Media and Cultural Change Outside of Europe
Since some decades we live in a rapidly changing world, especially by looking at media and communication. From Internet to mobile phone, from Second Life to Facebook – more and more media devices and services came up and are used by the people in very different ways. The development of media and communication takes place in the context of important developments of the social and cultural worlds we live in.
Until today it seems that Communication studies analyze these long-term developments not very carefully. Of course, there have been Harold Innis, Marshall McLuhan and some others who worked about the so called “Medium Theory”, that separates time and development with reference to media. But mostly, researchers in the tradition of communication studies analyze single media, its content and use and do not generate or develop comprehensive theories.
This is the topic that we want to discuss in the workshop with researchers from outside of Europe in order to learn how and with which theoretical appearances they do their work.