Lesson9 STS
Lesson9 STS
What is Information?
INFORMATION
•Knowledge communicated or obtained concerning a specific fact or circumstance
-Webster’s Encyclopedic Unsbridged Dictionary
•facts provided or learned about something or someone.
INFORMATION AGE
•A period starting in the last quarter of the 20th century information became effortlessly
accessible through publications and through the management of information by computers and
computer networks.
-Vocabulary.com
•DIGITAL AGE
•NEW MEDIA AGE
•The Information Age is a true new age based upon the interconnection of computers via
telecommunications, with these information systems operating on both a real-time and as-needed
basis. Furthermore, the primary factors driving this new age forward are convenience and user-
friendliness which, in turn, will create user dependence.
HISTORY
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.
220BC Chinese small seal writing was developed.
100 AD Book (parchment codex)
105 AD Woodblock printing and paper was invented by Chinese
1455 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press using
movable metal type.
1575 Samuel Johnson’s dictionary standardized English spelling
1802 •The library of Congress was established
•Invention of the carbon arc lamp
1824 Research on persistence of vision published
1830s •First viable design for a digital computer
•Augusta Lady Byron write’s the world’s first computer
program
Information Anxiety
Human cost of information overload
In the words of Richard Saul Wuman (author of the book “Information Anxiety”, it is
produced by the ever widening gap between what we understand and what we think we
should understand. It is the black hole between data and knowledge, and what happens
when information doesn’t tell us what we want or need to know.”
Read more:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information-anxiety.html
Computer
An electronic device that stores and processes data (information)
Runs on a program that contains the exact step-by-step directions to solve a problem
Types of Computer
1.Personal Computer
Single user instrument
Known as microcomputers since they were a computer but built on a smaller scale
2.Desktop Computer
PC that is not designed for portability
Workstation: desktop computer that has a more powerful processor,additional memory,
and enhanced capabilities for performing special groups of tasks.
3.Laptops
Portable computers that integrate the essentials of a desktop computer in a battery-
operated package
5.Server
Computer that has been improved to provide network services to other computers
Usually boast powerful processors, tons of memory and large hard drives.
6.Mainframes
Huge computer systems that can fill an entire room.
Used by large firms that process millions of transactions every day
7.Wearable computers
Materials that are usually integrated into cell phones, watches, and other small objects or
places.
Perform common computer applications such as databases, emails, multimedia, and
schedules