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| A summary of Negroponte's 'Being Digital' | ||||||
| |Intro-Chap.4| | |Chap.5-Chap.9| | |Chap.10-Chap.14| | |Chap.15-Epilogue| | |||
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CHAPTER 15: GOOD CONNECTIONS
The fax machine is a step down in the development of information technology. The fax is still not an intelligent medium. It removes computer readability by which the message is automatically stored, retrieved and manipulated. The fax is also not economical. It costs more and consumes more time than email. But the reason why the fax overtook email in the 1960s is because of ease of use, simple delivery of images and graphics, input from hard copy and have legal value with signatures. But nowadays, email is one of the most used forms of information technology. Compared to the fax machine, email is more conversational. It also gives its user mobility. The use of email affects the way we work and think. Email though becomes a hassle if masses of information are dumped into one's mailbox. Emails must be brief. In the future, given that we learn netiquettes, the email will turn out to be the dominant interpersonal telecommunications medium. | ||||||
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CHAPTER 16: HARD FUN
Before the invention of computers, learning through technology was limited to audiovisual devices and television. But now, computers serve as a medium for children to learn. Computers allow children to learn through exploration and playing with information. Computers also developed the thought of learning by doing. Children are also given an opportunity to communicate through the internet since they are heard and not seen. Computer games also teach children strategies and planning skills. In time, as more people use the internet, it will grow to become a web of human knowledge and assistance. | ||||||
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CHAPTER 17: DIGITAL FABLES AND FOIBLES
Right now, we have so much machines. But these machines have their own closed, special purposes. They do not intercommunicate. Being digital, however, changes the character of the standards for machine-to-machine communications. In the future, we will be carrying more computing and communications devices, other than the wristwatch, on our bodies. Our environments will also be more intelligent. They will be able to adjust to our personal needs. Different computer processes will also be interconnected to suit us. Our appliances would no longer need instruction manuals since the appliances themselves will be good instructors. Cars of the future, will do oral navigation and will provide other additional information about the places one visits. The machines will know what you are doing, what you have just done and can even guess what you are about to do. |
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CHAPTER 18: THE NEW E-XPRESSIONISTS
Despite the numerous technological developments, the use of technology in the way we teach today is the same as the way we did one hundred and fifty years ago. Slowly, we are moving away from a hard-line mode of teaching. The use of computers will make the students more mathematically able and more visually literate. Digitizing will slowly remove the fine line separating work and play. Computers and the arts may not seem very compatible. But slowly, the internet will turn finished and unalterable art into a thing of the past.The internet will serve as the world's largest art gallery. It will serve as a means of expression and disseminating the artist's works. Being digital also allows not just the product but also the process of creating art to be conveyed. | ||||||
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EPILOGUE, AN AGE OF OPTIMISM
Each generation is becoming more and more digital than the previous one. The digital age cannot be stopped. More and more atoms are being transformed into bits. As this transformation happens, cases on intellectual property abuse and invasion of our privacy will be seen. Digital vandalism, software piracy and data thievery will also be experienced. Furthermore, a lot of jobs will be loss to automated systems. Although, bits cannot solve hunger and complex issues, being digital does give much cause for optimism. The digital age has four qualities that will make it successful: decentralizing, globalizing, harmonizing and empowering.Being digital will change the future in terms of providing access, mobility and the ability to affect change. | ||||||
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