Through history, the concept of communicating to gain information has been retrieved and evolved as the abilities of technology increases. Dr. Thornburg (Laureate Education Inc., 2009) explains how rhymes of history occur when, “the affect or impact of a new development rekindles something from the distant past”. Communication dates back to the idea of writing on walls using symbols to create a message or tell a story. Over time, technology has given people the ability to communicate anywhere, anytime using cell phones. The concept of cell phones has been rekindled as new developments changed its design and functions from a car phone in a bag, to smaller designed flip phones for personal use, and now even smaller smartphones to multitask daily forms of communicating. “In recent years, the purpose of the cell phone has shifted from a verbal communication tool to a multimedia tool, often adopting the name “mobile device” rather than being called a phone at all” (Ai InSite, 2011). Besides still being able to use cell phones for making calls between one or more people, these mobile devices have given the added abilities for surfing the web, taking pictures, sending e-mails and text messages, and communicating with people through social networking sites.
Kevin Kelly (2007) described three trends of rhymes in history which hold true to the rekindling of communication through cell phones: embodiment, restructuring, and codependency. Embodiment is the ability for cell phones to connect to the Web. As mobile devices allow for Internet connection, people can use this tool for gaining information from the web and sharing information themselves. Through restructuring, the purpose of cell phones has shifted to allow for linking to more pages and data using the web. Looking towards to future, Google has already begun to develop augmented reality technology to allow people to link to things in the world using a tool such as a cell phone. Going back to the idea of creating phones for communicating, cell phones have rekindled the idea of our codependency on each other. People’s contributions of information from the web and our ability to retrieve such information has developed a codependency for each other to be able to share and gain knowledge.
References
Ai InSite (2011). The history and evolution of cell phones. Retrieved from http://insite.artinstitutes.edu/the-history-and-evolution-of-cell-phones-57809.aspx
Kelly, K. (2007, December). Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the Web [Speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Emerging and future technology: Rhymes of history. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Hi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteIts true that cell phone is no more just a cell phone, it is truly a "mobile device". Let me add few more items to the list of "what cell phone can do".
It can act as calculator, digital note taker, video game console, calender, reminder device, Alarm clock, Address book, audio recorder, video recorder, MP3 player, video player. It is astonishing that it is multi-lingual too. You can use more than one languages at a time.
In China, it is used in the place of a computer. There are more people owning and using multitasking phones than computers in China.
With all these positive points about the functionality of cell phone, it is still not used in a formal classroom.
Nice post.
Anwar
Tiffamy,
ReplyDeleteCell phones rekindle the way people communicate with others. There are so many different ways to communicate on a cell phone. Emails, social networking, texting, and phone calls are all ways people use the cell phone to communicate with other people. I like how you remind us that a cell phone has gone from a communication device to a mobile device. It is so much more than just a communication device. I even use my cell phone as an alarm clock. Great post!
Tracy