Biologically, viruses can only multiply inside living organisms. They remain dormant whenever they enter non-living things. As a computer program, a virus can only reproduce inside a computer system. Without the computer system, it is merely a code. All in all, the glory of viruses rests on the fact that they have this uncanny ability to replicate themselves many times over.
Viral. We use this word in an attempt to compare a trend or activity that is similarly attuned to to the virus' process to speedily multiply. And viral is the word that best describes internet sharing nowadays.
The ground has ears and news have wings, so goes an old Filipino saying. The maxim relatively means anything you would say through word of mouth, even though you made a pact of secrecy, would eventually come out in the open and spread before you can even say 'slip of the tongue'. Anyways, this rabid impulse to announce something significant for the world to hear and snoop on is already recorded in the annals of history.
Even with the absence of any form of writing or system of alphabet, Neanderthals left drawings on cave walls that gave us a glimpse of their lifestyle and culture. When human civilization did establish a system of alphabet and writing based on their respective languages, they then started to find a usable media that they could utilize to write on. They tried wood, jars, stones, bamboos, clay, and leaves - basically any surface - to test if they are feasible writing tools.
That is until someone from the old Egyptian civilization managed to make something out of the papyrus leaves that were aplenty in the banks of River Nile. A little cutting, and rolling, and drying, and voila - they then invented the first paper, which became the staple medium for writing ideas. They stored them in scrolls and lots of scrolls of hand-written insights, illustrations, and information. Then the paper scrolls were cut into rectangular-shaped, stackable sheet form. Then the revolutionary wood block printer began mass producing written works. Then books emerged. Printers and papers evolved into their current forms which beget newspapers, magazines, brochures, and a plethora of other printed materials that you generally see nowadays.
And that alone is the timeline of the print media as an effective communication avenue. The radio and the TV media are also avenues to reckon with in terms of mass communication. For more details, google them.
The point here is, mass media grows along with the human civilization and comparing them to what we call our own Earthly "stars": Celebrities come, celebrities go. In the same vein, a medium comes, a medium goes - or at least hang in there for as long as it can. A new mass medium will dominate the older one, but not necessarily obliterate it.
Print was overshadowed by radio. Radio was overshadowed by TV. And now TV is drastically being overshadowed by the World Wide Web. Aptly branded as the 'Information Super Highway', the internet is now the medium to beat, and it's spreading information to millions of people across the globe each day, like a virus on a rampage.
Viral. We use this word in an attempt to compare a trend or activity that is similarly attuned to to the virus' process to speedily multiply. And viral is the word that best describes internet sharing nowadays.
The ground has ears and news have wings, so goes an old Filipino saying. The maxim relatively means anything you would say through word of mouth, even though you made a pact of secrecy, would eventually come out in the open and spread before you can even say 'slip of the tongue'. Anyways, this rabid impulse to announce something significant for the world to hear and snoop on is already recorded in the annals of history.
Even with the absence of any form of writing or system of alphabet, Neanderthals left drawings on cave walls that gave us a glimpse of their lifestyle and culture. When human civilization did establish a system of alphabet and writing based on their respective languages, they then started to find a usable media that they could utilize to write on. They tried wood, jars, stones, bamboos, clay, and leaves - basically any surface - to test if they are feasible writing tools.
That is until someone from the old Egyptian civilization managed to make something out of the papyrus leaves that were aplenty in the banks of River Nile. A little cutting, and rolling, and drying, and voila - they then invented the first paper, which became the staple medium for writing ideas. They stored them in scrolls and lots of scrolls of hand-written insights, illustrations, and information. Then the paper scrolls were cut into rectangular-shaped, stackable sheet form. Then the revolutionary wood block printer began mass producing written works. Then books emerged. Printers and papers evolved into their current forms which beget newspapers, magazines, brochures, and a plethora of other printed materials that you generally see nowadays.
And that alone is the timeline of the print media as an effective communication avenue. The radio and the TV media are also avenues to reckon with in terms of mass communication. For more details, google them.
The point here is, mass media grows along with the human civilization and comparing them to what we call our own Earthly "stars": Celebrities come, celebrities go. In the same vein, a medium comes, a medium goes - or at least hang in there for as long as it can. A new mass medium will dominate the older one, but not necessarily obliterate it.
Print was overshadowed by radio. Radio was overshadowed by TV. And now TV is drastically being overshadowed by the World Wide Web. Aptly branded as the 'Information Super Highway', the internet is now the medium to beat, and it's spreading information to millions of people across the globe each day, like a virus on a rampage.
