📒 ICT Development Notes

Printing and the Birth of Mass Communication

●​ Early Printing:
○​ 3rd century – words on textiles.
○​ East Asia – woodblock printing (carving images/characters on wood).
○​ 1000s – Bi Sheng invented movable type (clay characters rearranged and
inked).
○​ 1377 – Korean monk Burgun created metal movable type; produced the book
Jikiji.
●​ Gutenberg’s Printing Press (1440s):
○​ Invented by Johannes Gutenberg (a goldsmith).
○​ Used alloy (tin, lead, antimony) for durable letter molds.
○​ First major work: Gutenberg Bible (1455).
●​ Impact:
○​ Spread of literacy and affordable books.
○​ Rise of varied genres: almanacs, travel books, romances, poetry, music.
○​ Sparked Protestant Reformation, Scientific Revolution, and cultural growth.
○​ Venice’s Aldus Manutius founded Aldine Press – important publishing hub.

Printing in the Industrial Revolution (1750–1850)

●​ Growth of factories and new technologies.
●​ Improvements in printing:
○​ 1798 – machine for continuous rolls of paper.
○​ 1811 (Germany) – steam-powered press.
○​ Rotary press in the US (used by Baltimore Sun).
●​ Led to pictorial newspapers with photos/illustrations.

1. Electronic Communication

Telegraph (1839) :

Invented by Samuel Morse (1791–1872).

Used electrical signals over cables.

Introduced the Morse Code (dots and dashes for letters/numbers).

Radio:

Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937) → developed wireless transmission (radio waves).

Backed by the British Empire; used in military and commercial shipping.

Reginald Fessenden (1866–1932): in 1906, broadcast music (first radiotelephony).

Lee De Forest (1873–1961): invented vacuum tube (1907) to amplify signals → clearer
transmissions.

Television:

Karl Braun (1850–1918): invented cathode ray oscilloscope (1897).

Vladimir Zworykin (1880–1982): created improved cathode ray tube (kinescope).

Philo Farnsworth (1906–1971): developed TV with 60 horizontal lines.

Lonis Parker (Hungarian-born): invented modern TV receiver (synchronized picture + audio).

After WWII: “Golden Age of Television” in the US; rise of entertainment genres (drama,
comedy).

Philippines:

1946 – James Lindenberg (Bolinao Electronics Corp) attempted TV transmitters.

1953 – Antonio Quirino launched DZAQ-TV (1st commercial telecast).

1956 – Ownership transferred to Lopez family, renamed Chronicle Broadcasting System →

forerunner of ABS-CBN.

2. From Analog to Digital

First Electronic Computer (1943): used vacuum tubes, like TV sets.

1970s: Ted Hoff (with colleagues in Silicon Valley) invented the microprocessor.

Works like the engine of a computer: takes input → processes instructions → produces
output.
Cold War Context:

Soviets launched satellites → US feared falling behind.

J.C.R. Licklider (1915–1990): proposed an “intergalactic computer network.”

Developed packet-switching technology (breaking data into packets for transmission).

Led to ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) → US defense-funded.

Installed in US universities working on defense projects.

Later expanded to allied countries (e.g., UK, Norway).

1990s → Internet

ARPANET gave way to the Internet (short for inter-network).

Expanded from universities/government → to businesses and homes.

Uses of the Internet:

Access websites (World Wide Web).

Email, video meetings, webinars.

Share videos/photos.

E-commerce & online transactions.

Streaming (movies, TV).

Educational resources & distance learning.

Social media connections.

3. Analog vs Digital Technology

Analog Technology:

Uses sound and light waves to transmit signals.

Example: traditional radio & TV signals.

Digital Technology:

Converts data into binary code (0s and 1s).

Each digit is a bit → groups of bits form data.

Pixels: bits form pixels → pixels form digital images.

More pixels = higher resolution (image stays clear even when enlarged).

Significance of Digital:

Associated with rise of computers.

Enabled online banking, distance learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, and more.

4. History of Computers: From Symbolic Writing to Microprocessors

Early Counting Devices

Counting boards: used pebbles in marked columns.

Abacus: beads on rods; for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.

Originated in the Middle East, around the 5th–6th century.

Key Pioneers of Early Computing

Blaise Pascal (1623–1662):

Built a mechanical calculator using gears.

Could add numbers (like a cash register).

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646–1716)

Improved Pascal’s design.

Created a machine for multiplication.

In 1679, invented the binary system (0 and 1).

Inspired by Indian writer Pingala (300 BCE, Science of Meters).

Charles Babbage (1791–1871)

Designed the Difference Engine (1822).

Considered the “Father of Computers.”

Later proposed the Analytical Engine (concept of programmable computing).

Ada Lovelace (1815–1852)

Worked with Babbage.

Suggested feeding punch cards into the Analytical Engine → first programmer.

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1801)

Invented a power loom controlled by punched wooden cards (basis for programming).

Pehr Georg Scheutz (1785–1873) & son Edvard

Built an improved counting machine (1834).

Herman Hollerith (1860–1929)

Invented electromechanical punched-card tabulator (1890).

Founded the Tabulating Machine Company → later became IBM.

Known as the “Father of Modern Computing.”

5. Electronic Age

Early Concepts
Alan Turing (1912–1954)

Created the Turing Machine (1936) → theoretical model showing what tasks can be
computed.

Known as the “Father of Computer Science.”

Atanasoff-Berry Computer (1937)

Invented by John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry.

First electronic digital computer.

Five Generations of Computers

1. First Generation (1940–1956)

Used vacuum tubes.

Huge in size, produced lots of heat.

Examples: Colossus (WWII), ENIAC (1946) with 18,000 vacuum tubes.

Could only do single tasks.

2. Second Generation (1957–1963)

Used transistors (smaller, more efficient).

Rise of UNIVAC (1951) and IBM computers (1953).

Programming languages emerged (e.g., FORTRAN by John Backus, 1957).

Storage improved: tapes, disks, printers.

3. Third Generation (1964–1971)

Used integrated circuits (miniaturized transistors).

Faster, smaller, more efficient.

Interaction via keyboards and monitors (no more punch cards).

Operating systems allowed multitasking.

4. Fourth Generation (1972–2010)

Powered by microprocessors.

Example: Intel 4004 chip (1981).

Apple Macintosh (1984): popularized home computers.

Networking led to the Internet.

5. Fifth Generation (2011–present)

Based on artificial intelligence.

Features: voice recognition, sensors, machine learning, mimicking human reasoning.

6. The Global Village

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980)

Coined the term “Global Village” (1962).

Predicted electronics would connect the world, erasing barriers of time and space.

Meaning:

Technology allows people to communicate as if they were in the same village.

Events in one part of the world can be instantly experienced elsewhere.

Effects of the Global Village:

Mass Media (TV, Internet, phones) link people worldwide.

Online communities encourage democratic exchange of ideas.

Social media allows real-time interaction and opinion-sharing.

Journalism & news travel across borders instantly.

Internet bridges nations, cultures, and people → creating a truly interconnected society.

Alright! Here’s the final part (Part 4) of your notes, covering Information Overload.

7. Information Overload

Alvin Toffler (1928–2016)

Popularized the term “Information Overload” (1970) in his book Future Shock.

Defined as the crisis in decision-making when faced with too much information.

Quote: Just as the body breaks under environmental strain, the mind also becomes erratic
when overloaded.

Modern Information Explosion

Internet + fast multimedia production = massive amounts of data.

Gadgets like phones, laptops, tablets give constant access to information.

Scholars describe this as an information explosion.

Challenges:

Data can be incomplete, inaccurate, false, or unverified.

Hard to filter and process info due to the vast scale.

People can feel overwhelmed trying to keep up with the flood of content.

Opportunities:

Despite overload, ICT improves daily living.

Helps address global problems:

Poverty

Bad governance

Climate change
Environmental and man-made disasters