Global Communications And Technology
The concept of a "global village" or a united community around the world
has
only in these last few years become a concept widely thought of. However,
it
seems that the idea of a large-scale sharing of information has long
been
developing, whether intended or not. The tools of communication have
long served
a single purpose, that of transmitting information from people to
people. Direct
communication was long ago realized with sign language and
speech, but when
people spread out, a kind indirect communication was needed.
Thus we created (or
rather, hired) the messenger. (Necessity is the mother of
invention.) This
evolved later into a postal service, connected around the
world by a network of
synchronised offices of a similar nature. For a long
time, indirect
communication was the only way to communicate over long
distances. Once the
telegraph came along, however, people were able to
instantly communicate
information over long distances. This evolved somewhat
into the telephone, which
spawned the radio and television. As these were
developed, the efficiency and
clarity of these transmissions improved, and
this allowed the world to know what
was happening anywhere else in the world
at any given time. At this same time,
programmable computers were finally
coming to be used. Information was input to
these machines and stored on
tapes that could be put onto different computers to
be run. This paralleled
postal mail in a form of indirect communication.
However, computers were
also already based in intercommunication, because
computers are systems of
smaller functioning devices connected to perform a
function or process. The
evolution of computers’ communicating then evolved by
extending direct
connections between these large systems, sharing information.
With the
invention of the modem, computers could communicate piggybacking a
system
that people already used. As the modem developed, communications
speeds
increased. The state of convergence began when people were
communicating
increased types of information through these computers. First
program data,
statistics, stock market quotes, news, specific interest
information, and
finally personal information. Computers became a method of
communication within
themselves. The increased usage of modems for things
like e-mail and on-line
forums came about even before the Internet. Bulletin
Board Systems (BBSs) had a
short-lived but popular life in the years leading
up to the many commercial
Internet providers we see today. As
communication increased in popularity in
this on-line form, companies became
conscious of these opportunities and began
to advertise on-line. This mark a
point of acceleration, because once Corporate
America finds an
opportunity to turn a profit, then almost anything can become a
growth
industry. BBSs became more elaborate with colourful interfaces,
developed
their own client software for ease of use, and formed networks of
several
bulletin boards permanently connected to provide an increased realm
of
communication. This concept of large interconnected networks brought
recognition
to the long established government networks such as ARPA-Net, and
those used
with universities and libraries to exchange information. When
these were
combined, they formed massive networks circling the globe, which
provided for
long distance communication between computers instantaneously.
Commercial
‘providers’ spawned, giving access to this network to individuals
from the
comfort of their homes. As the technology evolved, such as in the
development of
HTTP and HTML, the Internet became easy to use and
appealed to people other than
those highly experienced with computers. To
simplify the experience even
further, companies tried to cut out the computer
in the equation, shaping
technologies like E-mail capable cell phones and
WebTV. Conversely, as people
were able to use TVs for the internet, TV cable
companies began to use their
massive house-to-house networks.