The Evolution of Media

The Evolution of Media article took us on a historical journey through the way the
media has evolved since as far back as 3000 BC. I found this to be very interesting and filled with a lot of information pertaining to communication and the way we know it today. We are at a time where communicating over the Internet through email, personal web pages, etc. all seem like something we have always had. I often take for granted the fact that I can easily communicate with others without having to put much effort into it. I can easily log on to my email and send out several emails in one shot to as many different people as needed. I can also make video recordings of myself to send to family members if we are apart. In the past there were many different steps that lead up to the point where people were finally able to make a simple phone call and hear each others voice on the other end rather than Morse code.This article clarifies just how many different people were inventing the media that exists today. We learned that in ancient China the use of paper was one way that people were able to get words onto something, as well as the use of papyrus which came from the plant, and parchment which was made of animal skin. Before that there was the etching of symbols into stone slabs, and later came the wood blocks that were used in a stamping process onto to paper to create messages. All of this seems like so much work, but it was all a necessary process to get us to the point now where we are able to communicate at a lesser cost as well as with less natural resources. Even now in my online courses I use a significantly less amount of paper than I used in my campus courses, and I am able to communicate more with many different classmates at different time rather than trying to get it all out in one class period. This article was enlightening and I look forward to learning more about the history of our media.