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Selections from Calcote, Michelle, Gourley, Christy and Orlando Sanchez  
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Calcote, Michelle 

 In Stevenson’s chapter on communication technologies, the author focuses on digitization, satellite communication and other advances such as miniaturization. Although this information is useful, a more thorough analysis of the Internet seems appropriate given the technology’s huge impact on the communications industry and other industries across the globe. 

The Internet is a form of network of networks. It consists of public, semipublic and private networks, laying the foundation of the “information superhighway” (Sinha and Stone, 1995, p. 267). The Internet links computers across national boundaries and is neither owned nor controlled by any one organization. The Internet’s main users such as universities, national labs, high-tech corporations and national governments pay for the network which is experiencing financial and logistical pressures (Sinha and Stone, p. 268). During 1992 and 1993, the Internet was estimated as growing at a rate of 15 percent to 25 percent a month, and the growth rate is accelerating (Ibid). 

One major issue concerning the Internet and its rapid growth is copyright matters. Because of the technological advances making inexpensive copying widely available in the 1980s, copyright laws became more strictly enforced, making it illegal to copy a book without the publisher’s permission. From this change followed the creation of the law of intellectual property, which placed the value of the information not in the physical properties of a work, but instead in the information it contained. How to handle intellectual property is one of the key issues of the Internet today (p. 268). Globally, the issue has become how to make information universally accessible to all while protecting authors’ rights. A theorist, Theodor Holm Nelson, believed that a worldwide system could be created that would be cheap enough that anyone could afford to pay for information, and authors would be able to make a comfortable living. It took Nelson more than 30 years to design such a system, and by that time the face of the Internet had changed so dramatically the system was infeasible. 

During the Reagan and Bush administration, the government quietly sold databases with information such as court decisions and committee proceedings to private corporations. These databases had formerly been free to the public and now are available only on a pay-per-access basis, sold by corporations. Even the government now pays to access this information (p. 269). These issues have implications for the Internet, an inherently global medium. As the Internet crosses national boundaries, political systems and cultures, issues such as intellectual property ownership, cultural imperialism and information imbalances arise. 

 Dizard (1997) found that Internet users constitute only 1 percent of the world’s population, and that percentage is heavily concentrated in North America (p. 145). Another global implication of the Internet is that almost all of its information is in English, while less than 15 percent of the world’s population claim the language as their own. Dizard quoted a South Korean computer expert as saying: “It’s not only English you have to understand, but American culture, even slang. All in all, there are many people who just give up” (p. 145). But, language-translation technologies are emerging as a possible future commodity. 

Therefore, although the United States has led the way in technological advances that may aid other countries, the increased advantage the technological savvy provides the United States may hinder other countries’ technological advancement and information capabilities. And, the technological advances occurring throughout communications technologies are affecting the Internet and the future possibilities of the medium. Early (1997) found that a panel of experts at the Harvard conference on “The Internet and Society” discussed plans for increasing the bandwidth of the Internet so the network will handle larger capacities of information faster and in real time (p. 75). And although businesses are increasingly demanding real-time connections, issues such as cost and security must be addressed, according to Early (p. 75). All the panel members agreed that although they were unsure of how the costs of this multibillion-dollar superhighway with increased bandwidth would be passed on, they were sure that the costs would be passed on to Internet users (Ibid). Possible methods of payment suggested included monthly meter and bill methods currently used by utility companies and an “as-yet-undefined flat fee billing scenario” that would not be based on connection time (Ibid). 

 These new developments in the Internet’s technology have global implications. With the push to “wire” the world, including Third World countries, increased costs and legal implications can mean further complications to less developed countries in the race to occupy cyberspace. 

References: 

Dizard, W. (1997). Meganet: How the Global Communications Network will Connect Everyone on Earth. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

Early, A. (1997). “Driving Faster on the Information Highway.” In O’Reilly & Associates (Eds.), The Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society (pp. 75 – 76). Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. 

Sinha, N., & Stone, A.R. (1995). “Computers and Communication.” In J. Downing, A. Mohammadi, & A. Sreberny-Mohammadi (Eds.), Questioning the Media: A Critical Introduction (pp. 255 – 276). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. 

Stevenson, R. (1994). “Technology of Communication.” Global Communication in the Twenty-First Century. (pp. 317 – 341). White Plains, NY: Longman Publishing Group. 

Gourley, Christy 

  Robert L. Stevenson's chapter titled Technology of Communication gave an overview of where communication has come from and where it is going.  He attributes the major advances in communication technology  to three major innovations: communications satellites, computers and digitization. 
(Stevenson, 317)   As he stated, most people are at least vaguely familiar with the first two even if they don't know it. 

There have been so  many inventions and developments since this book was published that prove his point on the rapid pace of technological 
advancements in the communications field. Some of the technological advancements he described as new and improved such as the suitcase phone, 
have already become  rather obsolete. He also mentioned "Dick Tracy style wrist watches,"  and those are now available.  (Stevenson, 334).  But the 
casual mention of the "smart on board systems" made me think about an article I read and the class discussion regarding the location of a terrorist in the Middle East.  I remember that  a classmate said that the US government and/or military have knowledge of the exact location of a single man, due to satellite technology, and my question is, if they can know his position, unwillingly on his part I assume, what about the new gadgets in cars that tell you exactly where you are and how to get where you want to go? Who gets all that information? 

I think that the section on the future of technology in regard to digitization lacked a broad view of the possible implications of some of these technologies.  His statements regarding possible "smart onboard 
systems"  made me think that he didn't think about many other possible repercussions of such technology. (Stevenson, 336). This past spring I 
talked with one of my professors about an article  I read on this subject,n the Washington Post, but I couldn't locate it for this assignment. The 
main thesis of the article was that technology like in these computers in your car that tell you where to go, the fastest route, and where there is construction and traffic are nice, but most people don't think about how 
exactly that information is getting to them, and who else could be receiving your signals.  It is all based on satellites, which, as Stevenson noted, are allocated out to countries and corporations. It just seems odd 
to me that people are so eager to embrace new technology, that has such acapacity to invade our daily lives. 

When one goes to buy one of those cars that has a computer in it, they are not told that now, wherever they go, somewhere, someone knows exactly where 
they are. While the recent technologies make our lives easier, I just wonder if it is too much too fast. I for one would not want my exact whereabouts broadcast down from space, where it could be intercepted by 
anyone with the ability to do so. 

Refernces: 
Stevenson, Robert L.   Global Communication in the Twenty - First  Century. 
 (1994). Longmann Publishing Group: White Plains. Technology of Communication. (p. 317-341). 

www.washingtonpost.com 

In Chapter 13, "Technology of Communication," Stevenson summarizes the technical and practical aspects of the "third revolution" in communication technology.  Unlike the two previous revolutions (the invention of writing and the development of the printing press), the "establishment of a global communication system built on computers, satellites, and digitization of text, sound, and pictures" (319) has immediate worldwide relevance and repercussions.  Just like this new system speeds up the flow of information, benefits and costs associated with it are also distributed and levied at ever-increasing rates. 

Unfortunately, as Stevenson himself point out, these benefits and costs are not distributed evenly though the globe -- communication resources, technological and otherwise, are centered in the industrialized Western nations of Europe and the United States.  Third World countries, as the protests contained within the NWICO show, are often marginalized from this process.  As the dedication to Transnational Communications: Wiring the Third World states, "the humble folk [are] not invited to the 'communication revolution.' " 

This socio-political aspect global communication technology is briefly mentioned by Stevenson (the international debate on the issue is too large and controversial to avoid mentioning in any work claiming any sort of scholarly credibility) yet, as has been the trend throughout his work, he engages in no meaningful or thought-provoking analysis of the discussion.  Stevenson's mention of the NWICO and the grievances from developing nations contained within come across as tokens and by treating them as such he turns them irrelevant.  When discussing the NWICO plea for future access to orbital satellite slots, Stevenson notes "[r]eservation of orbital slots as an international political issue died in the 1980s along with the NWIO debate itself" (333). 

Nonetheless, while it is true that the paradigmatic push of trade liberalization and westernization of the last 15 years has dramatically weakened the Third World position vis a vis the industrialized nations, Stevenson may have rushed too quickly to his conclusion. 

While the effort has been critically wounded, works like the above-mentioned Transnational Communications: Wiring the Third World, edited by Sussman and Lent, show that rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.  Tackling the same issues of the global distribution of communication technology, Sussman and Lent make it a point to direct critical attention to the ideological and political aspects of the conflict.  They explicitly call to question the inevitable positivism of Stevenson and others who claim that while it is true that the distribution of global power (defined here as it is in Stevenson's book -- as access and control of information) is skewed, technological progress will result in the benefits of the current system eventually being distributed (or as the neoliberal recycled phrase says -- "trickled down") to the developing countries (Stevenson 337). 

"In the zealous imagination of 'information age' ideologues, once political impediments are removed from communication technology's revolutionary thrust, its ability to bypass traditional time and space boundaries promises a cornucopia of comforts and conveniences.  This would-be 'depolitization' of technology and economics is, rather transparently, itself a politically charged construction of reality that attempts to disassociate communication/information institutions and instruments from human actors and beneficiaries involved in their design and development.  In the technocentric model [Stevenson's model], it is not the who that matters, but rather the how to, the technical process, downplaying the explicit social applications of new technologies and treating as 'radicals' those writers who do pose such questions." (Sussman and Lent, x) 

As these authors note, by concentrating on the progressivist aspects of communication technology, while downplaying debate of its social aspects as outdated or irrelevant, Stevenson misrepresents the realities of life in the global village brought about by this third communication revolution.  As they continue to note -- "Whatever may be the social utility of 'free flow' of communication and information in the future, it is rather obvious that citizenship in the 'global village' is thus far confined to the very most privileged socioeconomic elites" (x). 

PS -- to Dr. Leslie and the class -- I centered this paper on the socioeconomic factors of technology communication in the global village, however, it would be interesting (if no one wrote about it) to also discuss in class the relevance of communication technology distribution in our own society.  We often hear of the techno-savvy generation x-ers, yet who belongs to this category?  Are kids in the ghetto and inner city schools (though x-ers if defined by age) invited to this communication revolution as Sussman and Lent put it?  Obviously there is an economic and even racial component to technological access at work and it would be great to see some talk about it. 

References: 

Sussman, Gerald and John A. Lent. "Preface" in Transnational Communications: Wiring the Third World. London: Sage Publications, Inc., 1991. ix-xv. 

Stevenson, Robert L. "Technology of Communication" in Global Communication in the Twenty-First Century. New York: Longman Publishing Group, 1994, 317-341.