فن‌آوری‌های نوین ارتباطات و اطلاعات و اهمیت آن در آموزش

Reviewed by Bulat M  Galeyev,

“Prometei”, Kazan State

Technical University – Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan,

A seminar entitled “The Modern Technology of Communication (The Humanitarian Aspects of Telecommunication) was held at the Central Cinema House in Moscow, 17-19 March 1994. The meeting was organized by the New Screen Technologies Association of the Russian Filmmakers’ Union. The following topics were discussed at the meeting:

* Modern telecommunications: telephone networks, video computer terminals, cable and interactive television (what more? what next?)
* Modern telecommunications as a “Gordian knot” of human culture and technology
* The globalization of telecommunications: from communism to communalism?
* The communicative phenomena of the “global village” and “metaprehistoric culture”: new values and codes, goals and motivations, ideologies and lifestyles
* The creative essence of telecommunicative products The social and cultural markets of communication: the first steps toward actuality
* The first teleconferences held in foreign countries to discuss issues surrounding modern art, information exchanges through electronic mail communication and other perspectives on communication.

A forum entitled “Searching for a Third Reality” was held at the seminar on the last day. This was a presentation of various creative groups engaged in the development of new technologies in art and art education. The groups involved included the Great Association of St.Petersburg; the groups “Pilot”, “Big Stroll” and “TV-Gallery” from Moscow; the Art Laboratory for New Media, the Laboratory for Art-Psychotherapy and the Termen Center of the Moscow Conservatory, all from Moscow; and “Prometei,” from Kazan. The works created by these groups were demonstrated in the exhibition, to which Muscovites were invited. The exhibition provoked great interest among members of the audience.

This forum completed a discussion of similar events held last year at the Graphikon Festival (St.Petersburg, September 1993) and the Anigraph Festival (Moscow, May 1993). It also set forth plans for the new Anigraph 1994 Festival, as well as a computer forum to be organized by the Creat Association of St. Petersburg.

The meeting revealed a powerful rise of interest in new technologies in Russia over the last 3 years. Dozens of new groups have appeared, mainly consisting of creative teams of young people engaged in computer and video art. Many exhibitions and festivals have been held during this period, and regular TV programming on this theme, now in its second year, has been produced by a Russian channel. Participants in the meeting decided to entrust the coordination and connection with other countries to the newly created Screen Arts Association. The concept of the necessity of a common publication in Russian devoted to new technologies was also expressed. I informed the gathering of the forthcoming special issue of “Leonardo” on “Art and Technology in the Former Soviet Union (Volume 27, No. 5) and proposed a broadening of attempts to publish such collaborative international editions.

Published in “Leonardo”, v.28,1995, N 1, p.79

Modern communications technologies can have negative social consequences.
With power comes responsibility. The power of modern society, embodied in technology, is no different. With the advent of modern communications, people embraced the open exchange of ideas and the concept of the “global village.” Third world countries saw a new era of economic growth, and citizens were mesmerized by instantaneous communication. However, in embracing new technology, our society has seemingly disregarded the additional responsibilities that surface. Now in the midst of the ongoing communications revolution, society must learn to handle the developing problems that arise with these powers.

The most obvious problem, the isolation and fragmentation of citizens in society, ironically contradicts the vision of the “global village.” People have become increasingly accustomed to interacting with people through technology, rather than in person, revealing a trend that has become especially evident with the advent of the Internet. While it is unknown whether those who choose to isolate themselves behind the wall of their computer are simply manifesting their anti-social nature, a growing amount of people have been spending large amounts of time interacting online. This has raised the concern of an entire socially stunted generation brought up on instant messages, email, and newsgroup postings. The potential for multiple, instantaneous conversations has grasped almost every teenager, each of whom are likely to own their own screen name or identification number. It is projected that one day, computers will reach the level of level of interaction possible in person. But even in person, it is impossible to hold conversations with several people at once. This benefit to instant messaging will always exist, and therefore leave a social barrier.

The “global village” only exists in the control of the media. Broadcast technologies, such as television, radio, and to some extent, the World Wide Web, have created a new media culture that surrounds our society. Just as newspapers have created a “print culture,” synchronizing readers to the opinions and viewpoints of only a few people, telecommunications has enabled companies to blitz people with more ideas, much more often. (Amy Harmon, “Exploration of World Wide Web Tilts from Eclectic to Mundane,” New York Times, 26 Aug 2001, A1) This has synchronized the minds of many people, creating a popular opinion that quickly spreads, but never dies. Individual thought is at risk, under the mercy of powerful companies who have exploited technology to its fullest. The potential for the spread of new ideas becomes lost under the shadow of single opinions from large corporations.

Increased social reliance on telecommunications has also raised issues of privacy. Economics has long been the Achilles heel to national infrastructures, compensating security with decreased cost and simplicity. The Internet is the most prime example of a cost compensated design that we have become considerably reliant on. Most Internet traffic today can be easily intercepted at any of the computers it travels through, similar to how a postal employee can easily read any of the postcards he handles. This information can be just as easily collected with data from other computer-assisted actions, such as credit card shopping, electronic tollbooth payment, and web browsing. Economically motivated companies already gather a lot of this information in order to target people with specific advertisements. Many governments are also believed to scan all telecommunications traffic for specific keywords- an anti-terrorism action. Communications is often compensated by economics, giving the large organization the opportunity to intrude on individual rights to privacy.

Technology, with its luring potential for power, has blinded our society to the accompanying problems that arise with its use. In the span of a century, telecommunications has transformed the world with both its benefits and consequences. Perhaps technology must be embraced slower in order to effectively deal with its problems, or perhaps certain technologies shouldn’t be utilized at all. It is unlikely that people will learn to become independent of telecommunications, but it is important that we understand the consequences that arise when we continue to rely on it.

-Kenneth Lee