Last update on: August 18, 1999
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Information is data that has been processed into a useful form. The earliest form of data presentation was probably sign language. For much of man's history information was passed by word of mouth. Amazingly complete epic poems like the Iliad and books such as the Old Testament were transmitted from one generation to the next orally. There is evidence that some prehistoric megaliths such as Stonehenge (see picture above) could have been used to compute eclipses. There is no direct record of this use, but modern studies have show enough correlations of stone alignments to make such a use likely.
With the advent of writing, more and more information was recorded. Early written records from Turkey consisted of lists of processions and debts recorded on clay tablets. This was the information of the Ancient world. Once the Egyptians had created papyrus, information was more portable, but it was still difficult to disseminate since each written work had to be created by hand. Books were very valuable and were stored in a few major libraries. A fire in one such library in Alexandria Egypt destroyed much of the written knowledge of its day.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Universities formed where there were libraries. The scarcity of books made such locations the natural place for scholars to gather. While the invention of the printing press in the 15th century allowed books to be printed in great numbers, specialized information still resided in libraries. The transfer of information amounted to the physical transfer of documents.
The telegraph allowed information to be transferred long distances instantly. In the roughly 150 years since the invention of the telegraph, technology has provided many ways to record and transfer information. The telephone, moving pictures, radio, television, motorized vehicles (land, sea and air), and computer networks all have contributed to the recording and dissemination of information. Once radio was available it was possible hear Robert Johnson sing Cross Roads Blues right in your own living room. From the Blues Highway
This course will investigate the role of technology in the preserving and dissemination of information. One of the major innovations in the presentation of information that has matured over the last 10 years is hypertext. Hypertext combines written language with pictorial, audio, and video information. It differs from standard written text in that the user determines the sequence in which information will be accessed. Most people are familiar with the Internet Home Page as an example of hypertext.
Few home pages are more than road maps to a site, so only present a limited view of the potential of documents created in hypertext. One exception is the home page of the Louvre. You can tour the famous museum from room to room and floor to floor. Not only can your view the artwork, you can see where the work is displayed in the museum, or learn the history of that part of the museum building. Individual pieces of art have are described in detail. The user can decide whether to investigate a specific artwork, the history of the art from the era of the work, the biography of the artist, the work's location in the museum or the history of the section of the museum housing the work. These choices are seldom available in standard text, and even if they are the user has to seek out chapters of interest.
The last paragraph was a simple example of hypertext. If you are interested in a general description of a hypertext document you could read the paragraph as text. If, on the other hand, you want to investigate the structure of a hypertext document for yourself, you can simply click on the word Louvre to see the home page for yourself. Once you get to this document, you may view it as an example of hypertext or you may want to carry out one of the investigations it was created to facilitate.
It is now possible to provide access to information in libraries and museums world-wide through the Internet via hypertext documents. You will learn about the importance of technology in the distribution and elucidation of information. You will also learn to create a hypertext document.
Each student will produce a hypertext document that investigates
some aspect of the use of information technology. This document
will have internal links as well as links to other documents and
Internet sites. You will include audio, video and pictorial documents,
either as document links or Internet links. You should have at
least 20 sources of information including standard print media
as well as electronic material downloaded from the Internet. You
will list all of your publications using the standard Bibliography
methods first and in a separate list give all of your Internet
addresses. These addresses should be presented in the form one
of the search engines (Lycos, WebCrawler, Yahoo, etc.) uses. Pick
one such form and use it for all of your citations. Citations
should include the address as well as some information about the
material at this location. Make sure to give credit for information
retrieved either from the print media or the electronic media.
A list of software that will help in this course is listed below.
contents
Texts for the course
Creating Web Pages with HTML (Comprehensive version), by Carey, CTI, Cambridge MA, 1998. Web page for this book is http://www.course.com/downloads/NewPerspectives/crweb/comp/index.html
Internet 101, by Wendy G. Lehnert, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1998. The web page for this book is http://www2.awl.com/cseng/titles/0-201-32553-5/website/index.html
