Blog Post #5

Reflection of EOTO Presentations

After researching the cassette tape, I had the opportunity to hear presentations from my classmates about the technology that interested them. I wrote many notes down, recording how Edward Muybridge created the first moving picture in 1877, Edison ran a company into the ground to buy back the rights to the phonograph, the emoticons :-) and :-( were first used in 1982, Bluetooth was named after a famous viking king, and more. One form of communication I really enjoyed learning about was the carrier pigeon. While I had a general idea of the concept and how the bird was used, I was shocked to hear how it was still relevant in today's world.  

Carrier pigeons were born and bred in people’s homes and had natural homing abilities; they used their internal magnetic compasses and were aided by man made landmarks. When raised in one home, they were able to be released and return to what they knew as familiar and safe. Now one might ask why use a bird, wouldn’t it be slower? My classmate Julia shared that the pigeons were actually only 40% slower than the other forms of transportation used during the time, and were favored because they provided more privacy. Foot and horse transport was less reliable as there were many accidents and messengers could be dishonest.

Carrier pigeons went far beyond helping organize bets in Roman Empire chariot races, they were utilized during war and saved lives. Tanks had special holes built in them to release pigeons and they were held on boats and released quickly to send messages and save crews if they were under attack. Specific marksmen were trained to shoot down the birds; in WWII a pigeon was shot at and blinded but still managed to reach the correct destination. Heard of the phrase “bird’s eye view?” When technology became more advanced, cameras were attached to pigeons to record enemy camps.

Jokes can be made about the irrelevance of carrier pigeons now, but in January of last year one was used to deliver a small backpack of crystal meth into a prison yard in Canada. While not their intended use, it’s fascinating to see people begin to rely on older forms of technology to bypass our most updated forms of it. It’s possible we will see more examples of reverting back to more outdated forms of communication to find ways around modern problems or roadblocks.