Gabriele Balbi

Media and the Imaginary in History

This paper discusses how media theory and history should approach specimens of evidence about the cultural reception of media pertaining to the realms of the fantastic, such as speculations, predictions, dreams, and other forms of fantasy regarding media. It argues that the role of the imaginary in the history of media can be fully comprehended only by employing a perspective which is dynamic in time. In different phases of a mediums evolution, in fact, we find different fantasies; it follows that we need specific approaches to study them. The article discusses fantasies which are specific to three stages in media change: those preceding the actual invention of a medium; those accompanying the earliest period after the introduction of a new medium; and those connected to old media.

The history of Fininvest/Mediaset’s media strategy: 30 years of politics, the market, technology and Italian society

In this article we will analyse Fininvest/Mediaset’s strategies in the media sector from its foundation to the present, considering four variables: politics, the market, technology and society. In particular, we will try to establish if, and to what extent, these four factors have affected and, in turn, have been affected by the company’s strategies. Our interest in studying Mediaset stems from the pivotal role the company plays in the Italian television and media sector. Indeed, according to European Audiovisual Observatory sources (2006: 8), Mediaset is now the leading Italian media enterprise and ranks 17th in the world, registering a turnover of €3397 million. Its core business is commercial television but, as we will see, in recent years it has continued to branch out and expand. First, it focused on the internet, then on digital terrestrial TV and, finally, on mobile TV. The key role that Mediaset now plays in the communications industry has spurred us to investigate the history of the group from its origins for two reasons. First, to discover whether, and if so which of the company’s current distinctive characteristics have distant origins. Second, to attempt to identify a guiding thread in Fininvest/Mediaset’s strategies, accompanying its success and favouring its presence in the Italian media market for over 30 years. Even if a number of primary sources were used, the truly innovative element of this research is its multi-target approach. We have avoided focusing solely on one aspect of the group’s history and, instead, have tried to set the entire history of Fininvest/Mediaset within a broader framework, encompassing political, economic, technological and social considerations (Richeri, 2006).

The Double Birth of Wireless: Italian Radio Amateurs and the interpretative Flexibility of New Media

This article argues that the “double-birth” model proposed by Gaudreault and Marion provides a meaningful contribution to our understanding of how wireless telegraphy was developed and eventually re-invented during its early history. Drawing from a case study on the role played by Italian “radio amateurs” between 1900 and the early 1920s, we examine how such users shifted the mediums definition, legislation, and identity in the first years after the introduction of wireless technology. The emergence of new potential meanings and applications ultimately rebuilt and redefined this medium, creating space for innovation and multiple “births.”

How the Web was told: Continuity and change in the founding fathers’ narratives on the origins of the World Wide Web:

The essay investigates the evolution of the “narratives of invention” used by the founding fathers of the World Wide Web in a selected corpus of papers written by Tim Berners-Lee and colleagues from 1989 up to 1993 and later in the books of James Gillies and Robert Cailliau and of Berners-Lee himself in 2000. Thanks to a textual analysis that cross these sources, we identify three main sets of common keywords that did not change and three couples of conflicting keywords that depict the evolution of the narratives over time. Change and continuity, intertwined with conservation and innovation, emerge as the key strategies of the Web’s founding fathers in narrating their idea.

STUDYING THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

This article proposes a methodology for studying the social history of telecommunications grounded in the interrelations and contaminations between Anglophone and Continental literature; its originality lies in the fact that it presents and discusses both traditions. Before tackling the central theme, the reasons for studying the history of telecommunications will be discussed and three different approaches will be considered. The first is the constructivist approach which, examines ‘relevant social groups’ and their decisions regarding telecommunications. The second is socio-economic and considers both path dependence theories and concepts useful in understanding the network economy: natural monopolies, economies of scale, externalities and public services. Finally, the macro-systemic approach will be considered. In our proposal these three approaches, deriving from both the Anglophone and Continental schools of thought, form a methodological basis for studying the history of telecommunications.

Point-to-Point: Telecommunications Networks from the Optical Telegraph to the Mobile Telephone

This chapter surveys the history of telecommunications from a global perspective and highlights three influential interpretative traditions. It has two parts. The first part defines “telecommunications” and sketches the main dimensions of four telecommunications networks over a two-hundred-year period – the optical telegraph, the electric telegraph, the landline telephone, and the mobile telephone (and its predecessor, the wireless telegraph). The second part shows how historical scholarship on topics in the history of telecommunications has been shaped by three intellectual traditions: the Large Technical Systems (LTS) approach; political economy; and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT).

Marconi's diktats. How Italian international wireless policy was shaped by a private company, 1903–1911

Wireless telegraphy, born in late 19th century, was regulated at international level very soon in two conferences both held in Berlin in 1903 and 1906. These conferences were organized by Germany in order to break up the British Marconi Companys monopoly. Germany, France and U.S.A. opposed this trust, while U.K. and Italy defended it for different reasons. This paper aims to identify the political, economic, technical, and social reasons that led, or in some cases forced, Italy to protect Marconis interests at international level. This defensive strategy put the country at the center either of the international debate on wireless, or of the Marconi Companys global strategy.

Deconstructing “Media Convergence”: A Cultural History of the Buzzword, 1980s–2010s

This chapter aims to deconstruct, mainly through a revision of scientific literature, the historical meanings of the term “media convergence” from the 1980s to the early 2010s. During these decades, media convergence has become more and more a popular buzzword in media studies and has been surrounded by the emergence of four different discourses and narratives. A technological narrative has focused on the coming together of different technical devices up to the so-called uberbox. An economic/market dimension has been symbolized by mergers and acquisitions among private companies in different sectors. A political/regulatory media convergence has become a common policy in different countries and institutions, willing to favor and, at the same time, to respond to market convergence. Finally, a cultural perspective has seen new users’ practices and new production and distribution of content as the key phenomena in media convergence.

Wireless’s “Critical Flaw”: The Marconi Company, Corporation Mentalities, and the Broadcasting Option:

This article has a double aim: one empirical–historical and one theoretical. First, it analyzes how the idea of an “alternative” use of wireless (namely, broadcasting) emerged and was debated inside the British Marconi Company in the first two decades of the 20th century. This historical part, based on unpublished sources preserved in the Marconi Archives, shows that this idea was (rationally) opposed by the majority of company’s management. Second, this article aims to place private companies at the center of media historiography, and more in general media studies, through a multifocal approach.

A common technical culture of telegraphy: The Telegraph Union and the significance of technological standardization 1865–1875

The Telegraph Union, founded in 1865, was the first supranational organization to link different countries with the aim of regulating a public service. Its objectives were: technological standardization, a set of regulations and the adoption of uniform international tariffs. The paper aims to establish how the Telegraph Union influenced the technical standardization process of the international network in the second half of the XIX century.