Information
In today's world most of you have access to a lot of information. You could say that people have an abundance of information. All you need is a device like a smartphone or a computer/laptop and an internet connection and you are good to go! Don’t worry if you don’t have your own smartphone or a smart device yet. There is still plenty of information available in printed sources like newspapers, magazines, journals and books!
The concept of “information” has different meanings. Most of the time it is associated with data or knowledge. It is also related to perception or how we see and interpret the data. Communication about information is very important as well, we do it all the time. Even this text that you are reading right now is a source of information. This is called “telecommunication”, because the transmission of information happens over a wire, radio, wireless or electromagnetic systems and we are using different technologies for consulting and sharing it.
Nowadays people take all of this for granted. People have access to the information that they need and can consult it almost immediately. But have you ever wondered how we got here? Let’s have a look at the history and origins of information and try to imagine the way people see and access information could change in the futures!
The past
What are the oldest sources of information that you can think of? Perhaps a newspaper or a book?
It all started with the invention of writing that happened around 5000 years ago. Although it was not the way that we write today, it was still a way of communicating and also of sharing and gathering information. Throughout the years, different cultures used different materials to write on. Some of them used to engrave messages on metal or stone, others used clay. The most important one for us is the papyrus that was used by the Egyptians. That was a thick paper-like material and it was used as a writing surface. This made it possible to have multiple pages of writings rolled into a scroll and was an early form of a book.
The first forms of books are pretty old, right? Let’s go a bit closer in time and explore what happened next!
Before the invention of the printing press around 1440, oral communication was one of the main sources of information. Think about sailors that come back from a long trip and shared their adventures from other parts of the world!
The stories and information that people shared through oral communication spread fast, but perhaps were not reliable due to the little tweaks to the stories that everyone may have added.
After its invention in modern Germany, the printing press became an important part for printing and spreading literature across Western Europe. Later in 1609 came the first printed newspaper that was also published in Germany. The newspaper was published weekly and was heavily censored by the government. In 1695 the English government relaxed the censorship of the newspapers and they appeared in cities like London, Boston and Philadelphia.
The next big invention were the high speed presses that could print thousands of papers daily. They were constructed around the period of 1830’s and made it possible to reduce the costs of printing. All this has led to the start up of news agencies. After that the newspapers were the main source of information for a very long time. Even up until this day they are being used, even though the web versions nowadays are more popular.
Not only newspapers, but also books benefitted from the invention of the high speed presses. They grew in popularity and a lot of different other printed sources emerged.
For example journals, different kinds of magazines, encyclopedias etc.
The present
Fast forward to today people are still using the printed sources from the past, but also use a lot of digital sources to get informed.
Digital devices and the connection with the internet became an important part of people’s daily lives. On the internet, you can find all sorts of information. For example you can find some answers for your homework or test and if you are lucky enough you can even solve all of it! You can also use the internet to search for information about your hobbies, the release date of a new videogame or information about your favorite content creator. This is all possible! All you need to do is visit Google, Wikipedia or Youtube and you can find almost everything that suits your interests.
The reliability of information has always been crucial. We saw this in the past and today it is still a concern. In today's world we hear a lot about the term “fake news”. I’m sure that you’ve already heard about it. As our sources of information are expanding we must remain critical about the information that we’re reading. A good tip for this is to consult many different sources for the subject that you are interested in. If you do this, you can make sure that you are getting the right information from those sources.
Social media can also be a source of information, but also there you have to be critical and aware that not everything you see is true. Today you also have the ability to buy e-books and other sources of information online.
If you think that the information that we are sharing with you is reliable and interesting, you could share our website on your social media accounts with your friends!
The futures
There are a lot of different possibilities about the access and use of information and for sure futures technologies will have a big impact on that.
In the futures we could see the use of AR (Augmented Reality) and more specifically smart glasses. Those glasses could give you immediate access to the internet and the information that you want. Also other wearables that people use today, for example smart watches, may advance in the futures and give them even more accessibility to information.
With the emergence of IOT (Internet Of Things) and 5G we may see even better connectivity and possibilities. Your smartphones may still have a big impact on your daily lives and could even evolve in something even bigger than they are now!
