A History in Mass
Communication
The First 3 Information Revolutions
Eras in Communication
• There are six information revolutions:
– Oral/Writing
– Printing
– Mass Media Revolution
– Entertainment
– Communication Toolshed Home
– Information Highway
Pre-Mass Communication
• Oral communication
– Circulated slowly through
poets, teachers, and tribal
storytellers
– The Socrates Method:
Public conversations and
debates
– Primary form of spreading
news
– Working class people were
illiterate
• Written communication
– Phoenicia's invented the
alphabet
– Papyrus: Material from
Egypt from the pithy stem
of a water plant, used in
sheets throughout the
ancient Mediterranean
– Greeks made it flourish
around 8th century B.C.
– Made knowledge
boundless.
Oral v. Written
• Many philosophers believed that the written
word would kill oral tradition.
• Socrates felt it would threaten debate where
as Plato tried to banish poetry because he
thought it was not as rigorous.
• Connect to today: Do you feel that the growth
of communication has “cheapen” the way we
communicate? Think of how communication is
now (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, reality TV, etc.)
Printing Revolution
• China is credited for developing paper around 100 B.C.
• Began in Europe around the second half of the 15th century
• German Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press
and movable metallic type
• Printing spread information through society and marked
the start of the modern world. Combined three critical
elements:
– Machine replaced the system of hand-copies
– Duplication happened more rapidly
– Faster production brought down cost per unit so it made books
affordable.
• People started to resist traditional clerical authority and
also think for themselves because knowledge was available.
Mass Media Revolution
• Began in western Europe and
eastern United States around 19th
century.
• With the advancements in paper
production and printing press,
the telegraph was invented.
– The telegraph started the
transformation of communication,
which was continued by film, radio,
and television.
• For the first time newspapers and
magazines reached our to
communities
• Photography was invented
• Public school and libraries rapidly
increased and literacy became
important
• Mass media made it possible to
be involved in culture and all
aspects of life. Think of the
following vocabulary:
– Communication: The creation and
use of symbol systems that convey
information and meanings
– Culture: The symbols of expression
that individuals, groups, and
societies use to make sense of
daily life and articulate their values
– Mass Media: Culture links
individuals to their shared and
contested values, mass media
circulates those values; culture
industries.
– Mass communication: The process
of designing cultural messages and
stories and delivering them to
large and diverse audience
The First Libraries
• Ancient Egyptians temples held collections of
writing mainly about religion and rituals.
• Referred to as “House of Life”
• Archives, not true libraries
• Literacy was apart of government or temple
bureaucracy, not for education