2) Introduction
Looking back on the history of how communication was developed, it is unimaginable that the generations today reached the level of development in the language and scripts. From the cave paintings of the Homo sapiens to the pictograms in Mesopotamia that tells stories through pictures in a chronological manner and to the revolutionary alphabet that simplified and decreased symbols. This is a revolution in the field of communication as it combined several symbols to form words and sounds.
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Communication did not just develop overnight. It went through a long process of development until we can speak words, write characters to form words. Perhaps before the Homo sapiens’ cave paintings, there were even earlier forms of communication. History however traces the cave paintings as the earliest form. It is the way by which the Homo sapiens tried to store information that they encounter every day. Historians and anthropologists discovered the earliest which can be painted 30,000 years ago. Most of the cave paintings illustrated their daily activities. Fifteen thousand years later, the Cro-Magnon people were able to create the first calendar.
Several thousand years later from 9,000 B.C., pictograms were created to tell stories through illustrations in a chronological manner. Some describe this as photo-writing. It is specifically used to write events. Historical evidences show that pictography was practiced by many cultures elsewhere in the world. In Mesopotamia, pictography was exclusively for the scribes while the common people were not knowledgeable about it. The pictographs were pressed mostly in rocks thus; it allows the writings to travel through time.
Pictography has also a particular usage on recording data on taxes and crops. They record it on tablets of clay using a stick called stylus. Over time, the pictograph evolved into fewer symbols that represent every single idea. It was called hieroglyphics and it was written in the tablets of clay called cuneiform. This was already in 2000 B.C.
Along the fertile Nile River in the Fertile Crescent, a writing material emerged. People along the river were growing papyrus. Through the papyrus, the people developed a writing paper by cutting the material into thin strips. They weave them and let its natural sugar serve as glue. After weaving, they pressed for some time and let it dry. After the process, came out pieces of paper. Since the development of the paper, writing became accessible to common people as the materials became affordable. The development of scripts became faster as more people are writing. As the scripts evolve, the ancient form of symbols started shrinking resulting to several kinds of scripts like the Akkadian. As the hieroglyphs develop, characters begin to lessen tremendously to represent consonant sounds. It was in the 1700 B.C. that finally, alphabet was developed in the Semetic language. Evidences show characters combined to create sounds and consonants. It was they said a revolution in the history of language.
Conclusion
It is important for today’s generation to always look back at the history of communication was developed. As it was said earlier, the advanced communication that people are enjoying today is a product of several thousand years of human intelligence. Human beings did not wake up one day and suddenly discovered alphabets. It was tempered by the capacity of people to improve their ways.
3) Introduction
Media in the 17th to 18th century are necessities in the communications during war. From a very simple flag signs in warships, it was developed to telegraph that can throw messages from one station to another in several minutes. The telegraph was the inspiration in the invention of radio, telephone and eventually the television. These forms of media had a simple objective which is to inform the public of important events in history. This is also the same with the print media where it published events especially during the war time. In the 19th century, magazines formed part of the daily lives of people until they discovered that the media business is not limited to print sales thus, the advent of advertising. Their monopoly of advertising was divided by the advent of television. Today, television, print and radio are being overpowered by the new media which is the internet as it provides all sorts of information and entertainment to people with just one click.
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Since the 17th century, communication was highly important in wars. Telescope was invented making it easier for the war fleets to communicate with the others through flags. In the early 18th century, the battle fleet of Lord Howe has twenty eight flags to use in communication. They can even form a sentence through the combination of flags containing the symbols. This system however ended after some errors during the Napoleonic Wars in the late 18th century.
It was the French Claude Chappe who was first to discover and coin the word telegraph in 1791. It was a communication system that transmits symbols from one tower to the other in several minutes. Both towers have telescopes focused opposite each other. Several towers were then built in France as a form of communication. As times passes, the technology continued to develop. The distance that a message can reach began to become farther. The telegraph led to the invention of radio and telephones. Moreover, the emergence of steam boats made the mailing systems quicker.
In the 19th century, published images in the Times newspaper about the Crimean war greatly influenced public opinion. War photographers were able to capture the horrors of war like the pictures of bodies sprawled in the battlefield, they photos of soldiers wounded and medical assistance was nil. It was the American Civil War which was covered full in photographs as war journalists were sent in the war front lines. About ten thousand negatives of the said war survived.
It was also in the 19th century when rapid developments not only in communication were taking place. The huge development in technology was called Industrial revolution. Technologies led to mass production of food, textiles and other necessities. The revolution however led people to search for more sources of fuel. The seemingly lucrative life in the urban centers due to the presence of electricity and other technologies attracted people to leave the country sides and chase their dreams in the cities of America. The settlement of rural people to the urban was timely as many production areas needed workers. Sadly, as workers grew in number, exploitation in the form of low wages became a trend.
Magazines in America became part of American life since the 18th century with few copies. During the industrialization in the 19th century, magazines were also mass produced. This led to the introduction of advertising as names of products of business establishments started to appear in the pages. The invention of motion picture in the dawn of the 20th century started to attract movie goers. It did not however affected the magazine and other print business as the movie sales then solely relied on sales from the tickets. The print readership was not shaken. It was only in 1940 when publishers began to fret with the advent of television which can transmit events, music, and other audio visuals in every household. It did not only steal the readership of magazines but also the advertisers. Today, the traditional tri-media is facing the threats of extinction with the emergence of the new media or the Internet which is more interactive and offers diversified benefits to consumers.
Conclusion
Despite the threat of the new media against the traditional tri-media, the latter is still alive up until today. The print media is still needed as they can record history in hard copies that people can touch and keep. Radio on the other hand is still the best medium that reaches people even in the remote areas of the world. Television still warms the houses elsewhere in the world as it delivers news and entertainment in real time.
