Joseph R. Dominick University of Georgia--Athens

1. Joseph R. Dominick University of Georgia--Athens

2. Part I The Nature and History of Mass Communication

3. Chapter 3 Historical and Cultural Context Seven Milestones in Human Communication Language Writing Printing Telegraph and Telephone Photography and Motion Pictures Radio and Television Computers and The Internet The Next Revolution Concluding Observations Chapter Outline

4. Seven Milestones in Human Communication Language Writing Printing Telephone and Telegraph Photography and Motion Pictures Radio and Television  Computers and The Internet

5. Seven Milestones Timeline [Insert Figure 3-1 here] Figure 3-1 Media Time Line

6. Language • Made oral-based societies possible • Members needed exceptional memories • Older people acted as “memory banks” • Limit to “stored and accessible” knowledge • Challenges: • How to keep information accurate • Passing knowledge from one generation to next • Difficulty keeping long-term records 

7. Writing  • Sign Writing vs. Phonetic Writing • Graphical Symbols representing objects • Chinese Pictograms • Egyptian Hieroglyphics • Abstract Symbols (alphabets) • Phoenician 24-character alphabet • Roman-modified 26-character Greek alphabet

8. Writing  • Clay vs. Paper • Cuneiform Sumeria wedge-shaped clay tablets • Papyrus Egypt woven papyrus plants • Parchment Greece sheep/goat hides • Paper China pressed wood / fiber pulp

9. Writing  • Social Impact of Writing • Social divisions: literates vs. illiterates • Access to information  Access to power • Enabled administration of ancient empires • Changed nature of human knowledge • Laws – codified and universally administered

10. Writing  • Writing in the Middle Ages • After fall of Rome: 6thC A.D. • Hand-copying limits supply of books • Mistakes were cumulative • Libraries were isolated • No formal filing system or indexing • Content: religious  lay, esp. admin • Trade spreads, universities begin, AD 1150 • European Scriptoria (writing shops) flourish

11. Printing  • China • Paper • Block printing (oldest surviving book 9th C) • Movable type • Korea • Metal movable type 15th C • Germany • Guttenberg – 15th C • Movable metal type printing press

12. Printing  • Effects of Guttenberg’s printing press • Sped development of vernacular language • Encouraged growth of literacy • Transformed relationship of church and culture • Luther’s Ninety-five Theses • Vernacular Bible • Facilitated scientific research • Development of “news”

13. Printing  Technological determinism is the belief that technology drives historical change.

14. Telegraph and Telephone  • Telegraph • : from 30 mph • Experiments late 1700s, workable systems 1830s • Samuel Morse: “What hath God wrought?” • Cultural Impact • By 1866 U.S. cities and Europe linked together • Stabilized market prices • Military tool in the Civil War • “Wire services” began  186,000 mph

15. Telegraph and Telephone  • Western Union, not U.S. Post Office • The Telephone • No special keying skills required • Development of the switchboard • No intermediary party • Domination of AT&T • Development of global real-time ELSEWHERE HERE

16. Photography and Motion Pictures  • Two inventions required • Focus light rays onto surface • 1500s pinhole device, camera obscura, solves problem • Way to permanently store images • Daguerreotypes (glass plates) 1830s • Talbot invents film paper same time • Mathew Brady’s photos of Civil War – 1860s • George Eastman’s “Brownie” – 1890s

17. Photography and Motion Pictures  • Popularization of photography • Advent of photojournalism • Life magazine • News becomes what can be shown • Context of advent of motion pictures: • Industrialization Urbanization Immigration • Nickelodeons • 10,000 store-front theaters by 1910s • Help create film industry infrastructure

18. Photography and Motion Pictures  • Large motion picture companies • Could afford feature-length films • By 20s dominated movie… • Production • Distribution • Exhibition • Lindsay’s The Art of the Moving Picture (1915) • Payne Fund Studies (early 1930’s) • Newsreels – the beginnings of broadcast news

19. Radio and Television  • Radio development accelerated by WWI • Navy controls essential patents • Returning Signal Corps soldiers • Amateur radio clubs • Radio’s one-to-many format: “broadcasting” • Mass communication directly into each home • Technical regulation by the FRC (1927) • Depression of the 1930s helped radio programming

20. Radio and Television  • Cultural impact of radio • Promotion of music • WSM’s “The Grand Old Opry” • Advent of soap opera and children’s shows • “Captain Midnight” • “Amos ‘n’ Andy” • Worldwide live news coverage • World leaders: Hitler, Chamberlain • Commentators became radio personalities • Prime source of entertainment by the 40s • “Prime time” programming

21. Radio and Television  • Television Development • Beginnings in 20s • Benefited by advances in electronics in WWII • “The Appliance to Get” post-WWII • Cultural Impact of TV • USA saturated with television 7h/day • Transformation of politics • Standardization of popular culture • “Annihilator of time and space” • Reservoir of communal experience

22. Computers and The Internet  • Computers • Make use of digital technology • Can be connected into networks • The Internet • The interconnection of millions of computers • Worldwide distribution of information • Transformation of • Business Filmmaking Politics • Community Inequality

23. The Next Revolution • Coming portable wireless device combines Cell phone Laptop computer Personal digital assistant Still camera Video camera Pager • Will continue transformation of media and culture • Mobility • Interconnection • Access to information

24. Concluding Observations  It’s difficult to accurately predict the ultimate use of any new communication medium.  It appears that the emergence of any new communication technology changes, but does not make extinct those advances that came before it.