This weeks Lectorial explored the way media institutions operate and how they govern the lives and choices of the individual working within or receiving information from the institution. The social structures set up to perpetuate certain morals or values where broken down and looked at from both business and social point of views. How do online media institutions form identity? What makes them so popular? What makes certain institutions so dominant that they become a normal part of our every day lives without us really realising? This was a thought I had when it came to Google. I didn’t know how or why I was using it every day.

Because it’s a meaningful and reliable source of information? Did I really say that out loud? Had I not even thought about this? It’s a technology company that I use for email, searching the Internet and sharing information with others without actually having made that conscious decision! I hadn’t even thought that my information was being sold to anyone else for the companies profit, I had always thought it a free service and assumed my emails weren’t being scanned. Here are some pictures from the class exercise that I found useful when breaking down media companies and institutions.