Media ecology refers to the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect the human environments. The components in the system include:
- Money (profit, expense, revenue)
- Institutions (media companies)
- Audience (consumers)
- Government (rules and regulations)
- Creators (musicians, actors, youtubers, designers)
- Distribution (platforms that deliver media to an audience)
- Social media
- Technology
Just like an ecosystem all of these components are all linked and rely on each other to keep functioning. The media ecological system is a process which keeps the media world alive. For instance, without an audience (consumers) there would be no money which helps keep institutions running which give creators a platform to engage audiences.
Task 1: Creating our own system lego land style!
Using lego with our partner we made our own machine/system where all the components were linked together and relied on each other to carry on functioning. Me and Dave created a ticket office which depended on travelers to remain existent, the boat which took the travelers relied on the ticket office to get the travelers onto the boat. This boat took them to the island which relied on the boat to transport the visitors onto the island. The government of the island relied on tourism to make money in order to successfully make schools and jobs etc for people living on the island.
Task 2: Partnered up and given one component of the media ecological system. The component I worked on was institutions. We had to come up with three arguments as to how our component works with or affects other components in the system. Our three arguments were:
Without institutions..
- Government wouldn’t be able to as successfully share news (without Sky, BBC etc) this includes news such as latest elections/ parliament decisions.
- Creators would loose the ability to make media for institutions.
- Audiences would loose the ability to use search engines (Google) and insight of latest news (from institutions like Sky and BBC )
Task 3: An info-graphic including all of the components in media ecology, showing at least one impact/benefit each component has with the other (institutions).
In terms of my music magazine I am the creator, therefore when publishing media I as a creator rely on money from audiences (who pay for my magazine). This money makes it possible for me to carry on creating new media and, in terms of my music magazine, pay for popular artists to feature in my magazine. The media that I create is made mostly by technology, which means without it I wouldn’t be able to create my music magazine. Popular musicians will bring in more audiences and depending on the success of my magazine musicians may even pay to be featured in it. In order for my media to be delivered to audiences of the public I need distributions, as my media is in the form of a magazine I will be using printing press. As the creator of a music magazine I need to be mindful of the things I put into my magazines, making sure my magazine is appropriate and government will approve.