WEEK ONE LECTURE 03
Canadian Communication Theory
Or The History of Communications
Harold Innis was a political economist and geographer.
He studied various aspects of Canadian commerce and industry (e g., fisheries, fur trade and railways).
During the last decade of his life his extensive analysis of forms of communication produced two major works "Empire and Communications" (1950) and "The Bias of Communication" (1951).
THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES
His focus was on power and how it is exercised through control of areas of space and period of time
He saw communications technology as the key to this political and economic process, for such technology determines the social co-ordinates of space and time.
He looked at the distribution of power among social groups along with the knowledge possessed by the people.
The 'bias' was inherent in the communication structure in terms of being space binding or time binding. That is how he came up with his theory.
Space Binding:
Easy to transport
e.g., print and electronic communication
They are connected with expansion and control over territory
Favor the establishment of commercialism and empire
Decentralization
Time Binding:
Difficult to transport
E.g., oral tradition and stone
Favor the cultivation of memory
Relatively small communities
Traditional forms of Authority
Centralization
ALSO TIED IN THE MODE OF COMMUNICATION WITH TRANSPORTATION
Marshal McLuhan was his student.
ORAL TRADITION
A lot of distortion. Transmit a message through the classroom, still distorted. Even though a very small classroom covering a small space.
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION influenced by the Nile and the oral tradition.
Then started to use hieroglyphics to write on the tombs of the ancient Pharaoh's and rulers of Egypt.
STONE
Stone was the first material used for drawing pictures and writing letters. Craftsmen used sharp chisels in Egypt to carve the hieroglyphics.
PA-PIE-RUS
Although papyrus is not paper in the true sense, it was the first writing material to assume many of the properties we now know as paper.
It was made from the inner fiber of the papyrus plant and was a much more efficient medium than stone.
Before the Christian era, the papyrus plant grew profusely in Egypt.
Alphabet
The word alphabet comes from two words…alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet.
The Greeks regularly wrote from left to right and spread their alphabet through the Mediterranean world.
Early systems of writing were of the pictographic variety. These included the cuneiform writing of the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians.
Egyptian hieroglyphics and the written symbols used by the Mayans and by the Chinese and Japanese. The alphabetic system was the use of a pictograph to represent an object or idea. The sound is usually the initial sound denoted in the original pictogr aph.
Thus, in early Semitic a HOUSE was known as the spoken word beth eventually came to symbolize the b in beth, and ultimately the b in the English alphabet.
The increase of papyrus and the use of the brush accompanied by a new form of writing caused the emergence of professional scribes.
With the expansion of writing and reading came the extension of administration and the beginning of decentralization.
ALLUVIAL CLAY
A medium used by the Persians and Syrians. Also difficult to transport. But their mode of transportation helped. Used horses and camels and extended their empire and trade routes
ORAL TRADITION
The GREEKS based their empire and civilization on the oral tradition.
THE SPOKEN WORD. The traditional limitations of stone or clay were overcome and the problems of securing an adequate supply of papyrus was also overcome.
This helped the Greeks to become a decentralized nation. Their mode of communication was more flexible. This also increased constitutional and legal advances.
The Romans and their ability to transform the making of Roman Law into the oral tradition facilitated the rise of the roman empire until supplies of pa-pie-rus once again became available from Egypt.
Roman soldiers were known to write their wills on their metal buckles or on the scabbards of their swords.
PARCHMENT
The ancient Latins used the inner bark of certain trees known as liber. In time the word liber denoted a book itself, and from it our word library is dervived.
Parchment is made from the split skin of sheep. The flesh or lining side is converted into the best parchment. Vellum is made from calfskin or lambskin.
Parchment was an excellent medium for communication A well developed book trade along with the building of libraries made Rome a stronghold in terms of power and dominance.
PAPER
A.D. 868 The craft of making paper was closely guarded by the Chinese.
A.D. 600 Paper reached Korea.
15 years later reached to Japan.
40 years later introduced into Bagdad
A.D. 900 traveled to Egypt
1150 Spanish were making paper
- A mill was set up in France to produce paper
1494 Another mill set up in England
1575 The art of paper making spread to the New World where a mill was established in Mexico
1644 A German papermaker began making paper in Philadelphia.
BOOKS made it possible to transport large quantities of information over great spaces. BIBLE became suited to spread religion in Europe to different monasteries to safe places to help preserve the MONASTIC TRADITION.
MEANWHILE, RICE PAPER and CHINESE developing a new mode of communication and another empire.
INDIA was still orally based and could not keep up with the efficiency of writing and the dissemination of knowledge through the use of rice paper.
14th CENTURY.....As the art of paper making spread to FRANCE it helped to solidify the expansion of cities and the power of the monarchies in Europe.
Beginning of news..TOWN CRIER
16th Century, the ALPHABET AND PAPER CREATED A STRONG SENSE OF NATIONALISM AND COMMERCE IN EUROPE. Began to erode the power of the monks and monasteries. Knowledge no longer confined to the spread of religion
GUTENBERG AND THE PRINTING PRESS
Caused large scale printing. NEWSPAPERS began to flourish as did sailing and navigation.
The suppression of newspaper to the colonists along with the enormous stamp tax of 1765 precipitated the revolution against England and the formation of a BILL OF RIGHTS guarantying FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.
LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION OF NEWSPAPERS was very effective in widening markets and commercial trade.
RAILROADS helped to develop metropolitan centers. Small cities became dwarfed by larger cities and small communities began to fade.
Innis claims that the monopoly of communication based on the eye and reading hastened the development of a new competitive type of communication based on the ear.
TELEPHONE
RADIO
Solved the problems of rapid production and distribution
Eclipsed space and transformed time, obliterating memory, and reducing the message to the hour and to the minute.
The spoken language promoted nationalism. Literacy no longer a serious barrier. To such an extent, radio is still used to over throw existing governments by amassing the working proletarian classes. Second World War intensified the medium of radio. Rad io covered vast areas, overcame the division of classes.
MOVING PICTURES
A great tool for propaganda.
AIRPLANE
TELEVISION
Solved the problems of rapid production and distribution.
Eclipsed space and transformed time, obliterating memory, and reducing the message to the hour, to the minute and to the second.
Modern media has widened the area of distribution but narrowed the range of response.
ROCKETS
SATELLITES
COMPUTERS
Once again, we have eclipsed space and transformed time, obliterating memory, and reducing the message to the hour, and to the minute. second, and nanosecond
ROCK - to the Bible - POST IT NOTE - DISK -CD.
But what about time? What will happen to the printed word in our libraries?
Obsession with SPACE have led to various attempts to restore concepts of community as inherent in the middle ages.
Always a price to pay for technological advancement. Need to re-cultivate a sense of community, and the oral tradition.
Electronic bulletin boards, the Internet and INTERACIVITY
EACH CIVILIZATION HAS ITS OWN METHOD OF SUICIDE BASED ON A CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY AND THE BIAS OF COMMUNICATION
Innis believed the tragedy of modern culture was its intrinsic tendency for the printing press and electronic media to reduce both time and space into commercialism and expansionism.
Innis's remedy was to reduce the control of modern technology.
Reestablish the oral tradition, create avenues for fuller democratic discussion and participation.
Reawaken memory, cultivate an interest in time and history and restore a liberal and humanistic outlook of the world.
SOURCES:
Creighton, Donald. (1957). "Harold Adams Innis: Portrait of a Scholar". Toronto
Innis, Harold. (1951). "The Bias of Communication".
Innis, Harold. (1950). "Empire and Civilizations".
Encarta 1998