Historical shifts in means of production

History’s form of production has developed through time dramatically, in steps from;
Writing
Printing (wood/engraving)
Moveable type (Gutenberg)
Lithography
Photography
Fax and photocopying
Computer
And then digital printing.

Change in the means of distribution and reception;
The first mechanically produced book was 1440.
Printing press (newspapers) 1605 in Germany.
Radio 1919.
Television was 1928 (USA) 1929 (UK).
Internet 1982 (although it’s said the dates of distribution have not yet been written).
Hand held mobile device (1979) Japan.
Smart phones came out in 1973 Blackberry etc – 2000.
Communication:
Early communication one to one or one to few was in the form of hand copied and controlled books, although speech being the main form of broader communication.
Then the arrival of book and printing press brings in one to many possibilities although it was still fairly limited at the time.
Modern communication (1920’s to today) heralds mass communication – newspapers, radio, television with ‘mass’ audiences, potentially in their millions. (2.5 billion people tuned in to watch funeral of Princess Diana 1997. ‘Metro’) an example of how broadly something can be witnessed through communication and the media.
Internet heralds era of many to many!.
Affordable smart phones, digital cameras, laptops, digital video mean access to many more. Most will all have access to these. Also changing the way that communication is carried out – who are the producers and distributors of the media now?

All these things are changing the way we communicate. The access to technologies has changed considerably in the last 30 years with things that used to be restricted now available to all. Our ability to communicate is endless in the terms of youtube: videos, blogging, pictures: our own designs. It questions is there an end to the possibilities?