Dictionary of Media Terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN).
A television network launched in 1999, with headquarters in Winnipeg. APTN is devoted to the stories and culture of Canada’s First Peoples and is available nationally on basic cable and satellite. See www.aptn.ca.

ACNielsen Inc.
A leading global market research firm, best known for its ratings of television shows. It has operated in Canada since the mid-1990s. See http://www.acnielsen.com/ or http://www.acnielsen.ca/.

Administrative research.
A term first used by Lazarsfeld (1941) to describe the type of research he himself conducted and frequently also called “dominant,” “mainstream,” or “non-critical.” This approach is more characteristic of U.S. research, which produces knowledge useful to media corporations and state agencies. It is often funded by the media industry, uses primarily quantitative and empirical methods (such as opinion polling), and seeks to answer clearly defined problems (e.g., who watches TV, how effective are messages, etc.).

Advertising.
Commercial speech whose function is to place products and attitudes in the mind of the public with the eventual goal of persuading members of the public to buy products. Advertising is organized industrially on a large scale.

Alternative media.
Media that provide a range of perspectives and/or modes of communication that aren’t readily available through the corporate, profit-driven media that dominate the Canadian mediascape.

AOL (America Online).
An on-line service created by Steve Case in 1985 as Quantum Computer Services. It changed its name, to America Online, and its corporate structure in 1991. Throughout the 1990s AOL pursued aggressive marketing, which made it the world’s leading on-line service. In January 2000, AOL merged with Time Warner in a deal worth $166 billion (U.S.) to become the world’s largest media conglomerate. See http://www.corp.aol.com/.

Audience.
Derived from the Latin word audire (to hear), the word refers to any group of people united around a common experience. The experience usually offers itself as pleasurable and worthy of repetition. Some audiences—such as those for sporting events, movies, concerts, etc.—are physically co-present. Other audiences—such as those for novels, television, radio, etc.—are not physically co-present. Additionally, audience members need not undergo the experience at the same time (i.e., not everyone reads the book or sees the movie at the same time).

Audience competence.
The body of knowledge that audience members build up around their object of interest. Often the knowledge is latent, but all audience members eventually become more sophisticated in their own tastes and how to gratify them. The ability to recognize and pursue rationally individualized taste is audience competence.

Audience fragmentation.
Refers to the fact that audiences are increasingly splintered into ever narrower segments and niches such that the mass audience, with which television was initially associated, is now the exception rather than the norm. Audience fragmentation is accompanied by increasing audience sophistication as audience members gain knowledge of, and seek out, ever more specialized interests. In response, television targets audiences by tailoring content to market niches and by using new technologies in order to enhance and to regain some measure of control over the overall television experience.

B

Behaviourism.
A theory of human behaviour most closely associated with the work of Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) in Russia and John B. Watson (1878–1958) in the United States. Behaviourism views the mind as a bundle of nerves that can be stimulated in order to bring about desired actions and responses. The stimulus-response theory of communication (also known as the “hypodermic needle” or “magic bullet” theory) is the classic example of behaviourism.

Berne Convention.
An international agreement for the “protection of literary and artistic works.” Originally adopted in 1886, it has been frequently revised, most recently in 1971. It provides the international framework for the protection of intellectual property, copyright, patents, and trademarks. See http://www.cerebalaw.com/berne.htm.

Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG).
Created by the Broadcasting Act of 1958 to serve as the regulatory agency for all Canadian broadcasting. It was replaced in 1968 by the Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC). See Canadian Television Policy and the Board of Broadcast Governors, 1958–1968, by Andrew Stewart and William H.N. Hull.

Branding.
The process by which an organization associates a symbol—a word, colour, sound, smell, etc.—with a product in the hope that the sight of the symbol triggers a recollection of the product in people’s minds.

Broadband.
A term dating from the 1950s that describes a type of connection in which a single wire can deliver many channels simultaneously. Cable TV uses broadband, and so do many computer connections. For home computer users, broadband is most often associated with the ability to surf the World Wide Web with greater speed than would be possible with a telephone connection.

Broadcasting Act.
In 1932 the Government of Canada introduced the first Broadcasting Act. It was revised in 1936, 1958, 1968, 1988, and 1991. The Broadcasting Act sets out objectives for Canadian broadcasting generally and for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) specifically. It specifies the composition of the CBC’s board of governors, the creation of the broadcasting regulatory agency (CRTC), content rules, and so on. See http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/B-9.01/index.html.

Bulletin board system (BBS).
A computer or computers on which messages are stored. Users can access the messages by calling the computer via a modem. Most bulletin boards are devoted to particular interests. The messages are usually organized thematically. Computers share their messages when one computer calls another and downloads its messages to the new computer. This process could be repeated several times until computers all around the world had downloaded their messages to one another. With the launch of the World Wide Web in 1993, bulletin board systems went into decline.

Bureau of Measurement (BBM).
Created in 1944 at the urging of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), it was originally known as the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. Its board consists of members drawn from both broadcasting and advertising industries. It provides audience measurements for both radio and television. See http://www.bbm.ca/ and Channels of Influence (1994), by Ross A. Eaman.

C

Cable television.
A system for distributing television signals over coaxial cable that was invented by Bell Labs in 1937. The advantages of cable are clarity of signal and the distribution of distant signals. Canada is one of the world’s most heavily cabled countries; penetration rates often exceed 90 percent in major metropolitan areas. The first cable television system is usually attributed to John Walson, an appliance store owner in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, who in 1948 constructed the first such system to bring distant signals to his store so that he could display television to potential customers. The first cable system in Canada is attributed to Ed Jarmain and Harry Anderson of London, Ontario, in 1951. From the 1970s to the 1990s, cable television grew into a major player in Canadian broadcasting. Cable systems are represented by the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association. See http://www.ccta.ca/.

Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB).
Created in 1926 as a lobby group for private radio broadcasters. It expanded to include private television broadcasters in the 1950s. It is concerned with all aspects of broadcasting and specialty services and has long demanded a separate regulatory agency for public and private broadcasting in Canada. See http://www.cab-acr.ca.

Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association (CCTA).
Founded in 1957 as the National Community Antenna Television Association of Canada (NCATAC). The name was changed to the Canadian Cable Television Association in 1968 and to the Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association in 2004. A powerful lobby group, the CCTA has worked successfully in cooperation with the CRTC to protect and advance member interests. Cable expanded exponentially in the 1970s and industry profits kept pace. The association represents over 800 members.

Canadian Film Development Corporation.
Created in 1967 with a $10 million endowment, the CFDC was charged with developing a feature film industry in Canada by lending money to private companies engaged in film production. In 1984, the organization’s mandate expanded to include television, and it was re-named Telefilm Canada. It is a Crown corporation of the federal government.

Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC).
Founded in 1975, the leading English-language scholarly journal devoted to communication in Canada. Currently edited by Kim Sawchuk at Concordia University. See www.cjc-online.ca/.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Federal regulatory agency created by the Broadcasting Act of 1968 as the Canadian Radio-television Commission. Its name was changed in 1975 when its mandate was expanded to include telecommunications. Its first and best-known chairman was Pierre Juneau. The CRTC grants and may revoke licences for radio, television stations, television networks, cable companies, specialty and pay channels, satellite distribution systems, and multi-point microwave distribution systems. Since 1975 it has also overseen the telephone and telecommunications industries. The CRTC has established Canadian-content rules for both radio and television and has set forth numerous regulations on such issues as sex-role stereotyping, television violence, editorial independence, etc. While the CRTC has been activist with regard to broadcasting, it decided in 2000 not to regulate the Internet for the foreseeable future. The CRTC consists of up to 13 full-time and 6 part-time commissioners appointed by order in council. Cabinet maintains the right to give directions to the CRTC, to set aside its decisions, and to refer decisions back to it.

CANARIE (Canada’s Advanced Internet Development Corporation).
A nonprofit organization created in 1993, with headquarters in Ottawa, consisting of industry, government, community groups, and individuals concerned with research and development for the Internet in Canada. See http://www.canarie.ca/.

Cancom (Canadian Satellite Communications Inc.).
A corporation providing satellite services to industry and end users. Cancom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaw Communications Inc., which also owns StarChoice Satellite Television. Besides satellite-delivered television programs, Cancom also provides tracking services to allow companies to control truck fleets, and so on. See www.cancom.ca.

CanCon.
Canadian content. This refers to content that satisfies the various quotas and content rules enacted for different cultural industries by the CRTC and other regulatory agencies. The best-known CanCon rules concerned the percentage of Canadian records that must be aired on Canadian radio stations and the percentage of Canadian programs that must be broadcast on TV. Supporters of Cancom claim that, without the rules, little Canadian content would be seen by Canadians, thereby damaging their sense of cultural identity as well as the quality of life in Canada. Opponents argue that the rules create artificial markets in which content is traded not because audiences demand it but because the rules require it.

Chicago School.
A school of philosophical inquiry at the University of Chicago between 1894 and 1904. Founded by John Dewey, its notable members included George H. Mead, James H. Tufts, James R. Angell, Edward Scribner Ames, and Addison W. Moore. The Chicago School sought to apply the principles of pragmatism to social inquiry. As such, it rejected strictly empirical approaches and attempted to understand the ways in which human groups shaped meanings collectively and interactively. This implied a systematic questioning of received notions and standard explanations that makes the Chicago School a representative of critical inquiry. A leading modern-day exponent of Chicago School pragmatism is philosopher Richard Rorty.

Communication.
Refers to the exchange of ideas and symbols between people, and later between institutions or between machines. It is linked etymologically to such words as “community” and “common,” and in its oldest acceptance means “to make common,” therefore to share, to exchange, or to make public. It was often associated with means of transportation, and prior to the 20th century the railway, waterways, and public roads were often thought of as means of communication. After the 20th century, communication was increasingly used to refer to media of communication, such as film, radio, television, and the Internet. In this more modern meaning, the word is often pluralized (communications) to underline clearly that it refers to media or systems or technologies of communication. As a field of study, communication refers to the way in which the various phenomena of communication (i.e., the fact of interpersonal exchange, the existence of technologies, their social and cultural uses) came into being, have evolved in various contexts, have affected or been affected by the circumstances of their use and development, have been constrained or encouraged, and have been understood, misunderstood, theorized, and thought about.

Conglomeration.
A term that refers to the process by which one company in a field buys up other companies in the same field. For example, when one newspaper or newspaper chain buys other newspapers, the press industry is undergoing conglomeration. The process is characterized by fewer and fewer owners and larger and larger corporations. Supporters of conglomeration claim that it is a desirable business practice that protects jobs and brings stability to the marketplace. Opponents claim that it confers too much power on dominant owners who can shape our knowledge of events to suit their interests.

Convergence.
The process by which formerly separate technologies such as television and the telephone are brought together by a common technological base (digitization) or a common industrial strategy. The Internet is the most outstanding example of technological convergence, because it can deliver digitized print, images, sound, voice, data, etc., equally well. Large corporations such as CanWest Global, AOL, and Bell GlobeMedia are examples of industrial convergence, because they bring together under a single corporate umbrella television broadcasting, telephony, newspapers, etc., and use each to cross-promote and to provide content for the others.

Copyright.
An exclusive right held by the creators of original works to reproduce, distribute copies of, perform publicly, or display their original work, or to create derivative works based on the original. The duration of copyright is the author’s life plus 50 years (in Canada), plus 70 years (in the European Union), or plus 75 years (in the United States).

Corporate media.
Generally, these are large, privately owned media corporations that are operated on a for-profit basis.

Critical research.
A term first used by Lazarsfeld (1941) to describe research that (a) takes as its proper object of study the relationship between communication and power, (b) sees power as unequally distributed, (c) believes theory (social critique) is more important than method (objective knowledge), (d) argues that researchers must acknowledge their own value orientations, (e) is inspired by European Marxist (Frankfurt School) or American radical (pragmatism) approaches, and (f) seeks to bring about positive social change. It is often assumed that communication study in Canada is naturally or spontaneously critical.

Cross-media ownership.
Cross-media ownership occurs when a firm in one industry acquires a firm in another similar but not directly related industry; an example is when a television broadcaster purchases a newspaper.

Cultural imperialism.
The process whereby the cultural artifacts of a politically and economically dominant power—usually the United States—enter into another country and eventually dominate it, thereby spreading the cultural, political, and other values of the dominant power, to the exclusion of indigenous values and voices.

Cultural industries.
In the Frankfurt School specifically, and political economy generally, cultural industries refers to the fact that culture has been debased by being turned into a commodity controlled by profit-making enterprises. In this view, the function of culture is not to enrich or enlighten but to manipulate and indoctrinate. Since roughly the 1970s, a new and more optimistic definition has arisen, which sees culture as an occasion for economic expansion, employment opportunities, and the development of individual preference.

Cultural nationalism.
This perspective aims to strengthen and protect Canadian culture (and Canadian television) by (a) creating a strong public broadcaster independent from market pressures and American programming; (b) funding distinctive Canadian productions; (c) establishing Canadian content regulations; (d) forming activist citizens groups to lobby for Canadian broadcasting; and (e) creating a strong regulatory structure to correct perceived market imbalances and exclude foreign ownership. Proponents of the “Canadian nationalist” perspective argue that the size of the Canadian market compared to the American market make these government protective measures necessary.

Cultural sovereignty.
The ability of countries to enact laws and policies to protect and promote their culture and cultural industries. These can include legislations, regulations, program support, or taxation measures.

Cultural studies.
An approach to the study of culture developed in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s and most closely associated with the work of Hoggart, Williams, Hall, and that of the Centre for Contemporary Culture Studies at the University of Birmingham. It draws inspiration from both Marxism and semiotics and tends to view cultural artifacts—popular music, television programs, advertising, fashion, etc.—as texts that express social relations of power. Perhaps the best-known examples of cultural studies are Dick Hebdige’s study of subcultures and Stuart Hall’s examination of Thatcherism.

DBS.
Refers to direct broadcast satellites, relatively powerful spacecraft operating in geostationary orbit about 33,000 kilometres above the earth. They are capable of transmitting hundreds of information channels across very large footprints. The word is commonly associated with satellite-delivered television, whose signals are picked up by small receiving dishes provided by such companies as DirecTV, Bell ExpressVu, and Starchoice. In the early 1990s, when cable companies realized that DBS posed a serious competitive threat, the satellites were briefly dubbed “death stars.” In Canada and in many other countries, DBS is also known as DTH (direct-to-home).

Dialectical.
A position on social determination which suggests that historical change is produced through the coming into conflict of oppositional forces. Key scholars exploring a dialectical approach are G.W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx.

Diaspora.
A group of geographically dispersed people united by ethnic, cultural, religious, or other ties. For example, there are people of South Asian, Middle Eastern, South American, etc., descent in almost every country of the world, and their cultural, ethnic, religious, and other ties naturally lead them to an interest in the cultural artifacts of their homelands. As such, they constitute diasporas that both consume artifacts from the homeland and create their own hybrid artifacts, which are research-related to the homeland and to the rest of the diaspora.

Digital divide.
Refers to the fact that socioeconomic factors including income and educational levels, geographical location, gender, and age influence participation in the new media environment. As a result, richer people and countries have greater access to, and make greater use of, new media and the Internet than do poorer people and countries, a situation that has led to the creation of the categories of the “information-rich” and the “information-poor.” This term also refers to the view held by many that digital technologies not only confer benefits but also contribute to social inequalities. For example, not everyone has equal access to digital technology and, even among those who do, not everyone is equally competent in using it.

Digitization.
Refers to the process, applicable to any medium, whereby the content of that medium is converted into computer-readable format and can be manipulated and transmitted electronically. This allows the content of formerly separate media—for example, newsprint, radio sound, television images, and hypertext links—to exist side by side on the Internet in a way that was previously impossible. Digital media also possess greater storage capacity and higher transmission speeds and permit infinite non-degraded reproduction of the original content. They tend also to be more user-friendly and to heighten the opportunity for individual creation, manipulation, storage, and transmission of content. In so doing, digitization has raised questions about copyright control and the ownership of intellectual property that have pitted individuals against corporations.

Discourse.
An ongoing set of communicational processes through which we try to maintain order and continuity in our social and cultural environments.

Empirical.
An approach to research which focuses on the analysis of social phenomena through their observation and analysis in accordance with accepted principles and methods. For empirical scholars, observation precedes theoretical analysis.

Entertainment.
A term that describes most—though not all—of the content of the mass media. Entertainment is therefore a mode of contact with an audience. It seeks to provide an experience that is sufficiently pleasurable that audiences will want to come back for more. However, simply by making itself available, entertainment teaches audiences to become familiar with it. Entertainment is therefore characterized by a constant search for novelty, a fear of overexposure, the possibility of offending or alienating important audience segments, and the necessity to express itself in a way that is universally accessible without being formulaic or condescending. The other major content category of the mass media is news.

Epistemology.
An element in the construction of knowledge which focuses on the question: how is it that we know what we know? Epistemological debates ask whether we can produce objective truth about our reality or whether or our knowledge is always subjective.

Fair dealing.
Refers to the fact that under some limited conditions—private study, research, criticism, review, or newspaper summary—individuals may make copies of copyrighted material without seeking the permission of the copyright holder. Instead, institutions that hold the material (universities, libraries, etc.) buy blanket copyright licences that allow their members (students, library users, etc.) to copy the material. However, the copying must fall into one of the categories that make it “fair.” It is similar to the U.S. concept of fair use.

Fan.
A term derived from “fanatic.” It refers to a person with a strong liking for or interest in some aspect of modern culture. Fans, by definition, acquire knowledge about the object of their interest. However, the term is often used in a derogatory sense, as when it is used to suggest that fans have no ideas of their own and are easily amused by any product thrust at them. Their absorption in their object of interest is often seen as a sign of immaturity.

irst/Second/Third-Wave Feminism.
The historical categories assigned to the feminist movement. The first wave was the suffragette movement to give women the right to vote. The second wave occurred in the 1960s and 1970s and fought especially for women’s sexual and labour rights. The third wave does not have an explicit political agenda but is more about the representation of feminism in the media.

Fragmentation.
A term that describes the process by which a formerly unified or mass audience undergoes a process of breakdown into components. For example, the availability of specialty television channels has resulted in the fragmentation of the television audience. However, some audiences, such as those for books and magazines, have been highly fragmented for a very long time. Radio underwent a process of fragmentation in the 1950s with the introduction of television. Fragmentation makes it difficult to assemble mass audiences and may threaten the economic survival of media that depend on mass audiences. However, it also allows for the expression of specialized tastes and subcultures.

Frankfurt School (Institute for Social Research).
A school of critical inquiry founded at the University of Frankfurt in 1922. It was the world’s first clearly Marxist institute of social research, and its leading members included Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Herbert Marcuse, Erich Fromm, and Leo Lowenthal. Its aim was to understand the way in which human groups create meaning collectively under the impact of modern technology, instrumental or means–ends rationality, authoritarian social structures, and the increasing absorption of the formerly autonomous individual into the culture industries. The Frankfurt School was highly pessimistic about the possibility of genuine individuality under modern capitalism and condemned most forms of popular or mass culture as a type of incessant propaganda that indoctrinated the masses and disguised genuine social inequalities.

Functionalism.
A view of society and human interaction that sees relations as adaptive to each other and to their environment. In this context, media are not primarily industries or strategies of manipulation but rather tools used by people in order to gain knowledge of the world. Functionalism holds that if there were no need for the media, the media would not exist. The media, therefore, are adaptations to our needs. In the functionalist view, all elements of society tend to form an integrated whole that works toward equilibrium or consensus. Functionalists ask, therefore, how the media contribute to social equilibrium, how the media system constitutes an integrated whole, and what needs the media answer or fulfill.

Gender hegemony.
A dominant belief system in which gender roles are limited.

Globalization.
A term that refers to the process in which formerly separate, discrete, or local phenomena are brought into contact with one another and with new groups of people. This contact generates the idea that the world is a single place. Supporters of globalization claim that it liberates populations from local or particularistic rules, generates wealth, makes possible the movement of people and ideas, and contributes to the development of human rights by putting all people in touch with all other people. Critics of globalization claim that it flattens out cultural differences, spreads a single culture (usually American culture) to all areas of the world, and strengthens capitalism and unequal property relations.

Hegemony.
A term most closely associated with the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci (1891–1937). It is similar to ideology in that it refers to a system of ideas or beliefs that are widely held, but it is different in that hegemony involves active effort on the part of the dominant to gain the consent of the dominated. Hegemony, therefore, refers both to (a) the fact that there are commonly accepted ideas and values and (b) the process by which the dominant sectors of society convince subaltern sectors to go along with these ideas and values. The instruments of hegemony range from outright coercion (e.g., incarceration, secret police, threats, physical elimination, etc.) to gentler and more “managerial” tactics (e.g., education, religion, processes of socialization, control of the mass media, etc.). The concept of hegemony has found widespread use in cultural studies.

Horizontal concentration of ownership.
When a firm in one line of media buys a major interest in another media operation not directly related to the original business; or when it takes a major stake in a non-media company.

Hypertext.
A word that was coined by Ted Nelson in the early 1980s to describe nonlinear writing, in which users follow links and jump about within a text or around the World Wide Web.

Hypodermic needle.
See behaviorism.

Ideology.
A frequently used word with two main definitions. From Marx, ideology refers first to false consciousness, the fact that people fail to understand their genuine interests and instead adopt values and ideas that are opposed to their interests. Second, it refers to a system of ideas and values, specifically those of the ruling classes. The ideas of the ruling classes are contained within and reproduced by the dominant social institutions (the law, the family, religion, education, etc.). Ideology is that which appears to be common sense, unchallengeable, natural, good, and desirable but which is actually socially constructed and contingent.

Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC).
A study group created in 1994 by the minister of Industry Canada to provide advice on developing the information highway. Its final report (1996) was titled Preparing Canada for a Digital World.

Instant World.
In 1971, the former Department of Communication struck a “telecommission” that issued a report titled Instant World: A Report on Telecommunications in Canada. This was one of the first studies of computers and communication, and it championed the notion of a “right to communicate.”

Institutionalization of communication.
The process, involving government, universities, and individual scholars, by which the field of communication came to be recognized as an autonomous field of study, with its own departments, research agendas and funds, scholarly publications, debates, etc. In Canada, this process largely occurred in the 1960s and 1970s and involved the coming together of administrative research, political economy, and cultural studies.

Intellectual property.
Intellectual or creative work that can be owned by an individual, institution, or company. The thing owned can be an actual artifact (e.g., a machine or device), an artistic or intellectual expression (e.g., a novel, a painting, a film, a mathematical formula, etc.), a process (i.e., a specific method of producing that artifact), and so on. The main methods used to protect intellectual property are trademarks, patents, and copyright.

INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite Organization).
The world’s first commercial satellite operator. Its first satellite was EarlyBird (1965). It now operates over 20 satellites, which provide voice and data transmission, television broadcast, corporate networking, etc. See www.intelsat.com.

Interactivity.
The ability to participate in the production and consumption of on-line material; the feeling of interchange and interaction.

International co-production.
International co-productions are films that are financed by companies in a number of countries at once. For example, Canada and France may jointly fund a film, with stars and production crew drawn from both countries. This method of production reduces risks by spreading costs and expands distribution possibilities for films.

Internet.
The Internet is a “network of networks” that connects millions of computers around the world. Networks connected to the Internet use a common protocol, TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). This allows networks to have unique addresses and to communicate seamlessly with one another. Internet services include e-mail, e-mail lists, Usenet, gopher, FTP, WWW, Telnet, and chat. The origins of the Internet are found in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when it was decided to construct a communication system that could withstand thermonuclear attack. The goal was to build a decentred system that could continue to operate and route messages even if part or parts of it were destroyed. This involved devising a method for splitting messages into smaller parts (packet switching) so that each part could find its own path to its destination, where all the parts would be reassembled. Much credit is often given to Paul Baran, Vinton Cerf, the Rand Corporation, and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), but the true list of contributors is extremely long. Virtually identical efforts were undertaken at the same time in the Soviet Union, Britain, and Australia. See http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml.

MAPL system.
Refers to the four elements by which Canadian content is determined in musical selections broadcasting by Canadian radio. The acronym stands for Music, Artist, Production, Lyric. See www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/INFO_SHT/R1.htm.

Marginality.
The fact of being on the margins, not being at the centre, not being the focus of attention. It is sometimes claimed that marginality affords perspective, distance, and the luxury of contemplation. As such, it is sometimes claimed marginal thinkers can discover insights that thinkers at the centre of things could never attain.

Market-driven television policy.
This perspective is built upon the belief that a free market (and not government imperatives) should determine the content of television. It is often recognized by proposals to (a) deregulate broadcasting, including allowing foreign ownership; (b) abandon content requirements; (c) encourage market/audience-driven private sector production; and (d) open the airwaves to all competitors. Proponents of a market-driven approach argue that cultural nationalism has failed and that only a genuine connection with audience tastes can build a cultural industry.

Market share.
That part of an audience that attends to a particular medium. If 33 percent of an audience reads a particular magazine, then the magazine’s share of the market is 33 percent.

Mass.
One of the most frequently used words in communication. Its meaning is most often pejorative. First, a mass designates any large group of anonymous individuals, often a mob, a crowd, a herd. It is usually claimed that the members of the mass tend to lose their individual identity and assume a group or collective identity. As such, members of a mass are likely to do things as a group that they would never do alone (e.g., engage in riots or illegal activity). It is often said that masses are moved by simple yet strong emotions. Consequently, the terms mass society, mass audience, mass media, etc., tend to indicate that the phenomenon under consideration draws on base instincts rather than more elevated and rational thoughts. A mass society is one in which individuals are lost in a sea of anonymity; mass audiences are audiences easily amused; mass media are media that use tired formulas and aim at the lowest common denominator. The mass is usually distinguished from both the public and the audience.

Mass society.
A term frequently used to describe contemporary society, especially in the West, especially after the 1920s. The main characteristics of mass society are usually said to be (a) agglomerations of very large numbers of people, (b) a sense of individual alienation or isolation (anomie), (c) industrial and highly formulaic types of culture (mass media) used to distract rather than enlighten the masses, (d) forms of government whose inner workings are obscure and tend toward authoritarianism, and (e) a generalized sense of dullness, repetitiveness, and sameness. One of the most frightening and evocative images of mass society can be found in Orwell’s 1984 (1948).

Media power.
The ability of media to represent reality, particularly the reality of others.

Methodology.
An element in the construction of knowledge that focuses on the processes through which questions are framed and research is conducted. Examples of methodologies include ethnography, science, and discourse analysis.

Methods.
An element in the construction of knowledge that involves the actual techniques through which knowledge is produced. Examples of methods include interviews, surveys, narrative analysis, content analysis, and focus groups.

Modernity.
Refers to a type of society in which individuals are deemed to be fundamentally rational and therefore capable of determining their own forms of social organization. Societies that are modern, therefore, also tend to value freedom of speech and of association, democratic forms of government, increasing knowledge, variety of cultural forms, and so on. They reject the notion that forms of social organization and individual behaviour are predetermined or unalterable. As a result, in modern societies, norms of behaviour are the object of constant debate. Societies that place less emphasis on the individual and more on divine transcendence (the view that social forms are given by a divinity outside of human society) are often called pre-modern, or traditional, societies. Societies that value the individual but also doubt the value of rationality are often called postmodern societies. The fundamental characteristic of modernity, therefore, is the central role granted to reason or rationality in the determination of norms for individual and collective behaviour.

Moral panic.
A media-induced fear that some aspect of modern culture is leading people, especially children and youths, astray, into deviance, delinquency, and criminality. Also known as social crisis. An example: the belief that raves are, at best, generally dangerous and at worst, havens of criminality, drug use, and promiscuity.

Motion Picture Bureau.
The predecessor of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). Created in 1923 and terminated in 1941, it produced travelogues, scenic shorts, industrial films, etc.

MTE.
Refers to media telecommunications and electronic companies, horizontally and vertically integrated enterprises that control information (content), the channels through which information flows (carriage), and the electronic systems (platforms) on which content is accessed.

Napster.
An on-line peer-to-peer music-trading company developed in 1999 for the MP3 format by Shawn Fanning, then a freshman at Northeastern University. It enabled users to trade files directly without going through a central server. In 2000, most of the major record labels—Universal Music, BMG, Sony Corp., Warner Music, and EMI—filed a lawsuit against Napster for encouraging the illegal duplication of musical recordings. The lawsuit was successful, and Napster was eventually taken over by Bertelsmann AG, which owns BMG. In 2001, BMG introduced a user fee for Napster, but its user base had largely defected to other peer-to-peer services such as Kazaa, Morpheus, and Aimster, Napster’s greatest legacy may have been to introduce the idea of peer-to-peer sharing for video, film, text, and other files, in addition to music files.

National Film Board (NFB).
A film-production unit established by the federal government in 1939, originally to make wartime propaganda films. Its first and most famous commissioner was John Grierson (1898–1972). After the Second World War, the NFB abandoned propaganda in favour of documentaries, travelogues, social issue films, scenics, etc. In the 1950s and 1960s, it spawned the Cinéma direct movement and was instrumental in launching the Quebec film industry. The NFB was intended to serve as a foil to American film distribution and production. NFB films have won 11 Academy Awards and numerous other international awards. It has served as a training school for some of Canada’s most successful film directors.

NCIT.
Refers to new communication and information technology, the electronic technologies based on digitization and associated with the computer.

Neoliberalism.
Economic and social movement that promotes policies for a free and open marketplace. In the communication sector, it is characterized by privatization, commercialization, and the deregulation of media industries.

New media.
Refers to communicative forms that are interactive, digital, related to the Internet, and characterized by a convergence of “old” and “new media.” The result of social, political, economic, and technical forces, they can engender changes in everyday practices, our experience of reality, and our experience of ourselves.

New television disposition.
The new television disposition refers to the entire array of new technologies (HDTV, PVRs, VOD), industrial alignments (signal distributors and content manufacturers), content types (digital and/or pseudo-interactive), and contact strategies (timeshifting, multiple windows, cross-platform tie-ins, repurposing) that characterize the current experience of television viewing. The new experience of television is one of heightened personalization, individualized control, particularistic content, advanced technology, concentrated ownership, and strategies of audience seduction that use the new technologies both to appeal to the audience and to track its movements.

NWICO (New World Information and Communication Order).
In 1980, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) published a report titled Many Voices, One World. The report was produced by a committee chaired by Sean McBride (1904–1988) and is often called the McBride Report. The authors of the report advanced the notion of a new world information and communication order. Its goal was to view communication as a right integral to individual and cultural development rather than as a commodity or an industry. The report also advocated building communication capacity in poorer and less developed countries in an attempt to rectify the global flow of communication. See http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rvincent/mcbcon1.htm.

Ontology.
An element of the construction of knowledge which focuses on the question: what is the nature of being? Ontological debates ask whether reality exists outside of our perceptions of it.

P

Patent.
A patent gives inventors the exclusive right to demand payment (royalties) for the manufacture, use, or sale of their “inventions.” Patents therefore are not concerned with words and symbols (the domain of trademarks) but with inventions (processes, machines, and combinations of matter). Patents protect an invention for up to 20 years.

Payne Fund Studies.
Between 1929 and 1933, Rev. William Short, head of the Motion Picture Research Council, convinced the Payne Fund of Cleveland, Ohio, headed by Professor W.W. Charters, of Ohio State University, to undertake one of the first major studies of media impacts. The team of researchers, which included a roster of eminent scholars, published their findings in eight volumes. These findings were known as the Payne Fund Studies. The best-known volume is Movies, Delinquency and Crime, by Herbert Blumer and Philip M. Hauser, of the Department of Sociology, University of Chicago. As its title suggests, that volume purports to show a link between movies and crime.

Piracy.
The unauthorized duplication of copyrighted material for profit.

Positivist.
A stream within an empirical approach to research that is highly indebted to science. It seeks to produce verifiable data through the application of strict scientific methods to any social phenomenon.

Privacy.
The right to be let alone, to be free from surveillance by the state, institutions, or one’s fellow citizens; the right to control the disclosure of personal information; the right to determine the use of information disclosed; respect for the dignity of the person.

Queer Theory.
A type of theory that claims gender is a fluid category and people are not limited to just masculinity/femininity or homosexuality/heterosexuality.

R

Radical alternative media.
Media that explicitly challenge dominant institutions, ideas and values.

Reversible Resistance.
The ironic negotiation of American popular culture by Canadian audiences. Canadians create their own popular culture through an engagement with and response to the presence of American popular culture in Canada.

Royalties.
Money paid to an inventor, creator, or copyright holder for use of the creation.

S

Scientific method.
A method of inquiry aimed at producing empirically verifiable certainty. To be scientific, a method must be (a) objective (it must not depend on the nature or status of the person conducting the experiment, and it must not be influenced by ideology, personal preference, desire for gain, etc.); (b) reproducible (it must not be the result of chance and must therefore be infinitely repeatable); and (c) falsifiable (it must be stable in a way that allows it to be subjected to experimentation; hence, statements concerning parapsychology, for example, are not scientific because they are not subject to experimentation). Further, various experiments must be internally consistent and work together in support of an overall hypothesis.

Semiotics.
The study of signs or signifying practices, also known as semiology. Semiotics attempts to explain the meanings of objects, actions, images, etc., in the world around us by showing how they fit into, and express, larger systems and patterns of belief and meanings of which we are frequently unaware. For example, semioticians will attempt to explain the success (or failure) of an advertising campaign by showing how its imagery or musical theme or catch line, etc., fit into and draw on older patterns of meaning and symbolism with which we are all familiar but whose far-reaching nature might be unknown to us. For years, the leading exponent of semiotics was Roland Barthes (1915–1980).

Stimulus-response theory.
See behaviourism.

T

Technological nationalism.
The Canadian government’s reliance on the communications industry to materially and symbolically unify the Canadian nation. Ironically, it is through this industry—the mass media in particular—that Canadians are routinely exposed to American popular culture.

Telecommunications.
The general term for all electronic communications at a distance, and more specifically for telephony, data transmission, computer networking, satellite transmission, undersea cable, and the like.

Telecommunications Act.
In Canada, the Telecommunications Act of 1993 (see http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/T-3.4/text.html), which covers the provision of services and rates charged. In the United States, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was a major attempt to extend telecommunications legislation to the Internet; see http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/reg19n3d.html.

Telefilm Canada.
Formerly the Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), the agency was re-named Telefilm Canada in 1984 and given expanded responsibilities for both film and television production. It administers the Canadian Broadcast Program Development Fund (CBPDF), the Canadian Television Fund (CTF, $250 million), the Canadian Feature Film Fund (CFFF, $100 million), the Feature Film Distribution Fund (FFDF), the Canada New Media Fund (CNMF, $9 million), and the Music Entrepreneur Program (MEP). Telefilm can invest in all stages of production, pre-production, and postproduction. See www.telefilm.gc.ca.

Trademark.
A legal protection allowing the holder to take advantage of commercial symbols or designations. Trademarks are territorial and depend on local trademark use or reputation. For example, Atlas Van Lines is the only moving company that can call itself Atlas. But other companies not in the moving business could use the name Atlas to represent their product or service, e.g., Atlas Catering. A trademark merely protects the holder of the trademark against the use of the same trademark by other people.

U

UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).
Established in 1945, with headquarters in Paris, to “contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” See www.unesco.org.

Universal Copyright Convention.
First adopted in 1952, revised in 1971, this convention is an agreement of the member states of UNESCO “to provide for the adequate and effective protection of the rights of authors and other copyright proprietors in literary, scientific and artistic works, including writings, musical, dramatic and cinematographic works, and paintings, engravings and sculpture.” See http://www.unesco.org/culture/laws/copyright/html_eng/page1.shtml.

V

Vaudeville.
The principal form of popular entertainment in North America before the advent of film. Vaudeville—also called burlesque, variety, or music hall—refers to a series of unrelated acts (singer, juggler, magician, dancer, dog act, etc.) presented in a theatre (the vaudeville house or venue) to a paying audience. With the advent of film, radio, and television, vaudeville effectively died as a form of entertainment, although its main features were incorporated into the Hollywood musical and the radio or television variety show.

V-chip.
A device invented by Tom Collings, an engineering professor at Simon Fraser University, to be installed in television sets in order to make the screen go blank or switch to another channel whenever the content exceeds certain limits of violence, bad language, sexual content, and so on, as set by the user. In 1996, the U.S. Congress in collaboration with the Clinton administration determined that all new television sets with screens larger than 33 cm (13 inches) must have a built-in V-chip. It is often assumed that the V stands for “violence,” when in fact it stands for “viewer choice.”

VCR (videocassette recorder).
Although prototypes of the videotape recorder were in development as long ago as the early 1950s, the first commercially successful VCR for home use was the Sony Betamax, launched in 1975. The Betamax used a cassette rather than a spool of tape and allowed for timeshifting. It was joined in the marketplace by the incompatible VHS format, launched by JVC in 1976, which grew to dominate the market. The heyday of the VCR was the 1980s. In recent years its market share has dwindled in the face of competition from digital recorders and the DVD player.

Vertical concentration of ownership.
A concentration of firms within a line of business that extends a company’s control over the process of production and/or distribution.

W

Walled garden.
In cyberspace, a controlled-access area that attempts to keep users within its confines. For example, AOL is a walled garden in that it attempts to provide users with everything they may need within its own services. This undermines a user’s inclination to look elsewhere and allows the operator to stream users toward content it may control.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Established in 1970, with headquarters in Geneva, WIPO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It currently has 179 member states and administers and develops policy on intellectual property, such the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the Protocol to Madrid Agreement, the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and the Patent Law Treaty. WIPO is currently concerned with extending intellectual property protection to digital media. See www.wipo.org.

World Wide Web (WWW).
In the late 1980s, Tim Berners-Lee of the Centre européen de recherche nucléaire (CERN), in Switzerland, sought a way to make information more manageable within the internationally dispersed community of high particle physics researchers. With some colleagues, he devised the hypertext markup language (html) and the first Web browser, Mosaic. The system was up and running in 1993. It has since become the main way to explore, or surf, the Internet.

World Trade Organization (WTO).
Created in 1995 as the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO has 147 members and has its headquarters in Geneva. It sets global trade rules between nations in order to ensure smooth and predictable trade flows. It also provides a dispute settlement body (DSB) in case of disagreements between members. See www.wto.org.