Electrinic and Digital Media Paper Essay

Historically the role of media in our society was one of delivering news and information for the sake of knowledge. According to Vivian, the news media served as the major watch dog in the gathering and sharing of information across the world. Traditions of a culture, such as China, have long been created an opportunity for free creative and artistic expression as a means of media exposure in countries where there is great government regulation. Now in a more contemporary role, media has become so integrated in people’s lives that many are swimming in a mass media ocean of communication. Media multitasking has become such of a normal routine for most people, that without media their lives would be empty (Vivian 2011). Over the years mass media has advanced in so many areas, becoming the technological assisted transmission of messages to mass audiences (Vivian 2011) of photography, sound, and transmission. Technology has been the foundation of mass communication in the media industry for years. If not for the invention of the printing press, books and newspapers may have never been published. Mass media has become almost solely dependent on the technology of today. Technological development of the Internet offers the potential, if appropriately utilized, to be an enabler of a more sustainable future (Ahmed 1999). Mass communication has evolved through the years with the emergence of various technologies such as printing, chemical, digital, and electronics. These technologies have contributed to media growth far beyond what anyone could believe early in the history of Mass communications. Particularly with the emergence of Chemical and Electronic technologies movies became popular and the radio and television mediums sky rocketed in popularity. Photography early on helped to increase the power of the printed word by bringing words to life by leading the charge in producing pictures in books, newspapers and magazines. The recording industry has evolved from the phonograph to the iPod allowing for radio to be everywhere and communication being transferred through airwaves for audiences which printed sources could not reach. Much of the technologies from above have become more of a necessity rather than a luxury by which only a few persons can benefit. With the invention of the printing press the newspaper industry has been able to mass produce a product from an initial template of an idea. Cameras and projectors have moved past capturing a moment into creating a moment vision, by understanding the eye retains a vision of a period of time, and if multiple photos could be taken, linked together, and flipped quickly, the human eye could be tricked into visualizing motion of an object. Creating a continuous motion, which later became known as â€Å"Film† and now digital photos. With the development of digital technology there has been great efficiency brought to various aspects of many people’s lifestyles. (Vivian 2011). Bell Labs lead the way in revolutionizing a new media avenue known as â€Å"The Net†. The internet in the early 1990’s was vastly evolving into the next means of mass communication. Bell Labs was in the forefront of the digital age by walking us into a media convergence. Where bits of data, we commonly refer to as messages, could be transmitted over the internet in large capacity at a certain rate of speed and reassemble as readable text upon reception at its destination. Now in 2012 because of the efforts of Bell Labs the digital age has advanced throughout time to where we once dialed a phone number from memory, we now speak a name and our phones dial for us. Smartphone devices have opened up a new world where everything is truly at your finger tips. Where Companies once relied on Trucks and warehouse for logistical need for distributing their products, they now have cut cost by utilizing the internet. Products such as books, magazines, and newspapers, printed media, have bought in to the immediate delivery of their brands in a matter of minutes versus days or weeks even. In the last 20 years all of the new trends and developments within the electronic and digital media industry the role of mass media has changed but yet still remains the same in its function. Persons, who once in casual conversation referred to their business as the newspaper business, now have restricted their verbiage and now work in the news business. References CREATIONISM — Study & teaching; MASS media; GREAT Britain; ROYAL Society (Great Britain); RELIGION & science; REISS, Michael Ahmed, Pervaiz K.; Hardaker, Glenn. Business Strategy & the Environment (John Wiley & Sons, Inc). Jan1999, Vol. 8 Issue 1, p75-81. 7p Vivian, J. (2011). The media of mass communication (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.