Science, Technology and Society

COURSE MODULE COURSE UNIT Session

10 2 5
The Information Age

 Read course and unit objectives

 Read study guide prior to class attendance
 Read required learning resources; refer to unit
terminologies for jargons
 Proactively participate in classroom discussions
 Participate in weekly discussion board (Canvas)
 Answer and submit course unit tasks

At the end of this unit, the students are expected to:

1. Discuss the evolution of information from the ancient times up to the present.
2. Examine the human and social impacts of the developments in the information age
3. Explain how social media have affected the society.

How we decide by Jonah Lehrer and Information: the new language of science by Hans Christian
von Bayer.
Information Age
 Computer Age, Digital Age, New Media Age, Internet Age
 a historic period in the 21st century characterized by the rapid shift from traditional industry that
the Industrial Revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information
technology.

Early Developments of Information Age

1945- Fremont Rider described the miniaturized microform analog photographs, which could be
duplicated on-demand for library patrons and other institutions.
1965- Moore’s law was formulated. It is an observation that the number of transistors in a dense
integrated circuit doubles about every two years.
Early 1980s- production of the smaller and less expensive personal computers allowed for direct
access to information.
1995- Nicholas Negroponte published his book, Being Digital, the similarities and differences between
products made of atoms and bits.

Primary Information Age- newspaper, radio, television.

Secondary Information Age- Internet, satellite television and mobile phones
Tertiary Information Age- emerged by media of the Primary Information Age interconnected with media
of the Secondary Information Age.

Pre-industrial Age- a time before there were machines and tools to help them perform the tasks.
About 2.5 million years before writing was developed, technology began with the earliest hominids who
used stone tools, which they may have used to start fires, hunt, and bury their dead. Communications
were limited between communities. People used traditional paper and writing materials, signs or
symbols to communicate with each other. For example, Egyptians used papyrus scrolls. Sumerians
used clay tablets, Pre-historic men used hand stencils and simple geometric shapes to create art on the
walls of caves and Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press during Renaissance period.

Industrial Age- is a period of history that encompasses the changes in economic and social
organization that began around 1760 in Great Britain and later in other countries, characterized chiefly
by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines such as the power loom and the steam
engine, and by the concentration of industry in large establishments.
Communication during the Industrial Age

Samuel F.B Morse invented the telegraph which became the standard for international communication
with a modified code.
Alexander Graham Bell patent the telephone, an electric tool transmitting analogue speech along
wires.
Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, a device for the mechanical recording and reproduction of
sound.
Heinrich Hertz identified and studied radio waves in 1886.
Guiglielmo Marconi developed the first practical radio transmitters and receivers.
Philo Farnsworth invented the first fully electronic television. It became an important mass medium for
advertising, propaganda and entertainment.

Electronic Age began when electronic equipment and large technologies, including

computers came into use. The invention of the transistor ushered in the electronic age. People
harnessed the power of transistors that led to the transistor radio, electronic circuits, and the early
computers. In this age, long distance communication became more efficient.

Transistor led to the creation of other media tool.

Enigma machine is a piece of spook hardware used as a way of deciphering German signals traffic
during World War Two.
Transisor radio became the most popular electronic communication and device in history.
EDSAC ( Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) is considered to be the first stored program
electronic computer.
ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) as the first electronic general purpose digital
computer.
UNIVAC( Universal Automatic Computer) is a line of electronic digital stored-program computers.
IBM is the first mass produced computer with floating-point arithmetic hardware.
Hewlett Packard 9100A is an early computer or programmable calculator
Floppy disk is a removal magnetic storage medium.
Walkman is originally used for portable audio cassette players.

Information Age-People advanced the use of microelectronics with the invention of personal
computers, mobile devices, and wearable technology. Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are
digitalized. We are now living in the information age.
You tube was created by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. It is an online video-sharing
platform. It also allows users to view, upload, share, report, subscribe and comments on videos.

Facebook Inc. was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow roommates and students. It is a popular
global social networking website. It also offers other products and services such as Facebook
Messenger, Facebook Watch and Facebook Portal.

MacBook is a discontinued Macintosh portable computer developed and sold by Apple Inc. It includes a
Retina display, fanless design and a shallower butterfly keyboard and a single USB-C port for power
and data.
Google LLC is based on multinational technology company that specializes in internet-related services
and products, which include sottware, hardware, online advertising, a search engine and cloud
computing
Microsoft Corporation develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software,
consumer electronics, personal computers and related services.

Study Questions

1. Which developments in the information age brought significant changes in the way you live your life
today?

2. How did the transmission of information evolve from the ancient times up to the present?

3. As a student, how will you use social media to ensure that you do not propagate inaccurate and
unreliable information?
 Tawagon, Jeanny. Electronic Age Timeline/Timetoast
timelines. https:www.timetoast.com
https://www.wikipedia.org
  https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/413486809530256218 /
  https://www.shutterstock.com/search/cave+painting
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube_(channel )
  https://www.zdnet.com/article/ode-to-manual-typewriters /
  https://favpng.com/png_view/social-media-social-media-
friendster-social-networking-service-facebook-inc-
png/as1899s8
  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/how-the-
telegraph-went-from-semaphore-to-communication-game-changer-1403433 /
  https://steemit.com/history/@badadd7/evolution-of-the-television-1920-s-present-day-and-
beyond
  https://www.arnnet.com.au/slideshow/415553/pictures-eniac-world-first-digital-computer-
turns-66/