Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 8th edition

e-book

A B C D E F G H I

JK

L M N O P R S T U V

XYZ

W

▶Dick Hebdige, Sub-Culture: Th e Meaning of Style

(Methuen, 1979; Routledge, 2002); Ken Gelder and

Sarah Th ornton, eds, Th e Sub-Cultures Reader (Rout-

ledge, 1997); and, all from Sage Publications: Angela

McRobbie, In the Culture Society: Art, Fashion and

Popular Music (1999); Stella Bruzzi and Pamela

Church Gibson, eds, Fashion Cultures: Theories,

Explorations and Analysis (2000); Chris Tilly, Webb

Keane, Suzanne Kuechler, Mike Rowlands and Patri-

cia Spyer, eds, Handbook of Material Culture (2005).

Dry-run TV programme rehearsal in which

action, lines, cues, etc. are tried out prior to the

fi nal rehearsal.

Dub, dubbing In fi lm-making, to blend speech,

music, incidental sound and sound eff ects on to

fi lm or videotape. At a later stage, the language

of the ‘home’ audience may be dubbed on to the

sound track in preference to subtitles. See post-

synchronization.

Duopoly A monopoly held by two organizations

rather than one. In broadcasting, the term

was used to refer to the duopoly once held in

the UK by the BBC and the IBA (Independent

Broadcasting Authority; succeeded in 1991 by

the ITC – Independent Television Commis-

sion, in turn giving way to ofcom in 2003). See

media control.

DVD See Digital Video Disc (DVD).

DVD games See video/dvd games.

Dyad A communication dyad consists of two

persons interacting, and is the elemental unit of

interpersonal communication.

Dynamic mediation See impartiality.

E

Eady Plan, Eady Levy See british film

production fund.

e-book Published and read electronically, the

e-book ranks as one of the outstanding develop-

ments in modern publishing. As early as 1971 the

US Declaration of Independence was scanned

into a Xerox mainframe computer by Project

Gutenberg founder Michael Hart. Today, hand-

held electronic devices such as amazon’s Kindle

can hold hundreds of books, and new ones can be

up loaded in seconds. Improvements in e-book

readability – clarity and size of print – have

resulted in rapidly increasing sales, giving both

publishers and authors new and more fl exible

opportunities. According to the Association of

American Publishers (AAP) the e-book market

increased sales by 500 per cent between 2007

and 2010, this representing 15 per cent of trade

sales in the US. Th ere is evidence that e-reading

is proving more attractive to young people in

share with the mobile phone (see mobiliza-
tion). Digital download subscription services
allow mobiles to store and play music in addition
to their capacity to tune into broadcast news,
watch TV or movie clips, listen to the news on
radio, take pictures (moving and still), connect
to the Internet – and, oh, make phone-calls. See
podcasting.
Dramadoc See documentary.
Drama: television drama See television
drama (uk).
Drama: web or online drama See web or
online drama.
Dress Appearance and bodily adornment are
important aspects of non-verbal communica-
tion, and play an especially significant role
when people are forming first impressions of
one another. Th ese features can send a range of
messages about an individual: for example about
personality, cultural or group identity, gender,
class, status, ethnicity, faith, wealth, age, roles,
fashion-consciousness, stereotype, social
context and historical context, to name but a few.
In Ted Polhemus and UZi PART B, Hot Bodies,
Cool Styles: New Techniques in Self-Adornment
(Th ames and Hudson, 2004), Polhemus argues
that in Western cultures a wide variety of arte-
facts, adornments and styles from around the
world are on off er in what he terms the ‘global
24/7 supermarket of style’. Th e trend is for young
people to experiment and construct a style that
expresses personal rather than group identity, to
display a sense of uniqueness rather than group
solidarity. This ‘DIY approach’ is in contrast
to an arguably earlier trend for style to signal
membership of a youth sub-culture, such as
those of the Mods, Rockers or Punks. However,
it needs to be acknowledged that individuals are
not always free to dress as they please. Norms,
conventions and dress codes frame expectations
in a number of circumstances and contexts.
Many workplaces, for example, have a dress code.
An individual may consciously or uncon-
sciously convey messages through dress, but
receivers may not of course decode these
messages in the way intended by the sender.
While personal style may be an open text,
uniforms often convey clear messages; unless of
course those uniforms are worn in inappropriate
circumstances – for instance, in the UK Prince
Harry turned up to a fancy-dress ball in a Nazi
uniform and prompted a blaze of reprimands in
the nation’s press. See communication, non-
verbal; object language. See also topic
guide under interpersonal communica-
tion.