for my object, I chose different forms of communication that vary throughout the years. this carries a message of revolution, as well as evolution of technology. it shows the different classes of people that were able to afford the latest technology, as well as more servant like people who are used to translate messages or provide services for the user.
I started with one of the simplest forms of communication, paper. it is still used today by nearly all people, but wasn't as available as it is now when it was first created. papyrus was sometimes named in honor of emperors or officials, which could have angered or pleased the people of the empire. I then moved on to foot or horse messengers. they could carry a message from place to place in the form of paper of memorization of the message. this would be useful if it were a military message and the messenger was captured and killed because they would not be able to find evidence of the message. the next from of communication I chose was the telegraph and morse code. this was one of the first examples of using electricity to communicate between two or more people. the next example is the telephone. this allowed either person to hear the other person's voice, rather than reading or depicting a message. when this was first created, it was mostly used for wealthier people who could afford the latest technology, which created some class separation. email is the next example, which uses the internet to communicate. although it doesn't involve hearing someones voice, it allows you to attach files or other messages and send them to a mass group of people. the last form of communication I chose was the cell phone. this now contains the ability to hear someones voice, to send emails, send text messages, and a variety of other technological advances.
papyrus:
papyrus is an egyptian word in which the word "paper" is derived from. it was first used around 500 BCE by the ancient egyptians. various sizes and types of papyrus were often named in honor of officials or emperors. this usually happened during the Byzantine and Roman time periods, and has been found in the Mesopotamia area, Asia, and Europe.
foot or horse messengers:
common in Egypt and China around 200 BCE. messengers would run on foot or ride horseback to relay a message from one place to another, whether it was about war or a variety of different things.
morse code:
in 1836 by Samuel Morse developed the electrical telegraph. this was new technology of the time that worked by sending pulses of electric current through wires. morse code was made so the pulses could be translated into words or phrases.
telephone:
the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray in the 1870's. it uses a wire-based electrical system and allows two people to communicate and hear the others voice.
email:
the first email message was transmitted in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson. it was sent between two computers that were sitting right next to one another.
cell phone:
was first widely used in 1971 and made it much more easy to communicate while doing other tasks.
information and pictures:
-http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/papyrus.htm
-http://pwcs.bennett.schoolfusion.us/modules/cms/pages.phtml?sessionid=d74435b3ae8520de66236d3df0e5709b&pageid=87961&sessionid=6e79174b3d28c2ac32fa2872cafda80c
-http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_history_of_communication.htm
-http://www.history.org/visit/planyourvisit/monthlyspecials/
-http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/telegraph.htm
-http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/06/016420.htm
-http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/telephone.htm
-http://bullybloggers.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/you-cannot-gaga-gaga-by-jack-halberstam/
-http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2002/cmsc434-0101/MUIseum/applications/emailhistory.html
-http://www.wyso.org/
-http://cellphones.org/cell-phone-history.html
-http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/01/09/macworld_apple_stuns_macworld_crowd_with_multi_function_iphone_device.html
