Communication Technology Update, 8th Edition
This insightful, yet concise resource puts readers in the center of IT development and its constant progress.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Communication Technology Update, 8th Edition
Part V: Conclusions
Chapter List
- Chapter 25: Retrospective: 10 Years of Communication Technologies, August E. Grant, Ph.D.
- Chapter 26: Conclusion, Jennifer H. Meadows, Ph.D.
Overview
August E. Grant, Ph.D.*
* Senior Consultant, Focus 25 Research & Consulting and Visiting Associate Professor, College of Mass Communications and Information Studies, University of South Carolina (Columbia, South Carolina)
In the 10 short years since the first volume of the Communication Technology Update was published, the telecommunications landscape has changed dramatically. A few technologies, such as digital video compression, that were seen as a distant force in 1992 have diffused more rapidly then expected, but the progress in other technologies, such as interactive television and HDTV, has lagged all but the most pessimistic predictions.
The purpose of this chapter is to take a look back at each of the specific technologies discussed in this book to provide some perspective on the pace of change in the telecommunications landscape. Along the way, we will examine a few technologies that were included in previous editions of this book, but are not included in this edition.
Electronic Mass Media
Cable Television
The most important developments in cable television in 1992 were the imminent introduction of digital video compression and re-regulation of the U.S. cable television industry. The average cable system offered 50 channels, and gross revenues were just under $17 billion (Chen & Stout, 1992). Digital video compression was seen as a means of expanding channel capacity so that cable operators could offer video on demand and multiplexed popular channels.
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