TITLE – POST #12 – LECTURE – PHOTOGRAPHY AND PRINTED MEDIA

The history of media began 40,000 years ago in the dark caves of Sulawesi, Indonesia, when the earliest known human predecessors communicated via cave paintings. These puzzling visuals could have acted as records or rituals for a small audience, rather than just amusement. The media narrative expanded during the Middle Ages, with the rise of manuscript culture. Monks at monasteries diligently copied books by hand, producing not only sacred scripts but also a vast body of knowledge spanning from astronomy to allegorical bestiary. This culture supported a thriving economy centered on document production and trading, which was carefully supervised by colleges.

In the 1430s, Johann Gutenberg invented the Gutenberg Printing Press, which changed the way information was distributed. This idea was not created in a vacuum; rather, it was inspired by Gutenberg's observations of the profitable commerce in pilgrim souvenirs. His press multiplied texts exponentially, and it is regarded as one of the greatest innovations in human history. Without it, we would be unable to access printed knowledge such as books and newspapers. The printing press paved the way for the rise of mass media, from newspapers with restricted literate audiences in the 17th century to high-circulation periodicals like The Times of London in the early 1800s. Transportation developments, such as the steam-powered railway in 1804, accelerated the spread of these printed documents even further.

The absence of the printing press would have resulted in a prolonged period of limited knowledge distribution, a society in which information is a scarce commodity reserved for a select few. A world without newspapers, books, and other printed products would be less informed, less connected, and potentially more divided. Photography's history, from the camera obscura of the 1500s to the permanent photographs of the 1800s, exemplifies the never-ending quest to capture and preserve truth. The breakthroughs of Niepce, Daguerre, and later the collodion technique provided views into our world's objective facts. The Civil War documentation by Mathew Brady, as well as the motion studies by Eadweard Muybridge and Etienne Jules Marey, demonstrated photography's significance in improving our understanding of the world and its events. When we look at a photograph, we see not just the actual image, but also an emotional link, which Barthes referred to as the punctum. It is this personal influence that transforms a simple image into a potent conduit for memory and emotion.

Semiotics, the study of signs and symbols as components of communication behavior, provides methods for decoding the media that pervades our daily lives. Barthes and Saussure's theories assist us in dissecting and comprehending the many meanings embedded in our visual and verbal worlds. Think about the symbolic, indexical, and iconic signs that surround us. Consider emojis, a universal language in digital communication that allows a single sign to transmit complex emotions and ideas across cultures without the need for translation.

The media has been a transformative force, continually developing and influencing our shared experience. From ancient cave drawings to the digital images that fill our screens, we witness a never-ending march of progress and expression. Our path through media history demonstrates not only our creative energy, but also our unwavering urge to record, communicate, and comprehend the human experience.