Does "the highway of thought," as the telegraph was known, remind you of any often-saids about the current global surround? Betsy Carroll over at Leading Virtually has a nice pointer to Tom Standage's decade-old book, The Victorian Internet, the leading edge technology whose opening chapter is titled "The Mother of All Internets." I could leave it right there but Carroll's reflections after reading Standage's book are so good that I'm posting the intros to her five points here. Her post is click-worthy and I don't want to steal her thunder so I'm just including her first sentences:
The development of a telegraph system was plagued by amateur scientists who were put in charge of major events such as designing and laying cable across the Atlantic to connect the US and Europe.
2. Keep in mind the distance between early adopters of technology and average users.
The telegraph represented a huge improvement in communication, yet the general public was slow to recognize its potential influence on society. [Ed. note: we're in a funny period where the public is in many ways ahead of the organizations in which they work with regard to early adoption of Web 2.0 and beyond.]
3. Make sure your technology continues to support your purpose.
With the telegraph, there came a stage where some lines or offices were so busy that messages weren’t getting from place to place in a timely manner, yet that was the whole purpose of the technology.
4. Remember to consider companion technologies.
The story of the telegraph is incomplete without also discussing the rise of pneumatic tube systems around major cities.
5. Don’t lose sight of the people for the technology.
One eyewitness account of the telegraph said that the telegraph cables crossing the Atlantic were not just cable, but represented bonds between people.
