Editing The Victorian Internet

{{Short description|1998 book by Tom Standage}}
{{Infobox book
| name             = The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers
| image            = The Victorian Internet.jpg
| caption    = First edition
| author           = [[Tom Standage]]
| title_orig       = <!-- if not in English -->
| translator       = 
| illustrator      = 
| cover_artist     = 
| country          = United States
| language         = English
| series           = 
| subject          = 
| genre            = Non-fiction
| publisher        = [[Walker & Company]]
| pub_date         = September 1998 
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type       = Print, ebook
| pages            = 227 pages
| isbn =  0802713424
| oclc             = 
| dewey            = 
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      = 
}}
[[Image:Map showing overland Pacific Telegraph from San Francisco to Moscow, submitted to the Committee on Commerce with a petit - NARA - 306678.tif|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Global network]] proposal, 1862]]
'''''The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers''''' is a 1998 book by [[Tom Standage]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Weise|first=Elizabeth|title=The telegraph, the Internet: Here we go again Author chronicles amazing resemblance in technological history|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/34898651.html?dids=34898651:34898651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+07%2C+1998&author=Elizabeth+Weise&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=The+telegraph%2C+the+Internet%3A+Here+we+go+again+Author+chronicles+amazing+resemblance+in+technological+history&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131202144516/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/USAToday/access/34898651.html?dids=34898651:34898651&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+07,+1998&author=Elizabeth+Weise&pub=USA+TODAY&desc=The+telegraph,+the+Internet:+Here+we+go+again+Author+chronicles+amazing+resemblance+in+technological+history&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 2, 2013|access-date=8 June 2013|newspaper=USA Today|date=Oct 7, 1998}}</ref> The book was first published in September 1998 through [[Walker & Company]] and discusses the development and uses of the [[electric telegraph]] during the second half of the 19th century and some of the similarities the telegraph shared with the Internet of the late 20th century.<ref>{{cite news|last=Walton|first=David|title=Telegraph was The Victorian Internet, indeed Tom Standage's book reveals how the invention brought remarkable changes in 19th century|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=KC&p_theme=kc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF467666281E18&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|access-date=8 June 2013|newspaper=The Kansas City Star|date=1998-12-13}}</ref>

The central thesis of the book argues that of these two technologies, it was the telegraph that was the more significant, since the ability to communicate globally at all in real-time was a qualitative shift, while according to Standage the change brought on by the modern Internet was merely a quantitative shift.<ref>{{cite news|title=Victorian Internet|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1065537|access-date=8 June 2013|newspaper=NPR|date=October 19, 1999}}</ref>

== Contents ==
The book describes to general readers how some of the uses of telegraph in commercial, soldier, and social communication were, in a sense, analogous to modern uses of the internet. A few rather unusual stories are related, about couples who fell in love and even married over the wires, criminals who were caught through the telegraph, and so on.
[[File:New York utility lines in 1890.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|Wired city in 1890]]

The culture which developed between telegraph operators also had some rather unexpected affinities with the modern Internet. Both cultures made or make use of complex text [[Code|coding]] and [[Commercial code (communications)|abbreviated]] language [[slang]], both required [[network security]] experts, and both attracted criminals who used the networks to commit [[wire fraud|fraud]], [[hacker (computer security)|hack]] private communications, and send [[Spam (electronic)|unwanted]] messages.<ref>{{cite news|last=Stroh|first=Michael|title=The Victorian net; The electric telegraph was the 1890s version of the Internet|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/37662504.html?dids=37662504:37662504&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+28%2C+1998&author=MICHAEL+STROH&pub=The+Sun&desc=The+Victorian+net%3B+The+electric+telegraph+was+the+1890s+version+of+the+Internet&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131202144713/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/baltsun/access/37662504.html?dids=37662504:37662504&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Dec+28,+1998&author=MICHAEL+STROH&pub=The+Sun&desc=The+Victorian+net;+The+electric+telegraph+was+the+1890s+version+of+the+Internet&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 2, 2013|access-date=8 June 2013|newspaper=The Sun - Baltimore, Md.|date=Dec 28, 1998}}</ref>

==Reception==
Critical reception of the book was mostly positive.<ref>{{cite web|title=Review: Victorian Internet|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/The-Victorian-Internet-The-Remarkable-Story-of-the-Telegraph-and-the-Nineteenth-Century-s-On-Line-Pioneers-Tom-Standage/pid=1038237|publisher=Booklist|access-date=8 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Review: Victorian Internet|url=http://bookverdict.com/details.xqy?uri=Product-8097206.xml|publisher=Library Journal (BookVerdict)|access-date=8 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Review: Victorian Internet|url=http://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tom-standage/the-victorian-internet/|magazine=Kirkus Reviews|access-date=8 June 2013}}</ref> [[Smithsonian (magazine)|''Smithsonian'' magazine]] gave a positive review for ''The Victorian Internet'', but stated that it was "not the book for readers who want in-depth accounts of the lives of scientist-inventors like Thomas Edison or Charles Wheatstone, detailed financial histories of companies like [[Western Union]], or technical treatments of subjects like the development of semaphore systems and undersea cables".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Alden|first=John R.|title=Review of 'The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers'|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/review-of-the-victorian-internet-the-remarkable-story-of-the-telegraph-and-the-nineteenth-centurys-on-line-pioneers-162122762/|magazine=Smithsonian Magazine|access-date=8 November 2017}}</ref> The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' had some criticisms of the book but gave a mostly positive review.<ref>{{cite news|last=Silverman|first=Kenneth|title=dot-dash|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/23/books/bk-39976/2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224132117/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/23/books/bk-39976/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 24, 2013|access-date=8 June 2013|newspaper=LA Times|date=May 23, 1999}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{official website|http://tomstandage.com/vicnet.html}}

{{Telecommunications}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victorian Internet, The}}
[[Category:Technology books]]
[[Category:Books about the Internet]]
[[Category:1998 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:History of the telegraph]]
[[Category:Works about the information economy]]