A Wireless World
Posted in Library on May 6th 2003 by Randy Reichardt:: The talk in libraries these days (well, one of the “talks”, anyway), is wireless – when are we going there, how can we make best use of it, how will it change what we do, and in the cases of many libraries already wireless, what has its impact been on what we do. The Wireless Librarian brings together resources for librarians and the experience of working in libraries with wireless technology.
Wireless technology has been with us since the 1890s, thanks to Marconi. In the October 1945 issue of Wireless World, Arthur C Clarke wrote a four-page article called “Extra-Terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” He proposed that satellites in geosynchronous orbit, spaced 120° apart at 36,000 feet, could achieve instant global communication coverage. Scoffed at initially, his proposed “relays”, which would be part of orbiting space stations, evolved into today’s communication satellites, or comsats.
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