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INTRODUCTION
Our presentation will begin with an overview of the Internet, given by computer assisted reporting expert, Dr. John Ullmann. Dr. Ullmann, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and visiting professor here at the University of Florida will expound upon the virtues of the Internet as it applies to the American reporter working in foreign countries. He makes no apologies for his technologically optimistic viewpoint toward the Internet and its viability as a resource for reporters. Included in his explanation of Internet benefits, are the untold virtues of spreadsheets and databases. These tools provide a speed for conducting research that was unheard of for journalists in the past. They also allow freer access to original in documents. For example, instead of accessing a sample of records, it is possible to access all of the records on a particular subject in a particular area (i.e. driver’s licenses, voter registrations). Though this technology may not be viewed as beneficial by other cultures that operate under different press concepts (at least not to the extent that Americans do), to the Western reporter, the Internet and other computer assisted reporting tools are indispensable resources that will lead journalism into the twenty-first century.
Once again, our presentation will be on PowerPoint and will consist of slides that highlight the points of our discussion. The order of the speakers is as follows:
1. David- David will examine the history of satellite technology, new satellite technology, and the effect satellite television has had in India and Indonesia. David’s part of the presentation will start with a quote from the Commission of European Communities. This quote will display their view of the significance of satellite technology in economics of the future. Next he will discuss the early years of satellite technology and current trends and realities in satellite technology. The early years will look at the development and launch of the SCORE, Telstar, and early Intelsat satellite systems. Then he’ll discuss the three types of satellites orbiting the earth today: low earth orbit (LEO), medium earth orbit (MEO), and geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems. Low earth orbit satellites seem to be the wave of the future. David will look at three of these systems: Iridium, Globalstar, and Teledesic. The companies launching these systems claim they will deliver telephone and Internet service to every section of the earth. Geosynchronous satellites are the traditional large satellites such as Intelsat and Inmarsat. He will also look at some of the issues surrounding these satellites and their use of the geostationary orbit and electromagnetic spectrum. Finally, David will look at the introduction of satellite television in Indonesia and India. He will also discuss the issue of who benefits from the introduction of satellite television into societies. This portion will look at issues of television, advertising, and development programs.
2. Don – Don will discuss computers and their impact on the global society. This particular topic has a potential to be overwhelming so to combat this Don will give a brief discussion on the history of computers and then discuss how computers affect developing countries. Also he will talk about where some experts consider the future of computer and information technology.
3. Dana - Lastly, Dana will explore the future of technology as it applies to communications. Because David, Don, and to some extent Dr. Ullmann, will have already touched upon the futures of satellites and computers, she will begin her discussion on the topic of fiber optic technology. This includes all new transmission and information storage systems that employ light to relay and store information. She will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of technology as well as its applications in Western and Non-Western societies. She will then speak briefly about optical disc technology, which includes the audio compact disc we are all familiar with, as well as CD-ROMs. This serves as an example of the integration of media, and has very important applications in the field of journalism. Since a single CD-ROM can hold an incredible amount of information, it is a valuable research tool for reporters and editors. Looking further into the future, High-Definition Television (HDTV) is on the horizon. HDTV is a system designed to create, transmit and reproduce images that appear to match the quality of the images produced by 35mm film. Electronic still photography (though it still has quite a way to go) is slowly edging its way into mass use, and has very definite implications in the quality of journalism, particularly via the Internet.
Americans, who share a general love of technology, are urging for these and more innovations to become available to the public. It remains to be seen if those innovations that are already available will remain, or will be edged out by ‘the next best thing”. The people of developing countries face many important issues when dealing with technology. What will the communication revolution do for, or to, these developing countries? Will [the influx of new technologies] foster communication abundance, strengthen existing technologies, or enhance neocolonial (dependency) forces (Hanson, 1990, p. 1)? Dana will explore some of these issues as they apply to certain Latin American countries as well as certain Arab nations. These issues have by no means been seen to the end, but Dana will cover some of the theories about what the future holds for Western and “developing” societies in the coming Communication Age.
Glossary of Technological Terms
Active Satellite: A satellite equipped to receive signals and to relay its own signal back to earth.
Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS): A NASA satellite designed to carry a number of experimental systems that enhance the satellite’s communication capabilities. ACTS is, in a sense, a prototype of the future commercial satellite communications fleet.
Analog signal: A continuously variable and varying signal. The communications devices and systems we are the most familiar with, such as video cameras and radio stations, both produce and process analog signal.
Bandwidth: a communications channel’s bandwidth, its capacity, dictates the range of frequencies and, to all intents and purposes, the categories and volume of information the channel can accommodate in a given time period. As a channel’s bandwidth capacity increases, so too does its capacity to relay a greater volume of information in a given time period. The term bandwidth is also applied to the communications signals themselves.
Binary Digit (Bit): A bit is the smallest piece of information in a digital system and has a value of either “0” or “1”. Bits are also combined in our communications systems to create codes to represent specific information values. For example, depending upon the communication system, a combination of eight ones (11111111) could be equivalent to and could be representative of the color white.
C-band: A satellite communications frequency band and a name given to satellites that use this band for communication purposes. Commercial C-band satellites and the older and more established of the contemporary communications satellite fleet.
Channel: A communications line; the path or route by which information is relayed.
Communications Satellite Corporation (Comsat): The United States’ representative to Intelsat.
Communications System: provides the means by which information, coded in signal form, can be transmitted or exchanged.
Digital signal: Unlike its analog counterpart, a digital signal is not a continuously variable and varying signal. It only assumes a finite number of discrete values, and bits, in 1s and 0s, represent digital information.
Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS): satellites the deliver a very powerful signal, typically movies and a selection of television and cable offerings to individuals that subscribe to a DBS company.
Electromagnetic pulse: a by-product of a nuclear explosion; a brief but intense burst of electromagnetic energy that can disrupt and destroy integrated circuits and related components
Frequency: The number of waves that pass a given point in a second. The frequency of a signal is expressed in cycles per second, and more commonly, in Hertz.
Fiber Optic Line: A highly pure, hair-thin glass fiber that is used as a conduit, a fiber optic line, to relay a wide range of information. This information, which is in the form of light, includes computer data, voice, and video images. A fiber optic line is a superior communications system in terms of its channel capacity and its signal quality.
Footprint: The shape of a satellite’s transmission in regard to the reception area on the earth. One footprint may cover the entire United States, as may be the case with a satellite distributing television programming for cable companies, while another footprint may be concentrated in a very narrow area measuring less than 150 miles in diameter. The last category of satellite footprint is called a spot beam.
Geostationary orbit: the most desirable orbital position or slot for a communications satellite. When a satellite is placed in such an orbit, which is at an altitude of 22,300 miles above the earth’s equator, the satellite’s motion is synchronized with the earth’s rotation. The satellite appears, at least to a ground observer, to be stationary in the sky.
HCI Human-Computer Interaction: The study of the relationship between humans and computers and how the relationship can produce a synergy that will benefit humans by improving computers to do more.
High-Definition Television (HDTV): The HDTV field is concerned with the development of a new and improved television standard. HDTV picture will appear, at least to a viewer watching a screen, to be equal in quality to 35-mm film.
Information: (in technological terms) can be defined as a collection of symbols, which when combined, communicates a message or intelligence.
Information Technology (IT): The use of computers and telecommunications to create, manipulate, and distribute enlightenment and entertainment.
Information society: a society that has shifted from a heavy, industrial base to one that is driven by the production, manipulation, and exchange of information. IN this setting, information can be viewed as a social, economic, and a political force.
International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat):
The world’s first, and still the largest, international satellite consortium.
Intelsat supports a broad range of international satellite services, and
through the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat) satellite-based
communication is extended to ships at sea, oil drilling platforms and even
remote sites on land.
K- band: A satellite communication band that recently has been
adopted in comparison with the lower frequency C-band. Ku-band satellites,
for example, which can generate a more powerful downlink than their C-band
counterparts, operate within the K-band.
Mediasat: A proposed remote sensing satellite designed to take high-resolution images of the earth for news applications.
Modulation: The process by which information is impressed upon a high frequency carrier signal for relay purposes.
Optical Disc: The umbrella term for optical storage systems. A beam of light produced by a laser diode is used to retrieve the information from the discs. The discs are also, for the most part, non-erasable and sold with prerecorded digital information. The discs are very durable, flexible in terms of the types of information that can be accommodated, and can be accommodated, and can store an immense volume of information.
Orbital spacing: Satellites are positioned in the orbital arc above the earth. Buffer zones physically separate the satellites to help eliminate any potential interference problems that may develop between adjacent satellites during uplinks and downlinks. This distance has been reduced, however, to open up additional slots to accommodate the growing satellite fleet.
Picture element (Pixel): A segment of a scan line, the smallest component of a video image or display. A pixel can be individually accessed or addressed, and consequently, manipulated by a computer.
Passive Satellite: A satellite that does not carry the necessary equipment to relay its own signal back to earth. This class of satellite include the Echo series, huge aluminized mylar balloons that acted as reflector. Signals relayed to an Echo bounced off the satellite and returned to a different location on the earth.
Random Access Memory (RAM): A computer’s working memory. The RAM, which is expressed in kilobytes or K, is used by the computer to load and run a program as well as to manipulate and store information. The RAM is a temporary storage system in that once the computer is turned off, the information, with the exception of a special form of RAM used by some laptop computers is lost or disappears.
Remote Sensing: the process by which a satellite scans and explores the earth. Through a variety of instruments, including special cameras, images of the earth are produced that can highlight its physical characteristics. These may include monitoring physical changes that take place over a period of time, such as the loss of wetland acreage.
Satellite Newsgathering (SNG): The term that describes the use of small, transportable satellite dishes to directly relay news stories back to the home television station, via satellite, from almost anywhere in the field.
Scrambling: The technical process by which a satellite’s signal is rendered unintelligible. The receiving site is equipped with a special decoder to return the signal to its original state.
Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA): A satellite transmission method. A TDMA relay is particularly efficient since it enables a number of earth stations to share the same satellite transponder. It is also a dynamic system since it can be modified to comply with the variable traffic demands of the different earth station in the network. Thus, if a station’s traffic increases for a given time period, the additional information could be accommodated.
Transponder: the heart of a satellite’s communications system. the transponder acts like a repeater in the sky. It receives it receives a transmission and then amplifies the signal, changes its frequency, and transmits a signal back to earth. The number of transponders carried by a given satellite is dependent upon different variables, including the strength of the satellite’s power, its weight, and the application for which it is designed.
Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT): a small satellite dish and the complementary electronic components.
Alfian, Goodwin C. Chu; and Schramm, Wilbur (1991). Social
Impact of Satellite
Television in Rural Development. Singapore: Asian Mass Communications.
This book served as a counterpoint to the argument developed in the
Pendakur article.
Commission of the European Communities (1997). “EU Action Plan: Satellite
Communications in the Information Society.” Brussels.
David used a quote from this study to illustrate the Commissions view of the importance of satellite technology in economic development.
Dizard, Wilson P. (1985) The Coming Information Age. New York: Longman.
This provided information on proposed future implications of communication development in the U.S. and abroad.
Giget, Marc (1994). “Economics of Satellite Communications in
the Context of
Intermodal Competition. Telecommunications Policy, v.18, n.6,
pp. 478-492.
This was used to question the economic impact of satellite technology. This article shows that the impact may not be that great.
Goslee, Susan. (1998). Defining the Technology Gap.[Online] Available:
http://www.benton.org/Library/Low-Income/one.html. [1998, November
28].
This cite provided information on the disparity of technology that exist
within the U.S., a developed country, and help to draw comparisons to that
of developing countries.
Goeller, Thomas G. (Summer 1995). Ethics and technology in developing
nations.
Business and Society Review. n.94, pp.40-41.
This article deals with the availability of information technology (IT) to developing nations and the protection of it. This information would include things such as personal information and even national security issues for these nations.
Hanson, Jarice and Uma Narula eds. (1990). New Communication Technologies in Developing Countries. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
This was used to explore the pros and cons of exporting technology to developing nations. This text provided case study information in the ASEAN and Pacific communities and in Latin America.
Hudson, Heather E. (1990). Communication Satellites. New York: The Free Press.
Provided background and information on satellites.
Irving, Larry (1998). Trends in Universe Service and Access. [Online]
Available:
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/presentation/index.html.
[1998,
November 28].
This cite was instrumental in establishing the notion of a “digital gap” between different segments of U.S. society.
Jussawalla, Meheroo and Tehranian, John (1993). “The Economics of Delayed
Access”. Telecommunications Policy, Sept-Oct 1993,v 17, n7, pp.517-529.
This article displayed some of the problems in allocation of the geosynchronous orbit.
Lacanette, Kerry. (1998). Analog alive and well but gets digital boost.
(New uses in
information appliances and consumer electronic devices) (Technology
Information). Electronic News. March 2, 1998. v.44, n.2208, pp.37.
This article provided a recent look at the future of analog in the growing
digitized world.
Logsdon, John M. (1998). Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents
in the History of
the U.S. Civil Space Program. Washington, DC: NASA History Division.
This provided the early history of the space program in the United States.
MacGregor, Brent (1997). Live, Direct and Biased? Making Television
News in the
Satellite Age. New York: St. Martin Press.
Maps from this book to show the coverage of news by global satellite news operations.
Major, Michael (1998). “The Explosive Growth of Satellite Communications”.
Mobile
Radio Technology, ISSN: 0745-7672.
This story supplied part of the information on low earth orbit satellite
technology.
Martin, James, & Adrian R.D. Norman. (1970.) The Computerized Society.
New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
This book, though a bit dated, was instrumental in providing a history
of computers and their uses in the Western world circa 1970. The statement
on the future were interesting and often times correct, for example, they
authors predicted the ability of networking computers and sharing of accessed
information in fractions of a second.
Melkote, Srinivas R.; Shields, Peter; and Agrawal, Binod C. (1998).
International
Satellite Broadcasting In South Asia. Lanham MD: University
Press of America.
Used this to show the economic impact of Satellite technology and development programs.
Mirabito, Michael M. and Barbara L. Morgenstern (1990). The New Communications Technologies, Boston: Focal Press.
This was used as a starting point in exploring future communications technologies such as electronic still photography, optic discs, and HDTV. It also provided the information for the technology glossary of terms.
Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. (1988) Beyond Computopia. London: Kegan Paul International.
This provided information about a Japanese perspective of the “Information Age”. It provided a developed country’s take on technology that was not Western in origin.
Naylor, Larry L. (1998). American Culture: Myth and Reality of a Culture of Diversity. Westport, Connecticut: Bergin and Garvey.
This provided information on American attitudes toward technology and the cultural roots of these attitudes. This information served as a springboard to dealing with development issues in Third World countries.
Nielson, Jakob. (Eds). (1995). Advances In Human-Computer Interaction.
New Jersey:
Ablex Publishing Company.
This book was vital in establishing the trends, advancement, and survey
of the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which is growing at a
faster rate than the literature can maintain.
“No Hiding, 1998”. (1998, September. 19). No hiding place. (Effect
of Year 2000
computer problem on developing countries). The Economist. v.347, n.8909,
pp.S14.
This article discusses the fact that the “Millennium Bug” affects not
only developed and industrialized countries but developing ones as well,
if not more so because of the dependence and reliance on older technology.
Pendakur, Manjunath (1991). A Political Economy of Television: State,
Class, and
Corporate Confluence in India. Transnational Communications: Wiring
the
Third World. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Used this article to show the impact of satellite television on Indian development.
Poppel, Harvey L. & Bernard Goldstein (1987.) Infromation Technology
( The Trillion-
Dollar Opportunity). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
This book was good in that it provided a more detailed look at the “Information Age” and how this relates to the now present “ Communication Age”.
Rifkin, Glenn, & George Harrar. (1988.) The Ultimate Entrepreneur.
Chicago:
Contemporary Books.
This book provided an insight on Ken Olsen, of Digital Equipment Corporation, and how he saw the future of computers and technology.
Shah, Rawn (1998). “Satellite data communications: Space race is on”.
Web Publishing
Inc. SunWorld.
This story supplied part of the information on low earth orbit satellite technology.
Stevenson, Robert L. (1994). “Technology of Communication.” Global Communication
in
the Twenty-First Century. (pp. 317-337.) New York: Longman Publishing
Group.
The required text that provided the foundation for the presentation.
Vizard, Frank (1998). “Space Calls”. Popular Science, v.253, n. 4, pp. 94-97.
This story supplied part of the information on low earth orbit satellite technology.
von Hoffman, Nicholas (December, 1998). “Turning on to E-Books: A New
Chapter in
The Written Word”. Architectural Digest, pp.144-151.
This article provided additional insight on the future and applications of computers in the area of electronic books.
www.geom.umn.edu/worfolk/savi.constellations.html
This site provided David with satellite pictures.