Digital technology has revolutionized the way visual elements are captured and transmitted. Many people are aware of digital technology because of digital cameras. For them, knowledge of digital images begins and ends with digital cameras. However, the digital revolution reaches much further than photographs.
Definition of Analog
Cathode ray tubes (CRT) were, until the late 1990s, the standard form for computer monitors and television screens. CRTs use analog (also spelled analogue) technology to transmit images to the viewer. With analog transmission, electrons travel along a continuous path through a tube and ultimately collide with the phosphor coated glass face, where the electron current is translated into image that can be interpreted by the human eye.
Definition of Digital
Digital technology, unlike analog technology, uses electronic pulses that are transmitted in discrete packets. In terms of visual images, digital transmissions are actually a collection of pixels that combine to form images of television programming or data transmission on a computer. It is possible to achieve higher quality definition through the use of digital transmissions than is possible with analog transmissions.
Digital Cameras, TVs and Computer Monitors
Cameras, televisions and computer monitors have all been transformed by digital technology. Digital cameras make it possible to see or delete a photo instantly. Also, digital technology allows televisions and computers to use flat screens for their visual displays, which is one of the innovations that made portable computers possible.
Digital television signals can be more readily compressed than analog television signals. This allows stations the option of offering either a single high-definition transmission with superior visual resolution or several transmissions (different channels with varied programming), each with standard resolution, within the same bandwidth that is normally required for a single analog channel.
Analog Equipment and Electronic Waste
With the rapid transition to digital technology, many communities are faced with the issue of proper disposal of CRTs, which are a major source of lead in dumps. A typical 27-inch television can have up to 8 lbs. of lead. An increasing concern is that recycled CRT tubes are being exported to countries such as China, where their disposal is handled in an unsafe manner. Open-air incineration and acid baths are used to extract metals such as copper and gold. The result is that the workers in these disposal facilities, many of whom are children, are exposed to toxic and carcinogenic waste materials.
The Digital Divide
Digital technology has affected nearly every area of technology. In the early days of the Internet, the buzz phrase was the Information Superhighway. However, as broadband and other technology innovations are developed from digital technology, a new phenomenon is becoming increasingly evident: the Digital Divide. The Digital Divide refers to those individuals and communities that have limited or no access to the Internet, especially through high-speed connections.
In a 2004 study, the U.S. Department of Commerce found that more than 55 percent of households had at least one person using the Internet through a dial-up connection. More than 14 percent had no Internet access at home. The same study found that 41.3 percent of the U.S. population did not use the Internet from any location.
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