OPINION

Pixels: Advanced Technology Indistinguishable from Reality?

Terry Calhoun, Commentator
Society for College and University Planning (SCUP)
University of Michigan

In 1954, I was seven years old, Elvis Presley cut his first record, the transistor radio was invented (I owned one very soon afterwards!), and the “pixel” invaded Western culture, or so some say. Certainly, for the last 25 years, much of the story of architecture, industrial design, and engineering has been the story of pixels. Now, an ever increasing amount of “the world” we see is on digital screens, in pixels.

At first it did seem like magic. Sometimes you had to strain to see what the squared-off dots were representing. Over time pixels, while still there, have at the same time begun disappearing: “From early luminescent blobs on a screen, to points of light too small for the human eye to register, the pixel has been slowly dematerializing, losing mass and gaining verisimilitude.” (See “Pixelvision,” linked later on.) At first it was magic, and now it is becoming our reality.

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IT NEWS

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Penn State Eliminates Social Security Numbers with New IDs

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‘Define the Line’ About Being Good Cyber Citizens

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Physical and IT Infrastructures Don't Mesh

Portland State University students will get new ID cards in November, but they'll have to keep their old ones around, too, as the new ones won't open all the doors and locks they'll have to use. (Vanguard News)
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Rhode Island College (RIC) Suffers Serious Power Outages

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As Spyware Frustrates, Technology Companies Feel Heat

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Oracle Raises the Price on its Final PeopleSoft Bid

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RESOURCES

Campus Computing, 2004 Survey

The 15th national survey of computing and information technology in US higher education covers a broad range of technologies and applications relevant to IT in higher education.
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DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

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Mount Allison University Selects BeaconWorks

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