Blog Post 3 - Anahita Kavianpour

 This week's blog post prompt asks us to analyze two different forms of viral media texts. The first is Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis, and the second is Woman yelling at a Cat meme. There are many methods one can use to analyze and interpret different media texts and their significance. We can begin by looking at the media ecology. Media ecology is a collection or ‘assemblage’ of communication and media types 

that come together to create a unique environment media landscape. There are various sets of articulations that contribute to creating the media environment. There are three articulations used when identifying the media ecology. For this analysis, I will be focusing on The first of the three articulations. This first articulation considers the relationship between the message, the technology used to transmit the message, and what are the different roles individuals play in how the message is created, delivered, and consumed. Beginning with the Martin Luther reading, the message that Luther was presenting in his thesis as a means to educate the population on what the churches were selling to its supporters to raise money for military expeditions and to build grand cathedrals (Standage, Pp.51). The message was posted as a means to educate the population on the truth and allow them to debate the truth. Next, looking at how this message was carried, Luther's thesis was written in Latin. It was posted around his city and it quickly gained the attention of many. Those who were close to Luther began to pay for copies of his thesis to be printed in the form of pamphlets and sheets (Standage, Pp. 52). This helped to push the message even further to others. The agents are responsible for Luther's thesis going viral as they paid for the production of Luther's message. The consumers were the ones who were devoted to the church from his town and neighbouring towns. This is a significant event for mass communication as “Luther has unwittingly revealed the power of decentralized, person to person media systems” (Standage, Pp.53). As it was the consumers who were the ones who distributed and shared the message making it go viral. Fast-forwarding to today, it is easier than ever for a message to go viral through the use of social media technologies. Looking at the “women yelling at Cat” meme, we can apply the first articulation. The message is open to interpretation. The text is comprised of two images, one of a woman yelling, and the other being of a cat sitting. One can manipulate these images to have different meanings that many viewers can relate to. It continues to get adapted. Looking at the means by which this message is carried, it can be found in virtually all social networking sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook etc. It can also easily be found on the internet when one searches for it. It is not known who was the originator of this meme, but the lady in it is a reality TV personality. The producers of this content now are anyone who has access to a social media account who may take this template, and manipulate it to have different text and post it for all to see. The consumers are the ones who log in and scroll through their various social media accounts and can interact with this meme in different ways. Anyone with a social media account can contribute to the production of this content which makes it easily accessible to alter.

There are differences in the way that these two texts went viral as the method of sharing went from broadcasting to sharing. This completely changed the media ecology from media ecology to social media ecology. The difference here is how the message originally went from being shared by one and transported to many. And now, with the use of social media, a message is transferred from many to many.

Standage. T, (2013), Writing on the Wall: Social Media- The first 2,000 Years, Retrieved

from: file:///C:/Users/Anahita%20Kavianpour/Downloads/Standage.pdf