Carolyn Marvin, U of Pennsylvania, was selected to receive the 2011 ICA Fellows Book Award for her 1990 book When Old Technologies Were New: Thinking About Electric Communication in the Late Nineteenth Century (Oxford U Press).

The award recognizes those books that have made a substantial contribution to the scholarship of the communication field, as well as the broader rubric of the social sciences, and have stood some test of time. Any book nominated must have been available for at least the immediate past 5 years prior to the conference at which the award is presented. 

When Old Technologies Were New is a re-examination of two of the most significant technological innovations of the 19th century-the telephone and the electric light-through the lens of history. Marvin uses these two inventions to demonstrate how technology revolutionized social relations in the United States and throughout the world. She supplements her analysis with quotations and anecdotes from the media of the day, illustrating the reactions to the new technology and how the elites attempted to maintain control of it.

At the time of its publication, When Old Technologies Were New was acclaimed as a major contribution to the study of American history in general, and of the history of journalism and media in particular. The Journal of American History called it "an important addition" that "deserves close readings by historians of the modern media." Electrical Review added that "this book re-thinks the traditional artifactual and institutional approaches to media history."

Marvin is Frances Yates Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, with research interests in cultural studies, freedom of expression, and the social construction of taboo. She was the 1992 recipient of the university's Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Marvin was presented with the Award on 28 May 2011 during ICA's 61st Annual International Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.