Thursday, October 23, 2014
Blue Skies
Why do you think that Thomas Streeter titles his essay the way he does? What do “blue skies” and “strange bedfellows” have to do with 1960s discussions about the possibilities of cable television? Does the language used around cable at that time sound similar to the way new media technologies are discussed today? Explain.
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ReplyDeleteCable, same as with the introduction of television, was met with some hesitancy regarding what the medium was capable of. As television created and encouraged connection on a global scale never previously seen, the idea of cable ultimately led to discourses and utopian thoughts of a "communications revolution" or as Streeter quotes, the idea that "every home and office will contain a communications center of a breadth and flexibility to influence every aspect of private and community life."
ReplyDeleteStreeter's title "Blue Skies and Strange Bedfellows" refers to two different things associated with discourses surrounding the discourses and support for the implementation of cable television. The phrase strange bedfellows, where bedfellow is defined as an ally or close connection, refers to the odd alliance of groups in support of new technology which included; progressives, cable operators, economists, liberal elites, and influential policymakers. The main opponents to these groups at the time were the broadcast networks who felt threatened by cable technology. "Blue skies" on the other hand is a reference to the "blue sky scenario" that emerged in the early 1970's. The term was given to recent talk of new technologies that painted the ideas as scientists', writers', journalists', Gov, businessmen, economists' etc. utopian fantasies.
The ideas of the "communications revolution," "information superhighway," and a "wired nation" that stemmed from cable discourses, are very similar to how we see and discuss new technologies today. In the past two decades, it seems technology's central goal is to achieve ultimate global interconnectedness. This idea has gone beyond broadcast signal and CATV wiring to unlimited internet access, social media sites, texting, video calling etc. Depictions of futuristic societies often include advanced technology that helps us obtain any information instantly, a technological idea which found its roots in the television industry.