Exploring Mass Communication
Connecting with the World of Media
- Vincent F. Filak - University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, USA
Exploring Mass Communication examines the many paths that led to our digital media world and how digital media both connects and disconnects us. While providing the need-to-know concepts, history, and theories, Vincent F. Filak urges students to critically think about how media affects them, and how they can best engage with media to improve their everyday lives. Through Filak's conversational and personable style, the text interweaves inclusivity and diversity throughout, presenting a modern and fresh approach that today’s students will connect with.
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Get additional teaching aids for use in your course:
- Infographic: 5 Reasons You Should Study Mass Communication
- Podcast: Current Trends Shaping the Field of Mass Communication
- Author Blog: Dynamics of Writing
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- Lecture notes
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You can still access the online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site.
Filak's Exploring Mass Communication is current and relevant, as well as pedagogically significant. The style is helpful to educators and students alike. Not as verbose as other textbooks on the topic, he puts the "less is more" strategy in place without sacrificing quality.
It's very diverse and inclusive in each chapter with the achievements and contributions by individuals and groups usually overlooked by other media textbooks. It has a mix of examples, questions, and tables that help the students grasp the content.
Exploring Mass Communication is a modern read based upon the history and evolution of human communication across multiple genres. It adeptly blends the origination of communication methods with current and breaking technologies and trends. The text is an easy read for students, making it both understandable and relatable to students of various levels.
This feels like the book on mass media and communication that I've been waiting for. It incorporates a little bit of everything, ranging from theory to practice; it covers all of the media industries, from old to new; and it even delves into the related industries of advertising and PR, while also exploring both law and ethics as separate concepts. I'm very excited about this text and would not hesitate to adopt it--or recommend it.
Filak accessibly presents mass communication using current examples that easily relate to students. The book's more casual language will help novice students connect to academic concepts and disciplinary knowledge.
Filak's not afraid to weave the day's current events into the ever-evolving study and practice of mass communication. His timelines provide a wonderful historical perspective beyond listing names and dates, and he raises and discusses fundamental points that all media literate consumers need to hear to understand the power and scope of mass communication has on everyone who calls Earth home.
Filak's use of up-to-date examples and a conversational tone make the text relevant and relatable to students.
The book is well written, and approaches the material in an accessible, relatable fashion. The tone is appropriate and engaging for students, and it does an excellent job creating a relationship between "real world" examples and experiences to theoretical concepts and historical events.
Exploring Mass Communication presents a strong introduction to mass communication through an emphasis on understanding the history, study, and literacy around media as a part of our society and everyday lives.
I really appreciate the clear and well-written text as well as the baked-in media literacy approach. This book really is almost everything I've been looking for.
One element that I feel could be expanded upon is more fleshing out of the various models/theories of mass media effects.
Sample Materials & Chapters
Chapter 1. MEDIA BASICS: MODELS AND THEORIES
Chapter 2. MEDIA AUDIENCES AND USES
