Illustrating the ways in which technological development grows out of government regulation, education innovation, professional profit-seeking, and social activism, this interdisciplinary study combines insights from several fields, among them the history of technology, human geography, mass communication, and information studies.
Gregory J. Downey is an associate professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and the School of Library & Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the author of Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor, Technology, and Geography, 1850–1950.