However, what relevance does this scenario have regarding frames and vectors? Well, a frame refers to the manner in which an event is described or presented to an audience. It extends beyond politics, and communication.
[6] In fact, frames provide insight into contexts, and provide assumptions of what is going on, which is susceptible to interpretation.
[7] Frames facilitate our interactions with the world, to the extent that it impacts our reasoning, actions and perceptions, and we do not even realise it. Our knowledge of certain professions that are confined to particular buildings and scenarios are born from our acceptance of generalisations associated with those professions society imposed onto us.
Picture this. If you walked into a room in a dental clinic, you would see a reclining chair, sink, and metal instruments on the table. You would not expect people other than the dentist and his/her assistance in that setting. Other professions sharing that setting would be out of place, and against what we conventionally know. With this example, Lakoff emphasised we rule out certain behaviour, due to its inappropriateness that does not fit with what we conventionally know.
[8] This is because frames are inference generating.
[9] It inhabits our cognitive unconscious and can influence our decision-making and attitude towards what is seen.
[10]
When you think of a hacker, you think of an anonymous criminal who has access to confidential information, and has the capacity to alter, retain and distribute such information. Normally, one would feel threatened by the presence of ‘invisible’ hackers. Although, others may perceive hackers as creators of new conceptions and perceptions, while devaluing and challenging old means of production.
[11] Ultimately, the identity of a hacker has transformed from a person who specialises in codes, computers and software, to the everyday man, or the ‘troll’ so to speak.
In contrast, vectors move information and transport objects and subjects.
[12] Vectors are transversal, with the ability to move between and across frames. It is a power that dominates the world.
[13] It can either have a negative impact, by disrupting frames, or a positive one, as it enables the proliferation of information, and provides opportunities for the hacker class to change the world.
[14] The vectoral class benefit socially and financially from the commodities derived in this disruption.
[15]
For example, the vectoral class are organisations such as iTunes and Soundcloud, which disrupt traditional means of engaging with content. Think of piracy and illegal downloading of music online. The act of downloading illegal content is framed as a crime that affects the music industry and opposes the idea that people are entitled to be rewarded, thus paid, for their work. However, vectoral organisations offer other methods of obtaining content within the boundaries of the law, and in a manner that still satisfies the interests of society. With iTunes, users can download free content (such as podcasts or apps) or pay a sum (for movies and music).
Additionally, framing is a quality of communication that leads others to accept one meaning over another.
[16] It is a skill humans develop to understand and respond to the world and what they take to be reality.
[17] Frames are a mental structure that deals with language, thought and forethought.
[18] To use language, people must have thought and reflected on their own interpretative frameworks and those of others.
[19]
Think of it in the perspective of Gregory Bateson. Frames take the form of metacommunication, and patterns of relations between individual-individual, individual-society, individual-group or individual-media. Both ‘beings’ interact through a spatial and temporal bounding of a set of messages that is sent and received in the space and time of the event.
[20] Frames explain what is in a mediated environment, and the social norms that govern our behaviour in that setting. The night before going to church, you would look through your wardrobe and choose an outfit that is sensible. Once you arrive there, you would refrain from using inappropriate language, and avoid causing disruption to the mass or service. You would restrain yourself from acting inappropriately.
Obviously, the setting you are situated in controls your decisions and reasoning. You would think prior to acting and contemplate the consequences of your actions. Indeed, frames bring meaning into the words we say, and shape our behaviour. Through studying frames and vectors, we come to understand how reality is interpreted when our mentality is shaped by our values, attitudes, societal norms, and beliefs. These frames assist us in applying meaning to events and issues in our world, and empowers us to explore why we react emotionally, physically and mentally. Frames are powerful, not just because it changes the world and the space we are in. It changes us as individuals who have a lot to learn from the world around us.
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