Alphabet to Internet: Mediated Communication in Our Lives by Irving Fang is a tour-de-force by the emeritus University of Minnesota journalism professor, available only through the publisher. What he's done is to create 15 fairly concise (20-30 pages each) short histories of different media (each of which is also available separately from the publisher) into this large volume. The chapters cover writing, printing, extending reading (books, newspapers, and magazines), mail as a mode of communication, telegraph and telephone (wired and wireless) services, photography, motion pictures, sound recording, radio, television, computers and the Internet, playing video games, being persuasive (various kinds of persuasive editorial content-and advertising-across the years), crossing boundaries (a sense of how media may contribute to tension between the West and the rest of the world), and a summary and conclusion. Good use is made of the large page size to head sub-heads for sections of each chapter, and often extensive quotations that relate to the material discussed on that page. The book wraps up with a nearly 150-page, 5,000-entry "timeline of communication and culture" which ranges right up to 2007. The entries range across (largely American) communications and culture more broadly with about 30 items for each of the last 100 years and somewhat fewer for earlier periods. The breadth of material here is amazing, ranging from the pre-historic (briefly!) to the plethora of services we have today. What many readers will appreciate is the clear writing that doesn't get bogged down in details, but provides the main story. While the book lacks illustrations, it carries the reader with its strong sense of flow and movement, and its discussion of the impact of succeeding generations of ways to communicate, increasingly fuzzing the line between mass and personal modes of linking up.
Chris Sterling
Communication Booknotes Quarterly
Alphabet to Internet is a wonderful combination of the history and
practical application of media in our lives, the lives of our ancestors, and
offers the reader a glimpse into the role mediated communication will play
in the lives of future generations.
David A. Copeland
A. J. Fletcher Professor
School of Communications
Elon University
Alphabet to Internet is the definitive single volume account of the
genesis, evolution, and influence of media in our lives. Fang has accomplished
a rare feat in this formidable and highly useful volume. His vast command
of the subject is complemented by a narrative style that is concise, eloquent,
and evocative. Indeed, the text is at once comprehensive and thoroughly engrossing.
Students and instructors will embrace it and that is no everyday occurrence.
The timeline is about the best I've ever seen. Excellent resource. Alphabet
to Internet is an impressive achievement and a welcome addition to the communication
canon.
Dr. Michael Keith
Professor
Communication Department
Boston College
Today's media — and tomorrow's—cannot be understood without a
look back, far back, at how earlier communications revolutions rearranged
not only the way people exchanged information and entertained themselves,
but the way they lived and thought. Alphabet to Internet undertakes
this ambitious and important task with the wisdom, clarity, wit and eye for
a telling detail we have come to expect from Prof. Fang.
Mitchell Stephens
Professor of Journalism
New York University
This is a comprehensive examination of virtually all forms of what the author
calls “mediated communication,” embracing all of traditional mass
communication as well as those forms that fall short of this definition whether
that involves the mail of the Pony Express or more recent digital communication.
The book is rich historically and also on the cutting edge (Web 2.0 enthusiasts
would say, “the bleeding edge”) with very recent developments
such as YouTube or Katrina. It is a graceful narrative with strong context,
linear timelines and important treatment of recent developments. The range
of topics covered here under the flag of mediated communication goes well
beyond most conventional media texts. For example, the mail, telegraph and
photography get separate treatment. In fact, the approach is more conceptual
and functional, rather than an industry inventory or a treatment wedded to
technology per se. The book is definitely written in the authoritative voice
of the author, but is also well documented with materials that go back generations,
even centuries and is as up to date as recent books and Web sites on the subject.
This is a good grounding on the link between the Internet and earlier media/platform
forms without breathlessly declaring this to be the new media age, which it
may or may not be. All of the major platforms/industries are included—such
as radio, TV, video games, etc. and there is an emphasis on understanding
these media and their functions and influence. There is a useful chapter on
crossing boundaries. The book is blessedly free from the baggage of academic
pretension, neither hewing to social scientific line on the one hand or that
of cultural studies on the other. It cuts its own path and is a clean direct
approach without extraneous quotes, charts and graphs or excessive documentation.
The approach and tone is more that of a storyteller than the conventional
text.
The author is, of course, an authoritative figure in the field as noted before,
highly regarded for his work in electronic media education and for several
previous books. He is a true pioneer in the digital/computer field having
developed computer-assisted software for ABC News long before that was fashionable.
On the more critical side, the book while up to date in its various sources
lacks some key ones, such as Paul Starr’s treatise and some other recent
and important studies of the media, society and culture. It could also benefit
with more attention to globalization and media. At times more names of publications,
TV networks, and leading figures might be added to give the text a greater
sense of the passing scene, but it may be the author’s intent not to
do that as such treatment has to be constantly updated. What I like, though,
as that many of those cited are rather unconventional, not necessarily well
know figures but individuals who either have contributed to the development
of mediated communication or as stand-ins who help us understand it.
The chronology of the back is amazingly comprehensive, but definitely too
long. I’d edit it down quite a bit. And I’d put the references
at the end of chapters. In some places a few visuals would be helpful photography,
for example. Some of the historical assessment would also benefit from some
visual treatment and there are pictures aplenty available for that.
Otherwise, I’d say this is a first class effort, a pleasure to read
and definitely of value for students and lay readers who are interested in
better understanding the developments and evolution of the modern media.
(This is) an engaging and comprehensive treatment of mediated communication
across the ages with connections to the digital revolution. Irving Fang, an
eminent authority on media, provides insight after insight in this remarkably
accessible book that is at once a readable non-fiction work—and a valuable
text.
Everette E. Dennis
Distinguished Felix E. Larkin Professor
Fordham University