[Air-l] timeline

[Jonathan Sterne]

Hi All,

I haven't been following the timeline conversation so I don't know the
particular motivations behind it, but it seems rather short scale to my
mind.  For instance, if one wants to understand the history of digital
audio, you've got to at least go back to Fourier, who was interested in heat
but whose waveform analysis made digital audio possible.  And if you want to
talk about the relationship between music and number, well now we're back to
Aristotle and Aristoxenus.

If we're interested in keyboard instruments, the history of typewriters
seems important, and if we're interested in the history of databases the
census, the postal system and the invention of tabulation machines seems
important.

Also the 20th century dates seem off to me.  1950s is an important period
for the diffusion of television in the US but much of the key policy and
technological development happened between the 20s and 40s.  One might also
look internationally to German deployments of television and so forth.

Again, I don't know the motivation behind such a timeline but if it is meant
as a guide to media history relevant to people who are interested in digital
media today, I would recommend more attention the extant media historical
scholarship.

Best,
--J