eprintid: 19679
rev_number: 39
eprint_status: archive
userid: 6
dir: disk0/00/01/96/79
datestamp: 2015-10-21 13:44:18
lastmod: 2022-05-31 22:43:32
status_changed: 2015-10-21 13:44:18
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Wenzlhuemer, Roland
title: The Development of Telegraphy, 1870-1900: A European Perspective on a World History Challenge
subjects: ddc-900
divisions: i-72020
cterms_swd: Telekommunikation
cterms_swd: Kommunikation
cterms_swd: Europa
cterms_swd: Geschichte
abstract: This article puts forward that the study of so-called information societies and of the interplay of information technology and society in general needs to be amended from a historical perspective. Only by looking back further than the 1960s can the concept of an information revolution be critically evaluated. I argue that the study of information societies must at least go back until the invention and spread of electric telegraphy which has brought about the detachment of telecommunication from transport and thus created a virtual space of information. The essay seeks to provide some initial empirical findings in order to facilitate the identification of regional case studies with different degrees of global connectivity. Statistical data from the ITU archives in Geneva has been collected and
indexed in order to illustrate how different regions in Europe and the wider world developed in telegraphic terms between 1870 and 1900. It is hoped and anticipated that these initial findings will be refined and shall eventually provide the structural basis for detailed historical comparisons between regions with different points of connection.
date: 2007
publisher: Blackwell Publishing Ltd
id_scheme: DOI
ppn_swb: 1658772881
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-196795
language: eng
bibsort: WENZLHUEMETHEDEVELOP2007
full_text_status: public
publication: History Compass
volume: 5
pagerange: 1720-1742
citation:   Wenzlhuemer, Roland  (2007) The Development of Telegraphy, 1870-1900: A European Perspective on a World History Challenge.  History Compass, 5.  pp. 1720-1742.      
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/19679/1/Wenzlhuemer_The_Development_of_Telegraphy_2007.pdf