Media, technology, and society : : theories of media evolution / / W. Russell Neuman, editor.

• Author: W. Russell Neuman, Editor
• TeilnehmendeR: Neuman, W. Russell
• Place / Publishing House: Ann Arbor, Michigan : : University of Michigan Press,, [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (231 pages) :; digital, PDF file(s).
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

In Media, Technology, and Society, some of the most prominent figures in media studies explore the issue of media evolution. Focusing on a variety of compelling examples in media history, ranging from the telephone to the television, the radio to the Internet, these essays collectively address a series of notoriously vexing questions about the nature of technological change. Is it possible to make general claims about the conditions that enable or inhibit innovation? Does government regulation tend to protect or thwart incumbent interests? What kinds of concepts are needed to address the relationship between technology and society in a nonreductive and nondeterministic manner? To what extent can media history help us to understand and to influence the future of media in constructive ways? The contributors' historically grounded responses to these questions will be relevant to numerous fields, including history, media and communication studies, management, sociology, and information studies.

Table of Contents

Theories of media evolution / W. Russell Neuman -- Newspaper culture and technical innovation, 1980-2005 / Pablo J. Boczkowski -- From the telegraph and telephone to the Negroponte switch / Rich Ling -- Hollywood 2.0 : how Internet distribution will affect the film industry / Eli Noam -- The evolution of radio / John Carey -- Inventing television : citizen Sarnoff and one Philo T. Farnsworth / Evan I. Schwartz -- The cable fables : the innovative imperative of excess capacity / Harmeet Sawhney -- Some say the Internet should never have happened / Paul N. Edwards -- Privacy and security policy in the digital age / Amitai Etzioni -- Who controls content? the future of digital rights management / Gigi Sohn and Timothy Schneider.