Samenvatting Media Culture in Transformation semester 1 – 2024
1 Connecting the World: Industrialization, Standardization,
Abstraction
Ancient infrastructures
- Silk road routes ca. 150 BCE – 1450s CE (connecting the far east with northern
part of Africa and southern part of Europa). Cultural exchange: buddhism, Islamic
and Christian religion moved along these lines outside of transportation of goods.
Early Modernity 1500 – 1800: Global expansion
- Throughout 15th centrury:
o Portuguese ecploring and colonizing Africa
- End of 15th century:
o Sea routes from Europe to Americas and south-east asia
o Spain colonizing south America
- From 1600:
o Netherlands colonizing sout-east asia
Technical innovations (new types of ships, maps, navigation tools, better understanding
of winds and streams) > increasing European demand for luxury products (gold, spices,
coQee, sugar) > competition for trade routes > colonialism as economic and political
model > Christian missionaries, empirical sciences
= Creates motive to create new routes
Early Modernity: Slave Trade
What makes this trade unique in the history of the modern world was that its primary
commodity was black bodies, sold and bought to provide free labor to the plantation
complexes of the new world, whose primary products – coQee, sugar, tobacco – were
needed to satiate the culture of taste and the civilizing process. (quote by?)
How do you see this now?
Media (smart phones, apps, global platforms) > mobility (e-bikes) > eating habits ad tase
preferences (ordering) > working conditions >
Continuity and Change
Shaping the 19th century:
- Economy and politics:
o Globally uneven distribution of wealth / exploitation
- Science and tech
o Enabled expansion and benefitted from it
- Culture
o ‘free’, ‘civilized’ Europeans vs racialized others
,The 19th century
Modernity / Global European Dominance
Industrialization
- Switch from agrarian to industrial society
- Capitalism
o Factories, division of labor, urbanization (more people move to the cities
because that is where the factories/work is)
o Scientific invention (the invention of invention)
Energy/power: steam engine is invented. Produced reliable, solid, neverending energy.
No dependency on nature.
Energy/power: electricity. End of the 19th century electric light was the default. Makes us
less dependent on nature.
Focus on railroad and telegraphy in the 19th century:
The emergence of railroad networks (GB):
- From 1770s: steam engine in many industries
- From 1800: invention of steam locomotive
- 1830s: scheduled person trains
Railroads in the USA:
- Used to appropriating new in-land territory
- 1869 completion of east-west connection
Telegraphy:
Long history of communication through smoke, letters, messengers
Telegraphy allowed symbols to move independently of and faster than transportation.
From 1830s in some European countries there were cable networks in US, UK and
Germany. In 1866 they were global.
Railroad and telegraphy:
- Require new forms of financing and management
- Become essential systems for many organizations and practices
- Resulting challenges
o National vs international networks
o State vs private enterprises
Railroad and telegraphy are interrelated:
- Media (as part of) configurations
o Granting each other plausibility
- Path dependencies
o Canals/ports > railroads
o Railroads > telegraph
o Colonial shipping routes > railroads/telegraph stations
- Creating a networked world / artificial environments
, o Intensifying, modifying earlier conventions
Networks: standardization, abstraction, globalization
Standardization: printing. Before printing every book looked diQerent because it had to
by copied by hand. After printing every booked looked the same.
Railroad networks and standardization:
- Tracks: eQicient but unflexible system
o Capital intensive
o Gauge (size)
o Stations
o Path dependency
Telegraphy standardization and abstraction
- Electricity, cables, codes
o Immediacy
o Expertise / institutions
Telegraphy and standardization:
- Penetrating all aspects of life
o New styles of communication
o New forms of journalism
o News agencies
o Creating global markets
Telegraphy and Abstraction
During the Crimean War (1850s), when the medium (telegraphy) was deployed for the
first time, British and French commanders found themselves bombarded with a welter
of contradictory telegrams from civilian politicians.
Standardization/Abstraction of Time
Villages had their own time (depending on church bells). If you built a railroad
(scheduled trains) it is handy that the villages have the same time. It was possible to
synchronize the time because of communication through telegraphy.
Standardization/Abstraction of Space
Some cities may be closer to Amsterdam than Utrecht but the railroads make Utrecht
closer to Amsterdam.
1500 – 1800 Early modernity: global expansion, colonialism, slave trade
19th century
- industrialization, modernity
- Railroad and telegraphy
1 Connecting the World: Industrialization, Standardization,
Abstraction
Ancient infrastructures
- Silk road routes ca. 150 BCE – 1450s CE (connecting the far east with northern
part of Africa and southern part of Europa). Cultural exchange: buddhism, Islamic
and Christian religion moved along these lines outside of transportation of goods.
Early Modernity 1500 – 1800: Global expansion
- Throughout 15th centrury:
o Portuguese ecploring and colonizing Africa
- End of 15th century:
o Sea routes from Europe to Americas and south-east asia
o Spain colonizing south America
- From 1600:
o Netherlands colonizing sout-east asia
Technical innovations (new types of ships, maps, navigation tools, better understanding
of winds and streams) > increasing European demand for luxury products (gold, spices,
coQee, sugar) > competition for trade routes > colonialism as economic and political
model > Christian missionaries, empirical sciences
= Creates motive to create new routes
Early Modernity: Slave Trade
What makes this trade unique in the history of the modern world was that its primary
commodity was black bodies, sold and bought to provide free labor to the plantation
complexes of the new world, whose primary products – coQee, sugar, tobacco – were
needed to satiate the culture of taste and the civilizing process. (quote by?)
How do you see this now?
Media (smart phones, apps, global platforms) > mobility (e-bikes) > eating habits ad tase
preferences (ordering) > working conditions >
Continuity and Change
Shaping the 19th century:
- Economy and politics:
o Globally uneven distribution of wealth / exploitation
- Science and tech
o Enabled expansion and benefitted from it
- Culture
o ‘free’, ‘civilized’ Europeans vs racialized others
,The 19th century
Modernity / Global European Dominance
Industrialization
- Switch from agrarian to industrial society
- Capitalism
o Factories, division of labor, urbanization (more people move to the cities
because that is where the factories/work is)
o Scientific invention (the invention of invention)
Energy/power: steam engine is invented. Produced reliable, solid, neverending energy.
No dependency on nature.
Energy/power: electricity. End of the 19th century electric light was the default. Makes us
less dependent on nature.
Focus on railroad and telegraphy in the 19th century:
The emergence of railroad networks (GB):
- From 1770s: steam engine in many industries
- From 1800: invention of steam locomotive
- 1830s: scheduled person trains
Railroads in the USA:
- Used to appropriating new in-land territory
- 1869 completion of east-west connection
Telegraphy:
Long history of communication through smoke, letters, messengers
Telegraphy allowed symbols to move independently of and faster than transportation.
From 1830s in some European countries there were cable networks in US, UK and
Germany. In 1866 they were global.
Railroad and telegraphy:
- Require new forms of financing and management
- Become essential systems for many organizations and practices
- Resulting challenges
o National vs international networks
o State vs private enterprises
Railroad and telegraphy are interrelated:
- Media (as part of) configurations
o Granting each other plausibility
- Path dependencies
o Canals/ports > railroads
o Railroads > telegraph
o Colonial shipping routes > railroads/telegraph stations
- Creating a networked world / artificial environments
, o Intensifying, modifying earlier conventions
Networks: standardization, abstraction, globalization
Standardization: printing. Before printing every book looked diQerent because it had to
by copied by hand. After printing every booked looked the same.
Railroad networks and standardization:
- Tracks: eQicient but unflexible system
o Capital intensive
o Gauge (size)
o Stations
o Path dependency
Telegraphy standardization and abstraction
- Electricity, cables, codes
o Immediacy
o Expertise / institutions
Telegraphy and standardization:
- Penetrating all aspects of life
o New styles of communication
o New forms of journalism
o News agencies
o Creating global markets
Telegraphy and Abstraction
During the Crimean War (1850s), when the medium (telegraphy) was deployed for the
first time, British and French commanders found themselves bombarded with a welter
of contradictory telegrams from civilian politicians.
Standardization/Abstraction of Time
Villages had their own time (depending on church bells). If you built a railroad
(scheduled trains) it is handy that the villages have the same time. It was possible to
synchronize the time because of communication through telegraphy.
Standardization/Abstraction of Space
Some cities may be closer to Amsterdam than Utrecht but the railroads make Utrecht
closer to Amsterdam.
1500 – 1800 Early modernity: global expansion, colonialism, slave trade
19th century
- industrialization, modernity
- Railroad and telegraphy
