Media Literay Essay #1

Samantha Ekeroth

Media Literacy Class 1114

            Paved roads: media. The Gezer Calendar: media. Fireworks: media. All of those things plus so many more were the building blocks to the type of media and communication we are able to participate in today. It’s important to understand how things started to truly grasp the significance and value of them. In this essay I am going to tell you about what I have learned about the history of media, what I learned from our in class timeline, and then connect it to a specific example from today: the media used in The Superbowl.

            First of all I want to start with the history. When it comes to the history of media, my brain automatically jumped to the first pen, the telephone, the first home TV, and things like that. But as our class began delving into what we as individuals thought were important points in the history of media, it got a lot more interesting. Yes those items mentioned above were a big deal and had a large impact on people, but there are so many other things that can be considered contributions to media I had never even thought about. For instance the idea that paved roads are a part of media history really stumped me at first. In fact when I read it up on the projector I almost laughed thinking to myself how out of place that seemed. However once our class began a discussion about these paved roads it got my brain thinking deeper, and I realized that roads established the ability to communicate! Having a written language was and is important, but being about to connect, to network with other people is something that was vital and essential to the ever growing world of media. When viewing the timeline we had created as a class, I learned that people have different definitions of what media is. I added roaming pigeons and the calendar of Gezer, but one girl added the flush toilet and the hookah. Before this project and essentially this class, I viewed media as a lot more black and white. I thought media is how people communicated with other people. That is what media does, but it also has done so much more for us than give us a postal service and computers. Every small thing that allowed humans to better connect and communicate I think is important. Without those paved roads we may have not gotten as far as we have on the “modern” track that has brought us to where we are now.

            Now, I’d like to list some more of the things that were put on the timeline that I hadn’t thought about and learned a lot from: papyrus (the first paper), paved roads, smoke signals (in China), the first musical instrument, fireworks, the first golf ball, and the first world map. From examples like these I learned that all different kinds of media can be considered a contribution, even if it’s not completely accurate or workable. Like the world map created in modern day Iraq that didn’t actually reflect the world at all! In fact, they left out neighboring countries that they even knew because they didn’t like them. I learned that smoke signals on The Great Wall of China could be spread down the whole wall in only a few hours, which is pretty fast! Unfortunately the only message they could really send was, “Danger!” but I think it was a really good start. I also learned from our timeline that I didn’t completely agree with everything. Unfortunately one of the only things I didn’t understand was the flush toilet. I think that was a fantastic invention and one of my personal favorites, but I actually don’t think it is a “media” invention. By our class working together to make this timeline, we were able to see other people’s point of views, and share our own as well.

            Finally, I would like to connect all this history to something in our time, and that is the media in the Superbowl. What media in the Superbowl translates to me, are really cool commercials. Way back in the day, hundreds and also thousands of years ago people had wares to sell and trade. I’m not exactly sure how it went down, but I do know that they had to be persuasive or have the best offer to sell their items or animals, or to trade as well. The Superbowl commercials are just an advanced form of that! People and companies pay millions of dollars to get Superbowl airtime, and then make a commercial to appeal to as many people as possible. We sell things and communicate differently nowadays on a technical level, but the ideas and the end goal are the same. We still are trying to appeal to people in any way we can, even if it costs lots of money, to get their money in return. Technology is developing faster and faster as the years go on (as we saw from the timeline we made in class), but I think we will always be trying to appeal to people and essentially need to give to earn, spend money to make money. Its human nature to want to be successful and innovative and I think that reflects in our past, present, and future.

            History is fascinating, and learned about how media has developed from thousands of years ago to now is amazing as well. We as humans regardless of culture or time period have had something to add to the world in the way of media. Whether its gladiators entertaining in Rome, or the telegraph, humans are always striving for more. Learning about all this history has helped me to understand where we come from, and all the possibilities that lay ahead. I hope we continue thinking and making new ways to communicate with one another, and I can’t wait to see what the timeline looks like 50, 40, 30 years in the future. J