6.3 Communication Revolution

6.3 Communication Revolution

Pheidippides runs from the Plains of Marathon to Athens with news of victory over the Persians
Tom Lovell/National Geographic Stock

Just as technology has had an impact on the media, it also has revolutionized the way in which people around the world can communicate with each other. In the past, when a person wanted to get a message to someone, he would send a handwritten letter to be delivered by someone on a horse, on a boat, or on foot.

Pony Express rider from the American West delivering mail and news from town to town
Phil Schmeister/National Geographic Stock

Sputnik was Earth's first orbiting satellite, launched by the U.S.S.R. in 1957
Mark Thiessen/National Geographic Stock

Today, we can communicate with someone on the top of Mount Everest or even in space in seconds. We can find out what is happening in a war zone in seconds by live video feeds. We can share ideas and opinions as never before. We can find out what is happening in the research labs of the world by phone or Internet. This leads to an information explosion and huge advances in scientific knowledge.

The International Space Station was first launched in 1998. It allows for long-term exploration of space
NASA/National Geographic Stock

Today's communication technology helps to blur the line between public and private space. From the privacy of your own home through the Internet, you can create your own identity through social software networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You can live in a virtual community of real people. This community can consist of people you know face-to-face or people from all over the world, each with his or her own perspective and culture. In the past, people wrote diaries and journals that were private. Today, blogs are both public and anonymous, allowing people to share their thoughts with others around the world. Movies, which at one time required a great deal of financial investment and time, were publicly shown. Now, movies can be made by individuals and shown privately over the Internet on websites such as YouTube, which also allows people to respond by text or video. This opens a whole new world, because we can now see, hear, and to some degree experience, the global village in a whole new way.

Connective Knowledge

Some people talk about the kind of knowledge we are obtaining today as connective knowledge—that is, knowledge that connects us in ways that were impossible just a few years ago.