Historical Aspect of Information and Society

     The historical aspect of information and society that I would like to look at here is the concept of Morse Code, which was first used back in the 1840's, after being created by Samuel Morse, and has been used ever sense.  This was a system of beeps, or clicks if you will, which allowed for urgent messages, such as an S.O.S., to be sent out from one location to another using a telegraph machine.  A perfect example of this type of technology being used and adapted into our society would be on airplanes and cruise ships, such as the Titanic.  Back in the day these telegraph machines were used to let other ships know of their position in the water, along with any other problems, or a sinking in the Titanic's case.  Morse code can also be used by using lights or sounds to relay the same messages, as the telegraph machine was able to do.  However, the use of lights and sounds are better used for a smaller proximity.  This helped small ships at sea who had no telegraph machine, but needed to transmit some information to another visible ship.  This machine was a fast, easy way for quick bits of information to be sent to one another with fairly accurate precision, much like our cell phones and computers do today, as long as both people working the machines were certified in Morse Code and knew the in's and out's of the telegraph system.  This is very similar to the idea of tweeting or texting in today's society.  It gets a sentence or two sent out quickly and effortlessly, to a specific person or group of people.  People have become so good at using Morse code that they are able to type between 20 and 40 words per minute.  While some records are said to be into the 60s and perhaps even into the 80s.  This aspect of sending and receiving information can also be seen being used in aviation.  They use it to make sure that the stations the pilots are using are working properly.  The idea of Morse code is still seen a bunch in our current society in regards to Amateur radio casters.  They still use it today in their offices as a way to turn a communication transmitter on and off.  Lastly, there are many different ways and forms of going about using Morse code.  There are American ways of transmitting information, as well as international, and continental ways too.  Morse code has remained exactly the same sense before 1941, besides a small switch, which was made back in December of 2003.  The letters a and c can now be combined using the @ symbol.  The idea of Morse code was a great invention that allowed for important information to be shared via the telegraph machine in order to benefit the needs of individuals in society and our entire society as a whole.  Without this informative invention, many lives could have been lost, along with many ideas being unable to be shared or transmitted throughout our society.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraphy

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/morsecode.htm