Why is television a one-way medium? From an engineer's point of view: two-way TV, has always been entirely possible, just like two-way telephones and two-way radios. But for the most part we just watch television; we don't send our own pictures. This section, in a sense, provides some readings that help to explain why television as we know it is one way.
The first broadcast technology was not TV, but radio. In 1930, radio broadcasting was still an amazing new technology, kind of like wireless internet access or mobile phones with cameras are today -- cool, but kind of expensive and people weren't sure where it was all going. Many people had radio receivers, and you could hear news, talk, and music over them, but people were still a little uncertain what to do with this new gizmo. In that year, the German writer Bertolt Brecht gave a talk criticizing the direction he thought radio was going in, i.e., it was becoming one-way.
Read Brecht's, "Radio as a Means of Communication." Think about what Brecht was imagining radio could be, and about why it did not come out like he wanted. Then post to the discussion list (in the "... Matrix Part IV" topic) with your thoughts about this reading and the questions it raises.
Next, read this online lecture comparing the evolution of radio broadcasting to the evolution of the internet. Think about the parallels between the history of radio and the history of the internet. Can you elaborate on some of the parallels? Can you think of important differences between the evolution of radio and the internet? Post your thoughts to the discussion list.
Finally, read Raymond Williams' essay, "The Social History of the Uses of Television Technology." This is where Williams lays out the concept of mobile privatization, which you've already encountered. But it also clarifies his larger point, which is that media like radio and television do not have to be the way they are (for instance, one-way). Rather, social forces have made them that way: they have been socially constructed as one-way. Now think about the internet, which so far is not one-way. Do you think the internet will remain that way? Why or why not? Post your thoughts to the discussion list (in " ... Matrix Part IV").