How Can History Teach Us about Communication and Technology?

Today, the words “communication” and “technology” conjure ideas of modernity, while the word “history” can apply to early civilizations and beyond.  So how are these concepts connected and what can we learn from looking at them in the same context? As proposed in class, when analyzing the scope of the human experience in regards to communication and technology as tools of control, the connections between current world affairs and historical events are significant. 

Communication has been used to control knowledge throughout the ages, notably seen through the Catholic Church’s monopoly on the production of the written word and the use of the elite language Latin to control the largely illiterate masses.   It was not till the printing press was invented that we saw the fight for freedom of knowledge and thought, as well as a large-scale struggle for liberation from a religious organization that had authority beyond that of even kings.  The communication strategies of the Catholic Church, or as Leonard Dudley stated “the medieval society’s principle information network,” are mirrored in the West’s trickle down communication with its peripheries during Colonialism and even in today’s US foreign affairs policies and public diplomacy. In both cases, control of knowledge through communication in order to wield power is evident.

The same grasp on power can be seen with innovative technologies, this time through physical control.  With the passing of the Radio Act in 1912, the United States Federal Government essentially controlled the access to radio waves used in wireless telegraphy and reserved the right to shut it down in the event of emergency thereby physically controlling the masses’ access to this technology, as well as their communities, businesses and organizations.  A nation or state’s control of the Internet, the modern day technology that facilitates global communication, business and the ability to organize, is fundamentally the same type of dominance.  In the wake of anti-government demonstrations in Egypt, President Mubarak shut down the Internet in Egypt in an effort to curb protestor’s ability to communicate and organize (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12306041).  With the advent of the Arab Spring and social media as a possible determinant in political events, the world was reminded of the reach of power through a government controlled communication medium.

The connections between history and present day in regards to communication and technology can further be perceived through physical control of commodities such as Russia’s control over the gas supply of other nations (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28515983/ns/world_news-europe/t/europeans-shiver-russia-cuts-gas-shipments/) with links to the British using it’s railway network as an “instrument of pacification” in its Asian colonies (Cecil Rhodes).  The use and manipulation of photojournalism as a type of propaganda can be seen in Crimean War, World War II and Vietnam.  The question is now, what can we learn from past use of communication and technology in political and economical framework?  Can in depth study help to create better policies in the future when new technology is invented or used?  Finally, will further insight into the way people and governments control communication and technology help those involved in foreign policy keep up with the rapidly changing state of world affairs?

- Claire Baumann