Jane Austen: Proto-Twitterer

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, the mail was delivered in and around London up to six times a day. Snail mail was almost Twitteresque, argues O'Reilly Radar's Sarah Milstein. "People today often assume that email, Twitter and other relatively instant communication media have created a slew of brand new communication behaviors. The Jane Austen show at the Morgan suggests just the opposite: our human patterns are surprisingly consistent, and technology evolves to meet us." (Via Tim Maly)

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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Anonymous

back when i was a history grad student studying the british colonies in the late 17th century i learned that letters were passed around, and heavily annotated, and updated by each new reader. not too much different than blog comments, or a wiki article.
MB

Even in the late 80s, we used to get twice daily mail service in Nottingham.
MadMolecule

*crosses Tzctlp off party invitation-list*
hello whirled

our human patterns are surprisingly consistent

I love that observation.

Let’s just say it again: I. love. that.

We who find ourselves here today blundering through the late 1900s/early 2000s occasionally delude ourselves into thinking that we are somehow … different. Not so sure about that.

Happy new year!
Dan Mac

Similar: The City of Vancouver is considering a similar scenario to pick up garbage in the commercial core on a daily basis, eliminating garbage dumpsters.
Tzctlp

What a lot of nonsense.

What is the need to find similarities when in reality they are tenuous at best, and most likely non existent?

The medium, the format and the audience (just for starters) are completely and utterly different.
- ROSSINDETROIT
  
  Because the only important parts, the content and selected audience are the same. Medium and format are irrelevant.