Blog #4: EOTO Reaction

After watching the Each One Teach One presentations, I learned about many new types of communication technology, their origins, and their proposed challenges. I also had the opportunity to learn some new facts about technology that I had previous knowledge on. Some of the presentations that interested me were about the inventions of the bluetooth, instant messaging, and paper. Additionally, I had already known the backstory of how the TV came to be, but I learned a few new key facts. 

Starting with bluetooth, the presenter stated some facts that I had already known like the reason why bluetooth was created, as a way to be able to form connection between devices without using so many wires. This makes sense because I have heard both of my parents talk about how they appreciate bluetooth as an invention, because it made their work experience more efficient and not have to carry around so many connectors on a day to day basis. What I learned from the presentation that I had not already considered were the setbacks of this invention, like the issue with battery drain. I then looked into a brief history of Bluetooth using this article. In my experience, any bluetooth divide that I own tends to drain in battery pretty quickly besides my Beats Studio Pro headphones, but those are on the newer side. This would make sense because over the years manufacturers have put better batteries in bluetooth devices to combat this issue. 

Another presentation that interested me was the invention of paper. I had never thought about this much, as it has been a baseline part of my education and life so I hadn't reflected on a time where it possibly wasn't around. Paper was one of the first versions of technology that allowed for long distance communication, and revolutionized the trade industry. It is interesting to think about how the invention of paper led to the creation of currency and paper money, which changed the way that trade worked. I then researched this on my own, finding this introductory article about how paper changed the world, to gather more info. Looking at modern society and how everything revolves around money, it would be interesting to see how our trade industry would look if paper hadn't been invented in the same way. 

Lastly, one more presentation that I learned a lot from was about the creation of instant messaging. Similarly to paper, this type of fast communication helped heavily with long distance challenges. They mentioned that the first form of this was Internet Relay Chat, which I then read the wikipedia page on to gather more base info on. I didn't previously know that this was used primarily in the government to oversee government crises, but it makes sense that this would be a preferred form of communication as many of these processes need to happen quickly and with clear communication to make sure that the government is working most efficiently. Additionally, the presenter mentioned how this also led to a rise in the spread of misinformation, which made me think about how much of the news I get, as mentioned in my first blog post, is through my friends who will use instant messaging to tell me something. Overall, I enjoyed engaging in this project to be able to teach my peers about my topic, and I learned a lot of new things about other forms of technology.