SELECT AN EDITION:
9th EDITION   10th EDITION   11th EDITION
A First Look at Communication Theory Reveal main menu
 

The screen on this device is not wide enough to display Theory Resources. Try rotating the device to landscape orientation to see if more options become available.

Resources available to all users:

  • Text Comparison—theories covered in A First Look and ten other textbooks
  • Theory Overview—abstract of each chapter
  • Self-Help Quizzes—for student preparation
  • Chapter Outlines
  • Key Names—important names and terms in each chapter
  • Conversation Videos—interviews with theorists
  • Application Logs—student application of theories
  • Essay Questions—for student prepatation
  • Suggested Movie Clips—tie-in movie scenese to theories
  • Links—web resources related to each chapter
  • Primary Sources—for each theory with full chapter coverage
  • Further Resources—bibliographic and other suggestions
  • Changes—for each theory, since the previous edition
  • Theory Archive—PDF copies from the last edition in which a theory appeared

Resources available only to registered instructors who are logged in:

  • Discussion Suggestions
  • Exercises & Activities
  • PowerPoint® presentations you can use
  • Short Answer Quizzes—suggested questions and answers

Information for Instructors. Read more


CHANGE TO View by Theory
Essay Questions
11th Edition

A self-help tool to aid in the study of the First Look text (started with the 9th Edition)

List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details

Chapter 31Media Ecology

  1. The ear and the eye have been dominant senses in previous media ages. Why does McLuhan suggest touch is a new emphasis in the electronic age? What might this have to do with his term global village?
     
  2. Consider cell phones and reflect on how they change your symbolic environment. In other words, how would your family be different without them? Your school? Work? Society overall? The point here is not to critique the existence of cell phones, but rather to describe their environmental effects--effects that McLuhan thinks are most often invisible.
     
  3. The chapter suggests that the digital age might be distinct from the electronic age. In your answer, either explain why and how the digital age is indeed distinct, or why and how digital technology is merely a continuation of the electronic age.
     
  4. Choose the social media platform you use most often and ask the questions Postman would want us to ask: What do we gain from this technology? What do we lose? What are the moral implications of this bargain? Are the consequences more humanistic or antihumanistic? Do we as a society gain more than we lose, or do we lose more than we gain?
     
  5. More than almost any other theory in the book, McLuhan’s theory has generated both public notoriety and controversy. In your essay, side unambiguously with either McLuhan or his critics. Explain why the theory provides brilliant insight into the human condition or, alternatively, why the theory is very wrong.


You can access the Essay Questions for a particular chapter in several ways:

  • Switch to View by Theory, then select the desired theory/chapter from the drop-down list at the top of the page. Look in the list of available resources.
  • To quickly find a theory by chapter number, use the Table of Contents and link from there. It will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
  • You can also use the Theory List, which will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.

Back to top



Resources
by Type


Instructors can get
additional resources.
Read more






 VIDEOS


 ESSAY






New to Theory
Resources?

Find out more
in this short
video overview
(3:01).

CHANGE TO View by Theory
Essay Questions
11th Edition

A self-help tool to aid in the study of the First Look text (started with the 9th Edition)

List mode: Normal (click on theory name to show detail) | Show All details | Clear details

Chapter 31Media Ecology

  1. The ear and the eye have been dominant senses in previous media ages. Why does McLuhan suggest touch is a new emphasis in the electronic age? What might this have to do with his term global village?
     
  2. Consider cell phones and reflect on how they change your symbolic environment. In other words, how would your family be different without them? Your school? Work? Society overall? The point here is not to critique the existence of cell phones, but rather to describe their environmental effects--effects that McLuhan thinks are most often invisible.
     
  3. The chapter suggests that the digital age might be distinct from the electronic age. In your answer, either explain why and how the digital age is indeed distinct, or why and how digital technology is merely a continuation of the electronic age.
     
  4. Choose the social media platform you use most often and ask the questions Postman would want us to ask: What do we gain from this technology? What do we lose? What are the moral implications of this bargain? Are the consequences more humanistic or antihumanistic? Do we as a society gain more than we lose, or do we lose more than we gain?
     
  5. More than almost any other theory in the book, McLuhan’s theory has generated both public notoriety and controversy. In your essay, side unambiguously with either McLuhan or his critics. Explain why the theory provides brilliant insight into the human condition or, alternatively, why the theory is very wrong.


You can access the Essay Questions for a particular chapter in several ways:

  • Switch to View by Theory, then select the desired theory/chapter from the drop-down list at the top of the page. Look in the list of available resources.
  • To quickly find a theory by chapter number, use the Table of Contents and link from there. It will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.
  • You can also use the Theory List, which will take you directly to the theory with available options highlighted.

Back to top



 

Copyright © Em Griffin 2024 | Web design by Graphic Impact