Recently, when I saw Wikipedia blocked out in protest of SOPA/PIPA bills. It just struck me that a lot has changed (and is changing fast). Let me explain:
I began to understand the world around me in the early '90s. About the time when information technology (IT) started to become pervasive - I am a quintessential product of the information age. The major contributors being the telephone, television set, PC and beginning of the WWW era.
Back then all this technology was a novelty (well, expensive too): Telephone was a medium to talk to relatives living in distant places; TV was meant to see cartoons like Spiderman, He-Man Master of the Universe, Tom and Jerry and family serials like the epic Ramayana; Home computer was to try Logo - directing the turtle around, DOS commands, Lotus 1-2-3 or Wordstar.
IT was innocent (for me). IT was something not central to our lives.
Fast forward 20 years:
Call (and even see) your relatives and friends for free
Read your newspaper
Pay your bills
Buy movie tickets, see movies and listen music
...
Wikipedia blackout
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.) influences:
Arab Spring
London 2011 riots
India anti-corruption campaign
...
IT has become central to our lives. IT is not innocent anymore.
Information technology has become an integral part of our day to day lives. It has moved on from narrow individual realm to a larger realm of societies, nation-states and world. It influences decision making, at various levels, in myriad ways.
As times are changing and I grow up, I realize (even more) that it is important to use these technological advances responsibly and judiciously. I hope others do the same.
.
I began to understand the world around me in the early '90s. About the time when information technology (IT) started to become pervasive - I am a quintessential product of the information age. The major contributors being the telephone, television set, PC and beginning of the WWW era.
Back then all this technology was a novelty (well, expensive too): Telephone was a medium to talk to relatives living in distant places; TV was meant to see cartoons like Spiderman, He-Man Master of the Universe, Tom and Jerry and family serials like the epic Ramayana; Home computer was to try Logo - directing the turtle around, DOS commands, Lotus 1-2-3 or Wordstar.
IT was innocent (for me). IT was something not central to our lives.
Fast forward 20 years:
Call (and even see) your relatives and friends for free
Read your newspaper
Pay your bills
Buy movie tickets, see movies and listen music
...
Wikipedia blackout
Social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.) influences:
Arab Spring
London 2011 riots
India anti-corruption campaign
...
IT has become central to our lives. IT is not innocent anymore.
Information technology has become an integral part of our day to day lives. It has moved on from narrow individual realm to a larger realm of societies, nation-states and world. It influences decision making, at various levels, in myriad ways.
As times are changing and I grow up, I realize (even more) that it is important to use these technological advances responsibly and judiciously. I hope others do the same.
.
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