Introduction
Human beings are social animals and once they have met their physiological and safety needs, they develop a great desire to meet their social needs. The reason behind this is that they develop a need to interact with others including friends who give them a sense of belonging (Maslow, 2002). This paper looks at communication as a social need and how technological inventions have addressed it over time.
Notable inventions and innovations in communication
The social process would never be complete without communication, which plays a fundamental role in all social interactions. It is indeed a basic need that influences the information society and has come a long way technologically to where it is now. Going back to the history of communication, it is amazing what inventions have done. The prehistoric means of communication included the use of horns and drums to pass information from one person to another. A Roman Emperor by the name of Tiberius made a debut in verbal communication by inventing a heliograph in the 37AD. This method involved the use of mirrors to deliver messages from one location to another.
In 1793, Claude Chappe invented a telegraph line that could be used to deliver messages over a long distance. Charles Wheatstone invented a microphone in 1821, a gadget that could reproduce sound and it was composed of a primitive soundbox. The first-ever electric telegraph was discovered in 1831 by Joseph Henry and this was followed closely by a modification done by Samuel Morse in 1843. This electric telegraph could send telegraphic messages over a long distance. The fax machine was invented by Alexander Bain in the same year (Bellis, 1997).
The Pony Express was birthed in 1861 in the US with the primary goal of delivering mail and in the same breath, Coleman Sellers invented a Kinematoscope. This machine had the capability of flashing still images on a screen. The modern typewriter saw its way into the inventions doing their rounds in communication in 1867 in America. Thomas Edison invented a mimeograph in 1876, it acted as an office copier, and around the same time, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Bell was able to transmit vocal sounds from one point to another and this is what came to be widely known as the telephone.
The phonograph that is a recording tool was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison who used a wax cylinder to carry out this task. High-speed photography came to be in the same year courtesy of Edward Muybridge who was able to capture fast pictures in motion. The gramophone was invented in 1887 by Emile Berliner and its work was to record messages that would be played repeatedly. The Kodak film camera was invented in 1888 by George Eastman and in 1889; an automatic telephone exchange was invented by one Almon Strowger. New inventions and innovations on existing ones continued being experienced and in 1894, wireless telegraphy had been greatly improved by Guglielmo Marconi.
The first-ever answering machines for telephones made a debut in 1898 and 1899, people were now able to store data courtesy of Valdemar Poulsen. He invented magnetic recordings that could capture messages for later use. Through this medium, music and other forms of data could be recorded on tapes and disks. The same year saw the inventions of loudspeakers that magnified recorded and live sounds. Guglielmo Marconi made another key invention that enabled the transmission of radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean. Comic books were invented in 1904 and they became a regular series. The radio and the telephone amplifications got better in 1906 courtesy of Lee Deforest who invented an electronic amplifying tube.
In 1910, Thomas Edison invented the very first talking motion picture and in 1914 saw the first telephone calls that could be received across the continent. An iconoscope found its way into the communications scene courtesy of one Vladimir Kosma in 1923. Several inventions happened in 1927 when CBS was founded and England received the first-ever television broadcast. In addition, two radio networks were started by NBC, and “The Jazz Singer” talking motion picture was released by Warner Brothers. The United States received its first television broadcast in 1930 and the same year saw radio grow to great lengths (Bellis, 1997).
Around this time, people were only able to watch live television broadcasts but in 1938, taping and editing of these broadcasts were made possible and people were able to watch scheduled broadcasts by1939. Information Science was birthed in 1944 when computers came into use in the public service. Computers such as the Harvard Mark I were used in government offices. A transistor was invented in 1948 and records that could play for longer were invented in the same year. In 1951, computers were sold for commercial purposes, photocopiers debuted in 1958 courtesy of Chester Carlson, and integrated circuits were invented. The internet era was not too far from here and in 1969, the first internet, known as ARPANET was started.
The computer floppy disks and the microprocessor were invented in 1971. Pay-TV service was invented by HBO in 1972 and 1976, the home computer by Apple was invented. Mobile phones were first used in Japan in 1979 and a Sony Walkman was invented in 1980. In 1981, the first-ever IBM personal computers as well as laptops were sold. The Time Magazine recognized computers as “Man of the Year” in 1983 and in the same year, the United States embraced the use of a cellular network. The Apple Macintosh was invented in 1984 and in 1985, cellular telephones could be used in cars and CD-ROMs in computers. In 1994, the American government sought internet control as the WWW converted communications to light speed (Bellis, 1997).
Communication Technology Timeline
Year Invention
1450 Daily newspaper
1455 Gutenberg printing press
1861 Pony Express mail delivery
1867 Typewriter
1877 High speed photography moving pictures
1888 Roll film camera
1889 Telephone
1898 Answering machine
1904 Comic book
1910 Talking motion pictures
1923 Television
1944 Government use of computers
(Age of information science begins)
1945 0% televisions in households
1951 First commercial computer
1954 MIT introduces computer graphics
1966 Fax machine
1969 ARPNET first internet
1970 95% television household penetration
1972 Pong video game
1974 Intel First computer chip
1975 Microsoft
1976 Apple II
1979 Pac man video (Japan)
1979 Cell phone network (Japan)
1980 Microsoft DOS operating system
1980 Sony Walkman
1981 IBM PC
1981 Computer mouse
1983 Cell phone network (USA)
1983 Time Magazine names computer as “Man of the Year”
1984 Macintosh
1985 Microsoft 1
1991 World Wide Web begins
1994 First Blog
1995 AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy dialup internet service
1995 Amazon.com
1995 eBay
1997 “blog” term coined
1999 Google
1999 MySpace
2001 Wikipedia
2002 Flicker
2003 Second Life
2004 Face Book
2005 YouTube (Trent, 2009).
Future of communication
Researchers are still at work developing devices that will make a mark in future communication devices. The trends are becoming more complex with time and we can only look forward to a telecommunications wonderland full of possibilities. As inventions and innovations continue in the science world, we are looking at smaller and more functional cell phones that can be used even on planes, high broadband speeds, and seamless Wi-Fi networks among others. In addition, we are looking at ultimate efficiency, ease of use, affordability, and availability of these gadgets to more users. The future of the communications industry will therefore be one flooded with wireless data pipelines that will be at everyone’s disposal (Derene, 2011).
How these technological inventions have shaped modern society
Conclusion
Technological inventions in communication have brought about a great impact and it is hard to imagine life without computers, the internet, and cell phones among others. Communication has been made easier and people are now able to send and receive messages instantly anywhere in the globe. This has been attributed to the growth of world economies since business transactions and interactions have been made much easier (Day, 2001). With these massive transformations, we can only expect mind-blowing technological transformations in the near future.
References
Bellis, M. (1997).The history of communication. Communication Inventions Journal, 4(1), 1-13.
Day, R.E. (2001). The modern invention of information: Discourse, History, and Power. USA: Library of Congress Publication Data.
Derene, G. (2011). Coolest communication devices of the future. Forbes Communications, 1(2), 1-4.
Maslow, A. (2002). Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Internet Center for Management and Business Administration Inc, 6(1), 2.
Trent, C. (2009). Communication Technology Timeline. Web.