Media

Published: 21.09.2023

Media

Media is a message delivery system through many types of channels to communicate effectively. There are many types of media and nowadays, many new types appeared. 

          In the beginning of human history, media developed as a means of communication between people. Probably the first means of communication were cave paintings, the oldest ones are more than 64 thousand years old. Before writing was invented, ideographic symbols and tokens were used, the first known are from Mesopotamia and are more than 9000 BC. The invention of the first writing system occured in Sumeria and Egypt in the Bronze Age, around 4000 BC. 

          The first organized post service was documented in Egypt in arounf 2400 BC. The earliest surviving piece of mail is also from Egypt, from 255 BC. The fisrst well-documented postal seervice was in Rome, during the rule of Gaius Julius Caesar and Octavian Augustus. The service was called cursus publicus and was provided with light carriages pulled by fast horses. Since 1290, the Tassis (or Tasso) family organized couriers to deliver post in Italy. In 1505, Holy Roman Emperor Maxmillian I established a postal system in the Empire, appointing Franz von Taxis to run it. Since 1806, the Thurn-und-Taxis Post system continued as a private organization. The first postage stamp was invented in 1680 by William Dockwra in London, where confirmation of paid postage was indicated by a hand stamp. 

          Mass media are technologies that reach a large audience through mass communication. Print media transmit information through physical objects, for example books, magazines, newspapers, comics, billboards and pamphlets. Broadcast media transmit information electronically, for example radio, TV, recorded music and films. Outdoor media is a form of mass media which includes billboards, signs and LED advertising screens.

Old media, traditional, cenventional or legacy media, comminicate with one-way technologies. They have been used for decades, even centuries, and people usually consider them more trustworthy. Traditional mass media include print, radio, TV and billboards.

          Books record information in the form of writing and images, they have many pages that are bound together and are protected by a cover. First books were written by hand and distributed by hand-copying, later by hand-printing. Around 1440 in Germany, Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press, which started the Printing Revolution. This invention drastically reduced the cost of printing books and popularized shorter print runs. Incunabule are books printed before the year 1500, they are very rare and expensive.

           A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper. The first printed newspaper was published in 1605 in Strasbourg. Nowadays, newspaper circulation continues to fall, as new media were introduced. Broadsheets were considered intellectual newspapers that emphasizes serious journalism. On the other hand, tabloids were smaller newspapers, often concentrated on gossip and sensational stories about celebrities.

          A magazine is a periodical publication containing articles, pictures and advertisements. They are published weekly, montly or quarterly, with a date on the cover, in colour and on coated paper. The earliest magazine was launched in 1663 in Germany.

          A telephone is a communications device that converts sound into electronic signals and transmits them through cables to another telephone. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a US patent that was further developed.

          Analog recording uses analog signals and mechanical or electronic systems to record and broadcast audio and video. Today, signals are mostly broadcast in digital signal.

          Radio is the technology which uses radio waves to communicate. Radio waves were first identified in 1886 and today, they are used in radio and TV broadcasting, cell phones, wireless networking and satellite communication. The first practical radio transmitters and receivers were developed in 1896 and radio began to be used commercially around year 1900.

          Films are motion pictures, also called movies or flicks, produced by recording image ans sound by cameras. Dubbing and subtitles are used to translate films from original languages. First attempts to create films from photographies were in 1844 and in the 1850s, instantaneous photography was invented. In the 1880s, celluloid photographic film was introduced and in 1895, the first public screenings of films for money took place in the US.

          Sound recording and reproduction is usually used to record music. The first recording machine, the phonograph, was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison. Later, the invention evolved into a gramophone and since 1940s, it is called a record player. When electrical recording was developed, the magnetic wire recorder and tepe recorder were invented. Digital recording brought the compact discs called CD and today, digital audio players are used.

          Television is a medium transmitting images and sound for advertising, entertainment, news and sports. Cable television programs have a limited audience and they usually require a subscription or offer per-per-view service. Through various inventions, the TV became available in the 1930s and in 1935, the first regular TB broadcast took place in Berlin.

          A music video integrates a music song with imagery that is produced for artistic purposes. The illustrated song, where still images were projected, was invented in 1984. Musical short films were produced since the 1920s and promotional clips since the 1950s. The music video genre began in 1974, with TV shows Countdown and Sounds.

New media are digital channels that have gained popularity in the recent decades. The new media industry continued to grow with digitalization, globalization and the availability of smart phones, computers and the Internet. New mass media are usually less expensive, more interactive, they have a wider reach and provide data about their users. 

          The Information Age, also called Computer or Digital, is a historical period that began after WWII. It began with the development of the transistor in 1947 and the optical amplifier in 1957. The economy became based on information technology and marked the era of interdependence. 

          Digital media are communication media that use encoded machine-readable data formats. Digitized information can include text, audio, video and graphics and can be shared by Internet platforms. Since the digital revolution, digital media brought new challenges to many industries, that include publishing copyright, online piracy and fake news.

           A computer is a digital electronic machine which has hardware, software and uses other equipment. Computing mechanisms are known to exist in ancient times, for example the Antikythera mechanism. Early digital computers were electromechanical and slow, these were used since 1939 and in 1941, the first programmable, fully automatic digital computer was used. In 1948, the Manchester Baby was the first computer with an electronic stored program. In 1958, the first working integrated circuit was invented and in 1964, they were commercially used in computers. The first mobile computers were heavy and ran on mains power only, but since the 1990s, they used batteries.

          A smart phone is a portable devce that combines a mobile telephone and a computer. The technology required was mostly deveped in the 1980s and commercialized since 1991. Since 1994, a cell phone could receive phone calls, receive and send faxes and emails, and was equiped with a calendar, calculator, clock and a notepad. Outside of Japan, smartphones were rare until 2002 and in 2007, the iPhone with a touchscreen was introduced.

          The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks. It carries a wide range of information resources and services, including email and file sharing. ARPANET, the first network of computers, was introduced in 1969 and lasted until 1990. The Internet was launched in 1989 and soon, the WWW browser and the HTTP and HTML tools were invented. For broadcasting on the Internet, terms webcasting and podcasting are used.

          Social media are interactive technologies and digital channels that are used for creation and sharing of information and ideas through communities and networks. They are Internet-based applications, where users have profiles and generate content and conncet with other users.