The telegraph's separation of communication from transportation and its technological evolution

Media

The telegraph marked the first time that communication was separated from transportation. Prior to that point, the most significant long-distance communication relied on signals (fire, and later a form of semaphore) broadcast over long distances (Carey, 2010). These forms, however, were limited and thus the bulk of communication relied on transportation of messages. By removing the link between transportation and communication, the telegraph set in motion a new pattern for communication that remains in force today. Communication in our world -- and by extension the way that we view our world -- reflects a direct evolution of the concept of the telegraph.

Technological Evolution

The physical means of communication underwent a strong paradigm shift with the invention of the telegraph. In the early 20th century, two events occurred that provided the impetus for technological evolution. Bell invented the telephone in 1876 but it was only the early 1900s that it became a popular technology as consumers began to see the value in the device. The Titanic disaster in 1912 became the first major media event, and this brought to the public's attention the value of rapid communication. Had the boat that sunk not been the Titanic, a highly publicized vessel, the event may not have resulted in such a profound shift in the public's consciousness (Carey, 2010). By this point, the telephone was becoming more popular among consumers and soon superseded the telegraph as the primary means of distance communication. This is a critical shift, because the emergence of the telephone as a consumer item marked a shift from distance communication as a niche market product to a mass market one.

The next phase of technological evolution was the emergence of radio, which allowed for mass broadcast of ideas. A more rapid form of mass media than newspapers, the radio soon began to serve as a means of entertainment, which to that point had remained connected tightly to transportation. The War of the Worlds broadcast was instrumental in highlighting the power that radio had over the public, illustrating that a convergence between media and reality had begun (Carey, 2010).

Television represented the next phase of technological evolution, being a form of radio with pictures. Visual images are processed more quickly than words (Carey, 2010), so this new medium became even more powerful than the previous ones. Media events became more frequent and over time television would increasingly blend reality and media, to the point where today many take what they see on television as reality even when it is not (Carey, 2010).

The Internet began as an extension of the telephone, but has quickly become merged with both television and radio as a multimedia platform. The speed at which information is transmitted is equally fast, the world of the Internet even more real, and the volume of information and the pace at which new information is even greater. This latter point is due to the fact that for the first time since the invention of the telephone, a new media form has emerged wherein the participant is able to create his or her own media experience. The Internet therefore represents a move away from passive media and back towards the active media forms that the telegraph and telephone were. This convergence of multiple data types with multiple degrees of passivity/activity has lent the Internet far greater power than other previous media forms. Yet, every major aspect of the Internet builds on the strengths of those prior media forms.

Conclusion

The telegraph remains relevant today because it altered forever the way that humans view communication. No longer was communication constrained by location. Technological advances since the telegraph has each built upon this theme, each advance offering different benefits and resulting in cultural acceleration. The modern-day convergence of these different technologies has resulted in the near total elimination of location from communication, and this promises to accelerate our culture even further. In addition, modern technology has synthesized the role of the audience, returning it from passivity to a more creative role. Not only are we in thrall to media events, we now have the power to create those events for ourselves, becoming participants in the reality that we have created, which moves us to a more comprehensive blurring of reality and media than seen before.

Works Cited:

Carey, J. (2010). Electricity creates the wired world. In possession of the author.