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Impact Of Digital Technology
Abstract
Paper contain the understanding of people in the digital age to and about how
technologies are used now and how they could be in future to understand how
people & technologies interact and change each other, thus creating new
opportunities in personal, family & business life. The paper is an overview of
some of the most relevant digital technologies, including entertainment,
photography, and information, and how you can put them to use today.
Entertainment Digital technology + entertainment = true freedom of expression.
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Digital Technology Its Impacts And Evolution
Unless you’re a hermit living on a remote desert island, your life is being
affected by digital technology. We are living in a digital world and the
evidence is all around us. In most cases, digital technology has done much to
improve our lives. Future generations will live in a world permeated by digital
technology and devices. Digital technology delivers something not commonly
thought possible in our universe: perfection. Digital signals or files can be
transmitted or copied with perfect fidelity. Moreover, digital data can be
processed and recombined in ways not possible with analog signals. But
perfection brings its own problems. The prospect of endless, perfect copying of
music files panics the music industry. Digital photos can be much more easily
altered and faked than analog photos. Once-successful companies have failed
because they couldn't adapt to this new world. Polaroid Corp., What did you say?
Digital technology isn't new; its rudiments have existed since humans learned to
count. By there nature digital numbers are discrete: there's no confusion
between having zero of something or one, or two. (This is a binary digital code.
Other digital systems using three, four or more numbers are also used, but much
less frequently.) By contrast, analog information varies continuously in smooth
gradations: think of a line on an oscilloscope varying in intensity. The line
doesn't have to be exactly at 0 or 1; it can be at any of the infinite
gradations between. Paul Revere used digital technology to learn the direction
of the British attack on Boston, as numerous technologists have pointed out.
Revere's famed lantern signal "one if by land, two if by sea," sent an
unambiguous message. Revere then used a traditional analog technology voice to
spread the alarm that the British were coming. Voice didn't carry very far in
Revere's day. The invention of the telephone allowed people to talk around the
world, but not very well. The longer the call, the more the voice quality
degraded. There is great variety Analog signals by their nature don't hold up
very well to being copied and retransmitted, said Rick Hier, chief technical
officer of DigiVision, a San Diego company that uses digital technology to
enhance images. Analog signals vary continuously. A tiny discrepancy between the
copy and original may be inconsequential, but over time, tiny flaws add up.
Eventually, the errors may grow so big that the original signal can't be
discerned.
"In the analog world, especially if you're dealing with broadcast images, your
signal can be corrupted by a large number of things," It can be distance from a
transmitting antenna, terrain, or buildings in-between, reflections of mountains
and cars. The signal can be corrupted by degrees, a little bit creeps inhere, a
little bit creeps in there." This analog degradation also occurs when a VCR tape
is copied and recopied. No matter how carefully controlled the copying process
is, the tape, being analog, will subtly degrade. By contrast, information in a
digital form "is much easier to keep preserved and pristine from corruption,
line noise or various other transmission problems." It's even possible for
people, using no electronic equipment but just their brains, to use a digital
approach over a bad analog connection to make it work better, "Suppose you're
asking questions over a crummy line. You have a much better chance of being able
to understand the answer correctly if you can ask simple yes or no questions.
The distinction between yes and no is fairly clear, and you don't have to have a
fairly good transmission line to know whether the guy is saying yes or no, if
you know those are the only things he's saying. "If on the other hand his
response is free-form and you can barely hear his voice, it might be hard to
guess what all those words were . . . If he says 'bone' or 'home', you're
scratching your head ---- did he say 'bone' or 'home'? Perfect pitch Go a step
further and digitize the voice itself. Software or hardware containing
complicated mathematical formulas called algorithms analyze the signal's
characteristics, such as a voice's pitch and timber, and reduces this to a
binary number. This "bit stream" is then transmitted or stored. When the bit
stream reaches its destination, the reverse happens: The numerical stream of 0s
and 1s is reassembled into the voice, music, picture or other signal originally
sent. Even more mathematical tricks are possible with digital information, such
as recapturing lost bits, said Fred Falk, chief executive of e.Digital Corp. in
Rancho Bernardo. The company makes digital music players and other digital
devices. "One of the primary advantages of a digital format is you can do
digital signal processing. You can manipulate the specific bits and if you have
lost the bit, you can recreate it virtually," "You can actually synthesize the
component that was lost."
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The MP3 music format is one such example of this technology, Falk said. The
music is not merely sampled and assembled into a bitstream. The file is
compressed by removing redundant information. The file also contains
instructions about when to translate the bits back to recreated analog signals,
and how to interpolate missing information. "It is more mathematical than it is
electronic." Thanks to all this mathematical wizardry, the digital music file
can be stored in a far smaller space than the original analog file, by a factor
of 10 or more. The quality of the final product depends on the "sampling rate",
or how many times a second the original analog wave is measured and digitized.
The more times the original continuous wave is sampled, the more closely the
recreated wave resembles the original. That means it's not possible to create a
totally identical copy of the analog wave, because that would require an
infinite sampling rate ---- and of course, an infinitely large file.
But in practice, it's not necessary to perfectly reproduce the original signal.
"If, say, a conversation were being digitized, an eight kilobit (per second)
sample rate would be adequate. If you go to 12 or 16 kilobit sample rate you get
very high quality. In voice, you don't have the dynamic range or timbre that you
have in music."
For good MP3 music files, Falk said, a sampling rate of 128 kilobits per second
is standard, or up to 320 kilobits per second for extremely high quality sound.
Seeing digital Television is the next medium to go digital, with broadcasters by
law being forced to phase out their analog signals and replace them with digital
ones. To receive them, traditional television sets must have analog to digital
converters, or consumers must buy expensive digital televisions. The main
advantage of digital television is that broadcasters can transmit many more
channels, said Gregory Jones, marketing manager for the San Diego office of Wind
River Services, an Alameda-based company that makes controlling software for use
in electronic devices such as MP3 players. As in audio, compression comes into
play with digitized video, Jones said. "MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group)
compression algorithms get rid of redundant data that doesn't need to be
broadcast," Jones said. "It will look backward and forward from frame to frame."
When frames contain nearly identical images, it's not necessary to retransmit
the entire image: only the differences need be sent. That's not possible to do
with analog signals, Jones said. "Your analog signal is continuous, so it
doesn't 'know' what's happening," Jones said. "With digital, you have buffers
that store data so you can work algorithms on it to remove that information."
The compression concept is similar to that used in computer compression systems
such as ZIP format, Jones said, with one big difference: video compression
doesn't have to recreate every last bit. Many computer files such as software
programs may not work if even one bit is out of place. What this means is that "lossy"
compression such as that used in digital television can compact files much more
than "lossless" compression. Jones said this point is often missed in
discussions of digital television's picture quality. "When people think of
picture quality being improved by digital television, what they're talking about
is resiliency or immunity for disturbances in the transmission," Jones said. "So
rather than having all the fuzz on your TV during a storm, what happens is
you've got error correction built in, so those types of disturbances don't
occur." Because video, photos and music can all be reduced to patterns of 1s and
0s, it's now possible to transmit and store this information in ways not
possible with analog, Falk said. Data Play, a Denver-based company, is taking
advantage of this with a new thumb-sized data disk that can store 250 or 500
megabytes. It supports copy protection, to allay music and video company
concerns about piracy. The ability to choose the music you like best, download
it into your computer, alter or modify it, organize it, and play it almost
anywhere—that’s real creative control! And now, you never have to leave the
comfort of your living room. With the new digital entertainment, you can bring
all this functionality to your home stereo and TV. No more poor sound quality of
PC speakers! Best of all, digital entertainment allow for even greater
functionality. Now you can integrate your MP3s with purchased CDs and enjoy a
harmonious world of continuous music. But digital entertainment doesn’t end with
the small screen. Major movie production companies are now experimenting with
digital film. According to Robert Rodriguez, the director of Spy Kids,
experimenting with digital technology while creating his film, gave him the
ability to produce more vivid, true-to-life colors. And since digital
information doesn't deteriorate, it means the viewer can enjoy watching a movie
without scratches and with better sound quality.
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Let’s take a photo and see what we can do with it once it’s in a digital format.
It could be an old photo you've retrieved from a shoebox and scanned, or one
that you've just snapped with a digital camera. Digital technology can improve
it by editing out scratches, red-eye and other flaws, or make everyone’s hair a
lovely shade of purple! Technology can store the photo on a CD along with many
others and preserve them for future generations. And can import the photo into
an e-mail and share it with family and friends, put it on a T-shirt with a
decorative border, upload it onto a website, or print and frame it. Like
entertainment technologies, digital photography is about creative control. It's
also about capturing and sharing your life’s memories—documenting your family’s
legacy. This is one of the reasons there has been such a growing interest in
genealogy. It’s easy to search for information via the Internet and then create
an online album or CD that can be shared with the entire clan. Digital
photography is great for business communications—whether you’re making a slide
presentation for the folks back at the office, or creating a brochure for your
home business. Photos can really bring your point home! And this is only the
beginning. Why settle for still photos when you can see images in action? Home
movies and even telephone conversations are being taken to a whole new level.
It's true what they say about digital video—you really can produce a home movie
in a matter of minutes! And, because your “film” is in a digital format, you can
modify and change it at will. Using today’s technology, you could take that
movie, re-order or delete scenes, tone down the light, and even add graphics,
titles, and music. Plus, you can instantly e-mail it to anyone. Today’s
videoconferencing technology makes it easy to set up a system on your home PC so
you can hear and see the person on the other end of the transmission. According
to One Digital Day, a book by Rick Smolan, the U.S. Army piloted a
videoconferencing program on Father’s Day in 1997. American soldiers stationed
in Bosnia were able to speak with their families, Like Lieutenant Frank Holmes,
who talked to his wife, Amanda, 5,000 miles away. And, he got to see his brand
new daughter, Morgan, for the first time. The future of photography is digital.
For a variety of reasons, traditional chemical-based photography will be
replaced by a digital process. Digital photography is much cheaper, the
processing considerably faster and the ability to transfer and manipulate
imagery much easier. In addition, digital photography is better for the
environment since no chemical waste is involved. So is traditional photography
dead? No, it is not. It will take from 10 to 50 years for digital photography to
supplant the older system. This means that people who are pursuing a career in
photography had better understand both processes and be comfortable using both.
This is not wasted training.
Everything learned in a traditional darkroom will be very useful even when using
software to produce an image. Traditional photography as an art form may become
more respected and more valuable simply because it will not be commonplace.
Digital photography will probably never be able to reach the fine resolution and
subtle tones of the chemical process. Digital Mobile Phones More and more
wireless service providers are shifting from analog to digital. Even though
analog technology was the foundation of many of today's large networks, newer
more advanced digital networks are fast replacing it. Let us look at the reason
behind this evolution/revolution. Many wireless service providers "upgrading" to
digital networks citing the benefits that digital network offer. Some of these
advantages are better quality of service, more security and privacy for
customers, and ability to support next-generation services. Next-generation
services, which are the buzzword nowadays, include wireless Internet
applications, voice/video conferencing etc. Another reason is that a digital
channel can cover a lot more transmissions than an analog channel, meaning an
operator can fit more information into each transmission. The underlying
implication is more return on investment. Digital networks enable service
providers to give to their customers a whole compliment of additional services,
which include call waiting, voice mail, text messages, answering machines etc.
Digital Media and Art Today
Contrary to the occasional stereotype of digital media as inhuman or alienating,
many artists are incorporating digital effects that stimulate visceral reactions
and heightened awareness of the conditions of a particular space and time. There
is sensuousness, directness, and even a poetics to many of the digital works
being made today. Moreover, interactivity, an artistic strategy that pre-dates
digital media, is gaining new life as artists find that the equipment necessary
for such effects has become much more subtle and transparent, affording viewers
a more direct experience of works of art. Digital media are being used both to
express the particular sensations of life in the Digital Age as well as to
expand the creative possibilities for traditional subjects and forms. Artists
are able to create compelling effects by selectively suppressing visual
information or, by digitally enhancing visual sensations, rendering uncanny
experiences of the "real." The ability of digital media to suggest the shifting
of time, space and form has inspired a number of artists to explore aspects of
memory, attention and perception in their work. Lawrence Rinder notes, "Artists
can now create seamless chimeras that resonate with contemporary anxieties about
the instability of perception and even life itself in this age of virtual
reality and genetic engineering. Bit Streams will explore the Digital Age not as
something external to us, residing solely in technological objects or in a kind
of 'techno' style, but rather as a constellation of physical, emotional and
cognitive phenomena which have transformed aspects of human experience."
Conclusion
Around the corner, just past tomorrow, amazing new technologies are being
developed that will change life as we know it. Futurists predict that technology
will become an even greater part of our lives—more so than today’s e-mail or
cell phone. So integrated, in fact, that everyday items such as a wristwatch
will be able to anticipate your daily habits and needs. Clearly the role of
technology is to enable our lives. But, what are the key challenges of
implementation? One is standardization—all of these services and devices need to
be able to talk to each other in a secure, standardized environment. Second,
maintaining stable connections will be another challenge.
As engineers and scientists work out the bugs and continue to discover new
frontiers, you and I can look forward to a more connected future with rapid
growth and development, there is also confusion — some as the result of
bewilderment, some as a result of resistance. In either case, it is imperative
to educate the industry and its customers to apply these technologies in
everyday business. So the bottom line question is, “As an industry, are we
better off today with all this new technology than we were without it?” I firmly
believe that we are much better off now than we were ever before. However, it's
up to us to drive our business and its interests in the best possible direction.
We are in a revolution that will profoundly change our lives. We have barely
just begun, but, when fully adopted, it will transform society as surely and
profoundly as did the invention of the wheel.
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