Last update: 2011/08/21
Why I have written these pages on digital media convergence
All living beings communicate in some form and the living beings that stay at the top of the ladder - humans - have the most advanced forms of communication both native - the word - and because of their use of technologies that make communicating parties more effective in their communication.
The range of technologies deployed by humans is impressive:
In the last two decades our life has been greatly impacted by the latest round of Digital Technologies that have brought to our lives the use of
The combination of these 3 digital elements has brought about the Digital Media Revolution that brings new forms of communication every day.
These pages bound by the title "Riding the media bits" have been motivated by the fact that Digital Media Technologies are at the root of the Revolution, that most of them have been unleashed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) in the last 20 years and that the Digital Media Revolution shows no sign of abating. Therefore these pages intend to expand and deepen the knowledge about Digital Media Technologies and to increase their development and exploitation potential.
The principal focus is Digital Media Technologies as seen by the author's experience. However, sufficient attention is also paid to Device and Network Technologies.
Even though the target reader is non-technical, these pages deal with matters that are strongly affected by sophisticated technologies. Therefore some knowledge of them will be required, if understanding is not to come out of thin air. I dare say, though, that technical people can also benefit from being exposed to the breadth of issues treated by these pages.
In order not to scare readers from the start, I guarantee that I have made all efforts to reduce technical backgrounds to the minimum necessary to provide a baseline knowledge about the issues considered. Non-technical readers are advised to exercise a minimum of perseverance (not very much, actually), when they see themselves confronted with technical descriptions, if they want to reap the results promised. As a last resort, they may skip the chapter that is challenging them beyond their desire to understand.
There is one last thing I would like to state before taking the reader with me for a ride on the media bits. You will find that personal pronouns are rigorously kept in masculine form. I know this is politically incorrect, but I do think that if a language forces people to use personal pronouns in a sentence, like English does, there should be one of two choices: either to change the language and to make the use of pronouns optional, as in Italian or Japanese, or the people who expect to see a constant use of "he or she", "him or her", "his or her" etc., become less prudish. Neither of these options is within my reach so I will do as I said. After all I would rather look like a male chauvinist and use masculine pronouns, than be a male chauvinist but use politically correct expressions.
The only promise I can make is that I will use all personal pronouns in feminine form on the next occasion (if there will ever be one J).
This page would not be complete if I did not acknowledge my English mentor - Philip Merrill. Of his own initiative he has reviewed all the pages, providing countless invaluable suggestions. If the pages are more understandable - and readable - the credit goes to him. If they are not the discredit only goes to me.
