Professional Documents
Culture Documents
History of Computing
The synthesis of ideas underlying the
general-purpose digital computer was
achieved by Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
A working model of a DIFFERENCE
ENGINE was produced in 1822. It was
steam powered, and calculated
mathematical tables.
Charles Babbage
Babbage then conceived an "analytical
engine" with a storage, an arithmetic unit to
perform calculations, and a punched-card
input and output.
He spent most of the rest of his life
(unsuccessfully) trying to build and perfect
the machine, which was called by many of
his contemporaries, "Babbage's folly.
COMPUTER GENERATIONS
THE FIRST COMPUTERS WERE
RESULTS OF WORLD WAR 2
DEVELOPMENTS, AIMED AT MILITARY
USES
1944 AIKEN AT HARVARD
MARK 1: FIRST ELECTROMECHANICAL
DIGITAL COMPUTER
(ELECTROMAGNETIC RELAYS -MAGNETS OPEN AND CLOSES METAL
SWITCHES).
SECOND GENERATION
USED SEMICONDUCTOR TRANSISTOR
CHIPS DEVELOPED AT BELL LABS
1955 : IBM COMPUTER WITH 2000
TRANSISTORS. BY 1959, DELIVERIES
MADE THE VACUMN TUBE
COMPUTERS OUTMODED. INCLUDED
VERY LARGE MAINFRAMES, SUCH AS
THE IBM 7090, AND SMALLER
MACHINES, SUCH AS THE IBM 1401.
THIRD GENERATION
THE DISTINCTION AMONG
SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS IS NOT
AS CLEAR AS THAT BETWEEN THE
FIRST AND SECOND GENERATION
COMPUTERS.
THIRD GENERATION IS
CHARACTERIZED BY THE ABILITY TO
SUPPORT MULTI-PROGRAMMING.
COMPUTERS THAT USE INTEGRATED
CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGIES ARE PART OF
THE THIRD GENERATION (LSI, OR
LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION).
THIRD GENERATION
AS PART OF THE THIRD GENERATION,
WE ALSO SAW THE EMERGENCE OF
MINI-COMPUTERS1968 DEC-- FIRST MINI
1972 IBM 370 SEMI-CONDUCTOR
MEMORY CHIPS
60S AND 70S PUNCH CARD & BATCH
PROCESSING STILL DOMINANT.
FOURTH GENERATION
NO GENERALLY ACCEPTED
DEFINITION OF FOURTH GENERATION.
SOME SAY IT IS THE VLSI (VERY
LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION) SUPERCOMPUTERS.
SOME SAY IT IS THE EMERGENCE OF
THE MICROCOMPUTER IN THE FORM
OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND WORK
STATIONS.
A Short History...
1974 PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
1978 Mark Rifkin- $1.2 robbery by hacking
Fedwire
1984 Whiz Kid TV show (teen hacker)
Pervasive Computing
1990s: Spread of the Internet and adoption
of the World Wide Web conventions turn
computing into a mass medium
Smaller, cheaper, faster, easier to use, and
interconnected through networks- By the end of the 20th century, computers
have become pervasive- they are
integrated into all aspects of post industrial
or information based societies
Pervasive Computing
Exercise: What are some ways that you
have directly (hands on) or indirectly
(somebody else used them for you) used
computers in the last few days??
Benefits vs. negative impacts: the example
of ATMs (source: Sara Baase, A Gift of Fire, 1997)
Unemployment
Depersonalization
Crime
Loss of Privacy
Errors
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES:
DETERMINE WHAT QUESTIONS ARE
ASKED AND WHAT POSSIBLE
PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS WILL BE
CONSIDERED
LIKE BINOCULARS: BOTH
MAGNIFIERS AND BLINDERS
Often tend to emphasize either the positive or
the negative impacts- and there are both
Examples:
John Kemeny, Man and the Computer,
1959. Kemeny invented the BASIC
language.
Joseph Weizenbaum, "Human Choices in
the Interstices of the Megamachine", in
Human Choice and Computers. MIT
computer scientist who was active in
artificial intelligence work early on, then
became an outspoken critic of the effects of
computers.
John KEMENY
SOME PEOPLE SAY THAT HUMAN
EVOLUTION HAS GONE EXTERNAL --THAT IS GENETIC, PHYSICAL CHANGES
HAVE BEEN MUCH TOO SLOW AND
PROBLEMATIC. OUR EVOLUTION NOW
OCCURS BY OUR CREATION OF AND KIND
OF SYMBIOSIS WITH EXTERNAL
TECHNOLOGY.
FOR EXAMPLE -- ENABLE US TO SURVIVE
UNDER THE SEA OR IN OUTER SPACE --- OR
TO AUGMENT OUR INTELLIGENCE.
KEMENY, 2
KEMENY WROTE THAT BY SYMBIOSIS
OF MAN WITH THE COMPUTER, WE
HAVE A KIND OF NEW SPECIES -COMPUTER AS THE PERFECT
SERVANT, AN EXTENSION AND
ENHANCEMENT OF HUMAN
INTELLECT.
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KEMENY, 3
WHATS A SYMBIOTE?TWO ORGANISMS OF
DIFFERENT KINDS LIVING IN AN
INTIMATE UNION AND TO THE
BENEFIT OF BOTH.
Kemeny envisioned computers and
humans in this kind of symbiotic
arrangement. Star Wars could
be considered a fictional version
of this vision of human-computer
interaction as symbiotic.
WIETZENBAUM, 1
The root of the feeling of powerlessness so
ubiquitous among individuals in our society,
and of the widespread alienation of people
from one another and from their work, is the
perception of ordinary people that they are
living in the interstices of a gigantic system,
what Louis Mumford called a megamachine
...now embodied by the massive deployment
of computers in increasingly many sectors of
society.
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WIETZENBAUM, 2
WHAT I HAVE TRIED T0 ARGUE IS THAT
THE INFILTRATION OF TECHNOLOGY, MOST
PARTICULARLY OF THE COMPUTER, INTO
HUMAN DECISION MAKING TENDS TO
PERVERT THE PROCESS OF HUMAN CHOICE,
TO LEAD IN THE NOT SO VERY LONG RUN
TO SURRENDER OF ONES LIFE.
WIETZENBAUM, 3
THE RESTORATION OF TRULY
HUMAN LIFE AND WITH IT OF
AUTHENTIC HUMAN CHOICE
CANNOT COME, IF AT ALL, UNTIL
THE WORLD CAN RENOUNCE ITS
FAUSTIAN BARGAIN WITH ITS
TECHNOLOGY.
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TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
SOME IMPORTANT THEMES ARE THE
SOCIAL CONTEXT THAT MEDIATES
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS, AND
THE HIGHER ORDERS OR INDIRECT
EFFECTS OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY AS
ITS USE SPREADS IN A SOCIETY.
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TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSORS CLASSIFY
IMPACTS OF A TECHNOLOGICAL
INNOVATION AS PRIMARY (OR FIRST
ORDER), SECONDARY (OR SECOND
ORDER), AND TERTIARY (THIRD AND
HIGHER ORDERS).
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
PRIMARY EFFECTS ARE INTENDED
OUTCOMES OF A NEW TECHNOLOGY
( E.G., AUTOMOBILES ARE A FASTER
MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION THAN
HORSES).
COMPUTERS IN OFFICES ARE A
FASTER AND BETTER WAY OF DOING
CLERICAL WORK (OFFICE
AUTOMATION)
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TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT,
3rd or HIGHER ORDER
TERTIARY AND HIGHER-ORDER EFFECTS
SPRING FROM THESE UNINTENDED
IMPACTS
(E.G.,LEAD-FREE GASOLINE REQUIRES MORE
ENERGY TO PRODUCE, THUS CONTRIBUTING TO
SHORTAGES).
MASSIVE JOB DISPLACEMENTS LEAD TO
RECESSION AND POLITICAL AND SOCIAL
CHANGE
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Examples of Computer
Applications and Impacts
Some applications simply improve the
efficiency of previous (non-computer)
methods (e.g., construction applicationsrobots to snake through pipes)
Others qualitatively change the nature of
what is done - e.g., the electronic jailer
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1. SYSTEMS RATIONALISTS
TYPICALLY EMPHASIZE THE POSITIVE
ROLES OF COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY...
ASSUME THAT THERE IS A CONSENSUS ON
MAJOR SOCIAL GOALS RELEVANT TO
COMPUTING USE..
PLACE EFFICIENCY, WHETHER ECONOMIC
OR ORGANIZATIONAL, AS THE
PREDOMINANT VALUE.
TYPICALLY FOCUS ON A NARROWLY
BOUNDED WORLD OF COMPUTER USE IN
WHICH THE COMPUTER USER IS A CENTRAL
ACTOR.
2. SEGMENTED
INSTITUTIONALISTS
LOOK FOR MIXED AND NEGATIVE IMPACTS
OF COMPUTERS
ASSUME THAT INTER GROUP CONFLICT IS
AS LIKELY AS CONSENSUS ON IMPORTANT
GOALS AND VALUES.
IDENTIFY AS DOMINANT VALUES THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF INDIVIDUALS AND
GROUPS OVER CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THEIR
LIVES, THE INTEGRITY OF INDIVIDUALS,
AND SOCIAL EQUITY.
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SEGMENTED
INSTITUTIONALISTS, 2
TYPICALLY IDENTIFY SETTINGS OF
COMPUTER USE AS BROAD IN SCOPE,
AND THEY ARE LIKELY TO
EMPHASIZE PARTIES OTHER THAN
THE COMPUTER USER (E.G., CLIENTS,
REGULATORS, SUPPLIERS,
COMPETITORS, OR CONTROLLERS OF
CRITICAL RESOURCES.)" (KLING, P. 65)
SEGMENTED
INSTITUTIONALISTS, 3
According to this perspective, Many
participants may accurately perceive conflicting
interests, act in accord with them, and prefer
substantially different and thoroughly
incompatible computing arrangements, or even
none at all.
THEY EMPHASIZE THE SOCIAL
PROBLEMS THAT CAN RESULT FROM
HAPHAZARD, WIDESPREAD
AUTOMATION.
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SUBCATEGORIES OF "SYSTEMS
RATIONALISTS 1 (PURE) RATIONAL
(MANAGEMENT SCIENTISTS)
OFTEN IDENTIFY THE INTERESTS OF
MANAGERS AS MORE LEGITIMATE
THAN THOSE OF THEIR
SUBORDINATES.
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SUBCATEGORIES OF
"SYSTEMS RATIONALISTS" 1.A.
(PURE) RATIONALISTS
IT IS ASSUMED THAT THE EFFECTS
OF COMPUTERS WILL BE AS
INTENDED, TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY
AND PRODUCTIVITY- PROFITS. A
"GOOD" COMPUTER SYSTEM IS ONE
THAT IS ACCURATE AND EFFICIENT.
RELATED TO "SCIENTIFIC
MANAGEMENT" OR "TAYLORISM" IN
MANAGEMENT THEORY.
B. A "STRUCTURAL" VARIANT
OF SYSTEMS RATIONALISM
INTRODUCES ASPECTS OF THE
"INFORMAL" ORGANIZATION AND
BARGAINING AMONG THE FORMAL
UNITS OF AN ORGANIZATION.
A "GOOD" COMPUTER SYSTEM IS
ONE THAT HELPS ORGANIZATIONS
ADAPT TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND
GET A BETTER HANDLE ON THE
UNCERTAINTIES.
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SEGMENTED INSTITUTIONALISTS-
2A INTERACTIONISTS
COMPUTER SYSTEMS AS A
"PACKAGE" THAT INCLUDES NOT
ONLY THE HARDWARE AND
SOFTWARE, BUT ALSO THE SKILLS OF
THE USERS, RELATIONSHIPS AMONG
THE ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS WHICH
SUPPLY AND MAINTAIN COMPUTERBASED SERVICES AND DATA, SETS OF
BELIEFS ABOUT COMPUTERS.
The social context determines the adaptation
and impacts of a computing system
2. B. THE ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS APPROACH
EMPHASIZES "THE POTENT ROLE OF AN
ORGANIZATION'S POLITICAL ORDER IN
INFLUENCING WHETHER COMPUTING IS
ADOPTED, WHICH TECHNOLOGIES WILL
BE SELECTED, HOW THEY WILL BE
DEVELOPED, AND WHOM THEY SHALL
SERVE... MANAGERS WANT COMPUTING
SYSTEMS THAT WILL INCREASE THEIR
POWER AND PRESTIGE, NOT
NECESSARILY SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE
"GOOD FOR THE ORGANIZATION AS A
WHOLE."
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