The massive distribution of information in an expensive manner because it is institutionalized
Pre-Gutenberg world
Books were written and produced by hand
Made in surfaces of clay, wax, papyrus and parchment
Hand-produced books and other reading materials were restricted only to the "elite group of people"
Information was only relayed to others through word-of-mouth channels
Gutenberg revolution
Technology diffused from Mainz to Subiaco in Italy, Paris and then London
Most first printed books were religious texts of the medieval period written in Latin
As time passed, some books were written in local language making them available and understandable to common people
Scientific and geographic discoveries, and medical books were also published
Rise of institutionalized and mediated channels, with "media" passing information to people from all walks of life
Post-Gutenberg world
Emergence of the internet and the world wide web
Enabled uploading and downloading of all forms of media instruments such as video, audio, and images
Enabled people to publish or spread information
Rise of digital age
Printing press not the only tool used in spreading information
Information readily available to pass from one individual to another, even to faraway places
Computer
Designed for mathematical calculations and simple decision-making capabilities
Internet
Developed in California, US in the late 1960s, mostly used by scientists to communicate with other scientists
Government-controlled project until 1984, first encountered problem was speed
World Wide Web
Invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, started in 1990s, for commercial purposes
Electronic Mail or E-mail
Invention controversially claimed by V.A Shiva Ayyadurai, an Indian-born American scientist and entrepreneur, started building the system in 1978 when he was 14 years old, copyright for the term E-mail granted in 1982
Facebook
Website launched in February 4, 2004 by a computer programmer, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg together with his fellow students in Harvard College and with other roommate
Twitter
Created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Tone, and Evan William
Messenger
Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008 but changed its messaging service in 2010, an instant messaging service and software application
YouTube
Today's on-line largest destination and the third most visited website, website made its way through the social media via the tandem of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, registered the logo and domain in 2005 during Valentine's day
Google
Developed as a research project in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, PhD students at Stanford University, the domain "google com" was registered in September 1997, now the most used search engine in the world wide web
Instagram
Created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in October 2010, a fun photography application