Monrovia, Liberia Alfred Sirleaf, editor-

publisher http://www.monocle.c

om/film/culture/the-daily-talk/

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Modes of Reading Hearing Public or

Reading public?

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1. Hearing Public1. Communal

1. binding2. Local embrace3. Face-to-face

participation4. Pulpit News5. Religious(?)

1. Reading Public1. Atomistic

1. fragmenting2. Distant

embrace3. Vicarious partic.

1. Imagined Communities

4. Printed news5. Secular(?)

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1. Scarcity/expense writing material

1. stone, clay, papyrus, parchment

2. “Calligraphy as enemy of literacy”

Vernacular/text symbols

Low-cost operation “Coffee house” with

the coffee Democratic

Watchdog

MIT2000

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1. Transportation to Transmission Model

1. Message Faster than Messenger

2. Early Examples1. smoke signals,

drums2. ship-to-ship/shore

semaphore

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1. Claude Chappe (France, 1794)

2. Technology:1. Wood, rope, iron,

stone

3. “Software”1. Code book

4. Paris-Toulon 760km: How long to send message?

5. Other lines (Strasbourg, Brussels)

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1. Military Use2. Nationalism/

Nation State1. Sweden, Russia,

Spain, Prussia (1830s)

3. Exclusive State Use (France)

4. Drawbacks?

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1. Samuel F. Morse (US)1. Alfred Vail2. http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=oo0hSZ9R_Xk

2. First message, 18441. Washington-Baltimore

3. Software: Morse Code1. Dots/dashes linked to

alphabet4. Hardware:

1. Electricity, magnetism, reliable batteries

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1. Rapid Growth in Miles of Telegraph Cable

1. 1846: 40 2. 1850: 12,0003. 1865: 37,000 (US)

2. 1861 transcontinental line

3. Pony Express1. 1860-612. 10 days, MO to CA

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1. Conquer Distance1. Space-biased

2. Sublime/Wonder3. Use in Warfare4. News Agencies:

1. Havas, Reuters, Associated Press

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1. Rail Right-of-Way2. Monitor rail traffic

(dispatching)3. controlling device for

‘physical things’4. Integrated system5. Transmission-cum-

Transportation

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Optical Telegraph 5-10

characters/min 0-13 hours

daily/summer Many dozens of

skilled employees

Electrical Telegraph 60 per minute 24 hours 10+ times volume

of information Handful of skilled

employees

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1. Central Offices1. Lines/Local

Offices2. “same spoke”

direct communication

2. Messenger boys3. Reply mechanism

1. Circular Process

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1. Send messages/ verify receipt

2. Short-hand Lexicon

1. SFD, GM

3. “Network” socializing

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1. James Carey: 1. Maintenance of Society in Time (Time-

biased media)2. Extension of Messages in Space (Space---

biased media)

2. How commodity markets work before telegraph?

1. Arbitrage trading

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1. National markets1. Geographic

distance less relevant

2. Space-binding media

2. Arbitrage to Futures1. Speculation: from

space to time2. Futures contracts

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1. Chicago Commodities Exchange, 1848

2. De-contextualize markets

3. Eradicate Space; Speculate w/Time

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1. Printing press to Telegraph

2. Large capacity/less enduring

3. Administration1. territorial control

4. Cultural homogenization

5. Secular

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Alexander Graham Bell http://www.youtube.co

m/watch?v=aimMH-ChUK0

Scotland/Brantford/Boston

Deaf students/teachers Acoustics/sound waves

electronically 1876: patent/

demonstration

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1. Three Boxes1. generator2. Speaker tube3. Wet-cell battery

2. Switchboard operators1. female 2. (male telegraph

operators)

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1. Voice transmission 2. Bi-directional3. Real-time4. Unskilled users5. minimally mediated6. Rapid growth?

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1. Telefon Hirmondo, 1. Budapest, 1893-1920s2. 6,000 subscribers

2. Daily Schedule1. News, concerts,

children’s programs, etc.

3. Electrophone Co. (UK)4. Telephone Herald (US)

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1. Telegraph Influence2. Interactive Function3. Complement

Telegraph, not compete with

4. New Media Improve on Older Media

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1. Bell/AT&T2. 66% of phone

lines were business: 1893

3. Cities, not rural areas

4. High rates/Long distance

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Martin Article1. Private

Profit/Public Interest (Bell)

2. Business3. Working classes

1. Independent Phone Companies, 1900s-

2. Alternative phone uses1.Women2.Community3.Rural Party Lines

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