As a primary school student I remember studying the invention of the Telegraph, Radio and the Telephone and presenting my findings on a piece of prettied up cardboard with ‘cut and paste’ information from books and encyclopaedia’s not to mention the fact it was mainly done with the help of mum and dad! That was only 12-13years ago but boy has my understanding of communication and technologies changed since then!
Today I think we all underestimate the complexity of the communications that we use on a daily basis and in many cases take for granted. I could not think of anything worse than having to rely or use a horse to communicate to those that ‘aren’t in my line of sight’, and I don’t know about the rest of you but I know if that was how it works today it would be a long time in between communicating with some of my family and friends.
Before this weeks readings and lecture I was honestly oblivious to the fact the military first developed the concept of the internet or that there are undersea cables linking us to the rest of the world, call me dumb but I never thought about it that hard. I was always a curious kid but as I mentioned obviously took the internet and communications for granted!
This week I particularly liked Sterling, 1993 reading. It amused me as to the fact it discussed the possibilities for the internet however some 18 years later it has achieved these and gone above and beyond the expectations, as it failed to mention the possibility for:
- Smartphones/ iPhones
- Social networking
- Skype
- Or even wireless networks
What I found most interesting about this week’s discussion is the fact that with the internet and worldwide communication, “The world becomes a single body, wires and cables as its nerves”. I feel that is a good comparison as it assists with our understanding of how complex the internet is.
The image below of the global Facebook usage shows us the extent to which our usage of communication systems forms an electrical nervous system, whereby the lights signify the connection hubs.
The question is where can our technologies progress to from here?
