Bandwidth typically has 2 main definitions:

1. Spectral frequency width or range - when discussing information held within the electromagnetic or audio spectrum.
2. Data transfer - the amount of data transfer required or the speed at which information is transferred in a system

Having a passion for both Audio & Information Technology, Bandwidth is key in my day to day life.

One of the aspects of Bandwidth that really excites me, is the ability of it to transfer knowledge and grow society. Without significant bandwidth on a global scale (ie, the internet) , information transfer would be extremely slow and the growth on knowledge and understanding would be greatly hampered.

The way I like to think of Bandwidth from an information transfer point of view is, it is the enabler of growth and the spread of knowledge.

Consider if the internet were to slow down to the pace of a letter being posted, the spread of information would be painfully slow. This is obviously why the internet or it's precursor ARPAnet was developed.

Whilst we all take for granted that we have access to the internet, either from home, work or on the go, using mobile phones and tablet devices, it is easy to forget how this affects our day to day life.

Many of us cannot bear to be disconnected from our social networks for more than a few hours... we will miss out on loads of important information. Sure, we can catch up on it later, but this simply means that information is no longer current and our ability to interact with that information and it's sources in a meaningful way has diminished.

I found myself on the train, on the way to work a couple of days ago, the previous night I was so tired I had forgotten to plug my phone in, an event that never happens. So there I was traveling to work, my normal routine decimated due to lack of power on my mobile device thinking, what did I used to do, before I could simply browse my favorite sites for the latest info on the way to work.

I started thinking about it, sure, there were newspapers, books, perhaps hand held games, but there was no interaction with a wider community. I felt marooned in a city full of people, but with no way to contact them. Well, not until I got to work and charged my phone.

This made me really think about Bandwidth in a new way, it really is about the sharing of information on a truly global and pretty much, instantaneous manner.

Being cut off from that for even just a short period of time made me realise how intrinsic Bandwidth, and I guess more importantly, access to bandwidth is.

I will be talking more about this topic over the coming weeks and breaking it down, dealing with smaller components and discussing the finer detail.

Until next time...