Impact: Advancements in science, technology, and society due to evolution of information distribution.
Purpose of Information
Represents how we describe reality for sharing.
Dual Purpose:
Define reality (basis of measurement).
Science: Standards for measurement (e.g., meters, inches).
Communication.
Lost information (e.g., Egyptian pyramids).
Structure of Information Sharing
Three Structures (Semiotics):
Sign.
Thing.
Agent.
System: A SIGN gives the AGENT information about someTHING.
Agent: Receiver of information.
Sign: Symbol, signal, or messenger.
Thing: Message or meaning.
Example: In this workbook as the reader you are the agent, the statements or paragraphs are the signs and the interpretation of these statements is the thing.
ERAS OF INFORMATION
Categorized by technologies used to access and spread information.
Gutenberg at the center.
Pre-Gutenberg Era
Before the printing press.
Information spread by word-of-mouth.
Handwriting books, paper scrolls, or stone tablets.
Limited access to information for a few people with power and influence.
Gutenberg Era
Invention of the printing press in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg.
Mass production of books.
Increased information access to a larger audience.
Expensive production limited access to the rich and powerful.
Birth of news/media and bank institutions.
Main product: information.
Main function: information mediation.
Post-Gutenberg Era: Information Age
Advancements in science and technology revolutionized information access.
Key Technologies:
Computer (late 1940s, advanced in 1980s).
Internet (World Wide Web in the 1990s).
The Internet allowed faster information sharing and the rise of social media.
Anyone can access information easily through a computer (e.g., Google).
DEVELOPMENTS LEADING TO THE INFORMATION AGE
Developments in science & technology advanced science and technology.
Communication technologies played a major role.
Telephone
Invented by Alexander Graham Bell in the late 19th century.
Revolutionized communications industry.
Instantaneous voice information transmission.
Converts sound from the transmitter into an electrical signal and back again to sound to the receiver and vice versa.
Radio & Television
Advanced information distribution technologies.
Main use of radios is for long-distance communications both as a transmitter and receiver.
Wireless Communication (transmitter can talk to the receiver).
Sound from the transmitter is converted by the radio to an electrical signal. The signal is then converted to radio waves to be received by another radio.
Radio is the first technology utilized by media institutions to give information or “news”.
Cathode-ray tube (CRT) led to television (TV) in the 1920s.
CRT technology obsolete due to radiation; replaced by liquid crystal display (LCD) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
Computer
Started in the late 1940s.
Early computers filled a room (e.g., IBM computers used by NASA).
Became personal item with the invention of the keyboard.
Apple's Macintosh was one of the earliest successful personal computers and was further improved by Microsoft's programming software or operating system.
Hardware and software work in tandem.
Programming software is just as important as the hardware.
Internet
Networking of computers started in the early 1970s with the US Department of Defense.