Learning Resources
Lesson
In the Beginning
Communications technologies have been an important part of human evolution since earliest times. From crude pictures on cave walls, to bits of bone and other materials inscribe with markings of significance to the tribe; from smoke signals to the telegraph and telephone, people have found ways to communicate with each other over distance and time. Those ways were heavily dependant on the technologies of the time. Cave drawings were dependant on knowledge of how to make pigmented paints, how to apply the pigment to the rock face and so on. Large scale printing was non-existent before Gutenberg invented the printing press, a design he likely adopted from the wine press. Even so, it would have been useless without ink and the invention of moveable type.
The iron age period from about 1200 BC to 1700 AD saw a number of innovations, including
- 1200 - 0 B.C.
- China - organized postal service
- Greeks - alphabet, libraries and telegraph consisting of trumpets, drums, shouting, beacon fires, smoke signals, and mirrors
- Persia - develops a form of pony express
- Chinese - writings on bamboo, wood and silk
- books are written on parchment and vellum
- gazettes and postings
- 0 - 1000 A.D.
- Roman - couriers for mail.
- Chinese - invents paper, use ink seals on paper, books printed central Asia.
- paper use spreads to many areas of the world
- 1000 - 1450 A.D.
- China - fabricates movable type, using clay, sew pages to make stitched books.
- communicate by letter system, messenger service, development of metal type, many methods and types of printing
- 1451 - 1550 A.D.
- Gutenberg uses a press to print, metal plates are used in printing, Gutenberg prints the 42-line Bible,
- 1st book printed in color, postal system established, printing of books on paper becomes more common in Europe, paper mill is established in England
- Garamond designs his typeface
- camera obscura developed in Italy,
- 1551 - 1650 A.D.
- the pencil is invented
- first regularly published newspaper appears in Germany, France introduces registered mail, first printing press in the American colonies, Kirchner, a German Jesuit, builds a magic lantern,
- 1651 - 1750 A.D.
- postal service appears in many places, German engraver Le Blon develops three-color printing, a typewriter is developed, wood is used to make paper, Ben Franklin starts a circulating library
The industrial age from about 1700 to 1940 saw many new innovations, including
- telegraph
- typewriter
- telephone
- phonograph
- camera
- radio
- audio recording
- early computers
- early television
The Digital Age
The digital age began slowly in the 1940s with the creation of the first computers. Early computers used vacuum tubes, were city block sized, used lots of electricity, and generated lots of heat. The invention of the transistor, followed by the integrated circuit which could contain many transistors provided the means for developing smaller and more complex computers. A computer processor (cpu) is an integrated circuit containing many millions of transistors, each much too small to be seen with most microscopes. The evolution in hardware allowed an evolution in programming and an equally important evolution in the visual design of the computer operating system and software. Operating systems that look visually simple and respond to our intuitive ways of working with them depend on millions of lines of programming code.
Computers (a processor, memory, storage, and programming) are now found in almost every tool, convenience and device that we use. Microwave ovens, cars, televisions, DVD player, and toys are all computerized. We communicate with them through some form of interface, for example a display panel, a dashboard, a remote control, or a game controller.
One of the more profound effects of digital communications technology is the ability to share information across different communications devices. Since all the information is stored in digital form (as 'bits') it can be transferred directly from one device to another. A designer can create a drawing on the computer. A factory worker can modify the drawing and have it directly control manufacturing equipment. The drawing can provide information to the ordering department specifying how much material to order and when to do it. The accounting department uses the same information to determine budgets, pay bills and so on.
For the average person its more important for your PDA to communicate with your computer and pick up your email without you having to do anything. It can also play music, take pictures, control your TV and turn on the security system when you leave home.
Activity
Assigned activities
Develop a timeline of communications technologies from about 1400 until the present day.
Test Yourself
There is no self test for this lesson.