Understanding The Information Age

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Questions and Answers

The Information Age is defined as a period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century when ______ became effortlessly accessible through publications and computer networks.

information

James R. Messenger proposed the Theory of Information Age in 1982, stating it is based on the interconnection of computers via ______.

telecommunications

The primary factors driving the Information Age forward are convenience and user-friendliness, which, in turn, may lead to user ______.

dependence

Before the printing press, information was largely controlled by elites that threatened the rise of ______ when information began circulating more widely.

<p>literacy</p>
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During World War II, the Allies coped with manpower shortages in military calculations by using the Harvard Mark I, which was a general-purpose ______ computer capable of calculations in seconds.

<p>electromechanical</p>
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Alan Turing invented the ______, an electromechanical machine that helped the British decipher encrypted messages of the German Enigma machine.

<p>Bombe</p>
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Alan Turing's theoretical machine that can solve any problem from simple instructions encoded on a paper tape is called the ______.

<p>Turing machine</p>
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The ______ Computer Club was an early computer hobbyist group where members traded parts of computer hardware and discussed ways to make computers more accessible.

<p>Homebrew</p>
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The Apple I computer, designed by Steve Wozniak, was sold as a fully assembled printed circuit board at the suggestion of ______.

<p>Steve Jobs</p>
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Platforms like Facebook, Friendster, and Myspace are examples of game-based social ______ sites introduced from 1973 onward.

<p>networking</p>
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The Information Age has progressed significantly, influencing people's lives from the printing press to the emergence of social media platforms and the impact of these technologies is ______ or disadvantageous depending on use.

<p>advantageous</p>
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A ______ is an electronic device that stores and processes data and runs on a program that contains the exact, step-by-step directions to solve a problem.

<p>computer</p>
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Personal computers were one of the first to be known as ______ because they where complete, but built on a smaller scale than the enormous systems operated by most businesses.

<p>microcomputers</p>
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A desktop computer designed for portability is known as a ______.

<p>laptop</p>
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Mobile computers that do not have keyboards but rely on a touchscreen are called personal digital ______.

<p>assistants</p>
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Cell phones, watches, and other small objects integrated with databases, e-mail, multimedia, and schedulers are considered examples of ______ computers.

<p>wearable</p>
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A ______ is designed to provide network services to other computers with powerful processors and memory.

<p>server</p>
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Large computer systems which are used to process millions of transactions every day are called ______.

<p>mainframes</p>
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Developed by the Department of Defense, a worldwide system of interconnected networks called the ______ facilitates data transmission among innumerable computers.

<p>internet</p>
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______ is known as the "Father of Information Theory".

<p>Claude E. Shannon</p>
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In the Information Age, information is often seen as a ______, highlighting its economic value and significance in various sectors.

<p>commodity</p>
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The invention of the printing press led to the rise of accessible books, which were previously limited primarily to the ______ class.

<p>upper</p>
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The rapid developments in trade led to calculations involved in communication, with people who create actuarial tables and did engineering calculations referred to as ______.

<p>computers</p>
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The German Navy's ______ code used an enciphering machine for secure communications, highlighting the need for advanced cryptography.

<p>Enigma</p>
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To counteract the Nazis' Enigma, Alan Turing developed the ______ machine to encrypt messages.

<p>Bombe</p>
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Alan Turing's work shortened the war by ______ years.

<p>two</p>
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Homebrew Computer Club gathered together to trade part of computer hardware and allow computers to become more ______.

<p>accessible</p>
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When one publishes a paper that proposes information that can be quantitively encoded as one and zeroes, this is the work of the Father of Information Theory, ______.

<p>Claude E. Shannon</p>
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A website's ______ refers to who is responsible for the website and the author's background.

<p>authority</p>
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One can determine how well thought of a website is through ______ checking.

<p>link</p>
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The degree to which the information on a website is impartial refers to its ______ and objectivity.

<p>purpose</p>
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A website's content and ______ refers to how comprehensive the website is and how accurate each page is.

<p>coverage</p>
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The aspect of evaluating how up-to-date a website is, when it was first published, and how regularly it is updated refers to its ______.

<p>currency</p>
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Advocacy and informational are types of web ______.

<p>pages</p>
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The Information Age is also known as the ______ Age and the New Media Age, reflecting the significant role of digital technologies.

<p>Digital</p>
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The proliferation of social media platforms has enabled information ______ at its most efficient level, transforming how knowledge is shared.

<p>exchange</p>
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Political and religious authorities who took pride in being learned were threatened by the sudden rise of ______ among people due to the creation of the printing press.

<p>literacy</p>
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The creation of social media platforms have involved multi-user chat rooms; and instant-______ applications.

<p>messaging</p>
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The printing press revolutionized how information was spread, which led books to be made more ______.

<p>accessible</p>
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The Allied countries faced a critical shortage of human ______ during World War II.

<p>computers</p>
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According to Webster's Encyclopedia Unabridged Dictionary, ______ is “knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance."

<p>information</p>
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The ______ is defined as a period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century when information became effortlessly accessible through publications and through the management of information by computers and computer networks.

<p>Information Age</p>
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James R. Messenger proposed the Theory of ______ in 1982, defining it as a new age based upon the interconnection of computers via telecommunications.

<p>Information Age</p>
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The Information Age is a period when information is easily accessible through publications and management by computers and computer ______.

<p>networks</p>
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The Sumerian writing system used ______ to represent words.

<p>pictographs</p>
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______ shell and oracle bone writing were used in ancient China for divination and record-keeping.

<p>Tortoise</p>
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The ______ roll was an early form of paper used for writing and record-keeping in ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world.

<p>papyrus</p>
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______ small seal writing was developed in China as a stylized form of calligraphy used for official documents and seals.

<p>Chinese</p>
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The ______ (parchment codex) was an early form of the book made from animal skin, replacing papyrus scrolls in the Roman world.

<p>book</p>
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______-block printing and paper were invented by the Chinese, revolutionizing the dissemination of knowledge and literacy.

<p>Wood</p>
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Johann ______ invented the printing press using movable metal type, transforming the production of books and the spread of information in Europe.

<p>Gutenberg</p>
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Samuel Johnson's dictionary standardized ______ spelling, contributing to the uniformity and consistency of the English language.

<p>English</p>
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The ______ of Congress was established as the national library of the United States, housing a vast collection of books, manuscripts, and other materials.

<p>Library</p>
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Research on ______ of vision was published, exploring the phenomenon of how the human eye perceives motion from a series of still images.

<p>persistence</p>
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Augusta Lady ______ wrote the world's first computer program, making her a pioneer in the field of computer science.

<p>Byron</p>
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The invention of the ______ in Great Britain and the United States revolutionized long-distance communication, allowing messages to be transmitted quickly over wires.

<p>telegraph</p>
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______ pictures were projected onto a screen, leading to the development of cinema and the film industry.

<p>Motion</p>
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The ______ Decimal system was introduced as a method of classifying books and organizing library collections, making it easier to locate specific titles.

<p>Dewey</p>
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Edweard ______ demonstrated high-speed photography, capturing motion in a way that was previously impossible and contributing to the development of motion pictures.

<p>Muybridge</p>
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Lee DeForest invented the electronic amplifying tube (______), which was a crucial component in early radio and telecommunications technology.

<p>triode</p>
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Vladimir ______ invented the television camera tube, enabling the capture and transmission of live images over the airwaves.

<p>Zworkyn</p>
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______ scheduled television broadcasting began in the U.S., marking the start of a new era in entertainment and communication.

<p>Regularly</p>
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Vannevar ______ foresaw the invention of hypertext, envisioning a system of linked documents that would allow users to navigate information in a non-linear way.

<p>Bush</p>
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The ______ computer was developed as one of the earliest electronic general-purpose computers, used for calculating ballistics tables during World War II.

<p>ENIAC</p>
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Claude E. ______ proposed the birth of field-of-information theory, laying the groundwork for understanding how information can be quantified and transmitted.

<p>Shannon</p>
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The ______ transistor was developed by Jean Hoerni, leading to smaller, more efficient electronic devices.

<p>planar</p>
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The Library of Congress developed LC ______ (machine readable code), which facilitated the automation of library cataloging and information retrieval.

<p>MARC</p>
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______ operating system was developed, which could handle multitasking, allowing users to run multiple programs simultaneously.

<p>UNIX</p>
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Intel introduced the first ______ chip, revolutionizing computer design and leading to the development of smaller, more powerful computers.

<p>microprocessor</p>
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The ______ Microcomputer Kit, introduced the first personal computer for the public.

<p>Altair</p>
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______ introduces the first complete personal computer, marking a significant step in the evolution of computing.

<p>RadioShack</p>
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The Apple ______ computer was introduced, featuring a user-friendly graphical interface and mouse control, making computers more accessible to non-technical users.

<p>MacIntosh</p>
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______ intelligence separates from information science as a distinct field of study.

<p>Artificial</p>
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Alan Turing invented ______, an electromechanical machine that enabled the British to decipher encrypted messages of the German Enigma machine.

<p>Bombe</p>
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In his paper, On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem, Turing presented a theoretical machine called the ______ machine that can solve any problem from simple instructions encoded on a paper tape.

<p>Turing</p>
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The ______ Computer Club, gathered regularly to trade parts of computer hardware and talked about how to make computers more accessible to everyone.

<p>Homebrew</p>
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______ and user-friendliness are the primary factors driving the Information Age forward, which, in turn, will create user dependence.

<p>Convenience</p>
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The beginnings of mass communication can be traced back to the invention of the ______ press.

<p>printing</p>
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During World War II, the Allies countries that opposed the Axis power were challenged with a serious shortage of human ______ for military calculations.

<p>computers</p>
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Britain needed mathematician to crack the German Navy's ______ code.

<p>Enigma</p>
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Are among the most important contributions of advances in the Information Age to society: [bank]

<p>Computers</p>
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Flashcards

Information Age

A period starting in the late 20th century where information became easily accessible through publications and computers.

Pictographs

Sumerian's system using pictures to represent words.

Printing Press

A device that applies pressure to an inked surface to transfer ink, invented by Johannes Gutenberg.

Harvard Mark 1

A general-purpose electromechanical computer, 50 feet long, used by the US during World War II.

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Enigma

An enciphering machine used by the German armed forces during World War II.

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Bombe

Electromechanical machine invented by Alan Turing for British to decipher Enigma-encrypted messages.

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Turing Machine

A theoretical machine that can solve any problem via instructions on paper tape, invented by Alan Turing.

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Homebrew Computer Club

An early computer hobbyist group, with members including the founders of Apple Inc.

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Computers

Among the most important contributions of Information Age to society, stores and processes data/programs.

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Personal Computer (PC)

First type of computers; single-user instruments and first known as microcomputers.

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Desktop Computer

Type of PC; a computer that is not designed for portability, setup in a permanent spot.

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Laptop

Type of PC; integrates a desktop's essentials, in a battery-powered package.

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Wearable Computers

Type of PC; integrated into cell phones, watches, and other small objects/places.

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Server

Has been improved to provide network services to other computers.

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Mainframes

Huge computers, used by firms to process millions of transactions every day.

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Internet

A worldwide system of interconnected networks that facilitate data transmission among innumerable computers.

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Claude E. Shannon

Considered as the 'Father of Information Theory'.

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Authority

Who is responsible for the Website on which the web page resides? What is the Website author's background?

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Link checking

Type the URL (entry code) of the page your're browsing to find out what other sites link to the one you're examining.

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Purpose and objectivity

Why has this information been posted, and how impartial is it?

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Information

Knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance; a vital tool for survival.

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Symbolic Communication

The means of conveying symbolic information that has evolved with increasing speed.

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Convenience and User-Friendliness

The primary factors driving the Information Age, leading to user dependence.

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Sumerian Writing

Sumerian writing system that uses pictures to represent words.

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Gutenberg's Press

Device using movable metal type for faster printing, drastically reducing document costs.

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Printing Revolution

The social transformation due to the wide accessibility of information via the printing press.

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Human Computers

People who compiled actuarial tables and did engineering calculations during the trade sector.

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UNIX

UNIX operating system that was developed, which could handle multitasking.

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Altair Microcomputer Kit

First personal computer for the public.

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Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms introduced variations of multi-user chat rooms.

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Study Notes

  • Modern society is highly modernized, automated, data-driven, and technologically advanced, enabling information to be transferred and shared quickly
  • Technological advancements have influenced communications, economics, industry, health, and the environment
  • Rapid upgrade of information has disadvantages
  • Life involves constant information transmission within and outside the body
  • Information: knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance
  • Information is a very important tool for survival

Information Age Defined

  • Period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century
  • Information became effortlessly accessible through publications
  • Information managed by computers and computer networks
  • Symbolic information conveyance increases with speed
  • Also called the Digital Age and the New Media Age
  • Due to association with computer development

Theory of Information Age

  • Proposed in 1982 by James R. Messenger
  • Based on the interconnection of computers via telecommunications
  • Information systems operate on both a real-time and as-needed basis
  • Primary drivers: convenience and user-friendliness, leading to user dependence

History and Emergence of the Information Age Timeline:

  • 3000 B.C: Sumerian writing uses pictographs to represent words
  • 2900 B.C: Beginnings of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
  • 1300 B.C: Tortoise shell and oracle bone writing
  • 500 B.C: Papyrus roll
  • 220 A.D: Chinese small seal writing developed
  • 100 A.D: Book (parchment codex)
  • 105 A.D: Wood-block printing and paper invented by the Chinese
  • 1455: Johann Gutenberg invents printing press using movable metal type
  • 1755: Samuel Johnson's dictionary standardizes English spelling
  • 1802: The Library of Congress is established; invention of carbon arc lamp
  • 1824: Research on persistence of vision published
  • 1830s: First viable design for a digital computer; Augusta Lady Byron writes world's first computer program
  • 1837: Invention of telegraph in Great Britain and the United States
  • 1861: Motion pictures projected onto a screen
  • 1876: Dewey Decimal system introduced
  • 1877: Edweard Muybridge demonstrates high speed photography
  • 1899: First magnetic recordings
  • 1902: Motion picture special effects
  • 1906: Lee DeForest invents electronic amplifying tube (triode)
  • 1923: Television camera tube invented by Zvorkyn
  • 1926: First practical sound movie
  • 1939: Regularly scheduled television broadcasting begins in the U.S
  • 1940s: Beginnings of information science as a discipline
  • 1945: Vannevar Bush foresees the invention of hypertext
  • 1946: ENIAC computer developed
  • 1948: Birth of field-of-information theory proposed by Claude E. Shannon
  • 1957: Planar transistor developed by Jean Hoerni
  • 1958: First integrated circuit
  • 1960s: Library of Congress develops LC MARC (machine readable code)
  • 1969: UNIX operating system developed, which could handle multitasking
  • 1971: Intel introduces first microprocessor chip
  • 1972: Optical laserdisc developed by Philips and MCA
  • 1974: MCA and Philips agree on standard videodisc encoding format
  • 1975: Altair Microcomputer Kit: first personal computer for the public
  • 1977: RadioShack introduces first complete personal computer
  • 1984: Apple Macintosh computer introduced
  • Mid-1980s: Artificial intelligence separates from information science
  • 1987: Hypercard developed by Bill Atkinson recipe box metaphor
  • 1991: Four hundred fifty complete works of literature on one CD-ROM
  • Jan. 1997: RSA (Encryption and network security software) Internet security code cracked for a 48-bit number

Information Overload

  • Due to abundance of information, it was difficult to collect and manage starting in the 1960s and 1970s
  • 1980s: Richard Wurman called it "Information Anxiety."
  • 1990s: information became the currency in the business world
  • Information: a commodity, mass-produced and unspecified

Gutenberg's Press

  • Around 1440, Johannes Gutenberg invented printing press
  • Improved manual, tedious, and slow printing methods
  • Printing press: a device that applies pressure to an inked surface lying on a print medium to transfer ink
  • Gutenberg's hand mold printing press led to the creation of metal movable type
  • Combined inventions made printing faster and reduced costs

Mass Communication

  • The beginnings can be traced back to the invention of the printing press
  • The development of a fast and easy way of disseminating information in print permanently reformed the structure of society
  • Political and religious authorities who took pride in being learned were threatened by the sudden rise of literacy among people
  • The printing revolution occurred
  • Books became accessible not only to the upper class

Computers

  • Calculations became involved in communication due to rapid developments in the trade sector
  • "Computers" origin: people who complied actuarial tables and engineering calculations.
  • World War II: Allies faced a shortage of human computers
  • Harvard Mark 1: US created a general-purpose electromechanical computer
  • For the Allies countries that opposed the Axis power were challenged with a serious shortage of human computers for military calculations.
  • Enigma: the German Navy's enciphering machine
  • Alan Turing, an English mathematician, broke the Enigma code at Bletchley Park
  • Nazis complicated Enigma, with 10^114 permutations
  • Turing invented Bombe, an electromechanical machine that enabled the British to decipher Enigma messages
  • Turing's contribution shortened the war by two years
  • Turing presented Turing machine, that can solve any problem from simple instructions encoded on a paper tape

Computer Age

  • 1970s generation was described as having electronic brains
  • Homebrew Computer Club: an early computer hobbyist group
  • 1976: Steve Wozniak developed Apple I, the famous computer
  • Steve Jobs suggested selling it as a fully assembled printed circuit board
  • Apple I: also called founders of Apple Inc. Apple-I or Apple Computer 1

Social Media Evolution

  • From 1973 onward, variations of multi-user chat rooms were introduced
  • Instant-messaging applications (e.g. AOL, Yahoo messenger, MSN messenger, Windows messenger) came next
  • Bulletin-board forum systems and game-based social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Friendster, Myspace) arrived next
  • Business-oriented social networking websites (e.g., Xing) and messaging, video and voice calling services (e.g., Viber, Skype) were created too
  • Blogging platforms, image and video hosting websites (e.g., Flicker) emerged
  • Discovery and dating-oriented websites (e.g. Tagged, Tinder) emerged and video sharing services (e.g., YouTube) emerged
  • Real social media feed aggregators (e.g., FriendFeed), live-streaming (e.g. Justin.tv, Twitch.tv, also came about
  • Photo-video sharing websites (e.g., Pinterest Instagram, Snapchat, Keek, Vine), and question-and-answer platforms (e.g., Quora) finalized social media evolution
  • Social media platforms enable information exchange

Impact of the Information Age

  • Progressed from the printing press to social media platforms
  • Has immensely influenced lives
  • Innovations can be advantageous or disadvantageous

Computers:

  • Important contributions of advances in the Information Age to society
  • An electronic device that stores and processes data and runs on a program that contains the exact, step-by-step directions to solve a problem

Personal computer (PC):

  • Single-user instrument and first known as microcomputers
  • Complete computer, but built on a smaller scale than the enormous systems operated by most businesses.
  • Desktop Computer: A PC that is not designed for portability and it is set up in a permanent spot.
  • Workstation: A desktop computer that has a more powerful processor, additional memory, and enhanced capabilities for performing a special group of tasks (e.g. 3D graphics) and offers more storage, power, and versatility than their portable counterparts.
  • Laptops: Also known as notebooks or portables that integrate the essentials of a desktop in a battery-powered package somewhat larger than a typical hardcover book.
  • Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs): Tightly integrated computers that usually do not have keyboards but rely on a touchscreen for user input and typically smaller than a paperback, light-weight, and battery powered.
  • Wearable computers: Integrated into cell phones, watches, and other small objects or places and they perform such common computer applications as databases, e-mail, multimedia, and schedulers.
  • Server: A computer that has been improved to provide network services to other computers that usually boast powerful processors, tons of memory, and large hard drives.
  • Mainframes: Huge computer systems that could fill an entire room or even a floor of rooms.
  • Enterprise server: Largely replaced mainframe for large firms
  • Enterprise servers primarily process millions of transactions every day
  • Most comprise multiple, high-performance, parallel computers working as a single system

Internet as Digital Age

  • Worldwide system of interconnected networks that facilitate data transmission among innumerable computers
  • Internet was developed during the 1970s by the Department of Defense and used mainly by scientists to communicate with other scientists

Claude E. Shannon

  • Considered as the "Father of Information Theory"
  • Published a paper proposing that information can be quantitatively encoded as a sequence of ones and zeroes

Criteria to evaluate Web Source:

  • Authority: Find who is responsible and what the website author's background is.

  • Look for an "About" or "More About the Author" link, if no information is provided be suspicious

  • Search for the author on the Internet

  • What kind of websites are associated with the author's name?

  • Is he or she affiliated with any educational attainment?

  • Do the websites associated with the author give you any clue to particular biases the author might have?

  • Link checking: Most search engines allow you to type the URL to find out what other sites link to the one you're examining. This can help you determine how well thought of a site is

  • Look at the domain name of the website that will tell you who is hosting the site

  • Search the domain name

  • Do not ignore the suffix on the domain name, suffix is usually (but not always) descriptive of what type of entity hosts the website

  • Purpose and objectivity

  • Determine why the information has been posted, and how impartial is it

  • Purposes of the website include to sell a product/service, as a personal hobby, as public service, to further scholarship on a topic etc

  • Content and coverage: Determine how comprehensive the web site is, how accurate the page content is and if page lists references or bibliographies.

  • Currency: How up-to-date the information is? When was the website first published? Is it regularly updated? Check for dates at the bottom of each page on the site

  • If the author cites sources, web sources that cite their sources are considered more reliable.

  • Types of web pages Advocacy; business; entertainment; informational; and personal

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