Historical snapshots in Communications &
Information:
- 500 years ago a revolution began in the way human beings developed their
communications systems. This was when the printing press was first invented and
as a result a wide distribution of the printed word was achievable for the
first time.
- around 200 years ago the telegraph was invented and this allowed the
transmission of coded electrical signals. The first of these telegraph systems
was constructed alongside the early railroads--which themselves represented a
revolution in transportation.
- about 120 years ago Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
- In 1901 the first radio signals were transmitted across the Atlantic and it
is only since the 1920's that radio broadcasting has become a common feature of
everyday life.
- audio recording and motion picture film has also been with us for less than a
century.
- Television has been with us for less than 50 years.
- And while the modern digital computer's history can be traced back perhaps
5000 years to the abacus, it wasn't until WW2 that machines were constructed to
assist in the deciphering of enemy code.
- By the mid 1950's the first truly digital computers were constructed--these
were huge machines which consumed large amounts of energy. What was exciting
and powerful about them was that they could carry out very successful
arithmetic and logical operations. These computers also possessed a memory bank
for the temporary storage of coded information and were able to connect to both
an input device (keyboard) and an output device (monitor).
- In 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial
satellite--there are now thousands of satellites circling the globe, all of
which are dedicated to the tasks of either collecting information or acting as
communications devices.
- In 1971, after a lot of development in miniaturisation, the first
microprocessor (or silicon chip) was developed. Silicon chips can be understood
as miniature computers. This development occurred only 24 years ago!
- By the 1980's we had the first desktop computers--these are sometimes also
called microcomputers. These early machines boasted configurations which had up
to 16 kilobytes of RAM!
Since then we have witnessed a staggering development in computing with
desktop machines possessing the same computational power as the computing
machines which once occupied whole floors of office buildings. What is more,
the cost of achieving this keeps decreasing. If a comparison were made with the
automotive industry we should be now able to purchase a Rolls Royce for about
25 cents!
There has also been a new revolution in printing--known as desktop publishing.
In recent years we have also witnessed a new wave of personal
computing--multimedia, or the integration of text with graphics, video,
animation, and audio. What is more, this new medium for the delivery of
information is largely interactive in design--the user is not just a passive
observer as is the case with Television. These days, most desktop computers are
sold with CD-ROM drives already installed so that this capability can be
accessed.
ALL these changes can be described as revolutions in Information Technology.
The pace at which they are continuing to happen is almost overwhelming. It is
commonplace now to see cellular phones all over the place and no doubt most of
us have heard about the arrival of cable TV. Some of us have probably also
heard about intelligent TV, the Internet, and even the arrival of what has been
called the Information Superhighway. This last term is used to describe the
convergence of most of the above technologies. In less than five years
it will be commonplace to have our personal computer, television, and
telecommunications devices all linked together as the one system capable of
browsing huge amounts of information and capable of sophisticated ways of
communicating.
If in doubt about all this an occasional look at the technology pages in the
daily newspapers might clarify the situation. Perhaps the fact that Telecom and
Microsoft have announced a partnership in providing products and services to the
domestic consumer in Australia commnecing 1995 amplifies this.
The revolution in information technologies in the latter part of this century
exposes five main trends. These are
- the increasing irrelevance of distance as a barrier to communication;
- speech, text, and pictures can now be transferred as a common digital
stream--most people know the impact of this as multimedia;
- both work and leisure are consuming more time in information handling;
- computing and communication are converging; and,
- the mass media revolution of earlier this century is being
reversed--instead of identical messages being broadcast to millions of people,
electronic technology permits the adaptation of electronic messages to
specialized or unique needs of individuals. There is an increase in the
interactive capability of the communications system.