However, we should remember that the possibilities were there since the telegraph. The telegraph, by sending nearly instantaneous intelligence over wire, ushered in the obsolescence of semaphoric systems of communications and enabled both increased safety for railroads and the development of the modern press. Radio technology which was originally envisioned as ship to shore communication and later as the entertainment form of a.m. radio through the use of the electromagnetic spectrum increased maritime safety and the development of broadcasting networks, whose reach would incorporate later technologies of f.m. radio, vhf and uhf, black and white and color television, cable broadcasting, and satellite. All of these new technologies promised greater access, diversity in content, and democratic potential. In that sense computers and cyberspace as deployments of electronic technology promise some similar benefits in a faster and more expensive form.
Feminism is a double pronged project, including scholarship and activism.
We have plenty of scholarship to suggest that new technologies though great in potential by and large do not end up being used for the benefit of women or the human race for that reason. To do so we need to embrace activism. We have to educate ourselves on the development and deployment of technologies. You might be surprised at the answer. Once we begin addressing some of the local issues, we need to think globally as well.