An Opinion

Global Communications

Friday, 06 November 2009 00:00

Just 108 years ago, the first transatlantic wireless transmission was received in Newfoundland, Canada by Guglielmo Marconi. Then, in 1962, there was the first transatlantic transmission of a television signal via satellite – the only way to transmit such a signal. Of course, we have come a long way in communications from those early days.

Today global communications are taken for granted just as in our global economy. But, there are many other dimensions to how we communicate today. I will never forget being in China last year and being able to receive and send phone calls from my cell phone to anywhere in the United States. It was a fascination for me and the person at the other end of the call.

In addition, of course, the computer and emails worked throughout China, as well. And I could do as much research online as I could at my Long Island desk.

All of this leads me to two fascinating emails I received a few weeks ago. Both related to columns I had written for the Anton Community Newspapers.

The first email was from Australia written by a professor located at the Australian National University, which is located in Canberra – not too far from Sydney, Australia. The professor was writing to me about a column which I had written dealing with China’s exploration of the oceans of the world back in the early 1400s. You may recall the column which described books written by Gavin Menzies. How did someone read a column of mine in a Long Island newspaper thousands and thousands of miles away?

It is all about global communications via the Internet. For example, if you put a phrase in Google and ask to have messages sent to you whenever the words appear online, you will get alerts. I do it for healthcare and the Panama Canal. I feel certain that the professor must have used “Gavin Menzies” for his Google search alerts.

The second email inquiry related to my column about charitable giving. This time the email, again, was from the other side of the globe. It came from someone in Shanghai, China who works for a research and consulting firm – Bain & Company. The request asked me if I had any information about “—- charitable giving by major countries in the world, including developed and developing countries across six continents?” My response, I hope, was helpful. As for his connection with my column in these papers, it had to be research. If you go online and Google a few key words in this piece or any other story in this paper, you will soon find it online.

It is almost impossible to comprehend how world-changing global communications will be as we go forward. The Internet is a wonderful tool for research and communication. And it can only become more creative in the future.