Page 18 - Virtual Research Lab flip book

establishment in January 1996 the New York Times interactive online version passed the limitations of print and images on paper to include audio and video in many articles, and the ability to interact with the columnists by entering comments online either on the newspaper website or social media sites. From the standpoint of book history, in 2010 the Grolier Club of New York, the leading American book collectors’ club, keeping up with current technology, began making videos of selected meetings and events available from their website to members who are unable to attend, using new technol- ogy to promote interests which are frequently antiquarian in nature. During the Covid-19 pandemic, along with many organizations, and individuals, the Grolier Club held virtual meetings via Zoom or other video-conferencing technologies.
When we trace media back to their roots, we follow the histories of in- dividual media such as manuscripts, print, photography, TV, movies, or radio. From the mid-twentieth century we may follow the development of experimental projects in multimedia and virtual reality. While we may find partial precursors, there is a disconnect when we try to relate the history of different broadcast media—among which I include print—to the immense diversity and interactivity of the Internet media experience, which allows hundreds of millions of people to produce online content of all kinds, and to interact through social media or video-conferencing.
There is also a disconnect with respect to networking and information transfer, both in speed and amount of data. In the ancient world messengers on horseback riding in relays on the Royal Road, as described by Herodo- tus, could travel 1,677 miles in seven to nine days. At that time an army on foot might have taken three months to cover the same distance.
Until the development of the Chappe optical telegraph at the end of the eighteenth century, relay riding, especially over improved roads, remained the fastest method of communication over extended distances. Chappe’s semaphore technology could transmit a 36-symbol message between Paris and Lille (about 230 kilometers or 143 miles) in about 32 minutes, or a little less than a minute per character, significantly faster than relay riders could
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