COMM180:

Lesson 2 Overview

 

Introduction

Lesson 2 focuses on the origins and historical development of telecommunications and mass media, from as far in the past as prehistory to the most recent events. It will help you learn the history in a systematic way and understand the milestones that have led to our current situation.

Objectives

Here are the objectives for this lesson:

• Discuss how advances in communication technologies, such as writing and the printing press, have influenced civilizations.
• Understand the evolution of media in agricultural and industrial societies.
• Understand how emerging communication technologies are changing the way we live and work.
• Discuss how our modern information society has influenced our consumption of media.
• Identify the components of the SMCR model of the communication process.

Lesson Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

 

Language and Complex Communication

One of the defining features of human beings is the capacity for language and complex communication. Other animals can communicate at a very basic level, but it is believed that only humans have the capacity for abstract thought. Humans developed language more than 40,000 years ago. The next significant technological advance was the invention of writing about 5,000 years ago. Writing had four significant benefits:

• Information Storage

  Knowledge was no longer limited to what a person could remember. This change also helped make information more permanent and more transportable.

• Accuracy

  Writing significantly improved accuracy. Think about the childhood game of "telephone" where you whisper a sentence to a friend, who then whispers that sentence to the next person and so on. The message is radically altered after being communicated to just a few people, and the original sentence is lost forever. Writing allows the message to be stored and replicated accurately. With hand copying, errors still get introduced over time. Printing eventually allowed for perfect copies of the original message.

• Complexity

  The ability to store information and refer back to it allows for the development of more complex ideas. Think about trying to solve a difficult word problem in your head without writing it down! Writing allows for dramatic advances in knowledge and scientific discovery.

• Control

  Writing allows us to communicate instructions and coordinate activities more easily. Writing makes it easier for a government to issue orders to its army and its citizens, especially over large distances. Leaders of the ancient world depended on writing to manage their vast empires.

 

Printing and Unintended Consequences

Contrary to popular belief, the printing press was developed in China more than 400 years before Gutenberg's famous press in Germany. Why do we associate printing with Gutenberg and Germany instead? The main reason is the difference in language. The Chinese language consisted of thousands of complex symbols called ideograms. There were so many different symbols that arranging them in molds to print different books was impractical, even after the development of movable type. When Gutenberg developed his printing press in 1450, he relied on the Latin alphabet, which only had about two dozen different characters. This alphabet made it much easier to manage the fonts and rearrange letters to print new books. This comparison demonstrates how the same technology will develop differently under different cultural circumstances.

Printing also provides a good example of how new communication technologies have unintended consequences. Printing made books much cheaper to produce and therefore more affordable for consumers. As the cost of books declined, more people learned how to read. One of the first books to be printed was the Bible. Initially, printers and the Catholic Church thought that making more Bibles available would increase religious devotion and strengthen the power of the Church.

Ultimately, as more people owned and were able to read their own Bibles, they began to question the teachings of the Church. Whereas before people had to rely on priests to explain what the Bible meant, now people could read it on their own and develop their own interpretation. The printing press was also used to publish pamphlets that questioned the authority of the Church leaders. Eventually, the Reformation led to a major split in Christianity. While it was not the only factor, the development of the printing press played a large role in this split. This consequence was definitely not intended by Gutenberg when he printed his first Bible!

Video 2.1 provides some more insightful and thought-provoking ideas about the impact of printing:

The Transition to Mass Media

Video 2.2 provides a timeline of communication technologies:

 

As discussed in the textbook, different types of media are associated with different economies. In pre-agricultural societies, people tended to be nomadic hunter-gatherers without permanent dwellings. There was little use for writing because it would have been difficult to carry books or scrolls while constantly on the move. Instead, the emphasis was on oral culture. The collective history and myths of the culture were told in songs and long epic poems that could be committed to memory.

Agricultural societies developed writing to keep track of inventories and business sales. Very few people could read or write. Those that were literate typically held positions of power advising religious and political leaders. The ability to read and write conferred access to knowledge, and knowledge equaled power. Those with knowledge often try to restrict access to that knowledge in order to maintain power. For example, in many cultures, women were discouraged from attending or not allowed to attend school. This gave men in those societies more power than women.

The birth of modern mass media can be traced to the development of industrial society. Here again we see how external technological, social, and economic developments influenced the shape of media. The invention of the steam engine radically altered how goods were produced. Instead of an artisan making products by hand with a few apprentices in a small shop, factories were built requiring dozens or hundreds of workers to operate the machinery. The need for many workers led to rapid growth of cities. At the same time, farming techniques were also rapidly improving, so fewer workers were needed for agriculture. With fewer jobs on the farm and more jobs in the city, workers began to move from rural areas to urban areas.

The result was a large concentration of people living in cities to work in all the factories. As technology made production more efficient, businesses suddenly found themselves with warehouses full of new mass-produced products. Goods were being produced faster than they could be sold. The solution was to increase demand so that people would buy more products. Companies began to spend more money on advertising to stimulate demand for their products.

At the same time, advances in printing technology made newspapers cheaper to produce than ever before. It was also cheaper to distribute newspapers in an urban area with high population density than in a rural area with very low population density. The cheap cost of newspapers led to increased literacy so that more people began to read newspapers.  As the audience for newspapers increased, more and more advertisers began to use newspapers to market their goods. The increase in advertising revenue helped keep the price low, leading to further increases in circulation.

Newspapers began to compete for the largest audience so they would be more attractive to advertisers.  This push led newspapers to emphasize objectivity in their news reporting in order to attract a wider audience. In the 1700s and early 1800s, most newspapers were overtly political and aligned with a political party. But in the late 1800s, newspapers realized that if they tried to be neutral and objective, they could attract readers from all the political parties and thereby increase circulation. This attempt to attract a mass audience evolved into the mass media system we know today.

Now, as the internet and cable television allow for an infinite range of choices, we see a movement away from mass media toward personal, customizable media. Pandora creates a custom radio station for each listener, and Facebook and Google can create custom news feeds for each user.

 

Information Society

An information society is defined as one where the number of workers involved in information processing is greater than those involved in agriculture or manufacturing.  For example, today many jobs involve using a computer.  This shift has increased the importance of a college education for career advancement.  Additionally, new communication technologies can make work easier, but it does not always result in less work.  Many years ago, a manager might have written a report in long-hand and given it to an assistant to type, and a different specialist might have created a visual presentation. Today, that manager is expected to use computer software to type and format the report and to create the visual presentation without the assistance of a graphic design specialist.

 

Watch Video 2.3 for reflections on the nature of information:

 

 

Communication Yesterday and Today

For most of human history, face-to-face was the only type of communication that took place. The invention of writing allowed information to be stored for later consumption without having to commit it to memory. This invention dramatically increased accuracy and allowed for increasingly complex thought.  But for almost all of human history, the speed of communication was very slow. Simple information could be communicated over long distances by playing loud drums or using smoke and fire as signaling devices. Carrier pigeons could also be used to send short messages over long distances faster than a person could travel. But when sending long, complex messages, the speed of information was still limited to the speed at which a person could travel. The famous Pony Express took 10 days to travel 2,000 miles across the United States. Similarly, in the mid-1800s, it took ships 10–14 days to cross the Atlantic from the United States to Europe. If you sent a letter to Europe, you would have to wait a month or more before you received a reply! The telegraph was invented in the 1830s, and the first commercial telegraph line in the United States was established between Baltimore and Washington, DC, in 1844. Suddenly, information could be sent instantaneously! Today, we grow impatient when someone does not reply to our text message or email right away. The next time you get frustrated, just think of what life was like before electronic communication!

Table 2.1. Speed of Communication by Mode

Mode	Speed	Distance
Voice/drums	1,000 feet per second	Depends on atmospheric conditions and volume.  Usually less than 30 miles.
Smoke/fire	Speed of light	Depends on atmospheric conditions and height.  Usually less than 30 miles. Can only send very simple messages.
Carrier pigeon	50 mph	500 miles in 10–12 hours. Can only carry 3 ounces.
Horse/Pony Express	10–15 mph	Missouri to California in about 10 days
Railroad—late 1800s	50 mph	New York to California in 7–10 days
Sailing ship—1700s	10 mph	North America to Europe in 6–8 weeks
Steamship—late 1800s	15–25 mph	North America to Europe in 10–14 days
Telephone/telegraph wire	2/3 speed of light	Anywhere on earth in less than 1 second
Radio waves	Speed of light	Anywhere on earth in less than one second

 

Video 2.4 shows an example of signal fire communication from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

   

We now live in a 24/7 media environment where major world events like wars and natural disasters are reported instantly. The 20th century saw the rise and maturation of mass media, where content producers focused on reaching the largest possible audience. As we move into the 21st century, we see content producers using newer digital technologies to create customized content for individuals. The average household today can choose from an almost unlimited number of television and film choices from multiple streaming services and cable channels compared to choosing among 4–5 broadcast stations in the 1970s. Spotify and Pandora have become major sources of music distribution, and each provides customizable stations and playlists. Meanwhile, cable news has to find content to fill up 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Many observers feel much of this airtime is filled with speculation and uninformed opinion that harms democracy rather than helping it. The instantaneous nature of electronic media creates pressure to provide instant answers that are often wrong. Perhaps we would be better served if the media resisted that pressure and allowed for more thoughtful reflection.

 

The Rise of Web 2.0 and New Communication Networks

Another fundamental shift, often referred to as Web 2.0 signaled the rise of user-generated content. In the 20th century, a few large companies produced most of the content we consume.  Today, YouTube videos, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter allow all of us to be content creators. Instead of only choosing among dozens of video channels or hundreds of newspapers, we can now select among an almost infinite variety of content.

The change is not just in the content we consume for entertainment and news (mass media) but also in our interpersonal communication. A hundred and fifty years ago, the only way to talk to someone was face-to-face or by sending a letter. Even as recently as 30 years ago, the only improvement was the ability to use a landline telephone—and making long distance calls was very expensive. Today, we can send instant messages and video chat with one or dozens of friends around the world simultaneously, and the cost is practically zero! This change makes it much easier for us to keep in touch with old friends and make new friends.

Another area that has changed is commerce. Record stores and video stores have all but disappeared and even bookstores are struggling to survive. Even nonmedia businesses have changed. Few people use a travel agent since we can now shop for airline flights, hotels, clothing, cars, and everything else imaginable online.

Just as important as the changes described above is the fact that we continue to increase the amount of time we spend using telecommunications. We  now spend more time using media than just about anything else we do. We use it so much that it is hard to recognize how pervasive it is.

Watch Video 2.5 for a reflection on how Web 2.0 has changed communication:

Lesson 2 Wrap-Up and Looking Ahead

 

Summary

By the end of this lesson, you should have learned (a) the evolution of media in agricultural and industrial societies and how it has influenced civilizations and changed the way we live, and (b) the famous SMCR model of the communication process.

Check and Double-Check

Before progressing to the next lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the Lesson 2 Course Schedule.

Looking Ahead

Lesson 3 presents the technological considerations of telecommunications, beginning with the radio spectrum and concluding with digital technologies.