Technological Inventions in Enhancing the Quality of Life Humanity - Essay Example

Invention Assignment: Internet & ARPA (Vinton Cerf) Student’s Name: Course Code: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission: 1.0 Introduction Technological inventions have been critical in enhancing the quality of life humanity can enjoy and competitiveness of organizations (Burgelman, Christensen & Wheelwright, 2004, p.237). There are numerous ground breaking inventions that have been fronted over the years. One of these is the invention of internet by Vinton Cerf and ARPA net team (Cerf, 209, p.1203). Since it was invented in 1962, Leiner, et al. (2009, p.24) observes that internet has revolutionized various aspects of human life, such as how information is relayed, online distance learning, how organizations conduct business and social interaction supported by internet as the backbone. This paper examines invention of internet technology and assesses the impact of the internet on present technological civilization. In regard to the later, the paper argues that internet has great impact on political, social and economic aspect of humanity since it has revolutionized communication, storage & sharing of data, operation of businesses such as e-business, access to education through online distance education among others. 2.0 Internet Technology, the Inventor (s) and Trends The growth of internet technology has undergone a meandering trajectory demarcated by input of various individuals and institutions (Internet Society, 2012). However, the proper discourse on the same is traceable from 1962 when the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) moved a notch higher on connection of computers and having central servers. ARPA was later to be renamed Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in 1971 (Leiner, et al., 2009, p.24). The ground breaking advancements are accredited to the ARPA team and Vinton Cerf, who was the principal programmer of the project (Cerf, 209, p.1203). According to Internet World Stats (2014), the internet refers to the “worldwide interconnection of individual networks operated by government, industry, academia and private parties”. Further, they observe that the internet has phenomenally expanded to emerge as a medium that allows millions of people to connect. This has been necessitated by the growth of social networks and mobile technology. The phenomenal growth is attributed to the fact that the internet offers connectivity on a real time basis irrespective of where an individual is (Pepper et al., 2009, p.37). Additionally, Internet World Stats (2014) observes that by June 30, 2012 there were 2, 405, 518, 376 internet users (See Appendix 3). This shows how dramatic the internet phenomenon has gripped the whole world. 3.0 Impact on Present Technological Civilization Technology can be conceptualized as developments that aids in easing challenges facing humanity (Burgelman, Christensen & Wheelwright, 2004, p.237). On the other hand, civilization can be best understood within the context of improvement/ modernity in all spheres of life from what can be termed as ‘backwardness’ or ‘remoteness’ to ‘modernity’ (Featherstone, 1995, p.52). Therefore, in discussing the impact of internet on present technological civilization the paper assesses how internet has revolutionized human operations towards modernity in terms of improvement from previous existing situation to new advanced levels. Metes et al (1998 cited in McGaughey, 1999, p.7) outlines the fact that internet as global network has greatly redefined how human beings communicate, conduct commerce, access entertainment and connect with each other. These four critical parameters constitute an integral theme for the subsequent discussion on how internet has impacted on the present technological civilization scene. In the discussion, the paper first examines general communication and data storage capability presented by internet and then dissects the contextualized aspect of applying the communication capability in regard to connectivity as seen in social networks and enabling of business operations in terms of e-business. 3.1 Communication and Data Storage One of the advantages associated with the internet is the real time nature of this platform where people can conduct businesses or social activity online not on a delayed basis. This is possible in areas such as email, blogs, social media, chat and voice over internet protocol (Mahadevan, 2000, p.57). Pepper et al (2009, p.37) indicates that “internet ubiquity offers connectivity to people whenever they are, whenever they want to access the network with the device of their choosing”. This is one of the strengths of internet as compared to other competing communication that at a time are limited to spatial boundaries and reach. Nevertheless, the strength of internet in communication is not only limited to its universality, but also to its multimedia nature where one is able to integrate text, video, stand still photos and voice as opposed to other mediums which are highly limited in this context (Mahadevan, 2000, p.57). For instance, Weiss (2012) observes that the tweet by Obama after being re-elected on November 6, 2012 as the 44th president of America received 22.7 million retweets. This kind of record is not possible with the sale of a daily newspaper or telephone calls in a given single day. Equally the prowess on internet in communication is necessitated by the fact that it allows for development of a bulk mailing list or development of discussion boards where single information can be delivered to individual inbox or an issue can be placed for discussion on a discussion board on platforms such as blog sites and social media platforms (Elgin, 2006). Closely related to communication function of internet, internet has enhanced the way individuals and organizations store data. This is made possible because of the fact that data can be stored in remote areas, be backed up and accessed at any moment from anywhere. According to Fong (2003, p.148) internet presents an avenue for storing information in the serves which can then be remotely accessed based on local or wide area network. Such capability is really critically in its application in various aspects of economy and human life. For instance, this can be utilized in storage of academic materials and in supporting of online transactions such as automated teller machines for dispensing money that allows customers to withdraw money from their accounts irrespective of their physical location. According to Stewart (2011), it was estimated that by 2007, there 295 exabytes stored one which is equivalent to 1.2 billion average hard drives. This is converted physically would translate to 13 layers of books that is able to cover the entire area of China and US. 3.2 E-Businesses The second domain in which internet has presently had impact on is how organizations conduct business. Internet offers businesses the required agility thus, presenting ample opportunity to address customer need effectively. McGaughey (1999) defines agility as ‘the ability of an enterprise to respond quickly and successfully to change’ (p.7). The whole expose on agility is embedded in the concept of e-business. Mahadevan (2000, p.57) observes that people and organizations can engage in commercial exchange without any need for physical presence as a result of the internet platform. In talking about transactions anchored on online platform, e-business comes into limelight. E-business enables business organizations to redefine their customer relationship so as to create value for the customers anchored on online technology (Anumba & Ruikar, 2008, p.6). Such processes include retailing, trading, marketing & banking through utilization of computer, communication technology and computerized data (Cheser, Kaura & Linton, 2003, p.42-43). An example within e-business domain is the buying and selling of goods services also known as e-commerce (Anumba & Ruikar, 2008, p.7). Secondly, there is the possibility of conducting promotion and advertisement over the internet also known as e-marketing (Gay, Charlesworth & Esen, 2007, p.5-6). For instance, Martell Home Builders stands out one of the organizations that have utilized internet through social media to conduct e-business such as e-marketing and e-commerce. The firm advertises her products such as upcoming development projects/ estates and the location of the said projects on their social network sites. The promotional campaigns in the sites depict pricings, building technologies employed and value of the neighborhood where they are constructed. This has empowered them to drive their brand a notch higher leading to improved brand equity. As such, approximately 86% of contract emanate directly from the consumer as a result of interaction they have had with customers as opposed to earlier years where they relied on middlemen (Porterfield, 2011; Falls, 2008). 3.3 Social Connectivity and Sharing of Information Elgin (2006) observes that the internet has necessitated the growth of an online community that allows people to connect and share information on various issues through social sites and micro-blogging sites. This offers individuals to build social contacts, thereby expanding the social network of individuals (See Appendix 4). Social networking sites and social media empower individuals to share information rapidly where individuals or firms interact and collaborate through various media tools (Napier et al., 2001, p.6). Such possibility has given rise to co-production where general citizenry can engage in the distribution of news outside the traditional institutionalized media (Markham, 2011). For instance, the social network has been expanded from 1.22 billion in 2011to an estimated 1.97 billion in 2014 (see appendix 5). 4.0 Conclusion The aim of the paper was to discuss a ground breaking invention that the author felt has had an impact on humanity. The chosen invention for this case study is internet which was invented in 1962 by ARPA team. The paper established that the internet has revolutionized how humanity operates in various aspects of life. Firstly the paper established that the internet has modernized how information is transferred, accessed and stored owing to its ubiquity, real time nature and massive storage capacity. Secondly, the paper established that the internet has civilized how a human being conducts business reducing the need for physical processes. Lastly, the paper found out that the internet has enhanced social connectivity through social networks. References Anumba, C. J & Ruikar, K 2008, e-Business in Construction. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons. Bacon, N 2013, Can social relationships help us live longer? Retrieved on 11 March, 2014 from: http://futurecommunitiesneveragain.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/can-social-relationships- help-us-live-longer-guest-post-by-nicola-bacon/. Burgelman, R., Christensen, C & Wheelwright, S 2004, Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation. New York: McGraw Hill. Cerf, V 2009, The day the Internet age began, Nature, 461(7268), p. 1202-1203. Cheser, M., Kaura, R & Linton, P 2003, Electronic Business & Commerce, London, Springer- Verlag. Elgin, B 23 January, 2006, Yahoo’s Social Circle, BusinessWeek Online, Retrieved on 11 March, 2014 from:http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=1e1d7df7-7790-4a2c- b046c4bf42407980%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=121&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWx pdmU%3d#db=bth&AN=19582224. Emarketer 18 June, 2013, Social Networking Reaches Nearly One in Four Around the World. Retrieved on 11 March 2014 from: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social- Networking-Reaches-Nearly-One-Four-Around-World/1009976. Falls, J 20 October, 2008, Social Media for Small Business: Martell Home Builders, Retrieved on 11 March 2014 from: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media- marketing/social-media-for-small-business-martell-home-builders/. Featherstone, M 1995, Undoing culture: Globalization, postmodernism and identity, (Vol. 39). Sage. Fong, M. W. L. In the virtual world in Khosrow-pour, M. ed. 2003, Information technology and organization: trends, issues, challenges and solutions. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing. Gay, R., Charlesworth, A & Esen, R 2007, Online marketing: a customer-led approach, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Internet Society 2012, Brief history of the internet, Retrieved on 11 March 2014 from: http://www.internetsociety.org/internet/what-internet/history-internet/brief-history- internet. Internet World Stats 18 February, 2014, Usage and Population Statistics, Retrieved on 11th March 2014 from, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Leiner, B. M., Kahn, R. E., Postel, J., Cerf, V. G., Kleinrock, L., Roberts, L. G., Clark, D. D., Lynch, D. C. & Wolf, S 2009, A brief History of the Internet. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 39(5), 22-31. Mahadevan, B 2000, "Business Models for Internet based E-commerce: An anatomy". Working paper. Retrieved, 11 March, 2014 from: http://www.pearsoned.ca/highered/divisions/text/cyr/readings/MahadevanT1P2R2.pdf. Markham, T 2011, Hunched over their laptops: phenomenological perspectives on citizen journalism, Review of Contemporary Philosophy,10, pp. 150-164. McGaughey, R. E. 1999, Internet technology: contributing to agility in the twenty-first century. International Journal of Agile Management System, 1(1), 7-13. Napier, H. et al. 2001, Create A Winning E-business, Boston: Thomson Learning. Pepper, R., Rueda-Sabater, E. J., Boeggeman, B. C. & Garrity, J 2009, From mobility to ubiquity: ensuring the power and promise of internet connectivity… for anyone anywhere, anytime in the Global Technology Report 2008-2009, World Economic Forum. Porterfield, A 12 April, 2011, Companies Doing Social Media Right and Why, Retrieved on 11 March 2014 from: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social- media-right-and-why/. Stewart, J 11 February, 2011, Global data storage calculated at 295 exabytes. BBC. Retrieved on 11 March 2014 from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12419672. Weiss, T November 11, 2012, Obama post-victory tweet record, show power of social media. Retrieved on 11 March, 2014 from: http://www.eweek.com/it- management/obama- post-victory-tweet-breaks-record-shows-power-of-social-media/. Appendices Appendix 1: The Inventing Game – CEEN 2250 This table is replicated as it is presented in the question without any sorting. 2007 Invention of the Year 1. IC Edwin Armstrong 2. Mouse John Bardeen 3. iPod Alexander Graham Bell 4. Test for Al Karl Benz 5. FM Radio Tim Berners-Lee 6. ENIAC David Boggs 7. Palm Pilot (PDA) Walter Brattain 8. Terror weapon Nolan Bushnell 9. iPhone ARPA (Vinton Cerf) 10. AC power Lee de Forest 11. Voyager 1 J. Presper Eckert 12. RADAR Thomas Edison 13. Intel 4004 Douglas Engelbart 14. Z3 First microprocessor 15. Transistor Ivan Getting 16. Radio Jeff Hawkins 17. Internet Heinrich Hertz 18. Predicted radio wave existence Jonathan Ive 19. Ethernet Jack Kilby 20. Pong Guglielmo Marconi 21. Telephone John Mauchly 22. GPS James Clerk Maxwell 23. Automobile Robert Metcalfe 24. Vacuum tube Samuel Morse 25. Light bulb Most distant human-made object in space 26. Electromagnet Robert Noyce 27. GUI Bradford Parkinson 28. WWW William Shockley 29. Telegraph William Sturgeon Nikola Telsa Alan Turing Alessandro Volta Xerox PARC Konrad Zuse Appendix 2: Matching the inventor and the invention This is the end result table after matching inventor and invention 2007 Invention of the Year # 9 Edwin Armstrong # 5 John Bardeen # 15 Alexander Graham Bell # 21 Karl Benz # 23 Tim Berners-Lee # 28 David Boggs # 19 Walter Brattain # 15 Nolan Bushnell # 20 ARPA (Vinton Cerf) # 17 Lee de Forest # 16 # 24 J. Presper Eckert # 6 Thomas Edison # 24 # 25 Douglas Engelbart # 2 First microprocessor (Marcian Edward Hoff) # 13 Ivan Getting # 22 Jeff Hawkins # 7 Heinrich Hertz # 12 Jonathan Ive #3 Jack Kilby # 1 Guglielmo Marconi # 16 John Mauchly # 6 James Clerk Maxwell # 18 Robert Metcalfe # 19 Samuel Morse # 29 Most distant human-made object in space # 11 Robert Noyce # 1 Bradford Parkinson # 22 William Shockley # 15 William Sturgeon # 26 Nikola Telsa # 10 # 16 Alan Turing #4 Alessandro Volta # 8 Xerox PARC # 27 # 19 Konrad Zuse # 14 Appendix: World Internet Usage and Population Statistics, June 30, 2012 Source: Internet World Stats, 2014 Appendix 4: role of social media in building and expanding social relations Source: Bacon, 2013 Appendix 5: Social Network Users Worldwide, 2011-2017 Source: emarketer, 2013 Read More

This has been necessitated by the growth of social networks and mobile technology. The phenomenal growth is attributed to the fact that the internet offers connectivity on a real time basis irrespective of where an individual is (Pepper et al., 2009, p.37). Additionally, Internet World Stats (2014) observes that by June 30, 2012 there were 2, 405, 518, 376 internet users (See Appendix 3). This shows how dramatic the internet phenomenon has gripped the whole world. 3.0 Impact on Present Technological Civilization Technology can be conceptualized as developments that aids in easing challenges facing humanity (Burgelman, Christensen & Wheelwright, 2004, p.237). On the other hand, civilization can be best understood within the context of improvement/ modernity in all spheres of life from what can be termed as ‘backwardness’ or ‘remoteness’ to ‘modernity’ (Featherstone, 1995, p.52). Therefore, in discussing the impact of internet on present technological civilization the paper assesses how internet has revolutionized human operations towards modernity in terms of improvement from previous existing situation to new advanced levels.

Metes et al (1998 cited in McGaughey, 1999, p.7) outlines the fact that internet as global network has greatly redefined how human beings communicate, conduct commerce, access entertainment and connect with each other. These four critical parameters constitute an integral theme for the subsequent discussion on how internet has impacted on the present technological civilization scene. In the discussion, the paper first examines general communication and data storage capability presented by internet and then dissects the contextualized aspect of applying the communication capability in regard to connectivity as seen in social networks and enabling of business operations in terms of e-business. 3.1 Communication and Data Storage One of the advantages associated with the internet is the real time nature of this platform where people can conduct businesses or social activity online not on a delayed basis.

This is possible in areas such as email, blogs, social media, chat and voice over internet protocol (Mahadevan, 2000, p.57). Pepper et al (2009, p.37) indicates that “internet ubiquity offers connectivity to people whenever they are, whenever they want to access the network with the device of their choosing”. This is one of the strengths of internet as compared to other competing communication that at a time are limited to spatial boundaries and reach. Nevertheless, the strength of internet in communication is not only limited to its universality, but also to its multimedia nature where one is able to integrate text, video, stand still photos and voice as opposed to other mediums which are highly limited in this context (Mahadevan, 2000, p.57). For instance, Weiss (2012) observes that the tweet by Obama after being re-elected on November 6, 2012 as the 44th president of America received 22.

7 million retweets. This kind of record is not possible with the sale of a daily newspaper or telephone calls in a given single day. Equally the prowess on internet in communication is necessitated by the fact that it allows for development of a bulk mailing list or development of discussion boards where single information can be delivered to individual inbox or an issue can be placed for discussion on a discussion board on platforms such as blog sites and social media platforms (Elgin, 2006).

Closely related to communication function of internet, internet has enhanced the way individuals and organizations store data. This is made possible because of the fact that data can be stored in remote areas, be backed up and accessed at any moment from anywhere. According to Fong (2003, p.148) internet presents an avenue for storing information in the serves which can then be remotely accessed based on local or wide area network. Such capability is really critically in its application in various aspects of economy and human life.

Read More