Wiring the World The telegraph and the dawn of the information society

Wheatstone-Cooke Five-needle telegraph, 1837 Morse Telegraph Key, circa 1850

Homemade Telegraph

Overview b Questions to ponder b The communications landscape on the eve of electricity and life in the late 1800s b The telegraph and modern capitalism the social shaping of the telegraph the telgraphic shaping of society

Questions to ponder b What were the goals and values of those who built and used early wired networks? b Who and was connected, and where? b What economic and social changes did the wiring of the world facilitate? b How did the telegraph and telephone reshape existing forms of communication? b How was the telegraph a model for subsequent telecommunications like the telephone and the Internet?

The communications landscape before electricity Early 1800s: b Most of society still rural b Local and regional markets: no standard time; no standard prices b Books and newspapers available but reading public remained limited b Sources of light: the sun and candles b Communication bound to transportation

If you were born in 1840 you would live through… b development of the continental RR b arrival of the telegraph and telephone b development of universal postal delivery b arrival of electric light & the typewriter b spread of mass newspapers and magzns. b invention of the phonograph b development of photography and movies b discovery of radio transmission

How would this change your world… …if you were a common person? …if you were a business or government leader? …if you lived in a rural area …or an urban area? …if you lived outside the U.S.?

Early wired communication telegraph: 1830s-1860s (global by 1900) telephone: 1870s-1920s b Initially developed to serve business and government b Altered communication/transportation relationship b Reorganized economic and social space b Set early patterns for telecommunications ownership and control

Telecommunication was not new (electricity was) b since ancient times: messenger systems, fire and smoke signaling b postal system = human precursor of telegraph b 1600s: string telephones, megaphones b early 1800s: national semaphore systems b late 1700s/early 1800s: experiments with electrical signals (static electricity, pith balls)

The telegraph: emergence b Multiple inventors and patent wars b Morse system simple, efficient b Industrialization creates demand railroads (safety, surveillance) stock exchange, banking newspapers, wire services corporate communications imperialism

The social shaping of the telegraph b Nation- and empire-building b National development: Government or corporate control? Europe: Govt. control modeled on post U.S.: Corporate control –initial Government support (1844), but w/drawn –patent and network battles (1850s-90s) –by late 1800s: Western Union monopoly

The telegraphic shaping of society b communication as control rise of urban centers, corporations, imperial power b regional economies  national economy (Carey) b national culture national press (language patterns) national sense of time and space modernity: the new, the up-to-date

The telegraphic shaping of communications b Western Union: archetype of the modern corporation structure: HQ + branch offices ownership: investors provide capital legal: patents protect technology; regulation monopolistic tendencies (econ. of scale)

The telegraphic shaping of communications b communication as commodity: corporate tool (surveillance, decisionmaking) profitable product –consumer appliance (e.g. telephones) –consumer/business services (telegraph, phone) –news/entertainment (magazines, newspapers)

Discussion b What would have been the advantages and disadvantages of a “postal-service model” of the telecommunications in the U.S.? b What lessons from telegraph and telephone history can we apply to Internet policy today?

Image Credits Wheatstone-Cooke telegraph “ The FHTE Web History of Telecommunications” Morse Telegraph Key Tom Pereira, “Telegraph Web Museum” Homemade telegraph Tom Pereira, “How to Build a Simple Telegraph Set”