Midterm Review

What happens when facts are easily accessible?

People tend to forget them, but remember where to find them.

What is the debate around outsourcing memory to digital tech?

• Bad (Nicholas Carr): Shortens attention span; less effective than recalling info from memory.

• Good: Digital memory is shared memory—human memory has always been socially distributed.

Define “Dialogue.”

Two-way, personal, live communication—exclusive, mutual, and tailored for the individual.

Define “Dissemination.”

One-way, broad communication—public, inclusive, moves across time/space, like writing or media.

What is the key idea in Plato’s Phaedrus about writing?

Writing = dissemination; it controls the reader and lacks interactivity.

What is the “Backfire Effect”?

Trying to argue online often strengthens opposing beliefs.

What is “The Parable of the Sower” in this context?

A metaphor for spreading ideas—some take root, others don’t.

What are pictograms, ideograms, and alphabets?

• Pictograms: Resemble objects.

• Ideograms: Represent ideas.

• Alphabets: Represent sounds (phonemes).

What was the impact of papyrus in Egypt?

Democratized religion, expanded literacy, formalized medicine, shifted power.

What’s the difference between time-biased and space-biased media?

• Time-biased: Durable (stone, oral tradition).

• Space-biased: Light, mobile (paper, print).

What were effects of the Greek alphabet?

Democratized literacy, eliminated scribe class, encouraged abstract thought, enabled recording of oral literature.

What media interpretation arises from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?

Our understanding of the world is shaped by media.

How can reading experiences differ?

By technology (handwritten, printed, digital), intention (study, skim), and sense (sight, touch, sound).

Define the three ways of seeing “reading.”

Readers decode text (text in charge).
Readers co-create meaning.
Reading includes varied sensory forms (Braille, audio).

What was life like before print?

Local, oral, memory-based, little recorded knowledge or travel.

What was “An Absolute Monarchy Tempered by Songs”?

Pre-revolution France—public critique spread via songs and gossip.

What was the significance of Gutenberg’s press?

Enabled rapid spread of ideas, democratized the Bible, standardized language, undermined Church control.

What is the Doctrine of Supersession?

The belief that new media replaces old ones completely.

What was the Stationer’s Company?

Founded 1557, it controlled publishing rights in England.

What was Acta Diurna?

Public Roman notices carved on stone—early newspaper.

How did Julius Caesar use communication?

Publicized Acta Diurna, created postal system, used coins for propaganda.

What were pamphlets and corantos?

• Pamphlets (1600s): Small, dramatic publications.

• Corantos: Early Dutch newspapers, precursors to modern dailies.

What did the Penny Press (1830s) introduce?

Cheap, accessible newspapers funded by ads—news for the masses.

What was Yellow Journalism?

Sensationalized, unverified news (Pulitzer vs. Hearst).

What was Muckraking?

Reform journalism exposing corruption in the Gilded Age.

What was the outcome of the Pentagon Papers (1971)?

Supreme Court ruled for press freedom; revealed government deception.

What was Watergate’s impact?

Press became adversarial; Nixon resigned; trust in government fell.

Define “Boosterism.”

News organizations promoting local pride while overlooking flaws.

What is a Camera Obscura?

“Dark room” projecting inverted images through a small hole.

What is a Daguerreotype?

Early photographic method using light-sensitive plates (1839).

Who took the first selfie?

Robert Cornelius, 1839.

What role did photography play in the Civil War?

Pioneered photojournalism and public documentation.

What did Ladies’ Home Journal represent?

Mass-circulation magazine culture—consumerism, class mobility, and gender tensions (New Woman vs. True Womanhood).