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Assignment Paper No.15
Name: Ravji Jalondhara
Roll No: 28
Enrollment No: 2069108420180024
Paper No.15
Topic: Early Mass Communication and Printing Technology.
Word: 1783
Batch: 2017-19
Email Id: ravjijalandhara@gmail.com
Submitted to: Department of English MKBU.
Introduction:
What is Mass Communication?
Mass Communication is a medium of dispersing information to a large number of people. The term is not limited to only journalism but spreads its branches to various other media fields including news gathering and reporting, film direction and production, event management, public relations, advertising, corporate communication, and the list continues.
In recent years, the field of mass media and communication has evolved into a partially interactive concept that touches almost every aspect of human life. And, with the sheer proliferation of media into our lives through newspaper, television, and internet the field of mass communication is gaining popularity like never before.
The course offers numerous career opportunities to candidates which are not only high paying but also bring in job satisfaction and expression of creativity.
EARLY MASS COMMUNICATION AND PRINTING TECHNOLOGY
We now understand that sending message to a large number of audience as mass communication It is pertinent to see in some details the organs of this kind of communication before studying a few intriguing areas like the elements and forms of communication.
Letters/ leaflets
A very primitive form of mass communication is found in centuries old approach to write letters which were in the common interest of general public. These letters were written from the court of kings and sent to nobles and notables whose number may not be very high by today’s standards but at a time when one could not address more than a few dozen people, communication to a relatively larger audience- that too at some distance and the same text, may be considered as early attempts to approach the masses through written words.
Books
From writing letters to very many people on one subject, the next move was to write books on matters of social life, philosophies, religion, health and scientific advancements. The hand-written books continued to rule the world for centuries by taking views of writers to hundreds and thousands of people across countries. For instance, the central church in ROME had employed hundreds of clerics for the purpose of writing copies of bible for taking the message of Christianity to its followers.
Almost the same had been the practice by other religions to convey their teachings to the masses by hand-written copies of the holy inscriptions. Many a museums in the world are proud to have some hand-written copies of religious or scientific works done centuries ago.
Printing
Major breakthrough in mass communication occurred when printing process was invented. The revolutionary invention makes an interesting study:
The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text. German goldsmith, Johann Gutenberg in the 1440s. Dutch Laurens Janszoon Coster has also been credited with this invention.
Development of the Printing Press
The original method of printing was block printing, pressing sheets of paper into individually carved wooden blocks. It is believed that block printing originated in China, and the earliest known printed text, the Diamond Sutra (a Buddhist scripture), was printed in China in 868 A.D.
The use of movable type in printing was invented in 1041 AD by Bi Sheng in China. Movable type did spur, however, additional scholarly pursuits in China and facilitated more creative modes of printing.
Nevertheless, movable type was never extensively used in China until the European style printing press was introduced. Although probably unaware of the Chinese, Gutenberg refined the technique with the first widespread use of movable type, where the characters are separate parts that are inserted to make the text. Gutenberg is also credited with the first use of an oil-based ink, and using "rag" paper introduced into Europe from China by way of Muslims, who had a paper mill in operation in Baghdad as early as 794.
Before inventing the printing press in 1440, Gutenberg had worked as a goldsmith. Without a doubt, the skills and knowledge of metals that he learned as a craftsman were crucial to the later invention of the press.
The claim that Gutenberg introduced or invented the printing press in Europe is not accepted by all. The other candidate advanced is the Dutchman Laurens Janszoon Coster.
Impact of printing
Before we proceed to learn about other organs of mass communication, we may give little more attention to the printing as it almost revolutionized the communication in centuries to follow this invention.
Previously, books were copied by scribes who wrote them out by hand. Books were therefore a scarce resource. While it might take someone a year to hand copy a Bible, with the Gutenberg press it was possible to create several hundred copies a year, with two or three people that could read, and a few people to support the effort. Each sheet still had to be fed manually, which limited the reproduction speed, and the type had to be set manually for each page, which limited the number of different pages created per day.
Despite some resistance, Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly across Europe. Within thirty years of its invention in 1453, towns from Hungary to Spain and from Italy to Britain had functional printing presses. It has been theorized that this incredibly rapid expansion shows not only a higher level of industry (fueled by the high-quality European paper mills that had been opening over the past century) than expected, but also a significantly higher level of literacy than has often been estimated.
The first printing press in a Muslim territory opened in Andalusia (Muslim Spain) in the 1480s. This printing press was run by a family of Jewish merchants who printed texts with the Hebrew script.
Effects of printing on culture
The discovery and establishment of the printing of books with moveable type marks a paradigm shift in the way information was transferred in Europe. The impact of printing is comparable to the development of language, the invention of the alphabet, and the invention of the computer as far as its effects on the society are concerned.
Gutenberg's findings not only allowed a much broader audience to read Martin Luther's German translation of Bible, it also helped spread Luther's other writings, greatly accelerating the pace of Protestant Reformation. They also led to the establishment of a community of scientists (previously scientists were mostly isolated) that could easily communicate their discoveries, bringing on the scientific revolution. Also, although early texts were printed in Latin, books were soon produced in common European vernacular, leading to the decline of the Latin language.
Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful. It was suddenly important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of composition was. The printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents and indices became common. The process of reading was also changed, gradually changing from oral readings to silent, private reading. This gradually raised the literacy level as well, revolutionizing education.
It can also be argued that printing changed the way Europeans thought. With the older illuminated manuscripts, the emphasis was on the images and the beauty of the page. Early printed works emphasized principally the text and the line of argument. In the sciences, the introduction of the printing press marked a move from the medieval language of metaphors to the adoption of the scientific method.
In general, knowledge came closer to the hands of the people, since printed books could be sold for a fraction of the cost of illuminated manuscripts. There were also more copies of each book available, so that more people could discuss them. Within 50-60 years, the entire of "classical" knowledge had been printed on the new presses.
The spread of works also led to the creation of copies by other parties than the original author, leading to the formulation of copyright laws. Furthermore, as the books spread into the hands of the people, Latin was gradually replaced by the national languages. This development was one of the keys to the creation of modern nations. Effects of printing press on masses have been much more and will be discussed more elaborately after few lectures.
Types of communication
Broadly speaking, whole human communication could be classified into two distinct parts.
• Intra personal communication
• Inter personal communication
Intra personal communication The part of communication in which self of a human being is involved only in the confined to one human entity. This means that all the elements which come into action in a given piece of communication are located within the self of an individual. A message originating from
source part of the brain travels through the channel of nerves to reach another location, however close it
may be to the point of origin of message, where it is interpreted and understood as receiver.
All the process of meditation, thinking, monologue and even dreaming while asleep are all but examples of
intra communication.
Inter personal communication
This part of communication belongs to involving two or more individuals for exchange of
information. Since this part is experienced more due to its vastness, it is further classified in many
categories.
Inter personal
The simplest form in which more than one individual communicate to each other
Group Communication
More often people are seen exchanging views with almost all the participants enjoying an equal
status on one count or the other. Like all the players of a hockey team, class-fellows, doctors, teachers,
bureaucrats, politicians, economists etc.
Organizational communication
In this part, communication usually takes place on vertical lines. For instance, a company director is
passing on instructions to managers who would be guiding accordingly to field officers and the relevant
other field staff. An army general may not be talking to lowest rank men in khaki but would follow the
chain of organizational command to deliver his message to the last rank people. Be it a corporate sector,
NGO, a political party, an educational institution, the communication process would strictly follow the
essentials of the organizational communication.
Mass Communication
In this category we refer to the communication originating from one source and meant for all
possible audience irrespective of distance, cast, creed, religion, nationality and beyond. The mass
communication involves use of technology for it is not possible to carry message to a very high number of
receivers with out the use of certain devices or techniques. All other types of communication may take place
when the source is coming across receivers without involving technology. That is why more research and
investment has gone into handling the mass communication.
https://www.shiksha.com/mass-communication-media-chp
http://www.zainbooks.com/books/mass-communication/introduction-to-mass-communication_2_early-mass-communication-and-printing-technology.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_communication
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