Lecture 3 Communication in History
Objectives:
Understand the main changes of communication
media in history and the characteristics of each
medium;
Think about the relationship between the media
and the content;
Think about the relationship between the
communications technologies and social changes
How do we evaluate a medium?
Channel (Speed) of transmission
Connection with human senses
Relationship to time
Relationship to space
Social and cultural implications of the
physical features of the medium
Oral Language
Sound:
Evanescent
Immobile
Cannot be reserved
Related to hearing
Centering effect
Oral language:
Mnemonic
Simple expression
Rhythmic
Connected to vision
Oral Culture
Spontaneous and outward (emotional)
Participatory (communal)
Unifying
Centralizing
Second Orality
Telephone,radio,television,tapes and disks,
etc.
Electric media
Mixed with writing and printing
Written Language
---(recorded) history began with writing
Comparison with oral language
Various media
Storage and retrieval of information
(Reading depending on) Individual social
experience and immediate personal context
Social and cultural implications of
written language
Hearing vs,reading (audio vs,visual)
Literacy vs,illiteracy
Power,the control of knowledge (education)
Printing
Channel(s),transportation model of
communication
Medium,paper
Form hand to machine
(Mass) Reproduction,identical
Standardization
Social consequences of printing
---printing is second only to the clock in its critical
effect upon civilization
A technology that influenced other technologies
A prototype of mass production
A technology that directly affected the world of
ideas by making knowledge widely available and
creating a space in which new forms of expression
could flourish
Telegraph & telephone
From mechanical to electrical
From transportation to transmission model
of communication
Time-space shrinkage,a wired world,a
global system
Telegraph vs,telephone
Telegraph
Written,signal
transmission
Morse code
Telephone:
Oral,voice
transmission
One-to-one
Home medium
Social implications of telegraph
and telephone
On business
Economical
Political
Questions
What is the relationship between the old and
new media? Do they complement or
compete with (or replace) each other?
Are the changes of communications
technologies the causes or consequences of
social changes?