Let’s get back to beginning of Computing. In 1822, Charles Babbage started to build “differential engine”, made to compute values of polynomial functions. Unlike similar efforts of the time, his machine was created to calculate a series of values automatically. First engine was very complicated (about 25,000 parts), very heavy (13 tons) and very high (2.4 m). It was never completed, desipite funding. Later, he designed an improved version, “Difference Engine No. 2″, which was not constructed until 1989-1991 using Babbage’s plans and 19th century manufacturing tolerances. This machine stood in Science Museum in London.

Later in 1937, Alan Turing, described a “Turing machine”, which, despite simplicity, can be adapted to simulate the logic of any computer algorithm. A Turing machine, able to simulate any other Turing machine, called Universal Turing Machine was used by John von Neumann to describe a design model for a stored-program digital computer, called von Neuman architecture, that uses a single separate storage to hold both program and data, and it’s widely used for modern sequential computers.

Inspite all the glory, attributed to modern technologies, improvements in the outerworld doesn’t eliminated hunger in the world and wars. Contrary, modern techologies of outer sciences made war more accurate. Few hundred years ago people were fighting with bows and arrows, during II World War they used tanks and rockets, now they can use artifical intelligence weaponry, which may hit in a black night with a precision up to meters. Why prise technological development on such extense? Moreover, usage of informational technologies makes business more controlled, which allows goods to be distributed selectively, despite humans needs, but according to economic rules, which were also “developed” by faulty humans. This nonsense allows for extensive abuse of human resources in a scale, which I will not write here. Am I right?

What, then, have to offer ancient traditions and knowledge of inner science, the science of feelings, of human emotions and relations with themselves, others, nature and god? Is this knowledge irrelevant? Or maybe it is forgotten or pushed aside? Can understanding of our own self, our emotions, our true needs be a solution for, written above, disasters? Let’s face it, there is no real fun, as saled widely by advertisement, when others are suffering. Moreover, no one can feel good, when others are suffering, unless he or she stays in love. You can feel it in your heart.

Let’s move forward into Indian knowledge of Yoga, written by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. I will write following chapters during reading, adding comments on modern computer science.

I.1 Now, the teachings of Yoga.

Once again, I am going to defer my post which I have lined up regarding the Radio project for the Industrial Design module, and post that next week when I am finished it completely and pretty much when it is handed in, so I should have a couple of videos of the radio working and some proper photographs of it along with some work-in-progress shots.

Again, because I have made myself actively think about something else to write about for the second week in a row, it isn’t necessarily going to relate to design directly, but in my first post, I do recall saying that they weren’t all going to.

After the reasonably successful topic of IKEA last week, I say reasonably because I spent a while talking about IKEA to a friend for a good while just because of the post, I thought I would try and use the same technique to come up with something to write about, but because it is nearing the end of the semester and work is nearing an end, my desk is covered in things relating to the radio project so I’m going to have to properly think this time, and what have I come up with? Something to do with encouragement and motivation.

We all need it to keep going with what we are doing, that’s obvious, but think, just for a minute, when was the last time you gave someone encouragement, gave someone that all important push forward that they were looking for, but didn’t want to openly admit they wanted. Once you’ve done that, think about who it was you gave it to. Is there any link between that person, how close you are with them and the amount of encouragement you gave them? There probably is, but you didn’t even realise it. Now you’re wondering who the last person to give you encouragement was and your relationship with them aren’t you? Yeah, probably.

Right, that’s the philosophical bit out of the way, now the linky designy bitty. Designers are basically modern day inventors. The people who effectively helped to push the human race from living in caves to where we are now (in essence yes, I am keeping in mind the explorers, the doctors etc who have also made leaps and bounds in quality of life). There is one thing which all designers (and explorers, doctors etc) have, which makes them do what they do. The motivation to keep going, push the edges of the envelope, go the extra mile, never give up, and ultimately, help people. Well that is what I think anyway.

Just try to think where we would be now if it wasn’t for John Logie Baird not keeping motivated whilst inventing the television (or if you believe otherwise, Philo T Farnsworth), Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquering Everest, or Alexander Flemming discovering Penicillin. Carl Benz with his horseless carriage. William Murdoch and the steam train. Charles Babbage and the difference engine.

Honestly, I don’t think we would have moved far to far forward from the early Victorians, just before the Industrial Revolution. Yes there were people who didn’t think that, what the inventors, explorers, scientists, I mentioned was possible. In fact, in many cases, the majority of the people was probably against them, unwilling to accept what the future would behold. But there were some people, even if just one, who could see it too, see the same vision. And it is this, this encouragement, which gives the motivation to keep going which makes the world go round.

Ending on a similar note to that which I ended my post about sketchbooks. Give someone some encouragement, even if it is quite small, and it could in turn, end up changing the world.

Hoy no es 24 de Marzo, pero no quiero que se me pase anotar en mi cuaderno de bitácora la contribución de esta mujer a la tecnología. 

Hija de Lord Byron, cursó estudios de matemáticas y ciencias. Ada Lovelace se podría considerar la primera programadora, ya que desarrolló instrucciones para hacer cálculos en una versión inicial del computador de Charles Babbage.

Creó una serie de instrucciones para que la máquina analítica calculara los números de Bernoulli, utilizando rutinas y subrutinas. Ada visionó la capacidad de las computadoras para ir más allá de los simples cálculos de números.

Ada reconoce que  la «máquina analítica» sólo podía dar información disponible que ya era conocida: vio claramente que no podía originar conocimiento.

Pero de la máquina diferencial que funcionaba con motores a vapor, a las calculadoras científicas de los 90 y los ordenadores, mucho ha evolucionado el estudio de las propiedades de los materiales, en concreto de los semiconductores, para dar lugar a los circuitos integrados, desde las válvulas de vacío…menudo trajín con los electrones!

Recently internet completed 40 yearsm on 29 Oct 2009.  It all started in

http://thenextweb.com/2009/09/02/today-supposedly-internets-40th-birthday-experience-online/

http://mashable.com/2009/10/29/happy-40th-birthday-internet/

http://thenextweb.com/2009/09/02/today-supposedly-internets-40th-birthday-experience-online/

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091029/twl-internet-40-years-old-today-more-or-3fd0ae9.html

This article is not essentially a history but a walkthrough through the major milestones in the field of computing and computer science and the lives and incidences of those who have contributed to it. I will cover important milestones along with a few people who have contributed to computer science and the field of computing. You will find ample number of resources on history of computing (do Google search of “History of Computing” and see the number of results).

Charles Babbage is considered as the Father of Computer. He designed a machine which he called Analytical Engine in 1834. Later on many changes were made.

When one talks of (or writes about) history of computing, the first name that appears is Charles Babbage. He is known as ‘Father of’ to the students of Computer Science.

Differential engine, Analytical Engine

Napoleon, French revolution, tabulation machine

World War II fueled the growth and inventions related to computers, so that military forces can control missile launching through computers.

Jon Von Neumann aptly known as ‘Einstein of Computer Science?’,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrusion_detection_system James Anderson

So news has come to me this week, that my old colleague, and drinking partner the physicist Stephen Hawking has completed his last day as Cambridge University’s Lucasian Professor of Mathematics. He has held the position since 1979.  Now as academically celebrated as this position is, it is to a much lesser known degree also something, of a chick magnet.

And didn’t Hawking know it.

Believe me, were it not for the university’s policy for holders of the title to retire at 67, he’d still be lording it up in front of us fellow scientists even now. Often would be the times he would phone me and leave messages about his latest conquest. I was always loathed to phone back, in part because you could never tell whether you got him or his damn voicemail.

Still every scientist’s time will come, as the search at the University begins anew for the next Lucasian Professor. Previous holders of the title, founded by MP Henry Lucas in 1663, include Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, Sir Joseph Larmor, Sir James Lighthill and on a temporary basis for two weeks in the summer of 1984 when Hawking fell ill, the University bent to popular demand and appointed the  somewhat unusual choice of pop singer George Michael, then, at the height of his fame with WHAM.

I understand the selection process has now gone under something of a shake up to reflect our more modern times. After all Hawking was  given the post some 30 years ago. With this in mind I have duely submitted my application this very morning. The review panel chosing the next Professor I am told will consist of four members of Cambridge’s scientific top brass and Mylene Klass.

Dacă aveţi ceva timp în weekend (nu foarte mult, really), încercaţi comixul lui Sydney Padua despre uimitoarele aventuri ale Adei Lovelace şi lui Charles Babbage. Pentru a naviga de la o serie la alta, folosiţi categoriile din bara din dreapta.

[Via R. Zach]

Charles Babbage, Bapak Komputer Charles Babbage merupakan salah seorang ilmuwan di dunia, yang telah banyak memberikan karyanya pada kehidupan manusia, khususnya bidang komputer. Mesin penghitung (Difference Engine no.1) yang ditemukan oleh Charles Babbage (1791-1871) adalah salah satu icon yang paling terkenal dalam sejarah perkembangan komputer dan merupakan kalkulator otomatis pertama. Babbage juga terkenal dengan julukan bapak komputer. The Charles Babbage Foundation memakai namanya untuk menghargai kontribusinya terhadap dunia komputer. Ingin tahu lebih lanjut biografi dan karya-karyanya? Silahkan baca terus artikel ini… Charles Babbage lahir di daerah yang sekarang dikenal dengan nama Southwark, London, 26 Desember 1791, anak dari Benjamin Babbage, seorang Banker. Kelebihannya dalam matematika sangat menonjol. Saat memasuki Trinity College di Cambridge tahun 1811, dia mendapati bahwa kemampuan matematikanya jauh lebih baik, bahkan daripada tutornya sendiri. Di usia 20 tahunan Babbage bekerja sebagai seorang ahli matematika terutama dibidang fungsi kalkulus. Tahun 1816, dia terpilih sebagai anggota “Royal Society” (organisasi sains dan akademis independen Inggris Raya, masih aktif hingga kini) dan memainkan peran penting di yayasan “Astronomical Society” (organisasi Astronomi dan geofisika Inggris raya, masih aktif hingga kini) pada tahun 1820. Pada masa ini Babbage mulai tertarik pada mesin hitung, yang berlanjut hingga akhir hayatnya. Tahun 1821 Babbage menciptakan Difference Engine, sebuah mesin yang dapat menyusun Tabel Matematika. Saat melengkapi mesin tersebut di tahun 1832, Babbage mendapatkan ide tentang mesin yang lebih baik, yang akan mampu menyelesaikan tidak hanya satu jenis namun berbagai jenis operasi aritmatika. Mesin ini dinamakan Analytical Engine (1856), yang dimaksudkan sebagai mesin pemanipulasi simbol umum, serta mempunyai beberapa karakteristik dari komputer modern. Diantaranya adalah penggunaan punched card, sebuah unit memori untuk memasukkan angka, dan berbagai elemen dasar komputer lainnya. Karya Babbage kurang begitu terkenal sampai suatu saat dia bertemu dengan Ada, Countess of Lovelace, anak dari Lord Byron. Babbage mula-mula bertemu ada di sebuah acara tanggal 6 Juni 1833. Sembilan tahun kemudian, Luigi Federico Manabrea (seorang insinyur dari Italia) menjelaskan cara kerja Analytical Engine. Karya ini kemudian diterjemahkan dan ditambahkan notes oleh Ada Lovelace di tahun 1843. Mulai dari saat itu orang mulai mengenal karya Charles Babbage. Namun sayang, hanya sedikit sisa peninggalan dari prototipe mesin Difference Engine, dikarenakan kebutuhan mesin tersebut melebihi teknologi yang tersedia pada zaman itu. Dan walaupun pekerjaan Babbage dihargai oleh berbagai institusi sains, Pemerintah Inggris menghentikan sementara pendanaan untuk Difference Engine pada tahun 1832, dan akhirnya dihentikan seluruhnya tahun 1842. Demikian pula dengan Difference Engine yang hanya terwujudkan dalam rencana dan desain. Tahun 1828 sampai 1839, Babbage medapat gelar the Lucasian chair of mathematics (gelar professor matematika paling bergengsi di dunia) dari Universitas Cambridge. Selain mesin hitung, Babbage juga memberikan berbagai kontribusi lain. Diantaranya menciptakan sistem pos modern di Inggris, menyusun table asuransi pertama yang dapat diandalkan, menemukan locomotive cowcather (struktur berbentuk segitiga di bagian depan kereta api, yang mampu membersihkan rel dari gangguan) dan beberapa lainnya. Selain itu Babbage juga menyumbangkan ide-idenya di bidang ekonomi dan politik. Charles Babbage juga seorang ahli cryptanalysis yang berhasil memecahkan vigenere cipher (polyalphabet cipher). Kepandaiannya ini sebetulnya sudah dimilikinya sejak tahun 1854, setelah dia berhasil mengalahkan tantangan Thwaites untuk memecahkan ciphernya. Akan tetapi penemuannya ini tidak dia terbitkan sehingga baru ketahuan di abad 20 ketika para ahli memeriksa notes-notes (tulisan, catatan) Babbage. Dibalik seluruh keberhasilannya, kegagalan dalam pembuatan mesin perhitungan dan kegagalan bantuan pemerintah kepadanya, meninggalkan Babbage dalam kecewaan dan kesedihan di akhir masa hidupnya. Babbage meninggal di rumahnya di London pada tanggal 18 Oktober 1871.

1 -INTRODUCCIÓ

En aquest temps sempre estem parlant dels ordinadors: que si han sigut un gran canvi per la humanitat, etc. Però no crec que ningú s’hagui parat a pensar com els ordinadors han evolucionat des de el seu origen, l’àbac. La definicó d’ordinador seria: Màquina electrònica que processa dades; en rep i en dóna.

2- ELS INICIS

L’ordinador primitiu només servia per contar.

Fa cinc mil anys, es va fabricar l’ÀBAC a Xina, que va ser la primera màquina creada per contar.

En altres cultures com la japonesa i la russa, van fer els seus canvis a l’àbac.

Pascal també va inventar una màquina per contar. La va anomenar PASCALINA.

La va inventar l’any 1642. Només servia per sumar i restar. Funcionava amb engranatges.

Joseph-Marie Jackard va inventar les targetes perforades l’any 1801, perquè el teler fes el que ell volia. Depèn d’on estiguin els forats, el teler et fa un teixit o un altre.

Charles Babbage va voler aplicar el concepte de targetes perforades del teler a la seva màquina de fer sumes, considerat el primer antecedent de les futures calculadores. Al 1830 va fer la màquina diferencial.

El 1843, Lady Augusta Ada Byron, comtessa de Lovelace, va tenir la idea d’aplicar les targetes perforades a la màquina de motor de Babbage, perquè repetís informacions. És considerada la primera programadora.

George Boole va proposar treballar amb el Codi Binari ( 0 i 1).

Herman Hollerith, fundador d’IBM, per dur a terme el cens electoral dels EEUU, va fabricar la màquina tabuladora l’any 1890, i va escurçar el temps de dur a terme el cens en sis anys i mig. I va guanyar molts diners perquè va vendre a altres països i empreses.

La màquina utilitzava targetes perforades, en les que cada forat significava una cosa.

3- EL PRIMER COMPUTADOR

L'ABC

1939 els dos físics John Vicent Atanasoff; matemàtic i físic, juntament amb el seu alumne Berry, van crear el primer ordinador, i el van anomenar ABC.

El 1946 en J.W. Mauchly i J.P. Eckert, van crear l’ENIAC(Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator), que va servir d’ajuda als Estats Units durant la segona guerra mundial.

Característiques

• Tenia 18000 vàlvules, 70000 resistències, 10000 condensadors i 6000 interruptors, ocupava 140 m2, 5.5 m d’altura, 24 m de llarg, i pesava 30 tones.

• Consumia 150 kW/h.

• Treballava amb sistema decimal.

• Treballava amb un rellotge de 100 kHz. Feia 5000 sumes en un segon.

El principal problema era que la programació era molt laboriosa, i utilitzava l’energia d’una ciutat.

4- EL MODEL DE VON NEUMANN

Von Neumann va proposar que es separessin les 3 grans unitats:

1-Memòria

2-CPU

3-Entrada/sortida de dades.

5 – LES QUATRE GENERACIONS

- 1a generació (1951-1958)

ENIAC

Estaven construïts amb vàlvules electròniques.

L’ENIAC va ser el primer ordinador de la primera generació.

El 1951 comença la producció en sèrie amb l’UNIVAC, que utilitzava les targetes perforades, i que no gastava tanta energia com l’ENIAC.

El 1952 es va construir l’EDVAC que es basava en el model de Von Neumann, i utilitzava codi binari ( 0 i 1 )

- 2a generació (1959-1964)

Utilitzen transistors, que són dispositius fets de materials semiconductors (germani i silici). En els circuits digitals s’utilitza com un interruptor elèctric(controla la quantitat d’energia elèctrica que entra i surt pel cable).

Avantatges:

- ocupa menys espai que la vàlvula electrònica

- consumeix menys energia

- cost de fabricació més barat

Inventors: John Bardeen, Walter Brattain i William Shockley

-  3a generació (1965-1970)

Apareixen els circuits integrats, que consisteix en agrupar els transistors en petits circuits; cosa que aconsegueix estalviar espai.

Apareixen dos nous conceptes:

- Hardware: és la part física de l’ordinador

- Software: són els programes informàtics

- 4a generació (1971-actualitat ??)

Microprocessador

El 1971 l’Intel va crear el primer microprocessador : és un component digital capaç d’interpretar instruccions de

forma ordenada, de processar dades i generar la informació requerida reduït en un únic circuit integrat.

Les empreses més importants són l’AMD i l’Intel.

És la tecnologia que s’utilitza en l’actualitat.

6- ELS ORDINADORS PERSONALS (PC)

IBM Personal Computer

El 1981, l’IBM va treure al mercat l’IBM Personal Computer. Costava 3.000 dòlars. No tenia disc dur, i anava amb disquets de 160KB.

Va ser el líder del mercat d’ordinadors i el seu èxit és degut a que utilitzava components que no eren seus; que eren d’altres companyies.

L’IBM tenia com a sistema operatiu el MS-DOS (microsoft disc operating system) i es va convertir en el líder de software.

L’any 1976, Steve Jobs i Steve Wozniak van crear el primer ordinador Apple i després van crear l’Apple Corporation.

Det finns många intressanta personligheter i vetenskapen. En del av dem blir verkliga kulturella ikoner, som Albert Einstein och Stephen Hawking, och kanske på ett annat vis Carl Sagan. Somliga blir hjältar inom en mindre grupp, som Richard Feynman (kultfigur bland fysiker och andra, jag inbillar mig att han var rätt bra på att odla myten om sig själv).

Sen finns det de som (lite som Einstein) fått närmas mytologisk status, som blivit arketyper inom sina hörn av populärkulturen. Jag upptäckte via Making Light att det finns en webbserie om Ada Lovelace och Charles Babbage (i en alternativ historia). Första delen presenterar den verkliga Ada. Rekommenderas.

En del personligheter i vetenskapshistorian var ju redan i livet äventyrartyper. Ett sekel senare levde Alfred Wegener, mer okänd person om än väldigt intressant — mannen som i mångt och mycket ligger bakom idéerna om kontinentaldrift. Det som slog mig när jag läste om honom (se förra inlägget) var att han hade en sån väldig bredd i sina ambitioner och kunskaper. Han disputerade i astronomi, men blev intresserad av den då rätt nya vetenskapsgrenen meteorologi. Han lärde sig flyga drake och ballong för att göra väderobservationer, och hade 1906 tillsammans med sin bror världsrekord i att hålla sig i luften oavbrutet: 52 timmar. Alfred Wegener tränade också hårt för att kunna delta i utforskningen av Grönland. 1912 deltog han i en expedition som gjorde den längsta expeditionen till fots över Grönlands istäcke. Han dog på Grönland 1930 under sin andra expedition där, troligen som följd av en hjärtattack. Geologi var bara ett perifert intresse, men det här med kontinentaldriften var det han skulle bli ihågkommen för senare.

Ballongfärder och differensmaskiner får mig förstås att tänka i banor av steampunk, och då måste man ju nämna Nikola Tesla, som blivit en ikon i dessa kretsar och får vara med i diverse berättelser.

När jag ändå har nämnt Ada Lovelace känner jag att jag också måste länka till a lab of their own, inlägget som Jennifer Oullette skrev på Coctail Party Physics på Ada Lovelace Day. Det handlade inte bara om Ada, utan även om andra kvinnor i vetenskapen och specifikt om fysikern Shirley Jackson. Det har ju ofta varit väldigt motigt för kvinnor att bryta sig in i traditionellt manliga områden. Desto svårare ändå att vara en svart kvinna i USA på 60-talet. Jackson har inte riktigt samma mytologiska aura som de personer jag nämnt ovan (fast där har vi Marie Curie och kanske Lise Meitner istället), men såna som hon har verkligen betytt mycket för att bana väg för andra.

Alla olika områden har väl sina egna viktiga figurer. Har du som läser detta några favoriter i vetenskapshistorien, personer som blivit hjältar eller ikoner?

Bonus, utanför ämnet för det här inlägget. En lustig anekdot Shirley Jackson berättade illustrerar också hur lätt det kan vara att råka snubbla in på känsliga områden när man bara inte tänker sig för:

Sometimes what seems like overt racism/sexism is simply poor social skills or awkward phrasing (we all suffer sometimes from foot-in-mouth syndrome). Case in point: she applied for a summer job at MIT in a physics lab as an undergraduate. She didn’t have any specific lab experience, but the professor asked, “Well, can you cook?” When she said yes, he told her she was hired. Jackson, confused, replied, “To do what?” It was not, as it happens, to whip up some tasty grits for his breakfast each morning; rather, the professor assumed that if she could cook, she had the practical skills necessary to learn her way easily around the lab.

(Har man otur kan såna här olyckliga misstag bidra till att bekräfta eller förstärka dåliga mönster (Se till exempel vad Samuel Delany skriver om rasism i science fiction, inte för att det är direkt relaterat till ämnet här men för att rasism är ett lite lurigt ämne och viktigt att fundera på). I det här fallet var det mest bara lustigt.)

Hop on over to the BBC to see a rather impressive comic strip which explores the legacy of Charles Babbage. Take me there now!

Charles Babbage

Hop on over to the BBC to see a rather impressive comic strip which explores the legacy of Charles Babbage. Take me there now!

Techlab - Charles Babbage

Olin viikko sitten Lontoossa ja kävin siellä Science Museumissa, siis tiedemuseossa. Museossa on kaikenlaista hienoa, kuten Greenwich Mean Time, kaikenlaisia höyrykoneita, Charles Babbagen oikea aivopuolisko ja niin edelleen.

Rupesin siinä museossa kierrellessäni kuitenkin miettimään, että mitä tiedemuseon oikeastaan pitäisi esitellä. En käynyt tekemään sen tarkempaa tutkimusta esimerkiksi Science Museumin julkaisutoiminnasta, ihan vaan mietiskelin keskenäni. Kokoelmaa ja näyttelyjä kierrellessä jäi sellainen kuva, että se varsinainen tiede museosta puuttuu. Sitä ei ole esillä juuri mitenkään, siis tieteen itsensä historiaa.

Lontoon tiedemuseossa, kuten monissa rehellisesti tekniikan museoiksi nimetyissä museoissa historiaa tuodaan esille yksittäisten keksintöjen ja niiden arkkityyppisten toteutuksien kautta. Siis teknologian kautta. Tätä ei kuitenkaan ole tiede. Tiede on prosessi, jossa järjestelmällisesti luodaan informaatiota maailmasta. Tekniikan museoissa tiede on toki löydettävissä sieltä näyttelyesineiden lomassa, mutta oikeastaan vain näyttelyn kannalta toissijaiset tekstit tieteilijöiden elämästä kertovat millaista se varsinainen tiede on ollut, millaisissa olosuhteissa laitteet ovat syntyneet. Suuri osa Lontoonkin museo esillä olevista laitteista on syntynyt teollisuuden, ei tieteen myötä.

Jos tieteen historiaa haluaa nähdä, ovat ehkä yliopistomuseot oikeimpia matkakohteita. Ehkäpä siellä menestyneiden laitteiden ja teknologioiden esittelyn sijasta kerrotaan siitä miten käsite “tiede” ymmärretään ja mitä merkityksiä ja vaikutuksia sillä on menneisyydessä ollut. Onko tiede  määritelmällisesti sekulaaria, koska julkaisemista alettiin pitää tieteen ehtona (vrt. “url or doesn’t exist”), koska vertaisarviointi tuli kuvioihin, mikä on akateemisen autonomian merkitys, mitä on empirismi, mitä humanismi tarkoittaa tieteen kannalta?

Onko jossain informaation museota?

Tiede ja tieteen tekeminen on nyt erityisesti ajankohtaista, koska rakenteilla on hieno, uusi Aalto-yliopisto ja yliopistolakia säädetään jotta se voi saada yliopisto-statuksen. Toisaalta tiede on aina ajankohtaista. Tieteen mietiskelystä kiinnostuneille suosittelen Kanadan YLEn CBC:n Radio 1:n mainion podcast-tarjonnasta löytyvää sarjaa Ideas—How to think about science.

The first trip of the year, to London.

We arrived mid morning on Saturday (after a somewhat circuitous route) and spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon ambling across central London to The British Museum, passing Charles Babbage in blue plaque form and Anthony Gormley in the flesh (rather than in bronze) and realising that walking is the very best way to stumble upon the plethora of idiosyncratic diversions that can be found along almost every street. Arriving at the British Museum we had a good look at the wonderfully impressive Great Court Roof - I know it might seem somewhat obtuse to visit a museum for the building rather than the contents but believe me when you go you’ll realise it’s not as obtuse as it sounds.

From the British Museum we headed South towards Covent Garden, passing Broadcasting House – which is always somewhere one should stop and give praise at and a stone commemorating The Women’s Freedom League. On arriving at our confusingly popular destination the various travelling parties separated to allow one of us to concentrate on kick starting the economy whilst the other (ie me) visited The London Transport Museum – and in particular the small but perfectly formed Art Of The Poster exhibition.

Then back to our somewhat faceless (but hey entirely comfortable) hotel via Wahaca (highly recommended) and the hookah lined pavement of the Edgware Road.

Sunday morning was a bright clear Spring morning so once again rather than descending beneath the ground to reach my intended destination I decided a walk across a rather lovely sun drenched Hyde Park, which was filled with daffodils, dogs and mostly empty deckchairs. My intended destination for the morning was the The Museum of Brands which was hidden away (rather too well as it happens) in deepest, darkest Notting Hill (well not exactly deepest, darkest but you get my drift . . . ) and it was an absolute joy – small, friendly, passionate, perfectly formed and absolutely rammed with exhibits it’s exactly what a museum should be and I can’t recommend it enough.

Having a limited amount of a time and with an increasingly decreasing walking speed I decided that the next destination, Postman’s Park, would require a journey below ground so down down deeper and down I descended before reappearing in the daylight at St Paul’s – to a deserted edge of the financial district. A coffee and a short walk and then the unassuming thrill of Postman’s Park which I’d been looking forward to for ages (thanks to Anne I Like) and where I sat alone albeit briefly disturbed by the occasional walking tour.

Once the travelling parties had reconvened a quick trip was taken over the Millenium Bridge to the Tate Modern (for a peek at the Rodchenko exhibition), then back across the bridge to travel at somewhat higher speeds than we could have achieved ourselves, back to the comfortable confines of the hotel.

Monday saw the weather deteriorate somewhat with the Spring sunshine making way for overcast skies and alarming winds, unfortunately I was also feeling under the weather (and no before you ask I wasn’t suffering with alarming winds) which is perhaps why I was hugely underwhelmed by the Design Museum – I’d not been before and I won’t be rushing back – it was wildly unwelcoming, austere in the extreme and most importantly lacking in any great number of exhibits – the complete opposite to the wonderful Museum Of Brands.

Walking back towards Tower Hill tube station I was cheered up by the sight of Tower Bridge opening for something or other (boat based mind), and with this increased cheer, and the minimal time I had spent at the Design Museum I was finished much earlier than I had planned so a change of direction was taken and I followed a sign pointing me towards Shoreditch to engage in a search for graffito – and graffito I found.

A slow trundle back across town to stagger about at the car park where we’d left the car on Saturday (£73 thank you kindly) and then home – a great weekend in fine company and very much recommended.

As ever I didn’t get to every destination planned, namely the Cartoon Museum (because I didn’t know where it was and my energy levels were waning) or Barrier Park (which we skipped because the weather was deteriorating as quickly as the day progressed) although given that this was my first trip to the capital in a good while where I didn’t feel like a complete stranger (in a strange land) I’m sure we will be returning sooner than later.

That is to say, I analyze how the information age, far from transcending the historic conflict between capital and its laboring subjects, constitutes the latest battleground in their encounter; how the new high technologies — computers, telecommunications, and genetic engineering — are shaped and deployed as instruments of an unprecedented, worldwide order of general commodification; and how, paradoxically, arising out of this process appear forces that could produce a different future based on the common sharing of wealth — a twenty-first-century communism. — Nick Dyer-Witheford

Karl Marx makes a comeback. The specter Derrida theorized materializes. All thanks to the latest crisis in capitalism, for sure, but it is nonetheless noteworthy to now witness the so-called free market and its disgraced apostles have to make room for words like socialism in dominant economic discourse. (See here, here, here, and partly summed up here.) The story goes that the meltdown of global markets has also left in its wake a poverty of theory to explain what exactly is happening. Enter Marx, a writer who left behind the most extensive explanations of capital and markets, but also a writer who dominant discourse left behind (not so much in economics itself where he is at least read, but only as a precursor to theories that actually work such as the free market). But now that we have a crisis no one — especially the people advising the president — can solve, we could possibly bring him back. Of course, the story continues, his solutions are a little out of date but his critiques may help us understand what is happening and maybe get back to the way things were (before Bush, before Reagan maybe, maybe even before Nixon, depending on who’s desperately writing about the economy).

As a seer into the future, no one comes close to Marx. But he did not get everything right and many of his insights needed expansion. Enter what we call Marxists – one example being Nick Dyer-Witheford. For if dusting off Marx might help explain the world today, we would do well to dust off Cyber-Marx as well. (Or read it for the first time.)

Dyer-Witheford, as part of his goal to show the continuing relevance of Marx in twenty-first century digital capitalism, paints an interesting start to the relationship between management and technology. After an analysis of the battle between Marx and Charles Babbage, in real life and in William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s novel The Difference Engine, Dyer-Witheford writes, “”Although Babbage’s pioneer attempts to develop machine intelligence collapsed, partly because of the limits of nineteenth-century engineering, partly because of his managerial conflicts with the craft-workers crucial to the production of the ‘engines,’ his influence was far in excess of that normally associated with a failed inventor” (2). The workers needed for the “capitalist-computer-savant’s” machines to work apparently went on strike, if they didn’t just quit altogether. Thus began the “cycles and circuits of struggle” between management, technology and labor that Cyber-Marx places at the center of the world’s current state. 

Although Babbage’s book, On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, stands a precursor to Taylorism, Dyer-Witheford notes that the relationship between management and labor has certainly evolved. For example, through taking apart Alvin Toffler’s writings on the information revolution we come to see as false certain conflations of labor and management: ”The consequence of the high-technology, post-Taylorist workplace is the evaporation not only of the hostility but even of the distinction between management and labor, in its place emerges a shared ethos of participation and professionalism…” (29). Not true. Such an ethos manifests itself in ideological claims such as ” ‘they’ are us,” but it has yet to extinguish worker alienation, and therefore has yet to extinguish class struggle in the “high-technology workplace.”

Digital Affects

Cyber-Marx continues the Autonomist tradition of Marxism, which gave us the theory of affective labor. During the 1970s, as capital began to ship manufacturing jobs to newly opened third world markets, radical feminists, including Selma James and Mariarosa Dalla Costa, began to theorize the jobs left to do. Interestingly, as manufacturing jobs left the US, the workforce began to do more. Workers held more jobs and worked more hours, but they received less compensation, benefits and security. What they produced changed as well. No longer just physical goods, workers in the new service economy began to produce things not traditionally thought of as material: emotions, needs, desires, attachments, knowledge, etc. Work was now affective. Moreover, the service economy was primed for takeover by digital technologies (and digital management). This economy was new for most workers but not new for women workers. In fact, the very tradition of devaluing affective labor began centuries ago with the devaluing of women’s reproductive labor. While those manufacturing jobs reproduced the physical aspects of society, domestic jobs reproduced the values and knowledges that constituted the “immaterial” aspects of society. But the truth is the work was just as material as the jobs that eventually left, including the potential for resistance. 

Near his conclusion Dyer-Witheford calls for those of us in the university to accept the responsibility we have as workers in digital capitalism. How are we workers? One of the best examples of affective labor is actually teaching, and one of the best examples of exploited affective labor is the contingent adjuncts and graduate employees who make up higher education’s writing instructors. Eileen Schell, Marc Bousquet, Christopher Carter and many other scholars have shown how as much as 80% of adjunct writing instructors are women, how they teach (work with emotion, do the work of knowledge) an overload of classes each semester, often at different institutions, for little pay, no benefits or job security, and are importantly managed (by a writing program administrator) as part of a larger corporate desire for flexibility and a bottom line.*

Perhaps, then, the most important assertion Cyber-Marx leaves with us is the call not just to understand how capital and markets work, but to understand the potential in labor to make them work no longer. It isn’t a way out of capitalism’s latest crisis we should seek, but a way out of capitalism itself (60). 

*Regarding the feminization of writing instruction: In addition to Schell’s Moving a Mountain, Carter’s Rhetoric and Resistance in the Corporate Academy, Bousquet’s “Composition as Management Science,” (which discusses managerialism) and “White Collar Proletariat: The Case of Becky Meadows,” (which discusses affective labor) see Deirdre McMahon and Ann Green’s recent piece in Academe.  

আজ একটি বিশেষ দিন…
দিনটির নাম, Ada Lovelace Day!

কে সেই বিশেষ নারী?
আপনারা কেউ কি চেনেন তাকে?
কেন আজ তার নামে বিশেষ দিবস?

তিনি অনেক কারণেই চেনার মতো একজন অসাধারণ নারী। আজ বলবো তাঁর কিছু কথা।

১০ ডিসেম্বর ১৮১৫ সালে তাঁর জন্ম হয় লন্ডনের সম্ভ্রান্ত পরিবারে কবি লর্ড বায়রনের কন্যা এবং একমাত্র সন্তান হিসেবে। ক্ষণজন্মা এই নারী যাপন করে গেছেন একটি ছোট্ট অথচ বিশেষত্বময় এক জীবন। মাত্র ৩৬ বছর বেঁচে ছিলেন। ১৮৫২ সালের ২৭ নভেম্বর তাঁর মৃত্যু হয়, জরায়ুর ক্যান্সার এবং অতিরিক্ত রক্তক্ষরণে।
পুরো নাম তাঁর অ্যাডা অগাস্টা কিং, আর ডাকা হতো কাউন্টেস অফ লাভলেস বা শুধুই অ্যাডা লাভলেস নামে।

আরেক বিশেষ স্মরণীয় ব্যক্তির বন্ধু ছিলেন তিনি, যিনি কম্পিউটারের জনক হিসেবে খ্যাত। স্যার চার্লস উইলিয়াম ব্যাবেজ যখন তার ডিফারেন্স মেশিন বা এনালিটিক্যাল এঞ্জিন নামক কম্পিউটার আবিষ্কারের নেশায় মত্ত, তখন এই তুখোড় প্রতিভাধর নারী ছিলেন তার পাশে। অ্যাডা তার গণিতবিষয়ক বিশ্লষণী ক্ষমতার দ্বারা বুঝতে পেরেছিলেন এই কম্পিউটারগুলোর নাম্বার ক্রাঞ্চিং এর অমিত সম্ভাবনা সম্পর্কে । সে সময় ইংল্যান্ড বিজ্ঞান থেকে কিছুটা দূরেই যেনো অবস্থান করছিল। চার্লস ব্যাবেজ তাই লিখে গেছেন তাঁর Decline of Science in England বইয়ে। আর এমন একটা সময়ে এই অসামান্যা নারী চার্লস ব্যাবেজকে যেসব সম্ভাবনার কথা জানান তা তার কাজকে আরো বেগবান করেছিল। অ্যাডা অগাস্টা’কে এখন বিশ্বের প্রথম কম্পিউটার প্রোগ্রামার ধরা হয়!

বায়রনের সৎ-বোন অগাস্টা লেই এর নামে মেয়ের নাম রাখা হয়, আর বায়রন তাকে অ্যাডা নাম দেন। মাত্র একমাস যখন অ্যাডা’র বয়স তখন থেকে তার মা অ্যানাবেলা তাকে নিয়ে আলাদা হয়ে যান।

ছোট থেকেই অ্যাডা কিছুটা অসুস্থ্তায় ভূগছিলেন, প্রচণ্ড মাথাব্যথা হতো এবং দৃষ্টি প্রতিবন্ধকতা হতো। ১৮২৪ সালে তাঁর বাবা মারা যান, যদিও তিনি তার দায় বহন করতেন না। ১৮২৯ থেকে তিনি হাম এবং পক্ষাঘাতগ্রস্ততায় ভূগছিলেন। কিন্তু ক্র্যাচে ভর দিয়ে হলেও শিক্ষা চালিয়ে গিয়েছেন। ১৮৩২ এ যখন তাঁর বয়স ১৭ তখন তার বিশেষ গাণিতিক প্রতিভার স্ফুরণ ঘটে। তাঁর ছেলেবেলা থেকেই মা তাঁকে গণিতে দক্ষ করে তুলতে চাইতেন বাবার প্রভাব(কবিত্ব, মা কী জানতেন কোডিংও এক ধরণের কবিতা? ) যাতে কোনোভাবেই মেয়ের মধ্যে প্রতিফলিত না হয় এই ভেবে(১৮৪১ সালের আগে জানতেনই না লর্ড বায়রন তাঁর বাবা!)। বাসায় গৃহশিক্ষকেরা বিভিন্ন বিষয়ে শিক্ষা দিতেন তাঁকে। আমরা ডি-মরগ্যানের যুক্তির গণিত পড়ে থাকি, সেই ডি-মরগ্যান সাহেবও তাঁর শিক্ষক ছিলেন!

স্যার চার্লস ডিকেন্স, স্যার চার্লস হুইটস্টোন এবং বিজ্ঞানি মাইকেল ফ্যারাডে’র সাথেও তাঁর জানাশোনা ছিল। ১৮৩৩ সালের ৫ জুন তাঁর সাথে পরিচয় হয় বিশ্ববিখ্যাত স্যার চার্লস ব্যাবেজের সঙ্গে!

চার্লস ব্যাবেজের সঙ্গে তাঁর বেশ ঘনিষ্ঠ এবং রোম্যান্টিক সম্পর্কও গড়ে ওঠে। ব্যাবেজ অ্যাডার অসাধারণ ধীশক্তি, সাবলিল লেখনী এবং প্রতিভায় মুগ্ধ ছিলেন। ব্যাবেজ অ্যাডা সম্পর্কে নিজের লেখায় অ্যাডাকে The Enchantress of Numbers অাখ্যা দিয়েছেন।

Forget this world and all its troubles and if
possible its multitudinous Charlatans — every thing
in short but the Enchantress of Numbers.

চার্লস ব্যাবেজ, যিনি তাঁর সময়ের লোকদের কাছে অনেকটা পাগল হিসেবেই পরিচিত ছিলেন, তাঁর নতুন ধ্যান ধারণাকে মাত্র গুটিকয়েক যে ক’জন বুঝতে পেরেছিলেন তন্মধ্যে অ্যাডা অগ্রগণ্য। যদিও ইতিহাসবেত্তাদের গলদঘর্ম হতে হয়, অ্যাডা কতোটা প্রভাব বিস্তার করেছিলেন ব্যাবেজের উদ্ভাবনী কাজে তা খুঁজে পেতে। কেননা, ব্যাবেজ কারো প্রতি কৃতজ্ঞতা সচেতনভাবে স্বীকার করেননি।

অ্যাডা’র সম্পর্কে কিছু কুৎসা আছে যে, তিনি মদ্যপান করতেন, জুয়া খেলতেন, স্ক্যান্ডাল হতো তাকে নিয়ে.. কিন্তু খুব জোরালো প্রমাণ নেই সেসবের।

লেডি অ্যানি ব্লান্ট ছিলেন, তাঁর সুযোগ্যা কন্যা যিনি মধ্যপ্রাচ্য ভ্রমণ করেন এবং সেখানে উন্নত প্রজাতির ঘোড়ার সংকর ঘটান।

তাঁকে মর্যাদা দিতে আমেরিকার প্রতিরক্ষা বিভাগের প্রণিত প্রোগ্রামিং ভাষার নামও রাখা হয় Ada

অ্যাডা’র মতো সেজেছেন এক মডেল।

Conceiving Ada নামে তাঁকে নিয়ে একটি মুভিও আছে। মাইক্রোসফটের প্রোডাক্ট অথেনটিসিটি হলোগ্রামে তাঁর ছবিও আছে জানা যায় উইকিপিডিয়া থেকে।

Woolley, Benjamin (February 2002). The Bride of Science: Romance, Reason, and Byron’s Daughter এ বইটি পড়ে দেখার খুব ইচ্ছে হচ্ছে।

আর হ্যাঁ তাঁর কম্পিউটিং এবং প্রোগ্রামিং এ বিশেষ অবদানের কারণে আজকের এই ২৪ মার্চকে Ada Lovelace Day হিসেবে বিশ্বব্যাপী উদযাপন করা হয়ে থাকে।

আর.. হ্যাঁ আমি কিন্তু অ্যাডার প্রেমে পড়ে গেছি..

Click This Link এখানে তাকে নিয়ে ব্লগ করার অনুরোধ করা হয়েছে। আমি অনুরোধটি দেখার আগেই পোস্টটি লিখেছি আর ওখানে লিঙ্ক করে দিয়েছি।

On the off chance you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a Nerd. No, really. I am not as super geeky as I aspired to once be, but I have done well for myself. I have multiple laptop and desktop computers. I can program in multiple languages and I have written my wife poetry in binary code. I’ve hacked both of my iPods and my Vivitar digital camera.

However, I have never achieved the Nerdz Rool status of the following ten people. Without further ado, I give you my Top Ten Greatest Nerds:

Number 10 – Nikola Tesla – Tesla needed to have been born about a hundred years later than his 1856 birthday. He truly was too intelligent for the components he had to work with. While many of his ideas seem bizarre, he may have been able to achieve them at a later point in history.

Number 9 – Alan Mathison Turing – master cryptographer and inventor of the Turing machine. Also, he was a homosexual in a time when homosexuality was illegal and considered to be a mental illness.  He died after consuming an apple possibly laced with cyanide.

Number 8 – Bill Gates – as proven by the picture above, he was once a much cooler nerd than he is now that he has more money than most European Union countries. The Microsoft founder, while maybe not being as inventive or creative as the others on this list, was certainly smarter when it came to acquiring wealth.

Number 7 – Charles Babbage – the inventor of the first computer. He also once baked himself just to see how it would feel and published a paper concerning the broken windows in his factory and the frequency of the causes of them being broken.

Number 6 – Wil Wheaton – the actor most famous for his  portrayal of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Gordie LaChance in Stand by Me. Wheaton is also an author, mega-blogger and championship poker player. He is also married to a woman far too beautiful for him.

Number 5 – Rob Malda – founder of Slashdot. That in itself takes his nerdiness to pretty high levels.

Number 4 – Linus Torvalds – The inventor of Linux who insists he was named after the Peanuts comic strip character, while actually being the namesake of Nobel Prize winning chemist, Linus Paulding.

Number 3 – Albert Einstein – how does one even cover his achievements – read his wikipedia entry.

Number 2 – Steve Wozniak – Woz is the true creator of the personal computer revolution. His buddy Jobs may be the front guy and keeper of the Kool-Aid at my favorite computer company, but Woz built it.

And, my Number 1 Greatest Nerd – Dr. Stephen Hawking – he’s beyond the plain old nerdy of those in the first nine places – he is the one true UberNerd. Take all that he has achieved scientifically in life, throw in some record selling books, an ton of television appearances and then add to it the fact that for 40 years he has been ravaged by ALS and you can easily see why I have placed him in the top position on my list.

Kva er hypertekst , og kven lanserte begrepa “hypertekst” og “hypermedia”?

Hypertekst er eit brukargrensesnitt-mønster for å presentere dokument som inneheld automatiske kryssreferansar til andre dokument (noder), kalla hyperlenker. Når ein aktiverer ei hyperlenke vil datamaskina raskt presentere dokumentet det er lenka til. Eit dokument kan vere statisk (skrive og lagra på forkant) eller dynamisk generert (som følger av interaksjon frå brukaren). Dn mest kjende implementeringa av hypertekst er WWW. Hypertekstfiksjon er ein litterær sjanger der hypertekst utmyttast som strukturerande prinsipp. Ted Nelson (1937-) lanserte begrepa ”hypertekst” og ”hypermedia”… som hypertekst kunne skrift organiserast på ein ikkje-linært og brukarstyrt måte. ”La meg introdusere ordet ”hypertekst” og la det bety en samling av skrevet eller billedlig materiale bundet sammen på en kompleks måte, slik at det ikkje uten vanskeligheter lar seg presentere eller representere på papir. ”hypermedia: et samlebegrep for forskjellige medier organisert i hyperstruktur. I dag: Digitale dokument som integrerer flere medietyper (bilde, tekst, video, lyd) i samme hyperorganiserer, slik vi kjenner det fra f.eks www.

Gi en kort skjematisk oversikt over hyperteksthistorien.

Over ein periode på om lag 60 år har hypertekst gått frå idé til global realisering. Denne perioden kan delast inn i tre fasar: Idéfasen, eksperimentfasen og realiseringsfasen.

Idéfasen: Frå 1940 og utover. I denne fasen ser vi visjonane om hyperteksten slik vi ser dei i Bush sine arbeid. Hypertekst, eller meir ikkje-hierarkisk og ikkje-sekvensiell organisering og kopling av informasjon, er kun ein visjon. Teknologien strekk ikkje til for å realisere visjonane.

Eksperimentfasen: Engelbart og Nelson i spissen. Dei utvikla både visjonar og praktiske forsøk med hypertekst. Dei store visjonane står sentralt samtidig som dei naudsynte midlane disponerast som skal til for realisering. Aktørane i denne fasen er i stand til å velje rett teknologi, og samtidig korleis den formast og vidareutviklast for å oppnå konkrete resultat. I denne fasen får fenomenet kun begrensa utbreiing på grunn av mangel på felles plattform.

Realiseringsfasen: Tim Berners-Lee gjekk inn for eit globalt hypertekstssystem basert på TCP/IP-standarden. Han utvikla eit eige språk, html, til å beskrive utsjånaden, URL til adressering av web-sider og ein protokoll for overføring av dokument (http). WWW vart demonstrert offentleg for første gong i 1991, og vart raskt det dominerande hypertekstsystemet.

Kva skil computeren frå andre maskiner menneske har skapt?

Computeren er multimedial, den har tatt opp i seg og digitalisert tradisjonelle informasjonsformer. Samtidig er den basert på hukommelsesprinsippet til mennesket, og er basert på eit internt minne.

Kvifor har Charles Babbage fått ein plass i computeren si historie?

Charles Babbage fann opp ei automatisk mekanisk reknemaskin, The Analytical Engine. Denne var baser på dagens datamaskiner i og med at den for eksempel skulle benytte seg av internt minne. (Men på grunn av den tids begrensningar vart den ikkje fullført.) Babbage kombinerte den franske evna til å analysere og organisere med den engelske dampkrafta. Han starta arbeidet sitt med realiseringa av ”Difference Engine”, men den vart aldri fullført pga. pengemangel og krangel med ingeniørane.

Kva var Alan Turing sitt bidrag i utviklinga av computeren?

Alan Turing utvikla idéen om ei generell datamaskin: Turingmaskina, og det var då grunnlaget for den moderne datamaskina vart lagt. Denne maskina tok opp Babbage si løysing med minnefunksjon. Turingmaskina bestod av eit band med sekvensar av enkle teikn som passerer eit lesehovud. Denne maskina hadde fire forskjellige spesialitetar, som var dei grunnelementa i den moderne digitale datamaskina: Sekvensielt bevege bandet eit felt av gongen, skrive eit teikn i eit felt, slette eit teikn, eller stoppe: Lagring, preging og sletting av teikn. Turing var også sentral i arbeidet med kryptologi og dekoding av den tyske telegramtrafikken under 2. Verdskrig. Med dette arbeidet kom han til å lage ei kodeknekkande datamaskin, Colossus, som vart teken i bruk i 1943. Colossus var i grunn skapt for å utføre ei oppgåve, dekoding av krypterte millitære meldingar.

Kva var ARPANETT og kva tid vart det utvikla?

Opprinneleg var ARPANETT eit delt computernettverk for vitenskapsmenn og forskarar. Allereie andre året viste det seg at brukarane hadde forvandla det delte nettverket til eit elektronisk postsystem. Hovudtrafikken var snart nyhender og personlege meldingar. I 1969 var det fire nodar i det som vart kalla ARPANETT. I 1971 var det 15 nodar, og i 1972 32 nodar. I motsetning til andre computer-nettverk, kunne ARPA-nettverket innehalde mange ulike typar maskiner. ARPANETT: Datanettverk utikla for det amerikanske forsvaret Advanced Research Project Agency. ARPANETT introduserte TCP/IP-protokollane som etterkvart danna grunnlaget for Internett. TCP: Transmission Control Protocol: konventerer meldingar til straumar av pakkar ved kilda og gjenoppbyggjer dei til meldingar ved destinasjonen. IP: Internet Protocol: tek seg av adresseringa, og ser til at pakkane vert routed gjennom nettverka.

Kva meiner Leon Marwell med ”digital imaginary”?

Det Leon Marwell meiner med ”digital imaginary” er at kva som helst som vi ser i den verkelege verden kan konstruerast i den virtuelle verden – altså av datamaskiner. Han referer også til tre tidsepokar: – Termodynamisk tidsalder – dampmaskina. - Atmiske tidsalder – fusjonsbomba. - Digitale tidsalder – datamaskina.

Korleis oppstod begrepet cyberspace, og kva ligg i det?

Definisjonen cyberspace kjem frå William Gibson i boka Neuromancer. Gibson definerte cyberspace som ei verd av samankopla datasystem. No brukar vi ordet om det fysiske nettet og den tenkte verda. For eksempel kan ein sende og laste ned filer frå nettet (den fysiske verda) og at vi kan møtast på nettet (den tenkte verda).

På kva måte utfordra Norbert Wiener måten å betrakte verda på?

Han definerte ordet cybernetics slik : ”Control and communications in the animal and the machine”. Med dette meinte han at verda kunne beskrivast med begrep som informasjon og logikk snarare enn energi og maerie. Kybernitikk kan nærmast definerast som læra om dei regulerande og sjølvregulerande mekanismane i naturen og teknikken. Ei reguleringsmekanisme arbeider etter eit såkalla program, dvs. Ei forskrift som påleggast og den gjev ei bestemt verknad. I naturen førekjem sjølvregulerande mekanismar f.eks ved den automatiske reguleringa av blodtemperaturen. Wiener sin idé er at alt dette følgjer visse felles lover, og at det difor matematisk kan behandlast analogt. Medan reguleringa er nøyaktig gjennomført i naturen, så er det mennesklege samfunnet for tida i ein tilstand der regulering manglar eller har lite verknad. Wiener meinte at utviklinga av kybernitikken óg vil medføre at denne vitenskapen kan brukast på det økonomiske og politiske plan. Som begrep i samfunnsvitenskapleg teori beteikner kybernitikk dei kontrollmekanismane og den kommunikasjonen som er naudsynt for at det sosiale system skal fungere. Ein impuls startar i ein del, returnerer til opphavet etter å ha vorte omdanna gjennom ei rekke delprosessar i systemet sitt andre ledd.

Kva står MUD for og kva er ein avatar?

MUD: Multi-User-Domains eller Multi User Dungeons. (Virtuelle fellesskap) Avatar er ein elektronisk representasjon eller visualisering av ein person eller spelar (spelarobjekt) innen science fiction, datavitenskap og MUD. Det er eit bilete for å representere ein brukar på eit forum, samfunn eller liknande.

Kva er memex-maskina?

Memex-maskina var eit apparat som skulle knyte saman informasjon på ein ny måte. Slikk skulle maskina gi forskarane moglegheit til å halde seg oppdatert på mange område. Målet var å kunne lage ei maskin som kunne operere på same måten som hukommelsen. Sentralt var idéen om lenkar. Maskina vart aldri realisert, men var levande som inspirasjon for seinare forskning.

Kva meiner vi med multimodalitet?

Multimodalitet beteikna at meining skapast gjennom ein kombinasjon av to eller fleire typar teiknsystem. Multimodalitet står i motsetning til monomodalitet, der berre eit teiknsystem vil vere operativt, slik dei er i bøker som kun består av skriftleg verbalspråk. Multimodale tekstar er samansette tekstar.

Kva ligg i begrepet remediering?

Remediering er i følgje Bolter og Grusin å representere eit medium i eit anna. Dei ser på dette som ein sentral karakteristikk for dei nye digitale media. Dei beskriv remediering som eit spekter avhengig av graden av rivalisering mellom det gamle og det nye mediet. Nye media tek opp i seg og vidarefører gamle media på nye måtar. Samtidig vert gamle media også påverka av nye, slik at remedieringa går begge vegar.

Kva meinast med informasjonalisme?

Makta, informasjonen og teknologien: Begrepet informasjonalisme er eit begrep som karakteriserer makta som ligg i informasjonsteknologien, og mennesket sin kapasitet til informasjonsprosessiering og kommunikasjon som vert mogleggjort med revolusjonen innen mikroelektronikk og software. Det beskriv tendensane i det tidlege 21. Århundre, og revolusjonen innen informasjonsprosessiering og kommunikasjon. Castell meiner at det var på basis ab begrepet om informasjonalisme at nettverkssamfunnet gradvis utvikla seg til å bli ei ny form for sosial organisasjon. Utan den teknologiske forutsetninga ville ikkje dette samfunnet eksistert.

Kva skil digitale teknologiar frå analoge?

Det som skil digitale teknologiar frå analoge er at dei digitale teknologiane opererer med tellbare diskrete verdiar. Tekst, bilete og lyd vert representert på skjerm på bakgrunn av konventert data, tala 0-1. Analoge teknologiar opererer med ikkje-tellbare kontinuerlege verdiar.

This is a question that many people want to know

so who did invent the computer?

Well, from my research it was Charles Babbage, although some people say it was a few people that made it possible.