By Eduardo de Moraes Ponzoni, São Paulo, 24/05/2011

3^rd Semester – System Analysis and Development

As shown in the first article of this series, technology is present any entertainment activity. Continuing with the series of articles, let’s explore a little bit more of the roles of technology in travelling and sports.

Technology in Travelling

Forget about the majesty of the Taj Mahal or Iguaçu Falls. Try not to think about the wonderful blue sea at Bora-Bora and Caribbean.

Let’s focus on technology in travelling.

Technology plays several different roles in travelling, from the moment when people decide to travel to the day when their credit card bill arrives. From planning the destination, the financial control, to the places where to go, it’s all about technology. Many people are used to creating electronic spreadsheets to control their travelling expenses, electronic calendars to keep arrival/departure times and dates, internet to find out must-see attractions, buy airline and concert tickets and post pictures taken along the trip. Others make negotiation of payment and hotel reservations through travel agencies, exchange e-mails for confirmation of payment and departure/arrival dates and times.

Transportation is one of the most important parts of travelling, and people always keep wondering: how do I reach my destination quickly and comfortably? Probably the most common answer for these questions is transportation by airplanes, once nowadays the airplanes are the fastest and safest means of transportation.

Airplanes can carry several people and tons of luggage from and to the most distant places around the world in a quick and comfortable way, featuring engineering, physics and aerodynamic, and have several controls such as: inside and outside temperature, altitude, approaching, radar, speed and strength, wind direction, fuel usage, inside and outside communication, and inside pressurization and all these controls are made by an onboard computer.

What about buying? For consumers, to make a purchase is as simple as sliding the credit card in the machine and take the product, which leads to forget or ignore all the technology involved in this type of transaction. Technology allows the communication to the central (or redirection in case of international credit cards), online balance validation, quote and currency conversion and debit itself.

Technology in Sports

There’s a famous Latin phrase that says “Mens sana in corpore sano”, which means something like “Healthy mind in a healthy body” that illustrates the fact that since always mankind has needed to exercise their bodies to reach a full psychological balance while building social interaction. Since always, the main goal of the sports has been to maintain or improve physical attributes such as agility and strength while promoting bravery and discipline. What about the technology? As said before, technology plays an important role in most entertainment activities and it wouldn’t be any different in sports. The sports are increasingly connected to technology and innovations, because technology is being largely applied to improve athletics performance. But that’s not all. In sports such as soccer, electronic devices (like computers, TVs and advanced recording cameras) can influence and help people to clarify their doubts, allow communication, and in the future, replace human judgment. More than that, people can also take advantage of technology to follow the progress of any kind of game through the internet, no matter where or when.

Can you now think about travelling and sports without technology?

In the next and final article of this series, we will explore the clearest appliances of technology in entertainment, discussing about theme parks, videogames and internet.

To be continued…