Evolution of Media

Engage the learners in a discussion on how media and information has evolved throughout history.
Describe the four ages to the class.

Pre-Industrial Age (Before 1700s) - People discovered fire, developed paper from plants, and forged
weapons and tools with stone, bronze, copper and iron. Examples:

• Cave paintings (35,000 BC) • Clay tablets in Mesopotamia (2400 BC)

• Papyrus in Egypt (2500 BC) • Acta Diurna in Rome (130 BC) • Dibao in China (2nd Century)

• Codex in the Mayan region (5th Century) • Printing press using wood blocks (220 AD)

Industrial Age (1700s-1930s) - People used the power of steam, developed machine tools, established
iron production, and the manufacturing of various products (including books through the printing press).
Examples:

• Printing press for mass production (19th century) • Newspaper- The London Gazette (1640)

• Typewriter (1800)Telephone (1876) • Motion picture photography/projection (1890)

• Commercial motion pictures (1913) • Motion picture with sound (1926) • Telegraph • Punch cards

Electronic Age (1930s-1980s) - The invention of the transistor ushered in the electronic age. People
harnessed the power of transistors that led to the transistor radio, electronic circuits, and the early
computers. In this age, long distance communication became more efficient. Examples:

• Transistor Radio • Television (1941) • Large electronic computers- i.e. EDSAC (1949) and UNIVAC 1
(1951) • Mainframe computers - i.e. IBM 704 (1960) • Personal computers - i.e. HewlettPackard 9100A
(1968), Apple 1 (1976) • OHP, LCD projectors

Information Age (1900s-2000s) - The Internet paved the way for faster communication and the creation
of the social network. People advanced the use of microelectronics with the invention of personal
computers, mobile devices, and wearable technology. Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are
digitalized. We are now living in the information age. Examples:

• Web browsers: Mosaic (1993), Internet Explorer (1995)

• Blogs: Blogspot (1999), LiveJournal (1999), Wordpress (2003)

• Social networks: Friendster (2002), Multiply (2003), Facebook (2004)

• Microblogs: Twitter (2006), Tumblr (2007) • Video: YouTube (2005) • Augmented Reality / Virtual
Reality

• Video chat: Skype (2003), Google Hangouts (2013) • Search Engines: Google (1996), Yahoo (1995)
• Portable computers- laptops (1980), netbooks (2008), tablets (1993) • Smart phones • Wearable
technology • Cloud and Big Data

• Why do you need information?

Sample answers: to be updated with the news, for learning/education purposes, for communication, to
acquire knowledge needed for decision-making.

• Where do you search for information? Sample answers: internet, television, library, radio,
newspapers, etc. 28 Teacher Tip

• How do you acquire and store information?

Sample answers: write, print, photocopy, photograph, download, cloud storage, record, external
memory drives, memory cards

• How will you determine the quality and accuracy of the information that you have?

Sample answers: It should come from a reputable source, such as an institution

• How do you use the information that you have?

Sample answers: share, apply, announce, post, archive, reminder, answer a query, clarify confusion

• How will you communicate information?

Sample answers: announcement, text, post to social media, face to face session, note, chat, email, save
file

Plagiarism: Using other people’s words and ideas without clearly acknowledging the source of the
information

• Common Knowledge: Facts that can be found in numerous places and are likely to be widely known.

Example: John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960. This is generally known
information. You do not need to document this fact

• Interpretation: You must document facts that are not generally known, or ideas that interpret facts.
Example: Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever to have played the game. This idea is not
a fact but an interpretation or an opinion. You need to cite the source.

• Quotation: Using someone’s words directly. When you use a direct quote, place the passage between
quotation marks, and document the source according to a standard documenting style.

Example: According to John Smith in The New York Times, “37% of all children under the age of 10 live
below the poverty line”. You need to cite the source.

• Paraphrase: Using someone’s ideas, but rephrasing them in your own words. Although you will use
your own words to paraphrase, you must still acknowledge and cite the source of the information.
Print, Broadcast, and Digital (New) Media
• Print Media - media consisting of paper and ink, reproduced in a printing process that is traditionally
mechanical

• Broadcast Media - media such as radio and television that reach target audiences using airwaves as
the transmission medium.

• New Media - content organized and distributed on digital platforms.

Media Convergence

• The co-existence of traditional and new media.

• The co-existence of print media, broadcast media (radio and television), the Internet, mobile phones,
as well as others, allowing media content to flow across various platforms.

• The ability to transform different kinds of media into digital code, which is then accessible by a range
of devices (ex. from the personal computer to the mobile phone), thus creating a digital communication
environment.