Twelve Modest Proposals For Tomorrow's DR. ARNIE ABRAMS

D espite the current won- ders of the new technol- ogy there are still some developments that re- main tantalizingly unful-

filled. Listed below are twelve in- novations that I would love to see become a reality within the next five years. I concede that most of these proposals are possible, in fact given our advanced technology it sometimes seems anything is possi- ble, but are they practical? There- fore, I attach two stipulations to these innovations; they must be af- fordable and they must be easy to use. Hopefully the technology will become "transparent;" so easy to use and so much a part of our lives that we use it without consciously thinking about it. Examples of transparent technology include the automobile, the telephone, and tele- vision. The current generation of videocassette recorders, with their low prices, ease of operation, and pervasiveness is also on the verge

Dr. Arnie Abrams is associate profes- sor of Educational Media at Southern Oregon State College.

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of entering this category. Special consideration is also given for tech- nology which fosters local produc- tion; machines should be recorders, not just players (in contrast to the current drift towards compact disc players, videodisc players, and CD ROM).

Listed below, in no particular or- der, are a dozen modest proposals for the tempting technology I would most like to see become reality in the next five years.

1) The Information Consultant Electronic

Information retrieval is an incred- ible experience, yet finding exactly the information you need may be a time consuming and involved proc- ess. It may necessitate learning search strategies, database syntax, and boolean logic. What I propose is to have a major carrier, such as Dialog, offer an information re- searching service. The user would access the database and leave a message pertaining to what infor- mation they desire, in what detail, and how much they would be will- ing to spend to acquire it. A trained

researcher would then retrieve the message, conduct a cross-refer- enced search, locate appropriate in- formation, and include appropriate comments. The user would "pick- up" the message next time he or she went online. Two stipulations to this proposal; an average search would cost less than five dollars and all communication must be in nontechnical language.

2) The Omnibus Medium

It is quickly becoming apparent that most media is going digital. We've seen an explosion in popu- larity of the audio compact digital disc and CD Rom is on the verge of breaking big. Videodisc has enor- mous potential. What I would really like to see would be one self-con- tained machine which could handle all of these applications. This one device would be a combination of stereo system, video system, and computer storage system. Perhaps this would be very close to what McLuhan envisioned as the "elec- tronic hearth." We would be able to use this device for entertain- ment, education, and information

Technology retrieval. All functions should be integrated, allowing video with digi- tal sound or computer assisted in- struction with digital video and au- dio. We should be able to record and create on this machine as well as playback.

3) The Recordable Videodisc

Promised since 1979. Enough said. I'll believe it when I see it. Must be under $3,000.

4) Totally Portable Television

The most cumbersome part of moving a computer is hauling around the monitor. The Apple IIc is a good example of this. The com- puter is portable but who wants to lug around the monitor and what do you plug it into? Flat screen and plasma displays are steps in the right direction, but the display needs to be vastly improved (per- haps even color), battery consump- tion needs to be reduced, and the price needs to come way down. I have a vision of third graders pull- ing their computers out of their daypacks and unassumingly taking notes in class.

5) The Generic Computer

One day we'll look back and chuckle at the days when comput- ers were not compatible with each other. Software should be as inter- changeable as the gasoline we put in our cars. (I have lots of com- plaints about cars, but I'll save that for another time and place.) Be aware, this does not mean that I am advocating that all computers be IBM compatible. The challenge here will be to allow innovation, while providing a sense of standard- ization. In keeping with my local production stand, new hardware should have an open architecture, encouraging consumers to write and modify software for these ma- chines.

6) Video Splicing

The current generation of video cameras and camcorders are put- ting video production into the hands of consumers. With that comes the need for editing. After sitting through two hours of my brother-in-law's tape of his trip to Alaska, including the out of focus

shots and the times when he acci- dentally started the camera, I al- most feel home video shouldn't be allowed to be seen before being ed- ited. However, one cannot expect the average consumer to buy a six thousand dollar editing system. I remember my dad editing our home movies with a $30 editor and some splicing tape. Video editing should be that easy and affordable. This may seem impossible given our cur- rent state of electronic video, but perhaps this could involve digital television or a unit with two built in tape transports (much like the dub- bing audio cassette recorders now being made).

7) Personal Publishing This already exists in the form of

Apple's Macintosh teamed with a laser printer and Desktop graphics software. However, to meet my re- quirements this system would need to be available for under $1,000. In fact, if the laser printer gets under $1,000 I'll buy one. It would be great if this system could produce lettering large enough for signs and posters. I guess asking for color printing would be going too far.

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8) Full Text Retrieval

I did all my research for my doc- toral dissertation using a modem and electronic databases. It was quite futuristic. The problem was that after I identified the citations I wanted, I had to deal with our li- brary to actually get the books and articles, this quickly brought me back to the 20th century. As trans- mission rates increase, full text re- trieval (obtaining the entire article) becomes increasingly practical. Yet it is still prohibitive for more than a few pages of text. Also, what about the pictures? My view of full text retrieval includes obtaining the pic- tures.

9) Portable Multi-image

I guess there will never be a re- placement for a beautifully crafted slide show, yet the setting up of the equipment is a nightmare. It is sim- ply too much of a headache to set up a multi-projector show. I would venture that there is a direct in- verse correlation between the num- ber of projectors used and the num- ber of times the show is set up: the more projectors, the less times it will be shown. If you doubt this, notice in a multi-image magazine the number of ads for companies offering video transfer services. Setting up a multi-image show should be as easy as setting up o n e

projector. Perhaps this would in- volve some sort of computerized self-contained device.

.~/) Picture-perfect Projection

The best television projection system still cannot compare to film. It would be wonderful if we could watch our omnibus medium (#3 above) on a big screen. It seems to me that as we switch more and more to video from film we miss the experience of seeing really sharp large images. Try watching Gone With the Wind on a projec- tion TV.

11) The Near-perfect Lens

More-and-more frequently I am leaving my full-sized 35mm camera at home in favor of taking along my pocket sized 35mm camera. What I

would like to see is a 20-300mm f2 zoom lens that is sharp, light, and fast. This one really seems to strain the laws of physics and optics as we currently understand them, but remember how far photography as come in the past few decades. This may involve a whole new format for still photography, but it is be- coming apparent that the miniatur- ization involved in video could be applied to the field of still photogra- phy.

12) A Battery that Lasts Five Years

I heard rumors of this several years ago. Perhaps the major bat- tery companies feared that intro- ducing it would ruin the battery business. If they can develop a bat- tery that powers our watches for years, can't they develop batteries that will power a cassette recorder or flash unit for years? Present re- chargeable batteries are too trou- blesome to meet my criteria for this one.

If some of these ideas sound fan- tastic and unbelievable, we should remember that the future has al- ways seemed implausible. Ten years ago, who would have be- lieved that we would be cooking our food with microwaves, receiv- ing television signals from satellites in space, or buying computers for under five hundred dollars? The time gap between the future and the present is becoming shorter and shorter. For example, the audio compact disc became an inexpen- sive consumer product less than two years after its introduction.

Some of the technology that has recently gone from the fantastic to the commonplace include: inexpen- sive graphics tablets, such as the Koala Pad which bring computer graphics to consumers for under $100, 8mm video, which gives us a video camera that can fit in o n e

hand, and VCRs which sell for un- der $300 while offering wireless re- mote and sophisticated features.

I would be interested in other people's "wish lists" for future technology. If there are any high- tech manufacturers out there inter- ested in my ideas, I don't ask for a royalty, I just ask you to keep the technology affordable and to let me be the first to get one. �9