Four Types of Media
Technology Past and Present
Media
technology has changed so much just in two decades. Newspapers, television, and
radio were the dominant ways to get the news that we crave so much. Times have
changed and keep changing with the use
of social media, cable TV, smart televisions, and smart phones, that getting
the news and reading magazines is right at our finger tips at all times of the
day.
Print is a type of media technology that is
used for books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters and
dates back to the 15th century (Ludwig, 2013). With all the new technology out there today
the print form of media is on the decline. There are still many Americans that
do still read a newspaper every day or a news magazine on a regular basis. It
has been shown that regular readers of print types of media tend to be more
politically active. When a copy of a newspaper in print was sold, the newspaper
publishers did not know if ten people or ten thousand read the work in there
(Miller, 2015). Print is simply the written word, including digital words like
the ones you are reading right now. This includes still photography and some
art. The top American newspapers are New York Times, The Washington Post, and
the Los Angeles Times. These newspapers
helped in setting the bar for many other media sources that are now out there. 
The
telegraph was a media technology from long ago and was invented by Samuel F. B.
Morse with his famous message “What hath God Wrought?” and went from Washington
to Baltimore on May 24, 1844 using a coded message over a wire. The idea here
was to send messages with the use of electricity to communicate over distances.
This idea occurred to Morse during a conversation aboard a ship he was having
when he was returning from Europe in 1832 (Library of Congress, 2015). A Yale
student years before, he found he enjoyed the lectures there on electricity but
trying to develop his idea he still did not have the understanding he needed
and reached out to a colleague by the name of Leonard D. Gale. Gales help and
knowledge proved crucial to Morse’s telegraph system because he showed Morse
how he could regularly boost the strength of a signal and overcome the distance
problems he had encountered. By 1843 Morse asked Congress for $30,000 that
would allow him to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, forty
miles away. It was eventually approved
and Morse received the cash he needed so he could began to carry out plans for
an underground telegraph line. It took
much planning and hiring of just the right people. After purchasing some bad
wiring and insulation that went in underground too much time had wasted and he
decided to put the wires overhead. Soon overhead wires connected cities up and
down the Atlantic coast. The dots and dashed that recorded messages on a long
moving strip of paper was replaced by the operators ability to interpret the
code that were sent in real time and eventually the codes were able to be
transcribed into English letters as one could hear it. These telegraph lines
soon would extend westward and Morse lived long enough to watch them as they
connected the continents of Europe and America (Library of Congress, 2015).
The
evolution of the internet, another great form of media technology today is
formed by the global interconnection of hundreds of thousands computers. The communications
entities and information systems all working together that is made possible by
a set of communication standards, procedures, and formats in common among the
networks and the various devices and computational facilities connected to them
(Kahn & Cerf, 1999). A simple definition of the internet would be a
collection of networks and computers. Computer resources by using the internet
allow people to generate,
exchange, share, and manipulate information globally
in an uncountable number of ways and is only getting better (Kahn & Cerf,
1999). The internet is taking over our
news media today because more and more Americans are relying on online sources
of news instead of the traditional newspaper and magazine. Most Americans will
sit and surf media outlets such as NBC and CNN since it is much easier than
stopping and buying a newspaper or even walking out the mailbox. Some find it
easier than turning on the television and more readily available while they
work. Websites can provide text, audio, and video information on just about any
subject you want to learn about. The
traditional media ways are all transmitted this way. The web also allows people
to have a more interactive experience per their liking. It allows people to
personally tailor the news they receive by personalized web portals,
newsgroups, podcasts, and RSS feeds. The federal government played a large role
in helping to create the Internet.
Social
Media is the latest and greatest of the media technology that is out there right
now and getting better all the time. Social media technologies are transforming
how we as individuals and businesses communicate and promote their brands. Not
only is social media used for communicating, organizing information, along with
affiliating with people and other businesses, they are fundamentally free of
charge. Social Media is available to anyone with a computer, smart phone or
just plain internet access (Rosendale, 2015). This includes websites, blogs, and
forums. By utilizing popular social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Google plus, Yelp, and Pinterest, organization are able to interact,
and communicate directly with consumers and other stakeholders. Companies using
social media can also stay ahead of industry trends while launching and testing
new product ideas. Companies using social media can also take criticisms and
complaints at the same time. Businesses use social media for marketing
strategies and to give themselves a brand out there. Businesses should also use
social media for via online media which should be an integral focal point in
all facets of a company’s strategic vision and long-term plan (Qualman, 2013).
As
we develop more and more different types of media technology, one day we will
be able to almost measure everything from who reads what, what organization
that person read it from and more. We have more data than ever and it will
never be easy to figure it all out but I am sure with all the new ways media
technology is forming we will keep trying and get better at it with every
passing day.
References
Kahn, R., &
Cerf, V. (1999). What is the Internet (And What Makes It Work). Retrieved from
Library of
Congress. (n.d.). Invention of the Telegraph. Samuel F. b. Morse Papers at the
Library
of congress, 1793-1919. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/collections/samuel-morse-paper/articles-and-essays/invention-of-the-telegraph/
Ludwig, J. (2013).
Programmer Joe. 7 Kinds of Media? Retrieved from
Miller, R. (2015).
Journalism: Best of time, Worst of times. Econtent,
38(6), 17.
Rosendale, J. A.
(2015). New Communication Technologies in Organization Communications
and Branding: The Integral Role Social Media Now Play.
Florida Communication Journal, 43(2),
49-59.
Qualman, E.
(2013). Socialnomics: How social media
transforms the way we live and do
business. Hoboken, NJ: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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