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96
COMPUTER
THE PROFESSION
Computing a
Better World
Kai A. Olsen,
Molde College and University of Bergen, Norway
While government leaders struggle to implement significant
change, computing professionals increasingly achieve this goal
as a side-effect.
As computing professionals
we have been
involved in many projects.
Most have had a
limited scope, duration, and budget.
These milestones span decades, from
developing a system for sending text
messages between universities and
research centers in 1969, to manufacturing
a chip for a calculator in
1971, to setting standards for electronic
communication in 1974, to
designing a computer system that
offers an improved user experience
in 1981, to simplifying access to scientiflc
papers in 1990, to developing
new technologies for ranking Web
pages in 1996, and to creating an
online student directory with photos
in 2003.
I suspect few people involved in
these projects had any idea they were
changing the world. Yet, in retrospect,
we see this is what really happened.
The Arpanet project gave us the flrst
e-mail system in 1969, Intel developed
the microprocessor in 1971, and an
international effort gave us the TCP/
IP standard for data communication
in 1974. Then, in 1981, researchers
at Xerox Parc designed the flrst
complete graphical workstation; Tim
Berners Lee deflned the basis for the
World Wide Web at CERN in 1990,
Larry Page and Sergey Brin created
the foundations for Google in 1996,
and Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook
in 2003.
CHANGING LIVES
Combined, these computing
advances have changed the lives of
millions throughout the world. In the
industrial countries we work, shop,
play, and socialize using a computer.
Whole business areas are experiencing
this revolution. Music, movies,
and books are now separated from
their physical representation, with
a consequently huge impact on the
industry. Photography has gone
digital. Analog products, such as
fllm, cameras, and their connected
services—are now disappearing.
Newspapers that have existed for
more than 200 years are in danger
of closing down as the competition
from the net becomes overwhelming.
Meanwhile, TV is losing viewers to the
Internet and sites like YouTube.
Physical libraries, with collections
in the form of clay tablets, papyrus,
or books, have been an integral
part of educational institutions for
thousands of years. Today digital
collections are taking over and the
physical library has an uncertain
future in many domains. Companies
that hardly existed flve to ten years
ago—such as Google, Facebook, and
Twitter—are today known by everybody.
New services and applications
are offered every day to make our
lives more effective and, perhaps,
more interesting. It is tempting to
compare these trends with politics.
While many state leaders struggle to
implement signiflcant change, computing
professionals increasingly
achieve this as a side-effect.
CATALYST
Clearly, the computing industry
is today’s main catalyst for change.
No other industry has a comparable
impact and none is as dynamic. As
professionals in this area we are
truly shaping the world into something
better—or so we hope. Some
argue that computing has become
a commodity, like electricity, something
you still need but that has lost
its competitive advantage. However,
the Googles, YouTubes, Wikipedias,
and Twitters show that the pace has,
if anything, accelerated. So what can
we expect in the next decennium?
eInk offers one new technology
that flows from computing. In the
past 10 years it has moved from the
labs to commercial product status.
Continued on page 94
Published by the IEEE Computer Society 0018-9162/10/$26.00 © 2010 IEEE
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