From Literate to Electronic Communication Essay

From Literate to Electronic Communication - Essay Example Lorimer, et al. (2012, p 39) explains that there exists interpersonal and mass media in activities of media as it tries to define various aspects of the society. Interpersonal media links the sender to the receiver of information while mass media de-links the two. Apart from thee two categories of media, there has emerged a third one; network media. Its uniqueness is that it combines the other two. It can create a geographical network for sharing information where everyone in the internet is both sender and receiver of information depending on the circumstance one is in. Examples of network media in use include teleconferencing, the World Wide Web and email. Networking media has brought into perspective the overlapping nature of the other two such that we can not precisely define the boundary between interpersonal and mass media. This is because even the interpersonal media such as telephone can be used to reach most people through broadcasting. Today, media has recreated itself and as such, is categorized based on mode of operations which include: the channel of communication such as print or electronic, the sense of experience of the media whether visual or aural, economic modality such as direct cost, indirect cost and pay per usage costs. The ever changing nature of media has led to considerations to categorize media material based on the institutions that produce and distribute them. Technology level involved in the production of the media is also used to classify them. Availability of information on the World Wide Web through the internet has met great criticism and opposition from authorities in the society such as parents as well as the government and organizational administrators. People access... From Literate to Electronic Communication Evolution of communication Lorimer, et al (2012 p 26) suggests that the evolution from literate to electronic communication can be dated back to the discovery of the printing press which ultimately changed the landscape as the society switched from the overreliance on monks for information to typed and stored literary materials. Ultimately, the authority of controlling writing and translation moved from the church to secular world leading to the development of secular society and knowledge as opposed to the previous existing religious knowledge. The battle the ensued between the church and the secular writers and this was the jump pad towards information independence. The ability to retrieve, through scanning, such written materials enabled people to do critical analysis of information and point out inconsistencies. This was not possible with the spoken word which was considered highly perishable and could not be stored. Writing provided a form of interpersonal media other than mass media as people could communicate personally and individually through written messages. Media has transformed to become the identity of reality since it is through the media that truth is passed to the targeted audience. As such, there is the ambiguous concept of ‘mediamaking’ where as the media defines the direction of the world, the world also shapes the media to become what it should people. Media passes information while the people receiving the information improve the media to serve them best.