Electromechanical: between 1840 and 1940.
SweIT would like to put the Electromechanical era, some what in reference to steam power and sometimes we more simply reference the period “The birth of mass-media”.
If we want to understand how steam initiated a new era for IT, we should be transparent about the inventions during this era. It started 1810 rather then 1840’s, if we would be allowed to acknowledge the transition from the Printing press (Gutenberg) into the updated automatic steam engined printing press, that Friedrich / William Koenig invented in 1814.
The new printing press rolled out 1,100 pages an hour (extremely more efficient than previous alternatives) and the technology was adopted by The Times Magazine, which in turn put The Times in a leading position and way ahead of its competitors in printing and labour costs.
The increase efficiency of Information Technology opened up for new ways to use IT. Now the citizens became increasingly the focus and the masses would become more and more exposed to what is today called media (journalism, services, propaganda, lobbying and entertainment).
To give a reference the electromechanical aspects, this was also the era where the teleprinter (electrical telegraph) evolved through a bunch of inventions by a number of engineers, including Samuel Morse, Alexander Bain, Royal Earl House, David Edward Hughes, Emile Baudot, Donald Murray, Edward Kleinschmidt, Charles L. Krum and Frederick G. Creed. This invention provided additional ways for communication to travel! The electric telegraph is the forerunner to our modern day mobile technology.
Both the teleprinter and the steam printing press took the western world by storm and ignited the first industrial revolution!
Stay tuned for next week update about the fourth phase of Information Technology!
