103: Media Technologies

Signal

Signal is anything that conveys information about something to someone. In the field of technology,
any thing/quantity exhibiting variation in time or variation in space (such as image) can be termed as
a signal. It includes audio, video, speech, image, communication, geographical, musical etc.

In information technology, signals are often accompanied by noise.

Noise

Noise can be defined as any undesirable random disturbance and also includes unwanted signals
conflicting with the desired signal.

Transmission and storage of information

In a communication system, a TRANSMITTER ENCODES a message to a signal, which is carried to a

receiver by the COMMUNICATION CHANNEL.

For e.g. a phone converts sound waves into an electrical voltage signal > which is then received by
the other telephone and converted into sounds.

Kinds of Signals

Analog Signals

Continuous signals for which a time varying feature is a representation of a time varying quantity.

Uses some property of the medium to convey information

Digital Signals

Continuous signal is a representation of a series of discreet values which can only take on one of a
finite number of values, such as 0 or 1 for OFF and ON respectively.

Analog technology

Analog comes from the word “analogous” which means representation. An analog watch tells you
the time with the hands that sweep around a dial. The position of the hands is a “measurement” of
the time. But the movement of the hand is representative of the passing of time. But it isn’t time. It
is a representation – in other words – it is an analogy.

Before the age of computers, every measuring instrument was analog. For e.g. electric current was
measured using a meter with a moving coil which has a little pointer moving on a dial. The same
principle was used for temperature, weighing machines and speedometers.

Analog information
In the contemporary context, it simply means that we are not processing numbers electronically. For
e.g., an old style film roll is considered analog because we capture an image on a transparent film
coated with silver based chemicals which react to light. When the film is developed it is used to print
a representation of the scene you photographed. Therefore, the picture you get is an analogy of
what you wanted. Same principle applies to the recording of audio on a magnetic tape.

Digital Information

Information is stored, converted and transferred in the form of numbers, discreet values, as
discussed above. Information therefore is a stream of 1s and 0s. Digital measurements do not
involve meters or dials but show digits on an LCD screen. These are easier to read than analog ones.

Whether an analog or a digital measurement is more accurate depends on how the measurement is
made and displayed.

In most contemporary devices, Analog and Digital signal systems work together. E.g. loud speaker.

Data Storage

What is Data?

1. Facts and statistics collected together for references or analysis.

2. Quantities, characters or symbols on which operations are performed by a computer which
may be stored and transmitted in the form of electrical signals and recorded on magnetic,
optical or mechanical recording media.
3. Things known or assumed as facts, making the basis of reasoning or calculation.

Information

That which is –

 Measured
 Collected
 Reported
 Analyzed
 Visualized

Knowledge > Data (series of symbols) > Information (When symbols begin to mean something) >
Data > Knowledge

Existing information/ knowledge is represented or coded in some formsuitable for better usage or
processing.

Taking this definition,

Analog devices represent data as voltage, distance, position or any other physical quantity. Digital
devices, on the other hand, represent data as a sequence of symbols drawn from a fixed alphabet
(Binary system).
Computer programmes are a collection of data, which can be interpreted as a set of instructions.

Meta data refers to all information describing various attributes of the data. E.g. Library catalogue

Examples of Data storage media –

 DNA
 RNA
 Handwriting
 Phonographic recording
 Magnetic Tape
 Optical Disks
 Pendrives
 Hard disks
 Cloud

Electronic data storage requires electrical power to store and retrieve data.

Digital data is all the data that is stored in the form a bit stream, on a digital machine readable
medium. E.g. –

 Barcodes
 Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
 OMR sheets
 Music sheet

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