SINTRODUCTION now days may soon be a thing of the past as students in the future might not have to actually go to school Instead they’ll be able to send a hologram Through a few tricks of light they can be anywhere at any time or at least look as though they are If they want to be there in person but are running late that won’t be a problem either Global Positioning System GPS devices in their shoes could automatically call their friends cell phones If students need to research a project they can tell their computer which will handle much of the work automatically With compact phones that will fit in their pockets yet contain the power of several of today’s computers they’ll be able to communicate with their family and friends and even their homes at any time Such a scenario has not happened yet but the research to make it a reality is underway Scientists are working to make computers faster and smaller and investigating how to transfer human intelligence to machines They are developing tiny materials that could mean big changes in how communications devices are built and operated Meanwhile companies and governments are figuring out how to spread this technology around the world What kinds of communication will people want New technologies sometimes create as many problems as they solve Always being available could be convenient but it could also be intrusive In the future staying in touch won’t be the problem staying out of it will be 4
Cell phone communication is likely to soon offer the option of holographic images above as computer parts continue to shrink in size yet grow in power
uring the American Civil War 1861 65 United States presi dent Abraham Lincoln did not wait for important telephone calls to update him on battles as the telephone had not been invented yet However he did set up a cot in an office with a telegraph the most advanced form of communications technology at the time Lincoln’s secretaries wrote that his thoughts by day and anxiety by night fed upon the intelligence information which the telegraph brought Whether it is working playing or waging war the things people do depend on how and how well we can communicate For cen turies the primary way for humans to communicate was through spoken words Then around 6500 B C people began using written symbols During a period called the Bronze Age the cultures of the ancient Sumerians and Egyptians developed complex alphabets and writing systems Writing represented an advance because the receiver did not have to be present at the exact moment the mes sage was being created Also it could be spread to multiple people Today people like real-time communication But thousands of years ago they just wanted a pen The first books and documents were written by hand Only a few people knew how to write and the process was long and laborious Then in the 1400s a German printer named Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press that used movable type Instead of having to write each document separately a person could simply move the type into place smear it with ink and press D C H A P T E R O N E C HAPTER O N E 1 MAKING A CONNECTION 6
The printing press of Johannes Gutenberg above ushered in a new era of mass communication and the telegraph top revolutionized long distance communication
