Computers/Information Technology

A 'virtual' journal in an academic world that has already rendered itself virtual? How appropriate!" That was how one colleague described our project—to publish a journal of history that uses hypertext and multimedia technologies to merge audio, video, graphics, and text into a form that can only be communicated on the World Wide Web (WWW) or on CD-ROM/DVD mediums. She missed the point. It was precisely because so much of what we were doing as professional historians seemed so isolating that we wanted to "get out on the Web," to reach not only academicians, but an entire universe of interested readers. We wanted to bring serious historical scholarship and pedagogy under the scrutiny of amateurs and professionals alike, to utilize the promise of digital technologies to expand history's boundaries, merge its forms, and promote and legitimate innovations in teaching and research that we saw emerging all around us. So it was gratifying to find our skeptics in the minority and many lauding our efforts. A number of administrators at the University at Albany generously supported our venture, providing us with critically needed start-up funds, and thus helping to give birth to The Journal for MultiMedia History (JMMH). Our own History Department was equally munificent. So we are here, and as difficult as it was to get this first issue out, we intend to stay.

H-LIS ran from Sep. 24, 1997 to Apr 4, 2000. Its archives are available here.
H-LIS was interested in the interdisciplinary study of libraries and information broadly construed to include literacy and reading, print culture, libraries and archives, computerization and automation, information retrieval and documentation, and electronic information and communication.

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The Era of Biological Energy Sources: 9000 BC to AD 600
Between 9000 BC and 6000: Plants and animals are domesticated.
6000 BC: Copper artifacts are common in the Middle East.
4000 BC: Light wooden plows are used in Mesopotamia.
3500 BC: Kiln-fired bricks and pots are made in Mesopotamia.
3500 BC: Irrigation is developed in Mesopotamia.

Euclid (Alexandria) In his Optica he noted that light travels in straight lines and described the law of reflection. He believed that vision involves rays going from the eyes to the object seen and he studied the relationship between the apparent sizes of objects and the angles that they subtend at the eye

When one thinks of an antique telephone, the image of an old crank wall phone generally comes to mind. Since its invention in 1876 the telephone evolved along with the technology of the time. Not only was there an evolution in the instruments but many different manufacturers produced various styles and a certain uniqueness to their wall and desk telephones. The uniqueness of the old telephones has become very attractive and many people have found these to be interesting collectables. The pages on this site will provide links to the history of the telephone and the histories of a number of current telephone companies.

Elisha Gray (b. Aug. 2, 1835, Barnesville, Ohio, U.S. d. Jan. 21, 1901, Newtonville, Mass.), U.S. inventor and contestant with Alexander Graham Bell in a famous legal battle over the invention of the telephone.

In 1901 divers working off the isle of Antikythera found the remains of a clocklike mechanism 2,000 years old.
The mechanism now appears to have been a device for calculating the motions of stars and planets.

These links contain the exhibits pages with information on various patents, caveats, and telegraph development. Rules for the simulation can be found in Exhibit 4.

The Mercurians began meeting in 1986 for the purpose of generating networks between people who share work and interests in the history of communication technologies, defining the field broadly. Our activities include publishing a semi-annual newsletter, Antenna, meeting annually at Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) conferences, organizing paper sessions for SHOT meetings, and pursuing contacts between meetings. Antenna serves both as a clearing house for readers and an informal forum for their ideas. We welcome contributions, including notices and queries about Mercurians' projects as well as short essays on their work. Antenna includes book reviews and other materials about conferences, museums, publications, archives, funding, and other pertinent materials.