On Telegraphic Codes
A conversation between Lex Berman and John McVey.
Recorded in Cambridge, MA on 12th April, 2019.
In this podcast, John McVey explains the historical technology and language of telegraphic codes.
These historical code books were printed by various companies, sometimes for internal use to expedite their global businesses in the late 19th Century. This was back at the beginning of electronic signal processing. Just as the world was being spanned by communication systems, the signal codes of the day (such as Morse code) and the keystroke-saving codebooks were developed. John explains their origins, the typesetting, design, and above all the content of the telegraphic code books, which resonate with their own unintential poetic sensabilities.
photo src: Tiarne Blackwell url
Further reading:
Ludovic Bauer, Telegram-schlussel (Leipzig: 1913)
[japanese telegraph codes] (http://cryptiana.web.fc2.com/code/jtelegraph_e.htm)
Intro music by Sertab Eraner: Stanbul