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Period: 36,000 BCE to 1400
Pre-Industrial Age
The discovery of fire, the development of paper from plants, and the forgery of weapons and tools with stone, bronze, copper, and iron. -
35,000 BCE
Cave Paintings
Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. -
2500 BCE
Papyrus in Egypt
Papyrus, writing material from ancient times, and also the plant from which it was derived, Cyperus papyrus (family Cyperaceae), also called paper plant. The papyrus plant was long cultivated in the Nile delta region in Egypt and was collected for its stalk or stem, whose central pith was cut into thin strips, pressed together, and dried to form a smooth thin writing surface. -
2400 BCE
Clay tablets and Cuneiform
Clay tablets were the main medium of writing in ancient Mesopotamia. They were made from earth and water, inscribed while wet with a stylus, and sun-baked to harden. The tablets were written in cuneiform, the earliest writing system in the world, using wedge-shaped symbols. -
230 BCE
Acta Diurna
Acta Diurna, also called Acta Populi, Acta Publica, and simply Acta or Diurna, was a sort of daily government gazette, containing an officially authorized narrative of noteworthy events in Rome. Its contents were partly official (court news, decrees of the Roman emperor, Roman Senate, and Roman magistrates), and partly private (notices of births, marriages, and deaths). Thus, to some extent it filled the place of the modern newspaper. -
1041
Movable Clay Printing in China
Movable type printing was invented in China by Bi Sheng between 1041 and 1048. He used an amalgam of clay and glue hardened by baking to create the movable type, which had only one Chinese character carved in relief on a small block of moistened clay. -
Period: 1400 to
Industrial Age
The use of steam power, development of machine tools, the establishment of iron production, and manufacturing of books through the printing press -
1440
Gutenberg Press
The printing press did not appear until 150 years after Wang Chen’s innovation. Goldsmith and inventor Johannes Gutenberg was a political exile from Mainz, Germany when he began experimenting with printing in Strasbourg, France in 1440. He returned to Mainz several years later and by 1450, had a printing machine perfected and ready to use commercially: The Gutenberg press. -
Electric Telegraph
George Louis Lesage, a Swiss physicist and inventor, played a significant role in the early development of the electric telegraph. In 1774, he created one of the first electronic telegraph machines. Unlike modern telegraphs, Lesage’s invention used a separate wire for each letter of the alphabet. However, this approach proved cumbersome for widespread use due to the need for multiple wires. -
Typographer (Typewriter)
The typographer was an early typewriter invented by William Austin Burt. Intended to aid in office work, the machine worked by using a lever to press characters onto paper one at a time. It was the first typewriting machine to be patented in the United States, although Pellegrino Turri had made one in Italy in 1808. Perhaps because of its slow speed, or because there was not yet a wide market for typewriters, it was not a commercial success. -
Invention of telephone
Alexander Graham Bell, best known for his invention of the telephone, revolutionized communication as we know it. His interest in sound technology was deep-rooted and personal, as both his wife and mother were deaf. While there’s some controversy over whether Bell was the true pioneer of the telephone, he secured exclusive rights to the technology and launched the Bell Telephone Company in 1877. Insight:
This type of media is an essential, as it is used for communicating for people far away. -
Invention of Radio
Guglielmo Marconi was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and inventor credited with the groundbreaking work necessary for all future radio technology. As someone who used to live in place where flooding and brownouts often happen at every typhoons, this specific type of media was so necessary back then. This was our way of gaining news informations, aside from newspapers, during a typhoon. As our radio back then was battery operated, which means that it can be used even during power outages. -
Period: to
Electronic Age
The invention of the transistors led to the invention of transistor radio, electronic circuits, and early computers. -
Television
On July 1, 1941, commercial television was born, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of this medium. During this period, Scottish engineer John Logie Baird had already been working on a fully electronic system called the "Telechrome". Insight:
As a media that I have been exposed to, since I was a kid, this type of media is probably the most used along with smartphones. As it can not only provide essential news, but also entertainment. -
Large electronic computer (EDSAC I)
The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer. Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, the machine was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England. EDSAC was the second electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service. -
Transistor Radio
A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized the field of consumer electronics by introducing small but powerful, convenient hand-held devices—the Regency TR-1 was released in 1954 becoming the first commercial transistor radio. -
Computer
The IBM Personal Computer is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Insight:
As I was still a kid back then, when I was first exposed to a computer, I didn't really know anything about it aside from playing games, such as Counter-Strike, on it. But as time passed, I now knew computers' full potential, as they are really useful devices for anything. It is used for research, educational, and even office purposes. -
Microsoft Windows
Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft. It was first released to manufacturing in the United States on November 20, 1985, while the European version was released as Windows 1.02 in May 1986. Insight:
As the OS (Operating system) of most of the computers and laptops, without it, most of the computers that we have now won't exist. -
Period: to
New/Information Age
The age where the internet paved the way for faster communication and creation of social network. -
World Wide Web
By the end of 1990, Tim Berners-Lee had the first Web server and browser up and running at CERN demonstrating his ideas. Insight:
This is an essential for our modern technology, as it is used to go from web to web, without it, the internet wouldn't exist. -
Smartphones
Smartphone began as a prototype called "Angler" developed by Canova in 1992 while at IBM and demonstrated in November of that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show. Insight:
As a device that is small and portable, it is probably the device that every one should have. As it can do anything, from calls, messages, or even giving necessary news informations. Though, one must be responsible in using it. -
Instant Messaging Services
Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing immediate transmission of messages over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. Insight:
Since this specific type of media is also widely use for communicating through phone. It helped our communication faster than before.