I was once asked the following question from someone having doing a Communication Technology course at High School:-What were the Developmental, Social, Cultural, Environmental, Economic, Ethical and Political impacts that the telegraph had on society?I thought this made a change from the usual discussion on the technical achievements, so have included it here. The major impact of telegraph was in shrinking time and distance. Messages that previously had to be sent by mail or relayed on semaphore towers could be instantly received at their destination. One of the first uses for telegraph was for signalling on railways with a system of telegraph using bells. Rail networks brought time synchronisation needs which had first evolved around the navigation requirements of ships. This enabled far safer and complex rail systems to be developed. Previous to this, time of day had been a very localised requirement. Later with the coming of sound broadcast, television and now the internet, the impact becomes that much greater. Social and developmental impactsThe cultural ImpactThe environmental impactThe economic impact
|