| Wayne State University College of Lifelong Learning Interdisciplinary Studies Program Fall, 2000 http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen/inetf00 |
Instructor: David R. Bowen 2311 A/AB Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 |
Daytime tel: (313) 577-1498 Evening tel: (248) 549-8518 FAX: (313) 577-8585 Email: d.r.bowen@wayne.edu |
Instructor's
home page (David R. Bowen) at http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen |
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| eCommerce: Using the Web to Find and Service
Customers AGS 3360 Section 986 Call Number 92073 or ISP 5500 Section 982 Call Number 92136 |
Computers, the Internet, and Society AGS 3340 Section 981 Call Number 96761 or ISP 5990 Section 982 Call Number 99915 |
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Last updated: 11/15/00
Link back to course Welcome...
Historical Forms of
Communication
and Their Significance
| Speech | Universal (even some animals can use rudimentary speech), except for cases of injury or mutation. Allowed complex and detailed meaning to be communicated. Afterwards, messages get distorted by the limitations of human memory. |
| Writing | Requires training or education and so when it first appeared was limited to relatively few people. Messages can persist accurately after the communicators have left. Beginning of history and formal education. |
| Printing | Writing available for everyone who can read. Books available at much lower costs. Many more people become authors. Primarily one-way communication. |
| Radio, Movies and Television | Generally, these do for speech and action what printing did for books; these become more widely available at lower cost. Primarily one-way communication. |
| Current Internet | Lowers cost of written communication even more than books, and is in addition (or can be) two-way. There is some cost in setting up a server, but that is decreasing, and in many cases is free. There is also some cost associated with the writing (a computer or similar device), but the cost of publishing is much less. Will destroy many publishing businesses that do not adapt and develop a viable business model. |
| Multimedia Internet (future) | Will do for radio, movies and television what the text-based Internet is doing to publishing. |