Transcript File
The History of Communication The early years Draw it out I need a few volunteers to come up and see if they can communicate with the class, using anything other than words. I’ll provide the phrases. You have 2 minutes. The Very Early Years... Symbol - the conventional representation of a concept. Simple: Abstract/deeper: The Very Early Years... Cave Paintings - A series of symbols or pictures used to tell a message, show an event, or pass information. The Very Early Years... Petroglyphs- Carvings in a rock surface. Pictograms- A series of symbols representing an object, activity, place, or event through illustration. The Very Early Years... Ideograms- graphic symbols or pictograms that represent and idea (tend to be more abstract) Example: The cigarette illustration is a pictogram, and the red circle and bar is a ideogram, representing “no” or “not allowed”. The Very Early Years... Writing and the alphabet Started with the documentation of numbers inscribed in clay discs. Earliest form of the alphabet was the Abjad. System of writing where each symbol stood for a consonant, and the vowel was inserted regionally. No definitive origin but popular theories lead to Egypt and Greece. A little bit softer now... All these forms of communication have been nonverbal, non-interactive. How can we communicate with one another, face to face, without using words? With the person next to you, take turns communicating by non verbally the following phrases: “Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it.” “The smelly boy fell off his bike.” “The noise your heard was a giant monster” A little bit louder now... So we just created cave paintings and the alphabet... How could one group of people communicate with another over long distances? Lets come up with some ideas. Long Distance Communication Prehistoric: Fires, smoke signals, drums, horns. BC- Mail, runners, pigeon post, heliograph. 15th - 19th century- Signal lamps, telegraph, telephone, radio Longer Distance Communication. The radio began as wireless telegraphy. So what is a telegraph? A telegraph is the long distance transmission of messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Brief Radio History Credited to Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor. Development in the 1890’s led to the discovery that the transmission rage is proportional to the square of antenna height. We call this Marconi’s Law. Brief Radio History Primarily uses Commercial (business use) Military (war) Naval Eventually gave way to entertainment and advertising. Entertainment on the Air Waves Initial radio programs were originally done live, and broadcast from an event, not a studio. A concert Opera Play (theater) Radio Popularity Rise in popularity after a few devastating events Popular Programing 1920’s Sponsored music program’s, big band performances, and classical music. Adventure, mystery, horror, romance, and dramas were all common place 1930’s and 1940’s Stand up comedy, soap operas, performance based adaptations (comics, book series etc) 1950’s Rock and roll, and the start of the Top 40 A different kind of war... In 1938 CBS aired the production of ‘War of the Worlds” by Orson Wells Orson Wells- War of the Worlds (1938)