It’s time for us to announce the award for the greatest mass media invention of all time. What should it be and why?
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It’s time for us to announce the award for the greatest mass media invention of all time. What should it be and why?
The Haveman Chronicle (Summer) Powered by WordPress
Max Magazine Theme was created by
Personally I feel that the award should go to radio. While inventions before expanded the audience for print media, I’d assert that radio was the first truly “mass” media, broadcast to anyone in listening radius. While the hardware was initially expensive, this is no different than any other medium — and the proliferation of the technology has held even with the advent of television and the internet. Even today, 92% of adults report listening to the radio at least weekly, an astonishing statistic that illustrates the power of radio.
https://www.stateofthemedia.org/2013/audio-digital-drives-listener-experience/audio-by-the-numbers/
I am a huge, huge proponent for the printing press, specifically the Gutenberg press. Literacy is at the heart of so many things: scientific advancements, pop culture, entertainment, news, politics, religion, etc. Without the ability to mass produce in several different languages with the one press, the flexibility and power that it gave one man for less work… Mind blowing when you think of how low the literacy rate was before this. Honestly it was what started it all, so if anything is going to be awarded the greatest mass media invention of all time, let’s give it to the real OG (Original Gutenberg).
Its true, it is kind of crazy when you think of how few people could read before. It probably was so strange when literature first became more available and the popularity for those to read grew.
I agree! The Gutenberg was the start of information spreading and ideas being able to be shared over long distances. It created a great increase in fluency and literacy, and without that, none of the other forms of media we have today would matter much.
JRN F101 — Wyman — Summer Week 5, Discussion 1 of 4
There are a number of “greatest†mass media inventions that I would consider to be the most influential of all time so it is difficult to select just one. While the telegraph was the precursor, sending Morse code signals over wire, I would have to select the Internet or World Wide Web as the greatest mass media invention of all time. And, I would add, without a browser to view content delivered via the Internet, most people wouldn’t find it as helpful! The Internet allows for mass media communication with text, images, audio, and video. And, the Internet allows for feedback and two-way communication between sender and receiver. I can’t imagine a political campaign today not having a presence on the Internet. More and more people get their news and communicate with friends and family via the Internet. The Internet is a source of education, entertainment, commerce, communication, and more. From the research efforts of university professors and the U.S. Department of Defense, to millions of households and mobile devices today, I think the Internet is well deserving of the award for mass media invention of all time.
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I believe television is one of the most influential mediums of mass media in today’s society. When it was premiered by RCA at the 1939 World Fair in New York, they had to provide a brochure just to explain television because the new technology was so complex. It was huge technological advancement from radio. Since its introduction the television has advanced over the years, from black and white to color, digital to smart, 3-D to 4-D. Even the television screens have advanced to the point where the picture looks so realistic you almost want reach out and touch whatever is on the screen. I think the advancement of technology will continue to progress exponentially in the years to come. Television is the greatest mass media invention of all time as shown by the numbers. There are almost 115 million television households in the United States, which represent 97% of all U.S. homes. With the average American watching more than 34 hours of television a week it will continue to influence our society, and continue to do so in the future. Television has a wide range of audiences which allows it to be very versatile for advertisers in targeting markets. Television has become more than a means of watching television programming, it has become a means of communication.
I agree I mean historically, TV is late in the game, but when you look at what a huge part of our lives it is culturally, it’s hard to argue with. Especially as consumers as well, we are OBSESSED with our televisions, and its hard to keep up with the world when you don’t have one — it changes your view of things.
I truly think that the WWW deserves the aware for the greatest mass media invention of all time. Can you imagine where we’d be with out it? It’s extremely hard to imagine a world without the WWW and even though I’m sure there’s people that’d say that the world would be a better place without the net and the technology it’s helped bring about, but it truly has helped with the creation of so much more. Because the WWW is a more interactive forum of mass media, it’s often referred to as a “network of networks”, and connects individuals, companies, countries all to one another in many different ways. If we think about all the companies that create a website, those companies are able to have a global audience for their media, whereas very few other forums allow such an audience unless one searches high and low for a piece of media that was published years ago. Being able to distribute not only this type of media, but all sorts of other mass media through this one forum is another reason that this mass media invention deserves to win the award.
Newspaper all the way! There is a quote that says “news is the only first rough draft of history.” The newspaper not only covers current events and major world happenings, it records them in a way that represents the time period and peoples’ perceptions. Very interestingly, it can also reflect what society WANTS people to think. It shows what is most important to people and the state of the economy – how much is put into the paper and where the money is going to. Another quote says “Success is the space taken up in the newspaper” or something like that. It can be a great reflection of what people admire or hate, but always what they pay attention to. The printing of magazines and the like have decreased since online news has increased. However, the newspaper is something I don’t see going away any time soon. They’re still delivered to peoples’ houses in the morning, they’re iconic in diners and household kitchens when you’re drinking Folgers in the morning. If you read the newspaper, you are informed! Especially for small towns, it is a way the community connects and lets you know what’s playing at the theater, and the sales at the grocery store. It even tells you what the senior center lunch is going to be. And, did you know some of the world’s oldest newspapers are still being published today? The oldest still published newspaper has been running since 1645.
Week 5: Discussion 1 of 4
Mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and the internet. With the explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the question of what forms of media should be classified as “mass media” has become more prominent.
Here is my short answer, first we have define what we consider mass media, and to find that answer I looked to the web, and it defined it as any media outlet that had the ability to reach out to the most people and in this day in age of technology advancements I would have to say that in all categories listed above I would have to say the the internet has done such a thing beyond all comprehension, by having not only the abilities to connect people across the globe but also in the abilities to transcend family from one generation to the next, see I dont just see the web as a way of advertising but a way of connecting people who have similar ideas and problems and, helping them solve the simple basic problems that may have taken people years to solve, like the “How to” books did years ago, but even they were limited to the libraries or mail rooms that would deliver them, in the time needed, and that was if the book was returned and not destroyed by the previous bower, but even then that book was outdated upon print, but yet the internet is constantly updating itself with new ideas and information.
I think it is impossible to pick just one thing that is the greatest mass media invention of all time. From the invention of the printing press to today’s internet, each invention has been the greatest of its time. I believe we would be doing each a disservice to try to compare them to each other. Each one has offered its own unique advantages. Each one has had its own impact. As each new invention has come along, it has broadened our thinking. It has brought more and more information to us. It is hard to imagine, but someday, the internet may be replaced by something even better. Then, even it, may not be the greatest mass media invention of all time. So, I think the award should be given to all mass media inventions, because I don’t think there is one that is better than any of the others.
The greatest mass media invention in my opinion has to be the internet. Anyone can post information and from millions of different perspectives and no one is beholden to a particular news outlet. The internet is accessible from the world and can often reach everyone sooner than other media outlets. When something local happens I can go to my social media account and look there first, as usually other locals are already discussing the event. There are plenty of great and useful mass media outlets but the internet has to be the best.
It may have originally being developed as an idea for communication continuity in a time of nuclear war, but the internet has turned out to be the most important mass media invention for humanity in centuries. Luckily I am from the tail end of the transitional generation and I can remember when internet was just coming online. As well as all the other associated technological leaps I have seen. The internet has been at the forefront of how I interact with media. I can’t even fathom at this point how to do it any other way. Go to a library, go to a community center, a city hall meeting or any other forum that was once common is now also available online. Libraries are stored conveniently on hard drives as opposed to buildings. Community events and city hall meetings are live and archived for future viewing. The internet has also given us access to a growing and divergent group of news. Social media is faster than any news agency. In fact, to get an edge, most major news networks have teams, like the Federal government (pertaining to organizations that have the legitimate authority) track social media because it is a gold mine. Never before can we interconnect interpersonally and internationally as easily as before. It is breaking down barriers for markets for mass media that have never been explored before. The internet is just coming into its own and is raising needed questions on ethics. Needless to say, this technology will play a guiding role in this century.
It’s an easy decision for me, we go back to the beginning. Johannes Gutenberg changed the world, but did so with little fame for himself. The Gutenberg printing press made information available to wide masses for the first time in history. Some historians even credit the Gutenberg printing press for launching people into the Renaissance – “the original information age”. Mass literacy literally changed the way people viewed the world,, it connected people, and it still does.
Yes! Glad to find another believer in the press. When you think how really, all of the other mass media inventions to follow would not have been possible without the literacy and spread of information made possible by the Gutenberg press, it is an easy choice.
The award for the greatest mass media invention goes to television. In our past, newspapers, magazines, and radio did a great job of portraying information to the readers and listeners but television revolutionized media. It was the first time viewers and listeners could do both things at once. This produced a more effective way of relaying information. The multiple stimulation methods engrains the material into the viewers mind, creating a more permanent memory. Now when jingles from commercials pop into your memory, its not only the jingle that your able to recite but a visual accompanies the jingle. Television became a force to be reckoned with. And even now without what from the creation of television and its capabilities of pairing sound and video the modern day internet would lack luster, without television youtube, online news clips, and more would not be possible. Thanks to all of its attributes television is awarded the greatest mass media invention.
And the award for the greatest mass media invention goes to… drumroll please… the World Wide Web. The internet has completely turned around the way society works today. Before the internet, people were very limited with what could be learned and read about. But now with the click of a button, there are countless options are your fingertips. From music to movies to creating power points to sending emails, the internet is used everyday by billions of people. While I understand that at some point, the world wide web was nonexistent and people had no use for them. But has society and technology advance, it has become an everyday necessity. We wouldn’t be sitting here at our computers if we didn’t have the internet. There are so many reasons why the internet deserves this award. There are more way than we can ever think of as to why the internet is so important today. It has shaped the way we use technology with how we are moving towards robotics for some many things which couldn’t be created with the use of computers and the internet. We use the internet for things like work and learning and social media and the news. It is something that has become such a normal thing, I don’t think that people today would be able to live without it. And those are a few reasons why the internet deserves this award.