“History doesn't repeat itself - at best it
sometimes rhymes”
~
Mark Twain (Thinkexist.com, n.d.)
Someone once said, “The future will be like the past, only with cooler
toys.” This quote is useful in
understanding the force of rhymes of history.
Thornburg (2009) stated, “New technology is a fresh emergence of the
impact left many years before from another technology” (Laureate, 2009). One of the examples that Thornburg (2009)
used was laptop technology. Thornburg
(2009) stated, “Laptop technology rekindles runners from ancient times who
carried messaged from village to village.
It’s not the technology, but the effect of the technology that is
rekindled” (Laureate, 2009).
For this assignment I chose to focus on long distance communication and
specifically Skype for the technology that rekindled how we communicate in this
day and age. According to
historyworld.net (n.d.) “There are forms of
long-distance communication not based on words. The smoke signals used by
American Indians are of this kind. So are bonfires lit in succession on a line
of hilltops. Some non-verbal systems
are more sophisticated. The whistled language of Gomera, in the Canary Islands,
is used to communicate across deep valleys.
One
example of long distance communication for our era is Skype. What is Skype? According to Skype.com (n.d.), “Skype is for
doing things together, whenever you’re apart. Skype’s text, voice and video
make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you,
wherever they are. With Skype, you can share a story, celebrate a birthday,
learn a language, hold a meeting, work with colleagues – just about anything
you need to do together every day. You can use Skype on whatever works best for
you - on your phone or computer or a TV with Skype on it. It is free to start
using Skype - to speak, see and instant message other people on Skype for
example. You can even try out group video, with the latest version of Skype. Skype is just one example of how we can now keep
the lines of communication open regardless of distance.
References
About Skype - What is Skype.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.skype.com/en/about/
History of communication. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/plaintexthistories.asp?historyid=aa93
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging
and future technology: Rhymes of history.
Baltimore, MD: Author.
Mark Twain quotes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://thinkexist.com/quotation/history_doesn-
t_repeat_itself-at_best_it/163316.html
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Blogs I Posted To:
I was fasinated by your Rhyme of History and using Skype as a form of long distance communication. What I find interesting is that a telephone call might also be considared a ryhme of history to communication. Do you think that there could be several different rhymes coexsiting to the same past or do you think one could be an evolved form of the other?
ReplyDeleteI would bet there is examples of this.
DeleteHi Robin,
ReplyDeleteYou selected a great choice with Skype as your choice of technology. I have used Skype for both professional and personal use. It definitely ties in a number of methods of communication both past and present.
Great Post!