Technological progress and Communication - Essay Example

Title: Forms of spatiality been intrinsically driven by technological progress in the context of the communication revolution, the example being of the telegraph, telephone and the internet has shaped a new understanding of the experience of the modern city, also the camera and exhibition, thereby changing modern urban experience with a new politics of vision – Discuss Introduction This essay is related to a geographical analysis of modernity, forms of spatiality and the definitions of spaces in the modern geographical context. The 20th century has given way to new forms of spatiality and innovations in technology, with emergence of modernity being defined by modern forms of governance, the construction of subjectivity within the Metropolis, the ‘destruction of space by time’, the spaces of the factory, the modern exhibition, and the cinema. The special feature of 20th century innovations has been a rapid progress in technology such as the communications revolution beginning with the telegraph, telephone, wireless communications technology and finally the internet and World Wide Web (Williams, 1982). New innovations and drastic changes in the way people communicate with each and the transition of the communication revolution from the telegraph to the internet have shaped a new understanding of the urban image and also changed the experiences of living in a modern society. Modernisation is defined by subjectivity, space and technology, by the speed factor of trains, planes and automobiles, by geographical limits of modernity; the relations of the modern subject with the city; by modern consumption, the role of the exhibition and technology and communication. Modernisation thus seems to have many aspects and each aspect is as unique as the modern experience itself. In this essay we discuss modernisation from the perspective of communication, the changes in technology and the impact of changing technology from telegraph to the internet on the shaping up of the urban experience (also in Turkle, 1995). We also discuss the importance of the camera, pictures as a measure of urban changes, images captured and exhibitions of photos, images, arts and paintings as a means of communication of the individual experience as opposed to collective experience that the telephone, internet or other forms of communication seem to reveal.   The Modern Means of Communication The means of communication or ability to communicate with each other is an old technique that humans have tried even before becoming civilised and this included using sign language and sounds that were mutually recognised and could be communicated to specify danger, joy, sorrow and such emotions. However communication took up new forms with sophisticated language development and writing. Around 3500BC alphabets and language in the written form were invented. This gave way to the postal services that began in China in 900BC with the first books coming up in 100AD. By 1450 Newspapers appeared in Europe and the typewriter was invented in 1714. The first electric telegraph was invented by Joseph Henry in 1831; Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, with photograph and moving picture developing in 1877. Soon after in 1888, George Eastman patented the Kodak roll film camera which was later known as Eastman colour. The first talking motion picture was first demonstrated by Edison in 1910 and the first cross continental telephone call was made in 1914. By 1930, Radio becomes a popular means of entertainment with the television quickly catching up (Rowland, 1997). Television became household equipment by 1949, the time which also saw the appearance of the first computers (Williams, 1982). Computers started being manufactured and sold commercially by 1951. APRANET was the first form of internet that began in 1969 with cable services beginning in 1972 (Slevin, 2000; Rowland, 1997). In 1979 cellular or mobile phone communication first began in Japan, with PC and laptop services beginning by 1981. Cellular phone became popular worldwide by 1985 and www or the World Wide Web made its powerful entry in 1994 changing the face of global communication (Rowland, 1997). These were important events in the history of communication that seems to have transformed technology and communication at a very fast speed especially since the beginning of the 20th century after invention of computers and mobile technology. An understanding of technology and communication from a philosophical rather than historical perspective would reveal the cultural and social impacts of technology and the role or position of the individual in the modern world considering issues such as identity and individualism in an ever-changing modern world (Delanty, 1999). So questions such as where does the individual as an identity stand in the rapidly changing modern world? how does technology play a role in defining individualism? And how does technology relate to the way people communicate, understand or experience the urban existence? are all important in the context of defining modern society and the self. Considering a philosophical viewpoint, Francis Bacon considered science and technology as a means to understand and master nature. Bacon identified some important discoveries and considered the magnetic compass, the printing press, and gunpowder to be the most important developments of modern man (in Mitcham, 1994). René Descartes on the other hand argued for a world controlled by mathematical principles and held a mechanistic worldview (in Ferre and Allan, 1994). Descartes mathematization of the world and a mechanistic worldview has been justified with the introduction of the computer and internet. Technological advancement has been seen by many as not just necessary for individual and collective advancement of human civilization, it is also necessary to overcome any dependence on nature or the limitations of natural ways of communicating (Mitcham, 1994). Whether societies have been able to come closer as a result of this cannot be conclusively stated yet apparently communication technology has changed the sharing of ideas at a global level overcoming limitations of space and time. As Mitcham (1994) writes, the colonization of space (through agriculture, mining, architecture, civil engineering, etc.) and of time (through systems of communication, from language to telegraph). The latter, in its perfected form, would constitute a “universal telegraphics” linking world languages, semiotics, and inventions into a global transfiguration of the earth and a truly human habitat. (Mitcham, 1994, p. 23) Winston (1998) provides a detailed model of historical change in technology and begins with scientific developments to prototypes, ideation and the phenomena of invention and diffusion with society seen as forming a mode of intervention to stimulate, facilitate or repress certain technological changes. Winston however rejects the notion of information or communication revolution suggesting that all major technological changes have been accommodated by pre-existing social formations and thus there is a fundamental continuing in technological development across social boundaries. Winston traces the development of the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, the computer and the Internet. However Winston asserts that all new technology takes some time to diffuse into society and achieve full popularity and thus communications transfers, and permeability takes a few centuries and transformations do not happen too quickly. Winston further states that the potential of the television and the internet will express itself in different ways and these technologies would be and still are dependent on several other relevant factors. Thus societies may have changed but further changes are likely that will happen at a continuous gradual level rather than in sudden spurts of drastic communication revolutions. New technologies are capable of changing the fabric of society within a few decades and the modern changing images of society are captured in the camera and revealed through exhibitions. As we have already stated, the changes in technology are specifically conspicuous in the field of communications technology although the changes in communications methods as through the telegraph, telephone, or internet have collective consequences or reveal collective experiences and transformations in modern society as a whole. The camera and exhibitions reveal individual experiences or personal understanding of surrounding changes as revealed through images captured with the camera and displayed in exhibitions although exhibitions were primarily used to display technological innovations and new equipments. By the end of the nineteenth century the basic principles of photography were firmly established and the process itself was also greatly simplified so that even amateurs could take photographs of outdoor subjects with a high probability of success. The turning-point in the popularity and application of photographic principles was in 1888 with the introduction of George Eastman's Kodak camera. With the simplification of the photographic process and its ease of use and applications, the camera gained in popularity by the beginning of the 20th century along with cinema as a medium of entertainment (Charney et al, 1995). Exhibitions also became very important at this stage as exhibitions were used to showcase technological developments and were used as a tool to take technology to the masses. Downey (2002) gives a very different perspective and suggests that historians of telegraphy have focused on system builders who invented wire communications technologies and incorporated or transformed them into profit making enterprises. Geographers of communications however have a different perspective in their study and have traced changes that the telegraph network has brought on rank size of cities and the speed of business. So transformation as seen by geographers is different from that seen by historians, yet both the historians and the geographers seem to have ignored the history of telegraph messenger boy and the human element or lived geography of the telegraph network (Downey, 2002). The telegraph messengers or the human element and the role of the individual in technological developments as active components of technological systems should form an element of study as produced within urban spaces bringing together the human geographical element and history of technology to understand urban experiences of technological changes. Exhibitions also demonstrated achievement and represented power and technological superiority. For instance, the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, hosted by Britain was conceived to symbolize not just British Imperial Power but also the industrial, military and economic superiority of Great Britain. Exhibitions had almost a cinematographic appeal and represented the industrial revolution to the public who at that time had limited means of being informed of technological changes in the world. Marshall (1999) takes a rather opposite view to that of Winston by suggesting that the industrial revolution has been a unique period in human civilization as there has been rapid and drastic transformations, when technology began to be applied in all aspects and phases of life. In fact he also writes that urban life and urban experience which is the norm now for people in the developed world, as well as people in cities of the developing world is a product of this major industrial change. The urban experience thus seems to have been shaped by technological and industrial changes and the industrial revolution of the 19th century and the communications revolutions of the 20th century seem to have been the two major influential factors in bringing about these changes and in shaping the urban experience.   Conclusion In this analysis we discussed the changes brought about in human experience and the consequences of human identity due to the effects of technology on society. The role of communications, industrial revolution and innovations from the telegraph to the internet has been analysed.   Bibliography Basalla, George. 1988. The Evolution of Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Charney, Leo, and Vanessa R. Schwartz, eds. 1995. Cinema and the Invention of Modern Life. Berkeley: University of California Press. Delanty, G. 1999. Social Theory in a Changing World: Conceptions of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity. Downey, Gregory J. 2002.Telegraph Messenger Boys: Labor, Technology, and Geography, 1850–1950. New York: Routledge. Ferre Frederick & Allan George (Eds.) Research in Philosophy and Technology, vol. 14, pp. 191-203, (1994). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press Marshall, Michael 1999. Millenial Moments: Technology From Trickle to Torrent, Magazine article,World and I, Vol. 14. Mitcham, Carl. 1994. Thinking through Technology: The Path Between Engineering and Philosophy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Rowland, Wade. 1997. Spirit of the Web: The Age of Information from Telegraph to Internet. Toronto: Somerville House. Slevin, James. 2000. The Internet and Society. Cambridge: Polity Press. Turkle, Sherry. 1995. Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. New York: Simon and Schuster. Winston, Brian 1998. Media Technology and Society A History: From the Telegraph to the Internet. Routledge, London. Williams, Trevor I.1982 .A Short History of Twentieth-Century Technology c. 1900-c. 1950 Clarendon Press. Read More