4— Digital Information - All The News That’s Fit To Digitize.
Just yesterday, as I was checking today’s episode, I clicked on my ‘Browser’ to check a date, and discovered the action that was going on in London within an hour of it happening. With ‘raw’ videos and interviews and instant information right on my computer screen…. Just what I was writing about here. Digital News.
Information, in the form of News about events in the world, used to come in the Newspapers and on the Radio, and later, on Television. Today you can watch the News as it happens with a ’subscription’ to “Twitter” where the President of the United States, along with the Queen of England, and the Pope, leave their 140 character messages on an irregular basis. A Canadian, Justin Beiber, (Not the other “Justin”) has the second most “Followers” on this “Social Media”, and the list itself gives an indication of the relative age group that it appeals to. (Mr Trump has only 23.9 million followers.)
Most popular Twitter accounts
As of February 1, 2017, the Twitter accounts with the most followers were:
- Katy Perry: 95,590,322
- Justin Bieber: 91,524,437
- Barack Obama: 83,940,355
- Taylor Swift: 83,274,003
- Rihanna: 69,462,569
- https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Also, of course, we are all aware that the President of the United States uses this media to comment and to inform his subjects of his latest thoughts and orders. The dissemination of information has come full cycle from the ancient leaders of Egypt and Rome, sending out messengers to inform the populace about events and decrees, to everyone in the World who has a computer or cell phone being informed directly by the President of the USA,
Twitter is an online news and social networking service where users post and reply with messages, "tweets," restricted to 140 characters. Registered users can post tweets, but those who are unregistered can only read them.
Twitter was created in March 2006 and launched in July. As of March 2016, Twitter had more than 310 million active monthly viewers On the day of the 2016 US Presidential election, Twitter proved to be the largest source of breaking news, with 40 million tweets sent by 10 p.m. that day.
nformation technology
Humans have been storing, retrieving, manipulating, and communicating information since the Sumerians in Mesopotamia developed writing in about 3000 BC,
Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and the internet to store, study, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data or information. The term is commonly used to refer to computers and computer networks, but it also includes other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones.
Your Telephone “Provider” has likely also become your source for TV and the Internet. Information Technology is the term they use to refer to the merging of TV and telephone networks with computer networks using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution and management.
This integration of telephone lines and radio signals with computers, enables users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information as programs and audio-visual systems.
In modern society IT is ever-present, with over three billion people having access to the Internet. With approximately 8 out of 10 Internet users owning a smartphone, information and data are increasing by leaps and bounds. This rapid growth, especially in developing countries, has led IT to become a keystone of everyday life, in which most clerical, work and routine tasks use this technology. The number of Internet users in developing countries has doubled in five years (2009-2014), with two thirds of all people online now living in the developing world.
Information is a record of facts provided or learned about something or someone. It is related to data and knowledge, as data represents facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis, and knowledge signifies understanding of real things or abstract concepts. Information is conveyed either as the content of a message or through direct or indirect observation of any object or event.
Information can be encoded into various digital forms for transmission and interpretation. It can also be encrypted for safe storage and communication. Digital formats, sources and devices have become the main source of information and News in this digital age.
News can be defined as information about current events. Journalists provide news through many different media, based on word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, and digital communication.
Common topics for news reports include war, government, politics, education, health, the environment, economy, business, and entertainment, as well as athletic events, and quirky or unusual events. Since ancient times, Government proclamations concerning royal ceremonies, laws, taxes, public health, and criminals, have been identified as news.
Humans exhibit a nearly universal desire to learn and share news, which they satisfy by talking to each other and sharing information.
Technological and social developments, have increased the speed with which news can spread, and also have influenced its content.
News as we know it today is closely associated with the newspaper, which originated in China as a court bulletin and spread to Europe, with paper and printing press.
Evidence suggests that cultures around the world have found a place for people to share stories about interesting new information. Anthropologists have documented the practice of questioning travellers for news as a matter of priority. Sufficiently important news would be repeated quickly and often, and could spread by word of mouth over a large geographic area. Even as printing presses came into use in Europe, news for the general public often travelled orally via monks, travellers, town criers, etc.
News was also transmitted in public gathering places, such as the Greek forum and the Roman baths.. Throughout the world, people have gathered and exchanged news at places of worship and other social locations. Travellers on pilgrimages traditionally stayed at roadside inns, along the way, and these places naturally served as hubs for gaining news of the world. In late medieval Britain, reports (“tidings”) of major events were a topic of great public interest.
In England, in the 17th and 18th centuries, coffee houses served as important sites for the spread of news.
English coffeehouses, were public social places where people would meet for conversation and commerce while drinking coffee. For the price of a penny, customers purchased a cup of coffee and admission. Travellers had introduced coffee as a beverage to England during the mid-17th century. Coffeehouses were described as "places where people gathered to drink coffee, learn the news of the day, and perhaps to meet with other local residents and discuss matters of mutual concern."The absence of alcohol created an atmosphere in which it was possible to engage in more serious conversation than in an alehouse. Coffeehouses also played an important role in the development of financial markets and newspapers.
Topics discussed included politics and political scandals, daily gossip, fashion, current events, and debates surrounding philosophy and the natural sciences. Historians often associate English coffeehouses, during the 17th and 18th centuries, with the intellectual and cultural history of the Age of Enlightenment: they were an alternate sphere, supplementary to the university. Political groups frequently used coffeehouses as meeting places.)
Specially sanctioned messengers have been recognized in many cultures around the world to quickly disseminate news. Before the invention of newspapers in the early 17th century, official government bulletins and edicts were circulated at times using an organized courier service to distribute written documents. In Egypt, Pharaohs used couriers to publicize their decrees (2400 BC).
Julius Caesar regularly publicized his heroic deeds in Gaul, and upon becoming Emperor of Rome began publishing government announcements carved in metal or stone and posted in public places.
Later, Town Criers were a common means of conveying information to city dwellers.
In England, parliamentary declarations were delivered to sheriffs for public display and for reading at the markets.
Early news networks - (Very Early versions of CNN) - Asia
The world's first written news originated in China in 800 BC, where reports gathered by officials were compiled (possibly by Confucius) as the Spring and Autumn Annals. These were available to a sizeable reading public and dealt with common news themes.The Tang Dynasty published government news, handwritten on silk that was read by government officials. Newsletters continued to be produced and gained wider public circulation in the following centuries.
In 1582 privately published news sheets were distributed in Peking.
Japan had effective communications and postal delivery networks at several points in its history. The system depended on runners, and regularly spaced relay stations. By this method, news could travel between Kyoto and Kamakura in 5–7 days.
Special horse-mounted messengers could move information at the speed of 170 kilometres per day. This postal system was initially used only by the government, taking private communications only at exorbitant prices. Private services emerged and in 1668 established their own guild. They became even faster, and created an effective optical telegraphy system using flags by day and lanterns and mirrors by night.
Europe- In the Roman Empire, messengers and citizens travelled by sea on the Mediterranean and on surrounding rivers. Land transport utilized the advanced system of Roman roads. Taxes paid by communities included the provision of personnel, animals, or vehicles for the the state mail and transport service established by Augustus around the time of Christ. Relay stations were located along the roads every seven to twelve Roman miles, and tended to grow into a village or trading post where information was exchanged.The distance between stations was determined by how far a wagon could travel in a day. As an example of the pace of communication, it took a messenger a minimum of nine days to travel to Rome from Mainz in the province of Germania , even on a matter of urgency. News travelled with the Roman Legions as well as they moved through the empire.
Following the decline of the Roman Empire in Europe, governments relied on runners to transmit news over long distances. At 33 kilometres per day, runners would take two months to deliver a message from Belgium to Latvia. Increased cross-border trade created a rising need for information which was met by concise handwritten news sheets, that provided the commercial advantage of up-to-date news. In 1556, the government of Venice first published monthly handwritten newsletters to convey political, military, and economic news quickly and efficiently to other Italian cities. These were sold by subscription under the auspices of military, religious, and banking authorities. Subscribers included clerics, diplomatic staff, and noble families.
Postal services enabled merchants and monarchs to stay abreast of important information. Around 1500 two brothers from the Italy created a network of courier stations in the Germanic Nations, linked by riders. The French and English Postal Services also began at this time, but did not become fully functional until the early 1600s. In 1620, the English system linked with the German system.
These connections established an extensive network of news circulation, with handwritten items bearing dates and places of origin. Centred in Germany, the Postal network took in news from Russia, the Balkans, Italy, Britain, France, and the Netherlands. Letters describing historically significant events could gain wide circulation as news reports. Personal correspondence sometimes acted as a convenient channel through which news could flow across a larger network. The circulation of a simple listing of current prices, quickened the flow of international trade. Businesspeople also wanted to know about events related to shipping, the affairs of other businesses, and political developments. Even after the advent of international newspapers, business owners still valued correspondence highly as a source of reliable news that would affect their business.
Rise of the newspaper-The use of paper and the development of the printing press brought about a major advance in the transmission of news. With the spread of printing presses and the creation of new markets in the 1500s, news underwent a shift from factual and precise economic reporting, to a more emotive and freewheeling format. The world's first formalized 'newspaper' emerged in Germany in the early 1600s..
The new format, which published numerous reports from far-flung locations, created a radically new experience for its readers. A variety of styles emerged, from single-story reports, to compilations, overviews, and personal and impersonal types of news analysis.
News for public consumption had been tightly controlled by governments. By 1530, England had created a licensing system for the press and banned “seditious opinions”. (Many present Governments have predecessors—) Publication was restricted to approved presses—as exemplified by The London Gazette, which prominently bore the words: "Published By Authority". Parliament allowed the Licensing Act to lapse in 1695, beginning a new era in England marked by newspapers favouring each of the established Whig and Tory political parties. In France, censorship was even more constant. Consequently, many European newspapers originated beyond their national borders,—many being published in the Dutch Republic to evade state censorship.
In North America, the new United States saw a newspaper boom beginning with the Revolutionary era, accelerated by spirited debates over the establishment of a new government. American newspapers got many of their stories by copying reports from each other. Newspapers thrived during the colonization of the West, fuelled by high literacy and a newspaper-loving culture. By 1880, San Francisco rivalled New York in number of different newspapers and in printed newspaper copies per capita.
In France, the Revolution resulted in an outbreak of newspapers and a new climate of press freedom, followed by a return to repression under Napoleon. Some newspapers published in the 1800s and after retained the commercial orientation of the private newsletters of the Renaissance. Finance oriented newspapers publishing new types of data enabled the advent of statistics which could inform sophisticated investment decisions.These newspapers, too, became available to larger sections of society, keen on investing some of their savings in the new stock markets. Yet, as in the case other newspapers, the incorporation of advertising into the newspaper sometimes led to reservations about accepting newspaper information at face value.
Towards the end of the 20th Century, Newspapers became a the major outlet for commercial advertising and vending. Most of us can remember when whole sections of the Toronto newspapers were devoted to ‘Want Ads’, listing everything from jobs to real estate and household items. The loss of the revenue from this advertising to the internet has drastically altered costs and sizes of the local Newspapers.
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