"Superseded by television as the primary source of entertainment and information, radio still has a unique place in the mass media spectrum. At once powerfully pervasive and totally invisible, it's a fascinating subject for study. On Air adopts a wide-ranging theoretical and critical approachto prov
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ide an in-depth examination of radio's codes (speech, music, noise, and silence), the conventions of using these codes, and the dominant modes of reception. The text offers a vocabulary and methodology for analyzing radio programs, drawing on work by both media theorists and professionalbroadcasters in Britain, Australia, and North America. Written by an academic and a practitioner, On Air provides a critical overview of radio for media students, as well as suggestions for practical activities, a time-line of major events in the history of radio, and a glossary of key terms." (Publisher description)
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"The media industry in Tanzania has gone through four major phases. There were the German colonial media established to serve communication interests (and needs) of the German administration. By the same time, missionaries tried to fulfil their tasks by editing a number of papers. There were the med
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ia of the British administration established as propaganda tool to support the colonial regime, and later the nationalists’ media established to agitate for self-governance and respect for human rights. There was the post colonial phase where the then socialist regime of independent Tanzania sought to „Tanzanianize“ the media - the aim being to curb opposition and foster development of socialistic principles. There was the transition phase where both economic and political changes world-wide had necessitated change in the operation of the media industry. This is the phase when a private and independent press was established in Tanzania. Martin Sturmer goes through all these phases and comprehensively brings together what we have not had in Tanzania before: A researched work of the whole media history in Tanzania." (Preface)
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"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, sa
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tellite 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)
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"Die in diesem Band behandelten Medien - Schrift, Bild, Literatur, Bildende Künste, Telefon, Fernsehen, Radio, Computer, Makromedien - sind nach ihrer historischen und gegenwärtigen Bedeutung ausgewählt worden und repräsentieren zugleich eine historische Anthropologie. Sie erzählt von Standardi
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sierungen und Normierungen, die für alle drei Funktionen der Medien gilt, für Speichern, Übertragen und Berechnen. Damit wird technisch determiniert, was im Medienzeitalter sag-, denk- und wahrnehmbar ist." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"Ausführlichst behandelt werden die amerikanischen und frankobelgischen Klassiker, während die Entwicklung des amerikanischen Undergrounds, der nordeuropäischen Szene oder Japans nur oberflächlich nachgezeichnet sind [...] Als Nachschlagewerk kann das chronologisch gegliederte, reich illustriert
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e Buch durchaus wertvolle Dienste leisten." (Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 8./9.2.1997)
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