The digital revolution
evolution of journalism, and thus the way in which future history is created. The Digital Revolution is perhaps the greatest technological shift to date, and thus one of the greatest ever phenomena to affect the way in which history is made. Not only has it changed the way in which events unfold, it has changed the way in which journalism and history operate. The ability to report events is now available to everyone. Future historians will have an unprecedented and almost overwhelming wealth of sources: we are one of the first generations able to accurately see the past, through photographs and film; future generations will be the first able to use internet sources. It is not an understatement, therefore, to say that the digital age is more than just a series of technological advancements, but a complete, and possibly unparalleled, revolution of the way in which humanity creates and records history.
the violence would have been contained. 51 It was, however, another ubiquitous invention of the Digital Age which allowed a vast number of prosecutions, on a scale almost unprecedented in other public order situations in history: the closed- circuit television camera. Once again, it was digital technology which caused a greatly increased form of globalization to increase the scale of events. Imagine any number of small-scale historical incidents and the way in which they may have been magnified many times had they occurred in the digital age. Would the Indian Mutiny of 1857 perhaps have been able to galvanize widespread pan-Indian popular support, and thus worldwide recognition, with the aide of digital technology, such as social media? Journalism and history, two similar and interlinked disciplines, are affected by but also affect the world around them. New technology has led the way in the
51 The police recognized the power and influence of social media and digital technologies, but (at least initially) were unable to do much about it. The Blackberry Messenger system operates on a secure network, which the police had difficulty infiltrating. When I was attempting to photograph the daytime arrest of a suspected rioter at London Bridge, it was clear that police were attempting to combat the power of social media that they were facing: one officer was specially detailed during the arrest to stand in front of my camera, to try and stop further photographs potentially appearing on social media sites, which the police were clearly concerned could further inflame the situation. Conversely, however, it should be noted that it was social media which allowed the organization of a public volunteer clean-up operation across London, after the riots.
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