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From: bzs@WORLD.STD.COM (Barry Shein)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Future of Computing and Electronic Media
Message-ID: <9102170346.AA13798@world.std.com>
Date: 17 Feb 91 03:46:15 GMT
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I'm always a sucker for a question...

John Quarterman, in his book "The Matrix", speaks about "Computer
Mediated Communications" (CMC, a term he points out he did not invent,
but an interesting dicussion nonetheless!)

What is being asked about here might be termed, rather awkwardly,
"Computer Mediated Media", or CMM.

There is a very natural relationship between so-called broadcast media
(TV, Radio) and computers. That relationship is fiber-optics. Both
technologies can co-exist well on fiber physical plants.

There has been a buzz in the air for a very few years now that the
local telephone companies have been investigating the feasibility of
resorbing cable-tv wire plants with their own fiber-optic meshes. The
idea would be that the telco provides the "wires" (fiber), and the
cable operators continue as they were, providing programming service
similar to what they are providing today.

The logic is that the telcos already have an enormous amount of
experience in building and maintaining short and long-distance wire
plants. If nothing else, they have most of the rights-of-way.
Something that cable operators continually fight for. The
cable-operators now would have to pay the phone co, but they also lose
the expense of maintaining and amortizing the cable plant.

If this succeeds, then the telcos would have succeeded in finding an
economic basis to put fiber to nearly every home in America (ie.
every home which currently receives cable-tv, a growing segment.)

This ubiquitous fiber-plant, capable of providing both cable-tv
programming and very-high speed data networks (theoretically over 1Gb,
although routing and other issues on such a massive scale may prove to
be a practical bottleneck, probably nothing serious, and several
fibers will almost certainly be laid simultaneously, the cost
differential is almost zero) should catalyze the sort of future
development many of us have been waiting for: The merger of television
and computers (access to network services in particular.) And the
telephone should not be far behind, particularly when we consider the
players involved.

The increased bandwidth should allow services we all have been hearing
about for years, two-way television (e.g. Qube), view-on-demand
programming (no more running down to the video store), etc.

View-on-demand alone should sprout entirely new industries with small
operators providing all sorts of special interest things to watch,
some of which we see in the video tape market already (learn a
language, build a sun-deck, tour the Louvre, porno/porno/porno no
doubt, backgrounder services for news reports [History of Iraq? Hit
F4!])

Such new information resources seem to beg computer intervention,
point and click database interfaces to find out what to demand we
view.  Accessing the indices, searching by subject, etc.

Hobbyists et al will be able to cut-and-paste video segments and
produce their own documentaries ("oh dear, I have to speak in front of
the film club about Hitchcock, hmm, perhaps I can put together a 30
minute presentation on his use of mirrors in his films?")

Professionals in various fields will also find this useful ("What you
are about to view is an overview of the resort business in Togo, we
have prepared this collage from over a hundred video and other
informational sources...")

No doubt we will also see the "Home Shopping Clubs" of the world go to
new excesses. Perhaps we'll even be able to edit out those "toodie
toots" and decide that we'd rather see something slightly more useful
than last year's slipper fashions...

        -Barry Shein

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