•

'

'APTER 111 Specific Issues in

Science, Technology,
and Society

Cell and Tissue ~ ~,,.,,,,, ,,___,

Culture {/ • ~
Bactena
Plant
Breeding

DNA Extraction
and Isolation
~ ~
, l~ ~--[Link]:<:v"'-m)IO-..

Cloning and CT
Designing Genes ~ Transformat

~ ~
l

sl ,
LESSON

1 THE INFORMATION AGE

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

• define Information Age ;

• discuss the history of Information Age; and
• understand the factors that need to be considered m
checking website sources.

Highly modernized, automated , data-driven, and technologically

advanced-these best describe our society nowadays, as evidenced by how
information could be transferred or shared quickly. The different areas
of society have been influenced tremendously such as communication,
economics, industry, health, and the environment. Despite our gains due
to the growing development of information technology, the rapid upgrade
of information also has disadvantages. This lesson will discuss the history
and impact of technological advancements to society.
Life is accompanied by endless transmission of information that
takes place within and outside the human body. According to Webster's
Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, information is "knowled
. d . ge
communicated or obtame concernmg a specific fact or circumsta "
. . nee.
Hence, information 1s a very important tool for survival.
The Information Age is _defined as a "period starting in the last
quarter of the 20th century when mformation became effortlessly ac "bl
. . d h cess1 e
through publ1cat1ons an t rough the management of inform -
a1ion by
:\,,,,111,,,~
1'1041 Science, Technology, and Society
~ ~
q'''""'''
computers and computer networks" ([Link], n.d.). The means of
conveying symbolic information (e.g., writing, math, other codes) among
humans has evolved With increasing speed. The Information Age is also
th
called e Digital Age and the New Media Age because it was associated
with the development of computers.
rd
A~co ing to James R. Messenger who proposed the Theory of
Information Age in 1982, "the Information Age is a true new age based
th
upon e interconnection of computers via telecommunications, with
these information systems operating on both a real-time and as-needed
basis. Furthermore, the primary factors driving this new age forward
are convenience and user-friendliness which in tum will create user
dependence." ' '

History

The table below traces the history and emergence of the Information
Age (United States American History, n.d.).
Table 1. Timeline of the Information Age

Year Event
3000 BC Sumerian writing system used pictographs to represent
words
2900 BC Beginnings of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing

1300BC Tortoise shell and oracle bone writing were used

500 BC Papyrus roll was used

220 BC Chinese small seal writing was developed

l00AD Book (parchment codex)

lOSAD Woodblock printing and paper was invented by the Chinese

1455 Jo h annes Gutenberg invented the printing press using

movable metal type . . .
1755 Samue1J0 hnson's dictionary standardized English spellmg

~,,1111,,,
.s ·fie Issues in Science, Technology, and Society
Chapter Ill. peel t
f%,,,,.11,./
105\
 18 02 • 111e Library of Congress was established
• Invention of the carbon arc lamp
18 24 Research on persistence of vision published
1830s • First viable design for a digital computer
ld' first computer
• Augusta Lady Byron writes the wor s
program
1837 . · and the United
Invention of the telegraph in Great Bntalll
States
1861 Motion pictures were projected onto a screen
1876 Dewey Decimal system was introduced
1877 Eadweard Muybridge demonstrated high-speed
photography
1899 First magnetic recordings were released
1902 Motion picture special effects were used
1906 Lee DeForest invented the electronic amplifying tube
(triode)
1923 Television camera tube was invented by Zvorkyn
1926 First practical sound movie
1939 Regularly scheduled television broadcasting began in the
us
1940s Beginnings of information science as a discipline
1945 Vannevar Bush foresaw the invention of hypertext
1946 ENIAC computer was developed
1948 Birth of field -of-information theory proposed by Claude E.
Shannon
1957 Planar transistor was developed by Jean Hoerni
1958 First integrated circuit
1960s Library of Congress developed LC MARC (machine-
readable code)
1969 UNIX operating system was developed, which could h dl
mu1·
titas k'mg an e

1971 Intel introduced the first microp rocessor chip

1972 Optical laserdisc was developed by Philips and MCA
1974 MCA and Philips agreed on a standard videodisc enco .
format dmg

,,,,u11,,1~
ff I 061 Sdcm:c, Technology, and Society
~ ~~
'✓1111111''

j:
,I

'

Jr.
 -
1975
-
Altair
corn Microcom
· puter Kit was released: first personal
puter for the public
1977 Rad·
ioShack introd d th fi
cornputer uce e rst complete personal
1984 Apple Macint h
Mid 1980s A t' fi . - os computer was introduced
~ 1 cial intelligenc .
science e was separated from mformation
:ed
1987
Hypercard was develo d b . .
metaphor pe YBill Atkinson recipe box
1991 Four hundred fifty -
ROM complete works of literature on one CD-
was released
January RSA (encryption d
1997 security cod ~ network security software) Internet
e crac ed for a 48 bit number

,e

Figure 7. Evo lution of Man and Information

eE.
As man evolved , information and its dissemination has also evolved
in many ways. Eventually, we no longer kept them to ourselves; instead,
we share them and manage them in different means. Information got
ahead of us. It started to grow at a rate we were unprepared to handle.
Because of the abundance of information, it was difficult to collect and
manage them starting in the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, real angst
.ndle
set in. Richard Wurman called it " Information Anxiety." In the 1990s,
information became the currency in the business world. Information was
the preferred medium of exchange and the information managers served
as information officers. In the present generation, there is no doubt that
ling information has turned out to be a commodity, an overdeveloped product,
mass-produced and unspecialized. Soon, we become overloaded with it.
'
Chapter Ill : Specific Issues in Science, Technology, and Society
 Different authors have diverse contrasting ideas on the evol~tio~
of the lnformation Age. ln spite of thi~ we can still say that infor~ati_onfi is
a very important tool that helps impro~e our way of life. One thmg is or
sure , the Information Age will continue to move forward and far greater
than our minds could imagine.
In his article "Truths of the Information Age" (n.d.) 1 Robert Harris
detailed some facts on the Information Age .
1. Information must compete. There is a need for information to
stand out and be recognized in the increasing clutter.
2. Newer is equated with truer. We forgot the truth that any fact
or value can endure.
3. Selection is a viewpoint. Choose multiple sources for your
information if you want to receive a more balanced view of
reality.

4. The media sells what the culture buys. In other words,

information is driven by cultural priorities.
5. The early word gets the perm . The first media channel to
expose an issue often defines the context, terms, and attitudes
surrounding it.

6. You are what you eat and so is your brain. Do not draw
conclusions unless all ideas and information are presented to
you.

7. Anything in great demand will be counterfeited. The demand

for incredible knowledge, scandals, and secrets is ever-present;
hence, many events are fabricated by tabloids, publicists, or
other agents of information fraud .

8. Ideas are seen as controversial. It is almost certainly impossible

to make any assertion that will not find some supporters and
some detractors.

9. U ndead information walks ever on. Rumors, lies,

disinformation, and gossips never truly die down. They persist
and continue to circulate.

,,,,,1111,,~
fl 08'% Science, Technology, and Society
~ f
❖,,,1111''~
 1O. Media presence creates the story. People behave much
differently from the way they would if being filmed when th e
media are present, especially film news or television medi a .
11.
The medium selects the message . Television is mainly
pictorial, Partially aural, and slightly textual , so visual stodes
are emphasized: fires, chases, and disasters.
12.
The whole truth is a pursuit. The information that reaches
us is usually selected , verbally charged, filtered , slanted , and
~ometimes, fabricated . What is neglected is often even more
important than what is included.

Computer
[Link] among the most important contributions of advances
in the Information Age to society. A computer is an electronic device
that stores and processes data (information) . It runs on a program that
contains the exact, step-by-step directions to solve a problem (UShistory.
org, 2017) .

Types of Computer
Computers are associated with numerous terms and descriptions.
Most people suggest the dimensions, intended use , or the computer's·
power. While the term "computer" can apply to virtually any device that
has a microprocessor in it, most people think of a computer as a device
that receives input from tµe user through a mouse (hand-guided directions
tool) or keyboard, processes it in some fashion , and presents the result on
a screen.

1. Personal Computer (PC)

It is a single-user instrument. PCs were first known as
microcomputers since they were a complete computer but built
on a smaller scale than the enormous systems operated by most
businesses.

I· Specific Issues in Science, Technology , and Society

Chapter II ·
 ./ .;,, /:.,,

2. Desktop Computer
It is described as a PC that is not designed for portability.
The assumption with a desktop is that it will be set up in a
permanent spot. A workstation is simply a desktop computer
that has a more powerful processor, additional memory' aD d
enhanced capabilities for performing special group of tasks,
such as 3D graphics or game development. Most desktops ~ffer
more storage, power, and versatility than their portable verSlOns
([Link], 2017) .

3. Laptops
These are portable computers that integrate the essentials
of a desktop computer in a battery-powered package , which
are somewhat larger than a typical hardcover book. They are
commonly called notebooks.

4. Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)

. These are tightly integrated computers that usually have
no keyboards but rely on a touch screen for user input. PDAs
are typically smaller than a paperback, lightweight, and battery-
powered ([Link], 2017) .

5. Server
It refers to a computer that has been improved to provide
network services to other computers. Servers usually boast
powerful processors, tons of memory, and large hard drives
([Link], 2017) .

6. Mainframes
These are huge computer systems that can fill an entire
room. They are used especially by large firms to describe the
large, expensive machines that process millions of transactions
every day. The term "mainframe" has been replaced by ent~rprise
server. Although some supercomputers are single computer
systems, most comprise multiple, high-performance, parallel
computers working as a single system ([Link], 2017) .

Science , Technology, a nd Society

 7· Wearable Computers
They involve materia ls that are usually integrated into
cell phones, watches, and other small objects or places . They
perform common computer app lications such as databases,
email, multimedia, and schedulers ([Link], 20 17) .

The World Wide Web (Internet)

Several historians trace the origin of the Internet to Claude I;,.
Shannon, an American Mathematician who was considered as the " Father
of lnfor~ation Theory." He worked at Bell Laboratories and at age 32,
he published a paper proposing that information can be quantitatively
encoded as a sequence of ones and zeroes.
The Internet is a worldwide system of interconnected networks
that facilitate data transmission among innumerable computers. It was
developed during the 1970s by the Department of Defense . In case of an
attack, military advisers suggested the advantage of being able to operate
on one computer from another terminal. ln the early days , the Internet
was used mainly by scientists to communicate with other scientists. The
Internet remained under government control until 1984 (Rouse , 2014) .
One early problem faced by Internet use rs was speed . Phone lines
could only transmit information at a limited rate. The development of
fiber-optic cables allowed for billions of bits of information to be received
every minute . Companies like Intel developed faster microprocessors so
personal computers could process the incoming signals at a more rapid
rate ([Link], 2017) .
Sergey Brin and Larry Page , directors of a Stanford research
project, built a search engine that listed results to reflect page popularity
when they determined that the most popular result would frequently be
the most usable . After talking with family , friends , and other investors into
contributing $1 million, the researchers launched their company_in l 998 .
Google is now the world's most popular search engine , acceptmg more
than 200 million queries daily•
w forms of communication were also introduced.
B ac k t h en, ne
·
El ect ron1c ·1 r email was a suitable way to send a message to fellow
ma1 , o ' . . .
·
workers, b usmess partners , or friends · Messages cou ld be sent and rece ived
~,,,1111,1/,
[lJ · Specific Issues in Science Tech nology , allct Society f1 I 1)
Chapter · ' %,,,,.,,,,.f
 . r/lc convenience of the individual. A letter that took several days to
1
_' ~,.; vc could be read in minutes. Internet service providers like America
11
~)n/ine and CompuServe set up electronic chat room s. These were open
areas of cyberspace where interested parties could join in a conversati on
with perfect strangers. "Surfing the net" became a pastime in and of itself
([Link], 2017) .
Consequently, companies whose businesses are built on digitized
infomiation have become valuable and powerful in a relatively short
period of time; the current Information Age has spawned its own breed of
wealthy influential brokers, from Microsoft's Bill Gates to Apple's Steve
Jobs to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg.
Critics charged that the Internet created a technological divide that
increased the gap between the members of the higher class and lower class
of society. Those who could not afford a computer or a monthly access
fee were denied these possibilities. Many decried the impersonal nature of
electronic communication compared to a telephone call or a handwritten
letter.
On one hand , the unregulated and loose nature of the Internet
allowed pornography to be broadcast to millions of homes. Protecting
children from these influences or even from meeting violent predators
would prove to be difficult. Nowadays, crimes in various forms are rampant
because of the use of social media. Cyberbullying is an issue that poses
alarm worldwide . Consequently, we need to be aware of the possible harm
and damage due to abuse of these advances in the Information Age.

Applications of Computers in Science and

Research
One of the significant applications of computers for science and
research is evident in the field of bioinformatics. Bioinformatics is the
application of information technology to store, organize, and analyze va5t
amount of biological data which is available in the form of sequenc~s
and structures of proteins-the building blocks of organisms and nucleic
acids-the information carrier (Madan, n .d .).
Early interest in bioinformatics was established because of a need
to create databases of biological sequences. The human brain cannot st0 r~
a\\ the ·
· genetic .
sequences °
of organisms and this huge amount f data can
,,~:\y be st0 red , analyzed, and be used efficiently with the use of computers.
1112%
~~,,,,.,,,,'-$ Science , Technology , and Soc1·ety

·I
I

I
.,,J
al days to
! America While the initial databases of protein sequences were maintained at
vere open individual laboratories, the development of a consolidated formal database,
1Versation known as SWlSS- PROT protein sequence database , was initiated in 1986.
d of itself It now_ has about 70,000 protein sequences from more than 5,000 model
orga_msms, a small fraction of all known organisms. The enormous variety
digitized of diver~e~t d~ta ~esources is now available for study and research by both
~ly short acade~i~ m stltutions and industries. These are made available as public
breed of domam information in the larger interest of research community through
e's Steve the Internet (www .ncbi .[Link]) and CD-ROMs (on request from
[Link] .org) . These databases are constantly updated with additional
entries (Madan , n.d.).
vide that
ver class Computers and software tools are widely used for generating these
y access databases and to identify the function of proteins, model the structure of
ature of proteins, determine the coding (useful) regions of nucleic acid sequences,
jwritten find suitable drug compounds from a large pool, and optimize the
drug development process by predicting possible targets. Some of the
[nternet software tools which are handy in .the analysis include: BLAST (used for
)tecting comparing sequences) ; Annotator (an interactive genome analysis tool) ;
·edators and GeneFinder (tool to identify coding regions and splice sites) (Madan,
n.d.).
ampant
t poses The sequence information generated by the human genome
e harm research, initiated in 1988, has now been stored as a primary information
source for future applications in medicine . The available data is so huge
that if compiled in books, the data would run into 200 volumes of 1,000
pages each and reading alone (ignoring understanding factor) would
require 26 years working around the clock. For a population of about five
billion human beings with two individuals differing in three million bases,
the genomic sequence difference database would have about 15,000,000
::e and
billion entries. The present challenge to handle such huge volume of data
is the
is to improve database design, develop software for database access , and
ze vast
manipulation and device data-entry procedures to compensate for the
Jences
varied computer procedures and systems used in different laboratories.
mcleic
The much-celebrated complete human genome sequence which was
~orm
11
a 11y announce d on the 26th of June 2000 involved more than 500• x
1 need 1o18 (500 - - trillion) calculations during the process of assemblmg
mi1110n . t · · h
t store -
th e sequences a1one. This can be considered as the b1gges exercise mt e
ta can history of computational biology (Madan, n .d.) .
Juters.
I· Specific Issues in Science, Technology , and Society
Chapter II ·

,J
 Moreover, from the pharmaceuticaJ industry's' point of view,
bioinformatics is the key to rational drug discovery. It . re_duce~ ~he
number o f t na
· ls m . of drug compounds and m 1dent1fyrng
· the screenmg .
potential drug targets for a particular disease using high-power ~[Link]
workstations and software like Insight. This profound applicatmn of
. · "1
b10 · pharmacology
m ormatics in genome sequence has led to a new area m -
Pharmacogenomics, where potential targets for drug develo?ment ~re
hypothesized from the genome sequences. Molecular modelmg, whi~h
requires a lot of calculations, has become faster due to the advan ces m
computer processors and its architecture (Madan, n.d.).
In plant biotechnology, bioinformatics is found to be useful in the
areas of identifying diseases resistance genes and designjng plants with
high nutrition value (Madan, n.d.).

How to Check the Reliability of Web Sources

The Internet contains a vast collection of highly valuable
information but it may also contain unreliable, biased information that
mislead people. The following guidelines can help us check the reliability
of web sources that we gather. It is noteworthy to consider and apply the
following guidelines to avoid misinformation. (Lee College Library, n.d.)
1. Who is the author of the article/site?
• How to find out?
Look for an "About" or "More About the Author" link at
the top, bottom, or sidebar of the webpage. Some pages
will have a corporate author rather than a single person
as an author. If no information about the author(s) of the
page is provided, be suspicious.

✓ Does the author provide his or her credentials?

✓ What type of expertise does he or she have on
the subject he or she is writing about? Does he
or she indicate what his or her educ a t·10n 1s
. ?.

~\\\U11,,.

{114\ Science, Technology, and Society

%,,,,",,!
 ✓ What type of experience does he or she have?
Should you trust his or her knowledge of the
subject?
Try searching on the Internet for information about the
author.

✓ What kinds of websites are associated with the

author's name? Is he or she affiliated with any
educational institution?
✓ Do commercial sites come up? Do the websites
associated with the author give you any clues to
particular biases the author might have?
2. Who published the site?
• How to find out?
✓ Look at the domain name of the website that will
tell you who is hosting the site. For instance, the
Lee College Library website is: [Link]
library. The domain name is "lee .edu." This tells you
that the library website is hosted by Lee College.
✓ Search the domain name at [Link]
The site provides information about the owners of , I
I
registered domain names. What is the organization' s
main purpose? Check the organization's main
website, if it has one. Is it educational? Commercial?
Is it a reputable organization?
✓ Do not ignore the suffix on the domain name (the
three-letter. part that comes after the " .") . The
suffix is usually (but not always) descriptive of what
type of entity hosts the website . Keep in mind that
it is possible for sites to obtain suffixes that are
misleading. Here are some examples:
.edu = educational
I I

.com = commercial

. Specific Issues in Science Technology, and Society

Chaprer III · '
 .mil === miJitarY
.gov === government
- nonprofit
.org - •
f the site? Why did the author
. urpose 0
3. What is the main P ublisher post it?
write it and whY did the p
• To sell a product?
• As a personal hobby?
. ?
As public service •
• . ?
To further scholarship on a topic .
• . . ?
To provide general informat10n on a top1c .
•
To persuade you of a particular point of view?
•
. ?
4. Who is the intended au d1ence .
• Scholars or the general public?

• Which age group is it written for?

• Is it aimed at people from a particular geographic area?

• Is it aimed at members of a particular profession or with

specific training?
5. What is the quality of information provided on the website?

• Timeliness: When was the website first published? Is it

regularly updated? Check for dates at the bottom of each
page on the site.
• Does the author cite sources? Just as in print sources,
web sources that cite their sources are considered more
reliable.
• What type of other sites does the website link to? Are
they reputable sites?

What types of sites link to the website you are evaluating?

Is the website being cited by others?

Science T
, echnology and S .

I
' oc1ety

I
Examples of Useful and Reliable Web Sources
l. AFA e-Newsletter (Alzheimer's Foundation of America
newsletter)
2.
American Memory - the Library of Congress historical digital
collection.
3.
[Link] Great Books Online - a collection of free
e-books including fictions , nonfictions, references , and verses.
4.
Chronicling America - search and view pages from American
newspapers from 1880- 1922.
5. Cyber Bullying - a free collection of e-books from ebrary plus
additional reports and documents to help better understand ,
prevent and take action against this growing concern.
6. Drug information websites:
• National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus
• [Link]
• PDRhealth
7. Global Gateway: World Culture & Resources (from the
Library of Congress)
8. Google Books
9. [Link]
IO . History sites with primary documents:

• AMDOCS : Documents for the study of American

history

• Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and

Diplomacy (Yale Law School)
Internet Modem History Sourcebook: Colonial
•
Latin America
Teacher Oz's Kingdom of History
•

I· Specific Issues in Science, Technology, and Society

Chapter II ·
f
. . . IJ,· ,it·-tl Archives -· the Illinois State Library working
11 111,1101s g '- . . . . .
· wirh libraries, museums, and h1stoncal. societies rn IUmo1s
provides this collection of materials related to Illinois history,

j 2.
rnternet Archive - a digital library of Internet sites and other
cultural artifacts in digital form .
I3 . fnternet Archive for CARLI digitized resources
t 4. Internet Public Library

15. ipl2 - a merger of Librarians' Internet Index and Internet

Public Library. Special interest may include the "Literary
Criticisms" page which can be found after clicking on the
"Special Collections" link.
16. Librarians' Internet Index
17 . Making of America - a digital library of primary sources in
American social history.
18. 'Maps -- from the University of Texas at Austin collection.
Includes historical and thematic maps.
19. N ationMaster - a massive central data source and a handy
way to graphically compare nations. It is a vast compilation of
data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and
OECD.
20. Nursing sites:
~ AHRQ ([Link])
e National Guidelines Clearinghouse
([Link])
"' PubMed ([Link])
21 . Project Gutenberg - the first and largest single collection
of free electronic books with currently over 20,000 e-books
available.

:,...\\\\1111,

[ l 1t1
"/,,,, ,,,. 11-l Science, Technology , -and Society
f'' 22. Sh_inoop - literature, US h.
wntten primaril b
univer . .
1story, and poetry information
Y Y PhD and masters students from top
s1ties like Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, and Yale .
23. StateMaster - a . . .
to unique statistical database which allows you
research and .
state . compare a multitude of different data on US
s using va . .
Bure nous pnmary sources such as the US Census
th
Stat· at~' e FBI, and the National Center for Educational
IS lCS It U . .
· ses visuahzation technology like pie charts
maps graphs d '
' ' an scatter plots to provide data.
24 · Virtual Referenc - I
L'b
1
e se ected web resources compiled by the
rary of Congress.
One can also visit th · · ·
th k e umversity library and seek help from librarians
~s ey are nowledgeable and the library has a rich collection of online
hbrary resources that a r. .
re very use1ul for academic and research purposes.

Nowadays, information could be shared or transferred quickly.

People are becoming more interested in sharing information about
themselves. Various aspects of our society are also being [Link] by the
Information Age especially communication, economics, industry, health,
and the environment. The rapid upgrade of information poses both positive
and negative impacts to our society. Therefore, we need to carefully check
our motives before disseminating information and we also need to verify
information before believing them and using and sharing them. We should
share information that could help improve our lives and others.

Who are the contributors of the technological advances of the

I.
Information Age?
. firom communication , what other aspects of society is/
Aside
2. . Ag?
are being influenced in the lnfonnation e ·
nological advancements can possibly be
3. What oth er tech
developed in the future?
,,,1111,,,,.
.
1
· Science Technology, and Society f11%
%,,,,,,11''$
Chapter III-· Specific
. . . _ ssues m '