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Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education School
Region v logo
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF SORSOGON
SAN FRANCISCO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

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MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY
EVOLUTION OF TRADITIONALTO NEW MEDIA

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET (WEEK 4)

Name of the
Student:_____________________________________________________________
Date:___________________________________

I. INTRODUCTORY CONCEPT
Over the decades, the significant role of media in the lives of the people has evolved. From a
simple task of disseminating information, the use of media has become more diversified and
personal. The invention of gadgets has redefined it values to its users.

Media is no longer just a source of information. It helps to bridge the economic, political and
societal gaps. It unites people and nations. It advocates change and propagates development
for the betterment of the people and the communities.

In this lesson, the importance of media will be discussed. Mass media and demassification
will be defined. And the evolution of media will be identified.

II. LEARNING SKILLS FROM MELCs

*Explain how the evolution of media from traditional to new media shaped the values and
norms of people and society (MIL11/12IMIL-IIIa-4)

III. ACTIVITIES
A. Let Us Review
Before you proceed to your new Learning Activity Sheet, let us check first what
you have learned in your previous Learning Activity Sheet.

Answer the following questions:

1. Who is a media and information literate individual?
______________________________________________________________
______________________.
2. How critical thinking related to media and information?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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 _______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________.

B. Let Us Study
The only thing constant and inevitable is change. The evolution of technology
shows how human being solved certain things in relation to progress and
development.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of United States and author of

Declaration of Independence said that if he had to choose between
government without newspapers and newspapers without a government,
he would pick the latter. This shows how the vital the role of media is in
keeping the democracy in a society.

Media is the foundation of a democracy. Media is the window of the

people to see and to be aware of the important happenings in the social,
political, and economic scenes that would greatly affect their lives. It
mirrors the realities of life.

Media is a watchdog of the society. In a democratic society like the Philippines, media has
become the agent of public. It exposes irregularities and ambiguities in the system of
democracy, which awakens and challenges the government to correct and solve the issues to
make the system more responsive and accountable.

Media as oftentimes the only source of information, it must ensure the following:
1. Implementation of utmost professionalism
2. Must be objective at all times
3. Provide the public with balanced reporting
4. Fair and honest covering of stories or events
5. Examine and comprehend the interest of the public
6. Make avenue to represent different voices and opinions

The Importance of Media

John Vivian explained the importance of media in his book entitle, The Media of Mass
Communication. According to him, the value of media lies in its pervasive nature, its
function as an information source, its role as a persuasion’s forum, and its binding influence
on people.
Pervasiveness
The Cambridge dictionary defines pervasiveness as present or noticeable in every part of a
thing or a place. This is true in the case of media in our daily lives. Over the past couple of
decades, the world has grown more and more dependent on media. It is for this reason that
TV networks and radio stations continue to multiply. Print media do not seem to die down
completely despite many expert predictions. The Internet has ever been listed as a basic
human right by the United States.
Information Source

The Internet has become everyone’s go-to place whenever they need to
know something. Everyone gets their dose of news and current affairs on a
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 particular media platform of their choice. People even take to social media websites for
updates whenever there’s catastrophe. There is no denying that media has become the largest
source of information.
Entertainment Source
TV shows, music, films, books, clips and videos, and social
media, are just some of the things that the media offers as
entertainment. The wide selection of choices made available
by media ensures that there is content suitable to anyone’s
liking. This is what got people hooked on media. After all,
everyone needs to relax and be entertained everyone in a
while.

Persuasion Forum
The media has the power to persuade people. Swaying
people’s beliefs does not happen instantly though. Every
time someone shares an opinion about a subject, another
opposing view is bound to come up. In addition to having
an influence on people’s beliefs, it also acts as a platform
for discussion and debate.

Binding Influence
People rely on media in their daily lives. Whether it for research on a
school paper, or a recipe for a delicious meal has become part of
everyone’s mundane lives. Such as dependence has resulted to the
media’s binding influence with its audience.

The Concepts of Mass Media and Media Demassification

Mass Media
Mass media refers to channels of communication that involve transmitting information in
some way, shape or form to large numbers of people. Dutton et al (1998) suggest that
traditionally the mass media has been differentiated from other types of communication in
terms of four essentials characteristics:
 Distance: Unlike face-to-face communication, there is considerable amount of distance
between the sender and receiver of the information in mass media. This makes mass media
impersonal, lacking immediacy, and one way.
 Technology: TV and radio networks won’t be able to transmit information without satellites.
Connecting to the Internet requires electronic equipment like laptops and smartphones. Mass
media communication is only possible through technology.
 Scale: Mass media communication deals with broadcasting information to the masses
simultaneously
 Commodity: Due to its massive scale and the technological equipment it requires mass
media is an expensive type of communication.

Media Demassification
Demassification is derived from the word demassify which means to divide or break up (a
social or political unit) into its component parts.

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Unlike mass media communication where the target is everyone, demassification divides the
masses into segments before choosing which segments to target. In specifically determining
the target market and achieve the intended response
The Evolution of Media

In the study of media, it is important to look back at how media

evolved through times. This will provide media users better
understanding on the milestone set in the history of media.

Prehistoric Age (Before 1700s)

People discovered fire, developed paper from plants, and forged weapons and tools with
stone, bronze, copper and iron.
Examples:
• Cave paintings (35,000 BC)
• Clay tablets in Mesopotamia (2400 BC)
• Papyrus in Egypt (2500 BC)
• Acta Diurna in Rome (130 BC) !20
• Dibao in China (2nd Century)
• Codex in the Mayan region (5th Century)
• Printing press using wood blocks (220 AD)

MBC news reported the discovery 40000-year-old cave

painting in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Several other discoveries
of cave art around the world have proven that even at a
time when no known civilizations existed, the media have
been a part of man’s life. The innate need for people to
communicate is said to be the reason for their existence.
Despite their lack of speech during those days, cavemen
found a means to convey their thoughts. Although
different from our methods, they have the same reasons we
do for using the media.

After the Stone Age, ancient civilizations began to encourage long with a certain form of
speech. The development of language made record keeping among civilizations possible.
This is where the ancient forms of writing came into the picture. The earliest of which is the
hieroglyphic script of the ancient forms of writing came into the picture. Egyptian civilization
developed another notable ancient form of writing around 5000 BCE called the cuneiform
(Mark, 2011)

These earliest scripts were initially inscribed on wet clay with a reed implement. Eventually,
with the invention of paper, writing has become a lot easier. Many believe that the Egyptians
developed the earliest paper through an abundant need found along the Nile, River. History,
however, credits the Han dynasty for the invention of paper. (Violatti, 2013).

The creation of paper allowed ancient scribes to preserve history through manuscripts. These
manuscripts are referred to as the earliest form of the print media.

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Industrial Age (1700s-1930s)
People used the power of steam, developed machine tools, established iron production, and
the manufacturing of various products (including books through the printing press).
Examples:
• Printing press for mass production (19th century)
• Newspaper- The London Gazette (1640)
• Typewriter (1800)
•Telephone (1876)
• Motion picture photography/projection (1890)
• Commercial motion pictures (1913)
• Motion picture with sound (1926)
• Telegraph
• Punch cards

The industrial age brought improvements in

mass media. In the book Industrialization in
the Modern World, Hinshaw and Stearns
cited the changes in mass media in the
industrial age. In print, faster, steam-driven
presses and methods of translating
photographs to the printing press. The year
1850s paved the way for cheaper
manufacturing of people. In 1890s
automatic composing machines allowed
semiskilled typesetting from keyboards to replace highly skilled manual setting.

Electronic Age (1930s-1980s)

The invention of the transistor ushered in the electronic age. People harnessed the power of
transistors that led to the transistor radio, electronic circuits, and the early computers. In this
age, long distance communication became more efficient.
Examples:
• Transistor Radio
• Television (1941)
• Large electronic computers- i.e. EDSAC (1949) and UNIVAC 1 (1951)
• Mainframe computers - i.e. IBM 704 (1960)
• Personal computers - i.e. Hewlett Packard 9100A (1968), Apple 1 (1976)
• OHP, LCD projectors
The electronic age of media began with the invention of the
telegraph during the mid-1840s. According to Howe, it was a
part of a widespread revolution in communications along
with the mass production of newspapers, magazines, and
books. Simply put, the height of the industrial age of media,
paved the way to the dawn of a new era.

Bill Kovarik said that the invention of the telegraph led to

the telephones, radios, and televisions. It revolutionized
communication and media from the physical –print- to

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transmitted signals over distance. Through this, the barriers of space were broken allowing a
quicker and easier communication during the electronic age.

Information Age (1900s-2000s)

The Internet paved the way for faster communication and the creation of the social network.
People advanced the use of microelectronics with the invention of personal computers,
mobile devices, and wearable technology. Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are
digitalized. We are now living in the information age.
Examples:
• Web browsers: Mosaic (1993), Internet Explorer (1995)
• Search Engines: Google (1996), Yahoo (1995)
• Blogs: Blogspot (1999), LiveJournal (1999), Wordpress (2003)
• Video chat: Skype (2003)
• Social networks: Friendster (2002), Multiply (2003), Facebook (2004)
• Video: YouTube (2005)
• Microblogs: Twitter (2006), Tumblr (2007)
• Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality, Google Hangouts (2013)
• Portable computers- laptops (1980), netbooks (2008), tablets (1993)
• Smart phones
• Wearable technology
• Cloud and Big Data

The Internet is a development instead of an invention. What people

know today as the World Wide Web began as more secure alternative
means of communication during the cold war, called the ARPAnet.
Janet Abbate defines the ARPAnet as a single network connecting a
few dozen sites. By using packet switching or the process of breaking
down information and sending it through different routes, the United
States communication system can survive a Soviet Attack. (Abbate, 2000)

Its use, however, did not end the war. The ARPAnet continued to be used as an effective
means of communication. Since it is single network, access was very limited. As more and
more try to connect to the ARPAnet, integration became more difficult. An article published
by the History channel credited Vinton Cerf in solving this problem through Transmission
Control Protocol or TCP. The TCP allowed all of the world’s mini-networks to communicate
with one another. Cerf made the evolution of ARPA net to a worldwide network possible.

Sending file to one another was the main purpose of the worldwide network throughout the
1980s. A decade later, Tim Berners-Lee led another Internet innovation. He developed the
World Wide Web, where the Internet itself became a web of information. It is no longer
limited to correspondence between two parties. It became a virtual space where information
can be stored and retrieved by anyone who has access to it. His development is the Internet
we know today.

Relationship between Traditional Media and New Media

In the present time, new media is undeniably very useful, but this does not mean that
traditional media has already become obsolete. Traditional media is still valuable and
influential because it has a wider reach and market. Examples the people whole live in remote
areas and people opted to traditional media.

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The choice of media is based one’s needs, interests, and lifestyle as both traditional media
and new media can carry out their purpose of keeping the people informed and helping
everyone to stay connected.

C. Let Us Practice
Exercise 1. Write T if the statement is true, write F if the statement is false. Write
your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

_______1. One of the important values of media is its function as a source of entertainment.
_______2. The pervasive nature of media makes it exclusive in every part of a place.
_______3. The media has the power to persuade people.
_______4. Media has become the largest source of information nowadays.
_______5. TV shows, music, films, books, clips and videos, and social media are just some
of the things that the media offers as entertainment.
_______6. The media has a binding influence with its audience.
_______7. Demassification refers to channels of communication that involve transmitting
information in some way, shape or form to large numbers of people.
_______8. The invention of the telegraph led to telephones, radios, and televisions.
_______9. The internet is a development instead of an invention.
______10. Mass media divides the masses into segments before choosing which segments to
target.

D. Let Us Remember

Today’s media has come a long form way cave painting. While the traces of the
industrial and electronic age still remain in modern media, the Internet is the
prevailing platform of media in the information age.
`
Technology allows people to have better and faster access to information, which in
turn allows them to easily adopt newer media technologies.
Society is influenced by media in so many ways. It is the media that people get
information about a lot of things and also form opinions and make a judgment
regarding various issues. It is the media, which keep people updated about what is
happening around them and the world.

E. Let Us Practice More

Exercise 2. Instruction: Cut out pictures of different media through different ages.
Or draw to make it more personalized. Draft a timeline of your exposure to

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 traditional and new media on a bond paper. For each item of media, you are going
to include a picture or image, year, short description, and a personal insight.

F. Evaluation
Instruction: Identify what is being described in the following sentences and write
your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. It is said to be the foundation of democracy.
2. In the evolution of media, the internet is considered as a medium in this age.
3. This term is derived from the word demassify which means to divide or break up (a
social or political unit) into its component parts.
4. It is considered as a watchdog of the society.
5. It refers to channels of communication that involve transmitting information in some
way, shape or form to large numbers of people.
6. In the evolution of media, television is considered one of the mediums.
7. The printing press is invented in this age.
8. Cave painting is considered medium in this age.
9. Characteristics of mass media that tells mass media is an expensive type of
communication due to its massive scale and the technological equipment it requires.
10. Pertains to the important role of media that provides relaxation and entertainment.

IV. RUBRIC FOR SCORING (if necessary)

V. ANSWER KEY
*Exercise 1:
1. T
2. T
3. T
4. T
5. T
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 6. T
7. F
8. T
9. T
10. F

*Exercise 2: Answer may vary.

*Evaluation:
1. Media
2. Information Age
3. Demassification
4. Media
5. Mass Media
6. Electronic Age
7. Industrial Age
8. Prehistoric Age
9. Commodity
10. Entertainment source

VI. REFERENCES

Gonzales, Edward D. (2016). Media and Information Literacy, Manila, Philippines: JFS
Publishing Services.

Prepared by:

LEA G. NOVELA
Senior High School Teacher II

Reviewed:
RINO G. ORR
Senior High School- Assistant Principal II

Approved:
RAMILO G. FURAQUE
School Principal I