Continuity and Change in the History of the Information Society: From the Telegraph Network to the Internet

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Roland Wenzlhuemer
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2006 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 30329709

It will be the main goal of this research project to establish whether we, as children of the information age, are, indeed, belonging to a ¿radically new¿ form of society as those who frequently use the term ¿information revolution¿ imply. The research project will examine the role of both continuity and change in the emergence of the so-called information society. Today contemporary Western societies are often styled as knowledge or information societies. Information has become the single most important raw material of the age around which both economy and society redefine themselves. This rise of ¿informationalism¿ (Castells 1996) is perceived as a consequence of the information revolution, a comparatively sudden and transformative process starting in the 1960s. Thus, abrupt change of revolutionary dimension seems to be the decisive factor in the emergence of the information society. This research project, however, seeks to examine the role of continuity as a balancing factor in that process. Examples of continuity can easily be observed in the growth and structure of the global communication network since the nineteenth century which showed an at times surprising adherence to path-dependencies. This study will try to identify other spheres of the process in which continuity has been the primary shaping force. It shall be established how continuity and revolutionary change interacted to bring about today¿s information society. Ultimately, the research project strives to establish whether the development leading to today¿s information society has been continuous and gradual for the last 150 years or whether there was indeed an information revolution punctuating the previous equilibrium of technological and socio-economic evolution. Keywords: telegraph network, information age, information revolution, socio-economic impact of telecommunication

• DFG Programme: Research Grants