LESSON 1: INFORMATION SOCIETY

Site: King's College of the Philippines

Course: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY
Book: LESSON 1: INFORMATION SOCIETY
Printed by: Jake Cogoy
Date: Friday, 24 December 2021, 11:31 PM
Description
Humans are surrounded on all sides by technology claiming to supply information: television,
smart phones, and internet devices. However, do they all provide information or just noise?
More voices are trying to get our attention but how can we be sure that they share knowledge
and truth?

Table of contents
1. Lesson 1: Information Society
1. Lesson 1: Information Society
LESSON 1. INFORMATION SOCIETY

A. Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, you will be able to:

Determine the human and social impacts of the developments in the information age;
Discuss the evolution of technology from ancient times up to the present; and
Illustrate how social media have affected human lives.
B. Key Concepts

INTRODUCTION

Humans are surrounded on all sides by technology claiming to supply information: television,
smart phones, and internet devices. However, do they all provide information or just noise?
More voices are trying to get our attention but how can we be sure that they share knowledge
and truth?

1. INFORMATION

A word is a combination of sounds that represents something. Words are made up of sounds
that transmit a message. The words are ―informed‖ because they carry ―information‖. The
Information Age, also known as Digital Age/ New Media Age, is defined as a ―period starting in
the last quarter of the 20th century when information became effortlessly accessible through
publications and through the management of information by computers and computer networks.

2. THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE

In the human quest for understanding the natural world, the ability to name and classify objects
found in nature was seen as a first step in knowing. Thus, the scientific search for truth early on
recognized the usefulness of language and the ability it gave to make sense of nature. For the
ancient Greeks, language was an object worthy of admiration. Words have power.

3. MATHEMATICS AS THE LANGUAGE OF NATURE

Technology in the modern world is the fruit of science. Because the scientific method helped
people discover how nature behaves, they were able to control nature with technology. A more
accurate statement is: Since people have discovered the laws and language of nature, they can
develop technology that uses these laws and language for their benefit. This language is
mathematics, the great contribution of Isaac Newton. Nature can be understood because it
speaks in the language of mathematics and the human brain, to a certain extent, can
comprehend this language.

4. THE PRINTING PRESS AND BEYOND

The ancient fascination with language gave rise to the preservation of the words of earlier
people. The development of the printing press is regarded as the beginning of a true revolution.
Using printing press, people on different sides of the world could share their thoughts and ideas
with each other, forming communities of thinkers across space and time (Connell, 1958).

The printing press is a device that allows for the mass production of uniform printed matter,
mainly text in the form of books, pamphlets and newspapers. Created in China, the printing
press revolutionized society there before being further developed in Europe in the 15th Century
by Johannes Gutenberg and his invention of the Gutenberg press.

The internet is a worldwide system of interconnected networks that facilitate data transmission
among innumerable computers. In 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented it as a way of addressing
data processing and information sharing among scientists for the European Organization for
Nuclear Research (CERN).

By October of 1990, Tim had written the three fundamental technologies that remain the
foundation of today‘s web and which you may have seen appear on parts of your web browser:

HTML: HyperText Markup Language. The markup (formatting) language for the web.
URI: Uniform Resource Identifier. A kind of ―address‖ that is unique and used to identify to
each resource on the web. It is also commonly called a URL.
HTTP: Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Allows for the retrieval of linked resources from across the
web.
With the ease of sharing information at present, its reliability becomes compromised.
Nevertheless, human beings have always found a way to address their needs and discover new
frontiers with scientific thinking. Considering the many benefits we get from these technologies,
we must also be responsible in utilizing them to avoid harming others and ourselves.

5. LEARN ABOUT EVALUATING SOURCES: Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages
It's so easy to find information on most any topic on the Internet. Whether or not that information
is reliable, up-to-date and unbiased is really the big question for anyone doing research on the
web. Books, magazine, journal and newspaper articles have to meet stronger quality control
standards, and it's usually not hard to figure out when something was published, who published
it and if the information is reliable or not. It's not quite like that with information you find on the
web. Anyone can create a Web site, and usually, there aren't standards to evaluate the quality
and accuracy of the information. So that makes it even more important to take the time to make
sure to critically examine the information and the website. Using 5 important criteria - Accuracy,
Authority, Objectivity, Currency, and Coverage - can make wading through the mass of
information less confusing, and, help you be a better consumer of information.

Five Criteria - Accuracy, Authority, Objectivity, Currency and Coverage

EVALUATION OF WEB DOCUMENTS

HOW TO INTERPRET THE BASICS

1. Accuracy of Web Documents

Who wrote the page and can you contact him or her?
What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?
Is this person qualified to write this document

Accuracy

Make sure author provides e-mail or a contact address/phone number.

Know the distinction between author and Webmaster.
2. Authority of Web Documents

Who published the document and is it separate from the "Webmaster?"

Check the domain of the document, what institution publishes this document?
Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?

Authority

What credentials are listed for the authors)?

Where is the document published? Check URL domain.

3. Objectivity of Web Documents

What goals/objectives does this page meet?
How detailed is the information?
What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?

Objectivity

Determine if page is a mask for advertising; if so information might be biased.

View any Web page as you would an infomercial on television. Ask yourself why was this written
and for whom?
4. Currency of Web Documents

When was it produced?

When was it updated?
How up-to-date are the links (if any)?

Currency

How many dead links are on the page?

Are the links current or updated regularly?
Is the information on the page outdated?
5. Coverage of the Web Documents

Are the links (if any) evaluated and do they complement the documents' theme?
Is it all images or a balance of text and images?
Is the information presented cited correctly?

Coverage

If page requires special software to view the information, how much are you missing if you don't
have the software?
Is it free or is there a fee, to obtain the information?
Is there an option for text only, or frames, or a suggested browser for better viewing?
Putting it all together

Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and provides a
way of contacting him/her.
Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, or
.net).
Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective
in presenting the information.
Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if
any) are also up-to-date.
Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser technology, or
software requirement.