Digital tech is associated with disruption across industries.
It replaces older systems with faster, more efficient and generally user-friendly alternatives.
However, what we sometimes don’t consider is how digital platforms can also preserve traditional systems, be they financial models or educational frameworks.
They have been transformed into systems that operate in the digital world, but without altering their core reason for operating.
Digital tools can now protect historical methods and allow them to remain accessible and relevant in modern society.
Let’s have a look in more detail at how digital tools have affected different historical methods.
Preserving Financial Models in the Digital World
Aspects of the world of mathematics have been preserved digitally. Not just in the world of banking and finance, which we will touch on, but even in gaming, too. Take, for example, baccarat, the popular table game that originated in Europe over 600 years ago.
It was popular in Italy, France and Britain and operates on fixed mathematical rules.
Nowadays, modern digital platforms allow gamers to play baccarat games and access structured versions of the game online. Technology allows for the same probability models to be applied and ensures the digital version remains extremely close to traditional formats from the 15th century when it was created.
In the financial sector, we see technology performing a similar role within core financial systems. Double-entry bookkeeping dates back to Renaissance Italy but still remains unchanged at its core. Companies still work with the idea of recording a debit and credit for every transaction as the foundation of accounting.
However, these days platforms, like Xero and QuickBooks have digitised the process. They maintain accuracy, removing the chance of human error, all the while maintaining the original logic.
Trading floors have used digital platforms to improve accuracy as well. The London Stock Exchange, for example, while still working within market structures of bid, ask, liquidity and order matching, now uses electronic order books. They have altered speed and accessibility and use the same processes that have been used on trading floors for years.
Maintaining Educational Frameworks and Learning Methodologies Digitally
In the education sector, digital platforms have transformed the learning process. Traditional structures still remain, such as standardised testing and modular course progression; however, platforms like Blackboard and Canvas have brought these online and now affect how students learn. They track learning, provide easier accessibility to materials and can be used as feedback tools outside the classroom. It makes the learning experience more interactive and easier for both students and teachers.
Ideas like spaced repetition were first studied in the 1880s and now appear in platforms like Anki. The digital method of learning means that algorithms can present information at specific intervals and improve long-term retention.
We have even seen an increase in digital teaching. More and more classes are delivered online; however, programmes themselves still follow the same credit systems and requirements for entry and graduation.
Online Systems Ensure Consistency and Accessibility
Automation has been introduced to reduce errors in traditional systems by enforcing rules consistently. Blockchain, for instance, follows traditional ledger principles by recording transactions in order.
This is essential ledger-keeping, which has existed for centuries, but with enhanced integrity where records are completely verifiable. In finance, automated clearing houses and electronic settlement systems follow the systems that existed when manual banking was commonplace. Again, this has increased accuracy and, of course, security.
The question of consistency is particularly important when looking at probability-based systems. Consistent rule enforcement is essential to maintaining mathematical integrity, and platforms in which this can be done automatically ensure that outcomes follow the correct models each time. It also allows users to observe systems more clearly. Interfaces can display records, which improves transparency over time.
Online systems are purely replacing traditional systems, but in many cases, they preserve them. We can see that in finance, in the case of bookkeeping or education, like structured course progression. Digital business management and tools have helped these systems become more accurate and efficient, and have also enhanced accessibility.
Their preservation shows that historic models can remain relevant and that when moved to the digital world, they can be improved upon but still guide how we do things in the modern digital age.
