the forgotten history of pre-electric media [Video]

telecommunications began before electricity

Have you ever wondered how people communicated before electricity? It turns out, early communication devices like fire signals and telegraphs had a lot going on before electricity ever got involved.

The first telegraphs had no wires, and there’s a whole world of wonder to uncover if we realize that the history of communications is not the history of electricity.

Along the way, we’ll discuss Ancient Greece, Claude Chappe and the optical semaphore telegraph, as well as a heavy dose of introductory media theory from Edward Bernays, Marshall McLuhan, Paul Starr, and more!

Thank you to Ale, Jessamyn, Yuval, and Ciara for their help with this one 🙂

——Sources——

Books and Articles:
Starr, The Creation of the Media
McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Snow, The Edward Bernays Reader
Holzmann and Pehrson, The Early History of Data Networks
Standage, The Victorian Internet
Carrington, The Talking Drums of Africa
https://missiology.org.uk/pdf/e-books/carrington_j-f/talking-drums-of-africa_carrington.pdf
Johnson, The All Red Line: The Annals and Aims of the Pacific Cable Project
Springer, The Telegraph Monopoly
Blondheim, Congress vs the Telegraph News Monopoly, 1866-1900

Links, Section One:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press
https://contexto.me
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1020282
https://www.johnwharding.com/blowing-smoke-the-mating-of-propaganda-and-public-relations/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations_campaigns_of_Edward_Bernays#Political_propaganda

Links, Section Two:
https://www.visitourchina.com/special/china-great-wall/faq-02.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwOLgxfgjJM
https://mediatheory.net/media-richness-theory/
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1311
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1311
https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/hydraulic-telegraph-002185
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Polybius_square
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polybius_square
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Chappe

Links, Section Three:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tawell
https://glebesociety.org.au/street/john-tawell-1784-1845/
https://cntr.salford.ac.uk/comms/johntawell.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_disinhibition_effect
https://college.unc.edu/2020/06/sounding-the-alarm/#:~:text=In%201739%2C%20a%20slave%20rebellion,slave%20code%20of%20South%20Carolina.
https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0354342
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25100953?seq=13