Abstract
The chapter dwells upon new media and its roots being in universal codes of media, including abiding by same basic rules as works of fiction known for having cult status, especially cult films. The use of deconstruction and reconstruction are seen and researched as two popular methods of new media which have a rich cultural tradition, explored here through the prism of universal code of media in international political communication. Additional related concern of chapter is decline of relevance of platform, which effectively derails existent hierarchy of media in recent times.
TopBackground
Originating in print, mass media was always in the forefront of formulating, making or breaking one’s political and social image in cases of any figure of notoriety and/or power. An interesting example, drawn by author ten years prior to this book’s publication, but still surprisingly relevant is hetman Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa, late 16th-early 17th century Ukrainian military leader, who was the hottest subject of European newspapers in the heyday of his political career, but is still revered and used as a negative symbol in Russian current political discourse due to his ‘betrayal of Russian interests’ in the Poltava battle. (Yeromin, 2010, p. 50-53).
Little has changed for the image of Mazepa internationally in ten years: still interesting in the eyes of European press, still revered in Russian. However, whole discourse jumped into the Internet and nowadays Mazepa is there whenever people are browsing their social network feeds, being as unexpected as was his turn on Russian Empire for the latter.
Drastic change is not evident in the fact how Mazepa is seen on social media, but rather in the notion of how often he pops up in the overall discourse: references for initial conference proceedings by author initially only had two URL’s on the subject (Yeromin, 2010, p. 53), while now, given sufficient time, whole book could have been filled with just that: case studies of Mazepa’s image over centuries of media appearances.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Venus Flytrap: See Dionaea muscipula.
Area 51: Common name of a highly classified United States Air Force (USAF) facility located within the Nevada Test and Training Range. Is the subject of numerous conspiracy theories and urban legends.
Leprince (Le Prince) Louis Aimé Augustin: A French artist and inventor, possibly the inventor and first user of a single lens motion picture camera. (b. August 28, 1841 – d. September 16, 1890).
TCP/IP: Conceptual model and set of communications protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks. Also known as internet protocol suite.
Reddit: American website and social platform specializing in discussion, news aggregation and content rating. Founded in 2005 by University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian.
Mazepa, Ivan Stepanovych: Hetman of Zaporishian Host in 1687–1708 (b. March 30 (20 O.S.) 1639 – d. October 2 (September 21 O.S.) 1709).
Twitter: Microblogging social network platform, on which users create or interact with short messages known as ‘tweets’. Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone and Evan Williams.
Internet Movie DataBase (IMDb): Online database of information related to audiovisual content, owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon. Originated by Col Needham in 1990 as Usenet group ‘rec.arts.movies’. Moved to Internet in 1993.
Façade: Outward appearance that might be hiding true intentions, event or appearance, could even be outright deceptive.
Anxiety: Feeling of uneasiness and worry, usually generalized and unfocused as an overreaction to a situation that is seen subjectively as menacing.
Communication Protocol: System of rules that allows two or more entities in a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity.
Subculture: A group within culture, which, while maintaining certain key principles, differentiates itself from the original, parent culture.
Coub: Video sharing website, allowing users to create and share 10-second long videos using existing videos from YouTube or Vimeo or their own files. Founded in 2012 by Anton and Igor Gladkoborodov with Mikhail Tabunov, based in New York City, New York, United States of America.
New Media: Content available through Internet (on demand) which is usually have accessibility on any digital device and interactive expansions or functions for audience.
Dark Web: Parts of world wide web inaccessible by usual means, requiring specific software. Apart from assorted hubs house blatant illegal activities such as drug, gun, and human trafficking.
Fandom: Subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest, usually a media franchise of some sort.
World Wide Web: Alternate name of the internet, hence www, now often omitted in URLs.
Cossack Hetmanate: see Zaporizhian Host.
Netflix: American media-services provider and production company headquartered founded in 1997 by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings. The company's primary service is its subscription-based streaming one which offers online streaming of a library of films and television programs, including those of indigenous production.
Vine: Short-form video hosting service/microblogging platform founded in 2012 by Dom Hofmann, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll. Acquired and later assimilated by Twitter.
Kickstarter: An American public benefit corporation maintaining global crowdfunding platform, focused on creative endeavors. Based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded on April 28, 2009 by Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler and Charles Adler.
URL: Universal Resource Locator, often known simply as web address.
Hetman: Military commander in Ukrainian Cossacks (kozak) army.
Nonverbal Communication: A type of communication achieved through sending wordless signals.
Software: Programs and operating systems used by computers, as opposed to hardware (electronic and mechanical parts of computers themselves).
Surrealism: Cultural movement, characterized by merging realistic elements and environments with unnerving, illogical and dream-like elements. Started in 1917.
Subinformation: Author’s term for information, distributed through specific channels with specific means, such as in subcultures.
Dial-up: A form of Internet access, that uses telephone network facilities (PSTN) to establish a connection to an Internet provider, by dialing a telephone number via conventional telephone line.
Synth-Pop: Subgenre of new wave music which is characterized by extensive use of the synthesizer (as well as drum machines and/or sequencers) as the dominant musical instrument.
Universal Code of Movies: Authors term for an unaccounted complex of universally understood instruments of non-verbal communication, which is used commonly and perfected by audio-visual media, such as movies/films, television, web video, etc.
Microblogging: Specific form of blogging and online broadcast medium, characterized by short sentences, video links and/or images rather than abundance of text. Common example is Twitter.
Hulu: U.S.-based subscription video-on-demand service and website founded in 2007, owned majorily by Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (a business segment of The Walt Disney Company) with NBCUniversal (itself owned by Comcast), as an equity stakeholder.
Hetman of Zaporizhian Host: Head of state in Cossack Hetmanate.
Zaporizhian Host: A Cossack host situated in Central Ukraine between 1648 and 1764 (or 1782 in some sources). Also known as Zaporozhian Host.
Dionaea Muscipula: Carnivorous plant, native of subtropical wetlands and common in North Carolina and South Carolina. Often used to symbolize attractive façade of a problematic issue, akin to mousetrap and cheese metaphor.
Dadaism: Art movement of early Twentieth century avant-garde characterized by rejection of logic, aesthetics and conventions of modern capitalist society, opposing it with aggressive expressions of nonsensical, irrational, farcical and anti-bourgeois. Also known as Dada.
Social media: A term for computer-mediated tools, which primary function is to allow companies and/or people a process of exchanging packages or separate units of information, media (including audio and video, images) in networks and other virtual forms of communication.
Octothorpe: Symbol ‘#’ commonly known as bound sign or number sign.
New Wave: Umbrella term encompassing several music genres of 1970’s and 1980’s, often characterized by combination of traditional rock and blues elements with elements of electronic music, disco and mod – previously isolated and subculture-oriented.
BAFTA: British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
USENET: worldwide distributed discussion system developed from the Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture by Jim Ellis and Tom Truscott in 1979-1980.
Hashtag: Metadata tag introduced by octothorpe (#) as seen on assorted social media such as Twitter, Instagram, and other services with microblogging focus.