MEDIA IS EVERYWHERE
The question that was integral to today’s Lectorial was: what is media? Media has many different forms and roles within society. It can guide public opinion in the form of news stories, tell us stories about ourselves, help us communicate with each other. Perhaps most importantly, media saturates our every day lives.
We are constantly bombarded by messages from the media. To helpfully illustrate this point, we completed an audit of the media that was present in a short trip from Building 80 to the State Library to our chosen rendezvous point. Firstly, it became immediately evident how much media there was in our environment, to the point where it became an immense challenge to try and list all of it. Without further ado, here is our best attempt:
UP HIGH
Ads on buildings x 5
Large video ad on building
Banners advertising events x 4
ON THE GROUND
Large advertisement placed on a busy walkway
MID GROUND
Flyers and brochures handed out
People holding branded coffee cups
Signs advertising businesses
Advertisements on napkin holders
Brochures placed in an easily visible and accessible place
BACKGROUND
Advertising on trams
Posters
Branding for businesses/cafes/etc
IN YOUR HAND
Taking photos on phones + using social media more times than can be counted. Somewhat sadly, and yet hilariously, our quick break involved mainly taking photos on Snapchat.
ADS EVERYWHERE
Distractions abound
Ads on the ground…
Seriously, who would walk on this beautiful face?
But I digress.
Our experience of the world is shaped by the media and the messages the media is sending out to us in our day to day lives. It is almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with the media, save moving to an uninhabited island, which – I must admit – does sound rather tempting after today. This would suggest that the media is rather powerful, having the ability to shape our experience of the world constantly. Media is all around us, all the time; it is an intrinsic part of our environment.