History of Information Age

Overall, I enjoyed the class. The structure and assignments for the class were fun and got me really engaged with the material. The assignments that I believe I learned the most information from was the infographic assignment and the Final. The thing I was most interested in was advertising and propaganda. The creating propaganda assignment was a fun way to show how media can be twisted in a way to show a certain message. My favorite fact that I learned was that the first advertisement was for a weaving shop and was created in 3000 BC. Seeing how advertising went from a piece of papyrus to a company making twitter memes is a cool way to see how the world is constantly evolving. This speaks to one of the larger points which is how communication evolved right alongside technology. I found it interesting that the places and technologies for communication have changed but the purpose and contents really haven’t changed. With that, going from cave paintings to modern technologies offered me a unique connection to a history class that I have never had before.

The assignment that I had the most fun creating was the misinformation assignment. I had been wanting to find an app where I could edit videos in that way for a while, and this class finally gave me a productive reason for it. So, I am thankful that I got to do it because now I can use it for fun. I also don’t know if I would have done it on my own. Another thing that I learned about was how to use Canva before this class I had no idea what it was. I was glad to have learned about Canva because I want to be a teacher and being able to create infographics or other materials with it will be greatly beneficial. Along with that I can also introduce and allow students to use it for classroom assignments which can lead to higher levels of engagement.

One of my favorite elements was the small presentations we did. The fact that the presentations were informal helped relieve some of the anxiety I have. I also really enjoyed getting to see everyone else’s assignments. Since I didn’t know a lot of tools to create and edit media, I was always interested to see what other people used or by them using tools in a way that I had never seen before. As opposed to typical types of presentations and material I found this more entertaining. The assignments were my favorite part of the class. I haven’t had a class where I have had the chance to be creative since high school really. I graduated high school in 2017 so it’s been a while. At the beginning of the year, I was really intrigued by the concept of the class and what it would turn out to be. I can say that I am happy I took the class and that it was one of the most memorable classes I have ever taken.

The two topics I chose for my timeline entry were The War of the Worlds radio broadcast and the Transcontinental railroad. The reason I chose The War of the Worlds broadcast is because I have recently watched the movie which is a solid 6/7 out of 10. The radio broadcast took place October 30th, 1938. For this topic, I decided to look at three aspects of the broadcast. One was the “hysteria” that resulted from it. It was a bit disappointing to find out it was a tiny portion of the population as I had always believed it was wider spread. The others were the history of the show and the actual story. I was surprised to learn the story originated from a book. The difference between the book and the radio show was the location as the book is set in UK. As far as history I wanted to see more about the program itself. The thing I found the most interesting is when Welles said he had done it to teach people not to trust everything they hear. Even with the resources we have today this still a huge problem especially since the creation of social media. The construction of the transcontinental railroad lasted for 6 years from 1863-1869. For the transcontinental railroad entry, I tried to touch on a variety of topics. This is because depending on what you are looking at you can study it a from different angles. Some examples of this are impacts on migration, labor, business, American society, or you can look at the construction itself. However, for my entry I decided to talk about the construction, impact on life, and impact on communication.

Timeline

Citations

TWOTW Citations

Schwartz, A. Brad. 2015. “The Infamous ‘War of the Worlds’ Radio Broadcast Was a Magnificent Fluke.” Smithsonian. Smithsonian.com. May 6, 2015. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/infamous-war-worlds-radio-broadcast-was-magnificent-fluke-180955180/.

“Did the 1938 Radio Broadcast of ‘War of the Worlds’ Cause a Nationwide Panic?” n.d. Snopes.com. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/war-of-the-worlds/.

‌Lapointe, Grace. 2021. “THE WAR of the WORLDS: The Influence of the Novel and Its Infamous Broadcast.” BOOK RIOT. October 28, 2021. https://bookriot.com/war-of-the-worlds/amp/.

‌Video

“War of the Worlds (1938 Radio Broadcast).” n.d. www.youtube.com. Accessed April 18, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTvU9j3og5k&t=4s.

Transcontinental Railroad Citations

Gallagher, Winifred. 2020. “A Brief History of the United States Postal Service.” Smithsonian Magazine. October 2020. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/brief-history-united-states-postal-service-180975627/.

‌Ducksters. 2019. “History: First Transcontinental Railroad.” Ducksters.com. 2019.                                                                                                                              https://www.ducksters.com/history/westward_expansion/first_transcontinental_railroad.php.

Library of Congress. 2015. “The Transcontinental Railroad | History of Railroads and Maps  | Articles and Essays  | Railroad Maps, 1828-1900  | Digital Collections  | Library of Congress.” The Library of Congress. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/collections/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/articles-and-essays/history-of-railroads-and-maps/the-transcontinental-railroad/.

“Transcontinental Railroad.” HISTORY. A&E Television Networks. September 20, 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/transcontinental-railroad.

Video

“How the Transcontinental Railroad Transformed America | the Engineering That Built the World (S1).” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUmD0jFTnCA.

Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had an affair in the years of 1996-1997. In 1998 Bill Clinton would drop his famous “I did not have sexual relations with that women” line. This situation landed Clinton in hot water, in 1998 Clinton would be impeached. He became one of three presidents to be impeached. Clinton would be impeached for abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and perjury. While he was very much guilty of the charges they were not enough to get him removed from office. I believe the silliness of the meme speaks to the ridiculousness of the scandal. Since Clinton was never punished for lying the whole situation was essentially a waste of time. There was not even a life lesson to take from this as Clinton’s political statue and marriage stayed intact.

To discuss advertising, I have decided to make my infographic a timeline of sorts. Each section covers a different time period along with the new technologies that shaped marketing. Prior to printing there are a few traces of paintings on buildings and other mediums, but it was mostly word of mouth. Word of mouth is still one of the best marketing tools available. The introduction of the printing press and the creation of Newpapers allowed “marketers” to reach a larger audience than ever before. Newspaper ads were the most prevalent type of ad until the creation of the radio and television. During the 1900s advertisements began to become what we see now. This time period saw the creation of iconic characters such as Tony the Tiger and allowed companies to get their ads out across the country. The creation of the World Wide Web pushed the ability of ads even further. As we know now internet ads are both terrible and abundant. My infographic shows how technology changed the world of advertisements. Every time a piece of technology was created to bring people together, businesses found a way to use them as promotional tools.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFalJQWuzE/RxOmAzMUKThKB_Yd-y4iFA/view?utm_content=DAFalJQWuzE&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

Citations

History of Advertising 101: What You Need to Know – G2. https://www.g2.com/articles/history-of-advertising.

The Crash Course on the History of Advertising You Must Read. “The Crash Course on the History of Advertising You Must Read.” Softcube Blog, 6 May 2021, https://softcube.com/the-entire-history-of-advertising/.

In our group we decided each person would be responsible for a certain part of the picture. Since there were three main parts: horse, water, and man, it worked out well. My responsibility was to draw the stick man catching a horse. As far as symbols we were rather fortunate because our objects are easy to represent. Even with limited drawing ability the objects were easy to portray. Stick figures are the first thing any child draws to represent a person. With that the shape of a horse is easily recognizable. One challenge was finding a way to show movement. We believed the dashes with an arrow was sort of a universal sign for movement and even a tool for storytelling.

Gleick chapter 2 one of his points is that writing is a form of technology. This is something I had really never thought of before. In chapter one of Downey, he discusses how improvements in the field of printing technology sparked journalism, the popularity of newspapers, and image printing in America during the 1800s. This technology had come a long way since the first printing press made its way to America in the 1640s. Viewing language as technology essentially makes spoken language the first block in which all information-based technology is built off of. So far, I have enjoyed the class, I have enjoyed seeing everyone’s ideas for assignments. The ones I am most excited for are the cave painting and the meme for historical events assignments. I was really intrigued by the concept of the class, and I am ready for the following weeks.

My favorite potential assignment is the fake propaganda idea. I think this allows us room for creativity both in building our countries and in using different types of media. Another one of my favorites is the cave painting assignment. That and the live tweeting historical events I believe would be fun to do. One thing I would like to do is a podcast or interview type assignment although I am not sure of the length. For this students would have to imagine themselves in the past or as a specific person. In the interview the people would discuss how information moved about the world, new technologies, and how these technologies had changed communication.

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1Qmq1N92c6aw-WYXFGsWIGhcCIdZNhPojagf8xy81Qlw&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

January 15th, 2023

The main point that author James Gleick makes is that the tools for spreading information are always evolving. Gleick notes numbers and the alphabet as the earliest technologies used for the spreading of information. When viewing it like this the information age would start with the first forms of communication and grow with the evolution of those forms. This also leaves room for interpretation regarding the mediums through which information is spread. Seen in the first chapter Gleick describes how African drums are a form of information spreading. This leads directly into the modern day as seen in the quote “The alphabet was a founding technology of information. The telephone, the fax machine, the calculator, and ultimately the computer are only the latest indentations devised for saving, manipulating, and communicating knowledge.” (Gleick, 11) The article by Ronald R. Kline discusses the cybernetics movement of the 1960s and the way it has affected the development of technology. This article discusses the modern era of information spreading. With that it also discusses how technology can change society. This can range from social aspects to economic aspects. As far as idea for further projects I believe something where we break down different eras and assign each one. After that the person or group would discuss the largest “technological” advancements during that time. This could range from the first developments of language and cave paints. To some of some modern inventions like the printing press, computers, and cell phones.  This would focus mainly on the evolution made in the field of information spreading technologies. Another project idea is to look at how certain advancements in technology affected society. Examples of this can be how the implementation of the railroad system affected the flow of information in America or how the creation of social media has changed the way people receive news.

citations

“Caveman Using a Computer.” n.d. IStock. Accessed January 16, 2023. https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/caveman-using-a-computer-gm92729290-9726295.

Kline, Ronald, The Cybernetics Movement, New studies in American Intellectual and Cultural History,

Gleick, James, The information, A Division of Rams House, Inc

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January 11th, 2023

My name is Darian James, and I am a senior. I am a history and education major. I lived in this area my whole life and graduated from Chancellor high school. I currently work at a local middle school as a para educator and coached their football team this season. To be honest I took this class because it works for my schedule as it leaves me 3 full days I can work at the school. It also meets multiple degree requirements. The thing I am most interested to learn about is the evolution of the Information Age. As there isn’t a specific date for when it started, I am most curious about the earlier years since, nowadays you can look anything up at any moment. The activity that I found most interesting was making the propaganda assignment from 2014. I think developing a fake dictatorship and figuring out how to “market” its messages would be fun. I have always found propaganda to be interesting as it can be used to push any message and is seen everywhere. Two pieces of advice I will take is to be creative and have fun. I have never had a class like this, so I am excited and interested to see what it becomes.

January 15th, 2023

The main point that author James Gleick makes is that the tools for spreading information are always evolving. Gleick notes numbers and the alphabet as the earliest technologies used for the spreading of information. When viewing it like this the information age would start with the first forms of communication and grow with the evolution of those forms. This also leaves room for interpretation regarding the mediums through which information is spread. Seen in the first chapter Gleick describes how African drums are a form of information spreading. This leads directly into the modern day as seen in the quote “The alphabet was a founding technology of information. The telephone, the fax machine, the calculator, and ultimately the computer are only the latest indentations devised for saving, manipulating, and communicating knowledge.” (Gleick, 11) The article by Ronald R. Kline discusses the cybernetics movement of the 1960s and the way it has affected the development of technology. This article discusses the modern era of information spreading. With that it also discusses how technology can change society. This can range from social aspects to economic aspects. As far as idea for further projects I believe something where we break down different eras and assign each one. After that the person or group would discuss the largest “technological” advancements during that time. This could range from the first developments of language and cave paints. To some of some modern inventions like the printing press, computers, and cell phones.  This would focus mainly on the evolution made in the field of information spreading technologies. Another project idea is to look at how certain advancements in technology affected society. Examples of this can be how the implementation of the railroad system affected the flow of information in America or how the creation of social media has changed the way people receive news.

citations

“Caveman Using a Computer.” n.d. IStock. Accessed January 16, 2023. https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/caveman-using-a-computer-gm92729290-9726295.

Kline, Ronald, The Cybernetics Movement, New studies in American Intellectual and Cultural History,

Gleick, James, The information, A Division of Rams House, Inc

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