Mass Communication

Three Definitions of Information Knowledge

Ghana Institute of Journalism
Diploma 2 Morning
Name:Baffuor Owiredu-Amoh
Index:DCSM 2010044



(1)NATO Joint Air Power Competence Center (JAPCC: [1]) of Kalkar (Germany) project-requirement.
.
The construction of emergent patterns of organization can be seen as the general process at the root of
Dervin's (1999) concept of 'sensemaking' , in which people are seen as seeking information in order to make sense of situations in their lives. 'Making sense' consists operationally in constructing an understanding, an emergent, simplifying organization of ideas and experience that satisfies people's sense
of completion, of wholeness. Likewise, the construction of such emergent patterns is also at the heart of Kuhlthau's (2004) information search process, in which the searcher gradually forms a more and more coherent conception of the focus, theme, or argument of the planned paper. The formulation of an 'Anomalous State of Knowledge' (Belkin, et al. 1982) is in response to a situation where the information seeker feels a lack of success in creating a coherent, emergent, understanding around some phenomenon of interest and attempts to describe the shape of the gap in knowledge.

(2) Information Knowledge is data endowed with relevance and purpose. Converting data into information
thus requires knowledge. And knowledge, by definition, is specialized. - Peter Drucker.

(3)Knowledge... knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that it's intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone "memorizes" information (as less-aspiring test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, an integration such as would infer further knowledge.
For example, elementary school children memorize, or amass knowledge of, the "times table". They can tell you that "2 x 2 = 4" because they have amassed that knowledge (it being included in the times table).
But when asked what is "1267 x 300", they can not respond correctly because that entry is not in their times table. To correctly answer such a question requires a true cognitive and analytical ability that is only encompassed in the next level... understanding. In computer parlance, most of the applications we use (modeling, simulation, etc.) exercise some type of stored knowledge.

Gene Bellinger,Durval Castro,Anthony Mills

Information Society

1. The term is widely uised to define a contemporary society in terms of what is thought to be its most central driving force or source of producvtive power, namely information of all kinds.The justification for this assumption derives from the seeming dependence of much modern life,materially as well as culturally on the productioon,handling and application of information and on the operation of complex networks of communication.Technology sector appears to have became the chief source of wealth in more economically advanced society.

Source: Denis McQuail,
Mass Communication Theory,
Fifth Edition.

2. An information society is charaterized by high level of infromation intensity in everyday life of most citizens in most organizations and workplaces;by the use of common or compatible technology for a wide range of personal,social,educational and business activities,and by the ability to transmit,receive and exchage digital data rapidly between places,irrespective of the distance.

Source:IBM Community Development Foundation Report
1997

3. An information society is actually a society in which low cost of information technology,computers,and telecommunications are widely used to facilitate communication nationally,and to promote access to libraries,data archives and other stores of information held by private organization or in the public domain.

Source: www.higbeam.com/doc/10088-infromation society.thml

AFRICA MUST RISE AGAIN

Sometimes I wonder what actually strikes some people to cause havoc,confusion and so much disturbances in their communities.As I continue to ponder over this issue so many times,what comes to my mind that make people to make life unbearable for others is the struggle for political power,the use of the stronger ones to bully the vulnerable.And this has actually being the cause of underdevelopment in Africa.Poverty and hunger have taken a greater toll in the life of African people.But what amazes me is that politicians in their quest to occupy political positions make so much promises,but when they assume power they forget about the very people who put them there.They therefore resort to flimsy excuses by blaming their predecessors for not laying better foundations for them.This make them to forget that when they were making those promises it never occurred to them that as African nation definitely there would be debts to settle as every successful government has no option to generate revenue internally than to go to the world bank,IMF and other agencies to borrow money for the country's socio-economic development.
Politicians just give these flimsy excuses because they take advantage of the many people's level of ignorance to score high political marks.This been the bane of countries like Kenya,Zimbabwe and several African countries in experiencing better development.I therefore use this medium to plead with African leaders to employ the brain of their experts to build Africa rather than all the time employing the services of men of the developed countries as consultants,awarding them huge contracts who turn to transfer these moneys to their respective countries.And these are the people we go to them for loans and grants.
PLEASE AFRICA,LET'S THINK BUT LET'S THINK WISELY.

"King Pop" Michael sound sleep

I was a kid when I began to love Big Brother Michael.Whenever I watched him on TV I saw him as a great role model for we the young ones coming up.With his greatest composition Thriller every child of my age group knew how to sing from beginning to the end and also moved his or her feet as we usually saw him did on stage.
Although his backing movie in the Thriller clip looked frightening to most of us the kids when we watched on TV in the night,our love for him never made us to dislike the video.As I grew up I tried my best to get some of his old hits to wet my appetite for his music,especially with his live songs such as "The Girl Is Mine".What again made Michael the most promising pop star was his composition of "We Are The World"with other world top stars like Steve Wonder and many more.This was a kind song that brought the world together especially the youth and saved many deprived souls in Africa.
Even though Michael did many plastic surgeries which deformed his body which made a lot people disliked him, I believe he had his reason for doing that.As Michael goes home I say a big thanks to him for the relief he brought to many homes around the world.
Big Mike I join the world today and say Good Bye.

Believe In Yourself

There is nothing on this earth that has never occurred before.Whatever phenomenon that man is encountering today has occurred somewhere or its even happening.I therefore post this publication as a motivation for my visitors or readers.My brother or sister man can succeed with your own intuition and self confidence.Whatever your dreams might be believe in yourself,press forward and with perseverance you would succeed.
If in the course of dong something and you encounter any difficulty,please don't shift the blame on somebody else.But rather accept your fault correct your mistake and restart the whole program and lo and behold with self confidence you can make it.Remember don't blame anybody when something goes wrong in your life,but know that its up to you to make it better.
If it is business proposal,application form that you are sending do it and have confidence that yours also qualifies.If it is an interview that you are attending have self belief that you can make it.
I have a strong belief that this piece of motivation can change things better in your life.

Senior High School Must Be Four Years

I write to air my views on the current debate about the duration of the Senior High School.I believe stakeholders will soon meet and brainstorm on the issue in order to come out with a clear duration for students to take.
As compared to the old system which I had a taste,one can see that the old secondary system had the first five years to do GCE O' Level and additional two years for GCE A'Level certificates.With the old system,students had the opportunity to pass through the system doing several subjects for at least three years.Therefore before a student get to the third year he or she understands what subjects to choose for the final examination.So by doing this they passed and passed well.
But unlike the Senior High School students choose the subjects to be offered at the secondary level knowing that they don't really understand what they are taking.
What we must understand is that two years have been slashed and the additional two years have also been slashed.Therefore I strongly believe if the four year duration is maintain it would be better.Again students must be provided with career counsellors to counsel them on what each course chosen and the profession that matches.Because if care is not taken we would find square pegs in round holes.

MASS COMMUNICATION ASSIGNMENT

Ghana Institute of Journalism
Diploma One Assignment
Name:Baffuor Owiredu-Amoh
Index Number:DCSM 20210044
Course:Mass Communication
Date:Tuesday 19th May,2009

Question: Compare and Contrast the Libertarian Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory
Media and Communication-Media Information Order Volume 2 which was edited by Mridula Menon and Ved Prakash Gandhi described liberty of the press or press freedom as “Essential to political liberty where men cannot convey their thoughts to one another, no freedom is secure”. This means where freedom of expression exists, there is a free society.
Again two prominent Libertarian philosophers Bruce Itule and Douglas Anderson identified the Libertarian Theory in their book News Writing and Reporting for Today’s Media as “Humans are rational thinking beings capable of separating truth from falsehood, good from evil”. With this media must provide information on variety of topics-particularly government so that citizens can take a stand to make enlightened decisions.
Denis Mcquil viewed the Social Responsibility Theory in Mass Communication Theory Fifth Edition as,”A responsible press provides a fully, truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning”. This should serve as forum for the exchange of comment and criticism and must be a common carrier of the public expression. It must be vividly deduced from the definitions of the two theories that the media saw themselves as their operations must seek to serve the society in a manner to understanding, happiness and equality among all.
Even though the two theories operate in separate approaches some of their objectives and goals aim at achieving a common purpose. And there are few instances where we see them having some differences to make society either comfortable or uncomfortable. Some identified similarities are as follows;
The media is regarded as a watchdog towards society. This means that with the Libertarian Theory, the media has the freedom and acts as a watchman and protect the public interest and also see to the smooth and efficient running of state machinery. Likewise with the Social Responsibility Theory, the media stands in the position of the society to and work in the society’s interest. Thus checking state machinery and put them on their toes to do the wish of the society. For instance the society expects the media to hold government and its appointees in proper checks.
Again, the two theories uphold truthfulness of information. That is, all of them see objective truth, integrity and disseminating of balanced and fair information in their practice. Therefore they must be fair and balanced in the information they put across for public consumption. Even though the Libertarian Theory operates under no restriction, it sees this as great duty to provide society with objective truth. With this, they are sure of winning public trust.
The two theories see themselves being accountable to society in their operations. Media being accountable to society means knowing what the society wants and giving it to them. Denis Mcquil in his Mass Communication Theory says;” Media should provide a full truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning”. Media and Communications-New Information Order also quotes the above statement. This means after every day’s work the media must sit, measure and analyze their day’s performance and find out whatever they gave to the public was in their in their interest and if really they were satisfied with it. This evaluation can make them serve the society well in their subsequent products they would manufacture for public consumption. And all these will solely depend on the truthfulness, objectivity, comprehensiveness and for that matter intelligence of the information that went out.
The two theories, the Libertarian and the Social Responsibility Theory also present and give clarification to the goals and values of society. This means the media must not do anything to bring the culture, traditions, customs and beliefs of the people into disrepute. That is the media must assist the society to develop their culture to the best maximum standard. Again if the society wants to engage in any activities in their locality the media must be prepared to assist them either in kind or cash. For instance a community wants to organize clean-up exercise, the media must get involved in the campaign urge everybody to take part in the exercise to make their environment clean. As it ha happened between the media, Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly in their recently organized clean up exercise within the metropolis. It is also not strange to find some media houses supporting festivals like Abokyer, Odwira, Akwasidae and Bakatue.This makes the society see the media as their major partner in their developmental and cultural programmes.
The Libertarian Theory and the Social Responsibility Theory both hold the view of capital ownership as a form of public trust or stewardship rather than private franchise. This means the means of publications and regulation of economic access and the abuse of monopolistic publishing power. This makes it possible for the society to see it as theirs. Therefore there is no way the government can take monopoly of the press and dictate to them whatever befits him rather than the public interest. Therefore if the media belongs to the state, the government would control and manipulate it to propagate only the government interest and not tat of the society.
Again the two theories have similar standards of gathering information and processing them. Since the two theories give the media the power to serve the society in order to win their trust, their style of obtaining information and disseminating them must be in the public interest. That is, they have to search for information which can make the public happy and very satisfied. That is chasing the good and the rot in society and laying them bare for them to actually know what is pertaining in the society.Again, to alert them to know the attitude and character of the very public officials they elected to govern them. This will make them aware of people who are living within and outside them. The society also expects the media to also use any means to search for information they want and give it them. This is possible, because they are assured of freedom of access to information and coercion to publish. The Social Responsibility Theory also goes by a principle of a supply of information by setting standards. Therefore under no circumstance that the media must fail to provide the public with information they cry for.
By touching some differences between the two theories, we can identify;
With Social Responsibility Theory, the media follow some agreed codes and amount of professional conduct. This is because, the media see themselves as being responsible to society, and therefore it is unwise to provide them information which is substandard, unfair, and imbalanced. Again being part of society whatever they publish or broadcast about the public they must see as affecting them also. For instance, writing or broadcasting on television of a fatal motor accident, the media must consider how the family of people involved in the accident would feel before putting the pictures on air. If it is about reporting on a corrupt public servant, they must also not only think about the person involved but also think the shame and uncomfortable situation and the pain the family would go through. This makes the media see themselves as being responsible towards society.
But unlike the Libertarian theory, since there is restriction and censorship is not applied to untrue stories they publish they don’t consider the just above issue in their operations. They don’t cross-check the facts of the information they get before broadcasting or publishing them. They don’t consider the rate at which the pain of the story can cause to the individual involved or the family.
Again, with the Social Responsibility Theory being part of the society and work in the public interest, they work to unite the society. That is why sometimes we see the media taking charge of social programmes like Joy FM Old Skuul join together forum. We again see some media houses organizing activities that bring people from different political parties, ethinic groups and different cultural background to brainstorm on some issues for the betterment of the society’s interest. These are all forms to unite society and create peace and harmony within the community.
But with the Libertarian Theory, even though they see themselves being responsible for society, it is minimal in this context. This is because the over exaggerated and sensational stories that they publish cause confusion and eventually if care is not taken can cause anarchy in the society. This can be possible because, they don’t cross check their facts before publishing them.
Under the Social Responsibility Theory the government not only allows freedom of the press but also actively promotes freedom. This is because since, there is regulation the media has a boundary to some extent. Therefore it becomes very difficult to infringe upon others’ rights. But with the Libertarian Theory, there are no restrictions; therefore individual rights are frequently abused.
Again with publication and broadcasting, the media sees it as a responsibility to give accurate information to the public. Therefore there is no need to exaggerate, over-emphasize stories. But the Libertarian Theory has allowed our media to have no boundaries in their operations which has therefore resulted in the over-emphasizing and exaggerating stories. We find many newspapers giving sensational headlines in their publications. With the recently developed and approved newspaper review on the various electronic media, some tiny issues are over stretched and giving enough premiums shouldn’t have being the case. Again the introduction of local language broadcasting has also giving some unprofessional newscasters and presenters to over-emphasize and giving some sensational colours to stories which don’t demand that.
The Social Responsibility Theory has self regulation to streamline their operation. This makes the practitioners work within the confines of the law and to the public interest. But the Libertarian Theory does not provide such self regulation measures. They therefore can go beyond what is expected of them and cause destruction and disgrace and problems for individual and societies.
Finally the Libertarian Theory is vague that it doesn’t give a clear cut about who has or benefits from the right to freedom. Whether it gives the right to the proprietor of the house? Whether it gives right to the editors, and journalists and every member of the public? But the social responsibility theory gives a clear indication of the persons that it gives rights to. That is the press, the society, the government and all.
The above discussed similarities and differences clearly outline the conditions under which the media operate.