statistics

This page is being reconstructed. In the interim notes with selected communications revolution statistics are available -

• messages - voice traffic, data traffic, telegraph traffic and postal traffic
• uptake - time to adopt particular media
• devices - number of handsets, fax machines, mobile phones, personal computers and other devices
• facilities - number of broadcasting stations, cinemas and other facilities
• audiences - size of audiences for radio, television, film and other media
• content - production of books, newspapers, films and other content

     data sources

Global sources of particular value for communications history are

International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Universal Postal Union (UPU)

Local sources include

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Australian Communications Authority (ACA)

Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA)

For other nations see in particular -

US Census Bureau

Statistics Canada (StatCan)

Pointers to print and online sources regarding the internet are found in the Metrics & Statistics guide and associated profiles.

     benchmarking

Non-specialist researchers face particular challenges in placing adoption of the internet in historical context, because much benchmarking information is problematical or merely is not readily available.

In Australia, for example, it is difficult to identify uptake of particular devices prior to the 1960s, particularly on a per household basis, because information was not collected by government agencies and because there are uncertainties about figures in some commercial reports. Some researchers have accordingly relied on figures from the UK and US.

For benchmarking uptake of ICT see Sue Bowden & Avner Offer's 'Household Appliances and Time Use in the United States and Britain since the 1920s' in vol 47 No 4 of the Economic History Review (1994).

The US Census Bureau offers a handy distillation (PDF) of uptake of selected communications media from 1920 to 2001.    

 

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