September 28, 2006
CMC Essay One

In his article "The Computer as a Communication Device," J.C.R. Licklider presents an avant-garde perspective on the potential of computing and the future of human communication. He states that the success of the "modeling" process is essential to communication, especially within groups. He suggests that using computers would enhance the speed and depth of "cooperative modeling" by providing members with more efficient ways of communicating their ideas to each other. Licklider envisioned a world in which people separated by great distances could connect and interact more effectively through global "supercommunities" than through face-to-face meetings.

By setting user-centered goals for computing, rather than data- and research-centered goals, Licklider added a whole new dimension to the computing field. Fulfilling Vannevar Bush's quest for advancing science in more directions than warfare, Licklider's vision for the integration of computers and humans pushed science into a seemingly limitless realm of new possibilities. What impressed me the most was the progressiveness of his ideas despite the lack of precedents. He saw dynamic and in what was essentially a glorified calculator, and he did not limit it to the research community, recognizing the opportunities for worldwide application. These ideas, along with Licklider's concept of interactive supercommunities foreshadow the Internet as we know it today, nearly forty years later. Now, the Internet includes a wide range of functions. Sites such as Facebook.com and MySpace.com showcase the Internet's ability to aid modeling on a social level, while sites like Wikipedia and other projects based on group collaboration harken back to the salad days of computing.

One interesting question that Licklider did not address directly was the extent to which people and computers would have to adapt in order to be effectively integrated with each other. Humans would certainly face a learning curve, but it seems that Licklider's goal was to make computers mimic the human mind as closely as possible. While some companies have not been as successful at this as others, companies like Apple have implemented Licklider's philosophy so diligently that their systems are "dynamic" and "interactive" to the point of being "eerily intuitive." Successfully adapting machines for human use is imperative if computers are to be used as a device for human communication. The most effective mediums cause the least amount of interference possible, and a computer that does not work with the user will not be an effective communication medium. The user will gladly find an alternative.

What I found most interesting in the article was Licklider's forecast about the computer's impact on communication and how this prediction has been fulfilled.

We can say with genuine and strong conviction that a particular form of digital computer organization...constitutes the dynamic, moldable medium that can revolutionize the art of modeling and that in so doing can improve the effectiveness of communication among people so much as perhaps to revolutionize that also. (Licklider, 27)

Computers have indeed revolutionized human communication. Licklider's belief that "telecommunication will be as natural an extension of individual work as face-to-face communication" has proven true. (Licklider, 40) Email, instant messaging, and the World Wide Web have become integral parts of our lives. Emoticons and shorthand acronyms--attempts to remedy the shortcomings of computer-mediated communication--have even found their way into our non-computer communication. Our culture is been defined by our ability to communicate efficiently and globally through computers--the realization of Licklider's dream.