Tuesday, June 22, 1999
communication I/O
Dan Boujoulian
COM 371
22 June, 1999
All around us is a whirlwind of change. Ideologies are changing. Ways of working are changing. Information reception and distribution is changing. We have moved from using physical roads to distribute information to a less tangible, binary form of transferring information.
Communication has been evolving as a medium to express thought and meanings since the first nonverbal gesture primates exhibited. James W. Carey defines communication as a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.
Oral cultures relied on skills honed to listening. Stories could be passed only as well as they were remembered. The ability to recall the story without changing it around was much more widespread then it would be now. Even time was different from how it works toda, in those middle ages, months were measured approximately. Could you imagine today measuring time innacurately?
The symbolic nature of things stood strong. As an event occurred, something to symbolize it would be presented at the time. It served as the reminder of what went on. This is still used today with wedding bands and the personal seal on a letter.
By the fifteenth century, courier services working for the Roman Curia and Royal houses all over were a main source of information distribution. It was still believed, as pointed out by theologian St. Thomas Aquinas that "All knowledge has its origin in sensation." The truth was accessible through visual aides.
A major turning point in the distribution of information came with the advent of the printing press. The printing press simply mimiced another form of communication, but was able to do it repeatedly. However, as Mumford notes:
The two great results of the invention of mechanical printing have been characteristic, in some degree, of similar advances in all the industrial arts: They have been to standardize in a more rigorous fashion a product that was already standardize, and to progressively eliminate the craftsman himself in the act of freeing him from the drudgery of hand labor patterned on a mechanical model.
The rise in literacy came about after the turn of the eighteenth century. Printed matter increased the flow of communication and raised the probability of more and more persons' receiving information. Religion no longer had the hold it once did. Now people could pick up the bible and read it their own way. Now those who had something to say could have it distributed easily. The press broke up class divisions based on information. Common man now had just as much chance at knowing what was going on as the wealthy and powerful folks.
All this information floating around must bring people together. Not true, as Elizabeth Eisenstein puts it, "To hear an address delivered, people have to come together; to read a printed book encourages individuals to draw apart." Print also affected discourse in that one could no longer argue a point immediately, you would have to write it and wait for the next issue to be heard. Walter Ong notes, "By isolating thought on a written surface, detached from any interlocutor, making utterance in this sense autonomous and indifferent to attack, writing presents utterance and thought as uninvolved with all else, somehow self-contained, complete. Print encloses thought in thousands of copies of a work of exactly the same visual and physical consistency.
The next big step in communication came with the telegraph. Now networks would be utilized more. The trade routes that also served as information carriers became obsolete without connection to the wired world. Now an event in New York could be reported instantly in London. The telegraph put eveyone in the same place, it made geography irrelevant. Now began a shift from thinking in terms of space to measuring things in time. Stop measuring your life by what season it is and figure out how many seconds have passed since an event.
The next step affected culture in many ways. With the use of photography, as well as a need to sell products that weren't necessarily required to live, the world was introduced to images on a wide scale. The early uses of images also contained text that would explain what was being seen. Eventually, people would come to accept and understand the images and text would be seen less and less.
A culture based on image gave way to the Television. The content of what we see on Television has been getting less and less meaningful as time goes by. The argument that seems to best describe this phenomenon is that the people who have been writing television for 50 years grew up reading books. Today, those who write for television didn't read those books, they stared at the television screen.
Today our world can be reduced to ones and zeroes. Computerization has impacted our life in many aspects. From the way we get our news to the way we listen to our music, even the way we view our films as digital projected theatres enter the mainstream in years to come.
Computerization has had the impact on our life that the telegraph did. However, instead of news across the world being at your fingertips, it's actual people. People sitting at the keyboard much like yourself wondering why they have nothing to do all day and just surf the internet. If they were to STOP surfing for 10 minutes, maybe the phone call from the friend trying to set up a dinner date could get through the line.
Computerization's impact on democracy is easily shown. The recent explosion in computer and information technology has led some people to hail these innovations as the path to a more participative system through electronic town meetings, computerized ballots, and online question and answer sessions with candidates and representatives. It is now possible to take a virtual tour of the White House, email your representative in Congress, or look up the exact wording of a bill, all from the comfort of your den. The only way to be involved is to be informed, and to be informed today, you've got to be able to use a computer.
Michael Bauwens put it best when he said:
Those fearing technology and increased computerization share the characteristics of not being real participants in the evolution they describe. They describe technology as a juggernaut overtaking them, imposing an unwanted evolution, without realizing that this same technology can undermine hierarchical institutions on a grand scale. At the same time, the establishment forces understandably think about their own interests first, the progressives often seem to fight a rearguard action against technological evolution. In addition, they have an added disadvantage of not offering a hopeful vision of the future or the ability to mobilize the energies of the people they claim to represent. Significantly, only a few of these militants had Internet access and none seem to understand the extraordinary potential of the Internet as a tool for self-organizing on a global scale. Meanwhile, on the grand scale, the political and industrial establishments who embrace the idea of the information age have a tenuous alliance that could errupt once the Third Wave (Information Age) overtakes the vestiges of the Second Wave (Industrial Revolution).
The internet is a vast resource for information, but it will never be a full substitute for reading books. Any fool can put up a webpage and say something is fact. To participate in the information revolution going on now you have to be able to sort out what's real from what is farce. That's why print will always be powerful, something in print means that the publishing company is backing up what the author is saying. Research students should never base the majority of what they write about on things found on the internet.
Computers will probably impact our life over time more then any of the other revolutions in information communication. We have have learn to be a part of the information process for it to affect us in a good way. Communications is the only field of study where you can be sure there will be more jobs available in the future then there are now. Information is power. Power is money. And money makes the world go 'round.
Works Cited
Source that wasn't from the assigned text (which I probably should have shortened but decided to leave it as he said it)
Bauwens, Michael, "The Status of the Information Society",CMC Magazine. April 1, 1996 (http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1996/apr/bauwens.html )
COM 371
22 June, 1999
All around us is a whirlwind of change. Ideologies are changing. Ways of working are changing. Information reception and distribution is changing. We have moved from using physical roads to distribute information to a less tangible, binary form of transferring information.
Communication has been evolving as a medium to express thought and meanings since the first nonverbal gesture primates exhibited. James W. Carey defines communication as a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.
Oral cultures relied on skills honed to listening. Stories could be passed only as well as they were remembered. The ability to recall the story without changing it around was much more widespread then it would be now. Even time was different from how it works toda, in those middle ages, months were measured approximately. Could you imagine today measuring time innacurately?
The symbolic nature of things stood strong. As an event occurred, something to symbolize it would be presented at the time. It served as the reminder of what went on. This is still used today with wedding bands and the personal seal on a letter.
By the fifteenth century, courier services working for the Roman Curia and Royal houses all over were a main source of information distribution. It was still believed, as pointed out by theologian St. Thomas Aquinas that "All knowledge has its origin in sensation." The truth was accessible through visual aides.
A major turning point in the distribution of information came with the advent of the printing press. The printing press simply mimiced another form of communication, but was able to do it repeatedly. However, as Mumford notes:
The two great results of the invention of mechanical printing have been characteristic, in some degree, of similar advances in all the industrial arts: They have been to standardize in a more rigorous fashion a product that was already standardize, and to progressively eliminate the craftsman himself in the act of freeing him from the drudgery of hand labor patterned on a mechanical model.
The rise in literacy came about after the turn of the eighteenth century. Printed matter increased the flow of communication and raised the probability of more and more persons' receiving information. Religion no longer had the hold it once did. Now people could pick up the bible and read it their own way. Now those who had something to say could have it distributed easily. The press broke up class divisions based on information. Common man now had just as much chance at knowing what was going on as the wealthy and powerful folks.
All this information floating around must bring people together. Not true, as Elizabeth Eisenstein puts it, "To hear an address delivered, people have to come together; to read a printed book encourages individuals to draw apart." Print also affected discourse in that one could no longer argue a point immediately, you would have to write it and wait for the next issue to be heard. Walter Ong notes, "By isolating thought on a written surface, detached from any interlocutor, making utterance in this sense autonomous and indifferent to attack, writing presents utterance and thought as uninvolved with all else, somehow self-contained, complete. Print encloses thought in thousands of copies of a work of exactly the same visual and physical consistency.
The next big step in communication came with the telegraph. Now networks would be utilized more. The trade routes that also served as information carriers became obsolete without connection to the wired world. Now an event in New York could be reported instantly in London. The telegraph put eveyone in the same place, it made geography irrelevant. Now began a shift from thinking in terms of space to measuring things in time. Stop measuring your life by what season it is and figure out how many seconds have passed since an event.
The next step affected culture in many ways. With the use of photography, as well as a need to sell products that weren't necessarily required to live, the world was introduced to images on a wide scale. The early uses of images also contained text that would explain what was being seen. Eventually, people would come to accept and understand the images and text would be seen less and less.
A culture based on image gave way to the Television. The content of what we see on Television has been getting less and less meaningful as time goes by. The argument that seems to best describe this phenomenon is that the people who have been writing television for 50 years grew up reading books. Today, those who write for television didn't read those books, they stared at the television screen.
Today our world can be reduced to ones and zeroes. Computerization has impacted our life in many aspects. From the way we get our news to the way we listen to our music, even the way we view our films as digital projected theatres enter the mainstream in years to come.
Computerization has had the impact on our life that the telegraph did. However, instead of news across the world being at your fingertips, it's actual people. People sitting at the keyboard much like yourself wondering why they have nothing to do all day and just surf the internet. If they were to STOP surfing for 10 minutes, maybe the phone call from the friend trying to set up a dinner date could get through the line.
Computerization's impact on democracy is easily shown. The recent explosion in computer and information technology has led some people to hail these innovations as the path to a more participative system through electronic town meetings, computerized ballots, and online question and answer sessions with candidates and representatives. It is now possible to take a virtual tour of the White House, email your representative in Congress, or look up the exact wording of a bill, all from the comfort of your den. The only way to be involved is to be informed, and to be informed today, you've got to be able to use a computer.
Michael Bauwens put it best when he said:
Those fearing technology and increased computerization share the characteristics of not being real participants in the evolution they describe. They describe technology as a juggernaut overtaking them, imposing an unwanted evolution, without realizing that this same technology can undermine hierarchical institutions on a grand scale. At the same time, the establishment forces understandably think about their own interests first, the progressives often seem to fight a rearguard action against technological evolution. In addition, they have an added disadvantage of not offering a hopeful vision of the future or the ability to mobilize the energies of the people they claim to represent. Significantly, only a few of these militants had Internet access and none seem to understand the extraordinary potential of the Internet as a tool for self-organizing on a global scale. Meanwhile, on the grand scale, the political and industrial establishments who embrace the idea of the information age have a tenuous alliance that could errupt once the Third Wave (Information Age) overtakes the vestiges of the Second Wave (Industrial Revolution).
The internet is a vast resource for information, but it will never be a full substitute for reading books. Any fool can put up a webpage and say something is fact. To participate in the information revolution going on now you have to be able to sort out what's real from what is farce. That's why print will always be powerful, something in print means that the publishing company is backing up what the author is saying. Research students should never base the majority of what they write about on things found on the internet.
Computers will probably impact our life over time more then any of the other revolutions in information communication. We have have learn to be a part of the information process for it to affect us in a good way. Communications is the only field of study where you can be sure there will be more jobs available in the future then there are now. Information is power. Power is money. And money makes the world go 'round.
Works Cited
Source that wasn't from the assigned text (which I probably should have shortened but decided to leave it as he said it)
Bauwens, Michael, "The Status of the Information Society",CMC Magazine. April 1, 1996 (http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1996/apr/bauwens.html )
Sunday, June 20, 1999
phew! for a minute there i lost myself
Dan Boujoulian
COM 495 - June 20, 1999
Issues:
Control of the Internet
Computerization/Technology assimilating into society
The first issue I chose is that of Control of the Internet, in which I will explain why it all boils down to relying on control through interaction by parents. The Internet is one of the driving forces of the Information Age (and explosion) we are currently undergoing. I will apply critical theory to the issue of computers invading our culture's reality.
To support my opinions I am going to use something from popular culture. The album, OK Computer, is a critique about how society is being assimilated with computers and technology. I will look at the problem through the lyrics of this album.
The telephone: speech without walls.
The phonograph: music hall without walls.
The photograph: museum without walls.
The electric light: space without walls.
The movie, radio and TV: classroom without walls.
Man the food-gatherer reappears incongruously as information-gatherer. In this role, electronic man is no less a nomad than his Paleolithic ancestors.
-McLuhan
1. Control of the Internet
2. Cultural Computerization
3. Theories Applied
4. Song by Song Discussion of OK Computer
5. Bibliography/Works Cited
CONTROL OF THE INTERNET
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet.
The Internet consists of File Transfers, Electronic Mail, and a World Wide Web of information in the form of Hypertext documents. Interaction, or in this case, communication over the Internet, is a vehicle by which we learn how to behave and what things mean.
So now we have little Bobby learning all there is to learn about the world from the computer, since he's grounded and cannot leave the house for a week. Should we be worried about what this boy may come across? Well, that all depends on the intelligence of the parents. The reason children have access to the undesirable side of the Internet does not lie in the communication medium itself, but rather in the parents ability to control their children's media intake. Most parents learn about the computer from the child, instead of figuring it out by themselves..
A wise parent would install child-based software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
Interaction leads to and reinforces shared meaning and establishes conventions like rules, roles, and norms that enable further interaction to take place.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
We live in an ever-changing world and in order to keep your child safe; you must take it upon yourself to control the intake. It's not up to the government to decide. The Internet is bigger than any single government. Even if the U.S. decides that material is unsuitable for the Internet, it can't stop someone in Sweden from putting up an identical site.
CULTURAL COMPUTERIZATION
OK Computer has been hailed as a "stunning art rock tour de force." by Rolling Stone. Topics touched are alien life (subterranean homesick alien,) Romeo and Juliet (exit music,) electioneering, living a quiet life (no surprises,) as well as just observing tourists.
The protagonists in most of the songs of OK Computer have reached their wits end. They have simply had enough of this world and the way it is run. We are becoming more and more dependant on the ones and zeroes that run our life, McLuhan points out that "It is a world not of wheels but of circuits, not of fragments but of integral patterns."
The band is expressing that they too, have reached wits end and have had enough of it. The album is anti-technological utopian due to the angry picture it paints relating to computerization.McLuhan could have easily been talking about the Internet when he said:
We approach the final phases of the extensions of man- the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowledge will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human societyÖ
As well as being a critique of the way our world is going, OK Computer is also a concept album. Concept albums are few and far between in the world of rock music. The first I knew of would be Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where the Beatles got to pretend to be another band for an album, away from all the insanity of being Beatles. Ringo is introduced as Billy Shears in the closing lines of the opening track as a lead into "With The Help of My Friends." A few years later, in 1973, Pink Floyd gave us Dark Side of The Moon, dealing with personal issues of capitalism, time, insecurity, insanity and some hope for a beautiful life with such lines as "all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be."
Music has been a medium of communication for a long time. Some music gives lyrical references to problems and issues in society. However other music is simply an escape from the situation and doesn't talk about what is going on, rock music is typically an escape from responsibility. Rock music was originally designed to be sold as singles. With Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles threw away all that by not releasing any singles from the album. After all, an album was meant to be heard as a whole. Pink Floyd agreed with this philosophy, which is why you will never see any die hard fans listening to Pink Floyd on any sort of random or shuffle enacted on the CD player.
Radiohead believes in the power of the concept album, with their third album being a whole represented by it's non-radio friendly parts. Yes, Paranoid Android was a single, but weighing in at a brisk 6 minutes and 27 seconds, you won't hear it very often in this world of 2 minute pop songs.
The concept they are trying to make people think about is an attempt to rescue our souls from cyber-space Hell. McLuhan said:
After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding. During the mechanical ages we had extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous systems itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
The fear of computers taking over isn't a new one, nor is it something that should be taken lightly. People are suffering from information overload. It's all too much for them to take. This is why Fitter,Happier has the effect it does. It's so eerie to hear the computer produced voice telling you how you should be. For some it draws from fears of what the future could bring. For others it pours salt on the wound of how life has been like. Computers being in so many parts of our life simultaneously isn't easy for many people to deal with. Especially when they can do more and more things faster and more accurately.
"Computers can gather most information more accurately and cost-effectively than peopleÖfrequently, this information is so good and the analysis [of it] so precise that an executive decision is no longer required" (Rochlin) If you're not ready to take control of the helm and can be able to tell the computer what to do, you won't survive long in this competitive computerized world.
Those who aren't afraid of computers learn how to operate and maintain them much faster than those who don't quite grasp how they work. "Öwe have been spoiled by so many different technological helpers, but also because we have lost the habit of making physical efforts, we feel that our machines ought to obey instantly, without asking from us anything but mere attention, and sometimes not even that." (Whittle) These people are bored by the novelty of the computer and don't quite use the technology to it's fullest extent.
THEORIES APPLIED
Communications theorists have studied virtually every aspect of our culture looking for hints on who we are and how we communicate our experience. Littlejohn states "critical theorists are concerned with the conflict of interests in societyÖ and domination of one group over another." Radiohead critiques the hegemonic domination of information and computerization of our culture. In our computerized world, those in power control information, it's distribution and content.
Critical theory includes thoughts from feminist scholarship. Feminist scholars are also concerned with the distribution of power in society. Our meanings and understandings arise from our communication with others. Marx taught that the means of production in society determines the nature of society. Could it be said that the means of information in society also determine the nature?
In understanding society, the Frankfort school teaches us that there are three major interests: work, interaction and power. Work being the efforts to create material interest, or perhaps in our case, information. Interaction, or the use of language and symbols, used in speeches, conferences, psychotherapy, family relations and a host of other cooperative endeavors. The final interest is Power. Power leads to distorted communication (information in our case) But by becoming aware of the ideologies that dominate society, groups can themselves be empowered to transform society. This is what Radiohead is trying to do. The same can be said of parents controlling a child's intake of information on the Internet, if the parents understand what is going on with the medium, they can better control what is coming into their household.
Interactionist theories are designed to uncover social processes and show how behavior is affected by norms and rules. The Internet is only available to children if access is provided. Access is provided uncontrolled when parents do not take the necessary precautions. The internet seems to reproduce the same patterns that our culture does. You can find everything that lies on the internet in some other faction of life. The Internet is no different then television, except for the fact that you need to actually look for something for it to be displayed in front of you. Television is more passive, the internet is all about interaction. You will not be exposed to something you weren't looking for unless the keywords you use are also used in something else unrelated.
In summary, we must, as a society, begin to look at the little pieces of our lives that affect us when they are all together. The books, television shows, radio broadcasts, billboards, web pages and even films we see are all we have to study who we are. We need to take a step back and absorb all that we create. We need to look at how and why we do things the way we do. For centuries we have been studying ourselves and conclusions and theories that last are few and far between. When we have learned how to truly express what it means to be human and can communicate effectively beyond the barriers of time, space and language, then we can truly grow together as a global village.
SONG BY SONG DISCUSSION
Airbag: Thom Yorke expresses his feelings that you should get out of your car and kiss the ground and be thankful for life for surviving an automobile accident. "I am born again. In an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe."
Paranoid Android: This song is all over the place. It's actually two unfinished songs woven together. Thom claims "your opinions which are of no consequence at all." He then lashes out at the "kicking, squeeling Gucci little piggys." and "the yuppies networking." The most beautiful part of the song is when he sings to mother nature "rain down. rain down. from a great height. rain down on me." The USA has become less social and more run by people on computers from their living room in their underwear. He is telling us to step out from behind the computer and get to know people because that's what life is all about.
Subterranean Homesick Alien: Thom is sick of this "uptight" world, he wants to be rescued by star bound friends. "I wish they would swoop down in a country lane, late at night when I'm driving. take me aboard their beautiful ship. show me the world as I'd love to see it." Very reminiscent of The Byrds with "Mr. Spaceman." in July of 1966.
Exit Music: Thom wrote this song as an open letter to Romeo and Juliet, telling them that they should have just run off together before all the bad stuff happened. "Today, we escape, pack and get dressed, before your father hears us, before all hell breaks loose." Before the two become one "in everlasting peace." Thom lashes out at society and proclaims "you can laugh a spineless laugh, we hope your rules and wisdom choke you."
Let Down: Thom notes the things around him "Transport, motorways and tramlines, starting and then stopping, taking off and landing. the emptiest of feelings." He then eludes to feeling "hysterical and useless," wishing to "one day. I am going to grow wings" Thom was feeling like we will no longer going to be socializing for very much longer because we have computers to talk to each other instead of being face to face.
Karma Police: In this skitzophrenic Orwellian tale, the man "buzzes like a fridge" like a "detuned radio." He proclaims "I've given all I can, but it's not enough." it ends with my favorite "(Phew, for a minute there I lost myself.)" the ending of the song sounds like a computer being born which leads into Fitter, Happier
Fitter, Happier: It's a computer-voice telling you how to live your life best and be "an empowered and informed member of society." who is "no longer empty and frantic." It bothers some people to listen to the droning of the voice telling you how you should be. One day, we may not be far off from the reality of this. One wakes up, looks to the monitor that tells you what the weather will be like. It senses your consciousness, greets you and gives you your tip to live by for the day Spend five minute each morning saying to yourself "Every day in every way I am getting better and better. Perhaps it is a good idea to start a new day with the right frame of mind." This advice is found in with the CD art.
Electioneering: It's a call for change to come. "I will stop at nothing. say the right things when electioneering. I trust I can rely on your vote." This one reminds me of the Kinks, but I've never been able to place why.
Climbing Up the Walls: This song calls for you to "tuck the kids in safe tonight and shut the eyes in the cupboard." and claims that "it's always best when the light is off, it's always better on the outside."
No Surprises: It's a request for the end of all things complex. Away with the technology. Away with the alarms and surprises. "I'll take a quiet life." is what he wants after dealing with "a heart thatís full up like a landfill, a job that slowly kills you, bruises that won't heal."
Lucky: "We are standing on the edge" is the proclamation in this song from a protagonist who declares "I'm on a roll this time, I feel my luck could change." When you don't understand the computers that are running the society you belong you, you become fearful of them. You can see those whom are 1/3rd your age adapting just fine to computerization. "Pull me out of the aircrash" he screams. Take me away from a society relying so much upon computers.
The Tourist: Jonny Greenwood asks the idiot tourists "hey man, slow down," as a reply to their going by at 1000 feet per second. Our world has become one that people are happy only when their toys are bigger, faster and more powerful than the ones from last year.
Bibliography
RADIOHEAD : OK Computer. Released June 1, 1997 on Capitol Records/EMI. Radiohead is: Tom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood.
Internet:
http://www.zdnet.com/complife/fea/9805/info7.html
http://www.radiohead.com
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
Texts:
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication, Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999
Hanson,Maxcy Sources: Notable Selections in Mass Media Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1999
Kling, Rob Computerization and Controversy,Academic Press, 1996
Shannon, C.E. "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" The Bell System Technical Journal, July-October, 1948
Crowley, David and Heyer, Paul, Communication in History, Longman/Addison Wesley, 1999
COM 495 - June 20, 1999
Issues:
Control of the Internet
Computerization/Technology assimilating into society
The first issue I chose is that of Control of the Internet, in which I will explain why it all boils down to relying on control through interaction by parents. The Internet is one of the driving forces of the Information Age (and explosion) we are currently undergoing. I will apply critical theory to the issue of computers invading our culture's reality.
To support my opinions I am going to use something from popular culture. The album, OK Computer, is a critique about how society is being assimilated with computers and technology. I will look at the problem through the lyrics of this album.
The telephone: speech without walls.
The phonograph: music hall without walls.
The photograph: museum without walls.
The electric light: space without walls.
The movie, radio and TV: classroom without walls.
Man the food-gatherer reappears incongruously as information-gatherer. In this role, electronic man is no less a nomad than his Paleolithic ancestors.
-McLuhan
1. Control of the Internet
2. Cultural Computerization
3. Theories Applied
4. Song by Song Discussion of OK Computer
5. Bibliography/Works Cited
CONTROL OF THE INTERNET
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet.
The Internet consists of File Transfers, Electronic Mail, and a World Wide Web of information in the form of Hypertext documents. Interaction, or in this case, communication over the Internet, is a vehicle by which we learn how to behave and what things mean.
So now we have little Bobby learning all there is to learn about the world from the computer, since he's grounded and cannot leave the house for a week. Should we be worried about what this boy may come across? Well, that all depends on the intelligence of the parents. The reason children have access to the undesirable side of the Internet does not lie in the communication medium itself, but rather in the parents ability to control their children's media intake. Most parents learn about the computer from the child, instead of figuring it out by themselves..
A wise parent would install child-based software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
Interaction leads to and reinforces shared meaning and establishes conventions like rules, roles, and norms that enable further interaction to take place.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
We live in an ever-changing world and in order to keep your child safe; you must take it upon yourself to control the intake. It's not up to the government to decide. The Internet is bigger than any single government. Even if the U.S. decides that material is unsuitable for the Internet, it can't stop someone in Sweden from putting up an identical site.
CULTURAL COMPUTERIZATION
OK Computer has been hailed as a "stunning art rock tour de force." by Rolling Stone. Topics touched are alien life (subterranean homesick alien,) Romeo and Juliet (exit music,) electioneering, living a quiet life (no surprises,) as well as just observing tourists.
The protagonists in most of the songs of OK Computer have reached their wits end. They have simply had enough of this world and the way it is run. We are becoming more and more dependant on the ones and zeroes that run our life, McLuhan points out that "It is a world not of wheels but of circuits, not of fragments but of integral patterns."
The band is expressing that they too, have reached wits end and have had enough of it. The album is anti-technological utopian due to the angry picture it paints relating to computerization.McLuhan could have easily been talking about the Internet when he said:
We approach the final phases of the extensions of man- the technological simulation of consciousness, when the creative process of knowledge will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human societyÖ
As well as being a critique of the way our world is going, OK Computer is also a concept album. Concept albums are few and far between in the world of rock music. The first I knew of would be Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, where the Beatles got to pretend to be another band for an album, away from all the insanity of being Beatles. Ringo is introduced as Billy Shears in the closing lines of the opening track as a lead into "With The Help of My Friends." A few years later, in 1973, Pink Floyd gave us Dark Side of The Moon, dealing with personal issues of capitalism, time, insecurity, insanity and some hope for a beautiful life with such lines as "all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be."
Music has been a medium of communication for a long time. Some music gives lyrical references to problems and issues in society. However other music is simply an escape from the situation and doesn't talk about what is going on, rock music is typically an escape from responsibility. Rock music was originally designed to be sold as singles. With Sgt. Pepper, the Beatles threw away all that by not releasing any singles from the album. After all, an album was meant to be heard as a whole. Pink Floyd agreed with this philosophy, which is why you will never see any die hard fans listening to Pink Floyd on any sort of random or shuffle enacted on the CD player.
Radiohead believes in the power of the concept album, with their third album being a whole represented by it's non-radio friendly parts. Yes, Paranoid Android was a single, but weighing in at a brisk 6 minutes and 27 seconds, you won't hear it very often in this world of 2 minute pop songs.
The concept they are trying to make people think about is an attempt to rescue our souls from cyber-space Hell. McLuhan said:
After three thousand years of explosion, by means of fragmentary and mechanical technologies, the Western world is imploding. During the mechanical ages we had extended our bodies in space. Today, after more than a century of electric technology, we have extended our central nervous systems itself in a global embrace, abolishing both space and time as far as our planet is concerned.
The fear of computers taking over isn't a new one, nor is it something that should be taken lightly. People are suffering from information overload. It's all too much for them to take. This is why Fitter,Happier has the effect it does. It's so eerie to hear the computer produced voice telling you how you should be. For some it draws from fears of what the future could bring. For others it pours salt on the wound of how life has been like. Computers being in so many parts of our life simultaneously isn't easy for many people to deal with. Especially when they can do more and more things faster and more accurately.
"Computers can gather most information more accurately and cost-effectively than peopleÖfrequently, this information is so good and the analysis [of it] so precise that an executive decision is no longer required" (Rochlin) If you're not ready to take control of the helm and can be able to tell the computer what to do, you won't survive long in this competitive computerized world.
Those who aren't afraid of computers learn how to operate and maintain them much faster than those who don't quite grasp how they work. "Öwe have been spoiled by so many different technological helpers, but also because we have lost the habit of making physical efforts, we feel that our machines ought to obey instantly, without asking from us anything but mere attention, and sometimes not even that." (Whittle) These people are bored by the novelty of the computer and don't quite use the technology to it's fullest extent.
THEORIES APPLIED
Communications theorists have studied virtually every aspect of our culture looking for hints on who we are and how we communicate our experience. Littlejohn states "critical theorists are concerned with the conflict of interests in societyÖ and domination of one group over another." Radiohead critiques the hegemonic domination of information and computerization of our culture. In our computerized world, those in power control information, it's distribution and content.
Critical theory includes thoughts from feminist scholarship. Feminist scholars are also concerned with the distribution of power in society. Our meanings and understandings arise from our communication with others. Marx taught that the means of production in society determines the nature of society. Could it be said that the means of information in society also determine the nature?
In understanding society, the Frankfort school teaches us that there are three major interests: work, interaction and power. Work being the efforts to create material interest, or perhaps in our case, information. Interaction, or the use of language and symbols, used in speeches, conferences, psychotherapy, family relations and a host of other cooperative endeavors. The final interest is Power. Power leads to distorted communication (information in our case) But by becoming aware of the ideologies that dominate society, groups can themselves be empowered to transform society. This is what Radiohead is trying to do. The same can be said of parents controlling a child's intake of information on the Internet, if the parents understand what is going on with the medium, they can better control what is coming into their household.
Interactionist theories are designed to uncover social processes and show how behavior is affected by norms and rules. The Internet is only available to children if access is provided. Access is provided uncontrolled when parents do not take the necessary precautions. The internet seems to reproduce the same patterns that our culture does. You can find everything that lies on the internet in some other faction of life. The Internet is no different then television, except for the fact that you need to actually look for something for it to be displayed in front of you. Television is more passive, the internet is all about interaction. You will not be exposed to something you weren't looking for unless the keywords you use are also used in something else unrelated.
In summary, we must, as a society, begin to look at the little pieces of our lives that affect us when they are all together. The books, television shows, radio broadcasts, billboards, web pages and even films we see are all we have to study who we are. We need to take a step back and absorb all that we create. We need to look at how and why we do things the way we do. For centuries we have been studying ourselves and conclusions and theories that last are few and far between. When we have learned how to truly express what it means to be human and can communicate effectively beyond the barriers of time, space and language, then we can truly grow together as a global village.
SONG BY SONG DISCUSSION
Bibliography
RADIOHEAD : OK Computer. Released June 1, 1997 on Capitol Records/EMI. Radiohead is: Tom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood.
Internet:
http://www.zdnet.com/complife/fea/9805/info7.html
http://www.radiohead.com
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
Texts:
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication, Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1999
Hanson,Maxcy Sources: Notable Selections in Mass Media Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1999
Kling, Rob Computerization and Controversy,Academic Press, 1996
Shannon, C.E. "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" The Bell System Technical Journal, July-October, 1948
Crowley, David and Heyer, Paul, Communication in History, Longman/Addison Wesley, 1999
I am trying to stay awake late tonight to make it easier to pull all nighters the next two nights before finals. If I decide to do the essay option for sure then that pretty much free's up my Tuesday! i wonder what would be worse tho. a final exam or an essay. Tony will expect SOOO much from an essay that I'm kinda scared...
I will need to study for my 8am final on Wednesday, though. After that I am off, I think I'm going to spend the night in Lansing instead of driving all the way to Farmington (130 miles or so... not TOO bad...but slightly annoying to drive) besides, my last time through I saw a friend I hadn't seen in about 6 years, we only hung out for like an hour and he was in the process of moving into his apt during the time!
Then I go to Alpena to go to Woody's wedding. I have to go to West Bloomfield to get Mia. Hopefully she got Thursday off work so we can head up with enough time to get me fitted for my tux (I think I am ushering or something.. who knows...)
wow. my mind is going all over the place. i started thinking about the script and i remembered that I want the people that hit my girlfriend in the film to actually be played by Edgar and I.. ( I think I might have us shave our heads so we look like totally different people.. and it would freak out all my friends because i don't think I haven't had a huge fluffy head since I was in diapers.)
I will need to study for my 8am final on Wednesday, though. After that I am off, I think I'm going to spend the night in Lansing instead of driving all the way to Farmington (130 miles or so... not TOO bad...but slightly annoying to drive) besides, my last time through I saw a friend I hadn't seen in about 6 years, we only hung out for like an hour and he was in the process of moving into his apt during the time!
Then I go to Alpena to go to Woody's wedding. I have to go to West Bloomfield to get Mia. Hopefully she got Thursday off work so we can head up with enough time to get me fitted for my tux (I think I am ushering or something.. who knows...)
wow. my mind is going all over the place. i started thinking about the script and i remembered that I want the people that hit my girlfriend in the film to actually be played by Edgar and I.. ( I think I might have us shave our heads so we look like totally different people..
Friday, June 11, 1999
Personal Information
COM 371 -Media & Society dan boujoulian
Personal Information Project
14 June, 1999
When humankind first decided to connect computers together in a network, it allowed information to be breached from remote locations. Before that time, someone would have to break into a facility to look at, destroy or steal electronic files and data. With the advent of the Internet, toying with information became game play for hackers everywhere.
In the U.S. you are given a Social Security Number, which is basically your tax identification number. This number is specific to every individual, which makes all sorts of companies want to use the number for filing purposes. They could just issue you a new number, but it's much easier to use the number the government gave you. Now that the same number is used to sort many different types of data about you it makes finding information about an individual much easier on the hacker as well. Computerization has caused an explosion in the amount of information there is about our personal selves.
Credit Card companies, banks, universities, as well as other wells of information about us aren't as safe as we would like to think. Sure, it's handy to be able to check your bank statement or pay your bills over your computer. Sure it's nice to use the telephone to do the same thing. It's a service the bank provides to us, to make our lives a little easier. It's also a service to the hackers. All one would need to do would be to record the tones your phone makes as you call and now THEY have access to your account from the comfort of their home.
I personally, could not find any information about myself on the Internet. Everywhere I looked wanted money that I can't spend. So I called up my friend, Chris. He has been in two of my films, yet he still scares me. I told him the assignment, he laughed, asked me a few questions and told me to bring over a video camera and my trash. I wanted him to do it in front of the class, but he doesn't ride in cars for long distances anymore, so he wouldn't. Chris actually went online and looked at my grades from when I went to CMU.
The Internet makes it possible to link documents and files from locations all across the globe. Now Sven in Europe can access a webpage and read all about the goings on in the life of Jeff from the U.S. It doesn't stop there, because Sven can access a lot more then Jeff would like to know about. Sven can see if Jeff's credit history is good, he can do a background check on him. If you've got the money, you can get almost any kind of information about a person.
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet. The internet is self-controlled. There isn't a government on the planet that could hope to control the content.
A wise parent would install child-based Internet browsing software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. . (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
Computers are changing the way we think, work and live. The data streaming within the lines of communication are only as useful, or destructive, as we make them.
Bibliography of sorts
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
Personal Information Project
14 June, 1999
When humankind first decided to connect computers together in a network, it allowed information to be breached from remote locations. Before that time, someone would have to break into a facility to look at, destroy or steal electronic files and data. With the advent of the Internet, toying with information became game play for hackers everywhere.
In the U.S. you are given a Social Security Number, which is basically your tax identification number. This number is specific to every individual, which makes all sorts of companies want to use the number for filing purposes. They could just issue you a new number, but it's much easier to use the number the government gave you. Now that the same number is used to sort many different types of data about you it makes finding information about an individual much easier on the hacker as well. Computerization has caused an explosion in the amount of information there is about our personal selves.
Credit Card companies, banks, universities, as well as other wells of information about us aren't as safe as we would like to think. Sure, it's handy to be able to check your bank statement or pay your bills over your computer. Sure it's nice to use the telephone to do the same thing. It's a service the bank provides to us, to make our lives a little easier. It's also a service to the hackers. All one would need to do would be to record the tones your phone makes as you call and now THEY have access to your account from the comfort of their home.
I personally, could not find any information about myself on the Internet. Everywhere I looked wanted money that I can't spend. So I called up my friend, Chris. He has been in two of my films, yet he still scares me. I told him the assignment, he laughed, asked me a few questions and told me to bring over a video camera and my trash. I wanted him to do it in front of the class, but he doesn't ride in cars for long distances anymore, so he wouldn't. Chris actually went online and looked at my grades from when I went to CMU.
The Internet makes it possible to link documents and files from locations all across the globe. Now Sven in Europe can access a webpage and read all about the goings on in the life of Jeff from the U.S. It doesn't stop there, because Sven can access a lot more then Jeff would like to know about. Sven can see if Jeff's credit history is good, he can do a background check on him. If you've got the money, you can get almost any kind of information about a person.
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet. The internet is self-controlled. There isn't a government on the planet that could hope to control the content.
A wise parent would install child-based Internet browsing software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. . (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
Computers are changing the way we think, work and live. The data streaming within the lines of communication are only as useful, or destructive, as we make them.
Bibliography of sorts
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
Wednesday, June 09, 1999
random thoughts and dialogue
Dad makes kid eat pot when he catches him with it.
FATHER
you don't smoke plants,
you eat them.
I said it it.
EDGAR
You better be kidding.
FATHER
you think It's all a joke, huh?
EDGAR
FATHER
you don't smoke plants,
you eat them.
I said it it.
EDGAR
You better be kidding.
FATHER
you think It's all a joke, huh?
EDGAR
Sunday, June 06, 1999
internet control
Dan Boujoulian
COM 495
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet.
The Internet consists of File Transfers, Electronic Mail, and a World Wide Web of information in the form of Hypertext documents. Interaction, or in this case, communication over the Internet, is a vehicle by which we learn how to behave and what things mean.
So now we have little Bobby learning all there is to learn about the world from the computer, since he's grounded and cannot leave the house for a week. Should we be worried about what this boy may come across? Well, that all depends on the intelligence of the parents. The reason children have access to the undesirable side of the Internet does not lie in the communication medium itself, but rather in the parents ability to control their children's media intake. Most parents learn about the computer from the child, instead of figuring it out by themselves..
A wise parent would install child-based software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
Interaction leads to and reinforces shared meaning and establishes conventions like rules, roles, and norms that enable further interaction to take place.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. . (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
We live in an ever-changing world and in order to keep your child safe; you must take it upon yourself to control the intake. It's not up to the government to decide. The Internet is bigger than any single government. Even if the U.S. decides that material is unsuitable for the Internet, it can't stop someone in Sweden from putting up an identical site.
Bibliography
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
COM 495
There is no doubt that the Internet should not be a stomping ground for unsupervised children. Should the U.S. government step in to control information? One of the most talked about parts of controlling global communication is in regard to children and the Internet.
The Internet consists of File Transfers, Electronic Mail, and a World Wide Web of information in the form of Hypertext documents. Interaction, or in this case, communication over the Internet, is a vehicle by which we learn how to behave and what things mean.
So now we have little Bobby learning all there is to learn about the world from the computer, since he's grounded and cannot leave the house for a week. Should we be worried about what this boy may come across? Well, that all depends on the intelligence of the parents. The reason children have access to the undesirable side of the Internet does not lie in the communication medium itself, but rather in the parents ability to control their children's media intake. Most parents learn about the computer from the child, instead of figuring it out by themselves..
A wise parent would install child-based software. You buy the software, pick a password and now access is controlled. Web pages that have certain words on them will no longer load. I won't list the words, but all of them are on George Carlin's list of "Words you cannot say on Television."
Now you have full control of what your child does on the Internet, even if you are not home. You can even watch a time-lapse movie of where they were websurfing when you get home. If you see Nazi propaganda websites in the history folder you can send your child to a therapist. No amount of software, however, is a replacement for sitting down with the child during their communication intake.
Interaction leads to and reinforces shared meaning and establishes conventions like rules, roles, and norms that enable further interaction to take place.
The Internet is not a broadcast medium. It cannot and should not be regulated as if it was. The Internet is in fact a point-to-point communication system, analogous primarily to the postal service and the telephone system. At its most basic level, it is bi-directional and point-to-point, which is the opposite of broadcast's one-to-many and unidirectional communication model. . (Whittle) It may appear that the Internet is a way to broadcast, but you have to go and look for what you want, it doesn't just appear as you blankly look at the computer screen.
We live in an ever-changing world and in order to keep your child safe; you must take it upon yourself to control the intake. It's not up to the government to decide. The Internet is bigger than any single government. Even if the U.S. decides that material is unsuitable for the Internet, it can't stop someone in Sweden from putting up an identical site.
Bibliography
Littlejohn, Stephen Theories of Human Communication
Whittle, Robin - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~firstpr
Thursday, June 03, 1999
information revolution
Dan Boujoulian COM 371
We are all quite acquainted with the forms of communication we use in our daily lives. The phone you use to talk to far away friends sounds as natural as if they were standing in front of you. Your television gives you the events of the world as close as your fingers are to the remote control. Your pager goes off to let you know how the beloved Red Wings are faring. We utilize tools like this daily, but how have we reached this point of comfort with our devices of communication?
As early as the 1830s, we have been communicating with the telegraph, and capturing images through the lens of a camera. The 60s saw the typewriter as well as a transatlantic cable. The 1870s brought the use of the Telephone, and by the end of the century, motion pictures were fooling our eyes into believing that there were people moving on film. Magnetic tape was used to record sound and wireless telegraphy was utilized.
Now in the 1900s, we may have had far less ëbreak throughs,í but we learned how to use the ones weíve had. In 1906, radio entered our lives, and by 1923 this technology was perfected and the television was born. Some would call it an exciting time for humanity, yet others would curse the technologies. This time period is referred to as the Control Revolution. This revolution was also a restoration of the economic and political control that was lost during the Industrial Revolution. Business would no longer have to be done face to face, it could be transmitted over wire.
Each new technological innovation extends the processes that sustain life, thereby increasing the need for control as well as improved control technology. Innovations in matter and energy processing create the need for further innovation in information-processing and communication technologies. What good would it do to increase the processing capability of a computer, if there werenít equal increases in the storage capacity of hard drives? Imagine trying to move files from one computer to the next if you had to use the 5 1/4 inch floppies we used 14 years ago. If you wanted to copy 50 photographs from your computer to your friends, it would take you over 30 disks. Who wants to disk swap that much? Personally, I think floppy disks are useless, which is why my new computer doesnít even have a floppy disk drive. Anything small enough for a floppy, I can upload to a server and then download on the next computer within minutes.
One major result of the Control Revolution had been the emergence of the so-called Information Society of the 1950s. It was Fritz Machlup, an economist, who measured the sector of the U.S. economy associated to ìthe production and distribution of knowledge.î He concluded that the United States was rapidly becoming an Information Society after noting that between 1947 and 1958, the information sector had expanded at a compound growth rate double that of the GNP.
In the 1970s, the InterNet was born, however it wasnít widely used until the late 1980s. I can remember using Lynx, which was a text-based internet browser. It was terrible. If there was an image, you wouldnít see it, you would see the word IMAGE in brackets. Thanks, for telling me, but I canít see it. It didnít matter anyway, when you web browse at 2400 bps, you can actually watch the text fill the screen at about 6 lines of text per second. If netscape navigator had existed, it would take 10 minutes to load Tonyís webpage for this class.
The Information explosion we are experiencing now is not too much unlike when the printing press was unveiled. The InterNet is limitless, unlike the pages running off of Gutenbergs press. Distribution is only a click away. But itís up to you to sort through the useless information. Itís up to you to control your own Information Revolution.
We are all quite acquainted with the forms of communication we use in our daily lives. The phone you use to talk to far away friends sounds as natural as if they were standing in front of you. Your television gives you the events of the world as close as your fingers are to the remote control. Your pager goes off to let you know how the beloved Red Wings are faring. We utilize tools like this daily, but how have we reached this point of comfort with our devices of communication?
As early as the 1830s, we have been communicating with the telegraph, and capturing images through the lens of a camera. The 60s saw the typewriter as well as a transatlantic cable. The 1870s brought the use of the Telephone, and by the end of the century, motion pictures were fooling our eyes into believing that there were people moving on film. Magnetic tape was used to record sound and wireless telegraphy was utilized.
Now in the 1900s, we may have had far less ëbreak throughs,í but we learned how to use the ones weíve had. In 1906, radio entered our lives, and by 1923 this technology was perfected and the television was born. Some would call it an exciting time for humanity, yet others would curse the technologies. This time period is referred to as the Control Revolution. This revolution was also a restoration of the economic and political control that was lost during the Industrial Revolution. Business would no longer have to be done face to face, it could be transmitted over wire.
Each new technological innovation extends the processes that sustain life, thereby increasing the need for control as well as improved control technology. Innovations in matter and energy processing create the need for further innovation in information-processing and communication technologies. What good would it do to increase the processing capability of a computer, if there werenít equal increases in the storage capacity of hard drives? Imagine trying to move files from one computer to the next if you had to use the 5 1/4 inch floppies we used 14 years ago. If you wanted to copy 50 photographs from your computer to your friends, it would take you over 30 disks. Who wants to disk swap that much? Personally, I think floppy disks are useless, which is why my new computer doesnít even have a floppy disk drive. Anything small enough for a floppy, I can upload to a server and then download on the next computer within minutes.
One major result of the Control Revolution had been the emergence of the so-called Information Society of the 1950s. It was Fritz Machlup, an economist, who measured the sector of the U.S. economy associated to ìthe production and distribution of knowledge.î He concluded that the United States was rapidly becoming an Information Society after noting that between 1947 and 1958, the information sector had expanded at a compound growth rate double that of the GNP.
In the 1970s, the InterNet was born, however it wasnít widely used until the late 1980s. I can remember using Lynx, which was a text-based internet browser. It was terrible. If there was an image, you wouldnít see it, you would see the word IMAGE in brackets. Thanks, for telling me, but I canít see it. It didnít matter anyway, when you web browse at 2400 bps, you can actually watch the text fill the screen at about 6 lines of text per second. If netscape navigator had existed, it would take 10 minutes to load Tonyís webpage for this class.
The Information explosion we are experiencing now is not too much unlike when the printing press was unveiled. The InterNet is limitless, unlike the pages running off of Gutenbergs press. Distribution is only a click away. But itís up to you to sort through the useless information. Itís up to you to control your own Information Revolution.
