Introduction to a Brief History of Media

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 02:34:28 +0000

We begin by asking a deceptively simple question: What is media?

At its core, media is any technology that enables the storage, organization, transmission, and dissemination of information.

When we hear the word today, we tend to think of “mass media” — newspapers, television, the internet — technologies that spread information rapidly across wide distances. Commonly, people imagine the story of media beginning with the invention of the electric telegraph in the early 19th century. But is that really where media begins?

Totemism on Keren Wang

Introduction to a Brief History of Media