The concept of media is not necessarily so clear in today’s world, even if it is not always discussed in research reports. The media are understood in this study, according to Jensen’s (2002a, 6) definition, as technologies that enable reflexivity on a social scale, as they produce and circulate meaning in society. By the definition, the media are phenomena, which contain two dimensions:
one as a technological artefact, and on the other hand, as an actor that participates in the processes of signification. When the media are understood like this, the concept includes not only the traditional mass media, but also other media, such as mobile phones, electronic games or DVD-movies.
To wider conceptualize the variety of the media, Jensen identifies three different degrees of media (op.cit., 3–4). This division can be used as a framework for understanding the technological development in the field of media technology. Figure 2.1, which I have constructed based on Jensen’s division, illustrates this development. The outer circle represents the media of the first degree, which are dependent on the presence of a human body, and therefore, they operate always in local time and space. Examples of these are speech, or verbal language in general, musical expression, painting or creative arts more generally. These media are not included in this study,
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whereas the two inner circles in the figure 2.1 are in the scope of this study. The middle circle represents the media of the second degree, which are technically reproduced forms of communication. Technology enables communication across time and space, and therefore the circulation of meanings is not anymore dependent on the number or presence of the participants in the communication process. The traditional mass media are examples of this type of media. In the core of the figure 2.1, are the media of the third degree. The development of digital technology has enabled the reproduction and combination of the previous media to single platforms. A good example of this development is a mobile phone, which can include a camera, terminal device for recorded music and electronic games, or even for TV broadcasting. This development has also changed the processes of production and distribution of the media messages: Internet enables anyone with adequate technical skills and sufficient equipment to establish own on-line publication.
Another aspect to note is that the media in the inner circle complement, and in some extent possibly even replace, the use of the media in the outer circles. This aspect brings another dimension in the picture, the use of media.
TV
Figure 2.1. The circles represent (from the outermost to the inner one) 1) the media of the first degree, which are dependent on the presence of the human body; 2) the media of the second decree, which are technologically reproduced forms of communication; 3) the media of the third degree, which are digitally reproduced platforms.
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The user perspective is central in Livingstone’s insight on new media. She (1999, 60) argues that the ‘newness’ of new media technology cannot be understood if the technological development is not located ‘within the cultural process and associated timescale of domestic diffusion and appropriation’. This means that the newness is rather a process of cultural change or an appearance of new social uses of the media than a technological property, and therefore, to understand the new media and the societal difference they make, these social uses should be brought on the research agenda. Rantanen (2001) applies Livingstone’s distinction between technologically new and socially new media to Russian context (see table 2.1).
Table 2.1. Technologically and socially old/new communication technologies in the Soviet Union/Russia. (Rantanen 2001, 87).
SOCIALLY NEW SOCIALLY OLD Technologically new Internet
Mobile phones
Samizdat Videos
Technologically old Telephone Television
As the Soviet Union was a centrally controlled society, the official policy favoured also centralized communication technologies, such as television or public telephones for individual use. Almost every household in the Soviet Union had a television, but telephones were available primarily to organizations. Because telephones were not widely accessible in the Soviet Union, they can be classified as socially new, even if the technology is old. On the other hand, television is both technologically and socially old due to its wide use in the society. In another end of the centralized/decentralized division are the technologically new communication technologies, such as Internet or mobile phones nowadays, and samizdat publications and videos in the Soviet times. To understand the socially old, but technologically new, technologies, we need another division:
official/unofficial. The official centralized policy produced an unofficial society, which used new technologies for communication. Samizdat is a term used for underground, self-made copies of officially prohibited literature that were distributed by hand. Videos entered Russian markets in the 1980s through the unofficial society, mainly through individuals’ foreign contacts. The forth field in the division of communication technologies are the technologically and socially new technologies.
Examples here are Internet and mobile phones, which are becoming common in Russia only recently, in the beginning of the 21st century.
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This sub-section discussed the concept of media. By the definition that is adopted in this study, the media can be understood as phenomenon, which contain two dimensions: They are technological artefacts in one hand, but at the same time they are actors in social signification processes. This suggests that when people are speaking about their media use patterns, they may refer to both these dimensions. When the media are seen as technological artefacts, they are something that you can buy from a domestic appliance store; or dream to have, if you cannot afford to buy; or use as a decorating element at your home. When people are speaking about the other dimension of the media, they are probably also telling about their relations to other people or the world around them at the same time. Another implication of the technological aspect of media is that they can be developed as any other technologies. In recent decades, we have indeed seen a huge development in this field, but as was recognized above, the adoption of new media is always a social process.
Therefore, the newness of media technology should be evaluated rather on social than technological bases. The Post-Soviet Russia constitutes an especially interesting context to this kind of evaluations because the Soviet media system was centrally controlled and the use of some technologies was restricted.
How should we then approach the phenomenon of media use and how do the different research traditions approach it? I elaborate this question in the following sub-section.