Dr. Thornburg postulates in the vodcast this week, Rhymes of History, that one of the six forces that drive emerging technologies are rhymes of history. He explains how the affect of an innovation can rekindle interactions and activities from the past. When I think of this, it makes me think of the evolution of mail. I think back to the times when harbingers were sent ahead to deliver messages during great battles, when runners were sent to deliver messages from town to town, the development of letters/messages being delivered to individuals, email, text messaging, instant messaging, and other development such as Skype. What this rekindles or bring to light from the past is the idea of communication and the various ways we choose to do this. Whereas in the past, we may have had to wait for days, weeks, even months to deliver a message or get a response, now we can generate, send, and have a response within seconds. We can communicate and collaborate in ways that were not even imaginable 10 years ago, which relates directly to the Ted Talk that we watched this week about the Internet and the next 5,000 days. Kevin Kelly discusses how far the Internet has come in the last 5,000 days and what we can expect (or can't even fathom) happening in the next 5,000 days.
Resource:
Kelly, K. (2007, December). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved fromhttp://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Elizabeth, Indeed communication, especially in times of disaster, travels more quickly now on social sites than on Reuter's ! Twitter Users Unite!!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I didn't even think about mail when I was thinking about rhymes of history, although we both did have topics that rekindled the idea of how humans communicate. It is amazing to see how far we have come with the idea of communicating. I remember as a kid when I would write letters and mail them. It would take weeks to get a response. Now, as you stated in your blog, we can simply write an email or instant message and have a response almost immediately. Crazy to think about sometimes! Makes you wonder what the future holds!
I still love getting letters. But now you can see how the changes are effecting what was once the greatest form of communicaiton - U.S. mail - with the closing of post offices through out the country. I never thought I would see the day when the mail would actually come less frequently. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteKim Arlia