Nicole Starosielski
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039362
- eISBN:
- 9780252097416
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039362.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter explores the relationship between media content and the capacity of hard infrastructure, offering a framework for understanding how particular technologies, social practices, and natural ...
More
This chapter explores the relationship between media content and the capacity of hard infrastructure, offering a framework for understanding how particular technologies, social practices, and natural environments can be conceptualized as media infrastructures. It then develops a relational approach to media infrastructure that delineates the multiple routes and effects of global undersea cable networks. There are five ways undersea cables function as a media infrastructure: they become resources for media activity; alter everyday experience of media temporarily; shape one's susceptibility to media censorship and surveillance; solidify global relationships of media power; and serve as a platform where publics can affect the dissemination of media content.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between media content and the capacity of hard infrastructure, offering a framework for understanding how particular technologies, social practices, and natural environments can be conceptualized as media infrastructures. It then develops a relational approach to media infrastructure that delineates the multiple routes and effects of global undersea cable networks. There are five ways undersea cables function as a media infrastructure: they become resources for media activity; alter everyday experience of media temporarily; shape one's susceptibility to media censorship and surveillance; solidify global relationships of media power; and serve as a platform where publics can affect the dissemination of media content.
Bernard Finn and Daqing Yang (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012867
- eISBN:
- 9780262255059
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012867.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
By the end of the twentieth century, fiber-optic technology had made possible a worldwide communications system of breathtaking speed and capacity. This network is the latest evolution of ...
More
By the end of the twentieth century, fiber-optic technology had made possible a worldwide communications system of breathtaking speed and capacity. This network is the latest evolution of communications technologies that began with undersea telegraph cables in the 1850s and continued with coaxial telephone cables a hundred years later. This book traces the development of these technologies and assesses their social, economic, and political effects. If we cannot predict the ultimate consequences of today—s wired world’its impact on economic markets, free expression, and war and peace—or the outcome of the conflict between wired and wireless technology, we can examine how similar issues have been dealt with in the past. The contributors to the book do just that, discussing technical developments in undersea cables (and the development of competing radio and satellite communications technology), management of the cables by private and public interests, and the impact on military and political activities. Chapters cover such topics as the daring group of nineteenth-century entrepreneurs who wove a network of copper wires around the world (and then turned conservative with success); the opening of the telegraphic network to general public use; the government- and industry-forced merger of wireless and cable companies in Britain; and the impact of the cable network on diplomacy during the two world wars.Less
By the end of the twentieth century, fiber-optic technology had made possible a worldwide communications system of breathtaking speed and capacity. This network is the latest evolution of communications technologies that began with undersea telegraph cables in the 1850s and continued with coaxial telephone cables a hundred years later. This book traces the development of these technologies and assesses their social, economic, and political effects. If we cannot predict the ultimate consequences of today—s wired world’its impact on economic markets, free expression, and war and peace—or the outcome of the conflict between wired and wireless technology, we can examine how similar issues have been dealt with in the past. The contributors to the book do just that, discussing technical developments in undersea cables (and the development of competing radio and satellite communications technology), management of the cables by private and public interests, and the impact on military and political activities. Chapters cover such topics as the daring group of nineteenth-century entrepreneurs who wove a network of copper wires around the world (and then turned conservative with success); the opening of the telegraphic network to general public use; the government- and industry-forced merger of wireless and cable companies in Britain; and the impact of the cable network on diplomacy during the two world wars.
Bernard Finn and Daqing Yang
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262012867
- eISBN:
- 9780262255059
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012867.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter introduces and tracks the history of the speed at which our worldwide communications system developed. It relays the major points and focuses on the collection of essays included in the ...
More
This chapter introduces and tracks the history of the speed at which our worldwide communications system developed. It relays the major points and focuses on the collection of essays included in the book, particularly on point-to-point communication and undersea cables. The chapter gives brief overviews of each paper or essay in the collection, and how their topic of discussion connects to the larger picture of how undersea communication networks have shaped the governments and the world, and also touches on how the cable industry has met with the rise of wireless technology. Meant as a historical investigation, it concludes that such an undertaking will likely result in the appreciation of the pros and cons of our communication-dependent global society.Less
This chapter introduces and tracks the history of the speed at which our worldwide communications system developed. It relays the major points and focuses on the collection of essays included in the book, particularly on point-to-point communication and undersea cables. The chapter gives brief overviews of each paper or essay in the collection, and how their topic of discussion connects to the larger picture of how undersea communication networks have shaped the governments and the world, and also touches on how the cable industry has met with the rise of wireless technology. Meant as a historical investigation, it concludes that such an undertaking will likely result in the appreciation of the pros and cons of our communication-dependent global society.
David Segal
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198834311
- eISBN:
- 9780191872426
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198834311.003.0002
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics, Condensed Matter Physics / Materials
This entry describes the development of Morse code by Samuel Morse. It gives a background to Samuel Morse’s life. Also it describes the development of the electric telegraph on land and later using ...
More
This entry describes the development of Morse code by Samuel Morse. It gives a background to Samuel Morse’s life. Also it describes the development of the electric telegraph on land and later using undersea cables. The significance of using gutta percha as electrical insulation for the undersea cables is described. The entry highlights that Morse code is, in fact, an early form of binary code. The entry describes the difference between gutta percha and natural rubber.Less
This entry describes the development of Morse code by Samuel Morse. It gives a background to Samuel Morse’s life. Also it describes the development of the electric telegraph on land and later using undersea cables. The significance of using gutta percha as electrical insulation for the undersea cables is described. The entry highlights that Morse code is, in fact, an early form of binary code. The entry describes the difference between gutta percha and natural rubber.
