Communication roller coaster brings with it responsibilities

02 October 2008

Chris Earnshaw began his year of office today (2 October 2008) as President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) with a speech outlining the technical implications of building a connected world and the exciting forms of converged services that can be delivered over a broadband IP network.

Mr Earnshaw told his audience, “For a few who were born ‘digital natives’ and that’s anyone under 18, it is probably difficult to imagine a world where we are not connected in our everyday lives, a world where when it comes to communication distance is pretty irrelevant and where a picture or document can be exchanged as easily as words.

“For most, however, I guess it is less intuitive and perhaps given the relatively stable era of the plain old telephone as a means of communicating, something that feels like a roller coaster ride with new forms of communication appearing every day and not always where you would expect it or in the format you might have known in the past.

“The engineering challenges are phenomenal; the benefits to society will be of fundamental significance. But maybe we should not be surprised about this – communication has always been a basic need – it’s just that now we have the technology to make it available to everyone and more integrated with our daily lives. For engineers it’s a world of great opportunity and excitement. It’s also a field of engineering which will not just touch the lives of billions but will transform the lives of many. It is important to realise the responsibility which goes with this.

“The pervasive nature of these services raises a number of important social, public policy and business issues. Perhaps most fundamental is the question as to how the benefits of these services can be made available to the widest range of people and avoid the extension of the so called ‘digital divide’.

“This is an issue, which concerns governments around the world given the critical role communications plays in social and economic development. Such a digital divide can arise not only because of a lack of physical access to modern networks, perhaps because the market economics will not support universal coverage, but also from differing levels of media literacy and adoption across different groups in society. Such groups might be defined by education, age or wealth.

“The other important issue is of trust and confidence as our lives become more tightly linked through communication being coupled with our everyday lives. Foremost perhaps is the issue of privacy, given that being connected means you are no longer invisible. How will that information about, not just what you are communicating but where you are communicating, and, with what and whom, be safeguarded? It’s a particularly challenging issue given much of the same information is required to efficiently manage IP networks.

“But being unconnected is unlikely to be an option and, indeed, for those on the fringes of the developed world being connected will be fundamental to their participation in the global economy. For the developing nations, being connected will accelerate the pace of economic development and narrow the economic divide, so called economic convergence. For the emerging super economies of India and China, communications will further accelerate their growth and influence in the world. This will undoubtedly mean those countries assume even greater importance in the development of the underlying technologies and standards.”

Media enquiries to:

Robert Beahan
IET Press Officer
T: +44 (0)1438 767336
M: +44 (0)7595 400912
E: rbeahan@theiet.org

Mary Donovan
IET Head of Communications
T: +44 (0)1438 765587
M: +44 (0)7725 498117
E: mdonovan@theiet.org