STS REVIEWER (LESSON 5)

INFORMATION AGE

Information - “knowledge communicated to obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance.

- Began around 1970s

- Also called Digital Age, Computer age, or New Media Age

James R. Messenger (1982) - Theory of Information Age

- Is a true age based upon the interconnection of computers via telecommunications

- 1960 – 1970 – information became difficult to collect and manage because of its abundance.
- Richard Wurman (1980) – real angst set in the information circulation, Wurman called it
Information Anxiety.
produced by the ever-widening gap between what we
understand and what we think we should understand; a black hole between data and
knowledge; It happens when information doesn’t tell us what we want or need to know.
- 1990 - currency in the business world Preferred medium of exchange and the information
managers served as information officers.
o Present commodity – an over developed product mass produced and unspecialized.

Robert Harris: Truths of Information Age

1. Information must compete.

2. Newer is equated with truer.
3. Selection is a viewpoint.
4. The media sells what the cultures buys.
5. The early gets the perm.
6. You are what you eat and so is your brain.
7. Anything in great demand will be counterfeited.
8. Ideas are seen as controversial.
9. Undead information walks ever on.
10. Media presence creates story.
11. The medium selects the message.
12. The whole truth is a pursuit.

Influences of the past on the Information Age

● Renaissance -realistic books

● Humanism – what humans could do for himself
● Scientific Revolution – Important scientists; Galileo, Copernicus, Sir Isaac Newton
● Industrial Revolution
o Agriculture
o Mining
o Transportation
o Technology
Technology - Has the power to transform society

Johannes Gutenberg (15th century) – Printing Press

● led to mass literacy

● fostered the Protestant Reformation
● enabled the scientific revolution

Robert J. Samuelson – Washington columnist

James Watt – Steam engine; Credited with starting the Industrial Revolution in England.

Computer - Electronic device that stores and process data (information).

Types

_Personal Computer (PC) – single user

_Desktop Computer - not designed for portability (ex: comp.shop)

_Laptops – Portable notebooks

_Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) - Tightly integrated computers that usually have no keyboards but
rely on a touch screen for user input.

_SERVER - Usually boast powerful processors, tons of memory, and large hard drives

_Mainframes - Huge computer systems that can fill an entire room.

_Wearable Computers - Materials that are usually integrated into cellphones, watches, and other small
objects or places.

The World Wide Web (Internet)

Claude E. Shannon - Father of Information Technology; American mathematician

Internet 1970 (Department of defense) - Is a worldwide system of interconnected networks that

facilitate data transmission among innumerable computers.

Hypertext Markup Language HTML - In 1991, became the basis for the World Wide Web

Tim Berners Lee - British computer programmer who invented HTML

Sergey Brin and Larry Page - Directors of a Stanford research project

Google-most popular search engine (1998)

Forms of communication

● Electronic mail or email – mostly message to fellow workers, business partners

● America Online and CompuServe - electronic chat rooms
 ● “Surfing the net” - Pastime in and of itself

Wealthy influential brokers

- Microsoft - Bill Gates

- Apple - Steve Jobs
- Facebook - Mark Zuckerberg

Internet dangers and disadvantage

o Technological divide on society

o Pornography
o Violent predators
o Crimes
o Cyberbullying

How to check the Reliability of Web Source

1. Who is the author of the article/site?

2. Who published the site?
3. What is the main purpose of the site? Why did the author write is and why did the publisher
post it?
4. Who is the intended audience?
5. What is the quality of information provided on the website?

Examples of Useful and Reliable Web Sources

● AFA e-Newsletter
● American Memory
● Bartleby.com Great Books Online
● Chronicling America
● Cyber Bullying and etc.