Misunderstanding Media - Couverture rigide

Winston, Brian

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0674576632 ISBN 13 : 9780674576636

Editeur : Harvard University Press, 1986

Synopsis

Popular writing about the media resounds with rhetoric of techno-glory or apocalypse. Brian Winston argues that this “information revolution” is an illusion, a consequence of deep misunderstandings about electronic media, their development, diffusion, and present forms. Technology does not determine in an absolute way the course of human history; humans do. But we cannot hope to come to terms with the future impact of communications technologies without a clear understanding of our immediate technological past.

With lively and iconoclastic style, Winston explains the development and diffusion of four central technologies: telephones, television, computers, and satellites. On the basis of these historical accounts, he formulates a model of how communications technologies are introduced into society in such a way as to prevent their disruption of the status quo. He convincingly demonstrates that the radical potential of each new technology has been suppressed by its development for specific and narrowly defined applications. Powerful historical patterns emerge as Winston moves from one medium to the next in his compelling study. This provocative book demonstrates that technology in itself is not subversive: television cannot rot our brains or destroy our morals. But to the extent that we allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by an imaginary information revolution, we relinquish our control over what could be if not liberating, at least very useful forms of communication.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution. This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view. It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation. In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites. He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’. He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained. Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Harvard University Press
• Date d'édition: 1986
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0674576632
• ISBN 13: 9780674576636
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 424
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible