Ecology is the relationships between the different components in an environment. For example, in terms of nature, ecology is “the symbiotic relationships within an ecosystem”. The water cycle is also an example of ecology. If one part (e.g evaporation) doesn’t work, then the whole system will become broken.
Below is an example of our own ecosystem that we created. Each part relates to another to support. For example, the school (in the top right corner) educates children. When the children have grown old enough, they are able to get jobs in the reservoir to produce clean water for drinking, they can get a job in the prison which protects civilians from criminals, they can work in the farming industry to provide food for everyone, etc. Without the school being part of the town, non of the other sections will function as well.
Media Ecology is “the study of media, technology, and communication and how they affect human environments”.
There are eight components of media ecology; each as important as one and other. These are:
- Institutions
- Audience
- Money
- Technology
- Creators
- Social Media
- Government
- Distribution
Without one and other, media ecology cannot work as effective or as safe as it could. You could argue for each section why it is the most important. For example:
Money is the most important category as without money, the media would not be able to be produced or distributed, meaning there is no need for the creators. Due to no media being made, the institutions would be making no revenue and so they may as well not exist.
HOWEVER, you could also say that:
Audience is the most important category as without an audience, there would be no need in making the media in the first place, making the creators job and the institutions pointless. No technology would be needed and the media would not need to be distributed.
You could justify an argument for all the different parts.
Below shows how the component “distribution” is connected to all the other sections.
From analysing media ecology, I have realised that when making my music magazine, I will need to make sure I look at the components and they all work together. For example, I am aware about the laws relating to media, I know how my music magazine will be distributed, I look at how much it is to create the media and how much it will be sold for (to make sure I am making profit), etc.
Below shows all the different components of media ecology and how they are connected to one and other.