Com-120

Explain how the invention of the telegraph revolutionized communication and set in motion the development of the mass media.

Before the telegraph was invented, the way people communicated with each other was very different. The art of language was developed as a means for people to share their thoughts among themselves and future generations. Since the time that language was being developed, stories had to be passed on from the memories of one person to the next. This made it difficult to ensure the accuracy of a story and record information for others to learn from. In order to record information cultures began to develop writing. There were two types of writing created which were sign and phonetic writings. Sign writing used graphic symbols to represent objects, sounds and ideas. This was very popular among those in China and Egypt. Phonetic writing used symbols as a means to group words together to create sentences; this later became known as the Phoenician alphabet.

Many different materials were used to capture the writings such as clay tablets, papyrus paper and animal skins. The creation of scrolls and later books was the beginning of writings being shared with others. In the early centuries only those who had the ability to read and write which were normally the wealthy could benefit from this new means of communicating. Even with new advancements in communication it was a struggle for those who were not educated or had the means to receive the written materials.

Later in the 15th Century the printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. This invention used movable metal press to print on paper and in turn the mass production of printed material. This allowed the ability for those around the world to share books and maps while increasing literacy. As more copies were being published, the world came together to share ideas, stories and explorations with each other. Still the means for people to communicate with each...