Earlier this week, I wrote about the negative impacts of the Internet on society. Today’s news chum deals with a similar subject: the impacts of the Internet and technologies on industry and academia:
- Let’s Go To The Movies… Let’s Go To A Picture Show. Technology is having a big impact on your local theater. The model is changing: people have discovered there are many different ways to go see a movie. The theater an aging industry that’s been run more or less the same way for generations, and it’s competing with a host of technologies and distribution channels that make it unnecessary to schlep to the multiplex at a set time. But strangely the business is hanging in there, largely due to big-budget, multiple-picture franchises. People are going to the newer theaters, impacting older multiplexes. Even then, the industry tend is towards upscale theaters with reservations, plush seating, drinks, and other fancy amenities. This is raising ticket prices to between $18 and $20, with even higher prices for 3D movies. People wonder why I go to so much live theatre, and I tell them I can get tickets usually for prices comparable to movies (especially through services such as Goldstar). I’m paying $17.50, with service charges, for tickets to Company in North Hollywood. Why go to the theater when the theatre is so cheap!
- You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio. The movie theater isn’t the only place impacted by radio. Modern technologies, such as satellite radio, Internet radio, and MP3 players are killing terrestrial radio, which is increasing seeing commerical bloat… which further drives people away. You can’t easily get portable radios these days (when was the last time you saw someone listening to a “transistor radio”); the primary listening place for radio now is the automobile. And even auto manufacturers are moving away from AM and FM — for example, new Fords will be able to play music off the Amazon Cloud. Radio will soon only be used for traffic reports and news, and that is most likely only because Google News and Google Traffic Maps makes one take their eyes off the road. These changes also have an effect on artists: as music streaming has grown, artists have seen their royalties drop (because the streaming services don’t pay the same royalties as radio).
- In The Classroom. Even the classroom isn’t immune. The Daily Cal at UC Berkeley has an interesting article on how the classroom is being transformed. Large lecture sessions are being webcast (my daughter is in one such lecture for her Astronomy class), and interactions with the instructors occurs via Twitter and other mechanisms. Many find this approach liberating; I’d find it annoying.
- Strip Searches and Privacy. Even the lowly power strip is not immune. DARPA has funded a power strip that can be used as a launching point for network attacks. Presumably, this is via the power protection for the network lines or people using networking over electrical wiring, but still…. (and in a related article, it appears the LA Times at one point was serving malware off their deals site, but isn’t anymore). The “smart” powerstrip could conceivably monitor what you do as well. But privacy is at risk from many things… from proposed car black boxes to those e-readers that people like so much.
I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve listened to the radio-radio. It’s been at least four years, if not five. 2006/2007, I got big into MP3s and liked not having to deal with commercials and talking heads. Endless playlists have been a great boon for me. 😀
I rented a car last Summer that came with XM radio and was surprised at the clarity and the range. I figured in some places of Harlan County, I would lose signal – so I took my iPod with me and kept it plugged into the stereo in case I hit a void. I thought this because wireless coverage down there is absolute crap – even the cell companies say so. Heck even “local” radio doesn’t work down there very well, AM or FM. The mountains are so close together, there’s nowhere for the signals to go. So unless you’re pretty much downtown right on top of the station, you don’t get any reception. I never lost XM except around one tight corner, and I was “behind” a mountain at the time for about three seconds. Not even long enough to lose beat while singing along.
Smartboards are the big thing in classrooms here now. With my lack of visual acuity, were I a student now, I’d be sunk. I can’t read from whiteboards – can’t see the print. When I was in school, I was lucky if/when I could read the chalkboard (I often asked permission to sit in the teacher’s seat so I could see to copy!). Smartboards are neat, though. What they can do is like something straight off Star Trek, and though they wouldn’t work for me, I find them fascinating.
Smartboards are a neat idea, but I really don’t think the technology is there yet. To begin with, I tend to write equations really quickly (and legibly) on a whiteboard or chalkboard; I’ve found that smartboards can’t keep up with my speed and the writing looks like a jerky connect-the-dots image. There are several useful tricks I can do with a document camera, a digital projector, and an ordinary whiteboard (cast graph paper onto the screen and draw on it, etc.) that I haven’t figured out how to do effectively with a smartboard.
Regarding webcast lectures: I can see this working if the instructor is just delivering a pre-written speech (I’d worry about legibility of board writing, though). That’s not what I do, though. My teaching style is all about interacting with the class–
what formula can we use here? what are the units of measurement for this? where can we go from here? does this result seem realistic? explain to the person sitting next to you why or why not
–and I can’t interact with a camera.