Milestones in the development of

media and communication applications

Eras :
prehistoric times, antiquity and the Middle
Ages
1450-1930

The first manifestations relevant to the media emerged in

the Stone Age. Explicit knowledge (e. g. animal hunting,
hunting techniques or the animals migratory routes) were
preserved and passed down by means of cave paintings in
the form of a symbolic language. The first cave paintings in
the world hail from approximately 30,000 B.C. and were
discovered in the French Chauvet Cave. The first true writing
system developed, however, around 3,000 B.C.

The Egyptian
hieroglyphics

Sumerian cuneiform
script

Considered as the oldest known writing systems today.

Both

writing

systems

were

originally

purely

pictographic systems and were used primarily by the

peoples of the Ancient Orient or Egypt and Nubia.

The apex of the development of writing, however, was the

development

of

the

Phoenician

Alphabet.

Phoenicians

developed their alphabet around 1,500 B.C. in the eastern

Mediterranean and that consequently, all subsequent modern
alphabets, including the Cyrillic, Greek and Latin alphabets,
originate from the Phoenician Alphabet.

The writing materials necessary for the

dissemination of information and
knowledge developed in antiquity in
tandem with the writing systems. The
papyrus scroll is the
best known progenitor of the book
form known today.

The ancient Egyptians first used papyrus around

3,000 B.C. as writing material. Papyrus was
further spread by the Greeks and was widely
distributed in the entire Roman Empire

Although the first simple books in the codex form that is

used today were already produced around 300 B.C. in
Greece, the papyrus scrolls remained in use into the 5 th
century A.D.

With the prevalence of papyrus scrolls and codex books,

libraries assumed an increasingly greater importance. During
the course of time, more and more libraries were founded
that

served

as

knowledge

bases

for

scholars

and

philosophers. Books were further circulated in the Middle

Ages, especially by scribes and monks, who manually copied
them.

One of the most important media

related
inventions
the
essential
catalyst for the development of the
media. The printing press with flexible
metal letters, developed by Johannes
Gutenberg in 1450 in Mainz, Germany,
revolutionized the production of books.
With
Gutenbergs
printing
press
process, the preconditions were met
for the establishment of two media
types,
the
newspaper
and
the
magazine.


Thus, Johann Carolus founds the worlds
first newspaper called Relation in 1605 in
Strasbourg and in 1665, Denis de Sallo
published the first magazine of the world in
Paris, France, under the title Journal des
savans.

further

groundbreaking

invention

in

media

and

communication

technology is attributed to Philipp Reis, who succeeded in building the

first functioning

electric telephone

link

in 1861

in Friedrichsdorf,

Germany. Thus, Philipp Reis is considered the pioneer of the telephone.

Based on Philipp Reis underlying research, Alexander Graham Bell
developed the Reis telephone further to the point of marketability.

Four years later, in 1865, the Dane

Hans Rasmus Johann MallingHansen
invented the first typewriter capable
of being mass produced, the socalled
Skrivekugle (writing ball).

An essential invention for the music industry

originated
Hanoverian,

from

Emil

Berliner.

Germany,

The

native

invented

the

gramophone and the disk record in 1887.

One year later, in 1888, the French Louis Le Prince debuted the
first movie film in history. With his merely twosecond long
moving film Roundhay Garden Scene, Louis Le Prince is
considered the founder of the film industry.

On

this

studio

basis,

the

Warner

film
Bros.

produced the first sound

motion picture ever with
film quality in 1927 under
the

direction

Crosland

and

of
with

Alan
Al

Jolson in the leading role.

The first acceptable transmission of a picture by means of a fax machine, however,

succeeded in 1904 by the German physicist Arthur Korn the socalled Korn
transmission via a telephone wire from Munich to Nuremberg, Germany, and back.

The most important accomplishments

for the radio industry are attributed to
Nikola Tesla, Gugliemlo Marconi and
Alexander Popow, in 1895. They are
accredited with the development of
the technical foundations for radio.
It was the Canadian inventor and
radio

pioneer

however,

who

Reginald
first

Fessenden,

succeeded

11

years later in 1906 in transmitting the

first radio program from Brant Rock,
United States.

Two years later in 1929, Great Britain, BBC broadcasted the first
television program of the world.

Thank You !