Computers in Language, Art, and Communication (continued)

Computers and Communication

Telecommunication
With the proliferation of computer networks in particular, computers have transformed telecommunication systems.

A growing number of telephone systems (including cellular telephone systems) are now digital. Digital telephone answering systems record messages on memory chips instead of on cassette tapes. VoIP (Voice-over-Internet Protocol) services such as Webcams—digital cameras connected to computers that are linked to the Internet—enable the transmission of live pictures and video. When Internet phone technology and webcams are combined, videoconferencing is possible.

Cable television companies are moving to digital cable, and the small satellite dishes used in digital satellite systems (DSS) seem to sprout up on rooftops overnight. Services such as Tivo and ReplayTV record television programs on computer hard drives rather than on video tape. Digital video cameras capture video in digital format and enable video editing on a personal computer. Websites such as the video business.

Beginning in 1994 (and continuing each year since), computers have outsold televisions in the U.S.

Online Communication
The inventors of what became the Internet did not even have e-mail in mind when they developed the first computer network, but e-mail quickly became the most popular feature of the Internet. The @ symbol itself has become a cultural icon: one is just as likely to glimpse it on city buses, cereal boxes, and t-shirts as in an e-mail message.

In the past couple of years, the popularity of e-mail has been challenged by the arrival of instant messaging technologies. Although Internet chat systems have enjoyed varying degrees of popularity since the late 1980s, IM has grown at an explosive rate. IM technology gained widespread publicity when America Online's IM service, "Instant Messenger," was featured in the 1998 Warner Brothers film"You've Got Mail," starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

Text messaging—the sending of a small amount of text to appear on someone else's cell phone—is eclipsing both e-mail and instant messaging in popularity.

These pages were written by Jeffrey L. Nyhoff and Steven H. VanderLeest and edited by Nancy Zylstra
© 2005 Calvin University (formerly Calvin College), All Rights Reserved.

If you encounter technical errors, contact computing@calvin.edu.