Anything goes: postmodernism

If modernism is setting the rules straight; postmodernism is breaking through all the rules.
We are currently living in the postmodernism era: where uncertainty lies in everywhere, and we constantly question everything.
It's basically like a kid keep asking you WHY, and will keep pushing your buttons.

If postmodernism have a face, it would probably be like this:

Fast forward: modernism

In modernism, realism is merely a category under naturalism, as our thought and view gradually process, we came to the term 'new is always better'

Charts, stars and sperm: the emergence of the modern world

Man is the measure of all things

We are able to classify the world into 4 categories: The World We Stand on; The World We Live in, The Invisible World, and The Evolving World.

Can you tell what it is yet? - an introduction to the theories of realism, immediacy and transparency

Realism (18th century ~19th century) is the 'close resemblance to what is real, fidelity of representation, rendering the precise details of he real thing or scene'.

Marshall Law: the world according to Professor McLuhan

The Medium is the Message from Joe Cajindos on Vimeo.

Medium is the message a famous quote by Marshall Mcluhan (1911-1980), the 'medium' stands for extension of mind/body (remote-extension of arm; bicycle-extension of legs) while the 'message' stands for the effect or impact, ignoring the content in it.

Two sides to everything (and a bit in the middle): structuralism

If you have OCD, you would probably be able to associate yourself with this term. Structuralism, is the love of categorizing and structuring things, combining linguistics, narratology and anthropology.

In fact, you may even have a sense of I see what you did there when you observe of how things have their certain obvious pattern and formula:

Nothing new: Intertextuality

Intertextuality, fancy word for lack in originality. Although not really plagiarism, but more towards "influence".
According to Julia Kristeva: "the term intertextuality denotes transportation of one sign to another"

“Our fine arts were developed, their types and uses were established, in times very different from the present, by men whose power of action upon things was insignificant in comparison with ours. But the amazing growth of our techniques, the adaptability and precision they have attained, the ideas and habits they are creating, make it a certainty that profound changes are impending in the ancient craft of the Beautiful. In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. For the last twenty years neither matter nor space nor time has been what it was from time immemorial. We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts, thereby affecting artistic invention itself and perhaps even bringing about an amazing change in our very notion of art.”
Paul Valéry, Pièces sur L’Art, 1931
Le Conquete de l’ubiquite

Reading the signs: Semiotics

Are there more than meet the eyes?
...
Why, yes, there are, in fact, when you see it, you'll shit bricks.

Well, not really. But on semiotics there are a whole lot of bricks-shitting terms that you have to know about.
For starters, let's look at how the term semiotics came about, these 2 educational video should've warp it up:

A breakdown of communication: the process model and cybernetics

Claude Shannon: father of information age

In today's class we were introduced to Shannon and Weaver's model, which contributes a lot to the communication devices, in Shannon and Weaver's case, is for the telephone. However, in today's era, everything around us that we usually take for granted, this model can be viewed as the the core, or even, the 'mother' to every communication devices we have today.

Media, Culture and History

MEDIA

noun /ˈmēdēə/ media, plural

The main means of mass communication (esp. television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively
• - the campaign won media attention

Simply put, media can be identified in all sorts of term, be it through (commonly known) television, radio, newspapers, Internet, etc... If we were to break it down, even a simple thing like a piece of paper can be viewed as a medium, provided it has messages and words written on it, because if you notch it up to another level, it can transform into newspapers, in order to transfer a message from one to another.
It can also be viewed as a term of idol. For example, a sort of idol for worshiping purposes. Statues for religion purposes, is a sort of 'medium' to link human world to the spiritual world, if you may.