unit4--phrases.pptVIP

The Telecommunications Revolution Unit 4 Table of Contents I. Background information II. Comprehensive questions III. New words and phrases/ Some useful expressions I. Background information 1. Information Age The Information Age is an era of fundamental and global change in intellectual, philosophical, cultural and social terms. Today’s Information Age began with the telegraph. Information is presented in various forms to a large population of the world through the use of machines, such as computers, facsimile machines, copiers, and CD-ROMs. The Information Age was enhanced by the development of the Internet; an electronic means to exchange information in short periods of time, often instantaneously. 2. Information Superhighway The name was coined by US Vice-president Al Gore in the early 1990s for the emerging high-speed global communications network capable of carrying voice, data, video, and other services around the world. These services use satellite, copper cable, optical fibre, telecommunications, and are accessible via suitably equipped computers. 3. National Information Infrastructure The NII will include current and future public and private high-speed, interactive, narrow-band and broadband networks. It is the satellite and wireless communication systems that deliver content to homes, businesses, and other public and private institutions. It is the information and content that flows over the infrastructure whether in the form of databases, the written word, a film, a piece of music, a sound recording, a picture, or computer software. It is the computers, televisions, telephones, radios, and other products that people will employ to access the infrastructure. It is the people who will provide, manage, and generate new information, and those that will help others do the same. And it is the individual Americans who will use and benefit from the NII. II. Comprehensive Questions 1. According to the writer, what would happen if the transformation