Kline intro and 1
"divide separating a 'modern' urban life from a
'primitive' rural one" (p. 1)
"modernize" rural life
rural technology as a second creation narrative: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1ekZrT_zA
look at the people whose the goal was to use new technology to
transform rural work and culture
note starting on page 6 his definition of key terms
he is going to look at who pushed and who resisted the
urbanization of rural life (second creation) narratives
a mutual shaping of technology and culture (p. 8)
consumption junction: the dynamic between the producers of
technology and the consumers of technology
consumers react not always with enthusiasm, sometimes with
resistance (or intentional misuse)
those promoting new technologies thought farmers were
backwards, farmers wanted higher prices for their products
look for three types of organizations (networks)
- physical systems (like the telephone network) and the
organizations (companies or co-ops) that built them
- government and private agencies such as the cooperative
extension service
- farm organizations such as the National Grange and
communities
Telephone
history
- telegraph system built starting in the 1830s --Morse
- invented by Alexander
Graham Bell in 1876
- but simultaneously invented by Elisha Gray
- a
patent fight ensued
- Bell and Watson partnered with a businessman to establish
AT&T in 1877 (also known as the Bell System)
- by mid 1878 10,000 telephones were in service in New
England
- patents expired in 1893 and 1894
- farmers organized cooperatives and built their own
telephone systems
rural free delivery of mail experiments began in 1891,
generally adopted by 1902
telephone cooperatives
- locally organized and built
- sometimes used fence wire to carry the signal
- distances were so long phones had crank generators
- moved far faster than the Bell System
local use of the telephone
- some early resistance
- mostly local communication, including some broadcasting
- little use of long distance