Rhymes of History:
Before there was Skype there was the Picturephone
When examining emerging
technologies, it is important to understand underlying forces that help shape
its existence by evaluating how they emerged and how they might impact our
world. There are numerous forces that cause new technology to be developed. Many
of today’s new technology are a fresh emergence of another technology, from the
past, to which its impact was felt many years later. This force is known as
rhymes of history and continues to drive the emergence of technology today.
David Thornburg
(Laureate Education, 2014j) defines a rhyme of history as the effect or impact
of a new development that rekindles something from the past. This retrieval of
the past can also be seen in McLuhan’s tetradic model when examining emerging
technology. It is not so much the technology itself, but the effect of that
technology being rekindled. In today’s society, video conferencing
applications, such as Skype and Google Talk, are very beneficial for ongoing
productivity in education, business, and personal aspects of one’s life. In the
last decade, this buzz of using video conferencing has recently gained more
popularity. However, I was very surprised to discover that these video
conferencing applications, which are commonly used by tablets, cell phones, and
other computing devices, rekindled the first model of the Picturephone, introduced
in 1964. I know, I know. What in the world is a Picturephone? We
all are familiar with the popular 60’s cartoon, The Jetsons. One familiar
technology that stood out was the use of video conferencing throughout the
cartoon series. To our surprise this technology was not a just fantasy of
the future, but rather an emerging technology that was already being introduced
to the world by ATT, at the World’s Fair, around the same time the cartoon was
airing. The Picturephone was a telephone, with a video display, that was
capable of a face-to-face communication in real time. Although, the Picturephone
was a colossal failure for its time, it has evolved for 50 years and has enhanced
today’s communication in our society.
More information about the Picturephone:
Debut of the First Picturephone
Picturephone: How Bell Lost a Half a Million
References:
Engineerguy. (2014, July 14). PicturePhone: how bell telephone lost a half
billion, but nearly created the internet. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzdCKBZP4Jo
Laureate Education
(Producer). (2014d). David Thornburg: Evolutionary technologies [Video
file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education
(Producer). (2014j). David Thornburg: Six forces that drive emerging
technologies[Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Jocelyn,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting post about the rhymes of history. I was not aware that picture phones made it beyond the world's fair and the cartoon show the Jetson's. It is interesting that it failed, while the new technology of video conferencing is so popular. Looking for a reason why, there was only a limited number of picturephones and they were very expensive to make and use. Makinen (2007) stated that one three minute call cost $16 dollars in 1964 and that there were only booths in three cities, Washington, New York and Chicago. This is probably the main reason for their demise in the 1960's. The rhyme time is ripe for development at this time because there are many more devices that are capable of taking pictures and sending video. It is very interesting and made me think about what makes technology fail.
Thank you for an interesting post.
Charles
Mäkinen, L. (2007). Mobile Videophone, In S. Luukkainen (Ed.) Topical Evolution Paths of Mobile Multimedia Services Proceedings of the Research Seminar on Telecommunications Business, spring 2007 (pp. 37-41). Helsinki University of Technology, Finland.
You did an excellent job on your post and research. Who knew that this technology had been attempted back then? I saw something very interesting in your video of about how Bell lost $500 million dollars. One of McLuhans Laws of Media states that within the technology lies the seeds for its replacement. Isn't it ironic that Bell's failure for the device was partly a result of it's monopoly of the phone system and today, AT&T (formerly Bell) is one of the major Internet provides embattled with the FCC over Net Neutrality on the Internet where opponents fear that the Internet Service Providers will create monopolies of content and services with a tiered service for bandwidth?
ReplyDeleteReferences
Fung, B. (2014, June 18). AT&T claims “strong” net neutrality would actually ruin the Internet. That’s a big leap. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/06/18/att-claims-strong-net-neutrality-would-actually-ruin-the-internet-thats-a-big-leap/
Thornburg, D. (2013e). Emerging technologies and McLuhan's laws of media. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.
Hi
ReplyDeleteWonderful connection to the past and present. I never knew about this type of technology before. It is interesting how investors can use the birth of ideas to reorganized an entire system. The picturephone technology has revolutionized the potential of "Science and Technology " for the betterment of humans. However, Lipartito (2003) states that "Picturephone as part of a technological narrative that directed both innovators and users along a certain path or trajectory of information technology"
Reference:
https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/technology_and_culture/v044/44.1lipartito.html
Super interesting post! I had no idea either about a picture phone outside of web conferencing. It is interesting that we went full circle back to a similar technology. Skype and other programs like it are free even though calls with the original picture phone were super expensive. Goes to show where there is a will, there is a way!
ReplyDelete