BLog #2 - Chloe Cameron

According to Innis, time bias is a form of communication that is both steady and immobile. While space bias is a less reliable but still incredibly portable communication channel. The “language virus” in Pontypool is an example of space bias because of its wide transmission over vast distances to contaminate others. The vector of infection relies on communication mediums such as radio, telephone, and electronic amplification to disseminate the virus to more and more people. These contemporary forms of orality function as a technology for speech. Similar to how we spoke about tele-technologies in class that help simplify human tasks from a distance. 


This made me think of how social media platforms like TikTok are able to disseminate dance and song trends to such a fast distance of consumers. TikTok too has a space bias because it shares content portably using the aid of the internet and using algorithms. Once a song or dance is trending, users can recite the songs and dances from memory. I saw this in during lunch breaks while working at my summer job supervising campers. While writing this I thought that the space bias of TikTok that mobilizes videos using the For You Page disseminates trends to a vast audience via social media, arguably similar to the “language virus” of Pontypool that is disseminated by radio. Do you agree?


Comments

  1. Jessica HardieFebruary 8, 2023 at 10:17 AM

    Hi Chloe,

    Great post this week! I liked how you liked it to the TikTok for you page. To answer your question, I do agree that there are similarities between the Pontypool and TikTok’s for you page. These new platforms are creating a new form of communication that allows the spoken work to travel further faster and is making it possible for certain things to reach vast audiences fast. This is much like the virus in Pontypool as with the use of phone and the radio the infected word was able to be spread further much faster. This made it difficult for people to figure out what was going on and put an end to it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jessica KopecnyFebruary 8, 2023 at 1:19 PM

    Hi Chloe,

    Great Post! I found it interesting how you made the connection of the language virus and the for you page on TikTok. I do agree that it is similar as nowadays so many new phrases or terms are used in a persons day to day conversations that stem from TikTok and become widely known, spreading like the language virus. For example the word "ick", before the TikTok trend I would have no idea what that word is or meant, now I use it daily. Your connection helped me understand that concept of space bias in a more modern way, therefore I really enjoyed your post for this week.

    - Jessica Kopecny

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #2: Jess Beard

   Question 1:      Innis argues that orality is more flexible and humanistic whereas writing is rigid and impersonal. As well, creativity stems from orality as language is complex and more difficult to express through written form. Innis views speech as a tool to be human. And to be human according to Innis is to speak, listen and interact with others. Through this social connection wisdom and thought are gained.      We can apply Innis’ argument of orality and speech to the two DJs as they use their voices to add new meanings to words and experiences using universal sounds. Both Grant Massy and Dj Dave Mickie take their time rather than getting straight to the point. They also add a performance aspect that allows the audience to make a judgment on feelings, experiences, and opinions to create a visual outcome.      McLuhan discusses these oral qualities as he states that audience participation is created through spoken word. As we...
Read more

Podcast Studies- Jessica Hardie

In addition to the presentations and class discussions from this week I wanted to talk more about technological determinism versus social constructionism because it was a topic that I found both interesting and a bit confusing. I would like to use this discussion to compare and contrast the two in order to better understand the two terms and what they mean in relation to podcast studies. As discussed in “Podcast Studies and its techno-social discourses’ there are many scholars that are working to define podcasts as it is a newly emerged medium. However, there are many debates on what these definitional parameters are. It is important to gain an understanding of this new emerging technology as it has an impact on both our society and the people within it. Two heavily debated ideas surrounding podcast studies and how this new technology emerged are technological determinism and social constructionism. Technological determinism views these new technologies as a driving force that shapes s...
Read more

Blog 4 Ethan Guevara

I found the platformization of podcasting to be a very interesting topic discussed. Prior to the platformization of podcasting, as discussed by John Sullivan in “The Platforms of Podcasting: Past and Present”, a method known as RSS was used to consume podcasts. This was not easy for everyone to use, as only people with higher knowledge of the use of technology would be able to use this method. Steve Jobs would be the first to make a platform for podcasting with the release of iTUnes 4.9. THis allowed users the ability to consume and discover podcasts from the same place, ultimately making it much easier for the general population to enjoy this medium. Sullivan then goes on to explain how many followed Apple's steps as they were responsible for its popularization. Sullivan expands on this topic, leading him to the discussion of podcast enclosure. Due to the sheer amounts of podcasting platforms, it led to the enclosure of platforms beginning to produce content that would only be ava...
Read more