Product Description

How are new media born? How do they change? And how do they change us? Media Technology and Society offers a comprehensive account of the history of communications technologies, from the printing press to the internet.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #450110 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-16
• Released on: 1998-04-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 392 pages

Review
"In this widely researched history of communication and information technologies, from the printing press to the Internet, Brian Winston argues that the development of new media forms, from the telegraph and the telephone to computers, satellites, and virtual reality, is the product of a constant play-off between social necessity and suppression: the unwritten law by which new technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is limited. Winston's monograph asks difficult questions: How are new media born? How do they change? Moreover, how do they change us? He concludes that the information Revolution is not revolutionary. Current technologies are merely elaborating a process of change begun much earlier, and historical study of these alterations offers many insights into the potential effects of today's latest developments."
-American Association for History and Computing Prize for the Best Book of 1998
"Winston's notes should not be missed; they contain historical nuggets and comment on the main text. A valuable history illuminated with a unique and insightful model applicable to other fields. Highly recommended as a replacement for the earlier volume."
-"Choice, 3/99
"With an impressive breadth of scholarship, the author makes an effective case...this book should provide a healthy counterweight to the hyperbole that currently surrounds talk and writing about the 'Information Age'."
-"American Studies

From the Publisher
"I loudly celebrate this important study and commend it unreservedly to all concerned with media, communications and the role of technologies in the world today" Frank Webster, University of Birmingham

From the Back Cover
Media Technology and Society offers a comprehensive account of the history of communications technologies, from the telegraph to the Internet.
Winston argues that the development of new media, from the telephone to computers, satellite, camcorders and CD-ROM, is the product of a constant play-off between social necessity and suppression: the unwritten 'law' by which new technologies are introduced into society.
Winston's fascinating account challenges the concept of a 'revolution' in communications technology by highlighting the long histories of such developments. The fax was introduced in 1847. The idea of television was patented in 1884. Digitalisation was demonstrated in 1938. Even the concept of the 'web' dates back to 1945. Winston examines why some prototypes are abandoned, why many 'inventions' are created simultaneously by innovators unaware of each other's existence, and shows how new industries develop around these inventions, providing media products for a mass audience.
Challenging t