The document discusses chapters from the book "The Victorian Internet" by Tom Standage. It summarizes key points about the development of the trans-Atlantic telegraph in the 1850s and 1860s, including three failed attempts before success in 1866. This led to technological optimism and the growth of the telegraph network. By the late 1860s, a vast telegraph network had taken shape, connecting major cities through cables and other systems. However, the network also faced challenges like high costs and congestion. The telegraph impacted society and business by accelerating the spread of news and increasing competition. However, new technologies like the telephone later made the telegraph obsolete. The legacy of the telegraph can be seen in modern Internet and

1. The Victorian Internet,
Tom Standage, 1998
Week 6: Dreams of Love, Democracy and Liberation
Calle Knight, Sophia Jackson & Sarah Gonzalez

2. Chapter 5: Wiring the World
The Trans-Atlantic Telegraph
•
Largely considered a foolish undertaking
•
Became a collaborative, interdisciplinary effort
•
Atlantic Telegraph Company
–
Three attempts at laying a cable
• August 5th – September 1st 1859
• June 24th – August 2nd 1865
• July 13th 1866
•
Success led to massive hysteria and early technological utopianism

3. Question to discuss:
How does the excitement around the success of the
Trans-Atlantic Telegraph appear similar or different from
the technological utopianism experienced at the advent
and popularization of the Internet? How would you
suggest we break this cycle of McLuhan-esque thought
that “the medium is the message,” and therefore, what
we communicate falls second to the means by which we
communicate?

4. Chapter 6: Steam-Powered Messages
“Just as today’s email systems are still plagued by
occasional blackouts and failures, the telegraph
networks of the 1850s were subject to congestion as the
volume of traffic mushroomed, and key network links
within major cities became overloaded.”
(Standage 92)

5. Sources: edubuzz.org / learnmorsecode.com
1. Write a
sentence in
English, pass
to the left.
2. Translate
the sentence
into Morse
Code, pass to
the left.
3. Translate
the sentence
back to English
and deliver it to
the recipient.

6. Threats to Telegraphic Expansion
• Unaffordable
• Near-constant congestion
“…gave the impression that the
telegraph system was merely a
more glorified and far more
expensive postal service.”
(Standage 94)
Sources: Capsu.org / Wikipedia

7. The Victorian Internet Takes Shape
“A patchwork of telegraphic networks, submarine cables,
pneumatic tube systems, and messengers combines to
deliver messages within hours over a vast area of the globe.”
(Standage 101)

8. Question to discuss:
The late 1860s saw a growth in telegraph technology
industries such as submarine cable manufacturers and the
expansion of transmission centers, as everyone was rushing
to enter into the most profitable new market. How does this
compare to the Dot Com Boom and subsequent Crash of the
1990s and 2000s?

9. Chapter 8: Love over the Wires
“Despite the strange customs and the often curious lifestyle
of many operators, telegraphy was regarded as an attractive
profession, offering the hope of rapid social advancement and
fueling expansion of the middle class.”
(Standage 143)

10. The Search for Companionship Through Telegraph Technology
• Operators form the first online community
• As the community grew, the search for a companion or partner
became pervasive
Question to Discuss:
In what ways is the online community of the Nineteenth
Century similar to the online community of the TwentyFirst Century? Like the telegraph operators who used the
technology to date and play games, do people currently
utilize their work time to connect with other workers
through the web?

11. Question to Discuss
How does meritocracy apply to our capitalist society today?

12. Chapter 9: War & Peace in the Global Village
News Coverage Over the Victorian Internet
• The telegraph helped report news within hours of it’s
occurrence
• First international news coverage conducted by Reuter
• “Cable nipped misunderstanding leading to war in the bud”
(Standage 159)
– Crimean War

13. Question to Discuss
As a predecessor of the 24/7 news stations we
experience in the Twenty-First Century, the introduction
of instantaneous global news coverage was
revolutionary in the Nineteenth Century. In what ways
did it positively and negatively affect their society? Does
the constant barrage of news we experience today do
the same for our society?

14. Chapter 10
Information Overload

15. Chapter 10: Information Overload
The Telegraph’s Impact on Nineteenth Century Business
• Increased knowledge of the competition accelerated the pace of
business life.
• Telegraph as public utility in Europe
• “Telegraph lives upon commerce. It is the nervous system of the
commercial system.” (Standage 170)
• Telegraphic addresses in Britain
• The Gold Room

16. Callahan’s Stock Ticker:
“The sound could drive a man suddenly to the verge of insanity
with joy or despair.” (Standage 176)
Question to Discuss
– The Stock Ticker got its name from the constant sound it
makes when it reports the gold prices. Do you think that
the way workers were affected by this ticking sound is the
same way we are addicted to and affected by our devices
and the sounds they make?

17. Chapter 11: Decline & Fall
Morse telegraph and key
Samuel Morse, 1847
June 10, 1871: “The telegraph and its inventor were praised for uniting
the peoples of the world, promoting world peace, and revolutionizing
commerce”
(Standage, 186).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 11: Decline & Fall." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs On-line Pioneers.
New York: Walker and, 1998. 186. Print.

18. Automatic Telegraphy
Printing telegraph
David Hughes, 1855
Duplex telegraph
Joseph B. Stearns, 1872
Wheatstone’s ABC telegraph
Charles Wheatstone, 1858
Baudot telegraph
Jean Maurice Emile Baudot, 1874
Wheatstone’s Automatic telegraph
Charles Wheatstone, 1858
Quaduplex telegraph
Thomas Edison, 1874

19. Harmonic Telegraphy
Harmonic telegraph sketches
Alexander Graham Bell, 1867
Harmonic telegraph
Alexander Graham Bell, 1867
“All other telegraphic machines produce signals which require to be
translated by experts, and such instruments are therefore extremely
limited in their application. But the telephone actually speaks”
(Standage, 197-198).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 11: Decline & Fall." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs On-line Pioneers. New York:

20. Telephonic and Electric Technologies
Telegraph Office in Library of Congress
Washington D.C. , 1904
MIT Digital Computer Laboratory,
1950
“By this time, many telegraphers were complaining that they
had been reduced to mere machines, while others decried the
declining quality of those entering their profession”
(Standage,200).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 11: Decline and Fall." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Centuryʼs On-line

21. Chapter 12: The Legacy of the Telegraph
Harmonic telegraph
Alexander Graham Bell, 1867
“In 1886, ten years after its invention, there were over a
quarter of a million telephones in use worldwide”
(Standage,204).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 12: The Legacy of the Telegraph." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth

22. Chapter 12: The Legacy of the Telegraph
Harmonic telegraph
Alexander Graham Bell, 1867
How have the evolution of
these electrical on-line
technologies impacted
modern social, technical
and economic networks?
Both in the workplace and
and within society?
“In 1886, ten years after its invention, there were over a
quarter of a million telephones in use worldwide”
(Standage,204).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 12: The Legacy of the Telegraph." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth

23. Electric Networks & Communication
International Cables Map, George A. Schreiner
International Telegraph Bureau, 1924
Global Traffic Map
Callhost International, 2010
“Ironically, it is the internet– despite being regarded as a
quintessentially modern means of communication– that has
the most in common with its telegraphic ancestor”
(Standage,205).
Standage, Tom. "Chapter 12: The Legacy of the Telegraph." The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth

24. Challenge of Change
Challenge of Change, Seeing the Digital Future
AT&T Archives, 1961
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avHo0-qU8xo
Recall McLuhan’s
reference to the central
nervous system; in what
ways does recurring
skepticism of information
overload and impulses for
technological utopianism
overlap throughout the
development of new
technologies?

25. Stay in the loop!
http://www.slideshare.net/gonzs882/the-victorian-internet