General resources

Media History Project

Timelines  (Selected from the results of a Google search for "media history timeline")

The Media History Project Timeline Totally chronological

Some Dates in the HistoryÝ of Cultural Technologies Sorted by technology

Timelines of Invention and Technology When things were invented

Specific Media

Early Film History

Samples

Dr. Schoenher's collection (SDSU, U.S. Mass Media History)

Western Connecticut State University

Department of Communication

 Last taught:  Fall 2004

COM 230 History of Mass Media

All Media work us over completely. They are so persuasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical, and social consequences that they leave no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as environments.

—Marshall McLuhan.

The Medium is the Massage

                This course is an examination of the origins, structures and functions of major forms of media.  We will examine the technical (or physical) history of media and the interaction of media and human cultures. 

                The course is divided into four sections which represent the four great media revolutions in human history.  We will progress to a more detailed analysis as we progress through history, so that the most emphasis and time will be spent on the last section.  The four eras of media are  1) Orality, the world of speech; 2) Literacy, the world of writing and reading, 3) Typography, the printing press and mass literacy, and 4) Electronic media, from the telegraph to computers and satellites.

OBJECTIVES

1.  To trace the history of the four eras in terms of dates, places of origin and spread.

2.  To describe the codes, technologies, delivery systems, time-space biases, of media.

3.  To understand some of the effects of media on human communication and culture.

4.  To use this understanding of communications history to make reasonable predictions

                about new and future media effects.

TEXT

Crowley, D. & Heyer, P. (1991).  Communication in history:  Technology, culture, society.  4e.  White Plains:  Longman. 

REQUIREMENTS

1.       Six quizzes on reading and information presented in class (60%). 

2.       Short written assignments on reading material (P/F 10%).

3.       A media history mid-term paper on an established technology of your choice. (20 %)

4.       A presentation on an emerging medium and its possible effects. (10%)

5.       Attendance & Punctuality.  (Bonus points added to quiz grades).  There are no make ups for missed tests, paper due dates or presentations.