Media, Technology and Society: A History. From the Telegraph to the Internet
London; New York: Routledge (1998), 389 pp.
Contains bibliogr. pp. 351-360, index
ISBN 9780203024379 (ebook); 9780415142304 (pbk)
"Challenging the popular myth of a present-day 'information revolution', Media Technology and Society is essential reading for anyone interested in the social impact of technological change. Winston argues that the development of new media forms, from the telegraph and the telephone to computers, satellite and virtual reality, is the product of a constant play-off between social necessity and suppression: the unwritten law by which new technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is limited." (Publisher description)
Introduction: A storm from paradise-technological innovation, diffusion and suppression, 1
I. PROPAGATING SOUND AT CONSIDERABLE DISTANCES
1 The telegraph, 19
2 Before the speaking telephone, 30
3 The capture of sound, 51
II. THE VITAL SPARK AND FUGITIVE PICTURES
4 Wireless and radio, 67
5 Mechanically scanned television, 88
6 Electronically scanned television, 100
7 Television spin-offs and redundancies, 126
III. INVENTIONS FOR CASTING UP SUMS VERY PRETTY
8 Mechanising calculation, 147
9 The first computers, 166
10 Suppressing the main frames, 189
11 The integrated circuit, 206
12 The coming of the microcomputer, 227
IV. THE INTRICATE WEB OF TRAILS, THIS GRAND SYSTEM
13 The beginnings of networks, 243
14 Networks and recording technologies, 261
15 Communications satellites, 276
16 The satellite era, 295
17 Cable television, 305
18 The Internet, 321
Conclusion: The pile of debris-from the Boulevard des Capucins to the Leningradsky Prospect, 337
I. PROPAGATING SOUND AT CONSIDERABLE DISTANCES
1 The telegraph, 19
2 Before the speaking telephone, 30
3 The capture of sound, 51
II. THE VITAL SPARK AND FUGITIVE PICTURES
4 Wireless and radio, 67
5 Mechanically scanned television, 88
6 Electronically scanned television, 100
7 Television spin-offs and redundancies, 126
III. INVENTIONS FOR CASTING UP SUMS VERY PRETTY
8 Mechanising calculation, 147
9 The first computers, 166
10 Suppressing the main frames, 189
11 The integrated circuit, 206
12 The coming of the microcomputer, 227
IV. THE INTRICATE WEB OF TRAILS, THIS GRAND SYSTEM
13 The beginnings of networks, 243
14 Networks and recording technologies, 261
15 Communications satellites, 276
16 The satellite era, 295
17 Cable television, 305
18 The Internet, 321
Conclusion: The pile of debris-from the Boulevard des Capucins to the Leningradsky Prospect, 337
