FEU High School, Inc. – Humanities and Social Sciences Department S.Y.

2018-2019

CHAPTER 1
History of Media: From Traditional to New Media
During these times the role of sharing information was given to selective people in a community so that
information will remain intact. However this became the downside of our culture because as the
information is passed along, they tend to lose or gain some details thus distorting the message.
As the first communication technologies emerge, virtual representations such as drawings and writings
became means of information sharing. Mediums evolved from rocks, clay tablets to leaves, tree barks,
and animal skins (Tagaytay, 2016).
Prehistoric (200,000 BC - 4,000 BC)

NAME YEAR DIRECTIONALITY PRESERVATION

Mythology Between 100,000BC down transient

and 30,000 BC

Cave painting and Between 100,000 BC down permanent

visual symbols and 30,000 BC

Sculpture Between 100,000 BC down permanent

and 30,000 BC

Pottery C. 14,000 BC down permanent

Megalithic C. 4,000 BC down permanent

architecture

NAME YEAR DIRECTIONALITY PRESERVATION

Rock carving C. 200,000 BC Down Permanent

FEU High School, Inc. – Humanities and Social Sciences Department S.Y.2018-2019

Song, music and dance Between 100,000 BC Down or up or lateral transient

and 30,000 BC

Language and oration Between 100,000 BC Down or up or lateral transient

and 30,000 BC

Body art Between 100,000 BC Down or up or lateral transient

and 30,000 BC

Jewelry Between 100,000 BC Down or up or lateral transient

and 30,000 BC

INDUSTRIAL AGE
Perhaps one of the most notable inventions during the industrial age was when Johannes Gutenburg
perfected the printing press in 1446 which marked the driving force of the industrial revolution by the
middle of the 18th century. This machinery enabled the printing, copying, and reproduction of
information in large quantities.
Another medium which was invented during the industrial age is the telegraph by Samuel Morse, Joseph
Henry, and Alfred Vail who developed an electrical telegraph system that was capable of sending pulses
of electric current on electromagnetically controlled wires across two stations. This makes use of a system
of communicating through a series of signals known as the Morse Code.
The next step in the evolution of information transmission was transmitting the human voice. Alexander
Graham Bell made this possible through the invention of the telephone in 1876.
Following the advancement in audio communication was the invention of the radio. Guglielmo Marconi,
an Italian inventor discovered it was possible to send signals by placing antennas to the ground. The radio
was first used for communicating with ships at sea. Further enhancements for the radio devices enabled
better transmission of sound and music through the development and use of vacuum tubes.
Through the constant development of media from the transmission of sound individuals were then able to
transmit images to the television. By the 1950s, the television has become the most prominent media in
place of the radio (Tagaytay, 2016).

Industrial Age
Newspaper and magazine
FEU High School, Inc. – Humanities and Social Sciences Department S.Y.2018-2019

The first newspaper was printed in Western Europe in 1950s. First newspaper advertisement appeared in
1740. Magazines started in 1741.
Image recording/ Invention of photography
Many individuals from different industrialized nations were tinkering with their respective photographic
inventions, but it was Frenchman Louis Daguerre in 1839, who ushered photography. Daguerrotype
system – capturing images in flat copper plate sheets George Eastman improved the photography system
by the rolled and perforated celluloid film to go. He invented the first easy-to-handle camera called the
Lodak camera in 1888.
Sound and music recording
Thomas Edison experimented with recording sound and music through his invention of phonograph in
1877. But the person who was successful in developing a sound and music recording system was Emile
Berliner in 1887. He created the gramophone system which played back music recorded in flat discs or
records. Manually operated turntable was improved and invented by Elridge Johnson
Film-making technology
The first commercial screening of a film is coined to French brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere entitled
Arrivee d’un train en gare a La Ciotat(Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station) in a Paris Café in 1895.
They used their invention, cinematograohe which had the capacity of a film projector to project the film
onto a big screen.
Telegraph and telephone
Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell experimented with electromagnetic waves in 1873 while German
physicist Heinrich Hertz demonstrated the first transmission of the radio waves in 1887.
Frenchman Edouard Branly and English physicist Oliver Lodge individually worked on improving radio
wave frequency transmissions on both the transmitter and receiver technologies. Guglielmo Marconi
improved the innovations in America in 1894 and saw the commercial viability of the radio system. In
1900s, radio had heavy communication and information usage during the Word War I and became part of
mainstream society. Its entertainment value was explored in the 1920s.

Electronic Age
This age was catered by the developments made to the various media of the Age of Industrialization.
Portable versions of the different media such as the telephone and radio where invented for easier and
more convenient access.

Machine Description
Fax machine The telephonic transmission of scanned printed
material (both text and images), normally to a
telephone number connected to a printer or other
output device. It is a combination of different
technologies created in the industrialization age
such as wire and telephone transmission.
Cellphone A portable telephone that can make and receive
calls over a radio frequency carrier while the user
FEU High School, Inc. – Humanities and Social Sciences Department S.Y.2018-2019

is moving within a telephone service area. It was

Cable and satellite technologies and Television
Personal electronic music device (i.e. vinyl
records, magnetic tape, cassette tape, compact
discs to Walkman and Discman)
invented in 1917 by Finnish inventor Eric
Tigerstedt
With the development of the broadcast industry,
particularly in the expansion of radio and
television, the term “mass media” took full effect
as it changed the habits of various cultures
especially in the 1950s and 1960s.
Music and film was not left behind, instead, the
development of personal electronic gadgets and
recorders paved the way for more access to mass
media.

Information Age
The Information Age, also known as the Digital Age, can be identified by the development of the internet.
Media became highly depended digital technologies. This paved way to making information available
24/7, and saving and storing files for longer periods of time without taking up physical spaces because of
the development of digital copies.

Machine Description
Computer systems Invented in the 1900s which came from various
western sectors of the world.

Personal computer evolved during the time when

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple and the
IBM company and later Bill Gates of Windows
were introducing various models and prototypes
of hardware and software during 1970s and
1980s.
Internet Predominantly, an American-led combination of
efforts. This was developed as a project which
aims to strengthen communication systems via
interlinked systems. The research started in 1960s
and involved various industries and several
agencies of the US government.
Audio magnetic tape This was used when digital media started to break
down music data into binary system, making it
possible for easier storage, transfer, and recording
of music in the digital realm. This also gave birth
to several types of music player systems like the
legendary iPod.
Websites Journalism changed its form: from once limited to
the tangible print medium, the intangible print
version is evident online as paper and ink were
traded in for websites the feature newspaper
issues accessible via digital means.