TImeline of Social Media & Its History

Newspaper (1690)

·         1690:  The first newspaper is published in America, called “The Publick Occurrences”

·       1853: Mary Ann Shadd Cary (African-American female journalist) published the 1^st edition of her own newspaperà called the “Provincial Freeman”

·         1889:   Nellie Bly (known for her stunt journalism), travelled the world in less than 80 days without a man (not common) and  wrote about her journey

·         1957:  Doris Anderson1^st Canadian women to become editor (Chatelaine Magazine)

Camera & Photography (1839)

·         1829: Louis Daguerre formed a partnership with Joseph Niepce to improve the process Niepce had developed

·         1839:  After Niepce’s death, Daguerre invented the first known camera which he called “the Daguerreotype”

·         1843: Antoinette de Correvontà 1^st professional woman photographer. She also opened a Daguerreotype Studio in Munich.

·         1900: Kodak created a camera for women (easy to use) called “the Kodak Brownie Roll Film Camera”

·         1941: Margaret Bourke-White (photographer and journalist) was the 1^st woman given permission to photograph World War II

Radio (1906)

·         1906:   Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (Canadian!) invented the radio

·         1912:  Charles "Doc" Herrold begins the first regular public radio broadcasting of voice and music 

·         1926:  NBC -- the "National Broadcasting Company" begins as the first radio network.

·         1933: Sheila Borrett à1^st female radio announcer. (Her first announcement lasted for 2 min.)

·         1971:  Gloria Gaynor records "Never Can Say Goodbye" à the 1^st disco record on US radio

·         1968: Barbara Frum à 1^st female to talk about serious issues on the radio

****1918:  The Canada Elections Act gives all women over 21 the right to vote on May 24 1921****

Television (1926)

·         1926:  Scotsman John Logie Baird invents mechanical television which he calls a "Televisor" --a postcard-sized black and pink (not black and white) image with 30 scan lines running at a flickering 12 1/2 frames per second

·         1928:  Milton Berle (The U.S.)à a young comedianà the 1^st  person to be seen on television on an experimental broadcastà 20 years later, he became known throughout the country as "Mr. Television."

·         1929:  Philo Farnsworth transmits the 1st TV picture of a living person- his wife in his San Francisco lab. (FIRST TIME A WOMAN WAS ON TV!)

·         1976: Barbara Waltersà 1^st  female  newscaster on US TV nightly network news program on ABC

·         1977:  Pam Oliverà 1^st female sports reporter to report sideline for football games

·         1986: Oprah Winfreyà  1^st  African-American woman to own her own television production company

·        2004: Lesley Visserà 1^st female assigned to report on Monday Night Football & 1^st woman assigned to report on Super Bowl sideline

·         2009: Katie Couric & Dianne Sawyerà 1^st  solo female news anchors

Internet (1950s-1970s)

·         1950s-1970s:  Originally invented by a group of researchers & scientists at the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) after the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik—used mainly for military purposes

·         1969:  The Internet begins as a link between four university labs, called ARPANET

·         1981:   Bill Gates releases his invention of the first IBM-brand "PC" ("Personal Computer")

·         1997:  The world falls in love with everything Internet, and there is talk of a "New Economy"

Prior to the previous decades, women in the anything media related was unheard of or quite unusual. Not to mention women in power or in charge of anything that men had once dominated in. Through our research, we had expected that we would find a gap between the invention of new media technologies and when women had taken up roles to be a part of each of these paradigm shifts. Nevertheless, through our research, we learned the names and times of these new extraordinary technologies and courageous women.  After the first newspaper had been published in North America, about 163 years later, an African-American woman, Mary Ann Shadd Cary published her own newspaper. After the photographic camera had been invented, 4 years later, Antoinette Correvont became the first professional female photographer. 61 years after this invention, however, the camera became available to all women because of its “easy use”.  It was 27 years after the radio had been invented that Sheila Borrett became the first female radio announcer. Shortly after the radio had been invented, women in North America were given the right to vote in 1918. This explains as to why from this point on, more and more women had begun to take control of their rights. Unfortunately, history continued to repeat its pattern when it took 50 years after television had been invented for women to appear on it as newscasters. Lastly, since the internet had been invented quite recently, it shortly became generally used by the whole world about 27 years after. Despite the impeccable distance that women have come, till this day, many women are not always given equal advantages and rights that men get. There is still a lot of work at hand.

Works Cited

Bellis, Mary. "History of Photography". About.com. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 02 Oct 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/stilphotography.htm>

Bellis, Mary. "The History of Printing and Printing Processes". About.com. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 02 Oct 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/printing_4.htm>

Bellis, Mary. " The Invention of Television". About.com. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 02 Oct 2010. <http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/Television_Time_2.htm>

Crysdale, Joy. “Fearless Female Journalists”. Toronto: Second Story Press, 2010. Pg. 5-84.

Fry, Mervyn C. “History In The Making”. Hammondmuseumofradio.org. Hammond Museum of Radio, 10 Feb 2004. Web. 02 Oct 2010. <http://www.hammondmuseumofradio.org/fessenden-bio.html>

Genova, Tom. “First Women”. UKonline.co.uk. 05, Oct. 2010. <http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Names/Sheila.htm>

"Technology Timeline". Classicthemes.com. The Media Management Group, 31, Jan 2009. Web. 02 Oct 2010. <http://www.classicthemes.com/technologyTimeline.html>