From the History of Media

In the last century, a revolution in telecommunications has greatly altered communication by providing new media for long distance communication. The first transatlantic two-way radio broadcast occurred in 1906 and led to common communication via analogue and digital media:

· Analog telecommunications include some radio systems, historical telephony systems, and historical TV broadcast.

· Digital telecommunications allow for computer-mediated communication, telegraphy and computer networks.

Modern communication media now allow for intense long-distance exchanges between larger numbers of people (many-to-many communication via e-mail or Internet forums). On the other hand, many traditional broadcast media and mass media favor one-to-many communication (television, radio, cinema, or social nets).

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and/or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with AM radio broadcasting which sprang up spontaneously around 1920. Before this, all forms of electronic communication, radio, telephone, and telegraph, were "one-to-one", with the message intended for a single recipient.

Historically, there have been several methods used for broadcasting electronic media audio and/or video to the general public.

Telephone broadcasting (1881–1932) was the earliest form of electronic broadcasting, data services offered by stock telegraph companies from 1867 not counting. Telephone broadcasting began with the advent of "Theatre Phone" systems, which were telephone-based distribution systems allowing subscribers to listen to live opera and theatre performances over telephone lines in 1881. Telephone broadcasting also grew to include telephone newspaper services for news and entertainment programming which were introduced in the 1890s, primarily located in large European cities. These telephone-based subscription services were the first examples of electrical/electronic broadcasting and offered a wide variety of programming.

Radio broadcasting was experimentally used from 1906, commercially from 1920. Audio signals are sent through the air as radio waves from a transmitter, picked up by an antenna and sent to a receiver. Radio stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common radio programs, either in broadcast syndication, simulcast or sub channels.

Television broadcasting (telecast) was experimentally delivered from 1925, commercially from the 1930s, an extension of radio including video signals.

Cable radio, also called "cable FM", (from 1928) and cable television (from 1932) both used coaxial cable, originally serving principally as transmission media for programming produced at either radio or television stations, but later expanding into a broad universe of cable-originated channels.

Direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) exists from circa 1974, and satellite radio from circa 1990. They are meant for direct-to-home broadcast programming (as opposed to studio network uplinks and downlinks), provide a mix of traditional radio or television broadcast programming, or both, with dedicated satellite radio programming. Satellite television is very popular nowadays.

Webcasting of video/television (from circa 1993) and audio/radio (from circa 1994) streams offers a mix of traditional radio and television station broadcast programming with dedicated internet radio.

5. True, false or no information.

1. Digital telecommunications include some radio systems, historical telephony systems, and historical TV broadcast.

2. Cable radio and cable television both used coaxial cable.

3. Broadcasting began with FM radio broadcasting.

4. Satellite radio exists from 1990.

5. Electronic media used to store, transmit, and receive digitized information are called digital media.

6. Marconi and Popov both contributed to radio broadcasting.

7. TV and radio are examples of one-to-many communication.

6. Answer the questions.

1. What is the difference between analog and digital communication?

2. How is communication via e-mail or Internet forums called in the text?

3. What kind of communication is usual for traditional media?

4. What is the earliest form of electronic broadcasting?

5. In what way could subscribers listen to live opera and theatre performances in 1881?

6. What is the process of radio broadcasting?

7. What were cable radio and television originally used for?

8. What devices are used for direct-to-home broadcast programming?

7. Make up a sentence using the words and phrases. Translate.

1. Are, a transmitter, waves, from, sent, radio. 2. Be, common, linked, to broadcast, programs, can, radio, radio station, in networks. 2. 3. Broadcasting, type, was, of, the first, telephone, electronic broadcasting. 4. There, for broadcasting, some, that, media, have, methods, are, traditionally, been, used, electronic. 5. By, are, received, signals, television, an antenna.

8. Find English equivalents.

Распределять видео контент, быть самой первой формой радиовещания, передавать с помощью передатчика, принимать с помощью приемника, предлагать большое разнообразие программ, наслаждаться развлекательными программами, использовать электронные средства массовой информации, предпочитать телевизионное вещание, удалить ненужную информацию, выделять полезную информацию, связывать в радиосети, включить видеосигналы, существовать с 1990 годов, заменить кабельным телевидением, установить оптоволоконную связь, починить телефонную линию, увеличить число каналов, предоставлять смесь традиционных радиовещательных программ.

9. Translate into English.

1. Существуют различные мнения о термине „Media”. 2. Изобретение радио в значительной степени изменило нашу жизнь. 3. Именно А.С. Попов изобрел радиопередатчик. 4. Первой формой электронного вещания была телефония. 5. Появление телевидения повлияло на наш стиль жизни. 6. Аналоговое вещание заменяется цифровым. 6. Подписчики могут слушать вживую оперу и театральные постановки. 7. Развлекательные программы начали передаваться с девяностых годов 19 столетия. 8. Качество средств массовой информации постоянно улучшается. 9. Некоторые люди не могут представить себе жизнь без спутникового телевидения. 10. Интернет особенно популярен среди молодежи. 11. К сожалению, студенты не уделяют особого внимания таким средствам массовой информации, как газеты и радиовещание.

10. Give synonyms.

To incorporate, to deliver, to describe, to begin, to alter, to remove, to occur.

11. Replace the infinitives in brackets by the correct form of Participle.

1. (to impress) by programmer`s work, the client extended her contract for a year. 2. (to be unemployed), Dave had time to consider what job he really wanted. 3. (to sink) deeper and deeper into details the student could not accomplish his course work. 4. (to paint) in dark colors, the room needed some bright lights.5. (to be) a System Security Administrator for 14 years, Barbara knew how to keep the firm`s computer system safe.

12. Underline the Nominative Absolute Participial Construction. Translate into Russian.

1. Her proposal having been accepted, she took her seat. 2. Nobody having anything more to say, the meeting was closed. 3. The crisis having passed, they could think about the future. 4. It being a scientific matter, we had to call in specialists. 5. The work at the project having been finished, the documents were sent tom the client. 6. The preparations being completed, the process of the new program implementation was initiated. 7. The contract quantity was 5,000 tons, the sellers having an option to deliver 2 per cent more or less.

13. Make up your own sentences with these words.

Prepare-preparation-preparing-having been prepared-while preparing

Explain-explanation-explained-explaining-being explained

Reduce-reduction-reducing-being reduced-reduced

14. Open the brackets, putting the words in correct form. Translate.

1. This article (to be) about different types of media. 2. This paper (to deal with)

new media for long distance communication. 3. The main idea of this paper is (to tell) us about the history of media. 4. The author (to give) us different definitions of different media forms. 5. The paper (to point out) that historically, there have been several methods used for broadcasting electronic media audio and/or video to the general public. 6. (There be) some parts in this text. 7. I (to believe) the most interesting part is the second one. 8. First of all I would like (to underline), the fiber optic connection is of great interest today. 9. Much attention (to give) to the Radio and Television broadcasting. 10. In the text there are statements that I (to disagree with). 11. I can (to give) arguments for or against the statement: «Satellite television is very popular nowadays». 12. The paper (to claim) that Radio broadcasting was experimentally used from 1906. 13. The paper also (to cover) such points as Telephone broadcasting and cable Radio.14. The advantage of this kind of media will (to be discussed) later. 15. In conclusion I want to say that this article (to be of interest) for students. 16. I will try (to use) this knowledge in my future job. 17. Summing up, I would like (to emphasize) that these devices are (to use) in our university. 18. To all this must (to add) that this knowledge is very useful for me. 19. As for me, I can say this article (to be) very interesting. 20. In my opinion/to my mind/from my point of view I (to get) a lot of information from this paper.

15. Translate into English.

1. Эта статья рассматривает вопросы телевещания. 2. Публикация состоит из нескольких разделов. 3. Первая часть – введение. 4. Автор рассказывает нам об истории вопроса. 5. C моей точки зрения, основные разделы публикации – второй и третий. 6. Во второй части исследователь объясняет нам, как функционирует радиовещание. 7. Он упоминает основные характеристики некоторых телевизионных передатчиков. 8. В третьем параграфе ученый описывает преимущества и недостатки телевещания. 9. Автор рассказывает нам о преимуществах телевещания по сравнению с радиовещанием. 10. Он полагает, что телевещание играет огромную роль в нашей жизни. 11. Я разделяю это мнение. 12. Телевидение используется во многих областях человеческой жизни. 13. Исследователь дает нам примеры использования телевещания. 14. Я хотел бы добавить, что телевещание используется и в нашем университете. 15. Я хотел бы подчеркнуть, что в настоящее время мы наблюдаем тенденцию слияния телевидения и интернета. 16. Следует добавить, что телевидение и интернет помогают нам в учебе. 17. Вот почему я стараюсь использовать интернет для подготовки домашних заданий. 18. В следующих абзацах исследователь уделяет особое внимание качеству и стоимости телевизионного оборудования. 19. Он указывает на то, что это оборудование становится все дешевле. 20. Кроме того, качество оборудования улучшается, и оно становится очень надежным. 21. В заключении я хочу сказать, что эта статья содержит много новой информации. 22. В целом я хочу сказать, что эта статья достаточно скучная. 23. Я получил много полезной информации. 24. Что касается меня, я постараюсь использовать эти знания в моей будущей работе. 25. Спасибо за Ваше внимание.

Речевые упражнения:

16. Make up a dialogue. Use the language for comparing/contrasting (повторение):

Contrast (сопоставление)	Comparison (сравнение)
· However · Although/even though · Though · But · Despite/in spite of (несмотря на) · While · Whereas · On the one hand... · On the other hand…	· Similarly · Likewise · Unlike Y, … (В отличие от....,..) · On the contrary · Vice versa · X is better than Y · The best device is X · Also · Just as · Just like · Similar to · Same as · Not only... but also....

Student A: Explain to your partner different types of media.

Student B: Ask some questions about different types of media.

17. Make up a dialogue. Use –ing clauses to link a cause and effect (Вспомните тему «Обстоятельственные придаточные предложения»).

For example, DVD drives read DVD disks by using blue laser light.

Student A: Explain to your partner with the help of these notes what DVD disks are, how DVD disks store such large quantities of information and how that information is read:

DVD = Digital Versatile Disk:

- can hold complete movie;

- like CD in size and thickness;

- but CD drives use red laser light, DVD drives use blue;

- blue laser has shorter wavelength therefore data can be denser

DVDs can be double-sided:

- each side can have two layers;

- top layer 4.7GB, bottom layer 3.8GB, total capacity = 17GB;

- data transfer rate twice rate of CD-ROM.

Student B: Ask questions to Student B about DVD disks, how they store such large quantities of information and how that information is read. Ask questions about the difference between CD and DVD drives.

18. Make up a dialogue. Use –ing clauses to link a cause and effect (Вспомните тему «Обстоятельственные придаточные предложения»).

For example, DVD drives read DVD disks by using blue laser light.

Student A: Explain to your partner with the help of these notes what MPEG Video is and how it works:

MPEG = method of compressing/decompressing video signals to reduce size by up to 95%:

- video sequences stored in series of frames;

- intra frame (I-frame) every 1/3^rd second has most important picture information;

- between I-frames are predicted frames (P-frames) and bidirectional frames (B-frames);

- P- and B-frames store changes only;

- P- and B-frames preserve video quality between I-frames;

- Human eye can’t detect information discarded.

Student B: Ask questions to Student A about MPEG Video and its work.

19. Read and translate the following dialogue between a consumer and a company representative. Then answer the questions.

- Oh, good morning. I’ve got a problem with my MP3 player, could you help?

- Certainly, we’re experiencing a recall on some models. Which one do you have?

- I have the N.5250.

- OK, tell me about the problem you’re having.

- Well, at first, the sound quality started getting worse. Then, it completely froze. I tried restarting it but that didn’t work.

- Sounds like a problem caused by AAC* files. Don’t worry; we have a driver to fix that.

- Great! How do I get it?

- Just download it from our website and upload it to your player.

- Thanks a lot, you’ve been very helpful.

20. Answer the question.

1) What are the speakers mostly talking about?

a) why AAC files are causing problems.

b) where a consumer can buy a driver.

c) how to solve a consumer’s problem.

d) which model a consumer owns.

2) How did the customer try to fix the MP3 player?

a) install a new driver.

b) restart the player.

c) upload a new playlist.

d) remove the AAC files.

*AAC is a file format that a higher quality than MP3s.

21. Make up a dialogue between a consumer and a company representative. Make use of the dialogue above.

The language to use:

I’ve got a problem with my …

Which model do you have?

Tell me about the problem you’re having.

Student A: You are a company representative. Talk to Student B about a recall, model and problems.

Student B: You are calling to get help with your MP3 player. Ask Student A’s questions.

22. Imagine you are at the Media Conference. Answer the questions about the History of Media. Make up a dialogue between a journalist and IT Specialist.

1) When did new media for long distance communication appear?

2) What is the difference between analogue and digital communications?

3) What is the difference between modern communication media and traditional mass media?

4) What method of broadcasting media was the first to appear?

5) What is broadcasting?

6) How did all forms of electronic communication look like before 1920?

7) When did telephone broadcasting begin?

8) What were "Theatre Phone" systems?

9) What is DBS?

10 ) What does webcasting of video/television and audio/radio streams offer to consumers?

11) What is DBS used for?

12) How does radio broadcasting work?

13) What is cable FM?

14) What cable is involved in cable TV?

15) When and where did telephone newspaper services and entertainment programming?

16) Give examples of electrical/electronic broadcasting.

23. Compare different types of media.

Communication media

Broadcast media

Digital media

Electronic media

Multimedia

News media

Hypermedia

Mass media

Use the language for comparing and contrasting.

Comparison Likewise, Similarly, Along the same lines, In the same way.

1. _______ and ___________ both show ________________ 2. _______ and _____________ are like in that they both ____________. 3. __________ and _____________ all show _____________. 4. Likewise, both are __________________ 5. Similarly, ___________ and __________ are __________________ 6. In the same way, _______ and __________ are __________________. 7. Along the same lines, __________ and __________ are ______________________________________.

Contrast Although, But, By contrast, Conversely, Despite the fact, Even though, However, In contrast, Nevertheless, Nonetheless, On the contrary, On the other hand, Regardless, Whereas, While, Yet.

1. _______ is ________, while ___________ is __________________. 2. __________ is___________, but ____________ is _______________ 3. _________ and ____________ are different in that _______________. 4. While ________ shows __________, __________ shows __________. 5. ______ is _______, on the other hand _______ is __________. 6. ________________, yet _______________________. 7.Although _________________, ________________________.

24. Retell the text “History of Media”. Use the following plan and language above.

1) The title of the text (article):

the text is headlined...

the headline of the text I have read is...

2) The author of the text (article), where and when it was published:

the author of the article is...

the article is written by...

it's published in...

it's printed in...

it's taken from...

3) The main idea of the text (article):

the main idea of the text is...