Detailed Outline chapter 1

Lamiae Mejjane

Dr. Ibahrine

Following the Historical Paths of Global Communication

A. Geographical Space: A Barrier To Communicate.

• Geography of space
• Geography of experience
• 'Space of flows'=> We can move beyond geographical space. It meant the material and immaterial components of the global information networks through which more and more of the economy was coordinated, in real time across distances
• 'Internet is Network of all networks'

B. Geography and the Mythical World.

• Frances Cairncross, senior editor of the Economist, makes her case by arguing that the speed of communication is creating a world where the miles have little to do with our ability to work and interact together
• Cairncross predicts that much work that can be done on a computer can be done from anywhere
• Cairncross discusses about 30 major changes likely to result form the trends, including a diminishing need for countries to want emigration.

C. Ancient Encounters of societies and cultures.

• In additon to official systems of communication, there have also been informal networks of travelers and traders?
• The technology of international communication may be contemporary phenomenon but trade and cultural interchanges have existed for more than two millenia between the Graeco-Roman world with Arabia, India, and China
• Information and ideas were communicated across continents, as shown by spread by buddhism, Islam, Christianity; through the spread of the holy books

D. Global explorers: Migrants, holy People, Merchants.

• Migration: a mean to discover new cultures
• 'Geographia': its 'purpose is to represent the unity and continuity of the known world in its true nature and location'- Ptolemy

E. Map Makers and the Medival World.

• Mapmaking as an integral part of communication history
• Maps were widely considered to be valuable keys to unlocking unknown worlds
• Today; Google Earth

F. Inventors: Signals and Semaphores.

• Heliograph; invented by the Roman rulers, visual signal system using reflected sunlight
• Highway system used by the Roman to move troops, commerce and communication
• Middle Ages: Postal services around merchant centers
• Chinese: development of networks of messengers and couriers
• Magnetic Compass: introduced in Europe from CHina

G. the Printing Press: Literacy and the Knowledge Explosion.

• It was the Moslems, who developed paper technology and brought it to Europe
• In the 16th century, paper was available
• In 'Imagined Communities', Benedict Anderson gives a detailed analysis of nation building projects and their relationship to print media
• the printing media is behind the idea of nationalism

H. The Growth of the telegraph.

• Technological innovations in travel => changes in relations between nations
• The 2nd half of the 19th cent. witnessed an expanding system of imperial communication made at place by the electric telegraph
• telegraph made transmission of information rapid and ensured secrecy and protection of codes
• the speed and reliability of telegraphy were condidered essential for profit

I. The Era of news agencies.

• increasing demand among business clients for commercial information on business, stocks, currencies
• French Havas Agency (founded in 1935), ancestor of APF. Wolff (German)

J. The Rise of Reuters

• Its rise in parallel with the growth of the British empire
• British control of cable lines
• AP starts to challege Reuters
• Reuters Factor: the relationship between capital and communication was an aspect of what has been called the R.F, which function like a multiplier

K. Summary: Global Immediacy and Transparency.

• Communication across great distance has been a catalyst for many changes in human relationships
• Communication implicated in the sweeping social and political informationscape