The Notificator Beat Twitter by Over 70 Years
BoingBoing points out a great story from the archives of Modern Mechanix magazine, a description of a device known as the Notificator:
The user walks up on a small platform in front of the machine, writes a brief message on a continuous strip of paper and drops a coin in the slot. The inscription moves up behind a glass panel where it remains in public view for at least two hours so that the person for whom it is intended may have sufficient time to observe the note at the appointed place. The machine is similar in appearance to a candy-vending device. LINK
It seems one of these devices was actual put into service in London in 1935 and according to a lengthier description of the device, it looks like it was in service until sometime in 1938.
Sadly, it looks like none of the original paper rolls survived. That would have been a priceless archive of information about the daily lives of Londoners in the 1930’s. Actually, it would probably look a lot like my Twitter stream, and thus prove worthless from an historial perspective.
If nothing else, the existence of the Notificator, which is really just a fancy bulletin board, proves that humans have always had the desire to broadcast even their simplest needs into the public ether.
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Tags: Boing, business, London, Magazine, notificator, On the Web, Online Communities, Social Networking, twitter
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June 23, 2009 9:08 am
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