Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 6: Personal Computer Era (1980s)

1988

FAX Machines Mass Marketed

Event

FAX Machines Mass Marketed
Wikipedia. 2024. "Fax." Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified January 3, 2024. en.wikipedia.org.

This moment serves as an additional example of digital machines entering people’s homes and altering the human-machine relationship and sentiment. In a watershed moment for digital mass media, FAX machines became widely available, altering the communication landscape. This technology breakthrough gave enterprises and individuals alike the power of fast document transmission. The FAX machine was a precursor to the instant document transfer we have now, altering how we shared ideas and interacted. As FAX machines spread, they cross geographical gaps, speeding up information flow. The machine and its wide-spread availability thus represent a watershed moment in the democratization of communication tools, signaling an era in which document transmission transcends physical constraints, opening up new avenues for global connectedness and collaboration.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random.

Sources

Movements

Mass Media Art

Filed under

Ideas
collaboration, democratization, Mass Media Art, tools
Technologies
fax machines

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