History of Information Age

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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