Digital Research: Inventing With Computers (The Digital World)

Digital ReseaRCh inVenting With ComPuteRs

The Digital World Digital Communications Digital Games Digital Music Digital Research Digital Security Digital Video

Digital ReseaRCh inVenting With ComPuteRs

ANANDA MITRA, PH.D.

DIGITAL RESEARCH: Inventing with Computers Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, contact: Chelsea House An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mitra, Ananda, 1960– â•… Digital research : inventing with computers / Ananda Mitra. â•…â•… p. cm. — (The digital world) â•… Includes bibliographical references and index. â•… ISBN 978-0-8160-6790-9 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-4381-3460-4 (e-book) â•… 1.╇ Inventions—Computer aided design—Juvenile literature.â•… 2.╇ Digital media—Research— Juvenile literature.â•… I.╇ Title.â•… II.╇ Series. â•… T48.M585 2010 â•… 620'.00420285—dc22 

2009052510

Chelsea House books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Chelsea House on the World Wide Web at http://www.chelseahouse.com Text design by Annie O’Donnell Cover design by Keith Trego Composition by Newgen Cover printed by Bang Printing, Brainerd, MN Book printed and bound by Bang Printing, Brainerd, MN Date printed: June 2010 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. All links and Web addresses were checked and verified to be correct at the time of publication. Because of the dynamic nature of the Web, some addresses and links may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid.

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Contents

Preface

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Acknowledgments

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1 Before Digital Tools 2 Making Connections 3 Alternative Learning Resources: Media 4 Alternative Learning Resources: Digital 5 Managing New Technologies 6 People of the Digital World

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11 24 36 47 64 78 94



Chronology



Glossary

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Bibliography

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Further Resources

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Picture Credits

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Index

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About the Author

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Preface

T

hese days, it is not unusual for 10- to 12-year-olds to be publishing their own Web sites or for second and third graders to begin computer classes. At the same time, computer games are becoming increasingly popular as major publishing houses continue to churn out educational computer programs for children in preschool. At the other end of the spectrum, technological know-how has become a requirement for most jobs in an increasingly digital world, as the computer has become a common tool in most professions. Even the often-mentioned “digital divide” between those who have access to computers and those who do not is being bridged with the development of tools such as the XD computer designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory and the availability of computers at libraries and schools. As people become more reliant on digital devices to perform everyday tasks, these modern conveniences become commonplace. Even though there are many different kinds of computers available for everyday use—ranging from gadgets like the BlackBerry to specially made computers for playing computer games—all the machines operate on the fundamental system of ones and zeros called binary, invented in the seventeenth century. Although it might appear that computers and newly developed digital products are “new” technologies, the seeds of modern digital technologies were planted nearly three centuries ago and grew with the research of legendary scholars and engineers such as Gottfried Leibniz and others. The relevance of digital technologies in everyday life often has been overshadowed by market-driven hype about new technologies

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that appear to be introduced at a breakneck speed, which leaves so many people scrambling to catch up to the latest gadget. This result, however, is the surface representation of deeper changes in society that are taking place with the adoption of digital tools in different aspects of everyday life. THE DIGITAL WORLD is a set of volumes that aims to explore the whole spectrum of applications, describing how digital systems influence society and helping readers understand the nature of digital systems and their many interacting parts. The set covers major applications of digital systems and includes the following titles: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Digital Communications Digital Games Digital Music Digital Research Digital Security Digital Video

Each volume in the set explores a wide range of material, explains the basic concepts of these applications, and then discusses the implications they have on everyday life. Because the number of possible topics is practically limitless, we focus on a sample of the most interesting and useful applications and tools and explain the basic principles of technology. Readers are encouraged to continue exploring the digital world with the guidance of our Further Resources section featured in each volume. The goal of these books is to encourage the reader to see the relevance of digital systems in all aspects of life, at the present time as well as in the past and in the years to come.

Acknowledgments

I

would like to thank a group of people who made this book possible. My thanks first goes to my family in America and India who provided support and balance to my writing life. Appreciation also goes to my friends in Winston-Salem and colleagues at Wake Forest University who provided the encouragement throughout the entire process of doing the six books in this series. Thanks also goes to Elizabeth Oakes for providing photographs that illustrate the different components of the digital world and to Jodie Rhodes, who helped me overcome more than one challenge. Finally, I thank the editors for their patience and encouragement to ensure we create a worthy product. General thanks goes to the publisher for giving me this opportunity.

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1 Before Digital Tools

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very digital tool, from the personal digital music player to the computers used to land spacecrafts on Mars, is built around the basic principles of the binary number system. The binary system was first clearly documented by Gottfried Leibniz, a seventeenth-century German mathematician, who demonstrated that all numbers could be represented using only two digits. Until that time, most mathematical computations were based on a decimal system using 10 digits. Leibniz’s system offered a simpler way of doing mathematical computations. Leibniz suggested using 0 and 1; in this system, the digit 0 represented the absence of something, and the digit 1 represented the presence of something. For example, a lightbulb that is on is represented by 1, and when shut off, it is represented by 0. This system allowed scientists to combine the digits to do computations and store information in a way that was simple and easy to interpret. Modern digital systems became possible by converting much of everyday phenomena, such as sound waves, into the binary 11

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All digital information is stored as a combination of two digits: 0 and 1. It is possible to convert the information stored as digital information by a simple mathematical process where the digit in the zero place is multiplied with 1. The one in the one place is multiplied by 2, the one in the two place is multiplied by 4 and so on, eventually producing the decimal equivalent of the binary number.

system; this way, sound could be stored as a series of “0s” and “1s,” giving rise to digital sound. The first step in using a digital system is to decide what the system will do. Most tools are manufactured to have a purpose. Using technology has a specific goal, and engineers make tools to do specific tasks. The usefulness of a technology is dependent on how well it accomplishes the intended task, and improvements in technology are designed to perform a specific function better. For example, a hand saw, which was developed to cut wood, may allow a carpenter to cut 10 pieces of wood in an hour, while an electric saw could double that number. The electric saw represents an improvement because it accomplishes the task of cutting wood much better. There are some tasks that can be vastly improved by using digital systems. The digital system by itself is a novel way of doing mathematical problems, and its observance of logical steps and rules makes

Before Digital Tools

the system attractive to many kinds of tasks. Any work that requires strict accuracy when computing information can benefit from digital systems and machines that do mathematical operations using only two digits. The mathematical problem is far simpler using two digits rather than 10 digits. In many cases, the answer obtained by the calculation becomes information that can be used to make specific decisions that can be put into decision trees. In a decision tree, the outcome of a test is used to decide what the next step in a process needs to be. For example, it is possible to set up a system in which a heater will turn on if the temperature inside a house falls under a preset value. Such a system does not need any human control if it can be instructed to measure the temperature constantly and make a decision based on the measurement. The digital system is set up to compare the measured temperature with the preset value and make a decision to turn on the heater under appropriate conditions. Decision trees like this can become quite complicated as different measurements are taken, which all need to be compared with preset values, and various components must turn on or off based on the computations. In such cases, it is easier to do the computations if all the values are binary numbers and the final decision can be based on a binary number as well, with “1” indicating a decision to turn on a switch. Sometimes such measurements, computations, and decisions must be made in a very short time, and the speed of computation becomes especially important. Consider, for example, a situation in which a car is driven entirely by a computer. In this case many measurements regarding speed, obstacles, road conditions, etc., must be constantly used to make instantaneous decisions about how fast the car must go and how it should be steered. These situations require digital systems that can evaluate data and make rapid decisions. CNN.com reported on the winning car in a computer-aided car design challenge sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense that develops new technology for the military. The car

(continues on page 1)

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DEFINING A TOOL

Before Digital Tools

Pictured are Stone Age hunting tools: bone points from Middle Stone Age deposits at (a) Blombos Cave, (b) Peers Cave, (c) Sibudu Cave, (d) and Klasies River; later Stone Age layers at (e) Rose Cottage Cave and (f) Jubilee Shelter; and an Iron Age occupation at (g) Mapungubwe.

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that won the competition was described as a machine that “could evaluate data in milliseconds and decide whether it was correct or not.” Any application that requires taking accurate measurements, doing computations on the measurements, and making logical decisions based on the measurements is well suited for the use of digital systems. It is eventually up to scientists and engineers to determine what applications will benefit from which form of digital systems.

BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH

From the early days of human civilization, there has been a need to keep track of expenses and income, leading to the development of accountancy. Accountancy is the communication of a business’s financial information to people like shareholders and managers using financial statements and other bookkeeping methods. This communication is done by three divisions: accounting, bookkeeping, and auditing. Previously, accountancy was done using paper and pencil, and systematic methods were used to keep track of expenses. Economists and accountants spent a significant amount of time working out the most efficient mathematical systems to keep track of numbers. Later, with the availability of digital systems, record keeping and computations could be done with binary digits. This move was possible because of two kinds of research in mathematics: accountancy and digital sciences. Some researchers are interested in solving theoretical problems related to different phenomena that occur in the everyday world. These basic researchers are not necessarily interested in making tools and designing gadgets but in inventing the basic scientific processes that determine the state of the world. Mathematicians, for example, are interested in seeing the relationship between numbers to examine how a large number can be represented in terms of smaller, simpler numbers. The French mathematician Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier suggested a way of solving a complicated mathematical problem by reducing the solution to a series of additions. His work resulted in the development of the Fourier Series, which has had a significant

Before Digital Tools

17

The transistor is a device used to amplify or switch signals. Many scientists consider the transistor to be one of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. Due to its affordability, reliability, extremely long life, and flexibility, it is the key component in nearly all modern electronics, including this pocket radio.

impact on physics and engineering. Fourier’s research was similar to the work of Leibniz because both men were interested in creating new mathematical ideas without necessarily being concerned with how their solutions might be applied to any specific task. This form of basic research is the basis for developing methods to invent new ways to solve problems and design innovative tools. Applied researchers are interested in inventing ways to do specific tasks by using the work of basic researchers. Scientists at Bell Laboratories were doing basic research to see how some compounds based on sand could be used as electronic components to control the flow of electricity. This basic research, spearheaded by John Bardeen in the late 1950s, led to Bardeen and his team winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956. The objective of their work was to explain why an amplifier he had created did not work and to explore the

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electrical properties of the ingredient of sand, also known as silicon. Later, the findings of Bardeen and others were used to manufacture the transistor (the name comes from “transfer” and “resistor”), an electronic component that amplifies or switches electronic signals. The transistor became the fundamental building block of nearly every modern electronic device, including hearing aids, telephones, transistor radios, and other electronic systems, and it continues to be a key component of the modern computer. The applied researcher has to work out a way of using the basic knowledge to build tools that many people can easily use. People

EVERY INDUSTRY HAS ITS OWN LANGUAGE

Before Digital Tools

may not have any sense about how a specific gadget works, but they are satisfied as long as the gadget does what it is supposed to do. For example, the average user of an iPod might not know of the different digital systems that work together to produce the sound that is heard. Yet there are a number of components involved in making the iPod. The work of the basic and applied research can have a significant impact on the everyday world, improving the quality of life of people with the gadgets that result from research. In the case of digital photography, digital systems are applied to create still images. As these images turn up on thousands of Web

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sites, they can have far-reaching effects on the development of a collective memory. Sociologists, communication scholars, political analysts, economists, and psychologists can examine the effects of using digital tools such as digital cameras, cell phones, and computers to point out the benefits and burdens of these tools. Such social research is as important as basic and applied research, since it provides valuable information about societal changes as digital systems influence many aspects of everyday life. For this reason, it is important to understand the many applications in which digital systems are beginning to have an impact.

DIGITAL SYSTEMS FOR SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS

The key to using a digital system is understanding the best way to employ it in a specific application. As human civilization has become more complex, it has a need for more complex systems and tools. Traditional societies that depended on agriculture for subsistence had fewer requirements. People worked on a farm from morning to evening and returned home when it became dark. There was no need for much more than a secure place to live, food to eat, and basic clothes. Their tools were designed for basic living. Some communities still live this sort of life, as seen with the Amish people in various parts of the United States. This community has little need for many of the advanced tools that we are familiar with and lives a comfortable life with minimal technological intervention. On the other hand, most people living in the twenty-first century want the comforts of technology in their lives. Basic and applied research have produced new tools that help to fulfill those wants (which eventually become not just wants, but needs). In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow organized human needs into a hierarchy in his article “A Theory of Human Motivation.” For Maslow’s theory, a pyramid usually serves as a representation of our needs, with the most basic at the bottom. He suggested that people have some basic needs, that are at the physiological level, like breathing, food, water, shelter, and sleep. If these needs are not

Before Digital Tools

According to Maslow’s theory, humans have different levels of needs, beginning with food and sleep (located at the bottom of the pyramid). When these basic needs are fulfilled, human beings begin to seek other needs, such as safety, love, and esteem. The highest level on the hierarchy pyramid is an emotional need to reach one’s potential, called self-actualization.

met (with the exception of shelter), then the human body would cease to function. Digital tools have been used to fulfi ll these basic needs. Global positioning systems (GPS) and data processing software are contributing to the implementation and support of successful precision farming that affects the entire food production system—from farm to table. Cultivating the Web, a publication from Eat Well Guide, shows how digital tools are being used for a variety of activities, from supporting local farmers to lobbying giant businesses and professionals in the food industry. (Visit

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http://www.eatwellguide.org/downloads/pubs/080811_Cultivating TheWeb_press.pdf for more information.) With physical needs taken care of, the next level is safety. Th is level relates to personal security, financial security, health and well-being, and safety or insurance against accidents or illness and their impacts. People need things like security of the home and loved ones, a moral world in which injustice and inconsistency are under control, and job security to feel protected. Computers and other digital gadgets play an increasingly important role in meeting people’s safety needs. These tools range from digital alarm systems to complex digital databases that are used by law enforcement officials worldwide to ensure that known criminals can be easily apprehended. Maslow’s third level on the pyramid deals with social needs, meaning the need to feel a part of a community and to love and be loved. This need is more psychological than physical because it is emotionally based. Without friendship, intimacy, and a supportive family, people may experience loneliness, depression, and social anxiety. To feel a sense of belonging and acceptance, people join clubs, religious groups, sports teams, gangs, and professional organizations. Digital systems meet these needs with sophisticated computer networks, like e-mail and Facebook, which allow people to remain connected and form virtual communities. No longer do people have to wait for days to hear from a loved one; today, communication is instantaneous with computers, video conferencing applications, and other technological devices. In addition, it is easier than ever to book a ticket online and travel long distances to meet with people. The fourth level on the hierarchy chart relates to esteem. All humans have a need to be respected and valued by others. People engage in activities that give themselves a sense of contribution and acceptance, whether as a career or a hobby. Self-esteem reflects a person’s overall perception of his or her own worth. If a person has feelings of low self-esteem, he or she can develop an inferiority complex or depression. Maslow noted two versions of esteem needs: a lower one and a higher one. The lower one involves a need for the

Before Digital Tools

respect of others, the need for status, recognition, fame, prestige, and attention. The higher one is the need for self-respect, inner strength, confidence, competence, mastery, independence, and freedom. Esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, “I am good at this” or “I will never be good at this”), emotions (feeling shame or pride), and even behavior (being shy or assertive). Digital systems can help people work more efficiently and also help them to excel at an activity. Because most workplaces in the developed and developing world use digital systems that can help people perform tasks faster, more easily, and with more skill, people are rewarded and thought of more highly and also think of themselves more highly. Finally, Maslow’s hierarchy chart speaks of a set of selfactualization needs. This is defined as realizing one’s full potential. Maslow describes this as the desire to become more and more what one is, or to become everything one is capable of being. This involves traits such as morality, creativity, problem solving, spontaneity, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts—characteristics that help create a specific identity. For one person this could be expressed athletically; another may express this need through painting, making music, or inventing something. Digital systems address these needs. For instance, the Internet has served as a place for people to increase their knowledge about other cultures, which helps them to see that others are similar and to solve problems that would help others. Digital tools have also made it simpler for people to be creative and to do what they most enjoy, helping them to reach personal goals. Digital systems have affected nearly everything a person would need in order to progress in contemporary society, influencing health care, education, entertainment, work, communication, travel and transportation, creativity, and security. It is important to understand the way digital systems shape our lives, as innovations in digital systems become more complex. Also note that these digital tools are interconnected. For example, people can stay in touch with friends and family using a cell phone, but the same tool can also be the key device for doing one’s job. Therefore, there is a crossover between applications and how they can be used.

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2 Making Connections

A

s everyday life has become more complicated, being able to do many things at the same time, called multitasking, has become important. This chapter looks at the many applications of technology that are necessary in a world in which multitasking is routine. Interconnected developments in technology have allowed many applications to be built into single tools. The analog world is made up of compartmentalized sections in which each component is separated from the other. Most work in the analog world requires a step-by-step process where one part must be completed before another part can be done. For example, in building a house, the foundation and the basement must be finished before the upper part of the structure. It is also possible to claim that the skills required to build a basement are quite different from the skills needed to put in the plumbing. These are different applications that are separate from each other and usually have to 24

Making Connections

be done in the correct sequence. There might be some relationship between the two components of the work, but different groups of people with different training need to follow a specific schedule to complete the work. The situation is quite different in the digital realm, where all the activity happens using only one basic ingredient: the binary system of numbers. As discussed in Chapter 1, all aspects of the digital world can be represented by a series of binary digits, which are compiled in different file formats to create music, text, or video, or to do complex mathematical calculations. People who are trained to work with digital files must understand how binary systems work, and this makes it easier for trained people to transfer their skills from one digital application to another. The ability to move from one application to another also becomes a fundamental requirement for the way digital systems operate. Unlike the analog world, where events must happen in a sequential manner (following a consistent order), the digital world can deal with nonlinearity (random order), where one event need not follow another. This is well illustrated in the building of a Web site composed of text, audio, video, and interactive options. There is no reason to compose the text before inserting the audio or to develop the video after inserting the text. Any one of these components can be brought into the building process any time the creator desires as long as the end product—the Web site—looks attractive. This produces a nonlinear work style in which many applications are simultaneously used to produce a digital product. The applications may also result in crossover or overlapping. For example, a digital photograph taken with a digital camera results in the production of a binary fi le. This fi le can be easily incorporated into an e-mail, allowing the user to send the photograph to a friend. The act of taking a digital photograph and transmitting it over the Internet represents the way applications can cross over, with the basic communication application of the e-mail connecting to the creative application of taking a digital picture. The entire

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digital system is made up of similar events in which disconnected everyday activities become connected because of the crossover of digital applications. The development of the binary system, along with the ability to convert many analog elements into a digital representation, extended the scope of the computations that could be done. For example, when a digital camera captures an image, the camera produces a digital file made up of a series of binary digits. Appropriate computations conducted on those digits can change the appearance of the picture. The user might not realize that a computer program

EARLY COMPUTERS

Making Connections

like Adobe Photoshop, a popular graphics editing program used to edit and manipulate digital images, makes changes to the binary file to obtain the desired visual effect. A computer can make those changes to the picture just as the computer can also make changes to an e-mail document by changing the numbers that represent the words in the e-mail. Because the entire digital world is made up of binary digits, the computer has become the most versatile tool for the multiple applications that need to be done simultaneously. People continue to seek an all-purpose tool because the computer is a relatively cumbersome device and it is difficult to always

The Difference Engine No. 2, which was constructed in 1991 using Charles Babbage’s original plans from 1822, is on display at the London Science Museum. Pictured is a miniaturized replica of the difference engine.

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have access to a computer for multiple applications. The need for multiple applications in a single tool has led to the development of convergent tools. These tools allow one machine, one that is much more portable than a computer, to be used for multiple applications. Today, most cell phones have built-in cameras. Some of the cameras can capture both still and moving images. This makes the cell phone a convergent tool that has both communication and creative applications. Other examples of such tools include personal digital assistants, also called PDAs, such as the BlackBerry. PDAs allow

Computer engineers have made it possible to combine the functions of many different tools into a single gadget. This process of convergence allows users to use fewer tools to do a larger number of tasks, as in the case of the smartphone, which can act as a computer, a digital camera, and a phone.

Making Connections

users to keep track of their contacts, respond to e-mail, use the Internet, and make a phone call. As more people demand additional applications from the same device, there will likely be a greater degree of convergence of these tools. The combination of applications along with the convergence of the tools makes it increasingly difficult to draw clear distinctions between the applications and the tools. For example, the digital video recorder (DVR), a device that records video in a digital format onto a hard disk, was launched in 1998 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The two early consumer DVRs were ReplayTV and TiVo, but TiVo is now the better-known product with 3.46 million subscribers in the United States as of 2008. Previously, the typical TiVo had no other utility and by itself the machine could cost several hundred dollars. At the same time, some people realized that a standard computer could be used as a tool to keep recordings of television shows because the computer could be connected to a television cable or an antenna and a digital recording of a program could be saved on the hard drive of the computer. This realization led to the development of a set of computer programs that were designed specifically for using the computer as a media center, resulting in the marketing of Windows Media Center programs and the Windows Media Center Personal Computer. These developments demonstrate the availability of tools that can perform many applications simultaneously, so that the user can efficiently multitask by recording a television show while listening to digital music and working on a word-processed document. The digital industry is constantly trying to create innovative products that allow users to work on many applications at the same time.

INTERCONNECTED DEVELOPMENTS

Research and development in the computer industry have been influenced by many areas of computer science and technology. Many of the developments have focused on the fact that all digital tools have to do computations on binary data and that an efficient machine is

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one that can accomplish a task by doing the fewest computations. A larger number of computations requires greater amounts of computing resources and more time to complete the computations. The number of computations is determined by the task that needs to be accomplished and working out the most efficient mathematical way of doing the task. Mathematicians spend a great deal of time simplifying a task to a simple set of computations and logical statements that the computer can interpret. These developments have contributed significantly toward creating computer programs that are able to achieve a task by doing fewer computations. For example, to calculate the total price of 60 items that cost $12 each, it is possible to get the answer by adding 12 sixty times or by multiplying 12 and 60. Doing 60 additions takes more time than doing a single multiplication. A similar process is also used by mathematicians to come up with the simplest way to do a computation. Computer scientists and computer programmers take the system developed by the mathematicians and work out specific instructions that the computer can interpret. They do this by using a specific scientific language that is understood by the computer and the programmer. Some computer scientists work on the computer microprocessor (or chip), which is able to understand the instructions in the computer program and sequentially send electric current through millions of electronic switches. The flow of current represents the instructions received by the microprocessor as well as the results produced by the microprocessor. Both the work of the person who develops the computer chip (the computer engineer) and the person who writes computer programs (the computer scientist) are important in doing tasks on a computer. For example, the success of Microsoft stems from the fact that founder Bill Gates was able to develop a special set of instructions for a primitive computer called the Altair 8080 in 1974, which he showed to the computer manufacturer, Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). The program created by Gates and his friend and collaborator Paul Allen helped to popularize the computer that MITS had created. Later, as the microprocessor became more powerful, better computer programs were written to make the computer do more complicated tasks.

Making Connections

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The Altair 8800 is considered the world’s first microcomputer. A company called MITS sold the first Altair for $395 as a kit and for $495 assembled. It came with only 256 bytes of memory, but no keyboard, monitor, paper tape reader, or printer. Still, MITS was flooded with inquiries and orders.

Developments in computer technology require a constant collaboration between mathematicians, computer scientists, computer programmers, and computer engineers, all of whom work together to develop innovative applications and the equipment needed to run the applications. All digital tools are the result of this collaboration, as different groups of people come up with new ideas and create digital applications to make those ideas a reality. Coming up

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TECHNOLOGY ADAPTATION AND DIFFUSION

Making Connections

It takes some time for a new tool or a new idea to be adopted by large numbers of people. In most cases there are small numbers of innovators and early adopters who embrace a new tool, followed by the early and late majority who make up the bulk of users.

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with the ideas and the programs is the first step in the process of mass-producing tools. For example, mathematicians and computer scientists worked out a way to create a digital file from sound waves, called an MP3 file. The MP3 file became a common format for storing audio. That invention was an important scientific development, but it became even more important when companies like Apple Inc. developed tiny music players that could be produced in large quantities. The ability to manufacture an inexpensive gadget is an important part of the interconnected development that leads to new products. The developed product also has to be appealing to the customer, and that requires another level of work in which advertisers promote the benefit of the new gadget. In a free-market system, the success of a digital tool is dependent on its popularity; if people do not understand the value of a product, then it will not sell. Advertisers solve this problem by letting the market know about the functions of the gadget without necessarily providing much information on the technical details of the product. Introducing a new digital gadget in the marketplace requires educating the potential customer about its different applications. Customers need to feel that they will be able to use the tool for a set of tasks and that the gadget will perform the tasks in an efficient manner. There are people specially trained to do product promotion to ensure that a gadget is accepted in the market. In 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone, the company went to a lot of trouble to ensure that customers would recognize that the iPhone was not just another cell phone but that it could also serve as an efficient digital music player and a portable tool to connect to the Internet. The consumer is usually not too interested in learning about the specific ways a gadget works, but the user needs to be assured that it will work efficiently. These tools go through a cycle of development and promotion before becoming common gadgets used by millions of people. Digital tools that are unable to deliver on their technological promises often disappear from use, as in the case of the digital tape recorder, which

Making Connections

had a short duration of popularity in the 1990s but was replaced by the more efficient digital music players that use the MP3 format. Research and development in digital applications and tools is an ongoing process, as users demand better tools and scientists come up with inventions that allow tools to perform more applications. These developments usually improve the quality of the tool and allow users to do more with the gadgets. One important aspect of such developments is to ascertain the effect the tools have on individuals and society. This kind of research is done by social scientists who have specific methods to measure the attitudes and behaviors of people. For example, communication scholars study the effects of television on viewers, and scholars such as George Gerbner have demonstrated that watching excessive violence on television has a relationship with real-life violent behavior. The use of digital tools has also encouraged social-scientific research to examine the effects of digital systems like computer games on young people. This kind of research helps to decide how tools should be used and when they might be inappropriate to use. Different applications could have an impact on the users, and it is important to understand these effects.

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3 Alternative Learning Resources: Media

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n 2006, nearly 350 million copies of magazines were sold in the United States through regular subscriptions and nearly 50 million were sold at newsstands. Besides popular magazines, which appeal to the masses, numerous magazines are aimed at special interest groups, or those interested in specific subjects. Other media sources like radio and television also offer general and specialized information. Since the invention of the printing press in 1439 by Johannes Gutenberg, people have sought out books and other printed material for information about the world around them. Printing-press methods based on Gutenberg’s invention quickly spread throughout Europe, and access to knowledge became more available to the masses. The Bible was especially popular, as the invention of the printing press made it possible for everyone of the Christian faith to own a personal copy. Eventually, newspapers for a mass audience began to arrive, with the printing of the first edition of the London 36

Alternative Learning Resources: Media

Before the printing press, books were expensive, having a value equal to a farm or a vineyard. Therefore, only the wealthy and priests owned books. With the invention of movable type, books (and, therefore, knowledge) were more accessible to masses of people and not just the privileged elite.

Times in 1814. The emergence of daily publications that carried local news and advertisements for products soon followed. Some publications came out only once a week or once a month and carried indepth information about specific topics. The authors who wrote for such publications took great care in creating articles that had accurate information so that the reader could rely on the material. These publications eventually became the magazines that are popular today. Almost all printed material requires an elaborate technological setup in which special tools are required for production and distribution. For example, it is important to have a good printing

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press, good paper, and an efficient distribution system to produce a monthly magazine. The quality of a magazine also depends on the people who write for it. These people are called journalists or reporters. Some magazines like National Geographic also place a great amount of emphasis on visually stunning photographs, making it important to have good photographers as well. The people who make the decisions for a newspaper or a magazine are the editors and the editorial staff. They are hired to ensure that only highquality material is printed. The task of the editorial staff is to choose what articles will be included in a newspaper or a magazine. Newspapers have a set of reporters who gather the latest news and write articles based on that information. The articles are submitted to the editorial staff, who decides on which stories to include and where to place them based on their importance. For monthly magazines, the process of selecting articles is even more rigorous because they do not publish as often as daily newspapers. The selection criteria varies between publications. General-interest magazines select articles that are appealing to a large number of readers. Other magazines focus only on articles that have the greatest relevance to a specific audience. For example, Personal Computing magazine would not publish an article on food because the focus of the magazine is on computers. The editorial staff also examines how factual the article is, how relevant it is to the magazine and its readership, and the structure of the article. Only the most well-written and appropriate pieces are usually included in a magazine. Some professional groups have magazines geared toward particular industries. The editorial staff of these publications can take a long time to decide on whether to print an article; because these publications give readers information on important findings in a certain field, the information has to be factually correct. The magazine of the International Communication Association called the Journal of Communication publishes scientific articles related to human communication and is read by communication specialists and policymakers. The editorial board works hard to make sure that only the best

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In 1825, there were fewer than 100 magazines in the United States. As more people learned to read, they developed a hunger for information. By 1900, there were more than 5,000 magazines in the United States. Today there are about 20,000 magazines published in the United States, ranging from women’s interest, men’s interest, news, literary, and trade publications, which serve professionals in specialized areas.

articles are published, and it may take up to four months to respond to an author’s submission. Such magazines are often called journals since they carry information that is considered to be very reliable and trustworthy. Many such journals become internationally famous, as in the case of Science magazine, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It is considered one of the most prestigious publications on the state of scientific research. It is important for professionals as well as the average reader to be up-to-date on current information and applications in the digital world. One way to keep aware of different applications and digital tools is to read all types of printed information sources, like newspapers, magazines, and journals. Most newspapers and many magazines have sections that focus on technology, and several specialized

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BYTE MAGAZINE

Alternative Learning Resources: Media

Byte magazine was popular because of its wide-ranging coverage of developments in computers and software for all users, not just business or specialized computer users.

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publications are aimed at readers interested in technology. Since technology magazines and journal articles offer detailed information, the reader can get a good sense of developments in the field and cross-reference the information across different printed sources. The main advantage of the printed medium is the detail in the articles that you cannot find elsewhere.

TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINES

One of the main advantages of the print media is the ability to target magazines and journals to specific audiences. Most generalpurpose magazines are unable to provide the level of detail that exists in special-interest journals. Technology magazines are meant for people who have an understanding of the specific vocabulary in the field and are able to quickly see the implication and impact of new tools. Personal Computing focuses on developments in personal computers, discusses the different components and computer parts, offers readers information about new products, helps readers make decisions about the purchase of new products, and offers tips on the efficient use of the personal computer. Readers must have a fairly good understanding about how personal computers work and be able to understand the technical language used in the articles. Similar magazines offer information on other technologies such as computer games (PC Gamer), science issues (Discover), news and analysis of information technology (Information Week), and ways to build and bring new technologies to the market (Red Herring). These magazines are available through subscription, at bookstores, and on newsstands around the world, serving a global audience. As previously mentioned, professional journals are published by industry organizations and are meant for a more specialized audience that is intimately connected with that particular industry. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an international group that publishes various technical journals that are read by professionals who work with computers and digital systems. The

Alternative Learning Resources: Media

journals of the IEEE often report on groundbreaking basic research in mathematics, computer science, and computer engineering. The journals are not published for the general reader, so the reader must be quite familiar with the technical aspects of computing to fully understand the implications of the research. The results of research reported in these technical journals are important to understand the ongoing changes in digital systems, to get a sense of the future of the technology, and to understand the implications of the changes from a professional perspective. Some journals focus both on the technological aspect of the digital world and the way the technology affects culture and society. These publications do not require an expertise or professional level of technical knowledge, but the reader must be able to understand the technology and its application to appreciate how a tool could alter the way people live their lives. Such issues have become especially important because many of the new applications deal with general interests like digital music, video, art, and photography. All of these activities have been transformed by the use of digital tools, and there are magazines that address the changes. One popular magazine in this category is Wired, which reports on how technology affects culture, the economy, and politics. Published monthly since 1993, Wired has outlasted its competition after the dot-com crash of 2000, has produced articles that set the agenda and had people talking, and has even coined the terms radical transparency (in which all decisions are carried out publicly by management) and crowdsourcing (the act of taking tasks that are traditionally carried out by an employee or contractor and putting out an open call to a group for contribution). The issues covered by the magazine affect the global community, resulting in the launching of international editions—Wired UK and Wired Italia. Since digital technology is having an impact on many aspects of everyday life, there are some magazines and journals that belong to nontechnical organizations but offer commentary on technological issues and their impact. New Media & Society focuses on the way digital technology, particularly digital media, has an effect on society. Many such magazines are meant for people in the academic

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world with an interest in the most current basic social and cultural research on emerging cultural trends in society. One disadvantage of the print media, which must have their materials ready for publication weeks or months in advance, is that some articles deal with topics that might already be outdated. It takes some time to write a detailed article, and then takes more time to edit the piece to make it better, and even more time to get it printed and circulated. These steps delay the process of getting information out, which is a particular problem with digital technology, an industry known for innovation and great competition among the various digital companies.

INFORMATION IN BROADCAST MEDIA

Broadcast media, which include television and radio, have an advantage over the print media because of the speed at which it can gather and distribute information. Broadcast media are expected to collect news stories quickly and prepare them for broadcast as soon as the story is ready. In some situations, journalists might actually provide information at the same time an event is happening, by offering live coverage. The ability to prepare and tell stories quickly is especially important for information about the digital world since some developments happen in a short period of time and the broadcast media can offer the information as soon as it occurs. The speed with which the broadcast media have to cover the news can lead to the release of incorrect information. Just like the print media, television and radio outlets also have an editorial staff that selects the stories and ensures that the correct information is being presented. The pressure to get the story out before a competitor, however, can sometimes lead to errors. The speed of broadcast media also does not always allow for the same detailed coverage of news items that a reader may find in print. Instead, the material on radio and television may be just a summary of the news. Therefore, it is important to verify information received from the broadcast media with information from other sources.

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The main goal of television and radio broadcasting is to disseminate messages or information. Broadcast media have several advantages over print media. It is free to consumers, information is available instantly and can be repeated, and a larger audience can be reached.

The broadcast media include the major national and international television and radio networks as well as local stations, which cover only regional news. Cable News Network (CNN), headquartered in Atlanta, is a global news channel. Ted Turner founded CNN in 1980 as the first 24-hour television news network in the United States, and today it has numerous bureaus, or branches, with reporters working around the world. CNN programming can be seen by viewers in more than 210 countries and territories. Other global networks include the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which operates from London; Al Jazeera English, which is headquartered in Doha, Qatar; and Channel News Asia, which operates from Singapore. These news sources carry information about events going on around the world and

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have affiliates that serve audiences in other countries. The networks offer high-quality information that is usually carefully verified before being broadcast. Not only do they offer general news programming, but most have technology experts who cover the digital industry. Viewers interested in learning about the digital world can rely on these networks to provide information about major developments in digital technology, even if the information might not offer all the details. Most major networks also have specialized programs that focus specifically on digital technologies. These programs offer information about new developments in the industry, but they may not be broadcast as often as general programs for a mass audience. For example, BBC offers Click, a technology program that is shown on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays in the United Kingdom and at various times according to time zones for international viewers. The program features the latest technology headlines as well as reviews of video games and various gadgets. BBC also airs Digital Planet, a radio program dedicated to information about the digital world and how it affects the world. CNN offers Tech Watch, a daily segment on the 24-hour news network. There are many programs that focus on science and technology. For example, the Discovery Channel’s series How It’s Made is a science and technology program that shows how things like a semiconductor or a pinball machine are created. On Time Warp, Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Jeff Lieberman and digital-imaging expert Matt Kearney use new technologies like high-speed photography to show natural events in a never-before-seen format. On the History Channel, Modern Marvels explores technology in a segment called “Ultimate Gadgets,” looking at “time-tested stalwarts of the past to the very latest in digital necessities.” All of these programs are produced for a general audience, so they are presented in a manner that is easy to understand and grasp. The print and the broadcast media offer a significant amount of information about digital technologies, but even greater amounts of information are available through electronic resources like the Internet.

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A

significant factor in understanding how digital systems work involves constantly keeping up with the changing landscape. Basic and applied scientists must constantly undertake new research in order for innovative digital systems and gadgets to be developed. At the same time, with more information being digitized, data becomes more accessible through computers and other digital sources. We will discuss the different ways digital sources provide information versus the print and broadcast media. We will also look at the strategies used to evaluate the validity of digital information. An important aspect of the print media is that all of the information they provide is relatively unchanging. The news stories are written, and the audience simply has to read the information provided. This form of information distribution produces a relatively passive audience that is unable to go beyond the boundaries of the material presented by the source. In addition, the information itself cannot 47

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be quickly changed. The combination of a passive audience and the tendency for printed information to go out of date quickly leads to the need for other sources of current information. The broadcast media are able to fill the gap left by the print media. To some degree it can rapidly collect and distribute information by using technology. Nevertheless, the material presented on radio and television usually does not have a high degree of detail, and the audience is not able to interact with the source of the information. Another disadvantage of the broadcast media is that a good permanent copy of the information that the audience can easily access may not exist. For example, someone interested in a television program on computers might learn significant amounts of information, but it would be difficult to get the information after the show had been broadcast unless the viewer was recording it. The lack of permanence of broadcast information makes it an unreliable research tool, and the audience must make special arrangements to retain the information as a recording of a broadcast program. The audience is also unable to interact with the source and must trust that the information is correct, without being able to delve deeper into the facts or ask questions about the validity of the information. These concerns over how current the information might be and the interactivity of the audience are answered by the use of digital resources.

DYNAMIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The advantage of providing information in a digital format is that it is always accessible. The information remains as digital files that reside on some form of computer memory, like a hard drive or a compact disc (CD). The digital file can be easily manipulated, and its content can be changed without much trouble. If necessary, the old data can be retained under a different name allowing for comparison between the old and new facts. As discussed in Chapter 1, the digital file is made up of binary digits that represent all of the information. Due to digitization, it is possible to develop query tools or input keywords that can look

Alternative Learning Resources: Digital

through large amounts of digital data and find only the relevant information. For example, all computers that run Windows have the capability of running a search program to look for any digital data on the hard drive that contains a specific word. Modern computers are so powerful that they can rapidly do the computations required for the search and quickly show the user how many times the specific word appears in different files. Without a computer, a person would need an extremely long time to do a similar search in a book. The ease with which it is possible to update the digital information and the rapidity with which it is possible to search for information make digital data storage an interactive system, allowing the user a great deal of control over how the data is used. The interactivity of digital data is enhanced by the existence of a global network like the Internet, which is composed of millions of computers connected to one another. These computers include extremely large data-storage systems called server farms, which feature thousands of computer hard drives connected to each other providing extremely large amounts of computer memory. In Fortune, Stephanie N. Mehta described such a setup: “Consider that every time you conduct a Web search on one of Yahoo’s sites, for example, you activate roughly 7,000 or more computers.” These computers are usually housed in massive warehouse-like establishments that are connected to the rest of world through the Internet. The data is stored on these machines and can be accessed by anyone with a connection to the Internet. Along with that, there are systems called peer-topeer networking that allow the data on a personal computer connected to the Internet to be used by anyone with a connection to the network. The Internet has allowed a large number of people to make data available to others. The source of the information is no longer restricted to institutions and corporations, but anyone with knowledge about an issue can offer that information on the Internet. The most popular way of accessing the information is through Web sites, which are maintained by a lot of different entities—from individuals to institutions. All Web information is created using a specific computer language called hypertext markup language

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Nearly all print newspapers can now be found on the Internet. Online newspapers attract readers because of the brand-name recognition of the print version and are especially popular among the newshounds, the computer savvy, and the young, who are quicker to see the Internet as a viable medium for information and news.

(HTML), and most computers are able to interpret HTML by using a Web browser program like the freely available Mozilla software. These programs allow users to visit Web sites and explore the large amounts of information available on them. Unlike traditional media like newspapers, Web sites offer users the opportunity to select a topic from a list of items available and use that as the starting point to reach a different Web site with additional information. This way of seeking information is different from the traditional print media. With a book, researchers are expected to read in a linear manner from the beginning to the end. People do not usually jump around between different sections of a book, and authors write with the intention that readers will follow the linear logic of the book. On the Internet, information does not have a well-defined

Alternative Learning Resources: Digital

beginning and end; therefore, a reader could start at any point and jump around to different pieces of interrelated information. This creates what is called a hyper-linear form of reading, allowing users to explore a topic in great depth without having to follow a predefined logic determined by an author. This is a special strength of the Web. Since information on the Internet can also be rapidly updated, some of the data will take the reader beyond the information provided in a book. Print media and digital media have merged in many ways. To resolve the issue of news stories becoming quickly out of date, many news agencies have put their content online. Thousands of newspapers around the world can be found on the Internet, along with TV news organizations like CNN. Even specialized media focused on certain audiences can be found online. According to Editor & Publisher, the top 10 online newspapers in the United States in November 2009 were as follows: 1. The New York Times (16,635,000 unique users in November 2009) 2. Washington Post (11,321,000 unique users) 3. Los Angeles Times (8,852,000 unique users) 4. USA Today (8,309,000 unique users) 5. Wall Street Journal (7,843,000 unique users) 6. New York Daily News (7,109,000 unique users) 7. New York Post (4,934,000 unique users) 8. Chicago Tribune (4,690,000 unique users) 9. Boston Globe (4,312,000 unique users) 10. San Francisco Chronicle (3,777,000 unique users) Anytime a newsworthy event occurs, the information is updated on the Internet and is also reported on television broadcasts and printed in articles in newspapers. The Internet version could have more details than what is reported on television or in the newspaper, but all of the information is maintained and updated by the same organization.

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All the information that can be accessed on the Internet consists of digital data, making it possible to connect different kinds of information. For example, a digital picture is made up of binary

Google Earth displays satellite imagery in various resolutions. The software allows users to research areas by entering coordinates or using a mouse to see cities and even close images of houses. First developed to help local government in carrying out their town planning, it now allows users to monitor traffic speeds at loops located every 200 yards (182 meters) in real time and provides 360-degree panoramic street-level views.

Alternative Learning Resources: Digital

data, and it can be associated with a document, allowing users to read about an issue and see related pictures. Some information could be maintained as huge sets of numbers, and Web applications can allow users to explore such data. The need to explore different kinds of information has led to the development of related applications that allow people to use a Web site as a portal to other forms of data. The ability to use a Web site as a tool to explore other forms of data makes the Internet a particularly valuable source of information. In some cases, there are programs that combine the power of the Internet with the capabilities of a personal computer, offering information that would be nearly impossible to obtain without the use of digital systems. For example, in 2005, Google released a program called Google Earth, which uses a simple program installed on the personal computer to access large amounts of geographic data stored on Google server farms. That data is maintained in a format that the Google Earth program can decipher, allowing the user to see very detailed images of the globe. The program works only when there is a connection to the Internet. That connection allows the personal computer to process the data stored on the servers and create an image on the screen of the personal computer. These kinds of programs rely on the Internet to function, but they do not use the Web interface that continues to be the most popular way of delivering updated information. One of the most difficult issues with this form of data service is the way in which the information is updated. The next section explores some of the issues related to the reliability of the information available from a network of computers.

UPDATING DATA

The key benefit of maintaining information as digital data is the ease with which it can be instantly updated. A digital file can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet as long as the owner of the data file allows access. Once the data file is available, it is possible to make changes to the file, and the updated information is immediately available for use.

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The authors of the original file are often the ones who update the information. For example, the author of a Web page can easily change the HTML content and add new information. There are many kinds of authors who maintain Web sites. Some sites are maintained by news organizations that offer information in many formats. Other organizations exist only as Web-based information sources that maintain a Web site that is constantly updated with new data. In the case of information about digital systems, there are Web sites like cnet.com that consistently offer up-to-date information about new digital tools and systems. These institutions have reporters trained to provide information about digital technology, and their work is checked by an editorial staff before it appears on a Web site. This kind of data typically exists as HTML documents that can be easily modified. Many organizations maintain data that is accessed through Web sites, but the data itself is maintained in formats that Web browsers would not be able to interpret. These data sets are usually lists of people, as in the case of an Internet-based phone book, or financial records related to bank accounts and credit card balances. Lists like these are easily accessed using computers with a Web browser because the information is formatted in such a way that the Web browser acts as a bridge to the data files. Libraries have led the way in storing data as lists, including the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress has begun the process of digitizing the millions of books, journals, photographs, maps, and other documents in its possession so that readers can easily access them on the Internet. There also are hundreds of online research sites that make it easier for people to access information. Most are focused on specific subjects, such as BioMed Central, an archive of more than 170 medical journals; Digital History, a valuable resource for those looking for information on U.S. history; and Artcyclopedia, information on artists and art movements, including links to museums. There are also online research sites for more general information, including INFOMINE, a virtual library of Internet resources; the Internet

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Public Library, the first public library for the Internet community; Intute, a Web-based resource for science, technology, arts, humanities, and social sciences; and the Perseus Digital Library, a source

With digital library catalogs it is possible to search a catalog using a variety of different pieces of information, such as the author’s name, the title of the book, or keywords. The results of the search can then be saved for future reference, and the material found can be borrowed from the library.

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for information on the ancient world. (Go to the Online Education Database at http://oedb.org/library/features/best-online-researchsites for a list of what it says are “the best online research apps/sites you’ve never heard of.”) These organizations constantly update their data, and users can expect to see the updated information whenever they access the data. Some sites offer resources for doing research through subscription services. One example is LexisNexis. Established in 1977, LexisNexis is an archive of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents, and other printed sources. The readership for this site is composed of lawyers, journalists, accountants, law enforcement officials, and academics. Lexis.com contains all of the current U.S. statutes and laws and nearly all published case opinions from the 1770s to the present. Nexis, which is a separate subscription from Lexis, allows access to content from more than 20,000 global news sources, intellectual property records, company and industry intelligence providers, biographical and references resources, and legislative and regulatory legal filings. Currently LexisNexis has 5 million subscribers. In some cases, Internet users are able to edit information on a Web site. These are called Wiki sites, and they offer special programs in which anyone accessing the Web site has permission to change the information. The original authors of such Web sites purposefully allow others to manipulate the information by inviting everyone to be a collaborating author. The option of letting many people change and update information makes the process of information generation extremely democratic, with numerous people having a say about a topic. Many Web sites now allow this option. During the 2008 presidential election campaign in the United States, candidate Barack Obama was a significant user of a Web-based campaign tool that made it possible for his supporters to update Web sites that promoted his candidacy. The New York Times reported in 2008 that this was one of the pioneering uses of the Internet, where anyone could create and distribute information on a communal Web site. Th is kind of information can be useful in finding examples and case studies about specific

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WIKIPEDIA

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technological innovations. It is important to note, however, that publicly edited Web sites might not contain completely reliable information, making it vital to carefully judge the accuracy of such information in particular and Web-based information in general.

SEARCH ENGINES

The very first Internet search tool was called Archie. The name stood for archive minus the letter V. Created in 1990 by McGill University (in Montreal) student Alan Emtage, Archie was a tool for indexing FTP (file transfer protocol, which is used to exchange files over the Internet) archives. This allowed people to search for and find specific files. Later more efficient systems were developed, such as Veronica and Jughead; and today there are very few Archie servers in operation. In 1993, the first search engine was developed. It was called W3Catalog and would not be recognizable to modern search engines. At that time, specialized catalogues were maintained by hand until computer developer Oscar Nierstrasz of the University of Geneva created a series of Perl scripts (a highly functional programming language) that would mirror these pages, reformat the content into individual entries, and provide an index that could be used for querying. Although W3Catalog only lasted until 1996, it is considered the Web’s first primitive search engine. In 1994, WebCrawler was launched. Unlike those tools that came before it, WebCrawler allowed users to search for any word in a Web page, which since has become the standard for all major search engines. Also unlike its predecessors, WebCrawler became known to the public, not to be used only by computer programmers and other technology professionals. With the popularity of WebCrawler, more search engines began to emerge. These included Excite, Lycos, Infoseek, Northern Light, and AltaVista, to name a few. Digital technology was booming, and search engines ignited an Internet investing frenzy in the late 1990s. In 1996, U.S. computer

Alternative Learning Resources: Digital

services company Netscape Communications struck a deal with Yahoo!, Magellan, Excite, Lycos, and Infoseek—five of the top search engines at the time. For $5 million a year, each search engine would be on rotation on the Netscape search engine page. In 2000, Google search and Yahoo! became the top search engines. In fact, today Google is the most-used search engine on the Web. Each day users plug in several hundred million queries, and Google uses a patented algorithm called PageRank to rank Web pages that match the queries. Developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1997, Google search also provides more than 22 special features beyond the word search capability, including stock quotes, weather forecasts, earthquake data, movie showtimes, and sports scores. Today there are dozens of search engines. As recently as 2009, five new search engines were launched: Microsoft Bing, Yebol, Mugurdy, iWannaSearch.com, and Goby.

RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET

There is no accurate count of the number of Web sites that are available at any moment in time, but it is safe to say that there is a constant and significant growth of Web sites. Every Web site contains information about some subject. A personal Web site could simply offer information about a person, while a corporate Web site could contain information about a company and its offerings. There are Web sites that offer data about a specific matter or provide updated news about an issue. It is also not always clear who the author of a Web site might be because many sites do not clearly list the names of authors and others might give no indication at all about authorship. The lack of clarity regarding authorship becomes even more of an issue with Wiki Web sites that do not have a single author; the information could have been compiled by many people, each with a specific perspective on the same issue. Traditional sources of information like books and magazines do not have confusion regarding authorship since the author is always

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identified, even if by saying “staff writer” in the case of a newspaper or a magazine. The disappearance of a clearly identifiable author in the case of many Web sites is the first reason it is important to be wary about information on Web sites. In many cases, the person creating the Web site, or editing the information, might not be qualified to write on the matter at all. By developing an attractivelooking Web site, an unqualified author could provide misinformation that others might use as reliable data about an issue. It is really important to be able to identify the individual or corporate author of a Web site before using the information presented. Once the author is clearly known, it is then important to judge the authenticity and qualifications of the author. In some cases, as with personal Web sites, there is usually little concern about the information since the author could be presenting personal information. For example, many people maintain a Web site with information about their educational and professional background. These Web sites might contain erroneous or old data, but it is usually not critical information that others might need for research. At the same time, it is always wise to treat personal Web sites with some degree of caution, especially when there is no other way to crosscheck the information on them. When authors present information about matters other than personal history, it is especially important to test their credibility. A simple test is to examine how credible the author is in forums other than the Internet. For example, with corporate authors like CNN, it is possible to claim that the information presented on its Web site is reliable because CNN is a credible news source and has a verifiable history of providing accurate information. In the case of individual authors, it is important to see what other information the author might have generated in other media, for instance, through books, magazine and journal articles, and other outlets. This test is especially important since much of the traditional print media represents moderated information sources where the work of an individual author is often carefully scrutinized through a review and editorial process before it is published. There is no such clear editorial process with Web-based information, but

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In a survey conducted by the UCLA Center for Communication Policy, Internet users and nonusers were asked about the reliability of online information. Regular Internet users consider the information available to be reliable. Nonusers are more suspicious of online information. Still, overall, both users and nonusers feel that the information on the Internet is generally reliable.

authors who have had their work reviewed and approved elsewhere could be considered more trustworthy sources of information than those who only have a presence on unmoderated Web sites. The process of moderation provides an opportunity to test the information provided by an author. In the strictest form of moderation, often used by journals like Science, any work is reviewed by several people who are specialists on the topic. For example, if an author writes an article about the origins of the universe, then the manuscript would be reviewed by astronomers and physicists who

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can verify the authenticity of the information. In an ideal situation, the reviewers would not know the identity of the author, so that they are not biased by friendships and enmities. The author eventually gets the reviews back and might have to do revisions to ensure that all the information is correct. In most cases, the author too would not know the identity of the reviewers to avoid future bad feelings. This process, called double-blind review, is used by many print publications to ensure that only reliable and trustworthy information is distributed. There is no similar established system for Web-based information, making it impossible to ensure the reliability of the data except when it is presented by authors who have gained credibility by publishing material earlier that might have gone through a double-blind review. In the absence of a reliable way of judging the authenticity of data on the Internet, it is always best to cross-check the Web-based information with other resources. Such cross-checking provides a means of verifying the information, as discussed in the next section.

COMBINING THE INTERNET AND THIS BOOK

The Internet provides updated information about new developments in technology and digital applications that have been discussed in the DIGITAL WORLD series. The series provides an overview of state-of-the-art technologies at the time the books were written, but there are constant changes in technology as new developments are adopted. Those changes can be tracked by using numerous Web sites that provide technology-related information, while the social and cultural impact of the changes can be understood by studying the books. The combination of the basic research discussed in the books and the latest developments of technology offers a holistic view of the way new digital tools are incorporated in everyday life. In most cases, the addition of new technologies does not mean that the implications of the technology change radically, and the books offer a guideline about how new technologies might impact everyday

Alternative Learning Resources: Digital

life. For example, Apple Inc. first introduced the iPhone in June 2007, and in July 2008, the company introduced an upgraded version. The new gadget offered slightly faster connection speeds and added a few more functionalities to the tool, but the way the tool would be used did not change too much. However, it is important to understand both the developments in the tool and its implications, and the combination of the books and Internet-based information offers the opportunity to understand both aspects.

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5 Managing New Technologies

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he development of digital technologies has also given rise to a large number of resources of information about the new technologies, as discussed in the previous chapters. These include the range of material from printed books to constantly updated Internet-based resources. All of these together can offer a reader a way to understand the role of digital technology in everyday life. This chapter focuses on some of the key aspects of new technologies that need to be understood in order to manage the role of these tools in society, as gadgets and digital systems become commonplace. Then the chapter emphasizes the need to understand how technologies work and shows how that knowledge allows people to classify tools in manageable groups. Finally we look at the need to critique technology before fully implementing it. It is important to appreciate all the steps described in this chapter to ensure that digital tools are appropriately used. As suggested earlier, one of the most important elements of a tool is understanding its specific task. This idea applies to digital

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Basic research scientists develop ideas and use problem-solving techniques to produce patents and publications that can then be applied to do strategic research. Strategic research is mission-oriented and involves applying the information and knowledge gained from basic research and using those methods for broad social and economic objectives. Translation research interprets or translates the findings from basic and strategic research to be used for the benefit of society.

technologies as well. Most digital tools offer multiple uses, and it is important to understand all of the uses to get a complete appreciation of the different ways the tools are useful. With new tools developing at a rapid pace, new gadgets are constantly being introduced, and researchers need to be aware of all their uses. Because of the rapid pace of development of new tools, there is a constant need for researchers and scientists who can stay one step ahead of the next new thing. It starts with basic research (also called fundamental or pure research), where scientists analyze and develop

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ideas, then apply their knowledge and problem-solving techniques to produce patents and write publications. This research and development has played a large part in advancing new applications used in health care, manufacturing, agriculture, communications, and e-commerce. These industries increasingly depend upon the analyses and data of the basic research scientists in order to help solve multiple issues and to develop innovative products. Strategic research (also called applied research) uses the information and analyses from basic research and helps decide on and develop a basic plan of how it will be used. The goal of all further development of the product or technology should serve this plan and be evaluated against it. If it doesn’t measure up or falls outside of the mission, back to the drawing board. At this phase, although users are important, it really is about defining the purpose, goals, target audience, and success metrics (what will happen if the goals are achieved by the target audience) of the product or technology. For instance, as described by Sarah Horton in her article “Researchdirected Design Methods,” when developing a Web site, it is not enough for the Web designer to only give his client the site of his dreams. It is the job of the Web designer to think about how the Web site will be sustained once it is built and used at its best capabilities. This mission starts with discussions between the client and the designer, leading to a project definition statement that clearly states the purpose and goals of the project and establishes available resources. After that, strategies and tactics are discussed. Understanding these elements is essential to effective development: ■

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Purpose: explains why the product exists and how it is used. Goals: these are the drivers behind the design approach and the desired outcomes. Strategies: these are the approaches taken to ensure it can be used by the masses and has the quality to sell the product. Tactics: these are specific design decisions and specifications of the product.

Managing New Technologies

The information from strategic research is used for translational research, or market research. The term translational research is used more often for scientific research, whereas market research is applied to business strategy. As defined by the International Code on Market and Social Research, market research is the “systematic gathering and interpretation of information using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to gain insight or support decision making.” During market research, the goal is to use continuous feedback to discover what a user wants, needs, or believes to determine how to make the product better and to market the product. Most businesses use one of these five methods to perform market research: surveys, focus groups, personal interviews, observation, and field trials. ■

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Surveys: One-on-one interviews, telephone questionnaires, and mail and online surveys are ways to conduct information from sample groups that represent the target market. Focus groups: Here, groups of people gather at a neutral location, usually at facilities with video cameras and/or one-way mirrors for a discussion led by a moderator. The moderator uses a scripted series of questions to lead the discussion. Personal interviews: Like focus groups, personal interviews use unstructured, open-ended questions. The results are not statistically reliable, but they yield valuable insight into customer attitudes and are excellent ways to uncover problems related to new products. Observation: This involves watching consumers in action while videotaping them in stores, at work, or at home in order to see how they use the product. Field trials: This method tests customer response by placing a product in real-life selling conditions. Field trials help the developer make product modifications, adjust pricing, and improve packaging.

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Today, not only do scientists develop digital tools to be used by the masses, but they use digital tools in order to develop other digital tools. Unlike in the past where digital tools were for scientists or for those who could afford to use them, today specialists and non-specialists can use digital technologies because of their ease of use and its accessibility. Not only is someone able to do research without having an advanced education or specific expertise in the area but access to digital tools like computer hardware and writing and editing software is now commonplace. With these tools, new ways of analyzing, presenting, and using data are occurring. For example, students can insert relevant video clips into their research papers and reports to enhance and represent data in a more compelling way. Not all digital tools are real objects like cell phones and iPods; many of them are virtual and exist only as computer programs available through the Internet. These digital systems can be used for many purposes, and it is important to understand the appropriate use of these systems. The user needs to become conversant with the different ways that a computer program can simplify various tasks, and this is possible only after the user has spent some time using the program and researching its functions. Such research requires access to the most recent information about the program since programs often change as new functionalities are developed. Many computer programs offer Internet-based user groups that are able to help people learn the optimal use of a software. For example, numerous groups of people discuss over the Internet the best use of the Windows operating system, which is commonplace on most personal computers. Th is is where Internet-based research becomes critical to understanding how to use a digital system. Information about what a specific tool is meant to do allows people to use the program or the gadget efficiently and appropriately. It is also important to have a sense of how specific tools work so that the user is not at a loss about the fundamental principles behind the operation of these tools.

Managing New Technologies

RESOURCES TO UNDERSTAND HOW TECHNOLOGIES WORK

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The sources of information regarding the different tasks of a digital system do not always say much about how the system works. For example, the user’s manual of a digital camera might give details about the best way to take pictures, but it might say nothing about the way the charge-coupled device (CCD) operates. At the same time, some basic elements of gadgets do not change much even if new versions are released every few years. Consider the iPhone, which was first sold in 2007 with a new version coming out a year later. The two versions generally operate in the same way, but the newer version can do some tasks more efficiently. Someone who learned how the iPhone works would easily know how the iPhone2 works. The similarity between these tools is related to the fact that all digital tools use a binary system of numbers and a specific logical system based on mathematical principles developed hundreds of years before the first iPhone appeared. Information about how a tool works often gets detailed and requires a lengthy explanation of complicated The iPhone is a great example of scientific facts. It is best to present such convergence. When it was first released, the iPhone functioned as a mobile information through the print medium, telephone, a camera, a portable music sometimes complemented by detailed player, and a computer. Even with all of information on some Web sites. The user the innovative capabilities added to the has to actively look for this kind of infor- newest version, such as a built-in video camera with an editing feature, users mation because it is not readily available of the original iPhone would be able to easily adapt. or routinely provided with the tool.

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An understanding of how a tool works helps to improve the way it is used. People often use a computer program or a gadget without any idea about what makes it work, and they may be confused about why a system behaves in a particular way. For example, if someone does not understand that all computer systems are logical tools, he or she would not be able to work out the solution to simple problems related to the way the logic system works. This becomes apparent when using a digital search tool like Google or Yahoo! to find information on the Web. Both these systems use the word and as a logical statement suggesting addition, and if the word is inserted when searching for several terms, the system will do the search in a way different from how it would have searched without the word and. This can only be appreciated when the user realizes that all digital systems must follow well-defined instructions, and if the instructions are incorrect, then the systems will not work in the desired way. Information about how a tool works is usually not available in a single book or a single magazine. A thorough understanding of the operation of digital tools requires extensive study of mathematics, logic, computer science, and computer engineering. However, it is possible to gain an appreciation of the essential elements of logical systems by examining information that offers a clear enunciation of these basic principles. Those using technology must decide the level of complexity they want to learn depending upon what they would do with the information. If the goal is to better understand the use of the tool, then an overall understanding is sufficient. If the user is also interested in being able to correct problems with a tool, then the person must learn about the operational details of the tool. It is nearly impossible to correct problems with a gadget unless there is a clear understanding of how it works. For real gadgets, like a cell phone, the user must know about the mechanical and the electronic aspects of the tool. In the case of a computer program, the user must know how the program works to be able to correct problems. Few people have the high level of information needed to correct problems, and it is not always necessary to go into

Managing New Technologies

great depth, but it is also unwise to try to fi x problems if the user is not fully sure how the tool works. A deeper understanding of what a tool is supposed to do and how it performs its tasks also helps to make sense of the large number of digital tools constantly being developed. Not all the tools do new things, and many tools do similar tasks. A clear understanding of the operational details of different tools helps to classify tools in systematic groups.

CLASSIFYING NEW TECHNOLOGY

Companies that make gadgets and tools are primarily interested in producing items that will sell well and bring in a profit. At the same time, some corporations invest a significant amount of resources in developing new digital tools that they feel will have a positive impact on everyday life. In both these instances, the motivation to develop new tools does not begin with a specific need among users but is instead driven by either profit or technological advancement. This process often leads to the development of digital systems and tools that are similar in nature, but the only way to sell these various products is to present them in different ways. The consumer might not have sufficient information about the purpose of the product, or how it works, and is primarily influenced by the information provided by the manufacturer. Such a situation is usually not a good one and could easily lead to confusing acquisition of tools the user may not know much about. It is valuable for users of technology to classify tools in general groups to see how the tools are useful in everyday life. In discussing the usefulness of tools, Arnold Pacey introduced the idea of “technology practice” in his book The Culture of Technology, first published in 1983. He suggested that it is important to consider how a tool becomes practical, rather than just considering how exciting the technology is by itself. For example, owning the most sophisticated cell phone may be a matter of prestige, but the user may never have the need for any of the advanced functions of the

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phone. A more practical choice would have been to get a simpler phone. Some of this confusion can be avoided if the user is willing to examine the information on different technologies to place tools in specific categories. Many categories are related to some essential everyday activities. One activity that defines the human race is the ability to communicate using language. All the developments of human civilization would have been impossible without the ability to communicate. It is thus not surprising that there has always been a desire to find tools that allow people to communicate more effectively. Numerous digital tools, ranging from the cell phone to social-networking Web sites like Facebook, allow for different forms of communication. The tools that are meant to enhance human communication can all be placed within the same group, and learning about the group can help to understand more about the class of digital tools. For example, e-mail, instant messaging, and social-networking messages all fall within the category of communication, and they all use language to send a message. Understanding the role of language in society could help to shed light on how the three digital systems work without having to consider each of them separately. In a similar manner, when a new tool is introduced in society, it is possible to begin to understand the tool just by classifying it appropriately. There can be many methods of classification, such as those that consider the tool in terms of the tasks it performs, or the exact components in the tool, or what the tool has evolved from. For example, it is possible to place a digital still camera and a cell phone with a camera in the same group because they both take pictures. At the same time, the digital still camera and the digital video camera can be put in the same class because both use the CCD as a significant component, and it is possible to classify the personal digital assistant and the personal computer in one group because they have evolved from the same family of computers that existed in the past. It is important for the user of technology to be able to do this classification so that, when introduced, new tools can be placed in the

Managing New Technologies

appropriate category. The user can learn more about the tool just by classifying it properly, even if there is insufficient opportunity to learn about the specific details of the tool. The process of classification is somewhat complicated by the fact that there are new tools that can easily be grouped into multiple categories. The process of convergence, where the same tool does many tasks, has led to the development of tools that defy easy classification. For example, the iPhone presents an interesting dilemma because it could be classified as a communication device, a digital media player, or a personal digital assistant. To understand the best use of the tool, the user is often tempted to place it in one category only. With greater convergence, however, classification becomes difficult, and the user has to consider what seems to be the best classification of the tool. That requires the ability to critique the tool to make a judgment about what the tool does best.

EVALUATING NEW TECHNOLOGY

Even though companies that make and sell digital tools and systems are interested in promoting the latest tools as the best, it is often the case that the user needs to critique the tools before investing in them. The review of a tool begins with understanding the purpose of the technology. The user must have a clear sense of what the gadget does and how well the machine performs its task. For example, in 2008, there were four to five companies, like Apple, Zen, and Microsoft, that all sold digital music players. All their players were comparable to one another, and the user needed to review which performed the best job of playing digital music. Such reviews are provided by specialists who test all the gadgets and then provide an unbiased comparison. This information is very useful when making choices between similar gadgets. The user must also get information about the broad category within which a specific gadget might belong. Some categories of digital systems have not been developed to a point where they are totally effective. Many developers test new kinds of applications and

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label them as “beta” systems to indicate that the systems are still being tested. It is wise to keep track of the reports on beta systems before deciding to make a purchase because the systems have not yet evolved to a standard format. Sometimes, systems and tools never go beyond the beta stage because of inherent technological issues that can never be resolved. For example, there is a significant amount of research on tools that would recognize the human voice and convert it to digital data, allowing people to speak into a machine and see the words appear on the computer monitor. In general, this technology is still being developed, without an especially good system that would do the task flawlessly, and the user should evaluate the value of the technology in general before deciding to invest resources in any specific tool. Tools also need to be evaluated on the basis of their application in the user’s everyday life. Not all tools are appropriate for everyone, because some tools may have no utility for some people and buying them would have no positive benefit. In most cases, people obtain tools to improve their quality of life. Eyeglasses represent a good example because people get them to see well. Such a tool enhances the quality of life and would be an appropriate tool for someone with vision problems. At other times, a tool could simply be inappropriate because the conditions of the user’s everyday life make it impossible to use. There has been, for example, significant discussion about offering inexpensive computers to children in developing countries. Nicholas Negroponte, the former director of the Media Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spearheaded a program to develop an inexpensive computer for children in poorer nations. One barrier to this program has been the lack of electricity required to operate the computers. Providing tools without the proper support to operate them can make the tools ineffective, and users need to evaluate the appropriateness of the digital system before spending resources to buy it. It is also difficult to specify a single source of information regarding the appropriateness of a tool in someone’s life. Evaluating the fit between technology and lifestyle is somewhat self-reflexive, and

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the user must take stock of what aspects of everyday life would be improved with a new digital system. Only when the user is able to appropriately answer that question should there be a move to obtain

Technology usage goes from an idea developed by people to, eventually, social acceptance to the cloud (this is called cloud computing—Internet-based data centers where users can share resources). It is important to note that the purpose of technology in society is to serve human beings. In the digital age, the question is whether the gadgets revolution will usher in a techno utopia or enslave its users to technology.

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the new digital system. The process of implementation is also tricky because using a new technology could alter the way in which a community of people goes about doing its everyday activities. The next section concludes the chapter with a review of some of the key aspects of implementing new tools.

IMPLEMENTING TECHNOLOGY

The process of implementing new tools into an existing system may require background research before making a decision to add the tool. This research could be very personal in the case of an individual deciding to buy a cell phone—the person must think about the specific need for the phone, its cost, and other factors that could impact the buying decision. In most cases, an individual makes a decision to add a new tool because he or she feels that it will bring some benefits, and buying a cell phone might not be a significant event. The life of the person might change a little bit, but generally the outcome of adding a new technology does not require a great deal of planning. There are some situations, particularly with medical technologies, where the implementation might require some preparation, but for most digital tools, the individual adoption and use of tools could be a relatively safe event. The effects of implementation might also be relatively marginal on the life of an individual, but it is important to recognize that implementation of tools is expected to change one’s life, even if in small ways. Some of those changes move beyond the individual, especially when many people start to adopt the same technology. For example, just a few people using e-mail might not have been an important event, but it becomes significant when millions of people start to communicate with e-mail. It is important to understand the impact of wide-scale implementation of digital tools because many of the systems are adopted by many people. This is why organizations must spend some amount of time preparing and researching the process of technology imple-

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mentation before deciding to add new tools to a system. A good starting point for the implementation of new digital technologies is to anticipate who the users will be and to understand the specific needs of the users. For example, an institution might decide to offer special cell phones to all of its employees, so it must spend some time contemplating who would use the phones, and for what purpose. If the phones are to be used only to stay in touch with the main office, then the phones do not require a built-in camera. The expected use of the technology needs to be the most important criteria before instituting new digital tools. Organizations that implement new digital tools must also expect the tools to be used in unexpected ways. Institutions can save a lot of trouble if they are able to predict the intended and the unintended uses of the technology. For example, in 1996, Wake Forest University made a significant, and relatively novel, decision to offer a laptop computer to all of its incoming students. The goal was to standardize the computers that students use and allow all classes to develop computer-assisted teaching systems. The university did not anticipate that the students would soon start to use the computers for rapid downloading of digital music and would clog up Internet connections. Such uses are difficult to foresee but can significantly impact the way the tools are used. One way to predict all the possible uses of a tool is to collect data from the users about how they may use it. Some knowledge of that could help to develop appropriate implementation schemes so that the tools are used to their optimal level. The ideas in this chapter allow us to better understand how technologies work. Another way to do that is to look at the people who develop these new tools. The digital world is made up of many different units working together, from those who conduct basic research in mathematics to amateur computer programmers who are adept at developing computer codes.

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6 People of the Digital World

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he digital world is made possible through the collaborative work of many people. As pointed out earlier, many of the developments in the digital world have been the result of basic research in the sciences, with many scientists playing a role in proposing principles in mathematics, physics, and chemistry that have become the foundation for building the products and systems of the digital world. Mathematicians play a particularly important role in this process because all digital systems depend on logical operations that are done by the computer. Those who study mathematics are the ones who are able to work out the complex logical combinations required to do tasks like developing the systems of computation that must be done to convert decimal and analog systems to binary numbers. The notion of developing a number based only on two digits—“0” and “1”—was first developed by mathematicians more than 300 years ago. This system was later refined by those studying mathematics to show how strings 78

People of the Digital World

of binary digits could be combined in logical patterns to represent computations. For example, those studying logic showed that different real conditions could be simulated by logically combining the state of an electric switch, where current would flow only if both switches were on, or if any one switch was on. Complex combination of these two basic logical conditions, the first being called the “AND” condition, and the latter being called the “OR” condition, is still used to develop complicated digital systems. The people doing this research are more interested in the abstract combination of logical statements and might not even be thinking of the exact application of their inventions. Other researchers are able to take the basic principles and develop them into specific ways of doing tasks. Mathematicians provide the abstract thinking needed to set up the logical processes, while physicists help to understand processes, like the way electrons flow in electric systems. The work of the physicist complements the task of the mathematician by demonstrating that the flow of electrons can represent the logical systems. All digital tools are based on the flow of electric currents, and much of the magnetic storage system used in many digital tools is dependent on the way magnets function. Physicists study both areas to show how the properties of electrons and magnets can be manipulated to do computations required in digital devices. Most components of a digital tool like a computer are built with the basic principles of physics in sight. All digital tools are also built around a special kind of chemical compound called a semiconductor, which has unique properties with regard to the way electrons can flow through it. A clear understanding of the way semiconductors perform is provided by chemists working with the chemical element silicon. This building block of the electronic switches that follow the logic patterns established by mathematicians is a chemical element extracted from sand. Every grain of sand is composed of silicon, which allows electrons to flow through it only under special conditions and in special ways. One of the first people to discover that electrons flow only in one direction through semiconductors was the German physicist Karl Ferdinand

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Although physicist Karl Ferdinand Braun discovered the first semiconductor device in 1876, it wasn’t until the early 1900s that a use for it was found with the crystal radio set. Today, all computer devices or anything that uses radio waves depends on semiconductors. Above, this engineer is working on a semiconductor.

Braun, who demonstrated his discovery in 1876. Although the first discovery was made by a physicist, the development of the siliconbased semiconductor was continued by physicists and chemists who worked together to invent ways to manipulate the physical and chemical properties of semiconductors resulting in the development of the computer microprocessor. Research on semiconductors continues to develop more efficient ways of manipulating the characteristics of the material. Most research on the basic elements of the digital world is conducted by scientists in leading universities worldwide. The scientists are often trained in their areas of specialization, and to become good at this form of work, they need to spend many years learning

People of the Digital World

the basics of the science. Scientists who work in universities have often spent nearly 10 years in college after receiving their high school diplomas. In that time, the person would earn a bachelor’s degree, followed by further education building up to a doctoral degree. Many scientists also work with mentors for a few years after completing a doctoral degree, before becoming established scientists on their own. These are people dedicated to science and research who find their home in universities, where they not only do their own research but also train their students to either continue with the basic research or apply the basic research to develop new tools. The professionals who apply the basic research are usually different kinds of engineers who help to develop the digital systems as discussed in the next section.

APPLICATION OF BASIC RESEARCH

Most components of the digital world are made up of a hardware part that includes all the pieces of the technology. For example, the semiconductor material is used in making the microprocessor, which is considered a part of the computer hardware. The pieces of the complete computer include other parts like the monitor, the keyboard, and the pointing device. These objects are manufactured using specific techniques, and the way they work depends on knowledge developed from basic research. The people who are responsible for designing the parts of the computer and then manufacturing the pieces are usually trained in different areas of engineering. The task of the engineer is to design the gadgets that make up the digital world. The design process includes making decisions about the purpose of the component, the way it will look, the way it will work, and the best way to manufacture it. Each of these elements requires the expertise of different kinds of engineers. Among the various engineers, some are more central to the process than others. The electrical engineer and the electronics engineer play important roles since they work on the exact electrical aspect of the

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gadget. For example, a computer requires a power supply to make it work, and electrical and electronics engineers are the people who are responsible for designing and manufacturing the best power supply unit. The computer engineer is the one who decides on the exact components that must be included in a gadget. Many gadgets now serve different functions, and the computer engineer needs to ensure that all the different pieces can indeed work together as designed. The computer engineer is also the one who is best able to interact with the computer programmers who develop the programs that provide instructions to the hardware. Engineers are also needed to set up the manufacturing plants where computer components are made. Sophisticated machines are needed to build some components, and civil engineers, mechanical engineers, and chemical engineers are the principal people to set up and operate these factories. For example, the microprocessors used in personal computers are extremely delicate objects in which thousands of electronic switches made from semiconductor material are packed into a tiny unit. Special factories are required to make these products that are usually designed by computer engineers. Since some hardware components, like the keyboard, are constantly used by people, some engineers focus on ensuring that the object is easy and comfortable to use. Digital gadgets have also diversified into many shapes and sizes to be used for various applications. Cell phones and personal digital music players have to be small so that they will be portable. Some applications require large digital tools like large screen displays that present unique manufacturing challenges. Many computers are designed to have a special look, as in the case of the Macintosh series of machines, made by Apple, which appear sleek and attractive. All of these various technological challenges require the services of many different engineers who must work together to produce the most efficient machine. The working of a digital gadget is also dependent on the specific instructions that are provided to the gadget to do its intended task. For example, a digital camera is made up of a lens, a charge-coupled device (CCD), and other components that must work together to

People of the Digital World

capture an image, convert it to digital data, compress the data, and store it on a memory device. Just as turning a steering wheel in a car instructs the front wheels to move in a specific direction, the

Computer programmers are people who write, test, and implement codes to make certain things happen on the computer. Computer programs have their own language in which a list of instructions is created for the computer to follow. Among the thousands of programming languages currently in use, the most popular and widely used is C because it is easy to learn and very efficient.

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digital gadget must also have unambiguous instructions about how to handle the digital data that is created by each component of the tool. The instructions also need to be provided in a clear, concise, and logical way to ensure that the digital tool does what it is supposed to do. These instructions are also called computer programs, which are made up of series of statements written in special programming languages. Computer programmers are trained to create the computer programs, and they must have a good understanding of how to instruct a microprocessor to perform a specific task following the code sent to the component. The profession of computer programming can have many different levels. Some programmers are trained to meticulously write codes to do complicated tasks. These people are trained to use specific computer languages like C++ that allow them to create specific programs for different functions. For example, computer programmers might be called in to design special programs that do certain tasks within a certain industry, such as keep track of the total amount of products sold by a grocery store. These programmers start with a core set of problems that a client would like to have solved, and then the programmers use logical systems, also called algorithms, to design a code to allow the client to perform everyday tasks efficiently. This kind of programming is customized for specific tasks and industries, with each computer program remaining a unique set of codes that would only be useful for whom it was designed. There are other programmers who use existing computer applications to do different tasks. These people might not actually create a computer code from scratch, but instead they learn all the various functions of an existing program to be able to use it at its best. For example, if a merchant wants to keep track of sales and costs, it is possible to develop a specific program for the merchant’s use only or use an existing financial program to keep a record of the transactions. The advantage of the latter approach is that the standardized program used to address a problem is usually a well-tested and reliable digital tool, and the disadvantage is that

People of the Digital World

the standard tool might not have the flexibility that a customized program offers. A final set of computer programmers are people who design the general logical pattern that the computer uses to solve a particular problem. These are considered “higher level” programmers who might never actually write a specific code, but offer general directions about the way a specific task ought to be done. It is, however, important to have a good understanding of how a set of computer programs performs tasks in order to design the overall logic and objectives of a programming task. Not all computer programs can do everything, and a good programmer often knows the limitations of the computer system being used and designs the program in view of the overall system. The engineers might be able to produce a sophisticated machine for a specific task, but the computer programmer is needed to activate the machine and make it do what it was designed for. Some programs might be quite straightforward and simple, but in the absence of the programs, the machines would not be able to do tasks in an efficient manner. With digital systems entering into every sphere of life, computer programs are needed for all different tasks. No single computer program can be expected to do all the things required of a modern computer. Numerous programs are available for a personal computer, created by programmers with all sorts of expertise, making computer programmers an integral part of the digital industry. Most programmers have strong training in mathematics and logic, which allows them to consider a logical solution to a problem and then implement the solution with the help of a computer program. The people trained in engineering and computer programming are required to produce a working digital tool. Once the tool, along with the computer programs, is available to the common user, it is possible for the user to begin to learn how to implement the different programs and develop specific codes based on the programs available on the computer. For example, the popular spreadsheet program called Excel, made by Microsoft, allows

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users to create simple programs to do repetitive tasks. These programs are often called macros and are developed by the user of the program. Users who are adept at developing simple programs also play a significant role in the digital world, as pointed out in the next section.

USING AND LEARNING

The user of a computer often plays a significant role in developing new computer codes. Most people have to use the standard computer programs that are provided with most personal computers. For example, one of the most popular word processing programs is Microsoft Word, and a large number of computer owners use this standard tool for all writing activities. This program is a wellpackaged product that allows users to perform most of the basic tasks of writing. However, the program also allows people to do some experimentation with small codes that they can create to simplify some tasks. The user becomes the creator of the code or macro and can share it over the Internet with others. In this case, the user might not be trained in computer engineering or computer programming, but instead uses standard tools to develop useful codes. With millions of people constantly using macros, there is a large collection of such simple codes that others can consider using. A similar process happens with amateur users who develop simple computer programs for personal use and then make them freely available to others via the Internet. These computer programs could be designed to do specific tasks that no one else might be interested in, as in the case of converting digital video files from one specific format to another. This kind of program is generally written by people who have learned computer programming and then dabble in creating simple codes. The Internet has provided a great boost to such innovators, who are ready to share their programs with others without demanding any compensation. These programs are often called freeware since the program software is offered free of

People of the Digital World

cost. The availability of freeware also demonstrates a fundamental aspect of the digital world—its desire to constantly innovate. Large corporations like Microsoft and Apple are sometimes unable to try new things because those forays could be financially disastrous. As a company becomes larger, it sometimes becomes averse to risky propositions; therefore, a significant amount of innovative work is happening in the world of freeware. Large companies also try to maintain their trade secrets with respect to their computer programs. For example, the complete code for Microsoft Excel is made up of millions of lines of commands, and Microsoft zealously protects the exact computer code. The user is never able to tinker with the basic Excel program but is restricted to only using the options offered by the company. This reduces the opportunity of innovation, making it difficult for users to implement any meaningful change to the basic computer program. Many people considered such restrictions unacceptable, and a movement started in the late 1970s and early 1980s to develop computer programs in which the entire code would be available to everyone and people would be invited to alter the code to improve the programs’ quality. These programs are called open source software, since the basic code, also called source code, of the program is open to all. The movement for open source software gained momentum in the 1990s when a Finnish programmer named Linus Torvalds developed an alternative to the Windows software and named it Linux. Users were invited to modify the basic code of the program to make this a viable alternative to the more expensive Windows program. This program became immensely popular, and thousands of users, who were usually amateur programmers, started to develop associated computer programs that would do many of the tasks that commercial programs did. The strength of open source software lies in the fact that many users with many kinds of expertise are able to contribute to the development of the program and its functions. There are no concerns about the ownership of the computer program since no single person or corporation has an investment in it. The popularity of the Internet also facilitated the development of

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Microsoft has endured much criticism since the 1980s. In fact, Linux, a free software collaborative, was created as an alternative to Microsoft operating systems. Linux’s creator and other advocates of free software thought Microsoft was too restrictive on how its software can be used. Free software is software that can be operated, modified, copied, and distributed without restriction.

open source software because the Internet allowed users to quickly share their innovations with others, who would improve upon the work of one another. The increasing availability of computers and other digital tools also led to questions about the role that digital systems play in everyday life. Scholars and researchers who might not have been directly involved with the technological aspect of digital systems began to become interested in understanding how digital systems were transforming culture and society, and their work also contributed to the way digital tools were adopted. This contribution is discussed in the next section.

People of the Digital World

ROLE OF DIGITAL SYSTEMS There are groups of scholars and thinkers who are interested in understanding the role of digital tools in everyday life. Technologists, engineers, and scientists focus on the best tools that can be developed without sufficient thought to how the tools might alter the practices of everyday life, and the gadgets are adopted by users who later realize that some aspects of life have been permanently changed. For example, some evidence suggests that the use of instant messaging among youngsters has changed the kind of English that they tend to use. In writing about the changes to the language, the New York Times commentator William Safire said in 2008, “Language is in its third phase of compression.” He was referring to the way abbreviations like LOL, which stands for “laugh out loud,” that are common in instant messaging are entering everyday communication. The use of such abbreviations could be appropriate for instant messaging but would be considered unacceptable in a book like this. It is important to systematically observe the way new gadgets and digital systems affect everyday life because understanding that impact can help to develop better systems for the future. Most of the research on the effects of technology is done by social scientists who collect reliable and valid data from users. These researchers examine the basic understanding of the way tools are being used, the attitude that users have toward specific tools, and the expected and unexpected effects of the tools. The social scientists come from different disciplines of study. Some are interested in the way digital systems are impacting human communication, as in the case of Michigan State University researcher Joseph Walther, who has devoted much of his academic life to understanding the effects of computer-mediated communication. Other scholars might belong to disciplines like psychology, as in the case of Harvard University researcher Maressa Hecht Orzack, who pays particular attention to how people can develop addictions to technology. Some scholarly groups like the Association for the Advancement of Computing

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Scientists from a variety of areas provide information and suggest ways of doing research that connect different disciplines together. The goal is to create a combined form of interdisciplinary research that produces the highest quality of information.

in Education (AACE) examine the role digital systems play in the way people teach and learn, since digital tools are becoming a common element in most schools and colleges. Researchers like Sara Kiesler of Carnegie Mellon University study the impact of the rapid adoption of digital systems on businesses and other organizations. Groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation based in San Francisco look at the impact of digital systems from a legal perspective, advocating for digital rights. Every application discussed has its share of experts and critics who are not trained as technologists but have devoted their research and scholarship to understanding technology from social and cultural perspectives. These researchers provide an important service to the digital world because they are able to point toward both the positive and

People of the Digital World

negative aspects of digital systems. Sometimes corporate marketing tends to highlight the benefits of digital systems without focusing on the possible burdens. It is, however, important to understand both sides so that a balanced view of technology emerges. The rapid development of new gadgets and systems often leaves people breathless as they try to catch up with the latest changes, and social scientists provide a sobering view on the frenetic pace with which digital systems are being adopted to every element of everyday life.

IN THE FUTURE

The rapid growth of digital technologies along with their popularity across the world will continue to generate a demand for engineers and technologists who can develop new systems. The development of new applications will also constantly require the expertise of computer programmers who are able to meticulously create the code that makes digital systems work. There is also a global trend in training young people as computer programmers so that there is a constant supply of people who make up the workforce. Since learning to become a programmer requires good logical ability, a computer, and a good teacher, many developing countries can tap into their large population of intelligent young people to become trained computer programmers. This was evident in 1999, when there was a worldwide scare that, as the clock struck midnight on December 31, 1999, many computer systems might cease to work because they were not programmed to deal with the dates of the year 2000. Since the proper working of a computer is dependent on the internal clock that must record the current time and date, many specialists were concerned that a date made up of three “0s” could confuse the computer. It was decided globally that many critical computer programs had to be rewritten to preempt any problem. This required a large army of programmers to solve the problem, and India emerged as the leader in supplying the workforce required to do the job because it had heavily invested in math and

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Ant colonies and other living organisms have inspired computer engineers when designing technical systems. Engineers have modeled a set of computing units on the behavior of Temnothorax albipennis, an ant species that has small workers and lives in small colonies.

science education. Such events could happen in the future, bringing together workforces from different countries to create the new products and services of the digital world. There will also be an increasing need for basic research to address the fact that the current silicon-based digital system might reach a point where the computer will not be any more efficient. Scientists will have to consider other ways of creating computers that will function in the same way as the current machines but be more efficient. Those developments require dedicated scientific research that can bring forth major breakthroughs, as in the case of the work on organic computing by a research team led by Yoshiaki Ohashi of Keio University in Tokyo, which was able to use living organisms to store data just as a magnetic disc is now used in computers.

People of the Digital World

The world has been permanently transformed with the introduction of digital systems. It is now up to all of us to work together to figure out how these tools can improve our quality of life. To begin, we must understand the system, and the goal of this series has been to provide a starting point for that understanding.

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Chronology 3100 b.c. Numbers with 10 base used in Egypt. a . d.

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628

I ndian mathematician Brahmagupta suggests that zero was a real number and offers rules for its use.

1040

 rinting press developed in China by the Chinese P inventor Bi Sheng, who carved Chinese characters with wood.

1200

 e abacus is used to do mathematical calculations in Th China.

1439

J ohannes Gutenberg develops the printing press in Europe.

1666

 e idea of the binary number system using zero and Th one is introduced.

1822

 harles Babbage designs the first mechanical computer, C using the idea of binary numbers.

1876

A lexander Graham Bell patents the first telephone.

1904

J ohn Fleming makes the vacuum tube that can be used as an electronic switch.

1923

I nterpol established as an international police force to fight international crime.

1927

 e Jazz Singer is released as the first movie to use Th sound.

1947

J ohn Bardeen builds the transistor that replaces the vacuum tube.

Chronology

1948

Howard Aiken develops an electronic computer with 5,000 vacuum tubes. Patent issued for Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device, starting the era of digital games.

1953

IBM introduces the model 604 computer with transistors.

1956

IBM introduces the magnetic hard drive as a storage medium.

1957

IBM introduces the model 608 computer for the commercial market.

1964

John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop the BASIC computer program language.

1967

The analog sound generator Moog synthesizer is adopted by rock band the Monkees.

1969

DARPA funds the development of an international network of computers. The lunar module lands on the moon, using a computer smaller in capacity than a personal computer of 2009.

1970

Digital Electronics Corporation introduces the personal dot matrix printer.

1975

Industrial Lights & Magic established by George Lucas to use computer graphics in making movies. Byte magazine is launched as the first magazine dealing with digital technology. The PLATO networked education system serves 146 locations in Illinois.

1977

Apple Corporation introduces the Apple II computer.

1978

Roy Trubshaw, a student at Essex University in the United Kingdom, starts working on a multiuser adventure game called MUD (Multiuser Dungeon).

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1980

Polydor Company of Hanover, Germany, produces the commercially available compact disc. Pac-Man game released in Japan.

1981

Microsoft develops the DOS computer program as the operating system for computers. IBM introduces the first personal computer using the MS-DOS operating system.

1982

The Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) cell phone technology is developed by the Conference of European Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT). The compact disc is introduced in the United States.

1985

Intel introduces the 80386 microprocessor, with 275,000 transistors built into the chip. The computer program WELL is set up to allow a community of people to exchange computer files with one another. The C++ computer language is released commercially.

1986

The Farooq Alvi brothers, operating out of Lahore, Pakistan, release the first computer virus called “The Brain.”

1987

German scientist Dieter Seitzer develops the mp3 format for digitizing sound.

1989

The European Center for Particle Research (CERN) in Switzerland invents the World Wide Web. SimCity developed as an alternative to shoot-up digital games. Nintendo introduces the Game Boy in the United States.

1990

Commercially available digital still camera sold by Logitech.

Chronology

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cell phone technology is developed by Qualcomm. 1992

First Short Message Service (SMS) message sent from a cell phone.

1993

Intel introduces the Pentium microprocessor, with 3.1 million transistors built into the chip. Researchers at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign introduce Mosaic as a tool to browse data on the Web.

1995

Toy Story is produced by using only computer-generated images to create a complete movie. Presidential Savings Bank is the first bank to provide the option of doing financial transactions on the computer. Pierre Omidyar, a French-born Iranian computer scientist, establishes the prototype for the online auction Web site eBay.

1996

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is introduced, placing strict regulations about who may have access to the health information of Americans. Palm introduces the personal digital assistant (PDA). Travelocity.com launches an online system for selling airline tickets.

1997

The digital video disc (DVD) is introduced in the United States. Movies begin to be released on DVDs. TiVo is introduced to digitally capture television shows. Instant Messaging (IM) technology is introduced by companies like America Online (AOL). “Deep Blue” computer beats Garry Kasparov at chess.

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1998

The United States adopts the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which offers extensive legal protection to the creators and distributors of digital products. Printed version of Byte is discontinued after 23 years in publication, having been the first magazine to deal with digital technologies. New Media & Society is launched by Sage Publications to examine the role of digital technologies in society. The Motion Picture Experts Group standardizes the MP4 format for capturing and storing digital video. Google begins with a $100,000 investment as a company operating from a garage.

2000

Nearly 5,000 satellites are in space. Trek Technology and IBM introduce the flash memory as a storage medium. Google becomes the most popular Internet search tool.

2001

Apple introduces the iPod. Wikipedia is launched as a freely editable online encyclopedia.

2003

Linden Research Laboratories introduces Second Life as a multiuser social game. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) begins a special award on digital art through their “DigiArts” mission. MySpace is introduced as a social networking Web site.

2004

Two-thirds of Americans claim to use instant messaging on a regular basis. Liberated Syndication offers the first podcast hosting service for a $5 monthly fee.

Chronology

Revenue from the sale of digital games doubles from the 1994 sales level. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the use of an embedded microprocessor in the human body for medical purposes. 2005

Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim introduce YouTube. In one of the largest breaches of the security of personal information, 40 million Visa and MasterCard credit card numbers become available to anyone on the Internet. Ninety percent of all videos sold in China are illegally produced pirated copies of the original DVD. Microsoft introduces the Xbox 360 game system. In the United States, the number of identity thefts exceeds 250,000. Google introduces Google Maps as a digital mapping tool.

2006

Eleven years after its launch, eBay has 200 million registered users worldwide. Sony introduces the PlayStation3 game system. Nintendo introduces the Wii game system. Sun Microsystems releases Java as a computer program that anyone can freely use. Facebook becomes available to anyone in the world. In Britain, the number of surveillance cameras reaches 4.2 million, 1 for every 14 people. On average, the number of spam e-mails sent per day reaches 12.4 billion.

2007

In a single month, more than 24 million users visit the YouTube Web site.

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American consumers spend about $30 billion shopping on the Internet during the Christmas shopping season. Sales of the LCD screen surpass sales of the CRT screen worldwide. Apple introduces the iPhone. James Cameron and Vince Pace develop the 3-D Fusion Camera System to shoot feature films in stereoscopic 3-D. It is used to shoot several films, including Aliens of the Deep, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and Ghosts of the Abyss. 2008

The number of airline tickets sold on the Internet exceeds the number sold through travel agents and other offline systems.

2009

All television stations in the United States begin broadcasting digital signals.

2010

James Cameron’s film Avatar, which is made almost entirely of computer-generated animation using the 3-D Fusion Camera System, breaks the record for highestgrossing film of all time. It is also the first movie ever to earn more than $2 billion worldwide.

Glossary America Online (AOL)â•… A private company providing Internet access

for a fee.

analogâ•… A signal that delivers data continuously in time and ampli-

tude; can be converted into a digital signal.

Apple Corporationâ•… A private company manufacturing digital

goods.

archiveâ•… A collection of historical records of information.

Atariâ•… A private company manufacturing digital game products.

binary systemâ•… A system that represents numeric values using only

two digits, usually zero and one.

Bose Corporationâ•… A private company manufacturing audio systems

like speakers.

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)â•… The state-owned radio and

television broadcasting organization in Great Britain.

broadbandâ•… A method of sending digital information that allows a

large amount of information to be sent in a short time.

bufferâ•… A temporary space where digital information can be stored

for a short period while the computer processes the information.

C++ languageâ•… A widely used computer programming language

used in a large range of applications.

Center for Disease Control (CDC)â•… An American government agency

that is concerned with the health and safety of people.

chat roomâ•… A type of computer program available on the Internet

that allows several people to communicate with one another in real time.

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DIGITAL RESEARCH compact disc (CD)

A storage medium for music or computer data.

A specific mathematical operation, such as an addition or subtraction, performed by a digital tool like a cell phone.

computation

A series of letters and numbers that makes up the instructions given to a computer.

computer code

A device that acts as the interface between the user and the computer, showing the texts and images produced by the computer.

computer monitor

A series of commands given to a computer, instructing the computer to perform a series of tasks.

computer program

data storage system A way to permanently save large amounts of

digital information.

A quantity, measurement, or signal represented by a series of discrete numbers; an analog signal can be converted into a digital one by sampling its value at periodic intervals.

digital

digitize The process of converting a continuous quantity, having

a numerical value at each instant, to a quantity represented by discrete numbers.

download A process of moving digital information from a central-

ized repository of data to a personal digital device like a personal computer.

electron An atomic particle having a negative charge; currents

flowing in many conductors, such as metals, consist primarily of electrons in motion.

A computer program that allows group members to send information to a centralized computer so that all group members can access the information.

electronic bulletin board

A self-regulatory American organization that calibrates entertainment products like computer games and other digital entertainment products based on suitability for different age groups.

Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)

fi ber-optic line

information.

A cable that uses pulsating light to transmit digital

Glossary

A computer program that allows a group of people to exchange digital information by placing the information on a centralized computer accessible to all group members.

forum

Game Boy The trademark of a handheld digital device used for

playing digital games.

handheld controller A portable device, like a small remote control,

that is used to control the operations of a digital device.

handheld game machine A portable digital device that is used to

play digital games.

hard drive A device that is used in digital machines to store

information.

Same as BROADBAND, a method of sending digital information that allows a large amount of information to be sent in a short time.

high-speed connection

A legal right of ownership over the creations of the mind, such as music, art, literature, and scientific ideas.

intellectual property

Describing a process in which every step of the process is dependent on the previous step, as in the case of a conversation in which each message is based on what was just said.

interactive

International Business Machine (IBM) A multinational company

that pioneered the manufacture of a computer for personal use.

The connection of numerous computers where each computer can interact with any other computer on the network.

Internet

Java A special type of computer program that has become very

popular for use with Web sites, because the programs can be interpreted by any kind of computer.

keyboard A device that has a button for every letter of an alphabet

and is used by computer users to interact with computers.

A connection between computers that are spatially close to each other, as in the case of a set of computers in a private home.

local area network (LAN)

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DIGITAL RESEARCH Magnavox An American company specializing in the manufacture

of home electronic products like televisions, radios, and DVD players.

memory A component in a digital device that is used to store

information, both for long periods of time and short periods of time while the device does computations.

A component in a digital device that contains microscopic electronic switches that are etched onto a tiny piece of silicon, making up the most important part of all digital devices.

microprocessor

Microsoft An American company that produces the Windows

operating systems used in computers worldwide.

mouse A device used with a computer to simulate the movement

of a pointer on the computer screen by moving the physical pointing device on a flat surface.

The identity of a person based on a person’s citizenship documents, such as passports.

nationality

A process that connects different digital devices with each other.

networked

A working condition where many different digital devices are connected to one another.

networked environment

Nintendo A Japanese company that manufactures and sells hand-

held computer games, devices, and digital game systems.

Nintendo DS

A more advanced version of GAME BOY.

nodal computer

of computers.

A machine that makes up the center of a network

A machine that can be used by a single individual as a personal computer to perform many different digital tasks.

personal computer (PC)

Glossary

A handheld digital device that keeps a record of contacts, appointments, tasks, and other personal information.

personal digital assistant (PDA)

The fundamental computer program, like WINDOWS, that provides the support for a large range of computer programs.

platform

A personal digital gaming device created by Sony that has the characteristics of a personal computer and also contains a built-in high-definition DVD player.

PlayStation

process A specific set of tasks that a digital device performs to

provide a specific function like large statistical calculations.

refresh The way in which the image on a COMPUTER MONI-

TOR is periodically updated to reflect changes in information sent to the computer.

A category of digital games that uses a replica of a gun or cannon to shoot at objects on the screen.

shooting games

Sony A Japanese company specializing in the manufacture of

home electronic products such as computers, televisions, radios, and DVD players. A special branch of mathematics focusing on creating estimates and trends by looking at a large amount of data about a specific phenomenon.

statistics

A form of communication that uses only letters of the alphabet.

text-based message

virtual Any system or phenomenon that only exists as a digital file

without any tangible component.

A category of publications that does not have a paper version but exists only on the Internet.

web-based magazine

The short and colloquial term for the World Wide Web computer program that uses a universal computer language to exchange different kinds of digital information among computers connected to the Internet.

Web

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106

DIGITAL RESEARCH Wii A personal digital gaming created by Nintendo that uses wire-

less, motion-controlled remotes.

Xbox A personal digital gaming device created by Microsoft that

has the characteristics of a personal computer and also contains a built-in high-definition DVD player.

Bibliography Cohen, Noam. “The Wiki-Way to the Nomination.” The New York Times, June 8, 2008. Available online. URL: http://www.nytimes. com/2008/06/08/weekinreview/08cohen.html.

Foucault, Michel. “The Subject and Power.” In Brian Wallis (ed.), Art After Modernism: Rethinking Representation. New York: David R. Godine Publisher, 1984. Lewis, Peter H. “Geeks Breathe a Sigh of Relief at the Reincarnation of Byte.” The New York Times, March 11, 1999. Available online. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/11/technology/news-watch-geeksbreathe-a-sigh-of-relief-at-the-reincarnation-of-byte.html.

Mehta, Stephanie N. “Behold the Server Farm.” Fortune, July 28, 2006. Available online. URL: http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/26/magazines/ fortune/futureoftech_serverfarm.fortune/index.htm.

Pacella, Rena Marie. “Inventor, Fifth Dimension.” Popular Science, 269(4) 56, October 2006.

“Robot Cars Rev Up for the City.” CNN.com, November 15, 2006. Available online. URL: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/11/13/ fs.robotcars/index.html.

Safire, William. “Emoticons.” The New York Times, May 25, 2008. Available online. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/ magazine/25wwln-safire-t.html?fta=y.

Young, Jeffrey R. “Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 12, 2006. Available online. URL: http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Wikipedia-FounderDiscourages/2305.

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Further Resources Books Berners-Lee, Tim. Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web. New York: HarperCollins, 2000.

Campbell-Kelly, Martin and William Aspray. Computer: A History of the Information Machine. New York: Westview Press, 2004. Gates, Bill. The Road Ahead. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Gregg, John R. Ones and Zeros: Understanding Boolean Algebra, Digital Circuits, and the Logic of Sets. New York: Wiley & Sons–IEEE, 1998.

Hafner, Katie and Matthew Lyon. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006. ———. Fans, Bloggers, and Gamers: Media Consumers in a Digital Age. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

Lessig, Lawrence. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York: Knopf, 1995.

Nye, David E. Technology Matters: Questions to Live With. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press, 2006.

Palfrey, John and Urs Gasser. Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives. New York: Basic Books, 2008.

Schneier, Bruce. Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World. New York: Wiley & Sons, 2000.

White, Ron and Tim Downs. How Computers Work, 8th ed. Indianapolis: Que Publishing, 2005. 108

Further Resources

Web Sites Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

http://www.cdc.gov A government-run Web site that has information related to effects of computer use on health. Central Intelligence Agency

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook Web site of the U.S. Government intelligence agency that provides information about digital crime all over the world. The CIA Factbook is also a good source of information about different places. Entertainment Software Association (ESA)

http://www.theesa.com U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet. Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception

http://www.exploratorium.edu An excellent web resource containing much information on the scientific explanations of everyday things. Geek.com

http://www.geek.com Resource for news and developments on all aspects of digital technology. HighDef Forum

http://www.highdefforum.com This Web-based forum offers information related to the developments in digital and high definition video.

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DIGITAL RESEARCH HowStuffWorks, Inc.

http://www.howstuffworks.com Contains a large number of articles, generally written by knowledgeable authors, explaining the science behind everything from computers to electromagnetism. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

http://www.ieee.com International organization involved in the study of computers. International Communication Association

http://www.icahdq.org The association offers Web-based resources to understand how human communication works in general and in the context of digital technologies. Interpol Cybercrime Page

http://www.interpol.int/public/TechnologyCrime/Default.asp Contains information on the efforts Interpol, an international police organization, is making to prevent digital crime in different regions. Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/index.html This excellent Web site is a resource for doing research on many different topics using digital technology. Motion Picture Association of America

http://www.mpaa.org This Web site offers information on how the different digital music and video formats have evolved and explores the current issues regarding digital video and music. Psychology Matters

http://psychologymatters.apa.org A Web site with information on the psychological aspects of computer use.

Further Resources Science Daily

http://www.sciencedaily.com Links to information on the developments in basic science research that have an impact on the development of digital technologies.

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Picture Credits Page

50: © Infobase Publishing

12: © Infobase Publishing

52: Screenshot of Google Earth. Courtesy Google

15: Courtesy Linda Backwell 17: © Evan66/Shutterstock 21: © Infobase Publishing 27: Courtesy Niagara College 28: © Infobase Publishing 31: Photo by Michael Holley. Courtesy Erik Klein 33: © Infobase Publishing 37: Courtesy Queanbeyan Printing Museum 39: Courtesy John Reaves 41: Courtesy Digibarn Computer Museum 45: © DeshaCAM/Shutterstock

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55: © Infobase Publishing 61: © Infobase Publishing 65: © Infobase Publishing 69: Courtesy Mobile Manila Philippines 75: © Infobase Publishing 80: © Yury Asotov/Shutterstock 83: © Franckreporter/ Shutterstock 88: © Peter J. Kovacs/ Shutterstock 90: © Infobase Publishing 92: © 2Happy/Shutterstock

Index Page numbers in italics indicate illustrations or diagrams.

A

accountancy, 16 Adobe Photoshop, 27 Al Jazeera English, 45 algorithms, 84 Allen, Paul, 30 Altair 8800 (microcomputer), 31 American Association for the Advancement of Science, 39 analog world analog to binary, 78–79 digital representations and, 26 step-by step processes and, 24 AND/OR conditions, 70, 79 Apple Inc., 34, 63, 73 innovation and, 87 Macintosh computers, 82 applied research. See also strategic research basic research and, 16–20 Archie servers, 58 Artcyclopedia, 54 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), 89–90 audience, 47–48

B

Babbage, Charles, 26–27 Bardeen, John, 17–18

basic research application of, 81–86 applied research and, 16–20 future need for, 92 journals for, 43 new technologies and, 62–63 strategic research and, 65 Bell Laboratories, 17 “beta” programs/systems, 32, 74 binary number system, binary to decimal conversion, 12 computations and, 29–30 development of, 25, 26 digital world and, 11–12, 27 logical systems and, 69 mathematicians and, 78–79 BioMed Central, 54 bit and byte, 19 BlackBerry, 28. See also cell phones Braun, Karl Ferdinand, 79–80 Brin, Sergey, 59 British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 45, 46 broadcast media, 44–46 affiliates, 46 editorial staff for, 44

global networks, 45–46 print media and, 45, 48 Byte, 40–41, 41

C

Cable News Network (CNN), 45, 46, 51 on computer-aided car, 13, 16 reliability of information on, 60 Cain, Kate, 18 Carnegie Mellon University, 90 cell phones, 68, 70 advanced functions of, 71–72 benefits/burdens of, 20 built-in cameras, 77 as convergent tools, 28 early adopters, 32 implementing technology, 76–77 portability of, 82 Channel News Asia, 45 charge-coupled device (CCD), 69, 72, 82 Chronicle of Higher Education, The, 57 Click (technology program), 46 cloud computing, 75 CMP Media, 40 collaboration, 31

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DIGITAL RESEARCH communication accountancy and, 16 computer-mediated, 89 enhancement of, 72 study of, 35 compact disc (CD), 48 computer hardware, 68, 81 computer programs/ programming, 83–86 C programming language, 83 C++ programming language, 84 digital tools and, 68 “higher level” programmers, 85 instructions and, 30 living organisms and, 92 logical systems/ algorithms, 84 media center and, 29 vocabulary and, 19 computer scientists, 40 computer-aided car, 13, 16 computers. See also personal computers availability of, 88 early models, 26–27 convergence classification and, 73 degree of, 29 iPhone example of, 69 process of, 28 crossover between applications, 23, 25, 26 crowdsourcing, 43 Cultivating the Web, 21 cultural trends, 44 Culture of Technology, The (Pacey), 71

D

data, updating of, 53–58 data processing software, 21 data storage systems. See also cloud computing

data-storage systems, 49 decision trees, 13 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 13 developing countries, 74, 91 Difference Engine No. 2, 26–27, 2 digital calculator, 14 digital camera, 26 benefits/burdens of, 20 charge-coupled device in, 69 components of, 82–83 still camera/video camera, 72 vocabulary and, 19 digital data conversion of, 83 updating of, 53–58 Digital History, 54 digital library catalogs, 55 digital media player, 73 digital music players, 19, 73. See also iPhone digital photography, 19 digital picture, 52–53 Digital Planet (radio program), 46 digital research. See applied research; basic research; strategic research digital rights, 90 digital systems applications suited for, 16 binary systems and, 25, 27 digitization, 48–49 interactivity and, 49 role of, 89–91 for specific applications, 20–23 digital tape recorder, 34 digital tools defining a tool, 14–15 problem correction using, 70–71 digital video fi les, 86

digital video recorder (DVR), 29 digitization, 48–49 Discover, 42 Discovery Channel, 46 Doha, Qatar, 45 double-blind review, 62 downloading music, 77

E

early adopters, 32–33, 33 early computers, 26–27 Eat Well Guide, 21 e-commerce, 66 Editor & Publisher, 51 electrical/electronics engineers, 81–82 electricity electrons, semiconductors and, 79–80 in poorer nations, 74 as ubiquitous technology, 33 Electronic Frontier Foundation, 90 e-mail, 27, 72 connections and, 25 virtual communities and, 22 Emtage, Alan, 58 engineers types of, 81–82 vocabulary and, 19 Excel, 85–86, 87

F

Facebook, 22, 72 field trials, 67 focus groups, 67 Fortune, 49 Fourier, Jean Baptiste Joseph, 16, 17 Fourier Series, 16–17 free-market system, 34 freeware, 84, 86–87. See also Linux

Index FTP (fi le transfer protocol), 58 fundamental research. See basic research future, digital technologies and, 91–93

G

Gates, Bill, 30 Gerbner, George, 35 Global positioning systems (GPS), 21 Google, 70 Google Earth, 52, 53 Google search, 59 graphics editing program, 27 Green, Wayne, 40 Gutenberg, Johannes, 36

H

hardware components, 82 Harvard University, 89 hierarchy of needs, 20–23, 21 first level, 20–21 second level, 22 third level, 22 fourth level, 22–23 fifth level, 23 History Channel, 46 Horton, Sarah, 66 How It’s Made, 46 HTML content, 83 modification of, 54 Web browsers and, 49–50 hyper-linear reading, 50–51 hypertext markup language. See HTML content

I

implementation of technology, 76–77 India, 91–92 INFOMINE, 54

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information dynamic sources of, 48–53 misinformation and, 60 reliability of, 59–62 Web-based, 60–61 Information Week, 42 instant messaging, 72, 89 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 42–43 interconnected developments, 29–35 crossover between applications, 23 technology adaptation/ diff usion, 32–33 interdisciplinary research, 90 International Code on Market and Social Research, 67 International Communication Association, 38 Internet, 62–63. See also Web sites clogging connections to, 77 computer programs on, 68 hyper-linear reading on, 50–51 information updates on, 51 interactivity and, 49 open source software and, 88 popularity of, 87–88 reliability of information on, 59–62 search engines for, 58–59 tools connecting to, 34 Internet Public Library, 54–55 Internet-based phone book, 54 Internet-based user groups, 68 Intute, 55

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iPhone, 63, 69 classification and, 73 introduction of, 34 iPhone2, 69 iPod, 19, 68

J

Journal of Communication, 38 journals. See magazines

K

Kearney, Matt, 46 Keio University, 92 keywords/key terms, 48–49, 57 Kiesler, Sara, 90

L

language industry-specific, 18–19 instant messaging and, 89 technical language, 42 laptop computers, 77 Leibniz, Gottfried, 11, 17 Lewis, Peter H., 40 LexisNexis, 56 Library of Congress, 54 library research, 54–56 Lieberman, Jeff, 46 Linux, 87, 88 logic system AND/OR conditions, 70, 79 binary system and, 69 mathematicians and, 79

M

Macintosh computers, 82 macros, 86 magazines, 36–44 archive for, 56 multitude of, 39 technology magazines, 42–44

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DIGITAL RESEARCH market research methods, 67 Maslow, Abraham, 20–23 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 74 mathematical operations, 12–13, 70 accountancy and, 16 binary systems and, 25, 78–79 computer interpretation of, 30 logical processes and, 79 McGill University, 58 media, 36–46 broadcast media, 44–46 magazines, 36–44 Mehta, Stephanie N., 49 Michigan State University, 89 Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), 30 microprocessor (or chip) computer programmers and, 84 flow of current and, 30 semiconductor material and, 81, 82 Microsoft, 30, 73. See also Windows innovation and, 87 Linux and, 87, 88 Microsoft Excel, 85–86, 87 Microsoft Word, 86 mobile phone. See cell phones Modern Marvels, 46 movable type, 37 Mozilla software, 50 MP3 fi le, 34, 35 Myhrvold, Nathan, 26

N

National Geographic, 38 Negroponte, Nicholas, 74 Netscape Communications, 59

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New Media & Society, 43 new technologies, 62–63 classification of, 71–73 evaluating, 73–76 implementation of, 76–77 society and, 75 New York Times, 56, 89 newspapers archive for, 56 editorial staff for, 38 online newspapers, 50 Nexis, 56 Nierstrasz, Oscar, 58 nonlinearity, 25

O

Oakhill, Jane, 18 Obama, Barack, 56 observation, market research and, 67 Ohashi, Yoshiaki, 92 online newspapers, 50, 51 online research sites, 54–58 open source software, 87–88 “OR” condition, 79 organizations, technology and, 76–77 Orzack, Maressa Hecht, 89 overlapping, 25

P

Pacey, Arnold, 71 Page, Larry, 59 Page Rank algorithm, 59 PC Gamer, 42 Perl scripts, 58 Perseus Digital Library, 55–56 personal computers. See also computers codes/macros for, 86 laptop computers, 77 personal digital assistant and, 72 programs for, 85 Personal Computing, 38, 42

personal digital assistants (PDAs), 28–29, 72, 73 personal digital music players, 82 personal interviews, 67 phone. See cell phones pocket radio, 17 print media broadcast media and, 45, 48 digital media and, 51 disadvantage of, 44 editorial staff for, 38 moderated sources and, 60 passive audience for, 47–48 printing press, 36–38, 37 programs. See computer programs/programming publicly-edited Web sites, 56–58 pure research. See basic research

Q

query tools, 48–49

R

radical transparency, 43 radio networks, 45–46 radio waves, semiconductors and, 80 reading, hyper-linear, 51 Red Herring, 42 reliability of information, 59–62 authenticity of information, 62 authorship and, 59–61 moderation and, 61–62 perceptions of, Internet, 61 ReplayTV, 29 research, 90. See applied research; basic research; strategic research Rogers, Edward, 32

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Index S

Safire, William, 89 satellite imagery, 52 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), 18 Science, 39, 61 scientists, 35, 40, 81. See also applied research; basic research; strategic research search engines, 58–59 self-actualization, 21, 23 self-esteem, 22–23 semiconductors, 79–80, 81, 82 server farms, 49 silicon, 18, 79 silicon-based digital system, 92 silicon-based semiconductor, 80 Singapore, 45 social scientists, 35 social-networking Web sites, 72 social-scientific research, 35 society cultural trends in, 44 technology’s role in, 75 tool classification and, 72 software. See also computer programs/programming freeware, 86–87 open source, 87–88 specific applications, digital systems for, 20–23 strategic research, 66–67. See also applied research subscription services, research and, 56 surveys, 67

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T

Tech Watch, 46 technology adaptation/ diff usion, 32–33, 33 technology implementation, 76–77 technology magazines, 42–44 “technology practice,” 71–72 television networks, 45–46 Time Warp, 46 Times (London), 36–37 TiVo, 15, 29 Tokyo, Japan, 92 tools defining a tool, 14–15 quality of life and, 74 for Stone Age hunting, 15 Torvalds, Linus, 87 trade secrets, 87 transistor, 17, 18 translational research, 65, 67 Turner, Ted, 45

U

user groups, Internet-based, 68

V

video camera, 69. See also digital camera video clips, 68 virtual communities, 22 virtual digital systems, 68 voice-activated cars, 75

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W

W3Catalog, 58 Wake Forest University, 77 Wales, Jimmy, 57 Walther, Joseph, 89 Web browser program, 50 Web designer, 66 Web search, 49 Web sites. See also Internet building of, 25 as data portal, 53 maintenance of, 49, 54 moderation of, 60–62 Web browsers and, 50 Web designer for, 66 Web-based campaign tool, 56 WebCrawler, 58 Wiki sites, 56–58, 59 Wikipedia, 57 Windows Linux alternative to, 87, 88 operating system, 68 search program for, 49 Windows Media Center programs, 29 Wired, 43 Word, 86

Y

Yahoo!, 49, 59, 70 Year 2000 problem (Y2K), 91–92

Z

Zen, 73

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About the Author Ananda Mitra, Ph.D. is the chair of the Department of Communication at Wake Forest University. He teaches courses on technology, popular culture, issues related to South Asia, and research methods. He has been a technology commentator for regional, national, and international media, such as Time magazine. Mitra has published articles in leading communications journals as well as two books.

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