@standageVictorianInternet1999
Title: [@standageVictorianInternet1999] date: 2023-03-08 type: reference project: Memex2
tags:: Memex2, information, connectedness, telegraph, competence
Reference¶
Standage, Tom. The Victorian Internet : the Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs on-Line Pioneers. Berkley trade pbk. ed. New York: Berkley Books, 1999. https://archive.org/embed/victorianinterne00toms
Summary & Key Take Aways¶
Tom Standage, in chapter 5 of The Victoria Internet, narrates the incredible feat of the transatlantic wiring of the telegraph as well as the difficulties that arose. The idea of laying down a wire in the atlantic was met with skepticism and worries about the safety of the cable (Standage, 1999, 74). This challenging task was first taken by Cyrus W. Field, who ironically was very ignorant about telegraphy but was also wealthy (Standage, 1999, 75). After a test run of laying cable between Newfoundland and New York was successful, the Atlantic Telegraph Company was set up for the transantlatic telegraph (Standage, 1999, 77). The first attempts of the company was doomed to fail when they hired Dr. Edward Whitehouse, who arogantly disregarded telegraph theory and based himself rather on experimentation results (Standage, 1999, 77). The cable he devised was too thin and had too high a voltage, so after a few attempts to laid the cables was finally achieved, the cable stopped working within a month as the high voltage degraded the cable (Standage, 1999, 84). Controversy arose around Whitehorse's telegraphy knowledge and involvement, and as such, Professor William Thomson, who closely studied submarine telegraphy theory, was hired and replaced Whitehorse for the next attempt (Standage, 1999, 86). In 1865, Europe and North America was successfuly connected which sparked the advent of a more connected world (Standage, 1999, 89).
How does it relate to class?¶
The internet can be seen as a place that connects space across the world digitally. The transatlantic telegraph takes this concept literally and physically. Through the inimaginable feat of the cable laying, it connects nations across the ocean, extending the space of communication. The world was started to interlink itself and it was exicting!
It also connects to the notion of competence, emergence, and social neccessities which I explore more in this atomic notes about Competences.