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Classroom Activities
Using the Telegraph and Internet
- Discuss with students how the Internet is being used in our society. Have students work in small groups of four to come up with examples of ways in which people use the Internet. Allow students to share their examples and record them.
- Review the recorded list and categorize the areas in which the Internet is used, e.g., public health, education, shopping, information, publishing, etc.
- Introduce the telegraph as an historic long-distance communication device like the Internet, which was used in various areas from the mid-nineteenth century until sometime in the twentieth century. (Optional: share with students the following quotes from the exhibition.)
"Much useless talk has been indulged among many operators . . . The operator who is found talking about the weather, Broadway amusements, or like frivolous concerns, over the Line, will have early notice that his services can be dispensed with."
(Circular to the Operators of the New York and Boston Magnetic Telegraph Association, 1848)
"I conjured up . . . a vision of telegraphs . . . the whole land . . . covered by a perfect web of them . . . I saw our science, and philosophy, and arts, and religion, passing into the barbarous countries with the speed of lightning. The thrones of all tyrants tumbled down."
(Anonymous, The Ladies Repository, 1848)
- Have each small group make a list of predictions about how and where the telegraph was used in early 20th century.
- Allow each group to access a computer and explore the online exhibition, The Once and Future Web, in order to compare their predictions to what they discover.
- Have each group share their predictions and their findings.
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