B C, Before Computers

B C, Before Computers PDF Author: Stephen Robertson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The idea that the digital age has revolutionized our day-to-day experience of the world is nothing new, and has been amply recognized by cultural historians. In contrast, Stephen Robertson's BC: Before Computers is a work which questions the idea that the mid-twentieth century saw a single moment of rupture. It is about all the things that we had to learn, invent, and understand - all the ways we had to evolve our thinking - before we could enter the information technology revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. Its focus ranges from the beginnings of data processing, right back to such originary forms of human technology as the development of writing systems, gathering a whole history of revolutionary moments in the development of information technologies into a single, although not linear narrative. Treading the line between philosophy and technical history, Robertson draws on his extensive technical knowledge to produce a text which is both thought-provoking and accessible to a wide range of readers. The book is wide in scope, exploring the development of technologies in such diverse areas as cryptography, visual art and music, and the postal system. Through all this, it does not simply aim to tell the story of computer developments but to show that those developments rely on a long history of humans creating technologies for increasingly sophisticated methods of manipulating information. Through a clear structure and engaging style, it brings together a wealth of informative and conceptual explorations into the history of human technologies, and avoids assumptions about any prior knowledge on the part of the reader. As such the expert and the general reader alike will find it of interest.

B C, Before Computers

B C, Before Computers PDF Author: Stephen Robertson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The idea that the digital age has revolutionized our day-to-day experience of the world is nothing new, and has been amply recognized by cultural historians. In contrast, Stephen Robertson's BC: Before Computers is a work which questions the idea that the mid-twentieth century saw a single moment of rupture. It is about all the things that we had to learn, invent, and understand - all the ways we had to evolve our thinking - before we could enter the information technology revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. Its focus ranges from the beginnings of data processing, right back to such originary forms of human technology as the development of writing systems, gathering a whole history of revolutionary moments in the development of information technologies into a single, although not linear narrative. Treading the line between philosophy and technical history, Robertson draws on his extensive technical knowledge to produce a text which is both thought-provoking and accessible to a wide range of readers. The book is wide in scope, exploring the development of technologies in such diverse areas as cryptography, visual art and music, and the postal system. Through all this, it does not simply aim to tell the story of computer developments but to show that those developments rely on a long history of humans creating technologies for increasingly sophisticated methods of manipulating information. Through a clear structure and engaging style, it brings together a wealth of informative and conceptual explorations into the history of human technologies, and avoids assumptions about any prior knowledge on the part of the reader. As such the expert and the general reader alike will find it of interest.

Writing Computer and Information History

Writing Computer and Information History PDF Author: William Aspray
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 153818382X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 515

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is not a book about the history of computing or the history of information. Instead, it is a meta-historical book about the research and writing of these types of history. The formal presentation of historical research in the form of a publication often hides the process by which the topic was selected, boundaries were drawn, evidence was selected, analytic approach was chosen and applied, results were presented, how this work fits into a larger body of scholarship, the implicit goals and biases of the author, and many other similar issues. This process of learning about the various ways to carry out computer history or information history can be enriched by this collection of reflective essays by experienced scholars, discussing the craft that they practice. This is a book that concerns both computer history and information history. The first scholarship in computer history by professionally trained scholars began to appear in the 1970s, so we are approaching a half century of research and publication in this area. The field has generated numerous pieces of exemplary scholarship from various perspectives such as intellectual history of individual technologies, business histories of firms, economic histories of market sectors, externalist histories of funding and professionalization, and so on. However, the field continues to evolve, especially as computing and communication technologies have drawn together in the form of the Internet and social media; and with them a new set of scholars is participating, drawn not only from the history of science and technology, but also from the communication and media studies fields. Powerful theories, approaches, and frameworks are being increasingly drawn more widely from both the humanities and the social sciences to inform the practice of computer history. The scholars in this volume look at what’s happened, what’s happening now, and where historical scholarship in these disciplines is headed.

Computer

Computer PDF Author: MARTIN. CAMPBELL-KELLY
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780367097509
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description


Writing History in the Digital Age

Writing History in the Digital Age PDF Author: Jack Dougherty
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0472029916
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book Here

Book Description
Writing History in the Digital Age began as a “what-if” experiment by posing a question: How have Internet technologies influenced how historians think, teach, author, and publish? To illustrate their answer, the contributors agreed to share the stages of their book-in-progress as it was constructed on the public web. To facilitate this innovative volume, editors Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki designed a born-digital, open-access, and open peer review process to capture commentary from appointed experts and general readers. A customized WordPress plug-in allowed audiences to add page- and paragraph-level comments to the manuscript, transforming it into a socially networked text. The initial six-week proposal phase generated over 250 comments, and the subsequent eight-week public review of full drafts drew 942 additional comments from readers across different parts of the globe. The finished product now presents 20 essays from a wide array of notable scholars, each examining (and then breaking apart and reexamining) if and how digital and emergent technologies have changed the historical profession.

ENIAC in Action

ENIAC in Action PDF Author: Thomas Haigh
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262033984
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work explores the conception, design, construction, use, and afterlife of ENIAC, the first general purpose digital electronic computer.

Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education, 1979-1994

Computers and the Teaching of Writing in American Higher Education, 1979-1994 PDF Author: Gail E. Hawisher
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is a history composed of histories. Its particular focus is the way in which computers entered and changed the field of composition studies, a field that defines itself both as a research community and as a community of teachers. This may have a somewhat sinister suggestion that technology alone has agency, but this history (made of histories) is not principally about computers. It is about people-the teachers and scholars who have adapted the computer to their personal and professional purposes. From the authors' perspectives, change in technology drives changes in the ways we live and work, and we, agents to a degree in control of our own lives, use technology to achieve our human purposes. REVIEW: . . . This book reminds those of us now using computers to teach writing where we have been, and it brings those who are just entering the field up to date. More important, it will inform administrators, curriculum specialists, and others responsible for implementing the future uses of technology in writing instruction. - Computers and Composition

Computers, Visualization, and History

Computers, Visualization, and History PDF Author: David J Staley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317507401
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
This visionary and thoroughly accessible book examines how digital environments and virtual reality have altered the ways historians think and communicate ideas and how the new language of visualization transforms our understanding of the past. Drawing on familiar graphic models--maps, flow charts, museum displays, films--the author shows how images can often convey ideas and information more efficiently and accurately than words. With emerging digital technology, these images will become more sophisticated, manipulable, and multidimensional, and provide historians with new tools and environments to construct historical narratives. Moving beyond the traditional book based on linear narrative, digital scholarship based on visualization and hypertext will offer multiple perspectives, dimensions, and experiences that transform the ways historians work and people imagine and learn about history. This second edition of Computers, Visualization, and History features expanded coverage of such topics as sequential narratives, 3-D modeling, simulation, and video games, as well as our theoretical understanding of space and immersive experience. The author has also added "Guidelines for Visual Composition in History" for history and social studies teachers who wish to use technology for student assignments. Also new to the second edition is a web link feature that users of the digital edition can use to enhance visualization within the text.

British Qualifications

British Qualifications PDF Author: Kogan Page
Publisher: Kogan Page Publishers
ISBN: 9780749444839
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1170

Get Book Here

Book Description
The field of professional, academic and vocational qualifications is ever-changing. The new edition of this highly successful and practical guide provides thorough information on all developments. Fully indexed, it includes details on all university awards and over 200 career fields, their professional and accrediting bodies, levels of membership and qualifications. It acts as an one-stop guide for careers advisors, students and parents, and will also enable human resource managers to verify the qualifications of potential employees.

A Companion to Digital Humanities

A Companion to Digital Humanities PDF Author: Susan Schreibman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405168064
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 642

Get Book Here

Book Description
This Companion offers a thorough, concise overview of the emerging field of humanities computing. Contains 37 original articles written by leaders in the field. Addresses the central concerns shared by those interested in the subject. Major sections focus on the experience of particular disciplines in applying computational methods to research problems; the basic principles of humanities computing; specific applications and methods; and production, dissemination and archiving. Accompanied by a website featuring supplementary materials, standard readings in the field and essays to be included in future editions of the Companion.

Language and Learning in the Digital Age

Language and Learning in the Digital Age PDF Author: James Paul Gee
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136825665
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Language and Learning in the Digital Age, linguist James Paul Gee and educator Elisabeth Hayes deal with the forces unleashed by today’s digital media, forces that are transforming language and learning for good and ill. They argue that the role of oral language is almost always entirely misunderstood in debates about digital media. Like the earlier inventions of writing and print, digital media actually power up or enhance the powers of oral language. Gee and Hayes deal, as well, with current digital transformations of language and literacy in the context of a growing crisis in traditional schooling in developed countries. With the advent of new forms of digital media, children are increasingly drawn towards video games, social media, and alternative ways of learning. Gee and Hayes explore the way in which these alternative methods of learning can be a force for a paradigm change in schooling. This is an engaging, accessible read both for undergraduate and graduate students and for scholars in language, linguistics, education, media and communication studies.