Technology: Then and now

Creativity and innovation make even ordinary things pretty exciting and interesting. Creativity plays a vital role in designing stamps. First, creativity in ideas – looking for out-of-the-box topics and themes. Once a theme is selected, designing too becomes a challenge.

Most postal organisations are clever in picking up new ideas and presenting them in an interesting way. ‘Technology – Then & Now’ was the theme of a recent issue by the Australia Post. Five areas were selected to present the theme. They were telephone, refrigerator, television, music and navigation. The subjects are pretty ordinary. Many may have wondered what is there to make a fuss about such common day to day stuff. The Australia Post thought otherwise.

Technology defined as ‘the use of tools, machines, materials, techniques, and sources of power to make work easier and more productive,’ keeps on changing all the time. The technological revolution of the 21st century has touched the daily lives of people. We have witnessed so much change in recent times.

Take the mobile phone. It has revolutionised our daily communication. No longer is it the simple pocket phone which enabled a user to make direct dial telephone calls wherever he or she was. Unlike fixed line phone which are fast becoming virtually archaic, today’s 4G phones provide a myriad of functions including internet, video and audio, enabling us to be connected globally.

The change is depicted in the stamp using the ‘Then & Now’ approach – a telephone booth in the olden days and an ultra modern mobile phone.

The refrigerator has been a household item for over a century – since 1910. “The modern refrigerator can be equipped with entertainment devices such as a high-definition LCD screen and FM radio – a far cry from the ice chest which kept food cool through insulation rather than electricity, and relied on the ice man for deliveries of ice,” states the Aus Post Stamp Bulletin. Not often do we see the type of old refrigerator used in the stamp with a typical ‘old gent.’

Scottish engineer John Logie Baird (1888-1946) has been hailed as the inventor world’s first practical, publicly demonstrated television system. In 1926, he gave the first demonstration of a television image. His 30-line mechanical scanned system was experimentally broadcast by the BBC in 1929.

The stamp illustrating the television revolution refers to the days when television was first introduced to Australia during the 1956 Olympic Games. The relatively small television sets transmitted picture in black and white for limited periods.

Today the flat-screen television sets are much thinner but have enormous screens compared to early units. Increasingly transmissions are digital rather than analogue. It is now quite common to have several TV sets in a household and transmission is 24 hours a day.

Incidentally, Sri Lanka has been having television for over thirty years. The first television network – the Independent Television Network (ITN) – was launched on 13 April 1979. Between then and now, 24 TV channels are operating in the country.

Music is another area which has undergone enormous change. Not so long ago we were listening to music by placing a vinyl record on a turntable. Today, digital portable media players are portable, compact and have a huge storage capacity.

Navigation is the last items captured in the stamp issue. Printed road maps and street directories are fast becoming a thing of the past. The introduction of the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) has revolutionised the way we find a location.

A feature of the design of all the stamps is the use of the ‘Then’ piece of equipment alongside a person or a family clad in clothes of the early era. Even the car used for the ‘navigation’ stamp is an old model and the driver is seen checking a road map.