Third-person eff ect
and suffi ciency resource in Internet use’, Journal of
Communication (September, 2008); Ye Sun, Zhong-
dang Pan and Lijiang Shen, ‘Understanding the third-
person perception: evidence from a meta-analysis’,
Journal of Communication (June, 2008).
Tie-signs Any action – gesture or posture- that indicates the existence of a personal rela-
tionship is termed a tie-sign: linked arms, held
hands, body closeness (or proximity), comfort-
able silence between two people, instinctive
reciprocal movements. Symbolic tie-signs are
wedding rings, lovers’ tree engravings, etc. See
communication, non-verbal (nvc); prox-
emics.
Time-lapse photography See high-speed
photography.
Time-shift viewing Made possible by the
introduction of the video or DVD recorder.
By recording TV programmes, viewers are
released from the schedules of the broadcasting
companies to watch programmes of their choice
whenever and as often as desired.
Tor An internet routing network enabling users
to conceal their identity and protect them from
traffi c analysis. First created by the US Naval
Research Lab, it is currently produced by the
Tor Project, a United States NGO. Tor blocks
attempts by governments, police and all agencies
of surveillance to ‘spy’ on what is being trans-
mitted by whom and to whom. It defends users
against the scrutiny by authority and commerce
of patterns of exchange; that is, it serves to resist
unwanted or unknown intruders tracking the
data trails of users. See cryptography; data
footprint.
Touch Commonly used to communicate intimacy
and friendship, for example in displaying aff ec-
tion, giving reassurance and comfort and off er-
ing congratulations. Touch can be employed to
reinforce attempts to persuade others during
interpersonal encounters; on occasion it can also
be employed to express aggression and domi-
nance. Th e rituals of interaction found within
ceremonies may also involve touch. Touching is
commonly used, across many cultures, in rituals
of greeting and farewell. Th ose of higher social
standing often initiate touch. status and roles
are inextricably involved in touch-permission or
touch-prohibition: a nurse may touch a patient,
but it is unusual for the patient to touch the
nurse, where it constitutes a trespass.
Th ere can be signifi cant cross-cultural diff er-
ences in the rules for the degree and display of
touch, and these can lead to embarrassment
and misunderstanding within social encoun-
ters between people from different cultural
cinema, the dominance of eff ects over content:
if what is told on screen does not shock, startle
or amaze audiences in some way, then that
content does not properly serve the nature of the
medium.
A glance at the 3D industry, at its many innova-
tory companies dedicated to bringing to the TV
screen the wonders of cinema 3D, indicates that
the quandary of eff ects/content is a challenge to
be met and overcome. Th ere is a proliferation of
systems with competing brand names such as
Dolby 3D, RealD, TD Vision Systems, XPAND
3D as well as imax. Competing manufacturers of
3D television are Mtsubishi, Panasonic, Philips,
Sony and Toshiba, all chasing the possibilities
of autostereoscopic (glasses-free) screening
that has presented serious problems concerning
focus, fi eld of vision and judder.
In 2008 the Japanese cable channel BS11 began
broadcasting regular 3D programmes, while in
the US Cablevision launched a subscriber 3D
channel in 2010. 3D TV programme projection
came online in Australia, France, Russia and
South Korea. In the UK, Channel 4 ran a short
season of 3D fi lms in 2009. British Sky Broad-
casting (BskyB) was the fi rst station to screen a
football match in 3D, Manchester United versus
Arsenal on 30 January 2010 to public houses
across the country.
In the US, 3net, a joint venture of major media
organizations (Discovery Communication,
imax, Sony) was launched on direct tv in
February 2011. Faith in the continuing viability of
3D can be gauged by ambitious announcements
of future productions, including Star Wars proj-
ects and Avatar 2.
At the World Mobile Congress in Barcelona
in February 2011, LG’s 4.3 inch touchscreen,
glasses-free Optimus 3D mobile phone was
demonstrated to delegates. On sale shortly
afterwards from Carphone Warehouse, Network
3, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodaphone, it not only
provides the usual batch of apps, but also allows
users to view and fi lm in 3D, play back through
3D TV and supplement visits to YouTube 3D
with video games.
Third-person effect Where we judge the
impact/influence of the media to be stronger
on others than ourselves; and this effect is
countenanced largely when the media message
is negative or when persuasion by the message
is perceived to be less than desirable. In other
words, we might not be affected, but others,
usually differentiated from us by cultural or
social diff erence, are more likely to be.
▶Xigen Li, ‘Third-person effect, optimistic bias