1. Communication Technology Test Notes (updated)
By: J. D.
Part 1: Definitions:
Communication: An exchange of information and messages.
Technology: An extension of our natural processes.
Writing: A system of graphic symbols that can be used to convey any and all thought.
The Universal Communications Model:
Message  Sender  Mode of Transmission  Receiver  Feedback
Moveable Type Printing: Letters are individually arranged to make a page of text in
order to print multiple copies that are identical.
Gutenberg: Invented the printing press in 1439
Typeface: A set of characters that share a common design.
Part 2: Inventions:
Invention: Writing
How it Works:
- Symbols represent sounds instead of pictures
- Allows us to record huge amounts of information
o Governments, laws and economy
o Religion
How it Changed Society:
- 1000-1400 Middle Ages
- The Catholic Church controlled the population because they controlled
information
- A Scribe: a person who can read and write and worked for the church

2. Invention: Printing Press:
How it Works:
- Printing press  wooden frame
o Bar  pull bar towards you
o Make the wooden screw push down
o The “type” is inked and the pressure makes a stamp on the paper
- Moveable type  letters can be moved around to make different words
How it Changed Society:
- Education and literacy became widespread
o People learned to read
- Stopped the monopoly of the church
o People stopped relying on the church for information
- First example of mass production in humanity
- Caused the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution
- Dictionaries, maps, encyclopedias, math textbooks, index and newspapers
- Freedom of expression (freedom of thought from the church)
Invention: The Telegraph:
How it Works:
- Using electricity
- Communicates a message by wire using electricity and Morse Code
How it Changed Society:
- Messages traveled faster than a messenger/person
- Transmission instead of transportation
- Created time zones
- Made standard market prices
- Western union controlled the telegraph
- First binary code
- Wired world
Invention: Telephone
How it Works:
- Transmits speech electronically
- By improving the telegraph it can send speech through wires using electricity

3. How it Changed Society:
- It was patented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1875
- Replaced the telegraph
- Speeds up business
- 1970- Motorola developed the cell phone
- Now we use digital cell phones that combine different kinds of com tech:
o Phone  Camera  Internet  MP3
Invention: Phonograph (Record Player)
How it Works:
- Trying to improve the telegraph and telephone
- Attach a needle to the diaphragm  part of the telephone that vibrates when
voice hits it.
- The needle moves up and down based off the vibrations of the voice or music
making indents in a piece of paper  how to record music or speech
How it Changed Society:
- Invented by Thomas Edison in 1877
- The beginning of the recording industry
Invention: Radio:
How it Works:
- Sends information on carrier waves
- Carrier wave: an electromagnetic wave (energy) that can send speech, sound,
pictures and other info invisibly through the air
- Radio developed based on the telegraph and telephone
Steps:
1) Speak into a microphone
2) Microphone converts your voice into an electric signal
3) Electrical signal gets sent up an antenna and power is added
4) After power is added it gets sent out to the world
5) Once the wave hits the antenna your radio converts the wave back to an
electric signal
6) The amplifier in your radio converts the electrical signal back into sound
waves
How it Changed Society:
- Was invented by Marconi in 1895  Italian

4. - Made radio telegraph
- Fessenden, Canadian, invented the am radio
- Every family bought a radio for their living room
- Radio made it possible for news, sports and events to be heard as they
happened