Victorian Internet

[francis]

Just finished reading The Victorian Internet (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0753807033/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/202-9919058-5070234), which is a pretty good book about the telegraph, and the massive social and political changes that it brought about. We may think that the internet has revolutionised communication and knowledge sharing, but it's nothing compared to what the Victorians went through. We've used to newspapers having up to the minute news, but this was a brand new thing for the Victorians - foreign news could be up to 3 months old in some newspapers. The telegraph was really the first technology that started to shrink the globe, and it's interesting to see some of the issues that this caused.

[Tom]

I remember reading that it was the telephone which wrecked the British Empire. Before its invention to be Governor of Bengal was to be a local king. This attracted the best people and encouraged independent thought. After its invention all the instructions came down the wire. They were usually stupid instructions and people stopped bothering. Dunno if this has any implications for the web!

[francis]

The telephone was also the downfall of the telegraph system - it completely removed the need for skilled operators using Morse tappers and for people decoding punched paper tape. People could actually speak to one another over long distances in real time.

As for the internet, have you heard of Voice Over IP technology (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=define%3A+voip&btnG=Google+Search)? The USA are already thinking about having to tax it because of the absolutely huge amount of money the traditional telecoms industry will lose.

[Tom]

I have not heard that I have yet persuaded anyone to listen to KenRadio on which VOIP is a frequent discussion topic. I think they said there a development expected in the UK.

My grandfather's parents could not afford to send him to university but he passed an exam to work in the Central Telegraph Office in the City of London - the rough equivalent of Redmond c1900. His job was more to do with languages than technology. It was a great shock for London to have people phoning in all sorts of languages. He spoke English, French and German equally well (unlike me!).