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Inventions in communication

Inventors from the telegraph to the web, non-verbal communication and San rock art. Read one part at a time and tap “I know this”. Then test yourself in the quiz.

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On a timeline

Long agoTalking, gestures and rockart1840The Penny Black, the firststicky stamp1840sMorse’s telegraph and code1876Bell’s telephone1890sMarconi’s radio1926Baird shows a television1973Cooper’s first cellphonecall1989Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web
The oldest way to communicate: talking and gestures.

Email stands for electronic mail. A network is computers linked to share information. Before the telephone, quick messages went by telegraph in Morse code.

San rock art: one of the oldest messages.
San rock art: one of the oldest messages.
Tap when you could tell someone without looking.

Rock art and cellphones

  • San rock art is a useful source: it shows how people lived long ago. Some paintings show a large “rain animal”, linked to beliefs about bringing rain.
  • Cellphone: you can reach people almost anywhere, but people can spend too much time on screens. The first cellphone networks in South Africa (Vodacom and MTN) started in 1994.
Tap when you could tell someone without looking.

Remember this and test yourself

Remember this: your summary
  • Morse (telegraph code), Bell (telephone, 1876), Marconi (radio, 1890s), Cooper (mobile phone, 1973), Berners-Lee (World Wide Web).
  • George Eastman’s Kodak made photography easy; Bill Gates helped start Microsoft.
  • People walked on the Moon in 1969; South Africans listened on the radio, because we only got television in 1976.
  • Non-verbal: waving goodbye, a frown (body language), sign language.
  • The San painted rock art with ochre, charcoal and animal fat; the eland appears often.

Write these points in your book. Read them again the night before the test.

Memory trick

M-B-M-C-B: Morse, Bell, Marconi, Cooper, Berners-Lee — from wire to wireless to web.

Flash cards · Tap to turn over

Important words

First say what the word means, then turn the card over.

Test yourself · Part 2

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