帝國之弦：日治時期臺灣電報與社會（1895-1945）

Abstract

電報是日治時期的「資訊骨幹」，而西方研究圍繞電報為核心，從性別、勞動條件、政治與社會角度切入，已有豐富研究成果。但西方研究偏向社會學科的角度，重解釋、輕史料，雖富於啟發性，但缺乏對東亞地區使用電報經驗之重視。基於電報「準公文書」與高度社會擴散的特性，加上郵局與縱貫鐵路之結合，其功能無法為電話所取代；而日治時期留下大量關於電報之史料，足以支撐一本專書的研究份量。本文擬從技術與社會結合的角度，分由電報的管理組織、人力資源、規程制度、技術規格、社會文化及田野調查諸方面建構日治時期臺灣的電報發展。並以實證的方式闡明電報在日治時期「在地化」的運作細節，尋求與西方研究交流、對話的空間，釐清通訊與社會研究中爭議的課題，修正預設的研究假設，提出解釋，並作為逐步建構「臺灣電訊史」的基礎研究工作。

Telegraph served as the “backbone of information flow” during the ImperialJapanese era of Taiwan. Western researches centered on “telegraph" had exploredthis subject from different aspects of issues on gender, labor condition,politics and society and had gained abundant achievements; however, most of themwere limited to the frame of sociology, emphasized on the interpretation ofphenomena rather than the historical materials; thus, the western researches,though inspiring enough, did not pay enough attention to the history andexperiences of telegraph applications in East Asia.Telegraph texts had the features of highly social diffusion and were“parallel to official documents;” therefore, with the combination ofapplications of Postal Service and Meridian Railway, telegraph could not besubstituted by telephones in its function. Historical materials of telegraphs,during the Imperial Japanese era of Taiwan, are rich and plentiful enough togive birth to a volume for the research of this subject.Thus, with the view points of the combination of technology and society,through the studies of administrative organizations, human resources,regulation systems, technical specifications, social culture and field work onthe subject, this research intends to construct the history of the developmentof telegraph application in Taiwan during the Imperial Japanese era. Moreover,with specifying the detail processes of the “localization application oftelegraph,” through empirical methods, this research also seeks for thepossibilities to have conversations and interact with the western counterpartsof researches and therefore to clarify the issues of communication technologyand social study, revise the hypotheses, provide explanations, and graduallyto construct the foundation work for the research of the “History of theTelecommunications in Taiwan.”