Technology is a key term in communication: integral to conceptions of oral, literate, electronic, and digital communication and integral to mass communication as both theory and practice. It is also a key term in the humanities, social sciences, and engineering and circulates with broad resonance in popular culture. Ironically, in spite of its importance, there is no agreed upon meaning of technology and no consistent use. Technology is a difficult term to define, explain, or use with precision, as is evident in its wide and promiscuous appearance in all manner of circ*mstances. Its use turns out to reveal more about the cultural circ*mstances within which it is used than about real, consistent, and fixed meanings of the term. Whenever the term " technology " is used, it invokes—though neither necessarily consciously nor necessarily consistently—received understandings of its meaning and significance. Entangled in these uses, four elements (or features) typically figure in one form or another: that technology discloses and transforms the natural order; that technology is a transformational process; that technology embodies knowledge; and that technology is a certain kind of object. The meanings of each of these elements vary in use, as do the perceived relations among them. While there are some historical tendencies in the way technology is envisioned with respect to these elements and their relationships, it would be deceptive to think of these tendencies in terms of a straightforward historical periodization. Contemporary uses often invoke ancient meanings. Old uses do not always disappear, but are rearticulated in use with newer ones. Dramatically conflicting meanings sit side by side, often spoken by the same individual. To penetrate this complexity, the strategy taken in this entry artificially abstracts each of the four elements so as to illustrate the work it performs, both in terms of what it contributes to the meaning and use of technology and in terms of implications for its relationship with the other elements. The order of the discussion of the four elements is arbitrary, although both within the discussion of each element and in the entry overall there is attention to historical development. In the end, the goal of this entry is to provide a foundation for understanding the contributions of each of these elements to contemporary use and thereby to demystify the hold that the term " technology " has on the contemporary imagination. Technology discloses and transforms the natural order The importance of technology as disclosing and transforming the natural order derives in part from its etymological link with the ancient Greek term techne, which has its The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy. Klaus Bruhn Jensen and Robert T. Craig (Editors-in-Chief), Jefferson D. Pooley and Eric W. Rothenbuhler (Associate Editors).
FAQs
What are the 5 different information ages in technology? ›
they are as follows: Five different information ages in the field of technology Stone age Iron age The middle ages The industrial age Electronic age THESTONE AGE This was the prehistoric period during where stone was widely used to make implements with a sharp edge, a point or a percussion surfaces.
What are the 7 technological ages in order? ›- Neolithic Revolution.
- Stone Age · Bronze Age · Iron Age.
- Ancient Greek and Roman technology.
- Medieval technology.
- Renaissance technology.
- Industrial Revolution ( Second )
- Atomic Age.
- Jet Age.
Ten innovations of the Information Age include the personal computer, the internet, fiber optic cables, intel, the world wide web, e-mail, GPS, caller ID, mobile broadband, and text messaging.
What are the four 4 ages of technology? ›The Premechanical Age: 3000 BC and 1450 AD. The Mechanical Age: 1450 – 1840. The Electromechanical Age: 1840 - 1940. The Electronic Age: 1940 - Present.
What are the 3 eras of technology? ›- First Era: Agricultural and Industrial Revolution. ...
- Second Era: Information Age. ...
- Third Era: Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Information in the Primary Information Age was handled by newspapers, radio and television. The Secondary Information Age was developed by the Internet, satellite televisions and mobile phones.
What is the oldest technology in the world? ›Made nearly two million years ago, stone tools such as this are the first known technological invention.
Which age are we in now? ›On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of the Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.
What technology was available 100 years ago? ›Sound-on-film technology (Phonofilm) is invented. Firestone unveiled the first production balloon tire. Garrett Morgan patented the first traffic signal with a warning light. Insulin was mass produced and readily available for the treatment of diabetes.
What is the new Information Age 1900S 2000S? ›INFORMATION AGE (1900S-2000S) • The Internet paved the way for faster communication and the creation of the social network. People advanced the use of microelectronics with the invention of personal computers, mobile devices, and wearable technology. Moreover, voice, image, sound and data are digitalized.
What is the oldest Information Age? ›
The premechanical age is the earliest age of information technology. It can be defined as the time between 3000B. C. and 1450A.
How many stages of Information Age are there? ›The three phases of the information society are identified as information-rich society (1960s–1970s), information-based society (1980s–1990s), and information-dominated society (1990s–2000s). Each of these phases is characterized by specific processes.
What is the 4th era technology? ›The Fourth Industrial Revolution has been defined as technological developments in cyber-physical systems such as high capacity connectivity; new human-machine interaction modes such as touch interfaces and virtual reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world including ...
What are the names of the Information Age? ›The Information Age -- also called the Computer Age, the Digital Age and the New Media Age -- is coupled tightly with the advent of personal computers. But many computer historians trace its beginnings to the work of the American mathematician Claude E.
What is information technology 5 points? ›Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages and data and information processing and storage. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT).
What is the fifth era of information system? ›The five eras are general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer computing, personal computers, client/server networks, enterprise computing, and cloud and mobile computing.