Written Telephone: Annotated Bibliography

Crompton, S.W. (2008). Alexander Graham Bell and the Telephone: The Invention That Changed Communication. Chelsea House Publications.

The book is useful for writing the section on identifying the period of invention, as well as conditions and circumstances of it. The second half on the 19^th century was marked by a great number of inventions and technological breakthroughs. Scientists and engineers all over the world were developing the devices which would help people communicate through great distances. This book tells about the man who was the first to patent the telephone, A.G. Bell, and all the events that led to this great invention, as well as the changes brought by it to the society.

 

Kingsbury, J. E. (2011). The telephone and telephone exchanges: their invention and development. University of Toronto Libraries.

The book by Kingsbury (2011) is an edition which comprises the materials on both invention of telephone and further development in the telephony field, as well as presents the analysis of effects these innovations had on the history of the industry and society as a whole. In the first part of the research the author focuses on the inventors of telephone and its parts explaining the reasons they were driven with and results they came to. The last part of the research focuses at the progress made by the end of the 19^th century and then, at describing innovative ideas that entered the new century, being followed by cable technologies and later, by mobile phones.

 

Huurdeman, A.A. (2003). The Worldwide History of Telecommunications. Wiley-IEEE Press.

The present book by Huurdeman (2003) is practically the first one to give the multisided overview of the development of telecommunications from the global perspective. The simple and well-written book tells the story of the unique evolution and advance of telecommunications which involved the work of numerous scientists, engineers, and inventors of more than two centuries. The author describes the various techniques used in different times by people for distanced communication, which eventually turned telecommunications into the world’s largest industry, including spheres interesting us in our research, such as digital and IP telephony, telephone switching, coaxial and optical fiber networks, and multimedia applications.

 

Srivastava, L. (2005). Mobile phones and the evolution of social behavior. Behaviour and Information Technology, 24(2), pp. 111-129.

The author of the article tells about the development of a mobile phone and the way how this technological object first used merely for communication gradually turned into a significant social object that changed human identity and interaction of people in the society. The author argues that the application of phones has significantly personalized the communication sphere through mobility opportunities and the advancement’s pervasive character. In perspective of phone’s connection with the humanities, the researcher explores how the object turn from purely “technological object” into the “social object”.

Thulin, E., & Vilhelmson, B. (2007). Mobiles everywhere: Youth, the mobile phone, and changes in everyday practice. Young, 15(3), pp. 235-253.

The authors of the article study the changes in the lifestyles of young people brought by the growth of mobile phones popularity. They describe three major spheres mostly affected by the mobiles: communication patterns, various forms of spatial mobility, and personal time planning and use. The findings show that the new generation’s communication with their social environment grows due to the convenient options of constant updates and immediate exchange. Communication becomes more flexible in terms of space, time, and content; but at the same time a mobile phones becomes increasingly irreplaceable and people’s dependence on them increases fast.