The point of this exam is understanding, not memorization. You are welcome to use any resources (Internet, Blackboard, books, your notes, another person), as long as YOU write the answers. Please be sure that you understand everything you write. Be careful which sources you select. Some are more reliable than others. If you work with other people, please be sure each of you takes notes and writes your answers individually.
A paradigm shift is a fundamental change that happens in a society’s or an individual’s view of the world works. It’s a change from one way of thinking to another way of thinking. It is a time when the accepted and usual way of doing things and thinking change completely. A paradigm change does not just happen; they are normally driven by some agents of change. The concept of paradigm shift was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in 1
...960s (Potts, 2009). Examples of paradigm shifts in history include the Darwin’s theory of evolution and the invention of the printing press.
The Darwin Theory:
For many centuries people had believed that it is God who had created the earth and the living things. People believed that God had designed everything perfectly, including human beings, and that their form had never changed since their creation. However, Darwin collected evidence to show that human beings had actually evolved and that species can change to new ones. He also demonstrated that the changes occurred through natural selection rather than divine power. This discovery has changed the way in which people view the origin of human beings.
The printing Press:
On the other hand, the printing press was invented by a German by the name Johannes
Gutenberg in the 15th Century (around 1440) (Childress, 2008). Its invention made it possible for the age of discovery and science, economic upheavals as well as reformations in religion. Before its invention, all the writing was made and copied by hand. This was a long and tedious process and it limited the number of people who could get access to the information. The printing press made the distribution of information easier and faster which helped to enlighten people.
- Teaching: Those individuals who knew how to read and write become private teachers who also taught other people reading and writing. Most of the people who afforded to attend classes on reading and writing were from rich families who could afford the cost of this kind of education (Houston, 2004).
- Scribes: Invention of writing also led to the emergence of scribes. At the time of invention, the alphabet was complex and only a small number of men had the time and capability to learn how to read as well as write using symbols. These men were known as scribes. They worked for the kings, rich merchants, and temples. Their work was to keep records, write and read letters for their employers.
- Journalism: The printing press made mass communication across big distances possible. People took up the job of collection and printing information then distributing it to the public. These people came to be known as journalists. Today journalism is a very common and well-paying job.
- Publishing Jobs: Publishers came about whose main job was publication and dissemination of hard copies of materials such as magazines and books. Publishing has become a big business around the world (Childress,
2008).
Argument for introduction of writing
With the introduction of writing, it has become easy and fast to transfer knowledge to a large number of people simultaneously. One is able to transfer his or her knowledge to other people through writing. If the person dies, the knowledge does not die with the person but instead the knowledge is left behind to be learned for many generations to come. Writing helps to store information (Houston, 2004).
The introduction of writing has also had a significant contribution in the field of research. Researchers can now be able to share their information on their findings and instead of starting a research from scratch, one is able to skip some steps that other researchers had already down. The introduction of writing has, therefore, resulted in the advancement of technology as scientists use the
already written down processes to improve on them and come up with new technologies (Allen, 2010).
Argument against introduction of writing
According to Socrates, written words cannot be able to defend itself in a dialogue. As a result, written word cannot teach anything that is worth of knowing. It’s only through the back and back arguments and discussions that the working of given problems and true conveyance of knowledge can be achieved. Reading of mere words in one’s mind is equated to just looking at a lake and instead of swimming in it; or worse still thinking that you know how to swim by merely staring at a lake (Allen, 2010).
Additionally, that transfer of information through writing leads to distortion of truth or meaning. The truth is best transferred and consumed experimentally. It is common for written information to be misinterpreted by the readers. Furthermore, there are certain aspects of emotions that cannot be transferred through writing. Emotions are better transferred through word of mouth (ibid).
Many people are reading less today. Please give two arguments each for and against requiring students to read books as a key part of their university education.
Arguments for reading books
Reading books improve focus and concentration. The reading of books takes the brain power as it requires one to focus on what they are reading for longer periods of time. Unlike the internet posts which contain smaller chunks of information, the book contains the whole story. Therefore, it improves the understanding of the subject matter. Reading involves an active mental process: Unlike the use of the internet, books make one to use the brain more. One concentrates and thinks more while reading books.
As a result, the more one thinks the smatter they become. Universities always aim to make their students smatter and therefore, reading books is essential (Allen, 2010).
Arguments against reading books
Reading books take too long and waste a lot of time. It is much faster and entertaining to watch a film that is based on a book than reading the book itself. Some books also use a tough vocabulary which makes understanding difficult as one needs to keep on referring to a dictionary (Houston, 2004).
Reading books also may lead to health problems. It involves straining of eyes for longer periods of time which results in astigmatism if the reading is done for longer periods of time. Reading may also lead to back straining as one has to sit for longer periods of time to go through all the content of the book (Sparks, 2007).
Anachronism refers to something that has been mistakenly placed in a period of time in which it does not belong for example in a movie or story. It is an object, person, word or anything that has been placed in the past when it belongs in the present and vice versa. Including a telegram message in a movie that is set in the scribal era would result in anachronism. This is because there is no way there would be telegram in the scribal era because printing had not been invented yet.
The use of a message that is typed using a typewriter will definitely result in anachronism as people do not use typewriters anymore. In fact, there are a lot of young people who have never seen a typewriter in action.
Name: Mass Media
- Writing:
7000 BCE to 150 CE: This was a period where writing was invented. It began in Greece and spread to the rest of Europe and North America.
What two things does this set of epochs help you to examine and better understand from a historical perspective?
- It helps understand the process that the mass media has gone through to reach where it has at the moment.
It helps to predict the future of the mass media based on the evolution of the mass media.
Name: Civilization
- Civilization I: The development of governments in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- Civilization II: The religion in this period became a power center in the society.
- Civilization III: The development of the European as well as the world culture.
- Civilization IV: Emergence of entertainment culture. Refers
to the current civilization.
What does looking at history in this set of epochs help you to examine and better understand?
This epoch helps to understand the process through with the human beings have gone through in the civilization process. It helps to better understand the current civilization. Most importantly, it helps to predict the future of civilization. Major change:
- Revival of learning
- Undermined the Roman Catholic Church authority
- Western civilization
Revival of learning
Printing made more people get access to the knowledge which was stored in the books. Printing enabled mass production of books increasing the access of books to the members of the public. Before printing was invented, learning had been very expensive and was limited to those from rich families (Sparks, 2007). Reduced costs of learning. People did not need to hire private teachers as books made self or home education easier. Before the invention of printing, individual had to hire private teacher’s teacher to educate them.
The emergence of school. The learning material available led to the emergence of schools where a single teacher could teach on various subjects. Schools began to expand from Europe to other parts of the world as people from other parts of the world could use the books that had already been printed in Europe. All these were made possible by the invention of the printing press (Childress, 2008).
Undermined the Roman Catholic Church authority
Over the past people had relied on the Roman Catholic Church on the issue of information. The church, therefore, controlled what people accessed. With the
invention of the invention of the printing press, the Catholic Church lost the power to control what people could access (Sparks, 2007). Printing of the Bible. The publishers were able to print the bible and distribute them to the public. The Church had lost its authority to be the only custodian of religion as the publishers were able to copy the bible on a mass scale. Loss of censorship power. The Catholic Church had no control of determining which material people should not read. The printing press enabled the printing of material that the Catholic Church considered to be inappropriate and the church had nothing much it could do about it (Childress, 2008).
Western civilization
Democratic governments: The people were able to air their opinions through the print media. The print press proved too powerful than the sword had ever been. The publications brought about by the printing press made it possible for the formation of the democratic governments in Europe (Sparks, 2007). Spread opinions. The print media spread opinions to the people. People were able to share their belief and the ideas on what they believed were right for the society. Therefore, the printing press contributed to the spread of western civilization ideas and opinions. The publications articles that encouraged humanism. People were encouraged to live harmoniously with each other as well as to respect others. It facilitated the publication of scientific inventions that was aimed at improving the lives of the people. Therefore, printing press encouraged the new ways of doing things that were instrumental in fostering the Western civilization (Childress, 2008).
- The memory of neighbors: The judge might consult the neighbors to try and
find out what they remember about the birth of a person. The witness accounts of the neighbors will then help the judge to approximate the age of the person in question.
The mass media uses propaganda to shape people’s attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs. The western media has been accused of airing stories that portray other countries and cultures in a bad way. For instance, the Western media has portrayed the Islam culture in a bad way until the public in such countries are against Muslims as they see them as terrorists. The mass media has shown to promote violence. The amount of violence on the TV is just too much. There is a lot of depiction of murder and rape on the television. A lot of research indicates that an excessive exposure to violence on TV increase aggressive behavior in children (Sparks, 2007).
- Sharing of pictures: With the internet, people only used to share information and pass on important communications. With the age of social media, people take pictures of every moment to share it with friends. It has resulted into increase narcissism especially among the millennials.
- Connecting people: Social media has been instrumental in connecting people. It has made people who are complete strangers to become friends in real life. This was not a common feature with the internet alone. The rate of couples who meet on the social media has been on the rise.
Social media has brought journalism to another level. People no longer need the journalists to look
for news so that the rest of the public can hear about it. News quickly spread over social media even without the traditional journalists taking part in the process (Biagi, 2016). Social media allows people to publish and share a lot of too many uninformed comments which can result in heated arguments and hatred among different groups of people. It facilitates transmission of propaganda (Biagi, 2016). Social media has resulted in sedentary life. It has discouraged people from getting physical exercise as most of the people are always glued to their phones. Additionall, people rarely have time to have constructive conversations with their family as they spend so much time on the social media sites when they are at home. It, therefore, contributes to the family breakups.
- The toolshed home made people become lazy. People spent a lot of time in their houses and could not even go out to collect their mails.
- It probably contributed to the cases of obesity. People spent a lot time watching the TV, listening to music, communicating through the phones and basically, everything was delivered to them. There was no time for exercise at all.
- It resulted in kids becoming less creative as they spend a lot of time in the house entertaining themselves instead of thinking of something creative they can do. The kids played video games instead of going out to play.
The toolshed home increased the access to information as people did not need to look for information. The information just came up to a person’s home. The toolshed home brought entertainment to a new level as entertainment was brought right into people’s home. Become became more
entertained at a cheaper price. The toolshed home also made communication easier. People had phones which they could use to communicate with other people. Communication became instant.
- Printing: 1450 CE to 1900 CE: With the invention of printing press, people did not have to move around to pass on information to people. People did not also need to move for long distances to get the information as it was brought near them.
- Toolshed Home: 1960 CE to 2000 CE: With the toolshed home, people did not to travel at all to get informal. All the information was delivered to their home. Therefore, transportation had limited purpose in searching for information (Sparks, 2007).
- Internet: 1990 CE to date: With the rise of the internet, transportation has lost its role in disseminating information. People can access information with just a click of a button. People don’t even need to go to the physical store to buy movies as they can be downloaded them from the internet (Biagi, 2016).
In the future communication devices will be wearable.
Individual: Communication between individual will be instant and faster.
Family: Family interactions will reduce as people will spend much time using their devices leaving less time for the family.
Business: The business and economy will grow as it will be easier and faster to make communications between the business and its customers.
World: With people wearing communication devices, world communication will be instant making the world seem even smaller.
Everything will be online including radio and TV. We would not need to install TV sets in the houses.
Individual: With TV and radio online, people will not need to have a lot of devices. A computer only will
be able to serve all communication needs of an individual.
Family: People will spend a lot of time with their laptops leaving less time for family interactions.
Business: The business will improve as they will always be able to reach the potential customers.
World: It will lead to further globalization as it will be much easier for individuals to listen and watch news of other countries.
The online advertisements will be interactive where individuals will be able to talk to ads directly and receive responses. Human intelligence will be included in online ads.
Individual: Being able to interact with ads online will improve the customer experience and satisfaction.
Family: This invention will not have much of an effect on the family if any.
Business: The businesses will be able to improve their effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. They will also be able to save on the amount of money spent on advertising. The economy will grow.
World: It will improve international trade as foreigners will be able to learn more about the products of a given firm in another country. Buying those products will lead to improved international trade and international relationships.
The First Amendment of the U.S. constitution guarantees the freedom of expression. Without it, the internet would be different in the following aspects;
- There would be no social media sites on the internet as they would be prohibited due to indecent expression.
- The internet would have been limited to adults as it would have been considered inappropriate for children due to its content.
- The internet would not have had a lot of content as most of the content would have been filtered and considered illegal by the government.
References
- Allen, D. S. (2010). Why
Plato wrote. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
Learning.
First Century Books.
Cambridge University Press.
