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The 20th Century was one of rapid social and technological progress, and progress in one of these areas often mirrored or encouraged progress in the other (and vice versa). Mass Media - or media designed to reach a vast audience - really began during this era with the advent and widespread use of mediums like radio, mass-circulation of newspapers and magazines, movies and television. Never before had society been able to communicate on such a large scale in such a short amount of time. This "Death of Distance" made it possible for countries (particularly America) to have a truly national culture; one that was exported to other countries (who, in turn, exported their own ideas) and ushered in a truly global era.
 * The History of Mass Media**

During this unit we are looking at how Mass Media has evolved over the course of the 20th Century. Your groups will be researching the following mediums and creating a timeline using Mac's Bee Docs program, which you will turn into a movie. This site will serve as a starting point, containing resources for you to utilize in the course of your research as well as a place for us to load our content once we have created our movies. The topics for this unit include: Below is a video on the history of radio. media type="youtube" key="VVMGJlj0KY4" height="385" width="480" align="center"
 * Radio
 * Television
 * Magazines
 * Newspapers
 * Cinema
 * Internet
 * Music

To aid you in this research, the following sites will be of use to you:
 * [|Online textbook by Dr. Ron Whittaker] - Dr. Whittaker has put together a great online textbook with a lot of resources, particularly for radio and television. This site will be useful to all topics however, and I encourage you to use this as a starting point for your research regardless of the medium you are researching.
 * [|Worldbook online]- This online encyclopedia from Infohio is a great resource that contains a lot of information on each medium and can serve as a good starting point for your project as well.
 * [|Introduction to Radio on How Stuff Works] - This is a good site for an introduction to radio in particular, and it has useful links for further research.
 * [|History of TV] - Website containing some primary documents on TV's evolution as well as pictures of different television sets over the years.
 * [|Current.org] - This site has some really good information on the history of public broadcasting, including timelines and source material.
 * [|The Museum of Broadcasting] - The Museum of Broadcasting will be useful to those doing research on TV or radio.
 * [|Internet Society] - Good place to start for those doing the history of the internet, focuses mostly on the development of the internet in the early days.
 * [|Computer History.org] - This is a great site that documents the development of the internet by decade and year, and will be an invaluable resource for you in creating your timeline.
 * [|AMC's filmsite.org] - A comprehensive look at the history of cinema organized by decade.
 * [|Well.com's History of Magazines] - This site by Art Kleiner gives a good narrative history of the magazine and it's evolution, particularly after photography came into more widespread use.
 * [|Internet Archives]: A digital archive of a multitude of radio broadcasts, movies, and other forms of media that have been archived. Great site to listen to actual broadcasts of some of the things you'll be reading about!
 * [|History of Music from thinkquest.org]: Pretty decent site for those doing a history of music. Talks about music's development throughout the 20th century (along with other centuries).
 * [|Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]- Great site for history of music... should be unblocked soon!
 * I will also have print resources available in class, which will be located on the work desk beneath the World Map. Other resources you find may be acceptable as well, please consult with me on using them (don't spend all of your time searching for alternate sources, however!)

New sites:
 * [|Indian Broadcasting] This is a brief history of Indian broadcasting and how radio and TV developed in India. Remember for your project you should focus on more than just American History- this is World History!
 * [|China on Museum of Broadcasting] Same site only the history of Chinese broadcasting.

On the Bee Docs Timeline Project page you will find examples, directions, and a copy of the rubric I will be using to grade your projects.