Electronic publishing, photos, sound and video

Agitprop, Part 4a “Multi-media” Electronic publishing, photos, sound and video The previous item was to understand at a simple level, and then at a broad policy level, how the Internet, as we call it, meaning the World Wide Web, has been developing in recent years. In this item we can consider and discuss the growth of multi-media “ICT”, where ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. Cameras are digital these days. They record images in the form of files that are digital, computer files and can be saved in computers and opened in computer programmes for manipulation, cropping, and “photo-shopping”. Sound is recorded in digital files, and so is video. All this means that text, sound, pictures and moving pictures can all be handled, edited, and combined using an ordinary computer, a laptop or even with a tablet. Integrated software that can do all of these tasks is available. The Adobe “Creative Suite” is one of them. The potential is great and the means are available. What must be added is the human factor. The Human Factor, Politics and Monopoly The history of computing, or (ICT) is one of mass creativity, periodically commodified, and then quickly monopolised. This is what happened in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when there was huge innovation led by unpaid “amateurs” and by small companies, until it was nearly all captured by the twin and mutually-supporting monopolies of IBM and Microsoft. This cycle has repeated itself many times. It provides a good example of how capitalism evolves through one technology and towards the next, and how one monopoly can give way to another in the process. ·        To download any of the CU courses in PDF files please click here.