LO1 - Be able to research the development of digital media technologies to support the planning of a new product
P1 Explain how the digital revolution will impact on proposal for a new product
History of Radio
1888: Heinrich Hertz is a German physicist who successfully researched into radio waves being able to transmit signals wirelessly and put it to test.
1894: Guglielmo Marconi builds his first radio equipment, a device that will contact from 30 ft away.
1899: Marconi establishes the first radio link between England and France.
1900: American scientist R.A. Fessenden transmits human speech via radio waves.
1901: Marconi transmits telegraphic radio messages from Cornwall to Newfoundland
1903: Valdemar Poulsen patents an arc transmission that generates continuous radio waves, producing a frequency of 100 kHz and receivable over 150 miles.
1904: First radio transmission of music at Graz, Austria.
1905: Marconi invents the directional radio antennae.
1906: First radio program of voice and music broadcast in the U.S. (by R.A. Fessenden)
1907: Fessenden invents a high-frequency electric generator that produces radio waves with a frequency of 100 kHz.
1908: GE develops a 100 kHz, 2 kW alternator for radio communication.
1910: Radio communications gain publicity when the captain of the Montrose alerts Scotland via radio of an escaping criminal.
1913: The cascade-tuning radio receiver and the heterodyne receiver are introduced.
1914: Edwin Armstrong patents a radio receiver circuit with positive feedback. Part of the amplified high-frequency signal is fed back to the tuning circuit to enhance selectivity and sensitivity.
1918: Armstrong develops the superheterodyne radio receiver. The principle for this receiver is the basis for all radio receivers now in use.
A 200 kW alternator starts operating at Station NFF, the Naval station in New Brunswick NJ, which was the most powerful radio transmitter of the time.
1919: Shortwave radio is developed.
RCA is founded.
1920: KDKA broadcasts the first regular licensed radio broadcast out of Pittsburgh, PA.
1921: RCA starts operating Radio Central on Long Island.
The American Radio League establishes contact via a shortwave radio with Paul Godley in Scotland, proving that shortwave radio can be used for long-distance communication.
1922: March: WWJ, an AM station in Detroit, offers the University of Michigan broadcasting rights for extension lectures.
1923: UM's Professor Dreese submits a proposal for several UM operated stations. His proposal was tabled by the Regents, who were not concerned with radio at the time.
1924: Dreese instead runs experimental station WCBC as a project in the basement of West Engineering. This project died at the end of the academic year.
1925: WJR-AM offers educational broadcasting spots to the UM. The UM continued to broadcast on WWJ as well.
1928: A radio station in NYC, WRNY begins to broadcast television shows.
1931: The UM School of Music pursues the idea of radio as education. It taught school band lessons via radio.
1933: Educational programming originating at the UM grows.
The Regents of the UM become interested in radio.
WJR cuts the UM's educational broadcasts for commercial broadcasting.
Edward Armstrong patents wide-band frequency modulation (FM radio).
1935: FM radio is born, but only in mono.
1938: The FCC sets aside educational/non-profit bandwidth on FM.
1941: Oct.10: Columbia University's Radio Club opens the first regularly scheduled FM station.
1943: The UM decides it needs an FM station and expresses a commitment to radio broadcasting.
1945: Television is born. FM is moved from its original home of 42-50 Mhz to 88-108 Mhz to make room for TV.
1946: There are six TV stations in the nation.
1948: The UM starts its first station, known as Michigan Radio or WUOM.
The Regents publish a mandate for broadcasting.
WOUM is no outlet for student broadcasting, so student radio clubs form and create small studios in East Quadrangle and West Quadrangle. These studios broadcast on AM to their respective buildings via carrier current.
1950: A small studio is created in the newly-erected South Quadrangle.
1952: Sony offers a miniature transistor radio. This is one of the first mass-produced consumer AM/FM radios.
The studios in the UM dormitories join forces, and "The Campus Broadcasting Network" is born as WCBN-AM.
1953: Advertising is accepted on WCBN-AM.
1954: The number of radio receivers in the world exceeds the number of newspapers printed daily.
1956: WCBN hosts the first National Association of College Broadcasters.
1957: CBN moves into the new Student Activities Building, and its studios start to become centralized.
Allan Ginsberg's controversial poem, "Howl" is broadcast for the first time.
1961: FCC approves FM stereo broadcasting, which spurs FM development.
1962: United States radio stations begin broadcasting in stereophonic sound.
1965: WCBN studios are completely centralized in the SAB. CBN's identity becomes stronger as its programming becomes increasingly eclectic and challenging.
1969: WCBN starts to think about purchasing an FM transmitter.
FM is deemed necessary to reach off-campus students and the community at large. CBN's audience is a different audience from WUOM's so there would be no competition.
February: WCBN's Program Director announces that programming will be designed to meet the needs of the audience, not the needs of the air staff.
1970: The Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) has a CBN carrier current loop installed into its North Campus residence.
1971: FM plans are finalized for WCBN.
February: The UM Regents approves plans for WCBN-FM, and building begins.
1972: January 23: WCBN-FM 89.5 FM is born, broadcasting at 10 watts.
WCBN-AM is maintained and adopts a "60's Gold" format.
1977: Frequency change for WCBN takes place (from 89.5FM to 88.3FM).
November: The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks is released. "Things change." --Ken Freedman
1978: U-M President Robben Fleming urges that WCBN should be used only for educational purposes and restricted to students only.
1979: February: First WCBN fundraiser is organized by Ann Rebentisch, and raises $5,000.
1980: CBN plays "It's my Party" by Leslie Gore for 18 hours straight the day after Reagan is elected.
1981: FCC complaint against CBN filed by disgruntled staffers. The FCC takes it very seriously but does not level a fine.
1986: In Europe, FM radio stations begin to use the subcarrier signal of FM radio to transmit digital data. This RDS (radio data system) is used to transmit messages on display screens to radios.
1987: At WJJX (WCBN's AM counterpart), a student DJ is fired for broadcasting a series of racist jokes.
1988: The U-M decides to oust non-students from WCBN.
WCBN airs Allan Ginsberg's Howl.
1992: In Paris, an experimental digital FM transmitter begins operation.
1993: In the US, FM radio stations begin to use the RDS already in place in Europe.
1894: Guglielmo Marconi builds his first radio equipment, a device that will contact from 30 ft away.
1899: Marconi establishes the first radio link between England and France.
1900: American scientist R.A. Fessenden transmits human speech via radio waves.
1901: Marconi transmits telegraphic radio messages from Cornwall to Newfoundland
1903: Valdemar Poulsen patents an arc transmission that generates continuous radio waves, producing a frequency of 100 kHz and receivable over 150 miles.
1904: First radio transmission of music at Graz, Austria.
1905: Marconi invents the directional radio antennae.
1906: First radio program of voice and music broadcast in the U.S. (by R.A. Fessenden)
1907: Fessenden invents a high-frequency electric generator that produces radio waves with a frequency of 100 kHz.
1908: GE develops a 100 kHz, 2 kW alternator for radio communication.
1910: Radio communications gain publicity when the captain of the Montrose alerts Scotland via radio of an escaping criminal.
1913: The cascade-tuning radio receiver and the heterodyne receiver are introduced.
1914: Edwin Armstrong patents a radio receiver circuit with positive feedback. Part of the amplified high-frequency signal is fed back to the tuning circuit to enhance selectivity and sensitivity.
1918: Armstrong develops the superheterodyne radio receiver. The principle for this receiver is the basis for all radio receivers now in use.
A 200 kW alternator starts operating at Station NFF, the Naval station in New Brunswick NJ, which was the most powerful radio transmitter of the time.
1919: Shortwave radio is developed.
RCA is founded.
1920: KDKA broadcasts the first regular licensed radio broadcast out of Pittsburgh, PA.
1921: RCA starts operating Radio Central on Long Island.
The American Radio League establishes contact via a shortwave radio with Paul Godley in Scotland, proving that shortwave radio can be used for long-distance communication.
1922: March: WWJ, an AM station in Detroit, offers the University of Michigan broadcasting rights for extension lectures.
1923: UM's Professor Dreese submits a proposal for several UM operated stations. His proposal was tabled by the Regents, who were not concerned with radio at the time.
1924: Dreese instead runs experimental station WCBC as a project in the basement of West Engineering. This project died at the end of the academic year.
1925: WJR-AM offers educational broadcasting spots to the UM. The UM continued to broadcast on WWJ as well.
1928: A radio station in NYC, WRNY begins to broadcast television shows.
1931: The UM School of Music pursues the idea of radio as education. It taught school band lessons via radio.
1933: Educational programming originating at the UM grows.
The Regents of the UM become interested in radio.
WJR cuts the UM's educational broadcasts for commercial broadcasting.
Edward Armstrong patents wide-band frequency modulation (FM radio).
1935: FM radio is born, but only in mono.
1938: The FCC sets aside educational/non-profit bandwidth on FM.
1941: Oct.10: Columbia University's Radio Club opens the first regularly scheduled FM station.
1943: The UM decides it needs an FM station and expresses a commitment to radio broadcasting.
1945: Television is born. FM is moved from its original home of 42-50 Mhz to 88-108 Mhz to make room for TV.
1946: There are six TV stations in the nation.
1948: The UM starts its first station, known as Michigan Radio or WUOM.
The Regents publish a mandate for broadcasting.
WOUM is no outlet for student broadcasting, so student radio clubs form and create small studios in East Quadrangle and West Quadrangle. These studios broadcast on AM to their respective buildings via carrier current.
1950: A small studio is created in the newly-erected South Quadrangle.
1952: Sony offers a miniature transistor radio. This is one of the first mass-produced consumer AM/FM radios.
The studios in the UM dormitories join forces, and "The Campus Broadcasting Network" is born as WCBN-AM.
1953: Advertising is accepted on WCBN-AM.
1954: The number of radio receivers in the world exceeds the number of newspapers printed daily.
1956: WCBN hosts the first National Association of College Broadcasters.
1957: CBN moves into the new Student Activities Building, and its studios start to become centralized.
Allan Ginsberg's controversial poem, "Howl" is broadcast for the first time.
1961: FCC approves FM stereo broadcasting, which spurs FM development.
1962: United States radio stations begin broadcasting in stereophonic sound.
1965: WCBN studios are completely centralized in the SAB. CBN's identity becomes stronger as its programming becomes increasingly eclectic and challenging.
1969: WCBN starts to think about purchasing an FM transmitter.
FM is deemed necessary to reach off-campus students and the community at large. CBN's audience is a different audience from WUOM's so there would be no competition.
February: WCBN's Program Director announces that programming will be designed to meet the needs of the audience, not the needs of the air staff.
1970: The Inter-Cooperative Council (ICC) has a CBN carrier current loop installed into its North Campus residence.
1971: FM plans are finalized for WCBN.
February: The UM Regents approves plans for WCBN-FM, and building begins.
1972: January 23: WCBN-FM 89.5 FM is born, broadcasting at 10 watts.
WCBN-AM is maintained and adopts a "60's Gold" format.
1977: Frequency change for WCBN takes place (from 89.5FM to 88.3FM).
November: The Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks is released. "Things change." --Ken Freedman
1978: U-M President Robben Fleming urges that WCBN should be used only for educational purposes and restricted to students only.
1979: February: First WCBN fundraiser is organized by Ann Rebentisch, and raises $5,000.
1980: CBN plays "It's my Party" by Leslie Gore for 18 hours straight the day after Reagan is elected.
1981: FCC complaint against CBN filed by disgruntled staffers. The FCC takes it very seriously but does not level a fine.
1986: In Europe, FM radio stations begin to use the subcarrier signal of FM radio to transmit digital data. This RDS (radio data system) is used to transmit messages on display screens to radios.
1987: At WJJX (WCBN's AM counterpart), a student DJ is fired for broadcasting a series of racist jokes.
1988: The U-M decides to oust non-students from WCBN.
WCBN airs Allan Ginsberg's Howl.
1992: In Paris, an experimental digital FM transmitter begins operation.
1993: In the US, FM radio stations begin to use the RDS already in place in Europe.
The Digital Revolution
There are many ways in which the digital revolution will impact on my product such as the large competition for applications on the market and the fast pace innovating development of technology.
Many sources point out that the digital revolution started in the 1950s to the late 1970s. The digital revolution is also known as the third industrial revolution, is a shift that has to do with the movement from the previous two mechanical and analogue electrical technologies.
From the changes of the beginning of the digital revolution mid 20th century to now, there have been extraordinary changes in the digital revolution such as the introduction of computers and the ability to have any sort of digital device on the move such as a laptop and a mobile phone.
A great way to look at the digital revolution is by looking back at how computers started from being the size of rooms and traditionally owned by large companies, to today, many people around the world have a computer in their homes for many different uses. In the United States back in March 31st 1951 the first commercial computer sold, it was the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) and was made for business and administrative purposes such as collecting data, statistics and evaluating the possibility of an outcome within economics and political matters. The first customer for this computer which today is valued at 9 million dollars, was the U.S. Census Bureau. Other customers where government agencies and branches of the military like the Air Force and the Navy. While this computer was useful for the government, it was still too expensive to be released for the public.
Later on, computers began to enter the market for the public instead of the usual customers such as the government and businesses. The first “personal computer” was the Altair 8800, the product could perform several tasks that could benefit the buyer but the success it had was because of the market audience were mostly hobbyists who already have knowledge of the inner workings of the computer unlike most Americans, meaning the market wasn’t as large as it could have been.
What excluded the majority of the market audience was the fact that they needed the knowledge to construct the computer, otherwise paying someone extra for their services. People still didn’t fully see how they could benefit from these technologies and resulted in the market favouring the few.
Computer companies soon realised why the computers weren’t so widely used by the public and then began a new line of computers with three leading the market. Commodore pet, Apple 2 and TRS-80. These three companies were able to sell these products successfully as the public could purchase the computer without needing to assemble the computer. The computer would already be shipped out assembled in the box at the retail price of around $1,200 (apple 2 sold at $1,298).
As computers continued to be bought by businesses, educational services and the public. It introduced new technology companies around the world who desired to compete for the consumers and help other companies by providing a very specific service that offered less work, smaller budget and advanced technology in comparison to its competitors, such as Intel and Microsoft. While most companies needed a budget for research in both hardware and software like Apple, companies like Intel and Microsoft provided products for computer companies to use and sell already assembled. Microsoft was very ahead of the game in software technology and provided an interface for many computers to use. This benefited computer companies such as IBM when making computers to compete against Apple. Microsoft made operating systems for competitors whilst Intel provided hardware for companies. Many of IBM’s computers had collaboration from those two companies which help them sell hundreds of thousands of units around nationally and internationally.
I’ve always seen the digital revolution heading to two different directions such as innovation and improvement in order to make the customers day to day life as convenient as possible. For example, the invention of the PC (personal computer) came from the idea of introducing the public market to a technology traditionally for the government and large corporations, the new innovative idea then went through greater improvements with help of competitors such as Apple, Commodore international and Tandy Corp. Today the PC has expanded in its uses and advanced greatly since the early days of the PC.
After the initial beginning of the digital revolution, citizens from major economically advanced countries which make the highest numbers for ownership of digital technology such as phones, at first consumers didn’t think much of the development and changes the mobile phone went through. Since the introduction of many different features to be added to the phone such as a camera, applications, personal information and internet, there have been many concerns with the public having their personal data stolen, devices hacked and devices tracking the users' preferences online and locations.
There are concerns of victims of online bullying and harassment and the large dependency in using technology to implement in their lives.
But just as well as technology, society has also changed over its time using online apps and devices.
The law has also adapted and advanced the regulations of data usage and personal data sharing between social media companies and browsers.
Schools teach young pupils about safety when using social media and web browsers, and people are much more cautious when it comes to publishing information of themselves in the form of videos, photos and text as they are aware the public is exposed to it.
While the benefits of technological advancement are very effective to further the lives of those using in forms of information, communication and education. It has also shown its cons, such as introducing a platform for illegal business practises such as black markets, online bullying, hacking and selling personal data.
But maybe this is the price it comes at to be able to advance and innovate technology for the public. The public makes a choice and that is why people are held responsible for their crimes online when it comes to illegal business practices, bullying and so on.
Another controversial issue is the large implementation of technology in the lives. Truth is that technology is implemented everywhere such as personal life, business, entertainment, education and more. These arguments are not new, in actuality, they can be traced back thousands of years ago where people found it controversial to implement new technologies for business for example when a roman inventor came up with an innovative idea to move large stone pillars, which were moved by hundreds of workers and slaves. The technology could finish the work fasted at a much lesser cost, but many people were against it as it jeopardised the wages and workloads the state had supplied for its workers. Many economists call this creative destruction as it impedes the creativity and innovation of those individuals.
As for social standards, such as socialising and so on. It is true that the introduction of social media has chained young individuals to their internet devices, and the number of teens using social media increases every year. Although, teens are adapting to separate their personal social life from their social media life without compromising either one of them.
One of the biggest benefits of technology is that it is constantly getting cheaper and more advanced, thanks to the world market and its competitors. Technology is now able to help those who have innovative ideas in creation, business and entertainment and more. In my case, as I'm creating an application to be used for fitness, I'll be needing my app to both be useful for the consumer and aesthetic. And considering that my budget is not as big as the usual, I would use an app creator application which makes the job for creating the app very easy, no need for programming as my app will be simple but informative.
If I had a comparable budget to similar application companies, then I would either hire my own designer and programmer for help or better, I would contract them from a company to produce what I need without all the heavy paperwork, such as salary, work hours, breaks, pension and so on.
The market for digital applications also opened doors for people such as myself when wanting to make an app. As the technology needed to make an application and to sell it on the store has become cheaper than ever before, it has given the capability for everyone to use this technology. As technology is highly accessible, it is easy to organise a project for making an app such as a fitness app that I will be making. I will be making a project for making an app that specifies in the field of health and fitness. I will be choosing to do health and fitness as people are using smartphone apps to learn how to work out and exercise, although there is a big market on fitness and health apps I will be making an app that has the potential to beat any other related application. With the internet, I can easily find out what are the things that consumers most complain about when using an exercise smartphone app. I will also be needing to do research on where the potential consumers are in the market, what is it that they purchase on a regular basis, how much money they're willing to spend on an app and what is it specifically that would draw them into purchasing my application. Due to the technology that we have today, hiring people to do these jobs such as project manager, programmers, graphic designers an health and fitness instructors is easier as there are more people doing these jobs than ever before because of the rise of technology and large demand for these skills. Companies such as Apple and Google have also decided to offer a platform for smaller independent companies such as myself to sell my app on. This has its benefits and drawbacks such as I will be finding my consumers onto one place such as the App Store, although the drawback will be having to compete against the large fitness and health app market.
In conclusion, the digital revolution is just another revolution that has market its'self in history as part of the information age. Examples such as the computer began very simplistic, although, with competition between companies and introduction to the public market, it helped spark new innovative ideas such as the laptop and the smartphone.
For those who have a passion for creating and want to channel it into technological innovation, have it much easier than what it would have been years ago.
The digital revolution has had its ups and downs for people such as benefiting consumers for entertainment, information and education. In the other hand, it has made new generations much more reliant on technology and social media, provided an interface for those who choose to break the law and given a voice to everyone, including those who wish to hurt others. But with time, things like these have shown to balance out in favour of the law and law abiding citizens as well as mannered individuals.
M1. Analyse the development within the digital technologies and opportunities generated from the relationships to have created between industries
Usually creating a project for a product would be difficult and time-consuming when taking into account that some of the needed work would involve organising work between teams and business when collaborating in a project. After the introduction of the Digital revolution and the information age, work such as projects have begun to be much better and faster to complete, and the ability to have teamwork between companies and workers has become much easier as well. Nowadays a project such as I am doing in this unit could use websites and platforms such as Google Docs, the reason why companies may use this programme is because it holds abilities that can help the team such as sharing work between each other knowing it is safe as it is on a largely protected server and the user friendly design that enhances the experiences for the companies who utilise this program.
One of the very useful things about the digital revolution is the multi-platform accessibility that is offered when using a range of devices. For example when using an excel spreadsheet for work, perhaps using a laptop wouldn’t be comfortable enough because of the small screen and restrictive keyboard, with the capability of using multi-platform accessibility, the worker will be able to use a more suitable device such as a PC without needing to transfer files as it is all already saved in the cloud accounts such as Google cloud or Apple cloud. |
With the ability of the digital revolution, new devices have been made with the sole purpose of making tasks such as scheduling easier. In the old days, people would have to keep a physical copy of their schedule or have it memorised. Companies would have to set up meetings to have everyone informed of the plans made by the company. Nowadays companies make stuff such as schedules significantly more simple for the workers as people can quickly find what’s being expected from them such as their working times and work tasks. This is one of the examples of companies and organisations using other services to make their own jobs easier, when using other services such as a schedule maker that Google Docs offers that has a vast capability of being shared around, it only makes a job easier for everyone and help companies and staff members to focus on what really matters which is there own service and job.
When this market opened, granting companies and individuals these abilities such as sharing their own products with the world. Creators have become comfortable with creating products and placing it online for free as the market is so large that recognition is more important than making money online, the bigger the audience is drawn, more capabilities of making money for the creators will come such as sponsors and advertising with other companies and creators. As today the digital market has offered many new companies and individuals to take advantage of this, doing so is also allowed companies and individuals to do business in between themselves, this can be seen in the form of sponsorships and advertising. Using an application such as Google Docs is also offered the possibility of companies and individuals to better communicate between themselves using documents such as contracts and schedules. Also showing videos or large contents between each other using other Google Docs features such as Google Drive, which gives the ability to share very large files back on in the form of MP3 or MP4. This also allows these individuals to share projects in between each other no matter how far the distance, in need of being in a certain location when doing a project, is no longer necessary due to the new technology that can be used for making products such as my own app.
When this market opened, granting companies and individuals these abilities such as sharing their own products with the world. Creators have become comfortable with creating products and placing it online for free as the market is so large that recognition is more important than making money online, the bigger the audience is drawn, more capabilities of making money for the creators will come such as sponsors and advertising with other companies and creators. As today the digital market has offered many new companies and individuals to take advantage of this, doing so is also allowed companies and individuals to do business in between themselves, this can be seen in the form of sponsorships and advertising. Using an application such as Google Docs is also offered the possibility of companies and individuals to better communicate between themselves using documents such as contracts and schedules. Also showing videos or large contents between each other using other Google Docs features such as Google Drive, which gives the ability to share very large files back on in the form of MP3 or MP4. This also allows these individuals to share projects in between each other no matter how far the distance, in need of being in a certain location when doing a project, is no longer necessary due to the new technology that can be used for making products such as my own app.