Mediation Technology 1996 – 2008

The dozen years between 1996 and 2008 changed the way things are done, in every field from personal relationships to politics. From Netscape to YouTube and MySpace, the Internet has become part of everyday life. Broadband networks and mobiles are everywhere. A whole generation has grown up knowing nothing else.

How did we get here? During this critical period, Mediation Technology worked with many of the organisations on the ‘front line’ of the digital revolution, from the BBC and BT to computer manufacturers, City and County Councils, and global application providers. We worked alongside education specialists, leading industry consultants, lawyers and government officials. We drew on previous experience of working with organisations around the world, from Apple and NatWest Bank to the British and German governments and the European Commission.

Based in Cambridge, England, we carried out research on this new digital technology and its impact, provided consultancy advice, and implemented novel applications.

All in all, our work involved contact with most of the areas of work and life affected by the ‘digital revolution’. And in the course of this, we wrote a regular online column – View from the Fen – giving our perspective on what was happening and why.

This site collects together some of the material, including articles, papers and commentary, from this period. Some of the ideas first mooted a decade ago are just now coming to fruition (broadband and on-demand media, for example, through initiatives such as the BBC iPlayer). Some have yet to happen, and may take years or even decades to develop fully. Some are now of historic interest only. And some, of course are just plain wrong – the inevitable result of a period of fast and largely unplanned change.

From Cambridge, a (more or less) still point in a rapidly gyrating world, these give a perspective on the forces which have shaped the world we now live in. The world now has other things to occupy its attention – Iraq, global warming, the credit crunch, and of course the daily actions of those in the Big Brother house of this week’s fame and celebrity. But the changes that happened in this short period either side of the millennium will affect the lives of generations to come, just as in the 15th Century the advent of print media (books, newspapers, pamphlets and much else) radically changed the lives of future generations. During this time, just as 500 yeas ago, the technology that mediates our day-to-day interactions underwent a sudden shift. And everything that depends on this – which includes just about everything that human beings do – changed too.

©2008 Mediation Technology