Communication flow renaissance
For the last 100 years many field have evolved but one of them, thanks to technology, have known a real revolution… a renaissance.
The communication flow between people for personal or professional reasons is getting faster and easier day by day.
Till 1876 (patent for phones by A G Bell) communication between people was only verbal when you were talking to someone or via mails. These two methods involved delay as you need to find the person to talk or to wait for the mail to arrive to the receiver.
Communication started changing with the invention of phones. This device allowed people to reach someone in a short time and talk with this person…if he or she was home. It was to first step to make the communication faster and easier.
However official papers still had to be sent by mail and needed time.
One step further was to make international connections for phone calls.
A long time after this invention (in th 90s’) appeared the internet, and the “e-mail” till this time people were able to reach someone quickly not only to talk but to send written information, it also allowed people to hae a track of what they said or not (it became a very strategic fact in companies). However, because a lack of security and legal rules people couldn’t make any official written decision by e-mail, paper and signature were still needed.
A little time later appeared the need of mobility (especially for business men) the phone moved to mobile phone, allowing people to be reached anytime anywhere this technology quickly involved everybody and not only business men.
In the same time the security and technology for the internet allowed to provide services to insure total security for signature of official papers in e-mail, this is also a great step in making communication flow easier especially for companies, however we can highlight that some countries still have a lack of law for official paper over e-mail.
Lately (about 2 years ago), data transmission and so access to internet and e-mail came on the mobile field with built in browser in cell phones and PCMCIA cards for computer to connect them to wireless access. Now you can even sign your new contract in a train, or also access to every kind of information (video, sounds etc…) when you are walking in the street.
A last point during the last 10 years is the invention of instant messaging, when you need to talk to someone but cannot reach him on the phone for any reason you can leave him an instant message (or maybe you need a track of this informal message) if he/she is online and he/she will see the message as soon as he/she is on the computer. You can also make live chat using this instant messenger, sometimes it can be an easier way to talk with someone who doesn’t speak your language (writing is usually easier than speaking), and with these writing message you can also include emoticon to involve a feeling with you sentence. Lately instant messengers turned mobile to and can be on your cell phones.
An thanks to UMTS, we can now even see the person we are calling like on a webcam…
Getting closer to star trek… we still need to find a way for instant transportation.