Chapter 9: Survival of the Media Fit

What were the years before T.V. Like for radio? What types of content was provided? 

Radio was the new thing but it did not catch on very quickly mainly cause what was being broadcasted was not that good and because people are usually reluctant with things they do not know. allot of the content would be advertisements,news, jazz and short stories. The radio really picked up when rock n roll came into being and eventually merged into the radio that we have today. advertisement was the main kick off for radio cause it supplied the fundings to do high quality radio shows which in return gave money to the people wanting to sell their product which makes it a win/win situation.

Explain the economic impact of T.V. On radio. 

Most would assumed that the radio would be obsolete  due to the tv. But in-fact the radio stayed alive and outdid the tv for some time. Levinson said that you can shut your eyes when you want but you cant close your ears giving the radio an advantage to our circuitry.

What is the economic model for both radio and T.V.? 

Both radio and Television are funded through advertising major networks provide national advertising and send it out to local affiliates who have local advertising as well.In the brief description of film history, Levinson discusses the work of D.W. Griffith, Sergi Eisenstein, and Lev Kuleshov. 

What methods did they use to help develop a visual vocabulary for film?

By developing a new film where you can stitch video clips togather allowing you to edit the film. Ther all messed around with film editing and invoking human emotions from the use of film and narrative.Technology alone was not the sole savior of radio. Explain the roll of Rock and Roll in radio's transformation. It gave rise to record companies and brought more money which in return brought more viewers/listeners to the radio. It bacame a win/win situation for record companies and artist.Rock n roll was extremely important to the radio cause it got the next generation into the radio and was the first music that was recorded in a way that sounded just a good if not better than the live performances which allowed more radio stations to play rock n roll music cause it sounded just as good in lets say georgia as it did in california.

“Talkies”, replaced silent films entirely, but T.V. Did not replace radio, why? 

Tv did not replace the radio because you cant exactly tune out noise completely but you can close your eyes from viewing the tv. The radio became more portable over the years and the quality was getting better as well.

Chapter 10: Remedial Media

In your own words describe Levinson's parable of the window shade as remedial media. 

People needed a place to escape the elements so they built shelter and walls.

A completely walled off area is dark and lacks fresh air. There needs to be a way to get light and fresh air into the shelter. So they put wholes in the wall.

Wholes in the wall are nice but they still let some of the elements in and the trade off isn't always good. So eventually someone invented glass windows. 

You can see out side and light gets in. But people can also see into the dwelling.To solve the problem of people seeing into the dwelling and sometimes unwanted light window shades are invented. Now people have the option to open the shade and let light in or close the shade and keep light out.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the VCR as a remedial medium. 

It allows the viewers not to have to go to the movie theatre. They can watch and record shows at anytime of their choosing. It also aloud people to order slash pick up movies for rent/own instead of going to the movie theaters.

Some of the disadvantages are it can take up a ton of space when comparing it to todays technology and the quality of the film. It enables broadcasting companies to keep track of who’s watching their shows or if they are even recording it which weekend its standings with advertisers.

Electricity ch7-8

Electricity has been overlooked by most but only because it is the grandfather technology of most of the technology that we have today. The enviroment in which we live in today is molded by electricity on a daily basis with electric bulbs,mass media, cell phones, computers, architecture, medicine etc.... Electricity may have been harnessed by humans but it is electricity that has molded us with its power and abundant uses for us humans.

We now are living in the age of the computer a predecessor technology of electricity and it too is/will change our world and the human species forever. I try and keep up with the most recent and latest technology breakthroughs and it is mind boggling what we as a species have done and accomplished in such short period of time. I read about technologies that i imagined as impossible when i was younger that are now within our grasps on a weekly basis. some of these technologies include the ability to bend light making objects appear invisible. I never imagined that invisibility would be possible and certainly not in my life time and we are now able to make small objects invisible to visible light. Wireless technology is something that americans/humans have been dreaming about for years and it is only now that is is starting to show some light. I can't wait till it comes to the consumers market and the technology that will follow behinds its foot steps. It seems that each new technology you lift up there are several smaller emerging technologies on the rise from the current technology that gave rise to them.

IMD 450 History of Communication Media

Week 4 Discussion Questions

Textbook: The Soft Edge: a natural history and future of the information revolution

Please staple this cover sheet to your printed and numbered set of answers. Please answer the questions as clearly and thoughtfully as possible. Use the textbook and outside sources as necessary to complete the following questions.

Chapter 5: Telegraphy

1. What are telegraphy's strengths as a medium? How do these compare to the then existing media forms?
   Gave humans to send information over vast distances at light almost light speed where mail was the only other means of distance communication which would take several months to do so.
2. What are some of the reasons that telegraphy was so distrusted? 

I think it was due to people not really believing in the technology itself. It was very foreign and almost magic to most so they stuck to what they know rather than going with the new technology.

1. Levinson discusses the introduction of “noise” into our various systems media forms. Explain what he means by “noise” in the system and discuss some examples of media systems and the way “noise” is introduced. 

I believe Levinson was talking about how humans when they pass down information it gets distorted a little bit more each time its repeated . Also their is a loss of information when sending signals over distances using wires creating  what levinson would also might call noise.The final message would always be slightly different than the original message.

1. What roles did the telegraph play in increasing more immediate/instantaneous public awareness of events around the world? How did the press evolve with the use of the telegraph? 

I believe it is like any new technology today that might come up. We do not trust it at first but over time we grow to like it and usually mold it more to our liking so better to fit our life-style. It eventually became the mean of communication and made the press what it apparently is today, allowing them to send news on the fly when the news arrives rather than getting the news out to everyone months after it already happened.

Chapter 6: Telephone

1. In your own words, Explain and describe Levinson's term “anthropotropic” 

  Levinson’s term anthropotropic is human’s natural tendency to break communicative barriers, and then try to bring them back to their primitive state before the invention of the technology.

1. Why hasn't video phone taken off ? What is Levinson's stance on the video phone? Would/do you use a video phone? Explain your answers fully. 

Because their was really no demand for that kind of technology and everyone was perfectly content with just using the phonograph. Levinson believes that it is offering no alternative to the already existing technology, which is why there is no demand. Its like the FaceTime for the iPhone where yeah it sounds like a really great idea, but in the real word most people don't use it.

1. What is the telephone's main strengths over any other existing forms of media? What power does the telephone have over people? 

It allows us to stay connected over vast distances and share info and opinions at anytime we may choose. The telephone has huge control over people for ex. when ever their is a phone ringing we automatically know someone is trying to get               in- touch of us and we almost always pick it up.When the phone beckons we come running.

1. Explain what Levinson means by “remedial media.” Give an example of a remedial media that was developed recently in communication media. 

Remedial technology is what changes our world and has brought us some of the greatest technologies we have. Remedial technology to me means taking an existing good technology and making it slightly better or adding another technology onto it based on the original technology. So if this makes since allot of our current technologies we have would not exist like a tv remote control wouldn't exist if it weren't for the TV existing in the first place.

1. Levinson describes how the telephone promotes a level of intrusion beyond other media. Does this still hold true? In what ways has telephone technology been adapted since Levinson wrote this to reduce or increase this intrusion? 

The telephone is most definitely still an intrusion beyond other media. Phones today act as small pocket computers to connect us to all our other devices. Even the internet is tied to our phones allowing us to hold all of humans knowledge at our finger tips or in this case our pockets.

IMD 450 History of Communication Media Week 3 Discussion Questions

1. Why does Levinson propose that printing in Europe had more impact than China? 

Lets put it this way the Chinese letter system contains 20,000 characters where as the english system on has 26 characters that can be interchangeable to spell out any word or sentence in the english alphabet.When the 26 letter European language was used it was much better suited for the interchangeable type presses. The printing press could now be used for the mass production of text.

1. Martin Luther thought that people should read the bible themselves rather than rely upon the clergy. Would Luther’s “Ninety-five Theses” have had the same impact in 1517 if Gutenberg had not started printing bibles 50 years earlier? Explain. 

  Luther’s “Ninety-five Theses”  would not have had the same influence it did back then if Gutenberg had not started printing Bibles because people would not of had access to them.Luther wanted people to figure out on their own what he already did.

1. Describe how books were reproduced before the printing press and by whom. Describe how this changed after development of the printing press. 

Books when they first started where hand written by monks of the church or clergy people.This made books very rare to have and very expensive where only the rich could afford to have which only put a bigger gap between the rich and the poor since most poor people were illiterate in those days.When the printing press was invented people’s own interpretations of text lead to separatist movements and counter-revolutions of current beliefs. It also opened up the level of education among society’s members and increased the general intellect of our country.

1. Why does Levinson propose that the Norse exploration of the New World did not create more impact? Contrast this with how Columbus' reports of the New World fueled the “Age of Discovery”. 

Columbus "New World Discovery" succeeded because of the printing press and its  ability to be printed and read in many different languages.  The Norse, according to Levinson, conquest was just heresy and stayed amongst those that knew of it.  According to Levinson, "the oral sagas had no power to move anyone other than those who had personal reason to trust the speakers."

1. The distribution of books is not enough to spread knowledge. For the power of the book to be yielded there needs to be a literate public to access that knowledge. Discuss the role of literacy in building our modern world. 

The power of literacy is huge in our world and had made us what we are today. Our world moves fast with all of its technologies and science but in-order to pass this knowledge on to  the next generation so that they one day might improve on it their needs to be a universal language that everyone can read or documentation on how to learn this language and use it. 

1. A “meme” is an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from one person to another within a culture. For example, the fashion of platform shoes, the idea that the earth is the center of the galaxy, or “rickrolling”. How were cultural memes exchanged before printing? In what ways are they exchanged now? Unfortunately i think it is sad how these “memes” change a culture or a community where people start believing in the media or other people with out thinking g about it on their own.I believe there is a mass of people who don't know how to think on their own and it is slowing the development of our species as well as hindering us. Now the media runs everything from the clothes we wear to the gel or products we put in our hair. The media is a very powerful tool today and could very well be harmful behind some willing to do bad with it like a cult or like hitler did with the notzies. 

Chapter 4: The Age of Photography and the Ageless Image

1. French film critic André Bazin stated that “Photography is free from the sin of subjectivity”. Explain what he meant by that statement. To what extent is this true? 

I believe he meant that anyone who views a picture takes it in a little bit different than the next that we are free from the subjectivity of others opinions and emotion, but that the subject itself never changes if the picture is not altered in anyway.

1. Levinson reminds us that each form of media is subject to inaccuracies; error can creep into our understanding because of the detachment from direct experience. Describe the ways in which photography can be perceived as an exact depiction of reality. Describe ways in which photography lies. 

Photography takes in only the light that is being reflect back off the object being photographed. where we as humans take all that and more by adding our other senses to it like hearing, snestation of touch, taste, and smell. A photograph can lie for example using optical illusions it can trick the mind into thinking there is more to the picture than there really is but we all know it is just the brain trying to put pieces together in nay way it so chooses.

1. In 1839, French painter Paul Delaroche exclaimed, “From today on, painting is dead!” Consider painting at the time. To what extent was he right? Explain. What are some of the ways photography changed painting and art? 

Where a photograph can be taken in an instant a painting takes time finish.Photography has made painting a thing of the past for a while cause it was cheaper for a photograph than it was for an a painting of a portrait and left painting to the side for a while. Now i believe a painting is more more appreciable cause they are more rare making the object more valuable.   However it is still argued today is photography an art...

IMD 450 History of Communication Media Week 2 Discussion Questions

Preface – Chapter 1: Introduction

1. At the beginning of chapter one, Levinson uses an amoeba to illustrate the benefits of using our senses to gain information rather than having to experience things directly. Communication and the abstraction of information have both an upside and downside. What type of losses might be inherent in some of our current communication forms such as TV, email, Twitter and IM? 

Writing itself is becoming a lost art form where the phrase “Go paperless” comes to mind. We today as humans or at least some of us have lost the ability to think and have just become brainwashed zombies under the media. It is the most irritating thing in the world to me when someone says their opinion or makes a remark without thinking about it or just reversing someone else's opinion cause they cannot think for themselves. Who would of thought when they were young that the post office would ever go out of business where today that is a problem we are dealing with currently. Everything is being sent over email or via some social network like Facebook or twitter.

1. Define “hard” determinism and “soft” determinism in relation to communication media. 

Arguably, hard determinism is similar to the necessity to communicate between information and data systems.  Because of modern technology it was inevitable that something like the internet or intranet would be created.  Soft determinism would be similar to facebook or twitter, and the many different facets of social media that became into existence or available due to the existence of the internet.

1. Identify an unintended social consequence of a technological advancement that took place before you were born. What was the intended use, and how did the unintended consequence evolve? 

I believe the big one would be the atom bomb. Even its creator was scared for the use of this technology in bad hands.Most great technologies have almost always came from the military due to it was the government that was usually the only one interested and with the pocket book to look into these new breakthrough technologies plus the military had plans and wanted the right to use it for military purposes.

1. Levinson argues in favor of free will and our ability to control uses and effects of technology. Can you think of situations where free will and the use of technology are obstructed? How do these obstructions come about? How do they change? 

The first thing that comes to mind is having your phones on during when you are aboard a aircraft that it might affect security or other devices that the signal could be interfered or intertwined.

Chapter 2: The First Digital Medium

1. Why does Levinson refer to the phonetic alphabet as “the first digital medium?' What unique advantages does it have over oral or pictographic communication? What disadvantages? 

I believe Levinson by saying “the first digital medium” he is referring to almost like bits of data or binary code. Where when you put together certain letter from the alphabet is forms a word or begins to have meaning to us. Its advantage over oral or pictographic communications is “transportability” and its ability to be stored and processed. The ability to share ideas outside your culture was probably the biggest impact i see in it over oral or pictograph.

1. Levinson discusses the Egyptian priestly class as maintaining a “monopoly of knowledge.” He again uses the term later when discussing the Dark Ages. Explain how the monopoly of knowledge was used in ancient Egypt to maintain a specific world view. 

The ancients that had power where the only ones that had access to information and would there for pass it down to the lower hierarchy in a certain way so that they can maintain dictating their specific world view.

1. Discuss any contemporary examples of knowledge monopolies as they may exist today. 

1. Describe how technical jargon is used to maintain a monopoly of knowledge, and by whom. Discuss positive and negative consequences of specialist jargon. 
2. Consider the disaster at the Library of Alexandria and the centralization of knowledge storage. Does cloud computing present a similar danger in centralizing knowledge and information. Discuss threats and dependencies when our information devices are dumb receivers and contain no inherent information.