History Of Communication Essay -- essays research papers

Since the beginning of time, people have had the need to communicate with oneand other. The virtually common type of colloquy is speech, but you could not talk tosomeone who lived 20 miles away. Then written language was developed, people markedsymbols on paper, stone, or whatever was available. Then hundreds of years passed, andpeople who wanted to share their ideas with people had to do allot of writing, untilsomeone thought to make a writing elevator car. This machine is called the scaring press.Gutenbergs invention of the scaring press is widely thought of as the origin ofmass communication-- it marked Western cultures first viable method of disseminatingideas and infomation from a wiz source to a large and far-ranging audience. The story ofprint is a long and complax one. It may be too much to claim that print was the singlecause of the massive social, political and psychological changes it is associated with.However, print did wield enormous influence on every aspect of European culture. Somehistorians suggest that print was instrumental in bringing about all the major shifts inscience, religion, politics and the modes of thought that are commonly associated withmodern Western culture. Gutenberg foresaw enormous profit-making voltage for a printing press that usedmovable metal type. Despite their rapid growth in numbers, secular scribes simply couldnot keep up with the commercial demand for books. Gutenberg also saw strong maketpotential in selling indulgences, the slips of paper offering written dispensation from sinthat the Church sold to investment trust crusades, new buildings and other projects devoted toexpanding its dominance. In fact, press runs of 200,000 indulgences at a time werecommon soon after the handwritten versions became obsolete.There were many different innovations since the first hand ope markd printing press. The Stanhope press, which was widely used for many years, still used a hand-operatedscrew to press print and paper, b ut it could print up to 250 sheets an hour. A considerableimprovement was the Colombian press. In this press, the typical screw method waseliminated, and replaced with powerful hand levers.&nbs... ...the negative side, wars are waged more easily, the celestial orbit of human conflict has beenextended along telephone lines, the multi-generational household has been broken-up asliving alone is no longer an experiment in isolation, and the time-space continuum seemsto be monotone faster than previously thought possible (Brooks, 1976). On the otherhand, the invention of the telephone has resulted in the rapid and diffuse dissemination oftechnical and scientific information, relieve lives through links to emergency services, madepossible the modern city through telephonic connections, increased the speed and easewith which information changes place, and accelerated the rate of scientific andtechnological change and growth in industry (Brooks, 1976).Since the invention of the printing press, communication over distances hasbecome much more feasable. The invention of the the telephone, computer, and the cyberspace has made such an impact on our society. Now we are able to view tremendousmultitudes of information from our own living room. The history of moderncommunication is still ongoing, and will continue to progress far into the future.