Astra Salvensis (Jul 2019)
The Total Media Theory: the Experience of Justification
Abstract
The reference to the topic of studying the concept of "media" is not new, but its deeper theoretical elaboration and access to modern social practices show how relevant this task is nowadays when we are in the process of rethinking all epistemological knowledge in the context of the medial nature of existence. Understanding the information society as a society where information becomes one of the leading values, forces scientists to seek answers to questions about the functioning of this information in the media environment, about the ways of its transmission, existence and influence on processes and phenomena. It is for the first time that an article gives a conceptual view of a new interpretation media theory through the prism of their integrality. This view is revealed in the concept of "The Total Media theory" based on a broad interpretation of the media as any means and channels of communication, which represents a comprehensive media environment. The aim of the given research is to prove the global, total nature of the media. To achieve this goal, the author carried out a linguistic analysis of the use of the word "media" in different languages, analyzed variants of its filling and use in different epochs, on this basis a classification of media on different criteria was worked out. As a result, the author concludes that a broad interpretation of the media creates conditions for the functioning of a coherent theory - The Total Media theory, allowing to see new horizons for media research. Within the framework of this theory, it becomes possible to identify the essential characteristics of media, such as viativity (cross-cutting action), integrativity, media variability in a changing media environment, and the inevitable deforming impact of media on communication subjects.
