Although it is probably a clich to say we are living in a time of unprecedented technological

Although it is probably a cliché to say we are living in a time of unprecedented technological change, it is difficult to truly comprehend the enormous changes that have taken place in a very short time and their impact upon us. To help get a sense of these changes, consider the following questions:

a. Identify the different forms of output methods developed in the past 1,000 years, and draw them on a time line. How many output methods did you identify, and how many of them were commercially available in the last 50 years? In the last 25? In the last 10?

b. What is the earliest version of a turnaround document that you can fi nd?

c. According to your research, when did microfilm become widely available? What was its impact upon private- and public-sector organizations?

d. What about screen output? When did PC monitors come into widespread use? What has been their impact upon private- and publicsector organizations?

e. Of all the output methods in use today, which one do you think had the most significant impact upon governments and cultures? Why?