Media Ecosystem : What Ecology Can Teach Us about Responsible Media Practice

English

Series: Manifesto Ser.

ISBN: 1583944591

EAN: 9781583944592

Category: Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection/Nature / Ecology/

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Release Date: 07/10/2012

Synopsis: The Earth has been colonized. Its colonizers are human, but are so disconnected from the planet that they might as well be from another world. By shrewdly mixing sex, violence, shock, and fear through its vast communications systems, these colonizers have established a religion of consumption and economic growth-one that promises instant gratification and magical transformation through commodities, fetishizing those very objects that are destroying our living habitats. In Decolonize the Media, Antonio Lopez deconstructs the mass-media system and identifies how it is responsible for the destruction of our planet. But this destruction can be stopped: by reoccupying the cultural commons-the space of ideas that everyone shares-we can defy these colonizing forces and shape a healthier, more sustainable world. Decolonizing the media means instituting key values of credibility, reciprocity, and transparency in our communications-both on an individual level and on a global scale. A diversity of tactics are needed; those already working with mass media can instill them with a better system of ethics based on social justice and responsibility; other activists can repurpose the tools of media and invent new communication strategies. Above all, Lopez calls for media producers and consumers to bring a sense of ritual and collaboration back to the process of communication, utilizing collective intelligence and supporting a new culture of participation. Lopez teaches readers the five keys to becoming a mindful practitioner of media: Know your mind. Through mindfulness become aware of how your attention is hooked. Learn and understand the methods of manipulation and control that cause us to give away our power. Know your relations. Actively engage the relations you are cultivating through the media. Build strong and meaningful relationships, and bridge your participation with your personal life. Are you behaving like a demographic, or are you an active member of community? Know your environment. Be aware of the environments that engage your attention. What do these environments (be they computer interfaces, shopping malls, churches, or forests) demand of your awareness? What possibilities or restrictions do they afford? Know your gadget. Our media gadgets are part of vast networks of material extraction, production, and waste. Disengage those systems of power that are enabling environmental destruction and injustice. Know your connectivity. Every screen is a portal. Such portals are nodes into vast possibilities of experience. Enter into these spaces with eyes wide open and feet on the ground. You are the medium for the planets spirit. Channel wisely.

Media Ecosystem : What Ecology Can Teach Us about Responsible Media Practice

Illustrated: No

Format: Paperback

Height: 0.49 inches

Width: 4.27 inches

Length: 6.99 inches

Weight: 6.42 oz

Pages: 208