Revolutions in Communication: Media History from Gutenberg to the Digital Age

Description

Revolutions in Communication offers a new approach to media history, presenting an encyclopedic look at the way technological change has linked social and ideological communities. Using key figures in history to benchmark the chronology of technical innovation, Kovarik's exhaustive scholarship narrates the story of revolutions in printing, electronic communication and digital information, while drawing parallels between the past and present. Updated to reflect new research that has surfaced these past few years, Revolutions in Communication continues to provide students and teachers with the most readable history of communications, while including enough international perspective to get the most accurate sense of the field. The supplemental reading materials on the companion website include slideshows, podcasts and video demonstration plans in order to facilitate further reading. www.revolutionsincommunication.com

Bill Kovarik is a Professor of Communication at Radford University, USA. He first learned to set "hot" type on a Linotype machine in 1970 and has observed major changes in the mass media while working with the Associated Press, Charleston Post, Baltimore Sun and other publications in the USA. He is the author of five other books about environment and mass media, including Mass Media and Environmental Conflict.

A stunning work of research, it conveys intellectual excitement and stimulates creative thinking about the social construction of communication. * Maurine H. Beasley, Professor Emerita of Journalism, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland College Park, USA * I could almost imagine myself standing next to William Caxton as the newly inked printed pages of the Canterbury Tales began to accumulate on the table next to his printing machine. Bill Kovarik's latest work on the history of the media has brought together under one academic roof the role of technology and how it has shaped our way of life and our world. He deserves full credit for the way his words take on both colour and a sense of adventure. This work belongs on the book shelves of any university or college program in which the study of technology and its companion media has a central focus. Let it be said that Kovarik's readers will never suffer a dull moment in this beautifully tailored work as he walks through some of the most important history of the age from the iPad to the cell phone to the Internet. * David R. Spencer, Professor of Information and Media Studies, University of Western Ontario, Canada * Kovarik has the most complete understanding of media technology among journalism historians working today. It is a very interesting and useful work. * Mark Neuzil, Professor of Communication and Journalism, University of St. Thomas * As an historian of both technology and the media, Bill Kovarik has made a unique contribution to our understanding of communication history. He explains how the print, visual, electronic, and digital technological revolutions have shaped communication. Equally important, he shows that that new technologies have been invented to overcome the limitations of existing media. This is fascinating reading, both for communication scholars and historians. * James E. Grunig, Professor Emeritus of Communication, University of Maryland, USA * A clear benefit of the second edition Revolutions in Communication is its focus on recent technological revolutions in media. As I tell my undergraduate media history students on the first day, the one constant in professional journalism and related fields is technological change. Seeing how people in the past have dealt with change, as outlined in Kovarik's book, offers a way of keeping history relevant while grappling with shifts in media technologies. * Jane Marcellus, Professor of Journalism, Middle Tennessee State University, USA * A solid and very accessible textbook. The first edition of Revolutions in Communication does an excellent job in introducing a wide range of topics, and while the second edition maintains that, it further introduces a level of international orientation that is extremely important and welcome. * Glenn Ruhl, Professor in Communication Studies, Mount Royal University, Canada * This text offers a very good and useful survey of communications systems and developments that underpins the importance of understanding the historical context. * Sheryl Wilson, University of the West of England, UK *