Media History oral Presentation

}What is history -“History is the witness that testifies to the passing of times; it illuminates reality … provides guidance in daily life, and brings us tidings of antiquity.” (Cicero, 106-43 BCE)}}What is Media? Media is a means of communication.  Types of media history, cultural determinism,  technological determinism and re-evaluations of media history. Media Histories has rival stands such as structure vs agency, technology vs society and history itself is progress from one medium to the next 

Through my research and Interview I conducted I found out a lot about the media history through my interviewee. And their own past media history As I interviewed a man named Alan Dunn who is my granddad aged 69. it helped me to understand the history from the past 50/60 years and the dramatic changes that have happened in the Media. I began the interview by asking him questions on the topics of television, radio, newspapers and general questions about his personal take on the Medias history. The answers he gave helped me to relate to the different types of Media history, Cultural determinism, technological determinism and re-evaluations of Media history. 

Media Histories has rival stands such as structure vs agency, technology vs society and history itself is progress from one medium to the next. With my interview these topics show through out and show a good understanding. Some questions I asked were: Did you read a lot? Did go to the cinema – and how often? What kind of films do you remember?  What was the spread of T.V years ago? Was radio the most popular audio medium and if so did you use to listen to the radio?  What were the popular T.V. programmes? What newspapers did you read? Etc.

From what I conducted I saw the Linear approach as its shows the different types of media history through time.

As for certain questions my interviewee gave me specific dates.  For example when I asked the question Can you remember a great change in media if so what? And was it a shock? He began to speak about the war being talked about on the radio after 1945 as it ended  and how live pictures and live news was now being shown on television. He said this was a big shock to him as he did not expect tv to change so dramatically and it helped them to know what was going on instead of just listening to the radio.

I then asked him about the cinema and how often he went. He mentioned an old cinema called ABC which does not exist anymore and that he would attend once a week as the cinema was very cheap back then compared to now around a shilling to watch any film.  This shows a dramatic change in revolution due to expense. I began to ask him about films and which ones he could remember. He mentioned the actor Carrie Grant and how he loved films with him in it. He talked about the film 39 steps and explained how different it was to films every decade and that film was getting better and better which relates to the idea of long revolution  I then asked more about tv and what it was like.

He mentioned the date 1957 when he remembers having a small wooden box type tv with only 1 or two channels such as the bbc. He also explained that over the years new tvs were coming out and the technology was gradually getting bigger. This explains the zig zag theory that old technologies and new technologies exist side by side or compete with each other and that new developments always link to pre-existing social formations and scientific ideas was said by Brian Winston.  I then asked what Was radio the most popular audio medium and if so did you use to listen to radio? He said that radio was the biggest thing in Media for years and that everybody would have had one. He said it was the way of him listening to news and it was his entertainment at the time as he did not have tv nor did many people just wireless radio transmitters.

He mentioned a radio programme called workers playtime due to WW11. He also remembered how Arther askey was always on the radio.   Then I started on the topic of culture and society and asked Do you think that media technology changes society and culture?  He started talking about when people would communicate through writing letters as a way of contact and how it stopped due to other technology coming about such as new ways of communication through telephones and then eventually the internet.  This changed society dramatically as people were acting different due to media changes.  This shows that culture determins history.

This shows the modelling change by Winston. As it transfers ideas to performance.  I then asked him did he think that Media was always changing or if their had been a break in history? He answered that media technology would get better and change more every decade. Which links in to long revolution as it is a part of an on going process (briggs) When I asked about telephones he talked about alexander Grayem Bell and mentioned when he was young he though the telephone was one of the best inventions in the media as you could talk to people anywhere

He said he didn’t get a telephone straight away and hardly anybody had phones either until after world war 11 and talked about how each phone was getting better and better through new technology and how great it it is now. This shows simple linear in telephone progress as it offers something new. The telephone lost its social impact over the years. I asked about magazines and he said they were hardly in colour but still good to read.