History of media unit 1
- 2. UNIT – I Evolution of Communication – Oral Traditions – Cave Paintings – Petroglyphs – Pictograms - Ideograms- Written communication UNIT – II Invention of the Printing Press – Evolution of newspapers- penny press – Press in India: Newspapers in Bengal, Bombay and Madras. PRB act and Vernacular Press Act – Press during Independence Movement- Press in post-independence India
- 3. Evolution of Communication Communication refers to the exchange of messages through some channel and in some medium. Communication theorists usually classify communication into modes, that is, different ways of exchanging messages. Examples: gestural (hand-based communication); vocal (voice-based communication); visual (picture-based communication); signaling (bodily based communication); and so on. When pluralized (communications), the term refers to media systems or technologies of communication.
- 4. How did Human Communication evolve? Communication can range from very subtle processes of exchange, to full conversations and mass communication. Human communication was revolutionized with the origin of speech. Symbols were developed about 30,000 years ago. The imperfection of speech, which nonetheless allowed easier dissemination of ideas and eventually resulted in the creation of new forms of communications, improving both the range at which people could communicate and the longevity of the information. All of those inventions were based on the key concept of the symbol.
- 5. The oldest known symbols created for the purpose of communication were cave paintings, a form of rock art, dating to the Upper Paleolithic age. The oldest known cave painting is located within Chauvet Cave, France. These paintings contained increasing amounts of information. The connection between drawing and writing is further shown by linguistics; in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece the concepts and words of drawing and writing were one and the same.
- 6. The most significant step was the evolution of human speech. The origin of speech refers to the origin of language in the context of the physiological development of the human speech organs such as the tongue, lips and vocal organs used to produce phonological units in all human languages. Primates, that is the group of animals including monkeys, apes and humans, have evolved specialized mechanisms for producing sound for purposes of social communication. On the other hand, no monkey or ape uses its tongue, lips and other movable (vocal) parts for speech the way humans do, making its evolutionary emergence an intriguing topic in the eyes of many scholars. Speaking is the default modality for language in all cultures. Humans' first recourse is to encode thoughts in sound — a method which depends on sophisticated capacities for controlling the lips, tongue and other components of the vocal apparatus.
- 7. Little is known about the timing of language's emergence in the human species. Unlike writing, speech leaves no material trace, making it archaeologically invisible. Lacking direct linguistic evidence, specialists in human origins have resorted to the study of anatomical features and genes arguably associated with speech production.
- 8. Oral Traditions Oral tradition, also called orality, the first and still most widespread mode of human communication. Far more than “just talking,” oral tradition refers to a dynamic and highly diverse oral-aural medium for evolving, storing, and transmitting knowledge, art, and ideas. It is typically contrasted with literacy, with which it can and does interact in myriad ways, and also with which it dwarfs in size, diversity, and social function.
- 9. For millennia prior to the invention of writing, which is a very recent phenomenon in the history of humankind, oral tradition served as the sole means of communication available for forming and maintaining societies and their institutions. Moreover, numerous studies—conducted on six continents—have illustrated that oral tradition remains the dominant mode of communication in the 21st century, despite increasing rates of literacy. An oral tradition is the vehicle by which information is passed from one generation to the next in the absence of writing or a recording medium. In the days before near-universal literacy, bards would sing or chant their people's stories. They employed various (mnemonic) techniques to aid in their own memory and to help their listeners keep track of the story. This oral tradition was a way to keep the history or culture of the people alive, and since it was a form of story-telling, it was a popular entertainment.
- 10. Contemporary understanding of oral tradition depends not on documents—which are at best written reflections of oral traditions—but on experience gained through firsthand study of societies that depend upon oral tradition as a major means of communication. Anthropologists, folklorists, and other ethnographers have worked directly with such societies to learn how this textless communication operates. Their research has offered insight into oral traditions from the ancient, medieval, and pre-modern worlds.
- 11. Notwithstanding their tremendous diversity, oral traditions share certain characteristics across time and space. Most notably, they are rule-governed. They use special languages and performance arenas while employing flexible patterns and structures that aid composition, retention, and performance. In addition, they assume an active role for the audience and fulfill a clear and important function for the societies that maintain them. Oral traditions also embody an expressive power that derives from their ability to respond to different performance settings and circumstances.
- 12. Oral cultures are cultures in which information and traditions are passed on from one generation to the next by storytellers. The forms of oral culture include poetry, folktales, and proverbs as well as magical spells, religious incantations, and stories of the past. The prevalence of radio, television, and newspapers in Western culture has led to the decline of oral traditions, though some survive, especially during childhood, when rhymes, stories, and songs are recounted orally.
- 13. Oral tradition represents a vital and multifunctional means of verbal communication that supports diverse activities in diverse cultures. As humankind’s first and still most ubiquitous mode of communication, it bears a striking resemblance to one of the newest communication technologies, the Internet. Both the Internet and oral tradition operate via navigation through webs of options; both depend upon multiple, distributed authorship; both work through rule-governed processes rather than fossilized texts; and both ultimately derive their strength from their ability to change and adapt.