Telecommunications Tutorial: Current political issues
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045019 |
| Pages | 436-439 |
| Published date | 01 June 1990 |
| Date | 01 June 1990 |
| Author | A.E. Cawkell |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Telecommunications Tutorial
Current political issues
A.E.
Cawkell
Citech, PO Box
565,
Iver,
Bucks, SL0 0QZ, UK
Introduction
Well over
a
hundred years ago it was said that:
"Libraries are conducted for the many, not for the
few... it is of paramount importance that the means of
general information should be so diffused that the lar-
gest number of persons should be induced to read and
understand questions going down to the very founda-
tion of social order" (Anon 1852).
Some people feel that this principle is being steadily
eroded and yet there is a paradox:
"Why if libraries are essential to a democratic society
are they so unsuccessful in attracting support?... In a
1973 survey only three per cent of respondents used a
library to obtain information on their most important
problems" (Gell 1979).
According to Schiller (1984) the erosion is being accel-
erated by the way in which telecommunications are develop-
ing:
"The pool of information will contract as access and
availability become almost entirely tied to an ability-
to-pay standard. What hypothetically could be a truly
information rich society is on the way to becoming a
community divided into information haves and have-
nots".
Perhaps there is a parallel between libraries and telecoms.
Will telecoms-borne information be used by only
a
very small,
proportion of the general public? People who need informa-
tion know its value and are prepared to pay for it—hence the
arrival of the 'Special Systems' mentioned below. The new
'Public Networks' also discussed below, are potentially 'in-
formation media' for the public.
The concept of depriving the public of information — the
first act of the budding dictator — is immediately recognis-
able as being of the utmost importance. But the notion that the
'public' may become 'information poor' in a free society is
nebulous. Perhaps most people are satisfied with their access
to a varied entertainment/information media at a relatively
low cost. The arrival of the home computer did not seem to
make much impact as a new information source. There has
been absolutely no rush to subscribe to the Integrated Service
Digital Network (ISDN)
in
order to make
use
of
the
machine's
information retrieval and processing potential.
Klopfenstein (1989) poses a number of questions which
remain unanswered:
"What services do home users want? What price will
they be willing to pay? Does the future of home infor-
mation delivery depend upon the diffusion of personal
computers or videotex receivers into the home?"
After surveying a large number of forecasts Klopfenstein
concludes that:
"Forecasters easily envision end-state scenarios in
which the technology is used in a myriad of appli-
cations... advances in graphics are impressive but until
there is a use for thousands of colours or
600
dpi resol-
ution, the potential home user may continue to only
read about it in a high-tech magazine. Using the home
computer to access recipes is another example of a
plausible application which ignores the existing sim-
plicity inherent in using a cookbook".
Special telecommunication networks
Deregulation in the United States, the growing market for
business communications, and the arrival of compact, power-
ful,
cheap technology, has prompted the development of a
range of
new
telecom systems. These include:
(1) LANs, Managed Networks organised and maintained
by a telecoms organisation on behalf of
a
client;
(2) Metropolitan Area Networks, 'Super LANs' with a
fibreoptic ring operating at 150 Mbps or more over an
area of about 50 Kms;
(3) Personal Communication Networks (PCN), similar in
principle to cellular mobile radio, but with subscribers
using cheap portable radio telephones communicating
via a network of PCN base-stations (Potter 1990).
Virtual Private Networks are another new idea. The US
Sprint Communications Company has teamed up with Cable
& Wireless, owner of the North Pacific and PTAT Atlantic
cables, to offer a 64 kbps ISDN-like service, aimed at multi-
nationals.
The phrase 'Wide Area Network' (WAN), meaning any
network covering a wide area, for instance a private leased
line network,
has
been introduced
to
cover both old and newly
introduced networks of this type.
Public networks
The telephone network is slowly being transformed into a
wideband 'information' network, to convey data which may
be speech,
text,
graphics,
halftone or colour
images,
or motion
video. Several of
the
world's major
PTTs
are in the process of
436 The Electronic Library, Vol. 8, No. 6, December 1990
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