
The telegraph was the Victorian internet - mudil
https://tomstandage.wordpress.com/books/the-victorian-internet/
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peterburkimsher
I read this book when I was back in university, and thoroughly enjoyed it! The
social change at that time was enormous.

Boats were once the fastest way to send a message (faster than horses). The
railway suddenly made it much quicker to communicate, and within a generation
was quickly followed by the telegraph.

The effects of the telegraph on language, as people found cheaper ways to send
messages when they had to pay by the character, are having modern parallels
with SMS and emojis.

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tdeck
If you're interested in telegraph's and early communications technology, I
HIGHLY recommend getting a copy of "The Story of Telecommunication" by George
P. Oslin [1]. It's very thoroughly researched and clearly a labor of love.
tchingazing video on YouTube.

Also, I can't help but share this awesome video I recently found - "How the
Teleprinter Works" [2]. It's fascinating and very well done.

[1]: [https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-
Osl...](https://www.amazon.com/STORY-TELECOMMUNICATIONS-George-P-
Oslin/dp/0865546592)

[2]: [https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI](https://youtu.be/HcMHam54EOI)

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Lanthanide
It really was, complete with a 1880s-vintage Tinder:
[http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt](http://archive.org/stream/wiredlovearomanc24353gut/24353.txt)

I read that a while ago and though the plot itself is kinda facile (it is
supposed to be just a simple romance novel after all), it's really fascinating
to see the parallels of the telegraph with the internet from a cultural
aspect. It's easy enough to draw comparisons between the two as being
different stages in the evolution of networks etc but the human side of things
is always a bit harder to sum up.

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partycoder
I also present you with this:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semaphore_line)

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LeoPanthera
I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here on HN but if you haven't read Terry
Pratchett's "Going Postal", I highly recommend it.

~~~
mboto
There is a follow up board game too called Clacks, that's a lot of fun [1].

It's the detail that makes it even going down to the terminology of using
jacquard cards [2].

1\. [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-
discworld-...](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/140279/clacks-discworld-
board-game)

2\. [http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-
cards-c...](http://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-
control-jacquard-loom/)

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usuallymatt
I hardly ever read non-fiction but I read this book a few years ago and
absolutely loved it. Was sorry when I was finished. Well worth anyone's time.

