IT-101.ppt.pptVIP

22 January, 2002 George Mason University SIMS-201 What is the Information in the Information Revolution Information Age, Information Technology Overview: Introduction to information systems Definition of information, messages and signals Examples and components of information systems Representing and Quantifying Information Analog and digital representation of signals Examples of analog and digital systems Can you give some applications of IT in your everyday life? Historical Perspective Information and its uses have always been an integral part of mankind The very first indication of information communication/storage/retrieval is considered to be through cave drawings Mankind later developed pictures, words and subsequently languages to more efficiently communicate with each other Information sharing was made possible by the invention of the printing press in the early 1450’s by Johannes Gutenberg through the process of printing and distributing manuscripts The printing press is widely thought of as the origin of mass communication. It marked Western cultures first viable method of disseminating ideas and information from a single source to a large and far-ranging audience (Jones telecom multimedia encyclopedia) Significant developments in IT include: The telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1837 The Atlantic cable in 1858 The telephone by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 Black and white TV in the 1940’s The ENIAC during WW-II The transistor by Bell lab scientists, replacing the vacuum tube in 1947 The integrated circuit by Jack Kilby in the late 1950’s The digital computer in the 1970’s The world wide web in 1993 Information, Messages and Signals Some definitions Information: Knowledge communicated or received concerning a particular fact or circumstance It is important to distinguish between information, message and signal Signal: The actual entity (electrical, mechanical, etc) that is transmitted from sender to receiver (ex: electrical signals, sound w