THE VICTORIAN INTERNET

Wired city in 1890- New York Utility Lines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Victorian_Internet

  

NOTE: My metacognition, or thinking, is denoted in italicized text.

What I took away most from the book, The Victorian Internet, by Tom Standage was two-fold. First, I truly grasped how significant the invention and use of the telegraph really was in terms of its impact on society in the late 1800’s/early 1900s.  It created an interconnectedness in terms of knowledge, interpersonal, and globalization that had never been experienced before. It had a huge commercial impact, strong military use, and even social use.  The book also explained the diffusion or process of use and then how new technology goes through stages.  In addition to this, the book illuminated the consequences that the use of technology has in our physical, social, political, economic and our intellectual or cognitive world.  Secondly, the book discusses features common to the development and uses of the electric telegraph networks during the second half of the 19th century with the Internet of the late 20th century: : hype, skepticism, hackers, on-line romances and weddings, chat-rooms, flame wars, information overload, predictions of imminent world peace, to name a few.

So how did it all begin and what was the diffusion of the telegraph?  For centuries people communicated across distances only as quickly as the fastest ship or horse could travel. Generations of innovators tried and failed to develop speedier messaging devices. Initially, the success of optical designs was invented, but use was limited because they were so expensive to run, so only the government could afford to run them and their information-carrying capacity meant they were just used for official business.  Also, optical telegraphs did not work in the dark (constraints) so careful selection of location was needed that was not near any water because of fog and mist. (An example of careful design.) In addition to this, batteries and electricity were not available in the early nineteenth century so buy-in for the electric telegraph was slow to grow.  After electricity was invented, and in the mid-1800s, a few extraordinary pioneers at last succeeded. Their invention--the electric telegraph--shrank the world more quickly than ever before.  France was behind in use as the French were reluctant to abandon old technology, the optical telegraph, in favor for the new.  Telegrams were expensive to send so only the rich could afford to send trivial messages so this represents the small group of elites using it.  (Could this be an example of digital divide in history?)  Most people used the telegraph to strictly covey urgent news.  There was also a source of confusion to those unfamiliar with its use and confusion of the electric jargon kept the use to those most curious.  (Lack of understanding often leads to misconception and/or skepticism.)  Once enthusiasm replaced skepticism, the growth of the telegraphic network was explosive. Telegraph lines radiated out from central telegraph offices in major towns – Each telegraph office could only communicate with offices on the same spoke of the network and the central office at the end of the line – Messages from one office to another on the same spoke could be transmitted directly, but all other messages had to be telegraphed to the central office and were then re-transmitted down another spoke of the network toward their final destination- finally needing messengers to take written transcribed messages to the recipient. (There seem to always be constraints with technology.)  Once the Atlantic cable was installed, the volume of traffic increased- the rapid delivery of messages caused information overload, and the telegraph was in danger of becoming victim to its own success. As stated in the book on page 92, “Once you’ve gotten used to being able to send messages very quickly, it’s difficult to put up with delays.”  The telegraph gave rise to creative business practices and new forms of crime as it “provided unscrupulous individuals with novel opportunities for fraud, theft, and deception,” page 105. Romances blossomed over the wires. Secret codes were devised by some users, and cracked by others. This cryptography by hackers created a need for more security systems and security measures. (Attempts are always being made to regulate new technologies and provide security to its users.) The benefits of the network were relentlessly hyped by its advocates and dismissed by its skeptics. And attitudes toward everything from news gathering to war had to be completely rethought. 

Many generalities can be drawn that relate to today’s use of the modern Internet in society and its impact on our educational practice.  Tom Standage states on his website, “The telegraph unleashed the greatest revolution in communications since the development of the printing press. Modern Internet users are in many ways the heirs of the telegraphic tradition, which means that today we are in a unique position to understand the telegraph — and the telegraph, in turn, can give us a fascinating perspective on the challenges, opportunities and pitfalls of the Internet.”

The first generality that has an impact on our practice is that human nature often leads to unethical use and use of technology for life-enhancement.  Choices about use will reflect human nature- good, bad, indifferent.  Tom Standage, himself, stated, “The rise and fall of the telegraph is a parable about how we react to new technologies: for some people, they tap a deep vein of optimism, while others find in them new ways to commit crime, initiate romance or make a fast buck — age-old human tendencies that are all too often blamed on the technologies themselves.”

What this means for us as educators is that our practice has to include empathy, ethical decision-making, and values discussions including personal and interpersonal relations. My building works hard to build leaders by focusing on the 7 Habits for Happy Kids adapted from Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.  I also work in collaboration with grade level teachers to embed digital citizenship activities into their lesson design.  One such activity deals with teaching staff and students to evaluate the reliability of information and sources found on the Internet which goes along with the generalization that technology speeds up the spread of information and misinformation. A third generalization stems from the understanding that to move technology into lives takes social, cultural, economic, and collaborative understanding and initiative.  This points to the importance of human skills as being part of our educational practice.  This leads into a fourth generalization that technology use changes the structure of authority. Teachers have to have a lot of basic knowledge and know how to use conceptual tools. Lastly, technology costs money – It is often available to the haves and not necessarily to the have nots.  We have to be conscious of digital divide both in terms of access, possession, and all the conventions that go with it.

https://tomstandage.wordpress.com/books/the-victorian-internet/