This archive frames the development and history of Morse Code as a point of reference. A point in time when our modes of communication were at the early stages of mediation. The electrical telegraph, the mediator of that time, was a device to communicate the spoken word through a codified system of dots and dashes. The electrical telegraph and its intrinsic physical properties and technology, coupled with this codified system of writing, quickly became a sound object as it became evident that listening to the device was just as effective than reading the dots and dashes. As a point of reference, this compelled the research and collection of the intrinsic sonic qualities of our contemporary communication devices: the cell phone. Today's devices communicate in verbatim. They surpass any codified means and transmit the word, image, video, and sound directly by way of its sensorial facets: microphone, keypad, camera, to the receiving end, which may not be anything like the source.
As scientific investigation is concerned, all the recordings were based on a systematic approach of treating every device exactly the same. Owners were requested to follow the same steps and perform the same tasks: text, email, load a website, get current geo-location, and watch a YouTube video. This systematic approach revealed the different timbres between each device, which are all performing the same task.
Collected & Curated by Salvador Orara
For more information regarding exhibitions and performances
please contact: orara [dot] salvador [at] gmail [dot] com
© 2011 Salvador Orara
The first electrical telegraph was co-developed by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, and entered use on the Great Western Railway in Britain. It was patented in the United Kingdom in 1837 and fully implemented in 1839. The electrical telegraph functioned over electromagnetically charged lines which connected two stations together.
The Morse Sounder was developed as a result of Morse station operators who were able to listen to the letters, words, and phrases being transcribed by the Morse Recorder. As this aural feature became more apparent and understandable, the Sounder was created to amplify the electrical current transmitting the human word.