After watching David Gauntlett’s short video on Media from a different point of view, I had a better understanding of Media being a network.

Gauntlett described how we need to look at media differently due to the media revolution. In the 1980s, media studies focused on four subject areas; institutions, production, audiences and texts. Instead of referring to four categories, he believes that we should only be focusing on two categories, or ‘peaks’. The first peak is about creativity and inspiration, and explains how media can be a positive influence on our society. The second peak relates to digital exploitation and data surveillance. This peak explains how media can be used to encourage consumerism. Gauntlett talks about how these two peaks don’t really fit together, but we still need to find a way in which they can work together.

Gauntlett explains that there are three main kinds of knowledge required to understand media:

-How things work
-How things feel and fit
-How to make a difference

‘How things work’ is about understanding what technical and economic systems enable, ‘how things feel and fit’ is about the connection between physical and material things, i.e digital items and human ideas, and ‘how to make a difference’ is about the ability to come up with ideas and express them to the world.

I find Gauntlett’s point of views interesting, as they accurately describe the modern influence on media. While there are still some aspects of the old way of teaching media that would still be helpful, the new way is a more interactive and involving way, which would work better today.