UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
UIOWA Media & Society Final Review
1. technological determinism: a theory that is an answer to the question aboutwhat shapes
society
assumes that a society's technology determines the development of its socialstructure and
cultural values
tries to understand how technology has had an impact on human action and thought
2. utopia: the belief that technology solves social problems and sees technology asthe root of
human progress
3. dystopia: the belief that technology will create social problems and focuses onvulnerable
populations
4. the definition of media: institutionally based and technologically-supportedforms of
organizing communication, culture, information, and data
technology: infrastructure and interface
institutions:
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,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
1. commercial (process human communication for commercial ends)
2. regulatory (shape the rules under which media organization operate)
5. mass communication vs. point-to-point: MC: communication to a large audi-ence that is
transmitted by media
content media
ex: radio broadcasting
point-to-point: one-to-one communication with specific people rather than a massaudience
conduit media
ex: radiotelegraphy
6. timeline (emergence of telegraphy, telephony, radio, television and the com-mercial
Internet): telegraphy (1844):
point-to-point communication through airways; mainly used by shipping lines andnavies to
communicate in morse code (subscription-based)
telephony (1876):
allows voice and/or active communication between two-points; telephone industriesmarketed to
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,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
individuals for practicality
radio broadcasting (~1901):
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,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
combination of interface and infrastructure (sets, towers, and hard-wired cable connecting
networks and local TV stations); locally or nationally produced for massaudiences (advertiser
based)
television (1927):
content media that delivered local news, various forms of entertainment, etc.
7. new technologies are never so new as we think: 1. technologies always haveprecursors:
when radio broadcasting was introduced in the 1920s, it was in some ways a revolutionary
technology; however, the railroad was the first mass mediumfor the live "broadcast" of the
human voice
2. inferiority:the telegraph, for example, was instantaneous when it worked, but whenit didn't it
was not efficient
3. slow diffusion: priority of economy over technology; millions of dollars and yearsgo into the
development for new media technologies to be invented, refined, and introduced in society
w/out clear evidence that the particular technology is likely tofulfill an existing need
4 of 55 9/10/2024, 8:31
UIOWA Media & Society Final Review
1. technological determinism: a theory that is an answer to the question aboutwhat shapes
society
assumes that a society's technology determines the development of its socialstructure and
cultural values
tries to understand how technology has had an impact on human action and thought
2. utopia: the belief that technology solves social problems and sees technology asthe root of
human progress
3. dystopia: the belief that technology will create social problems and focuses onvulnerable
populations
4. the definition of media: institutionally based and technologically-supportedforms of
organizing communication, culture, information, and data
technology: infrastructure and interface
institutions:
1 of 55 9/10/2024, 8:31
,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
1. commercial (process human communication for commercial ends)
2. regulatory (shape the rules under which media organization operate)
5. mass communication vs. point-to-point: MC: communication to a large audi-ence that is
transmitted by media
content media
ex: radio broadcasting
point-to-point: one-to-one communication with specific people rather than a massaudience
conduit media
ex: radiotelegraphy
6. timeline (emergence of telegraphy, telephony, radio, television and the com-mercial
Internet): telegraphy (1844):
point-to-point communication through airways; mainly used by shipping lines andnavies to
communicate in morse code (subscription-based)
telephony (1876):
allows voice and/or active communication between two-points; telephone industriesmarketed to
2 of 55 9/10/2024, 8:31
,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
individuals for practicality
radio broadcasting (~1901):
3 of 55 9/10/2024, 8:31
,UIOWA Media & Society Final Review.pdf file:///C:/Users/HP/Desktop/New%20fo/UIOWA%20Media%20&%20
combination of interface and infrastructure (sets, towers, and hard-wired cable connecting
networks and local TV stations); locally or nationally produced for massaudiences (advertiser
based)
television (1927):
content media that delivered local news, various forms of entertainment, etc.
7. new technologies are never so new as we think: 1. technologies always haveprecursors:
when radio broadcasting was introduced in the 1920s, it was in some ways a revolutionary
technology; however, the railroad was the first mass mediumfor the live "broadcast" of the
human voice
2. inferiority:the telegraph, for example, was instantaneous when it worked, but whenit didn't it
was not efficient
3. slow diffusion: priority of economy over technology; millions of dollars and yearsgo into the
development for new media technologies to be invented, refined, and introduced in society
w/out clear evidence that the particular technology is likely tofulfill an existing need
4 of 55 9/10/2024, 8:31
