History of Information Technology

June 12, 2021June 21, 2021

Update 3: Pros vs Cons

Printing gone viral?

We mentioned the importance of the printing press before in our series about Information Technology History, but the printing press has during the last decade been in a transitioning phase and “new” printing technologies are emerging all over the world and might provide the best environmental impact since a long time.
But lets take it back a bit an recognize the print technology’s evolution.

G1P : Generation 1 printing technology was the Gutenburg print press (1500 CE) that provided about 10x faster printing than the written word.

This first generation promise: Good for printing and securing knowledge and thoughts, that otherwise would be left unknown.

G2P : Generation 2 introduces upgrades with the steam engine (1800 CE), that provides a boost and increased printing speeds up to 50x times faster or more.

This generation promises: Good for printing the above gen-stuff, but also prints for the masses (Mass-media is born)

G3P : It’s not until around 1940/1950’s that the electrical printer starts to establish it self. In par with the computer evolution, printers also became more and more efficient and it is commonly said it was the Xerox model A producing about seven copies per minute and the Remington-Rand that could reproduce 600 lines per minute, that form the start of todays modern printing.

This generation promises: This generation are good for all above, but also facilitates more practical printing for both business and homes.

G4P :When the subject is about additive manufacturing, 3D printing, we have entered the realm of what we would call the 4th generation of printing technologies. Because we have now left storing knowledge behind, we have left printing for the masses behind and have started to focus on printing practicality as a means for production of anything… And it is the fourth generation this article will focus more on.

– This new tech might actually remove “The grand father of all waste”

The new generation still stems from the old printing press technology, but now *prints layers after layer making 3d objects, instead of printing 2D pictures, covers and text. By enabling printing on demand, this new tech might actually remove “The grand father of all waste” meaning the batch production system which currently is a bi-product of “the ford assembly line”. Meaning this 4th generation printing technology could transition more businesses to “Pull systems” that are based on actual demand rather then “Push Systems” that are based on forecasts, that creates production that needs to be stored, counted, transported, managed and discounted (more labor intensive, costly and produces more waste).

*Some of the technologies referred in the article actually do not print but burns/melts the layers with laser or electrons etc.

SWEIT thinks Additive Manufacturing also called 3d printing* (SLA, SLS, FDM, DLP, MJF, PJ,DMLS, EBM etc) technology might have similar affect on the world, as the steam engine printing had during the electromechanical era! Meaning this technology has the potential to be implemented on large scale and there for increase production rate in areas where it’s previously been out sourced or perhaps never been located before!

Only this factor alone, would provide great benefits for both business and the environment, and not least the customers. But with the technology potentially breaking up logistical networks and decreasing the need for storage, the world might soon see a different business model or world all together.

We are currently seeing the “first generation” of these replicator “like printers” and they are increasingly becoming faster. More and more new materials are being studied & produced every day in order to bring this technology to use and it will probably enable industries to re-allocate to the best environmentally friendly spaces available in terms of placing the production as close to the source you use to print with or where the majority of your customers are living.

However there are potential risks to. Ever heard about the “Gray goo theory“? It’s a hypothetical global catastrophic scenario based upon out-of-control self-replicating machines that consume all biomass on the planet. It’s actually kind of scary and looking at the progress made within this sector it almost feels like what was recently SCI-FI, is now made IRL.

But with the potential to reduce the amount of shipping made globally in terms of just producing a products where it is cheapest to produce labor wise and instead focus on the greater beneficial circles that could be made from less environmental impact, less labour, less storage and less shipping etc. This technology is poised to be developed further and have an BIG impact on the world. But as always, there are pros and cons with everything!

This generation promises:

Pros:

3D printing allows more complex designs than traditional manufacturing processes..
Minimizes Waste/Print on demand
Cost Effective.
Ease of Access
Flexible Design/Rapid Prototyping.
Strong, durable and Lightweight Parts.
Fast Design and Production.

Cons:

– Reduction in Manufacturing Jobs.
– Hazardous materials used in 3d printing technology (ex. razing & plastics being used)
– Potential for additional *hazardous materials to be invented/produced (“grey goo stuff”).

Even if there is a risk for more hazardous materials being invented, Additive Manufacturing technology will bring a revolution in what materials we all use in or day to day life’s!
This might as well (hopefully) create better approaches to how we produce stuff in general and in turn procures local economies and the local environment!

If applied with sense and foresight (that includes an eco-friendly mindset)… or what SWEIT aspire to promote: It would need a regenerative mindset to secure the future, not one singular aspect but in term of many factors that intertwine in network that should reflect and reference benefits to the environment, society and coming generations of living life and technology.

SWEIT hopes you want to be apart of a truly regenerative IT pursuit globally! So hopefully we can join forces and share insights, hope, expertise and know how, where it is badly needed!

June 3, 2021June 4, 2021

Update 2: Pros vs Cons

In last weeks update we initiated a new series of “pros vs cons” articles! In order to question our selfs and our ideas about everyday tech. We continue the series this week with:

2. Wireless network technology

Wireless technology was first termed around 1890 for the wireless telegraph that Guglielmo Marconi was credited for inventing. He could send messages across the atlantic ocean far better than ever before, which enable new efficient, safer and critical communication services for countless ships around the world. In one of the Science Museums in England you can see how the Titanic’s radio room looked like and it shows a replica of Marconi’s telegraph equipment. However the Marconi’s wireless telegraph could not save the legendary Titanic ship from sinking.

There are a bunch of wireless technology that are in use, so rather than go through them all, SWEIT want to focus mainly on the wireless technologies used for personal ICT devices. Because we think we are all in agreement regarding the importances of wireless technology such as deep space communications, GPS devices and communications lines for distressed emergencies. So lets focus on other more trivial things, that we still take for granted.

We are all familiar with mobile networks and perhaps we should be grateful to the man called “Thomas Edison of Finland” mister Eric Tigerstedt who in 1917 envisioned a hand held radio telephone and actually filed a patent for a “”pocket-size folding telephone with a very thin carbon microphone” or to Prof. Albert Yahnke who actually back in 7th of July 1908, was dismissed from allegation of fraud according to the San Fransisco news papers that published “The wireless phone cases were dismissed” and “The Attorney Schlesinger argued that the charge against Jahnke be dismissed on the ground that it had been clearly shown that his invention had been found to be a success.”. However no production seems to have stemmed from the technology and the company seems to have vanished. However the inventions might have spurred all of the things we use today!

If you got more information about what happened to Prof. Albert Yanke and his invention after 1908, please leave a comment or contact us for an interesting follow up.

However commercial advances in the portable telephone devices really began around the world war, even though some predecessors (as mentioned above) would of been sighted in towns, they were looked at more as piloted version of what later was to become known as the generation Zero mobile devices (pre-cellular phones). These devices would be used in the early 0G-network, with network services provided by the likes of Bell System‘s Mobile Telephone Service.

The “G” term was not officially pronounced during the launch of generation Zero (0G) nor for the first generation (1G) of wireless cellular networks but was actually termed in 1991 when 2g launched for the first time ever in Finland. In order to not devour hours on the history of each generation, I hope the picture I include in the article will depict some services and devices each gen enabled, with the 5g section only giving a projection.

– Previously for each generation, the services became more crowded, now we see the same emergence on the devices side also.

5g should by now be a known term for the majority readers and some of us might actually already use the network! However the praise it receives from BIG TECH and the overall digital market place is still up for validation. The update from 4g to 5g promises significant faster data that enables support for a massive amounts of machines and devices to interconnect. Which in turn increase the production of a lot of new ICT devices (IoT devices), which we’ve written previously about in reference to e-waste.

SWEIT thinks it time we ask ourself the question “when do we need wireless connection?” When do wireless technology enable more environmental friendly services, than the other way around?

For example: The television remote control is a piece of technology that reflect what we would want “out of the box” when buying a new TV. Equally as important, is getting a mouse for you desktop computer! But wait! The desktop computer increasingly comes with a wireless mouse, even though wired ones are still popular. Perhaps it’s logic in reference to the TV-remote. But lets questions that a bit further down in this article.

So let’s first define the good and the bad with wireless tech.

Pros: The most obvious ones are the same as for the internet, but most of us should have noticed by now the additional connivence during the Corona pandemic where wifi enables extra mobility and tele/video conferencing through mobiles and tablets that reduces harmful emissions since business travel from airplanes, cars etc should have been reduced. We can also praise wireless tech to enable multitasking such as reading, listening to all kinds of content from magazine, news papers or documents more easily, which would otherwise would be consumed through channels such as physical books, papers etc. but can now save us time since we do it while training, doing the dish or the laundry etc. And last but not least, it provides critical communications in distressed situations.

Cons:The “convenient trap” – When wireless technology is incorporate “to far” making it non-environmental friendly. Have you ever noticed the discussion regarding if you should use wired or wireless keyboards and mouses? This subject is dreadful since the convenient party absolutely feel the need to travel with no hassle…

I need to bring up the elephant in the room “Two wrongs don’t make one right” = If we want to convey our selfs as environmentally friendly, the travel part should already be concluded not eco-friendly. So what if we still need to travel in our work? Do you absolutely need the wireless mouse for that? Meaning if we are to believe that we can lesser our impact on the environment as consumers of electronics devices, then we should look at the life-cycles of the products we use. I mean we can still find a mouse from the 80-90’s that still works perfectly fine. While the wireless computer mouse we find are usually missing the usb bleu-tooth connector or need new battery and is a lot more easy to misplace.

“SHOULD WE EVEN CALL A PRODUCTS ECO-FRIENDLY IF YOU REGULARLY NEED ADDITIONAL PARTS TO USE THE PRODUCT”

Which lets us to conclude that even if it feels we have less to carry with wireless products such as wireless mouse, earplugs etc. The wireless products often include more parts which for us actually makes it an “inconvenient” product. So SWEIT wonders should we even call it convenient if you run higher risk of losing parts? And should we ever call a product eco-friendly if you regularly need additional parts in order to use the product (even if it is only batteries)?

SWEIT can’t call these solutions hassle free and we would rather prefer a wired solution, since the computer already should provide enough battery power and the same goes for wireless earplugs etc. We obviously understand the clean design wireless brings, it creates the feeling less is more but unfortunately it’s currently the other way around (we are reliant on more batteries, plugins etc).

And that’s what SWEIT wants to bring to the light, should we be worried about the coming IoT devices that might increase consumption with “not so necessary” devices that will flood the market and within a few years need to be updated/changed to keep up with whats in?

And let’s not forget the perspective of life cycles! Is there somehow we can think more regenerative? Both in terms to devices and networks? To be transparent, SWEIT are hopeful about the coming updates made with battery technology thats should increase life cycles a lot, not to mention progress being made to enable services on old networks again in parallel with 5g!

So stay calm SWEIT do see corners of hope for the future but want more businesses and customers to recognize that we do have a role to play in what the future looks like both in terms of what we leave after us and what we save for the coming generations.

– So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Or If it previously didn’t need dedicated batteries, why consume more?

Next weeks update we take a look at the streaming services or should we say services for “freedom of speech”? Stay tune for more!

April 16, 2021

Electronic age: I.T. to the moon! Now Mars!

Visual of Mainframe computing evolving to clouds (cloud computing is the next stage)

4. Electronic age can be defined starting around 1940 and right now.

But this age reflects a cross road moment, where Information Technologies creates new branches of sub-domains and humans creativity lets these sub-domain takes on a form of it’s own. Lets mention just a few and see if we can find some nostalgia:

The electronic era enable humans to enter space now over 60 years ago! From Gagarin’s historic 1961 space flight and Neil Armstrong’s flight to the moon in July 20 1969! All due to computer language & internal computer memory that made computer reprogrammable and even more efficient to use in new circumstances!

The era also opened up the digital gaming market, through Mainframe simulations that around 1970’s evolved into classic arcade games. It would only take a decade before the rise of the gaming consoles of the likes of SEGA, Nintendo to evolve and create a new culture, where we could enjoy 2D games such as Super Mario on the NES (8-bits) or Sonic the hedgehog through SEGA!

Not to forget fantastic games such as Settlers, Backpacker and Diablo on the modern day computer! Gaming evolved in par with increase computing power such of more memory processing & storage power etc. The gaming industry is actually a part of the entrainment industry all of which have been enabled by Information Technology! I.T. transformed during this era and has continued to grow ever since! Just to put some perspective, the video gaming market is expected to reach a whopping $277 billion in 2025!

But lets not stop there, because the electronic age gave birth to the world wide web (www went public 1991) commonly known as the internet (or “the net”) that you are using now and probably everyday!

It literally created additional ways to communicate with Information Technology on a virtual scale, which SWEIT believe is just in it’s infancy. We expect to se a big increase of transitions from analog to virtual platforms on the net! The net that is evolving more to a cloud of networks that will expose us to a very different world that will emerge from the likes of IoT, Mixed Reality, Additive Manufacturing also known as 3D printing and mush mush more! SWEIT also hopes to contribute in this future through new collaborations globally and regionally! And of course by knowledge sharing!

We hope you have enjoyed the journey through the four phases of Information Technology!

Stay tune for more info!

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021

Electromechanical era: The birth of mass-media

Photo collage with references of the era. Communication designs that still is visible around us today.

Electromechanical: between 1840 and 1940.

SweIT would like to put the Electromechanical era, some what in reference to steam power and sometimes we more simply reference the period “The birth of mass-media”.

If we want to understand how steam initiated a new era for IT, we should be transparent about the inventions during this era. It started 1810 rather then 1840’s, if we would be allowed to acknowledge the transition from the Printing press (Gutenberg) into the updated automatic steam engined printing press, that Friedrich / William Koenig invented in 1814.

The new printing press rolled out 1,100 pages an hour (extremely more efficient than previous alternatives) and the technology was adopted by The Times Magazine, which in turn put The Times in a leading position and way ahead of its competitors in printing and labour costs.

The increase efficiency of Information Technology opened up for new ways to use IT. Now the citizens became increasingly the focus and the masses would become more and more exposed to what is today called media (journalism, services, propaganda, lobbying and entertainment).

To give a reference the electromechanical aspects, this was also the era where the teleprinter (electrical telegraph) evolved through a bunch of inventions by a number of engineers, including Samuel Morse, Alexander Bain, Royal Earl House, David Edward Hughes, Emile Baudot, Donald Murray, Edward Kleinschmidt, Charles L. Krum and Frederick G. Creed. This invention provided additional ways for communication to travel! The electric telegraph is the forerunner to our modern day mobile technology.

Both the teleprinter and the steam printing press took the western world by storm and ignited the first industrial revolution!

Stay tuned for next week update about the fourth phase of Information Technology!

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021

The Mechanical era: The beginning of sharing information, data and big ideas

PHOTO COLLAGE WITH REFERENCES OF THE TECHNOLOGY

Mechanical: between 480s and 1840
(In litterature this period really starts around 1450 A.D. but for this article the start was rather from 480’s reflecting the Chinese woodblock press technology (IT). However it could of started earlier still)

The mechanical age shows the first connections between our current technology and its ancestors. The mechanical age can’t really be defined to start directly after the the “premechanical” era, since studies shows written Sumerian language was developed already around 3100 BC and commonly used for it’s tablets and coins. So there should be an overlapping era, due to transitions made in technology and approaches around the world.

But SweIT would like to dedicate “the start of the Mechanical era” to around 480s to 1400s due to the wide use of Chinese woodblock printing, that became a popular form of creating content around the world, until the transition to the new European printing press technology provided by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450 (inspired by the woodblock printing).

But between 1450 and 1840 many new technologies evolved and were developed. The interest to automate the process of symbols, words, and calculations, exploded!

From a climate and resource perspective: We should perhaps be thankful today, that some inventions were never built. The picture above portrays the scale of Charles Babbage idea of the programmable computer from 1837!

There were lots of different machines invented during this time, but not yet any machine that could do more than one type of calculation in one, like our modern-day computers (calculators). And make notice, there was no outspoken worries at the time about if this era was sustainable or not . If you look at the size of some of these inventions, the time and resources invested for the end results compared to the power behind them, it seems today absolutely ludicrous why anybody would ever attempt to use them. But as always new technology did the same to people then, as it still does now days. ALL of this creativity that we pour out of us selfs, can have HUGE impact on society..

Stay tune for next weeks update! Then we will enter the third phase of Information Technology!

March 26, 2021March 26, 2021

Who would of known? IT might have originated from Neanderthals…

La Pasiega Cave Art (Neaderthal) Photo: P.Saura

Information Technology is not something new, it’s been around for ages. In fact it’s been here ever since Homo sapiens and if history is right, it might also suggest we should adapt to a more regenerative mindset to not follow the faith our fellow Neanderthals did due to climate changes.

Humans are thought to first been able to communicate through the use of sound expressions or simple drawings known as petroglyths which usually we call cave paintings or rock carvings today. The earliest rock carvings date back to at least 45,500 years ago and is located in Indonesia and is a picture of a wild pig. However there is also a study from 2018 that have found cave paintings dated back early as 64,000 years ago which are located in the Iberian Peninsula and it is said to be evidence that the first sort of petroglyths seems to have come from Neanderthals.

This might suggest that there might be more than 4 phases that we should divide the history of Information Technology in. However SWEIT would not want to confuse people with our own definitions of this era. So since we lack a good term for the “Neaderthals period” we will include it in the Premechanical period for now.

Premechanical: Between 64000 and 1450A.D.
(In literature this period is 30.000 b.c, but for this piece it also reflects 64.000 years bc. due to new findings made in the last decade)

More studies and findings concludes that the Neanderthals had the ability to speak and use language much in the same way modern day humans have been doing for ages, but more evidence of Information Technology such cave arts, might suggest the evolution between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals might be more semantics than we previously thought. It might even suggest that these fellow human beings, that probably were more a reflection of us selfs might have thought us a thing or two. Before the Neaderthals went instinct due to what might have been caused by climate change, they might actually have thought Homo Sapiens the use of Information Technology.

Stay tuned becuase next week, SWEIT will focus on the second era of Information Technology!