Misunderstanding Media PDF

The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution.

This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view.

It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation.

In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites.

He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’.

He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained.

Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.