Module 2

Technology, Culture and Communication

(a) Developments in communication technology:

(i) print;

(ii) electronic (such as satellite radio, television, tele/video-conferencing, Internet,

browsers and search engines, Gobal, digital social networking tools such as

YouTube®, twitter®, facebook® and Smartphones.

• Both the Internet and interactive multimedia are providing ways of employing the
printed word that add new possibilities to print's role in culture.

• The printed word is now used for real-time social interaction and for individualized
navigation through interactive documents.

• In terms of technological changes, many book publishers have embraced e-books in

the past few years as a way to adapt to new digital media and devices such as e-
readers, but they have also had to develop new ways to prevent unauthorized
reproduction and “pirating” of digital versions of books. In 2011, for the first time, e-
books became the number one format for adult fiction and young adult titles,
surpassing print.

• Electronic media is massively taking place of print media and globalizing this village.
Mobile devices, Ipads, Ipods, Television, radios have made the thing accessible
within few seconds.

Use of media for enhancing and facilitating communication.

Speed and Costs

 The most significant impact of technology on communication is the spread of the

Internet and the possibility of sending emails and chatting. In the pre-information
technology days, a document often required re-typing on the typewriter before the
final version. Sending the letter across a distance to someone else required a visit to
the post office and a postage stamp. Faster methods such as telegrams had severe
limitations in text and were quite costly.
 Computers and the Internet have made the process of creating and editing
documents and applying features such as spell check and grammar check
automatically easy and natural.
 Email let us send documents to any part of the globe within seconds, making
telegrams and even ordinary letters mostly obsolete. The Internet has thus
increased the speed.

Quality

 The huge amount of knowledge accessible by a click of the mouse has helped
improve the quality of communication.
  Translating a text from an unfamiliar language to a familiar language, seeking out
the meaning of an unknown word, and getting follow-up information on an
unfamiliar concept are all possible thanks to the internet.
 Technology allows easy storage and retrieval of communication when needed,
especially verbal communication, the storage of which was very difficult before. It
now becomes easier to rewind and clear misconceptions rather than make
assumptions, or contacting the person again to clear doubt.

Change in Style

 The invention of new gadgets such as mobile phones made communication easier by
allowing people to communicate from anywhere. An underestimated impact of
mobile gadgets is the effect they have on the nature of communication.
 The possibility of high quality communication from anywhere in the world to
anywhere else at low costs has led to a marked decline in face-to-face
communications and to an increased reliance on verbal and written communication
over electronic mediums.
 The small keyboards on mobile phones and other hand-held devices that make
typing difficult has resulted in a radical shortening of words and increasing use of
symbol and shortcuts, with little or no adherence to traditional grammatical rules.
Such change now finds increasing acceptance in the business community.
 Communication has become concise and short, and the adage “brevity is the soul of
wit" finds widespread implementation, though unintentionally.

Accessibility

 The answer to the question of how technology has changed communication is

incomplete without a mention of technology's role in the democratization of
communication systems. Technology has brought down the costs of communication
significantly and improved people’s access.
 The proliferation of online forums, live coverage of news, and other such media-
related initiatives have resulted in world wide access and participation in news and
information for almost everyone.
 In the realm of business, access to communication or privileged information was
hitherto a major source of competitive advantage. Technology helps remove such
barriers and ensure a level playing field in this aspect for the most part.

Nature of Communication

 The ease of communication and the spread of interactive communication methods

such as instant messengers and video conferencing have increased the volume of
communications but reduced their average length.
 People now communicate whatever comes up instantly, and tend to break up
different topics into different communications.
 Finally, technologies integral to the Internet help spread the net of communication
by tracking down old friends, shedding light on new business opportunities, creating
new opportunities for business and personal purchasing, and similar ventures.
(c) The influence of technology on cultural communication patterns in the region.

 Technology helps to shape and produce culture as culture creates and employs technology.

(d) The effect of technology on language use.

 certainly, the increase in the pace of change has resulted in our language changing equally
rapidly, and with it, our thoughts.
 On a final historical note, you can wonder what George Bernard Shaw would have
understood by the following statements? “My mother was hacked last night.” “What a great
meal - I’ll upload it!” “If anyone’s out there, can you inbox me?’ "How many steps did you
get today?” “Will you torrent me the next series?” “I’ve given up on windows.”
 Txt spk: One language change that has definitely been overhyped is so-called text speak, a
mixture of often vowel-free abbreviations and acronyms, says Prof Crystal.
 "People say that text messaging is a new language and that people are filling texts with
abbreviations - but when you actually analyse it you find they're not," he said.
 Some entirely new words like the verb 'to google', or look something up on a search engine,
and the noun 'app', used to describe programmes for smartphones (not yet in the OED),
have either been recently invented or come into popular use.
 the hijacking of existing words and phrases is more common.
 Ms McPherson points out that the phrase "social networking" debuted in the OED in 1973.
Its definition - "the use or establishment of social networks or connections" - has only
comparatively recently been linked to internet-based activities.
 "These are words that have arisen out of the phenomenon rather than being technology
words themselves," she added.
 "Wireless in the 1950s meant a radio. It's very rare to talk about a radio now as a wireless,
unless you're of a particular generation or trying to be ironic. The word has taken on a whole
new significance."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-10971949
 New Words and Meanings
Facebook has also done more than most platforms to offer up new meanings for common
words such as friend, like, status, wall, page, and profile. Other new meanings which crop up
on social media channels also reflect the dark side of social media: a troll is no longer just a
character from Norse folklore, but someone who makes offensive or provocative comments
online; a sock puppet is no longer solely a puppet made from an old sock, but a self-serving
fake online persona; and astroturfing is no longer simply laying a plastic lawn but also a fake
online grass-roots movement.

Social media is making it easier than ever to contribute to the evolution of language. You no
longer have to be published through traditional avenues to bring word trends to the
attention of the masses.
 New ways of communicating
An alphabet soup of acronyms, abbreviations, and neologisms has grown up around
technologically mediated communication to help us be understood. I’m old enough to have
learned the acronyms we now think of as textspeak on the online forums and ‘internet relay
chat’ (IRC) that pre-dated text messaging.

Emoticons such as ;-) and acronyms such as LOL (‘laughing out loud’ – which has just
celebrated its 25th birthday) add useful elements of non-verbal communication – or annoy
people with their overuse. This extends to playful asterisk-enclosed stage directions
describing supposed physical actions or facial expressions (though use with caution: it turns
out that *innocent face* is no defence in court).
https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/06/18/social-media-changing-language/