Lecture dynamics of mass communication (9th edition) chapter 3 joseph r dominick

Eight Milestones TimelineFigure 3-1 Media Time Line...  Technological determinism is the belief that technology drives historical change... Post Office The Telephone – No special keyi

THE DYNAMICS

OF MASS COMMUNCATION Joseph R Dominick

University of Georgia Athens

Nature and History

of

Mass Communication

 Telegraph and Telephone

 Photography and Motion Pictures

 Radio and Television

 Digital Media

 Wireless Handheld Media

 Concluding Observations

Eight Milestones in Human

Eight Milestones Timeline

Figure 3-1 Media Time Line



• Clay vs. Paper

– Cuneiform Sumeria wedge­shaped clay tablets

– Parchment Greece sheep/goat hides

pulp

– Laws – codified and universally  administered

– 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



Technological determinism  is the belief  that technology drives historical 

change.

Telegraph and Telephone



• Telegraph

– 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

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 real­time

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

Photography and Motion Pictures

Photography and Motion Pictures



• Large motion picture companies

– Could afford feature­length 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 beginning of broadcast news

Radio and Television

Radio and Television

Radio and Television

Digital Media: Computers and The

Internet



• Computers 

– Make use of digital technology  – Can be connected to networks

• The Internet

– The interconnection of millions of computers – Worldwide distribution of information

– Transformation of :  

• community, access to information, lifestyle, the arts  and the economy  

Wireless Handheld Media

Types of wireless technology:

Cell phones Laptop computers Personal digital assistant (PDA)

Concluding Observations

ultimate use of any new  communication medium. 

possibilities of  digital and wireless  technology, it’s impossible to predict  their ultimately evolution.