While reading The Computer as a Communication Device by J.C.R. Licklider and Robert Taylor, it is interesting to see how well they predicted the influence of technology on communication and the characteristics of technological communication.

Their first assertion to hit the nail right on the head was how creative, interactive communication requires a flexible, dynamic medium that can be accessed and used by all. Of course, little did they know they were talking about the modern-day Internet. They also mention how it is the "programmed digital computer" that will create such a medium and change communication forever, and that this will chance communication "even more profoundly than did the printing press and the picture tube." This is because computers not only allow access to information, but can perform processes for making use of the information.

The authors' intuition on the subject is phenomenal: they clearly point out getting a computer alone will not solve all of your communications problems and they make it clear that the "current" (for their time) hardware and software were limiting. They predicted that significant hardware and software achievements that would make way for a communication revolution were on the horizon. It is also interesting that they foresaw the legal and administrative obstacles that would ensue.

What really intrigues me is their dead-on critique of the time's communication infrastructure, where one had to buy a dedicated line with a (for the time) large bandwidth in order to network information. This would be cost prohibitive, especially because most of the time a computer would not be using the connection at all, and even when it did possibly not at the connected maximum speed. Their solution, which is strikingly familiar to today's Internet infrastructure utilizing TCP/IP, was to have networked computers that would transfer data between each other as necessary. Any communications lines that had to be used could then be utilized fully by using them for everyone's traffic. This is basically what our current Internet backbone does.

They continue to say that the cost of such a network would be comparable to other forms of meeting such as telephone or travel. However, they note that computer technology has consistently dropped in price by 50% every 2 years, and as such computer-based communication could be cheaper than other methods by the time the system was implemented (which the cited as taking at least 2 years as well).

Finally, the most relevant discussion to our class that they partake in is that of the nature of future communities based on computer technology. They cite common interest, instead of "accidental proximity," as the main glue between them, which is what our class unanimously agreed upon on day one. The idea of OLIVER, the hardware and software in the network that works for your behalf, seems extreme at first glance. This is, until you realize most of the listed tasks are something available today on common websites or through common services. They end with some utopian ideas that such a network could provide, including no unemployment. They note the importance of whether access to this facility is a right or a privilege in determining its usefulness.

Overall, I am very impressed with the authors' insight. Most of their predictions have come true, and its almost hard to believe they could have conceived of such with the limited hardware and software of the time.