Context Paper

From a discussion in my Signs of Life class I decided to explore a little more the concept of the prefix tele- in my thesis writing lab context paper:

“If we explore the word syntax structure of most communication tools prior to the Internet, such as telegraph, telex, telegram, and telephone, we encounter the constant presence of the prefix tele-. Tele is a greek word that means “at a distance”, usually implying “to be distant” or “over a distance”. The first use of the prefix tele was in the word telescope which was actually adapted from Galileo’s Italian word telescopi, followed by the word telegraph, meaning “writing at a distance”. Telecommunications is the field that embodies all the systems that intent to communicate “at a distant” or “over a distance”. Once again we see the importance of geography as a crucial domain for human communication, where the advancement of technology, since the beginning, has been trying to diminish its constraints, by allowing people to communicate over an ever-present disturbing distance. I find this analysis particularly interesting in such a way that the Internet, and all features associated with it, have completely abandoned the prefix tele-, drastically assuming the medium, and replaced it with the prefix e-. From e-mail, to e-commerce, and e-business, the prefix e- is usually associated with the latest heat of technological revolution, an abbreviation of the word electronic and an obvious association with the word cyber.”

Click here to read my latest context paper, including 10 main precedents to my thesis.