments, as it emphasizes how digital platforms create environments that transform how we connect to one another and the world (Laskowska & Marcyński, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecologies of Violence on Social Media: An Exploration of Practices, Contexts, and Grammars of Online Harm

Morales

2023

Social Media + Society

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Violence is an almost ubiquitous phenomenon in contemporary digital environments. In this context, there is a growing need to understand how violence is enacted and represented on social media. Drawing from a case study where Colombian young adults discussed the violence they interacted with on their everyday uses of digital platforms, this article explores how violence on social media is experienced and understood by users. Findings emphasize the need to look at violence on digital platforms as a multifaceted, fluid, overlapping, and interconnected phenomenon. In light of these results, I suggest framing current harmful practices as ecologies of violence. To better explore these ecologies, I outline three specific areas that highlight how violence is transformed on social media: practices, contexts, and grammars. Overall, this study emphasizes the need to recognize and address the complexity of violence in social media—a necessary step toward building cultures of peace in and outside of our digital environments.

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Understanding ‘Medium’ in the Context of the Media Ecology Tradition

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Technology overrule: pre-literate Akan orality and the musket

Technology overrule: pre-literate Akan orality and the musket

Social Media Literacy to Confront Far-Right Content: Saying “No” to Neutrality

Ecologies of Violence on Social Media: An Exploration of Practices, Contexts, and Grammars of Online Harm

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