Tom Standage

Tom Standage (born 1969) is a journalist and author from England. A graduate of Oxford University, he has worked as a science and technology writer for The Guardian, as the deputy editor at The Economist, has been published in Wired,The New York Times, and The Daily Telegraph. A consistent approach of his is the use of historical analogy in science, technology and business writing. He has published a collection of articles and surveys from The Economist and six books, including The Victorian Internet. This book explores the historical development of the telegraph and the social ramifications associated with this development. Tom Standage also proposes that if Victorians from the 19th century were to be around today, they would be far from impressed with present Internet capabilities. This is because the development of the telegraph essentially mirrored the development of the Internet. Both technologies can be seen to have largely increased the speed and transmission of information and both were widely criticised by some, due to their perceived negative consequences. Tom's most recent work is Writing on the Wall (2013).

Standage has taken part in various key media events. He recently participated in ictQATAR's "Media Connected" forum for journalists in Qatar, where he discussed the concept of technology journalism around the world and how technology is expected to keep transforming the world of journalism in the Middle East and all around the world.

The development of the telegraph led to a compression of time and space. Tom Standage believes that prior to the telegraph the speed at which information reached its audience was completely dependent on the transport used to disperse that information. The development of the telegraph freed the transmission of information from the time constraints of transport and eliminated geographic borders. (Standage:1998, p. 102) With the immediate flow of communication came speculation concerning the possible effects of instantaneous communication on society. These speculations included the idea that the telegraph would “cut out the middle man” and lead to the downfall and eventual extinction of the printed press. (Standage:1998, p. 149) This is because newspapers at this time could only disperse information as quickly as the transport that carried them. However, this speculation was proven incorrect with newspaper and telegraph companies establishing an alliance that allowed reporters to use the telegraph to instantly transport breaking stories back to the office. (Standage:1998, p. 150) This gave newspapers the advantage of a far greater reach of information and readership. (Standage:1998, p. 150)

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