Chapter 6

Information Age

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

● define Information Age

● discuss the history of Information Age; and

● understand the factors that need to be considered in checking website sources.

Introduction

Highly modernized, automated, data-driven, and technologically advanced-these best described

our society nowadays, as evidenced by how information could be transferred or shared quickly. The
different areas of society have been influenced tremendously such as communication, economics,
industry, health, and the environment. Despite our gains due to the growing development of
information technology, the rapid upgrade of information also has disadvantages. This lesson will
discuss the history and impact of technological advancement to society.

Life is accompanied by endless transmission of information that takes place within and outside
the human body. According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, information is
“knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance.” Hence, information
is a very important tool for survival.

The Information Age is defined as a “period starting in the last quarter of the 20 th century when
information became effortlessly accessible through publications and through the management of
information by computers and computer networks”. The means of conveying symbolic information (e.g.
writing, math, other codes) among humans has evolved with increasing speed. The information Age is
also called the Digital Age and the New Media Age because it was associated with the development of
computers.

History

The table below traces the history and emergence of the Information Age

Table 1: Timeline of the Information Age

Year Event

3000 BC Sumerian writing system used pictographs to represent words

2900 BC Beginning of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing

1300 BC Tortoise shell and oracle bone writing were used

500 BC Papyrus roll was used

220 BC Chinese small seal writing was developed

100 BC Book (parchment codex)

105 BC Woodblock printing and paper was invented by the Chinese

1455 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press using movable metal type

1755 Samuel Johnson’s dictionary standardized English spelling

1802
● The Library of Congress was established

● Invention of the carbon arc lamp

1824 Research of persistence of vision published

1830s
● First viable design for a digital computer

● Augusta Lady Byron writes the world’s first computer program

1837 Invention of the telegraph in Great Britain and the United States

1861 Motion pictures were projected onto screen

1876 Dewy Decimal systems was introduced

1877 Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated high-speed photography

1899 First magnetic recording were released

1902 Motion picture special effects were used

1906 Lee DeForest invented the electronic amplifying tube (triode)

1923 Television camera tube was invented by Zvorkyn

1926 First practical sound movie

1939 Regularly scheduled television broadcasting began in the US

1940s Beginnings of information science as a discipline

1945 Vannevar Bush foresaw the invention of hypertext

1946 ENIAC computer was developed

1948 Birth of field-of-information theory proposed by Claude E. Shannon

1957 Planar transistor was developed LC MARC (machine-readable code)

1958 First integrated circuit

1960s Library of Congress developed LC MARC (machine readable code)

 1969 UNIX operating system was developed, which could handle multitasking

1971 Intel introduced the first microprocessor chip

1972 Optical laser disc was developed by Philips and MCA

1974 MCA and Philips agreed on a standard videodisc encoding format

1975 Altair Microcomputer Kit was released: first personal computer for the public

1977 RadioShack introduced the first complete personal computer

1984 Apple Macintosh computer was introduced

Mid 1980s Artified intelligence was separated from information science

1987 Hypercard was developed by Bill Atkinson recipe box metaphor

1991 Four hundred fifty complete works of literature on one CD-ROM was released

January RSA (encryption and network security software) Internet security code cracked for a 48-
1997 bit number

As man evolved, information and its dissemination has also evolved in many ways. The
abundance of information in 1960s and 1970s lead to difficulty in collecting and managing. Richard
Wurman called it “Information Anxiety”. In the 1990s, information became the currency in the business
world. In the present generations, information has turned out to be the commodity, an overdeveloped
product, mass-produced, and unspecialized. One thing is for sure, the Information Age will continue to
move forward and far greater than our minds could imagine.

In the article “Truth of the Information Age”, Robert Harris detailed some facts on the
Information Age.
1. Information must compute. There is a need for information to stand out and be recognized
in the increasing clutter.
2. Newer is equated with truer. We forgot the truth that any fact or value can endure.
3. Selection is a viewpoint. Choose multiple sources for your information if you want to
receive a more balanced view of reality.
4. The media sells what the culture buys. In other words, information is driven by cultural
priorities.
5. The early word gets the perm. The first media channel to expose an issue often defines the
context, terms, and attitudes surrounding it.
6. You are what you eat and so is your brain. Do not draw conclusions unless all ideas and
information are presented to you.
7. Anything in great demand will be counterfeited. The demand for incredible knowledge,
scandals, and secrets is ever-present; hence, many events are fabricated by tabloids,
publicists, or other agents of information fraud.
8. Ideas are seen as controversial. It is almost certainty impossible to make any assertion that
will not find some supporters and some detractors.
 9. Undead information walks ever on. Rumors, lies disinformation, and gossips never truly die
down. They persist and continue to circulate.
10. Media presence creates the story. People behave much differently from the way they
would if being filmed when the media are present, especially film news or television media.
11. The medium selects the message. Television is mainly pictorial, partially aural, and slightly
textual, so visual stories are emphasized: fires, chases, and disasters.
12. The whole truth Is pursuit. The information that reaches us is usually selected, verbally
charged, filtered, slanted, and sometimes, fabricated. What is neglected is often even more
important than what is included.

Computer
Computers are among the most important contributions of advances in the Information Age to
society.

Types of Computer
1. Personal Computer (PC)
It is a single-user instrument. PCs were first known as microcomputers since they were a
complete computer but built on a smaller scale than the enormous systems operated by most
businesses.

2. Desktop Computer
It is described as a PC that is not designed for portability. A workstation is simply a
desktop
computer that has a more powerful processor, additional memory, and enhanced capabilities
for performing special group of tasks, such as 3D graphics or game development.

3. Laptops
These are portable computers that integrate the essentials of a desktop computer in a
battery-powered package, which are somewhat larger than a typical hardcover book.

4. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAS)

These are tightly integrated computers that usually have no keyboards but rely on a
touch screen for user input. PDAS are typically smaller than a paperback, lightweight,
and battery-powered.

5. Server
It refers to a computer that has been improved to provide network services to other
computers. Servers usually boast powerful processors, tons of memory, and large hard drives.

6. Mainframes
These are huge computer systems that can fill an entire room. Mostly used by firms to
describe the large, expensive machines that process millions of transactions every day. The
term “mainframe” has been replaced by enterprise server.
 7. Wearable Computers
These are computers that involve materials that are usually integrated into cell phones,
watches and other small objects or places.

The World Wide Web (Internet)

Many historians traced the origin of the Internet to Claude E. Shannon, an American
Mathematician who was considered as the “Father of Information Theory”. He worked at Bell
Laboratories and at age 32, he published a paper proposing that Information can be quantitatively
encoded as a sequence of ones and zeroes.
In the early days, the Internet was used mainly by scientist to communicate with other scientist.
Then it was developed during the 1970s by the Department of Defense. Wherein, in case of an attack,
military advisers suggested the advantage of being able to operate on one computer from another
terminal.
One early problem faced by Internet users was speed. Companies like Intel developed faster
microprocessors so personal computers could process the incoming signals at a more rapid rate. On the
other hand, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, directors of a Stanford research project, built an search engine
that listed results to reflect page popularity. Google is now the world’s most popular search engine,
accepting more than million queries daily.
Back then, new forms of communication were also introduced. Electronic mail, or email, was a
suitable way to send a message to fellow workers, business partners, or friends. Messages could be sent
and received at the convenience of the individual. A letter that took several days to arrive. Internet
service providers like America Online and CompuServe set up electronic chat rooms. These were open
areas of cyberspace where interested parties could join in a conversation with perfect strangers.
On the other hand, the unregulated and loose nature of the internet allowed pornography to be
broadcast to millions of homes. Protecting children from these influences or even from meeting violent
predators would prove to be difficult. Cyberbullying is an issue that poses alarm worldwide.
Consequently, we need to be aware of the possible harm and damage due to abuse of these advances in
the Information Age.

Applications of Computers in Science and Research

One of the significant applications of computers for science and research is evident in the field
of bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is the application of information technology to stone, organize and
analyze vast amounts of biological data which is available in the form of sequences and structures of
proteins- the building blocks of organisms and nucleic acids- the information carrier.
The human brain cannot store all the genetic sequences of organisms and this huge amount of
data can only be stored, analyzed, and be used efficiently with the use of computers. The initial
databases of protein were maintained at individual laboratories, the development of a consolidated
formal database, known as SWISS-PROT protein sequence database, was initiated in 1986.

How to Check the Reliability of Web Sources

The Internet contains a vast collection of highly valuable information but it may also contain
unreliable, biased information that misleads people. The following guidelines can help us check the
reliability of web sources that we gather. It is noteworthy to consider and apply the following
guidelines to avoid misinformation.

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

 ● How to find out?
Look for an “about” or “More About the Author” link at the top, bottom, or sidebar
of the webpage. Some pages will have a corporate author rather than a single
person as an author. If no information about the author(s) of the page is provided,
be suspicious.
✔ Does the author provide his or her credentials?

✔ What type of expertise does he or she have on the subject he or she is

writing about? Does he or she indicate what his or her education is?
✔ What type of experience does he or she have? Should you trust his or her
knowledge of the subject?
Try searching on the Internet for information about the author.

✔ What kinds of websites are associated with the author’s name? Is he or she
affiliated with any educational institution?
✔ Do commercial sites come up? Do the websites associated with the author
give you any clues to particular biases the author might have?

2. Who published the site?

● How to find out?

✔ Look at the domain name of the website that will tell you who is hosting the
site. For example, the Lee College Library website is:
http://www/lee.edu/library. The domain name is “lee.edu”. This tells you
that the library website is hosted by Lee College.
✔ Search the domain name at http://www. whois.sc/. The site provides
information about the owners of main purpose. Check the organization’s
main website, if it has one. Is it educational? Commercial? Is it reputable
organization?
✔ Do not ignore the suffix on the domain name (the three-letter part that
comes after the “.”). The suffix is usually (but not always) descriptive of
what type of entity hosts the website. Keep in mind that it is possible for
sites to obtain suffixes that are misleading. Here are some examples:
.edu = educational
.com= commercial
.mil = military
.gov = government
.org = nonprofit
3. What is the main purpose of the site? Why did the author write it and why did the
publisher post it?
 ● To sell a product?

● As a personal hobby?

● As public service?

● To further scholarship on a topic?

● To provide general information on a topic?

● To persuade you of a particular point of view?

4. Who is the intended audience?

● Scholars or the general public?

● Which age group is it written for?

● Is it aimed at people from a particular geographic area?

● Is it aimed at members of a particular profession or with specific training?

5. What is the quality of information provided on the website?

● Timeliness: When was the website first published? Is it regularly updated? Check for
dates at the bottom of each page on the site.
● Does the author cite sources? Just as in print sources, web sources that cite their
sources are considered more reliable.
● What type of other sites does the website link to? Are they reputable sites?

● What types of sites link to the website you are evaluating? It is website being cited
others?

Examples of Useful and Reliable Web Sources

1. AFA e-Newsletter (Alzheimer’s Foundation of America newsletter)

2. American Memory – the Library of Congress historical digital collection.
3. Bartleby.com Great Books online – a collection of free e-books including fictions,
nonfictions, references, and verses.
4. Chronicling America – search and view pages from American newspapers from 1880-1922.
5. Cyber Bullying - a free collection of e-books from ebrary plus additional reports and
documents to help better understand, prevent and take action against this growing concern.
6. Drug information websites:
● National Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus

● Drugs.com
 ● PDRhealth
7. Global gateway: World culture & recources (from the Library of Congress)
8. Google books
9. Googlescholar.com
10. History sites with primary documents:
● AMDOCS: Documents for the study of Americal history

● Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (Yale Law School)

● Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Colonial Latin America

● Teacher Oz’s Kingdom of History

11. Illinois Digital Archives – the Illinois State Library working with libraries, museums, and
historical societies in Illinois provides this collection of materials related to Illinois history.
12. Internet Archive – a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.
13. Internet Archive for CARLI digitized resources
14. Internet Public Library
15. ipl2 – a merger of Librarians’ Internet Index and Internet Public Library. Special interest may
include the “literacy criticisms” page which can be found after clicking on the “Special
Collections” link.
16. Librarians’ Internet Index
17. Making of America – a digital library of primary sources in American social history
18. Maps – from the University of Texas at Austin collection. Includes historical and thermatic
maps.
19. NationMaster – a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare
nations. It is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Facebook, UN,
and OECD.
20. Nursing sites:
● AHRQ (www.ahrq.gov)

● National Guidelines Clearinghouse (www.guideline.gov)

● PubMed (www.nlm.nih.gov)
21. Project Gutenberg – the first and largest single collection of free electronic books with
currently over 20,000 e-books available.
22. Shmoop – literature, US history, and poetry information written primarily by PhD and
masters studentsfrom top universities like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale.
23. StateMaster – a unique statistical database which allows you to research and compare a
multitude of different data on US states using various primary sources such as the US Census
Bureau, the FBI, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. It uses visualization
technology like pie charts, maps, graphs, and scatter plots to provide data.
24. Virtual Reference – selected web resources compiled by the Library of Congress.

One can also visit the library and seek help from librarians as they are knowledgeable and
the library has a rich collections of online library resources that are very useful for academic and
research purposes.

Main Reference
Serafica, J.P. J. et al., Science, Technology, and Society Rex Book Store, Inc., ©2018 Edition: First
Edition

ACTIVITIES:
1. Video Presentation
-you may form a group consisting of three to five members each and prepare a video
presentation that focuses on the evolution of transmission of information in various time
periods and areas of the world. Refer to Table 1 presented in the discussion. The members may
act in the video presentation and they can use props or materials to improve the presentation.
Limit the video presentation in three to five minutes.

2. Creative Work
-Think of a device with special features that you can develop to help improve lives of
people in our society. It could be something that you can develop to help in
communication, transportation, health, and the like. Illustrate your device in a short
bond paper. Show your output in class and explain.