The article we are going to analyze is called The Information. It is written by James Gleick. It becomes obvious from the title, that the article centers around information, its importance and history of its triumphant march. It is quite clear why the author decided to devote his article to this issue. Information now becomes the integral part of contemporary society. We obtain a great number of facts every day. Our age can be easily called the epoch of digital technologies and it is impossible to imagine our everyday life without big streams of data which we obtain every moment. However, the process of development of these technologies did not take a good deal of time. Humanity managed to develop ways of conveying information in very short terms. Even fifty years ago it was impossible to imagine the level of development of digital technologies we have today. That is why the authors choice seems rather obvious.
Describing importance of information nowadays, he just shares his astonishment with readers. Moreover, historical facts about development of informational sphere of science and society make him sound more concrete and convincing. It is clear, that the author belongs to modern age, where information is a special kind of driving force for all processes. It goes without saying, that its significance grew along with increase of informations availability. Nowadays, information is a power which can destroy states or people, create some new powerful organizations or unite men around some actual problem. That is why, it is possible to suggest, that the author is inspired by significance of this notion in modern world and he just wants to try to trace its roots and share his thoughts, impressions and conclusions with readers in order to make them think about blistering development of informational sphere. With this in mind, it is possible to analyze the whole article, trying to understand the main idea of the author.
The main idea of this article becomes obvious from the first lines of the work. The author wants to underline significance of inventions in sphere of information and show readers how quickly they have become an integral part of our life. The authors phrase “The bit now joined the inch, the pound, the quart, and the minute as a determinate quantity — a fundamental unit of measure” (Gleick para. 4) can be recognized as a thesis statement for the whole work. Placing the bit in the same row with other units of measurement which people use every day in their conversation or life, the author underlines the idea that the bit has easily become the same important part of our life as the previous units of measurement. The only difference is, that it has done it faster than rest of them. The article is full of historical facts and some other descriptions of the process of development of this sphere of our life.
The authors point that information is one of the most important parts of our life is being proved throughout the whole article. He outlines the idea of all-pervading character of information, stating the fact that it constantly surrounds us and our attempts to investigate it, understand its nature and convey data will lead to further understanding of its complicated character and development of some new ways of its conveying and recording. The article is very informative and it shows the authors mood very clear, making the reader to understand his point of view from the first lines and then follow the authors cogitations in order to see his thoughts and conclusions and understand whether they coincide with their own impressions. Moreover, a reader becomes involved in the process of the authors cogitations, trying to follow his chain of thoughts. Thesis statement of the article can be constantly seen throughout the whole work and it is very easy to remember what is the main point and idea of the text.
The article is easy to follow and believe as it is supported by clear and understandable evidences which serve to prove the information and thesis given by the author. All historical retrospectives which the author makes in order to prove his point are very important. He is describing in details the way the bit was introduced and created. Having read such detailed description, it becomes obvious that it is one of the main points in the history of development of information technologies. The manner of presentation of this information also promotes creation of reliable image of the data given. The author underlines importance of creation of such measuring unit as the bit, repeating several times its great significance. Moreover, he gives good evidences of its importance, stating the fact that the whole world which surrounds us is a stream of data and it is vital for us to start to understand and collect it. The author underlines great significance of invention of the bit saying “It is hard to picture the world before Shannon as it seemed to those who lived in it. It is difficult to recover innocence, ignorance, and lack of understanding” (Gleick para. 4). With this in mind, it is possible to say that he manages to provide good evidences to support his idea about the bit becoming an integral part of our life as nowadays, it is impossible to imagine people without a device which can guarantee them immediate access to some informational field. Having read this article, it becomes obvious that availability of information became possible due to blistering development of this sphere of science.
Another interesting evidence the author gives to demonstrate a great importance of development of information technologies, is their great significance for economy. Money has always been a special kind of information, especially nowadays when people created credit cards and a lot of other digital means of payment. Atoms and our body are also given as a good evidence of importance of information in modern world.
Having read this article, it is possible to realize the main authors idea and his main thoughts about this problem. It is possible to say, that the author managed to create well organized, interesting and very informative article which is trying to underline a great importance of creation of such unit of measurement as the bit and importance of information in the whole. There is a great number of different historical facts about stages of development of information technologies and the way we convey them. They serve as a good evidence for the author’s thesis and are really interesting for readers as they give an ability to trace the whole way these devices have passed to obtain their modern functions and to realize how fast was this development and how fast they continue to develop, as we are living in constantly changing world. The only drawback of this article is, that the author does not contribute something new to study of communication, just repeating well known facts of a great significance of information in the age of digital revolution. However, with this in mind, it is possible to say that this article is important for study of communication as it suggests a lot of retrospectives for people which are not involved in this issue to understand it better. Moreover, it is very convincing and easy to read and understand. The reader believes the author from the first lines. His thesis seems to be very clear and logic and that is why it is easy to follow it while reading the article.
Moreover, very important is the fact the author gives evidences from different spheres of our life which make his statement even more reliable and significant, convincing the readers in its rectitude. The whole image is positive, as having read the article it is possible to recommend it for further reading for people which are interested it this issue or just for men which want to get to know more information about this topic.
Having analyzed this article, it is possible to make some conclusions. First of all, it should be mentioned that this work is full of information. The author gives us different historical retrospectives and facts which are connected with the history of development of this field of knowledge. That is why it is possible to call this article very useful, especially for a certain kind of readers which are interested in history or just want to enlarge their general knowledge. However, historical facts given by the author cannot be called very specific and can be easily understood by a common reader. This fact can characterize this work from different perspectives. On the one hand, it is rather interesting and valuable for nonprofessionals which are just making their first steps in this sphere. On the other hand, it does not give new information to professionals which study this issue and devote a lot of time to its investigation. The work is written in clear and interesting way, that is why it is easy to read it and to follow the authors thoughts.
One more thing which should be mentioned is the authors way of supporting his ideas by clear evidences. He very often uses well known facts and clichés. However, in some cases the author tries to present some new and fresh ideas, underlining a great importance of information nowadays. He shows integral and all pervading character of information, cogitating about different ways of its usage. Economy, atoms, our planet and human body serve as evidences to support his thesis and show his main idea. With this in mind, it is possible to conclude that the author managed to create well planned, reliable article with clear structure, logical evidences and adjusted sequence of facts. Resting on these facts, it is possible to recommend this article for other people to read and to get some new information. It will enlarge their knowledge in this field and promote development of an outlook and increase of interest to this sphere.
Works Cited
Gleick, James. “The Information”. The New York Times. 2011. Web.