Media Studies: Vocabulary

Well, there certainly are a lot of words out there. The discipline of Media Studies--just like all academic subjects--has its own important vocabulary. Getting to know some of these words will certainly help you understand some of the key concepts and ideas in this course. Take a gander...

Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols.
Semiology: the science of symbols, language, linguistics.
Denotation: the dictionary definition of a word (or standard, agreed upon definition of a word).
Connotation: the attached meaning or secondary meaning of a word--not part of the original dictionary definition.
Sign: the combination of a concept, sound, or visual image in a physical form.
Signifier: the physical form of the sign, as perceived or understood by our senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, or sight).
Signified: the mental concept to which the sign refers.
Symbol: a noun that represents an idea or concept.
Code: a system of signs based on culturally agreed upon rules.
Paradigm: a network of signs that are an assembled group of ideas, including attitudes, beliefs, and experiences.
Text: a signifying structure composed of signs and codes.
Open texts: a text that can have many different meanings based on time, culture, environment, gender, politics, and experiences of the reader/viewer.
Closed texts: texts that encourage a single or agreed upon definition, permitting little space for different "readings" or interpretations.
Encode: Giving an idea or concept a specific form (text). The "author" is the "sender"--the person responsible for encoding the text.
Decode: The process an audience or viewer/reader (the receiver) uses to unlock or understand the text.
Context: the social, historical, or political conditions which provide a structure within which certain actions, events, or processes have meaning.
Reading: the process of interaction when a text is analyzed or interpreted.
Intertextuality: the reading of a text in light of or with an understanding of other similar texts.
Metaphor: a fundamental mode of communicating in which the relationship between two things is suggested (also simile, analogy)
Metonomy: another fundamental mode of communicating referring to the associated relationship between two things, implying codes that allow a reader to decode the suggested meaning. Metonomy uses parts of elements of something to stand in for the whole.
Narratology: The study of narrative structures.
Narrative: the process of organizing information into recognizable patterns, such as cause-effect of events, to suggest a "story".
Mediation: the act of channeling or delivering social knowledge or cultural values through an institution to reach an audience. In mass media, the audience is the masses. Us. The 99%.
Genre: categories of media products. Books, music, videos, films, television, computer games or apps, the internet, live performance, etc.
Discourse: structured representation of events or the interpretation/analysis of social and cultural power structures. How we interpret the world, makes the world.
Hegemony: an identifiable or dominant social/cultural group.
Audience: the targeted group of a text.
Representation: how a text produces verisimilitude or "truth" of reality.
Verisimilitude: Semblance or appearance of truth or reality, usually as details or description in a text.
Stereotyping: representation used to categorize a group of people (usually in a negative light).
Marginalization: to regulate or confine a group of people to the lower or outer edge of the masses.
News: new information on a subject of interest to the targeted audience.
Synergy: how one industry expands into another to monopolize or make profit.
Mega-Conglomeration: the elite companies that control products for mass consumption.
Celebrity: a famous or celebrated person, often chosen by the masses (or corporations) to represent an aspect of society.