Internet Time: When lunchtime is @250<\/p>\n
By Lim Tri Santosa<\/p>\n
BANDUNG (JP): If you communicate with people in other parts of
\nthe world, you often need to know what time it is in their
\ncountry. You can calculate the time difference in your head, but
\nthis is tedious, especially if the people you deal with are in
\nmany different places. The traditional solution to this problem
\nis an array of clocks on the wall, as you'd see in a 'war room',
\neach showing the time in a different location.<\/p>\n
Did you ever wonder why we don't use a common time, a time
\nthat is the same, no matter where you are? We have long had such
\na time: it used to be called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Now it is
\ncalled Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The military calls it
\nZulu time. It is the time at the zero-longitude. It is the time
\nin Greenwich, England. Now UTC (or GMT) has long been used to
\nrecord scientific events.<\/p>\n
The idea of using the time in England to represent the time
\nhere is, well, unappealing. For example, it would mean that here
\nin Jakarta, instead of normal working hours being 08:00 a.m. to
\n17:00 (5:00 p.m.) WIB (Indonesian Western Time), they would be
\n01:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. UTC. The range of hours wouldn't be
\ndifferent; they would just have different names. Why in the world
\nwould anyone want to try such a thing? Because when it is 01:00
\nUTC in Jakarta, it is also 01:00 UTC in San Francisco, in New
\nYork, in Honolulu and in London. The fun stuff on the Internet
\ndoesn't all happen in the same place, or even in the same time
\nzone. Keeping track of scheduled times for online events around
\nthe world and converting them to your time can be a job in
\nitself.<\/p>\n
Have you ever wanted to participate in an online chat with
\nsupporting actors\/actresses from the cast of the box office hit
\nTitanic, or bid for stuff at an auction held at the other end of
\nthe world? Knowing what time it is someplace else can be
\ncritically important.<\/p>\n
Well, despite all that trouble, someone new is trying to do
\nall of that, with a twist. The Internet has changed the way we
\nlook at many things, and now some citizens of cyberspace are
\ntrying to create yet another revolution.<\/p>\n
The target this time is time.<\/p>\n
Now, the Swiss watchmakers have developed a concept more brash
\nthan its trendy timepieces: a new standard of timekeeping called
\nInternet Time. The widespread use of the Internet has spawned a
\nnew concept of time called the Swatch Beat
\n(www.swatch.com\/internet-time\/). Basically, the Swatch Beat is a
\nunit of time that ignores time zones and geographical boundaries.<\/p>\n
So, what is Internet Time? Well, it seems to be more of a
\ngimmick than anything else. Internet time is the new global
\nconcept of Swatch universal time, where a 24 hour day is divided
\ninto 1000 equal beats. One Swatch beat is the equivalent of 1
\nminute 26.4 seconds (=24*60*60\/1000). They claim that is a
\n\"revolutionary\" new unit of time, where there are no time zones
\nand no geographic borders.<\/p>\n
Internet Time is the same no matter where you are in the world
\n(sounds a bit like GMT). A day, in Internet time, begins at
\nmidnight (@000) in Biel, Switzerland (the home of Swatch). That
\nmeans that 12 noon in the old time system is the equivalent of
\n@500 Swatch beats. But @500 is the time at 12:00 p.m. midday Biel
\ntime zone or 19:00 (07:00 p.m.) WIB time zone. As a matter of
\nfact, you have your lunch @250, which is equal to 5:00 a.m. GMT.<\/p>\n
Confused? No need to be. Swatch provides a handy time
\nconverter that helps you get used to the idea of Internet Time.<\/p>\n
Swatch didn't just create a new way of measuring time. When
\nyou input your local time and date to be converted into Internet
\ntime, you should key in your location. Try the Swatch Internet
\nTime converter and see for yourself (www.swatch.com\/internet-
\ntime\/).<\/p>\n
Well, as I said, Internet Time is just a gimmick; and it will
\nnever catch on with any significance. But one thing I am sure of:
\nCyberspace has no night and day. People will wake up, sleep,
\nwork, and play on more heterogeneous schedules than we know
\ntoday. What you do tomorrow may be most affected by somebody
\nthousands of miles away.<\/p>\n
As the digital world grows smaller, the push for a single time
\nzone gains momentum. Will all Netizens use Internet time?
\nPerhaps, only for a \"fashion statement\". Others will question the
\nusefulness of the new time in their daily personal lives. Perhaps
\nin time, the Internet Beat will be replaced or forgotten. But it
\nhas already caused a lot of people to rethink something
\nfundamental. The Internet has a way of doing that. And so for the
\nmoment at least, the beat goes on.<\/p>",
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