Honey, IT just shrunk the globe
Honey, IT just shrunk the globe
JAKARTA (JP): In just a matter of decades, the technology has
virtually shrunk the globe. Everything seems to be within reach
nowadays.
Put a tiny house-for-sale advertisement on the web, and soon
enough offers will come flooding in.
Reporters no longer need to lug around bulky suitcases to
carry their laptops and heavy satellite discs in to transmit news
stories from remote places, dense jungles or mountain tops. With
a palm-sized PDA and a pocket-sized cell phone, news can be
transmitted to their offices in seconds.
Parents need not fly to Singapore, the Netherlands or the
States to consult with experts regarding their child's autism.
They can now simply log on to websites which provide information
and advice of specialists regarding this behavioral abnormality.
"After a series of discussions on autism at a discussion room
in the Internet, a noted American doctor has agreed to come to
Jakarta soon. We will jointly pay for his airfare and
accommodation here," Johansyah, a member of the discussion group,
said recently.
Some university lecturers here have even created their own
websites to keep students posted of his or her schedules, or to
leave questions or notes. Others give out their e-mail address
for the same purpose.
"I find e-mails very helpful, particularly with students
preparing their thesis under my supervision, and I can check them
at any place and at anytime." said a sociology lecturer from the
University of Indonesia.
Housewives even run their own businesses from home while
caring for their children.
Other working women "watch over" their children from a
distance, again thanks to the technology revolution.
All they need to do is balance their work and family life.
A mother of five, Eileen O'Connor, who is a CNN anchor and
reporter, admitted that she and her husband have limited time for
their three older children who are always asking for help with
their homework, but fortunately they are "saved" by the World
Wide Web.
In a story written on CNN's website, the former White House
correspondent said:
"I know that to do homework, one has to listen to the
teacher's instruction, write down the assignment in the notebook
and remember which books to take home.
"My fourth grader keeps forgetting one book or the other and
so she now writes down what books she needs beneath the
assignment.
"Just as the process of looking things up in books is part of
learning, so is the process of using the WWW.
"When I look up things on the Internet, I find other
information, so I end up exploring and learning even more.
Technology is a learning and living tool that children must also
learn to navigate.
"Just as I see the potential of using online resources, I am
also concerned that it could become too easy.
"I do not want my children to rely too heavily on whatever
pops up on a screen, believing it all too readily. They need to
look at it with a critical eye and -- yes, my husband is right --
find a number of sources to compare it with," O'Connor said.
Unlike O'Connor, who utilizes the advanced IT for time
efficiency, many IT-savvy people have turned their hobbies and
skills into money-making businesses, without having to rent a
costly, cozy and well-equipped office.
They run their companies from home, with their spouse and
children around them.
They are usually suppliers and distributors and all promotions
and transactions are done with a click of the mouse.
In a bid to lure more buyers, some have opened "traditional"
showrooms, meaning real ones.
"We now have to rent a space at Ratu Plaza (shopping center in
South Jakarta) for our sales office and showroom to display the
products we have," said Mizrina Kairawati Lubis of Arzabuana, an
authorized dealer for Intel and Hewlett Packard products.
"But it doesn't mean that we have to stop our digital business
activities at home, which is our head office and workshop," she
said.
Dr. John V. Pavlik, executive director and a professor of the
Center for New Media at Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism in the United States of America, acknowledged that
advanced technology really helps him in his hectic schedule.
"When my students want to meet with me, they look up my
schedule posted at Visto.com/guests," said the author of
Journalism and New Media.
"After entering a password, they check my guest calendar to
see when I am free and then e-mail me to book an appointment.
This reduces time spent 'playing tag' by voice mail and e-mail,"
he said.
Pavlik said he could access his Visto.com account with a Web
browser from anywhere in the world.
"My students would prefer to talk to my assistant, and there
might be advantages to this, such as prioritizing certain
appointments.
The only problem is, I do not have a human assistant. My staff
budget does not quite have room for one, so having a digital
alternative is a win for both my students and me," he said.
"I am a mobile, sometimes seemingly nomadic, person,
constantly traveling from coast-to-coast and abroad. But
accessing my documents on the road is no longer a problem.
"In fact, it has never been easier. When I create a document,
whether text or multimedia, I not only save it on the hard drive
of my PC, floppy or Jaz disk, but also back it up on my password-
protected, free online hard drive at driveway.com, DocSpace.com
or freedrive.com.
"These sites provide me with many megabytes of free storage. I
can keep files on them of any size, as long as they do not exceed
the entire online hard drive capacity. Then I can access those
files from anywhere by using a browser.
"I can also create 'public' folders in which I put files I
like to share with others. People can log on and access files
such as photos and papers.
"So when I travel I do not have to bring every document or
disk that I might conceivably need. I just need a PC with Web
access to get to my stored material. Moreover, should my PC
crash, or should I misplace a floppy or Jaz disk, or if the
building's network crashes or my office catches fire, I still
have the files backed up somewhere," Pavlik said.
Receiving faxes online, he said, means he does not have to
wade through the dozens that pile up in the mail room in the
journalism school's shared fax machine.
"When someone wants to send me a fax, I give him or her my
number at www.efax.com, as it automatically sends the document as
an attachment to my Yahoo e-mail account. I can print the e-fax
or keep it in digital format, accessible globally via the Web,"
Pavlik explained.
A similar service can be found at www.fax4free.com.
Pavlik also often send faxes via the Internet to just about
anywhere via TPC Fax at www.tpc.int/sendfax.html.
"Same advantages; no wading, little waiting," he said.
It is now a common phenomenon, being "hyperconnected".
But perhaps the biggest practical problems with building a
digital personal information space are security and privacy.
All these businesses are of course not giving out free faxing,
online hard drives and digital guest calendars just to make our
lives easier.
They are building a business out of e-commerce -- and they are
delivering targeted advertisements and tracking your online
activity each time you log on.
Before registering at any site, be wise to review the privacy
policies closely.
"Once your details are out there in cyberspace, even protected
by a password, clever computer hackers may be able to unlock your
file and look at -- or even steal -- your personal information,"
Pavlik reminded.
"They can, conceivably, see what time I have logged on, where
I am working from, and read what I am working on," he added.
Well, we have just been discussing the current information
technology and how it can shrink distance and time.
Can you imagine how small the globe would seem in the coming
decades?
-- K. Basrie