James P. Adams Library: A Potion for Memory and Wisdom: Telegrams & The Internet

Western Union Ad

Though the first electrical telegraphs were invited in 1816, telegrams were still sent through 2013, when BSNL, India's state-owned telecommunications service, ended their services!

Most services ended with in the 1950s, during a fight for relevance between Western Union and Bell. Ads from the time are almost as snappy as a telegram!

Signs of the Times

Why do you think this documentary begins with:

The alphabet and writings seems to have lost its meaning. The loss of written communication as we know it is indeed a scary thought.

What technologies were changing writing in 1996?

Signs of the Times
Traces the evolution of communication. From hieroglyphics and cuneiform came the first alphabets of Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece, reflecting their world and its values. A thousand years later Gutenberg's printing press and its diffusion of ideas set the stage for the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Age of Revolutions. The impact of technology --printing, typewriters, computers, global networking-- preceded a digital revolution and the explosion of personal computers and the World Wide Web. Shows our world as it was, is now, and will be.