The Communications Revolution

The college scene is one of multiple technologies with great encouragement to use them. It is surprising to see another world in which newer technology is not only unused, but nearly unheard of as well. An article at yahoo.com discusses rural areas of Africa and their need to incorporate a technology that will allow the farming communities to communicate with each other in order to mobilize them in case of emergency. They would also communicate in order to better tend to their crops by discussing their work with the other farmers.

The author, Ken Banks, is asked to give his opinion to an international humanitarian nongovernment organization about which technology would be the best to communicate with. To their surprise, he chooses radio, a relatively traditional form of technology, but also feels that they would need mobile phones as well.

It’s interesting to see that a technology in its third stage of development could be new to another part of the world. Ideas like these prove that while technology is constantly moving forward in order to create new ways to communicate, the more traditional mediums may be the most efficient.

Banks felt that a wind up radio would be best because there is no need for electrical outlets or batteries, something hard to come by in parts of rural Africa. Radio’s ability to reach many simultaneously with low cost makes it the most ideal technology in order for the famers to communicate with each other. The delayed adoption of this media technology in rural areas of Africa shows that complete widespread adoption of all technologies is nearly impossible.

The drawback of the radio is that it does not allow the farmers to interact with each other, which is why Banks also suggested the use of mobile phones to further communication between the farmers in regards to their crops. A convergence of these two Medias would be ideal for living situations like these.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the African Farm Radio Research Initiative (AFRRI) will be able to successfully implement their technology into the African farmlands. If so, it will be exciting to see if the success of that technology in the farmlands will pressure their technologies to evolve. Metamorphosis, the second principle of mediamorphosis would lead one to believe that newer Medias would emerge from the success of this one, and eventually one would find communicating via text message instead of listening to the radio. Only time will tell.