Everything goes digital - 1990 to 20XX

In the world of information and communication technology, the end of the 20th century is characterized by the international networking of millions of computer systems, wide use of multimedia applications and the spread of virtual, i.e. artificially created, worlds.

 

Fifty years after their invention, computers - in the shape of PCs - have become tools for everyone, multimedia terminals with practically unlimited communication capabilities. Microelectronics has given computers the power and memory capacity necessary for software functions that cover almost all foreseeable private and professional requirements.

The "Everything goes digital" section of the exhibition is designed to show the dynamism of this global world of computing and communication. The core of this scenario is a multimedia Internet wall presenting the history, technology, function and participants in the network of networks. The Internet is characterized by the quasi private, non-commercial exchange of information around the globe. This is contrasted with commercial online services, which provide all kinds of products and services via electronic channels. Virtual department stores are appearing, and electronic commerce has become reality.

 

At the digital workbench, visitors to HNF discover a panorama of present and future developments in information and communications technology, covering a wide range of topics and popular applications. Visitors have the opportunity to try out the latest products from a communications market which is growing enormously. This highly competitive market forces media houses to compete directly or to cooperate with electronic entertainment, computer and telecommunications companies. Visitors can experience how advancing digitization of all media guarantees perfect quality and communicability of information, and how digital imaging allows pictures to be modified and also manipulated in almost any way.

The advent of computer graphics early in the 1980s, and of multimedia capabilities towards the end of the same decade, find their continuation in the realistic presentation of virtual scenarios. The cyberspace of the 1990s has given rise to new worlds of ideas and experience, which inspire artistic fantasy and increasingly produce practical benefits. HNF's Software Theatre sets the scene and is discussion forum for this virtual world.

 

In terms of performance, personal computers - as terminal devices - are contrasted with supercomputers, which allow dynamic technical, business and environmental processes to be modelled, producing resources and time savings. The scope of applications shown in the "Supercomputers" section of the exhibition now encompasses all sectors of science and technology.

The information society and its manifestations are visualized against the background of the first mass media - press, radio and television.

 

Nowadays, the Internet is not only used for communication purposes by over 133 million people in more than 100 countries; it also provides users with a huge, ever increasing range of information, which is almost inaccessible without the aid of search engines. The fact that this system is also used to disseminate documents and pictures of a racist, violent or pornographic nature is a fact that is equally alarming and hard to control. This is where data protection has an important part to play. As growing volumes of personal data are being collected, it is necessary to balance the interests of business and consumers, of the state and its citizens.

 

In the information society, people at work and at home increasingly require media skills: they must be able to handle and critically select media of all kinds. This is why schools need to be networked, and schoolchildren - as the working people of tomorrow - need to learn future work techniques today.

 

It is remarkable that, even in the information age, 99% of people do not communicate via the Internet, and that there are still more people in the world calculating with abacuses than with computers.
 

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