I am Zolf. I am from Astria. I have been assigned by the Milky Way Intelligentsia Society (MWIS) to perform research on a small body of beings which calls themselves Earth. The members of MWIS have commissioned me to gather data and report back periodically. I have sent a light probe to earth to collect initial information.
Initial Report: Based upon data collected by Light Probe #00001, it appears that the only method of crude communication is via newspapers and an electronic, wired technology known as telegraph. The only method for recording data seems to be their typewriter. Since our light probe data-gatherers are limited to using only the technology of the observed location, this will be recorded on a typewriter and stored on paper until we are able to move their technology forward.
Their time measurement method is based on an Earth Year, which is the time required for the body to circle it's base star which the Earthians (or Earthlings, as will call themselves in future writings) refer to as Sun. All future records will be marked by Earth Year (EY) to simplify future communication with Earthlings. This initial report was prepared in EY1890.
By doing a future projection 200 Earth Years to EY2090, we have established that their language called English will be ultimately designated as a Universally Translatable Language. Although many languages are used on Earth, most will be translatable from English by EY2090. We are writing all of these reports in the Galaxian language (of Astria), but they will be translated to English upon the advent of more suitable Earth-wide communications techniques.
We have determined that, at their current rate of development, summarizing light probe findings every 10 Earth Years will be sufficient to record and control progress leading up to the planned Astrian visit in EY2016. Multiple probes will be sent each Earth Year, but reports will only be generated every 10 Earth Years. Relative to control, we will aid in the further development of the telephone, which was recently invented, and will seed the idea of a radio.