View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What were the two essential elements of Shannon's simple communication model?

2. What was provided in "A Table Alphabeticall"?

3. How was "A Table Alphabeticall" intended to help people?

4. How were phonetic sounds represented in language?

5. What culture grouped characters in categories such as tools, weapons, plants, animals, and buildings?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who first at the concept of "bandwith" and in what context was it first conceived?

2. While working on plans for this "analytical engine," Babbage struck an acquaintance with what young woman?

3. In modern times, what innovation has had the most impact on language?

4. What technological breakthrough resulted from Claude Shannon's theories and work?

5. While Shannon worked on secret cryptography projects for the US government during World War II, what theory about information did he conceive?

6. Who developed the Principia Mathematica and what did it provide?

7. Who invented the "first" telegraph?

8. What culture developed the earliest known method of writing language with the use of pictures to represent things?

9. How was the "telephone number" born?

10. What was the purpose behind the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe Norbert Weiner's views on the work and theories of Claude Shannon. Explain the circumstances under which Weiner coined the phrase "cybernetics". What was George Miller's observation on the capacity for the human mind to retain information?

Essay Topic 2

What is a meme? What is the role of a meme? What are some examples of memes?

Essay Topic 3

What were the views of Rolf Landauer and John von Neumann on the energy cost of information processing? How was von Neuman's theory disproved and by whom?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 663 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample