Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
From the time of Caesar in the Roman Empire to the beginning of Queen Vict-
oria's reign, all major improvements in long-range communications were in trans-
portation (Meadows, 29). The printing press expedited the production of topics, but
they had to be transported physically to reach a larger audience. The invention of
railroads shortly after the start of the 19th century was an important impetus for
the conveyance of recorded information. Before railways, ships were major trans-
porters of information. Distribution of printed publications utilized various forms of
transportation. Following the development of writing and written communication
came mail services.
Photography
Photography, recording visual images on a surface such as a sheet of paper,
was popularized with Frenchman Louis Daguerre's invention of the daguerreotype
in 1829. This method used copper plates coated with silver iodide, but ten years
later in England, Frederick Archer used glass plates covered with different chem-
icals; this proved to be a much more practical process. In 1889 Thomas Edison
invented a way of projecting photographs of a moving subject, resulting in the illu-
sion that the images were moving—the birth of movies. In 1888 George Eastman
began using paper coated with emulsion to make photographs, replacing the bulky
glass plates previously used, and Eastman Kodak Co. was formed. Photography
soon became a means of recording family events and news events, and along with
motion pictures, it became the best way of communicating visual information until
invention of television.
Telegraph
Electricity enabled the invention of the telegraph, a system of sending coded
messages instantaneously over wire. While the Pony Express carried a message
by horseback from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, in a week,
the telegraph could send the message in a matter of seconds. Although invented
in several places, good working systems were used in England in 1837 by the
Great Western Railway and in 1844 in the United States by Samuel F. B. Morse.
The many telegraph companies initially formed soon consolidated into the Western
Union Telegraph Company, which is still in use. Except for sending money, most
other functions have been assumed by fax, electronic mail, and various forms of
social media.
Messages sent by telegraph had to be coded and transmitted from an office
and transmitted via lines to a distant office. Telegraphs could not, of course, carry
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