Week 1/2

Question 1

Transmission

Answer 1

Extension of messages in space

Question 2

Ritual

Answer 2

Maintenance of society in time, representation of shared beliefs.

Question 3

2 ways to think about writing

Answer 3

Transmission

Ritual

Question 4

The practice of human interaction

Answer 4

Communication

Question 5

To be studied as a historical phenomenon communication needs to involve

Answer 5

media.

Question 6

Harold Innis wrote about storage and transmission using two term:

Answer 6

Time-biased media

Space-biased media

Question 7

Time-biased Media

Answer 7

• Durable, persists through time.
• Do not promote easy transmission.
• Preserving information through time rather than spreading it across space.

Question 8

Space-biased Media

Answer 8

• Lack durability.
• Can be transmitted easily.
• Spreading information across space rather than preserving it through time.

Question 9

Before writing there were

Answer 9

tallies.

Question 10

Cuneiform Tablets

Answer 10

Writing created by presses wedges into slabs of clay to create a formation of shapes that represent entities.

Question 11

Pictograms

Answer 11

Writing takes form of visual signs that represent objects through simple pictures.

Question 12

A simplified image or symbol stands for one or more objects or concepts.

Answer 12

Ideograms

Question 13

Characters are syllabic signs representing sounds in spoken language.

Answer 13

Phonograms

Question 14

What kinds of writing were emerging in Babylonia 1800 BCE, as characters became increasingly phonetic?

Answer 14

Histories and myths.

Question 15

Hieroglyphic

Answer 15

A form of writing used primarily by rulers.

Question 16

Hieratic

Answer 16

Priestly, writing used for religious purposes.

Question 17

Demotic

Answer 17

Writing for every day purposes.

Question 18

Alphabet

Answer 18

A standard set of symbols that signify the basic important sounds of a language.

Question 19

The alphabet, after being adopted by Greece, becomes the basis for

Answer 19

all later Western alphabets.

Question 20

Secondary Orality

Answer 20

The re-adoption of aspects of oral culture in an electronic age.

Question 21

What did the Greek alphabet do?

Answer 21

• Democratized literacy.
• Opened up avenues for new forms of expression.
• Enabled transcription of earlier “oral literature”.