ACJ Review: New Media 1740-1915

Volume 7, Issue 2004

New Media 1740-1915

Gitelman, Lisa, and Pingree, Geoffrey B.(Eds.)
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003
304 pages, 42 illus.
Cloth
ISBN 0-262-07245-9
US $34.95

Reviewed by: William G. Covington, Jr., Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
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In the introduction we're reminded that all media were once ncw. In this book the contributors seek to consider the impact made by new media at the time of their introduction. We're told the period between 1740 and 1915 is selected as the time frame covered because the term "media" hails from this era, "as do the structures of today's entertainment and information economies."

Of particular interest to academics who tend toward futuristic speculation, the essays address hypothetical matters, i.e., "could-have-been" scenarios. Similarly, certain new media had early applications that endured very briefly. Along these same lines, the matter of context is a common theme in the essays. Context gives meaning to the use of the emerging media.

Creators frequently find their inventions used by consumers in ways they never anticipated. "Alexander Graham Bell apparently wanted people to say 'Ahoy!' when they picked up the phone, but English speakers settled on 'Hello?'" the authors point out. Each of the essayist, to varying degrees, discuss the issue of framing. How did these new media forms frame reality for the users? And on the matter of perception, this framing component of the new inventions changed the way reality was viewed. Media extended one's body and sense capability. Perception could occur after the inventions were made that previously was unavailable.

In further establishing the goal in the introduction, the editors tell us they hope to help readers see ways media are experienced and studied historically. In my opinion that goal was achieved. My own perception of how mediated communication influences assumed reality was deepened by looking at new media's use during this time period.

Ellen Gruber Garvey's essay on scissorizing and scrapbooks in the nineteenth century was my favorite of the ten chapters. In cutting and pasting (literally) and creating a scrapbook for posterity, one used existing media to re-create, modify, and produce a second generation medium, i.e., the scrapbook. Garvey reminds us that this is done institutionally as libraries maintain vertical files and commercial clipping bureaus scan newspapers and magazines for clients.

An analogy is drawn between nineteenth century scrapbook making and early 21st century website creation. "In reusing both the form of the book and the clippings pasted in, scrapbooks resemble websites, which mingle the link-compiling function of the bookmark with content borrowed without attribution from other websites," she writes. The custom in the nineteenth century was to use material without citing a source. Newspapers commonly ran stories from other papers without attribution she points out. Scrapbook makers did similar work for themselves in collecting stories they found relevant to their individual lives. The pages of old books were used to paste newspaper clippings on in some cases.

In chapter four Katherine Stubbs compares the telegraph with the internet in that both allow for communication in disembodied ways that allow participants to fictionalize their identity. The niche literature of "telegraphic fiction" records some of the potential consequences when people pretended to be someone other than they are. This essay is another one of the highlights of this book because it couples the historical and sociological together into an analysis that goes quite deep. Historically she gives the details of the telegraph industry. Sociologically she explains what this meant to the people of that era. Her analysis is logically sound in that she sees similarities between that age and the use of the internet in the early 21st century, however she makes the point that there are also significant differences between the two periods.

Diane Zimmerman Umble has a fascinating look at the introduction of the telephone to the Amish of rural Pennsylvania. Her essay (chapter 6) is well documented in discussing the interpretation the community would give to the new device. Would it be considered a tool of evil in that it would expose the community to the outside world or was it a gift from God? Amish leaders saw it both ways and it cause significant divisions within their movement. Umble provides the details in her chapter.

The book includes other inventions of the era and discussion is made on how public perception changed as they gained public acceptance. Erin C. Blake discusses the zograscope. Wendy Bellion has a chapter on profiling and its implications for accuracy, credibility, and mass production. Patricia Crain's essay tackles the issue of Joseph Lancaster's ideas for public education, including the teaching of Indian children.

Laura Burd Schiavo addresses visual perception in her chapter, while Lisa Gitelman covers aural communication. Gregory Radick writes about Edison's phonograph, while Paul Young describes early American cinema.

The editors are to be commended for zeroing in on new media of 1740-1915. By viewing how perception was changed in that era, one realizes more fully that indeed seeing is not believing. Every generation is limited by our assumptions. It is this blindness which inhibits a more complete understanding and by looking at the impact context had on comprehension in earlier times we can hopefully make progress in overcoming some of our perceptual limitations.