history and evolution of the digital age
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COM546 - Week 2 - 13 January 2010TRANSCRIPT
COM546 : History and Evolution of the Digital
Age
Kathy E. Gill
13 January 2010
Technology, Simply Put
• Knowledge used to solve problems and extend human potential.
• Technology is about enabling change and amplifying its direction.
1. Distance1. Distance
Winston quotes the postmaster general who believed that the telegraph could not, “with safety, be left in the hands of private individuals uncontrolled by law.”
How does this statement influence your thoughts on regulation of the internet?
Lessig’s article demonstrates the dismantling of geography: consider both interstate gambling and “porn”. How should modern society react to this permanent change?
"This is the age of telegrams. The public is accustomed to the consideration of facts in the briefest terms.” The Science Record for 1873
From http://www.parliament.gov.bd/cpa/TimeZoneMap2003.gif
Paradox
• Pre-voice telephony – we transferred “data” (eg, wire transfers of money)
• Digital age – our “voice” is now “data” (zeros-and-ones)
What parallels are there between the
forces of “suppression of radical potential” of early telephony and
VoIP?
Why would Winston argue that the “digital media revolution” is,
instead, an evolution?
3. Scarcity3. Scarcity
Credits
• Presentation by Kathy E. Gill, [email protected], @kegill CC share-and-share alike, non-commercial use
• Images• “Earth” – NASA
• Clock, Tap - iStockPhoto