Introduction to Media: Timeline Activity

1. First of all, before logging onto any websites take a guess at how old you think the media is.

I think that the media had been around as long as humans have. Even before technology such as computers and radios, people could have used very basic ways to present media such as using their own voice.

2. When was the ‘Diamond Sutra’ printed?

11 May AD 868

 

 

Although it isn’t the earliest printed book we have found, the Diamond Sutra is the oldest to have a date on it. It is written in Chinese and is one of the most sacred texts of the Buddhist faith. Towards the end of the scroll, Subhuti (an elderly disciple) asks the Buddha what the sutra should be called. In which his reply is, ‘The Diamond of Transcendent Wisdom’ because its teaching will cut like a diamond blade through worldly illusion to illuminate what is real and everlasting.

 

3. Who mastered the printing technique of ‘casting and setting’? When?

Ayman Omar who lived in the years of (1596-1661)

4. When did William Caxton patent his printing press?

William Caxton (1415~1422-March 1492) was born in Kent. He was a merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. Caxton was the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England.

5. What was the name of the first text he published and when was it published?

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye

1473


6. What was the first text printed in English and when?

7. When was the first English newspaper published?

2nd December 1620

 

 

‘Namloos’ was an English language newspaper that was published in Amsterdam

 

8. When was the first folio of Shakespeare’s plays published?

 

1623

 

 

The ‘First Folio’ was the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. It had 900 pages and 36 plays. It was called ‘Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories & Tragedies’.

The editors of the folio were William’s colleagues, John Hemminge and Henry Condell, and it was printed and published by William Jaggard and his son Isaac with Ed. Blount.

There were only about 500 copies made which were sold for £1 each. Approximately 238 known copies exist today, a third are in the Shakespeare Folger Library in Washington.

 

9. When was the BBC established?

 

18th October 1922

 

 

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was found in 1922 and made a publicly funded corporation 5 years later.

It was founded by a group of telecommunications companies and is now the largest broadcasting company in the world.

 

10. When was the first tabloid newspaper established and what was the name of the paper?

 

1903

Daily Mirror

 

 

Alfred Hamsworth developed the Daily Mirror in London. Not only was it the first tabloid newspaper, but it also started the notion of ‘exclusive’ interviews. The first interview was in 1905 with Lord Minto, the new Viceroy of India.

 

11. When was the first typewriter invented and by whom?

12. Who invented the modern computer and when?

Konrad Zuse

1941

 

 

Konrad Zuse started off as a construction engineer for the Henschel Aircraft Company in Berlin. He made a series of calculators to help with engineering calculations. The Z3 was made in 1941 and had almost all the features you’d find in a modern computer.

 

13. Who invented the first camera and when?

Alhazen (Ibn Al-Haytham)

Around 1000 on the Gregorian calendar

 

 

Alhazen invented the pinhole camera and explained why the photo is upside down. However Della Porta reinvented it around 1600. People incorrectly credit him with the invention of the pinhole camera when actually he was the first European to publish any information on it.

14. When was the first gramophone invented?

1187

 

 

The first gramophone was patented by Emile Berliner.

 

15. Which company launched the first CD player and when?

Sony

 

1st October 1982

 

 

When Sony released the first CD player, CDD-101, it was on the market at a retail price of $900.

 

16. When was the first VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) invented?

 

1971

 

17. When was the DVD invented?

18. What was the first film with sound and when was it filmed?

The Jazz Singer

 

October 1927

 

 

The first known projected sound films happened in 1900, but sound couldn’t be synchronized reliably.

Sound films that had synchronized dialogue were known as ‘talking pictures’ or ‘talkies’. The Jazz Singer was the first full feature length movie originally presented as a sound film.

19. When was the first commercial radio station?

20. What was the first advertisement on commercial television and when was it shown?

Bulova Watch Company

 

14:29 1st July 1941

 

 

Bulova Watch Company paid $9 to have a 20 second slot aired before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies. The advert was a Bulova watch over a map of the United States with a voice over of the company’s slogan ‘America runs on Bulova time’

 

21. When was breakfast television launched?

 

1950

 

 

The first breakfast television show was a local one in Philadelphia called ‘Three To Get Ready’ (named that because it was on channel 3). Because it was so successful it encouraged NBC to do something similar but on a national basis.

When NBC launched the world’ first network television breakfast programme ‘Today’ on 14th January 1952, it sparked channels all over the world to start doing there own breakfast television shows.

Breakfast television is a live news and entertainment programme usually around 6.00am and 10.00am.

 

22. Do you know wish to adjust your answer to question 1?

 

No, but I have learnt a lot and didn’t realised how long some of the forms of media had been around.