CSEP590A - History of Computing’s Effects on the Creative IndustryRussell Clarke (Microsoft)AbstractOne industry that has benefited from computers is the creative industry. People involved in music, photography, video and film all use computers, compared to 10 or 20 years ago when most work was done manually. This paper will attempt to describe how computers have changed the industry, what is now possible that wasn't previously, how the industry has helped drive aspects of technology development, and what developments, both in the creative industry and in computing, we are likely to see in the future.IntroductionComputers were originally intended for performing repetitive calculations and solving equations, mainly for military and ballistics problems. Big business, government and financial institutions were the next users of the developing computing technology. Perhaps one of the more unexpected uses, at least initially, of computers was how it couldbe used in the creative industry. Artists, designers, musicians, publishers have generally been late to apply computers to their field, but have now embraced the technology and has now transformed the creative industry.BeginningsOne of the issues associated with technology in the creative industry is the perception of lower quality. This is partly true, at least with the first uses of technology, which is not yet developed enough to compete with traditional processes. Lower bit rates or resolution than is needed are a common problem when a technology is first introduced. Ittakes a few generations for the technology to develop enough for it to be generally accepted as an alternative to traditional methods, and a further few generations for the technology to be more popular and even replace traditional methods.An example of this is the publishing industry. When computers were first introduced, and people realized that computers could be used to print documents, the quality ofdocuments printed was very low compared to traditional printed documents. Laser printer technology developed and typesetting technology became more advanced, and thequality of printed documents created using computers approached that of traditional printed material. It is the early adopters of a technology who help push the technology forward, but at the same time they are using undeveloped technology, usually at a reduced quality than if the work was produced using traditional methods. Various improvements in software, including typesetting software such as TeX, demonstrated how computers could be used to produce quality documents. Additional developments such as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), page layout and desktop publishing software like Adobe InDesign or word processing software like Microsoft Word have made producing professional quality documents more easy and offered clear advantages over traditional cut-and-paste publishing. Hardware developments such as improvementsin monitor resolution, size and quality, and improvements in printer technology have also helped the industry.In the music industry, computers were first used to generate sounds and sample (capture) audio. Digital audio technology also developed at this time, with CDs being introduced in the early 1980s. At first, serious musicians were reluctant to use CDs or digital recording technology because it was thought that the sound quality was not as good as traditional analogue recording. Once the technology had developed sufficiently, improving audio quality as well as seeing what benefits digital recording provided, more and more musicians used digital recording, A similar situation has occurred more recentlywith the advent of MP3 and lossy audio compression algorithms. At first, professional musicians would not even consider using compressed audio, however now it is being seen as an alternative, since compression technology has improved, processing power hasincreased an capabilities of music software have expanded. Mobile DJs are using MP3s whereas only five years ago they would be lugging crates of vinyl records.In the photography industry, a similar story exists. Digital cameras, when they first appeared, were slow, expensive, produced low-quality images, could only store a few images, had few features, and were generally not considered to be useful for seriouswork. The software that existed to handle digital photos was similarly undeveloped. However, as progress was made in flash memory storage and digital camera quality, and as the software improved, digital cameras and digital photos became more accepted in theprofessional photo industry, and became a realistic alternative to film photography.An important aspect of creative people adopting modern technology is that most people in the creative industry are not technical, and therefore will not (or cannot) use technology that is either too difficult or requires too much technical knowledge to use. Usability and design of computers is important in this aspect, to increase the adoption of technology. A clear benefit is also required for people to switch from using traditional methods, which are usually mature, tried-and-tested and entrenched in the industry.PhotographyComputing technology has been used only recently in the photography field. This is mostly likely due to the fact that up until recently, the visual difference between film photography and digital photography has been great. This in turn is mostly due to the fact that images of a quality close to film photographs require a lot of memory to store and process. Only recently has memory capacity increased to the point where professionals are using digital photography as an alternative to traditional film photography.Originally, when digital cameras first came out, the quality was too low to be used for anything other than amateur use, and the technology was considered a toy. Over the years, improvements occurred in quality, the cost of hardware reduced, as well as increases in computational power and memory of PCs, resulting in digital cameras becoming standard home technology. Professional digital SLR cameras soon followed, originally prohibitively expensive but now comparable in cost to standard SLR cameras.Because of the growing digital camera industry, advancements were made in technologiessuch as flash memory and graphics processors including vector engines.Advancements in photo printing technology and in the online distribution of photos such
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