Difference between revisions of "325--2011--Week 6 Questions/Comments"
From McClurken Wiki
(→Building the Electrical System -- What Was Electricity?) |
(→Electricity and the City -- Great White Way) |
||
| Line 19: | Line 19: | ||
To think that this was the beginning of Broadway is really important. The "white way" is seen in pictures from the time period, but also you can tell where the most people would be. The movie industry was also benefiting from electricity, as well as artists and many other people and businesses. Electricity cultivated the social aspect of everyday life. When they cut the lights off for a couple of days people requested they be put back on, maybe out of fear that their respective social lives would suffer. Now people who live near large lighted signs use shades, especially at night, to combat the light. I wonder if the social aspect of our lives changed when they “turned the lights on” or would it have happened naturally? -- Pam Petzold | To think that this was the beginning of Broadway is really important. The "white way" is seen in pictures from the time period, but also you can tell where the most people would be. The movie industry was also benefiting from electricity, as well as artists and many other people and businesses. Electricity cultivated the social aspect of everyday life. When they cut the lights off for a couple of days people requested they be put back on, maybe out of fear that their respective social lives would suffer. Now people who live near large lighted signs use shades, especially at night, to combat the light. I wonder if the social aspect of our lives changed when they “turned the lights on” or would it have happened naturally? -- Pam Petzold | ||
| + | |||
| + | I was very interested to read about how private investment, along with social, political and economic interests played such a heavy role in determining the development of the electrical system. Had electricity been more of a state-sponsored endeavor, it may be that it wouldn't have become a conspicuous commodity in its earliest stages (being used in the houses of the rich and for display) and may have made it into the average household sooner like it did in Europe. This did, however, allow it to be centralized and standardized more quickly, which helped it grow and spread more variedly. - Scott Birney | ||
== Electricity and transportation -- Crosstown Transfer == | == Electricity and transportation -- Crosstown Transfer == | ||
