Monthly Archives: April 2017

Written Communication in the Chinese Civilization

Bornak, Tyler M., CIS270WX-01

Help Received: www.citationmachien.net for help with citing, check references

Introduction

There have been many great civilizations to grace the world; such greats as the Romans and more recently in history, America. What makes a civilization “great”? While it can be argued that there are many factors that make a civilization great, there is one defining factor that all the “great” civilizations possess: a writing system, no matter how basic. A written system is defined as “a set of visible tactile signs or units of language in a systemic way. There are many different types of writing systems: Proto-writing, Phonetic system, True-writing, and Alphabet writing. The Chinese used proto-writing and continue to use this system today. With this system, the Chinese progressed their civilization and in turn, their language system progressed. First, the history of the Chinese writing system.

History of the System

The origin of the Chinese writing system is said to have been evolved from earlier non-linguistic symbolic systems in the latter half of the 3^rd millennium BCE. These symbols or “pictograms” were used on pottery and jades. They mainly represented family or clan emblems that identified ownership. Through these, the symbols evolved to represent not objects but instead the words of the objects. This stage of evolution, known as Jiaguwen or Oracle Bone Script, began around the time of the Shang Dynasty (18^th-12^th century B.C) and derived from the practice of divination. By 1400 B.C, the script included around 2,500 to 3,000 characters, which can still be translated today due to its similarities to the present form of Chinese writing. From there, a phonographic principle was thought to be the next evolutionary step of the Chinese writing system. This led to the next stage in writing evolution known as Dazhuan or Greater Seal. This was similar to Jiaguwen but differed in writing aesthetic. This gave way to Xiaozhuan, or Lesser Seal. Xiaozhuan was les “pictographic”. Finally, a stage that involved graphs that pictured an object that borrowed from other words that sounded similar in order to write a different word. Because many words could be read in one way, this system would be extremely ambiguous. To solve this problem, around 213 B.C they developed the system known as Lishu or Clerkly Script, so that another graph was added to a symbol/graph to give the reader a clue to the meaning of the word intended. This made for faster and more efficient writing. This divided characters into six types, the most common of which is Xingsheng. This type combines a semantic element with a phonetic element to remind the reader of the word’s pronunciation. Another type of character is Xiangxing. These characters were pictographs that represent whole words. Next is Huiyi, which are characters formed by a combination of elements that are logically associated. Zhuanzhu is a type of character that uses modifications or distortions of characters to form new characters. Zhishi characters symbolize logical or abstract elements. Finally, jiajie characters borrowed their form from other words of different meaning but similar pronunciation. With the writing system being so complex today, the Chinese use of technology needed to evolve with the system to make this possible. As such, this technology advancement allowed for the Chinese writing system to have a great impact on Chinese society.

How Technology Advanced the System and Impact on Society

Originally, writing began with the use of Oracle Bones. The shoulder blades of oxen or the plastrons of turtle were scraped and cleaned, then inscribed with marks. The ancient Chinese were obsessed with knowing the future, so they would go to what we today would call a “psychic” or “medium”. The “psychic” would then carve the person’s question into the bone and place it into a fire. When the bone cracks, the lines formed would answer the person’s question. From there, the Dazhuan era of writing occurred. During this era, the Chinese would use bronze or wood to put their writing on. When the Lishu era came to fruition, the clerks for the government would use bamboo scrolls tied together with strings. Paper was not invented until around 105 C.E. The writing system would go un-altered again until 1949. It was at this time that Mao Tse Tung and the People’ Republic of China introduced Jiantizi. This was an overly-simplified version of the system as many characters in the Chinese language were given “simplified” forms.

The system of writing the Chinese used impacted their society on multiple fronts. Once the Chinese established a form of writing, printing technology was the catalyst for the impact it made. Printing developed from engraving on stones and metals. This led to the development of woodblock printing around 700 C.E. Around the time of the Song Dynasty (c. 960 C.E), publishing became common and was widely practiced. Government offices, schools, monasteries, families and bookshops all participated. This spread of language led to an explosion of culture and transformed society. Because the language system became standardized, publishing was not affected by regional dialects. This led to an increase in education.

Conclusion

The Chinese writing system has been essential to their culture becoming one of the greats. Beginning in ancient times, with the use of Oracle Bones and a pictographic writing system, to a full-fledged “alphabet” (that term being used loosely) containing multiple forms of writing styles and characters. This would not have been possible if not for the advancement in technology that allowed for them to adapt their writing styles so many times. The advancement of the printing press technology was the instrument in which the Chinese language could make an impact on their society.

References

[1]     Anon. “Chinese Writing.” Ancient History Encyclopaedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

[2]     Anon. “In the Classroom: Ancient Chinese Communication.” In the Classroom: Ancient Chinese Communication. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

[3]     Olson, David R. “Chinese writing.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 01 Feb. 2017.

[4]     Anon. “Writing and Technology in China.” Asia Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2017.

Americans and the Airplane

Bornak, Tyler M., CIS270WX-01

Help Received: www.citationmachine.net for help with citing, check references

1.1 Introduction

Since the beginning of mankind, humans have always questioned their origins. Often they would look to the sky and ponder what answers lie there. As technology progressed throughout history, man never thought that flight or aerial travel was ever possible, often seeing such things as “magic”. However, during the early 19^th century mankind took its first steps into the air with the creation of the airplane. This advancement would later lead to greater advancements, ultimately allowing mankind to go further than the skies – to the stars. The United States of America was one of the world’s first innovators in the creation of the airplane and as such, was the first one to greatly benefit from the technology. With the airplane, Americans were able to advance communication and more importantly secure their seat at the world table as one of the most powerful countries in the world.

1.2 History of the Technology

Before the airplane, other great inventors and innovators of the world attempted to go to the skies. Flight was first realized with a hot air balloon in 1783. It was great for sightseeing but not effective for travel as there was no way for the pilot to control where the balloon went. After, Sir George Cayel created the first glider but this again was ineffective, as the pilot could not control where the craft went. It was then on December 17, 1903 that Orville and Wilbur Wright had successfully created the first airplane that flew 120 feet and lasted 12 seconds. The first scheduled air service began in Florida in 1914.

Figure 1: Wright brothers with their first airplane design at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

Taking from the Wright brothers’ design, Glen Curtiss had designed a plane that could take off and land on water. As such, it could be built larger than any plane to date. World War I caused great enhancements to the airplane technology due to demands in increments in efficiency, speed, altitude capability, and manoeuvrability. An important distinction for this era for the technology was that commercial aviation was pushed aside in lieu of military efficiency. Towards the end of the war, the United States government felt that airplane technology progressed enough to the point that airliner could be used to transport mail. Shortly after, Boeing built the first modern passenger airliner in 1933. This bore the age of modern airliner transportation. Airplane technology would continue to develop until a breakthrough happened in 1930. British pilot Frank Whittle designed the first jet engine. He improved his design and in 1942, shipped an engine prototype to General Electric in the United States. America’s first jet plane would be built the following year. This led to an era of jet planes.

1.3 Impact of Airplanes

Airplanes were perhaps the most useful transportation technology ever created by the United States for various reasons. The most obvious reason is that it made transportation to and from places easier and more efficient – people could go farther, faster. But airplanes had other impacts on American society. Contending with railroads as a transportation method, the U.S. government saw fit to use airlines to transport mail. The need for faster mail delivery caused Congress to pay for an experimental mail service conducted jointly by the Army and the United States Post Office between Washington and New York. The USPS wanted to eventually go to a transcontinental air service and they did with 22 hours being shaved off coast-to-coast deliveries. Economically, the airplane allowed for companies such as United Airlines and Boeing to come to fruition by creating what we would consider modern day airliners. Perhaps the greatest impact airplanes played in America is militarily. Planes were first used in World War I to great effect causing much death. World War II followed with even greater efficiency and the creation of the first jet engine. The Nazi war machine was advancing their technology and began using jet engines to combat Allied fighters. The Allies, needing to compete, then developed jet engines. Once the jet engine was created, this led to modern day jet fighters such as the F-35.

Figure 2: F-35 Jet Fighter in the sky

People impacted the airplane as well. With its creation, humans saw a new world open: the skies. This led to a whole new era of innovation. However, the single greatest cause for humans impact on the skies and the airplane is war. Humans innate thirst for violence and war is the leading factor in the change in airplane technology – so they could kill better.

1.4 Conclusion

It could be argued that the airplane was the greatest innovation of the 20^th century. Starting with the Wright brothers in the early 1900s, airplanes would go on to make great improvements in the United States’ economy, military, and commercial transportation systems. By improving convenience and efficiency in getting around the country, the airplane opened the skies to mail transportation and for communication for the military. War was the greatest factor in the airplanes technological history. World War I and World War II called for greater killing machines, both on the ground and in the sky. Once these conflicts were over, humans saw better use for the airplane economically with mail transportation and human transportation.

References

[1]     Anon. “Airplane Timeline – Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century.” Airplane Timeline – Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

[2]     Anon. “First airplane flies.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

[3]     Anon. “History of Aviation – First Flights.” Avjobs. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2017.

[4]     Anon. “Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company/Aviation History Wing/A History of the Airplane.” History of the Airplane. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2017.

Oogling over Google

Bornak, Tyler M., CIS270WX-01

Help Received: www.citationmachine.net for help with citing, check references

1. Introduction

There once was a time where libraries were commonplace upon academic students. There once was a time that one had to read books and use encyclopedias to find the answers they seek. If someone could not find the answers there, they would ask others. If they did not know, then the answer was unknown. Such was the way of the world until the Internet was born. A “network of networks”, the Internet connects everyone in the world with a computer. However, it was so vast that it was hard to find exactly what you were looking for. It wasn’t until Google was created that vast amounts of information became widely available and easy to find – forever changing America and then the world.

2. History of the Technology

Google wasn’t always the powerhouse IPO (Initial Public Offering) we know it as today. Two Stanford students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, started Google in 1995. They then began the idea of looking at the link structure of the World Wide Web. They discovered that it isn’t trivial to discover links back when surfing from one page to another. They wanted to know who was linking to whom. The reason for this can be explained in terms of academia. Take writing a research paper for example- the paper comes to a conclusion and cites other authors and works to futher support their argument. Page wanted to make the World Wide Web exactly that i.e. you can see who cites whom and therefore more easily find what you are looking for. So, they then created a search engine called BackRub. BackRub gave you a list of backlinks ranked by importance when you typed in a URL. Shortly after, Brin and Page changed BackRub to PageRank and made it so that you could search by words. This would search only the words in page titles and applied PageRank to sort the results by relavance. Already being vastly superior to other search engines at the time such as AltaVista and Excite, it became a hit. They then renamed the engine Google, after the mathematical term “googol”. They released the first version of Google on the Stanford website in August 1996. Two years later, a Silicon Valley investor Andy Bechtolsheim incested $100,000 into their project and efforts and thus Google Inc. was created.

3 How Google Works

Google navigates the web by crawling. This means the search engine employs special software robots called spiders to build lists of the words found on websites. The process of building this list is called web crawling. The “spider” begins with popular sites and indexing words on its pages. It follows every link found within the site. Google itself usually uses 3 spiders or more at one time. Each spider keeps about 300 connections. At peak performance, Google (using 4 spiders) could crawl over 100 pages per second generating 600 kilobytes of data each second. Once the spiders have completed the task of finding information on Web pages, the search engine must store the information. There are two key components to making information accessible to users: 1. The information stored with the data and 2. The method by which the information is indexed. Instead of just indexing the word and the URL, Google might store the number of times that word apears on a page. The data is then encoded to save storage space. Once compacted, the information is ready for indexing. The purpose of an index is to allow information to be found quickly. The Index is built using a hash table. A formula is applied to attach a numerical value to each word. Searching through an index invloves a user building a query and submitting through the engine. A query can be a single word at minmum (whatever it is that you want to know or search) but to make it more efective, Boolean operators such as AND, OR, NEAR, etc. can be used to refine the search to be more effective. These searches are literal searches i.e. the engine looks for the owrds or phrases exactly as they are entered. However, most people in the world would agree that when searching for something on Google, it is typed as a question to a human rather than to a machine. This is called a natural language query.

4. Impact of Google

It is no surprise or denying that Google is one of the most powerful inventions/tools of our lifetime. With the stroke of a few keys and a click of a mouse, almost any information can be unearthed in seconds. But some research suggests that the Internet is being used as a personal memory bank for information. This is known as the “Google effect”. This evidence is based on a series of four different experiments that were carried out by Betsy Sparrow and her colleagues at Columbia University. According to their experiments, people are more likely to loko for information on the Internet and remember where they found it, not the information itself. Also, they found that information that was not easily accessible on Google/the Internet was remembered more easily. Other negative impacts of Google include diminishing our critical thinking skills and injuring human emotion. Google allows people to focus on practical or useful knowledge instead of useful knowledge, which requires decision-making and human intelligence. The biggest impact of Google is the result of humans losing their ability to empathize. For example, humans feel no empathy after witnessing tragic events because the Internet takes responsibility on disciplining viewers to accept this as aform of mass entertainment for the public.

The postive impacts of Google and using search engines far outweigh the negative. The most common and perhaps most obvious postive impact is the ability to access information instantly at anytime. This is useful for research and academic use, allowing for authors and researchers to corroborate their ideas with other like-minded individuals, thus helping them form their own ideas and thesis. Google also allows us to multi-task and sort through useful information and information that is not releavant to what is required. Though these don’t seem like they outweigh the negative impacts, the latter factors themselves are hugely important in that they are what is responsible for the identity of this generation. Today’s world is able to ask anything, find any information, and be more consciously aware of other factors in the world that previous generations were not as privy to. An impact that is specific to the country of origin (USA) is that Google became one of the biggest and wealthiest companies in the country, ushering in new economic growth.

5. People’s Impact on Google

            People themselves did not have much impact on Google directly. The idea, starting from two bright-minded individuals, was created in the first place to make people’s lives easier when using the Internet – connect billions of pieces of information together. The need for simplicity, convenience and knowledge is what led to the idea. Investors played a huge role with Google and still do today. Had it not been for the investments early on, the creators of Google could not have started their company, which today has a net worth of around $350 billion.

6. Conclusion

Google is the 21^st century lightbulb – revolutionary. Creators Lawrence Page and Sergey Brin wanted to create something that would allow people to find the information they wanted quickly and efficiently. By challenging the software norms of the time, they were able to create a search engine that was more efficient than their competition. This allowed for the creation of the Google search engine and company. From there, they became on of America’s wealthiest and most powerful companies allowing new economic growth and opportuniteis for the country. Despite some of the negative impacts of Google such as the “Google effect” and possible desensitization of human beings, Google remains the one of the greatest tools this world has to offer.

References

[1]     Anon. “Google Net Worth.” Richest Celebrities. N.p., 17 Feb. 2017. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[2]     Battelle, John. “The Birth of Google.” Wired. Conde Nast, 01 Aug. 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[3]     “How Internet Search Engines Work.” HowStuffWorks. N.p., 27 Sept. 2000. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[4]     “How Search Works – The Story – Inside Search – Google.” Google. Google, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[5]     “How we started and where we are today.” Google. Google, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[6]     “Impact on Society – The Foundation of Google.” Google Sites. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[7]     Latham, Tyger, Dr. “The Google Effect.” Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 16 July 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2017.

[8]       Rivera, Miriam. “How Google Has Changed the World.” Entrepreneur. N.p., 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 19 Apr. 2017