SCRIPT FOR REPORT COMM 1 - According to Irving Fang, the first information
revolution may be characterized as the writing
- Nothing exists in a vacuum. All things on this
earth had a process of evolution. Nothing is also
created or manufactured at random, for each and
every creation was borne out of a need to fill a
gap or to improve on an existing condition. Just
like a road wherein there is a starting and end
point. Such is the case for communication. How
we communicate now and the tools we use for
communication might not be existing or be here
if it wasn’t for the entrepreneurial, artistic,
mathematic, or scientific judgement of certain
individuals or societies who aimed to serve
humanity in their own unique and humble way.
- Now let’s take a look back in our history of mass
communication as we take you on a road trip
about the six information revolution.
- ever since the first human beings evolved on
planet earth, communicating with each other is
one of the most essential and immediate need that
they had to learn, develop, and master. This is to
convey information they want to share and get the
information they also need. When human beings
learned how to control their body parts to be able
to talk, language is one of the first things that the
brain developed and enhanced. Thus, we could
consider oral tradition as the basic ancestor of
information and communication flow. Not only
was language essential to use for every day life,
it has also developed humans into having more
complex thoughts. This is the reason why ancient
civilization and older cultures have a tradition of
passing down stories through oral means. Even
specific art forms such as poetry have rooted in
oral traditions.
- it is only upon the invention of writing when
some of the orally handed-down stories and
information were recorded.
- It is said that the wish to remember something
by writing it down led over the course of
millennia to the start of the first information
revolution. It and the revolutions that followed
would shape humankind more than any wars or
any kings ever did or could.
revolution. · With the growth of ancient
communities came the evolution of governments
and commerce and due to all the getting and
giving (e.g. Collection of taxes, tribunes, keeping
stock of food) involved in these new activities, a
means of record keeping and writing was needed.
Writing would be the foundation of progress.
- Archeologists have also found evidence that
early human beings were able to communicate
through writing symbols or drawing crude
pictures. For example, the · Primeval Chinese ku-
wan (gesture pictures) preceded pictographs, the
picture symbols that
first appeared in Western Asia
· Native American tribes notched or painted
sticks to convey messages
· Incas in South America knotted colored quipu
cords to keep complex records
- This shows that as humans, we have this basic
tendency to record what goes around us, our
experiences and of course this will also help
facilitate our daily life transactions.
- Different regions of the earth developed varied
ways of recording human transactions and
memory. Tribal cultures like those found in
Africa, south America, or native America used
materials found in nature
to record their existence. Bark of trees, bones of
animals, or sticks painted on with nature-found
substances were used as recording devices of
information. Similar materials were found on
Asian regions.
- early evidence of more formal-looking
recordings could be traced back to ancient
Mesopotamia, also known as the cradle of
western civilization located within the former
tigris – Euphrates river system where modern day
Iraq, Kuwait, parts of Syria, and iran are now
located. Clay stone and tablets were found to have
some form of symbolic impressions that make up
ancient languages, the most important discovery
is the code of Hammurabi. 1772 BCE laws of the
king. From writing in stones and clay, humans
were able to develop other materials for
documentation. With the discovery of papyrus by
ancient Egyptians and other forms of writing
tools, this eventually led to the advent of paper.
Parchment eventually replaced Papyrus because
papyrus turned brittle and disintegrated over time
(thus there are only a few papyri documents left
in modern day). Parchment was made from the
skin of a sheep, a calf, or a goat and it was sturdy
and durable. Meanwhile for the Greeks, they built
the first true alphabet by adding vowel sounds
and expanding and
contracting the Phoenician alphabet. The Greeks
broke down speech into its individual elements.
The information revolution gathered strength as
the first readers came into being.
-By the time the second half of the 15th century
arrived in Europe, the second information
revolution was started. This is known as the
Printing revolution. Prior to the invention of
printing and paper, news came through monks,
soldiers, couriers. Literacy was not a widely
known characteristic during the feudalistic period
especially during the Black Death or Bubonic
plague. Printing aided in the spread of literacy.
Literacy was being considered a test for
intelligence. The invention of paper in China is
credited to a eunuch, Ts’ai Lun, The use of paper
began to travel west. Paper did not find wide use
in Europe until printing was invented. Aside from
the convergence of paper, the most important
contribution to revolutionizing the printing press
is German Goldsmith Johann Gutenberg’s
improvement of the movable type printing press.
Because his printing press could mass produce
many pages in a given day, the printing of books
become cheaper and faster. As a result, the cost
of books and printed matter lessened, making it
more affordable to more people from various life.
- Gutenberg was printing the 42-line Bible during
the capture of Constantinople
- Books during the monastic period were read
aloud by the Master to its students
- Printing in Europe received censorship from the
church in order to control speech and
eliminate heresy
- Thus, book burning was an adamant punishment
by the Church
- Printing lent itself to massive political,
religious, economic, educational, and personal
alterations. We have called these changes the
Reformation, the Renaissance, humanism,
mercantilism, and the end of feudalism. Printing
marked the start of the modern world.
- After the printing revolution, the Mass media
revolution came. It began in western Europe and
eastern US during the middle of the 19th century,
Because of industrial revolution, they were able
to mass produce books which allowed
people to sell books for a lower price due to
production cost decreasing. They were also
able to mass produce newspapers making people
aware and updated with news and
current affairs.
- Mass media through printed advertisements
helped boost the economy of mass
production. People became more interested about
businesses of mass producers
resulting to positive feedbacks and because of
their growing businesses, they were able
to produce more products and have more
advertisements. Mass media aided in spreading
ideas through messages that they were able to
make because of mass production of posters and
other printed word.
- Most people in Europe and North America were
illiterate but the Printing industry
influenced the society. It encouraged literacy,
broadened knowledge and made people
more involved in public affairs more than ever
before.
- After the nineteenth century, photography and
printing merged. Pictures appeared in
magazines and newspapers and the art of
photojournalism soon followed.
- 1922, radio industry emerged and became a new
advertising medium.