Disruptive Technologies - Essay Example

Disruptive Technologies MIS 200 Disruptive Technologies The term technology refers to the usage of instruments, equipment and tools in order to achieve something. Technology is primarily used to make things easier. Technology can be as simple as the invention of a wheel and as complex as the invention of robots. In the world of business, disruptive technology can be explained as betterment or an innovation in technology that results in lowered prices of products or very high quality services that are unexpected in the market. Disruptive technology has travelled through a long journey over time in the human history. Perhaps the most ancient material for writing devised by man was the clay tablet. The Sumerians and the inhabitants of Babylonians were the first ones to use clay tablets. These were basically square shaped flat bricks of clay that were inscribed by writing while they were wet. (“Britannica”, n.d.). People by that time had devised a form of written language through symbols. These were obviously written symbols, and were engraved on wet clay bricks or tablets which were then baked in the sun and preserved. They used a devise called ‘stylus’ for imprinting the symbols in clay. “This writing system was impressed into soft clay with a reed implement called a ‘Stylus’ and then the clay was baked in the sun to dry, forming hard tablets.” (Silvester, 2009). The symbolic language that was used to write the message or the information was called the ‘Cuneiform’. As it is stated: “Cuneiform denotes not one but several kinds of writing systems, including logo syllabic, syllabic, and alphabetic scripts.” (Ancientscripts.com, n.d.). Clay tablets were probably used initially for recording business transactions, but their usage later extended to preserve literature also. The most logical problem with clay tablets was their size and breaking risk. Therefore, the people came up with something that met what they needed, which was the scrolls. The scrolls were made from a form of parchment, papyrus, or paper. These were actually small pieces of parchment attached to one another by some form of glue to form a long writing space. These were kept all rolled up in form of scrolls. In a scroll, “the letters may be written left to right, right to left, or alternating in direction” (Scrolls, n.d.) The scrolls were found in Europe and western side of Asia. These were used by inhabitants of Egypt who used Arabic language that is written from right to left and were later adopted by other civilizations who wrote from left to right. Even in the current date, scrolls are used by Jews in their religious ceremonies. Even though many people liked the usage of the scrolls, yet, they were looking for something smaller, lighter and flexible to be used. Therefore, they came up with the codex. Codex, according to Wikipedia is: “A book in the format used for modern books, with separate pages normally bound together and given a cover.” (codex,n.d) Romans were the pioneers in codex. Codex was definitely superior to scrolls. It was much easier to handle as compared to scrolls. Codex made it possible for the reader to read while holding the pages almost spread out flat in front of him. With the spread of codex, scrolls became almost obsolete. The modern form of codex is the book in print as the modern world knows it. Printed books are still popular. Initially, all pages of a book were written by hand in ink. Later, stencils were developed to print page after page of the book and for making copies. Then came the Gutenberg revolution in printing, introducing the metal movable type printing press. This printing press is an example of disruptive technology. It made printing so cheap and accessible, that it became common. ‘The ready availability and affordability of the printed word to the general public boosted the democratization of knowledge and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy’. (Wikipedia, n.d.). With time man invented various time saving and advanced printing machines which are used in present date. Books are still popular, but, with the advent of internet, people have lessened their usage of printed books. Internet is basically a facility that connects people all over the globe. It has made the world a global village. Through internet, the long distances have become short and communication has become extremely quick. Internet has a store of information that can be assessed by any one, in any part of the world. It provides a platform for sharing knowledge, views and information. It provides opportunity to learn about information coming from so far flung areas that without internet such interaction could not even have been imagined. According to Gwoda & Shivaligaiah (2009), “More than half of the respondents agreed that e-resources have greatly benefited the quality of research I their field.” (A survey of university Libraries in Kranataka, p. 190) The internet has changed many things, specially the way that people use to communicate around the world. Moreover, it saves a lot of time for the user. Communication through the internet is the quickest form of sending and receiving messages as the present day world knows. The history of the Internet goes back to 1973 where the first Internet was designed. The Internet became more popular and useful especially with the use www. (World Wide Web). Internet has also revolutionized the business world. Sale, purchase, marketing and even transactions are now easily possible through internet. Companies have their websites. They advertise and market their products through the internet. People can also buy through online orders. The whole buying and selling world has been revolutionized. Disruptive technologies always affect the society as well as business. For example, the cost of the paper is much cheaper than the cost of the parchment; however, the parchment is still used today with the diplomas and other high-value documents. Therefore, such a disruptive technology benefits the business by reducing the cost of the writing document. With technology, comes change. With disruptive technology, comes bigger change. Disruptive technology can suddenly close down many businesses and it can even bring unemployment to many tradesmen. For example, when there was no postal system, people were hired as messengers to communicate between two parties. Messengers had to travel long distances in order to convey a message from one party to another be it in written or oral form. With the advent of post, concept of messengers diminished. Then, the postal department employed many workers for the post office to process people’s letters and many post men in place of messengers. But, soon after internet came and trend towards postal messaging specially in the modern urban area is reducing. The business practices all over the world have been under constant change with disruptive technologies. For example, consider the banking trade for instance. In old times, communities always had bankers. People who were trusted by other people for keeping their money safe, and also people who lent money to other people on interest. With the advent of written language, these trustees started hiring of literate men to keep the record of money transactions. As printing technology further established, they started maintaining note books. As the business and technology further advanced, banks were established for this purpose. With codex, the banks started maintaining cash and deposit books. Further advancement in technology brought with it the credit cards and visa cards which reduced the cash carrying related risks. Further disruptive technology brought the ATM facility with it. The latest big disruptive advancement in printing, the internet revolutionized the banking industry. It made possible online transactions. The introduction of computerized visa cards for instance, has played a very important role in determining the transparency of different Government and Non government schemes specially in the third world countries. Disruptive technologies have also played a very important role in spreading awareness to the uneducated class of the society. The agriculturalist of the old times for example was a plain farmer. Who did not know anything of modern advancements in technology. With the disruptive advancements in media, the farming society started to get an awareness of modern technology and how it could be utilized by them to expand the farming industry. Step by step the media improved, awareness was spread and in turn, farming flourished. Consider another example. The Milking Trade. In old times, people who reared cattle used to collect milk in bottles and sell them to people. With the advent of machines, the same job was done with much less efforts. With the development of technology, a whole dairy industry came into being. People now don’t have to make cheese and yogurt out of milk at their homes. Revolutionized technology has enabled all this in market. Packed and marked, branded dairy products are now available and are even being exported and imported thanks to the technology of preservation. Other than business, almost all fields of life are affected by disruptive technologies. Technology has a direct effect on culture. The internet has become a part of daily life of common man. It is today being used for recording information, chatting with family and friends, sharing videos, purchasing, selling, and many other daily basis activity. Internet has brought with it a world-wide cultural revolution. According to Zurawski (1998), “Culture and identity are two of the foremost aspects when speaking about the internet’s social aspects.” (uni-muenster.de) With the invasion of internet in every home, the access to information of every sort has become readily available. Whatever anybody in any part of the world wants to know about any part of the world is just a click away from them. This has brought different cultures closer. Search engines like Google and Yahoo have made life much easier. Whatever information is required by anybody at any time is available on these sites. Now let’s consider the disruptive aspect of the internet. Internet is very rapidly replacing all other forms of media. Internet is available at very low prices in all countries over the world. Books in print and published journals in printed form are way too expensive as compared to the price one has to pay for internet. Logically thinking, why would anybody spend money on printed books or on more TV channels for that matter when they can get access to internet on half the price or even less? The way in which internet has invaded and is invading in our lives suggests that the world will soon become uni-cultural. An intermixing of cultures is taking place on a large scale at international level. It is a known fact that exposure to anything contributes to its eventual acceptance. With the internet, our generation has unlimited exposure. This is silently weakening the differences and is taking us towards a homogenous culture. The direction in which and the pace with which technology is moving, some advancements can be speculated about the future. A revolution can be expected in business world. As technology is becoming cheaper and easily available, it can be speculated that large business owners will shift completely to online ways of trading. Marketing, sales, transactions, selling and buying; all this will be done online. IT education will become a must for employees and the concept of going daily to office for work will die. The new concept will be waking up and going online to work every day. Social lives of people will also be much affected with new disruptive technologies. The need to go out of houses will be reduced to very minimum and people will spend most parts of their lives at homes. Social calls will become limited to Face Book and Twitter chat rooms. With the disruptive technologies come revolutions. A revolution in the mobile phone world is also speculated. Technology that uses mobile phones, satellite and internet simultaneously is already at hand. With services like satellite location and GPRS, life has already become so much different than it was ten years back. It is speculated that big computers and laptops will be replaced by instruments as small as handy mobile phones or even smaller than mobiles. There might be just one device, small in size having very huge memory storage ability that will answer for today’s satellite receiver, mobile phone and computer. Another field in which a major advancement is expected is that of hologram technology. “A lot of speculative thinkers predict a future of small highly self-sustaining tribes and micro-civilizations. The development of the 3D printer combined with online services will partly be a step in this direction.” (De Boer, 2010). Three dimensional printers will bring a revolution in culture. The hologram technology has the potential of re structuring the human life style completely. It can create a whole new digital world. Speculating about the impact of disruptive technology in the banking sector, it is possible that a revolution may occur in the currency. When all the people will use online transfer, bank notes might become obsolete and money might become just a concept rather than a physical objet in form of paper. An educational revolution can also be speculated. Already, some online universities have been introduced. These are proving to be very successful and economical in terms of time as well as money. E-tutoring is a very common practice these days. Further advancement speculated in the educational field is that of internet junior schools, internet Montessori’s and internet based online high schools. This will accompany many socio cultural changes. The major change will be in the general life style of students and in their daily routine. They will not have to go to school as in travel to school. They will have to log on to school on the internet each morning. The concept of morning assembly will die out. Live contact with teachers will not be a part of schooling. School sports and school election campaign as we know it will not exist anymore. Libraries full of rich print media resources will become obsolete and all store of knowledge and the only feasible way of obtaining it will be the internet and internet alone. Information technology education will become a compulsory part of syllabus at all levels. Physical exercises and games will be reduced to the minimum and only games available would be the video games on the internet. The whole concept of modern day education, school building, sports, school gymnasium, co-curricular activities will be restructured. In the light of above discussion, it can be concluded that world of media and communication has been ever changing. Media is full of disruptive advancements. Media is so deeply connected with our lives and our lives are so much related to and dependent on media that with advancement in the history of media, social life all over the world has undergone a new revolution. The whole fabric of civilization has been restructured with disruptive technologies. Disruptive technologies have mainly effected and are speculated to effect two areas in future also. These are economy (Business world) and society (culture). Business world goes through transition with every new innovation in medium technology, while culture is slowly and silently, in a very unnoticeable manner, going through transition with each new day. Every morning poses new challenges in the world of media. Every day the solutions to these problems are sought, and doubtlessly, everyday something new is achieved. Technology is very closely related to culture. It is a part of our daily lives. Without realizing it, we use technology almost all the time during our waking hours. That is why disruptive innovations in technology also mean revolution in our life style. Revolution in our life style would eventually mean a change in society, and that over a period of time will create a changed, a new and restructured culture. Disruptive technologies have made a Global village out of this world. They have helped in bringing people from different societies in interaction, thus indirectly contributing in minimizing cultural differences. Speculations about future advancements in technology include those of three dimensional know-how, integration of mobile phone, internet and satellite equipment, online work places, online socialization platforms and online schooling facilities. References Clay Tablet. (n.d) In Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Retrieved May 26, 2010 from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/120746/clay-tablet Codex. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Wikipedia Online. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex Cuneiform. (n.d). Ancientscripts Online. Retrieved February 22, 2010 from http://www.ancientscripts.com/cuneiform.html De boer, J. (2010). Speculations on 3D printing. (online). May 27, 2010 from http://popupcity.net/2010/01/speculations-on-3d-printing/ Gwoda. V & Shivaligaiah. D. (2009). Attitude of research scholars towards usage of electronic information resources. In Annals of library and information studies. (Vol 56). Retrieved May 26, 2010 from http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/6566/ 1/ALIS%2056(3)%20184-191.pdf Scroll. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Wikipedia Online. Retrieved May 26, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroll Zurauski, N. (1998). Culture, Identity and the Internet. Retrieved February 23, 2010 from http://www.uni-muenster.de/PeaCon/zurawski/Identity.htm Read More